Haircut for the Hero

A Puzzling Obsession

Aunt Lisa, we owe you big time. That wooden puzzle box you sent the boys for Christmas has given us more mileage than I ever could have imagined. What started out as a church activity has become Eli's daily addiction for the past month.

He LOVES this little box that contains four different small puzzles of some of his favorite things--a fire truck, a school bus, a train and a race car--so much that he'll do them over and over again. The first few days he'd follow me and Stephen around the house asking for help, but then he got pretty adept and figured out how to do them all by himself. Blessed day. Seriously, what mom doesn't love a quiet activity that a kid can do all by himself?

Old friend turned new neighbor

Hooray, hooray! Guess who moved in right behind us? Liz, or "Wizzy" as she's so endearingly called by Eli, is now a mere staircase away from us and we could not be happier to have one of our favorite people in the world as a neighbor. She and her mom drove the moving van out from Utah only a week ago, but you'd think she's been here forever the way the boys walk into her place as if it's their own.

Since she's still waiting on her CA respiratory therapy license, we're taking advantage of her free time while we can. Friday we went to Hidden Villa in Los Altos, a 1600 acre preserve with hiking trails, a working farm, educational garden, produce stand (with community crop-sharing) and even hostel. We fell in love and now agree that Hidden Villa spanks Rancho San Antonio's over-crowded, mile walk-to-the-trails booty. And after taking a quick-climbing (and therefore heart-pumping), 1.5 mile hike with the boys, we've decided that we're coming back on a regular basis. Who knew my kids could hike that high or that far?



We even dragged her along with us Saturday for a very wet and muddy hike at Russian Ridge Open Preserve because I had a hankering to see some mountain wildflowers. (What cay I say? I was having one of those Maria Von Trapp days where I felt trapped in the abbey and just wanted to see the hills.) Good friend that she is, Liz patiently forbore the "crazy idea of a pregnant woman," as my loving husband so aptly put it, and then adeptly guided us down Skyline Boulevard and La Honda Road to the best sandwiches west of 280 at Roberts Market in Woodside.

Up close and personal with the grizzlies

What better way to christen the new van than to head up to the SF Zoo with Laura and her girls? We got there just in time for feeding time at the new grizzly bear exhibit, where only a wall of glass separates the kids from the water the bears tromp around in to find their fish. The children's zoo with its petting zoo, barn animals and play tractors were also a big hit with the kids.

2 + 3 = Time for a new car

Don't you think this is the perfect car for a growing family?

Neither did my husband, darn it...
(someday I'll convince him)

So we went with this instead:

(ours is not quite this new and shiny but pretty close)

Certainly not as sporty or fun but definitely a bit more family-friendly.

Things the boys love about the minivan:

--Power-sliding door (Eli giggled the first ten times that door opened or closed by itself and now cries, "Close it! Close it!" as soon as he's in the van)

--All that space (Bennett started in the captain chair, then opted for the back row, and is now back up by Eli)

--Big, high, tinted windows that roll down on request

Things Mom and Dad love about the minivan:

--No more opening doors for kids or having to lift them in

--No more bending over to strap kids in (Our backs feel better already)

--"Holy trunk space, Batman!" (I could fit all five of our single/double strollers in there if I wanted)

--Rear everything, from air to sound to space (not having to hear them or their music as much)

--Room for friends and family to ride with us

--All the other fun perks that come with a newer car

Puff Daddy

Stephen had surgery on his hand yesterday and is home recovering now, swollen fingers and all. The procedure itself went quickly and the tough guy opted for the mildest sedation they offered, meaning he was completely awake and alert as they cut open his poor little hand. He took to the team of surgeon and nurses immediately since they were listening to one of his favorite musical genres, nineties grunge; shared taste didn't warm them up enough, however, to let Stephen watch them reconnect the blood vessels of his right hand. "You watch too much TV" they told him.

He was feeling surprisingly well when we picked him up, that false post-surgery calm that precedes the sedation drugs wearing off and the real pain setting in. It happened later in the evening, as did his not-so-sweet reunion with vicodin, the pain med that makes Stephen miserably nauseous; that, paired with forgetting to ice his hand the first three hours, made for an uncomfortable evening that alternated between pain and nausea. Poor guy. He vigilantly kept his arm elevated all afternoon and evening, but when it came time for bed he simply couldn't get comfortable. Tossed and turned for hours, took a few midnight strolls outside to "right his ship" as he called it, and eventually crashed on the living room couch.

Today has been remarkably better. He gave up the vicodin for a double dosage of extra-strength Tylenol and slept all morning (the boys and I vacated the house 'til noon). The bandages come off tomorrow, next week is the follow-up visit, and six weeks from now he should be back shootin' hoops with the best of them.

Bullet List

I can't seem to write a real post these days, so here's a lazy little list of recent family happenings:

--Eli decided to start using his big boy bed rather than the crib, which means that for the first time in almost two years the boys are sleeping in the same room again.

--Now that the nursery is vacant, I'm filling it with baby girl clothes and starting to make some decorating plans. Yes, we might even paint, a first for us.

--Stephen scheduled his hand surgery for next week, March 5th, which also happens to be the day my sister Jenae is due with her second boy!

--I've actually caught Bennett teaching Eli quite a bit lately, from how to put on his shoes or take off his shirt to how to count numbers or put together a puzzle.

--Eli LOVES the little gym class that I take him to every Thursday night (thanks to his aunts' Christmas gift), even if he surprises all the other kids and parents with his high-energy enthusiasm and utter fearlessness.

--I cooked with quinoa for the first time and loved it.

--We've been hosting lots of fun things, like park day potlucks and baby showers and preschool and finger food parties, so our house has been remarkably clean the past month. Sad that it takes having OTHER people come over to get our place looking presentable.