getting close to nature

Two photo opps in two days confirms that Elias is still not terribly fond of the feel of grass. Exhibit A:


Hanging out in the side-yard, where the grass is a bit on the overgrown side. It probably didn't help that Elias was wearing new sandals for the first time. He was having a hard time getting his footing so everytime he fell back on his bottom he just kind of stayed there.

Exhibit B:


Same thing happened today. We drove to Connecticut to spend the day with my brother and his family and spent a lot of time outside, today being one of just a few days during a very cloudy, rainy June. Later we provided Elias with an oversized beach towel, which gave me a solid half-hour to eat my grilled steak, since the grass around the towel acts as a sort of invisible fence for the baby who's not fond of it. Wonder how long I can milk that.


As for an addendum to Elias's official one-year update, we still haven't taken his picture with the guitar prop. Things have been a little nutty around here. Following his party, we continued to host Grandma Joanne for a couple of days, during which we tried to think of still more rainy day activities and outings to do. When Elias slept I was forced to be antisocial so I could make apartment and home-viewing appointments for Neal, who traveled to California with said Grandma and our two cats to complete the first phase of the move. The trip was successful in every way. The cats have been temporarily deposited with Grandma, who lives about an hour and a half or two from our new apartment in Oakland and Neal is on his way home via a red-eye flight tonight with a scone from Arizmendi for tomorrow's breakfast. The move is bittersweet for me (I'll really miss being so close to my brother and his family...no more day trips, obviously), but I am overall feeling pretty positive about the whole thing and as a stay-at-home Mom for the indefinite future, I'm pretty stoked about the neighborhood we'll be in and the friends-with-kids we'll be so close to. Elias and I will be able to walk to Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, a lake, various parks, a library branch, a weekend farmer's market complete with a kid-friendly splash pad fountain, and several of our favorite eateries that we'll by then be too broke to eat at. Right away, at least.

Anyway, I've been parenting solo while Neal took all of 24 hours to find this sweet pad for us. It's easy to say now, this being my last of five nights on my own, but it honestly went better than I ever thought it would. Don't get me wrong - I can't wait for Neal to be home for a number of reasons, not least of which is for all the help he provides, particularly first thing in the morning and between the time he finishes work and we put Elias to bed. But it was kind of empowering to discover that I could do it all on my own. The key for me has been to wake up a bit before Elias typically wakes up for the day, getting myself mostly ready before his day begins and doesn't stop for the next twelve or thirteen hours. Also helpful, on the nice days at least, were the late afternoon walks, to break up the long stretch between the end of the nap (sometimes as early as noon) and bedtime (sometimes as late as 8 or so). I was ready to hand Elias off to just about anybody by about 4 or 5 o'clock. But alas, there was no one to hand him off to. Except the stroller. And I think he enjoys those walks (and pointing out the occasional airplane overhead) as much as I do. And of course, once Elias did go to sleep for a nap or for the night, that truly quiet time (no baby, no cats, no husband) was indeed, as a friend recently described it, "golden."

More on other stuff he's been up to in the past month or so later this week...