Climbing

Stanley figured out how to climb a crazy moving ladder thing. We remained there until his little hands were almost frozen from the 40degree metal bar at the top of the climb.

The picture doesn't quite do it justice. He topped out at around 5'5".

He had a nice ride down from the top.

Sleding

For the new years, we are spending time up in Tahoe with Lolo and Papa Doug. There isn't much snow, but we have still had a fantastic time--playing at the beach, throwing snow and rocks into water, watching kids make a snowman, sledding, and sleeping.

Stanley wasn't much into sledding last year, but this year, he definitely seemed to enjoy it. Granted, it was 15 feet from the house and only a slight incline. He happily helped pull up the sled.

Singing Songs

Been a long time since we posted.  We will try and catch up a little bit, but things have been very hectic with the holidays.  Here is a short post to whet your appetite.

Stanley loves his music class.  They sing and dance and play instruments.  Halima also spends a lot of time singing and teaching the boys songs.  As a result, Stanley has developed quite a singing repertoire.  Among his favorites are "ABC", "Ba-ba Black Sheep", and his current favorite, "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" caught on video below.  Enjoy.

The zoo

While Steve and I spent 4 days together in Hawaii, Lolo and Flounder took Stanley to the zoo. Stanley really loved it; he especially enjoyed feeding and brushing the goats. Stanley was into seeing animals for a long time rather than seeing lots of animals. 

Choo choos

This weekend we needed to go to Target, so we took an old street car to get there and Bart to get back. 

Stanley felt it was a requirement for him to hold the handle in the Bart train. They are so dirty that I don't hold them, but we couldn't say no to such a cute thing.

Definitely a little city boy. 

One man band

Our little 'One man band'.

Enjoy the concert.

I'm not sure opera is often sung with a ukulele, but since he doesn't have an orchestra, he is being resourceful.

Class

Today it was raining for the first time in ~7  months, so Stanley and Wheeler were spending lots of time at the library. Apparently a school class came in with their teacher. The teacher taught lots of fun things and told stories. Stanley and Wheeler wanted to join too. The teacher included the two little boys in the scarf dancing and drawing activity. In the picture, it definitely looks like "two of these things do not belong", but it was nice of the older kids to share their fun library time with the little boys.

Discovery museum

Stanley and I went to the Discovery museum with David and Jenny. We had a great time. Earlier in the weekend, Stanley had wanted to see "fish" which means he wanted to go to the California Academy of Sciences. He knows now that the fish sleep on Saturday so that we can see them on Sunday when the museum is open to member's only and much quieter. 

Stanley was bit surprised when we ended up not at the California Academy of Sciences, but instead at a new musuem. However, he got his full of wonderful adventures and got to play with fish. 

Below Stanley and David dressed up as sea lions and went around sleeping in different caves.

 

For little kids, they have a section with lots of fake fish and frogs in water. Stanley just loved to have the fish swim in the water and sometime even in the plants. He also enjoyed having his fish fly like an airplane. Since Steve comes to visit on airplanes, Stanley is obsessed with anything that flies.

The boys also enjoyed playing lots of music at the museum. It was a fun event.

Opera

Stanley and I had a great time at the opera's family day. Stanley still enjoys hearing me sing my version of opera...I don't share it with anyone else. 

We even got front row during the sing along section. 

Front and center. 

Later Stanley showed his 'paarty hat' that he made to Wheeler. 

Talking

Stanley really likes talking and having stories. Every night Julia tells him a story that has to start with "once upon a time, there was a barn". After that the story can be about anything. 

Halloween

This year Stanley had a few choices for a Halloween costume...lion, dinosaur, cow. Instead he choose to be 'Stanley' 

October fun

Today we went with David to a museum. Turns out they were having a Halloween festival. Since we did not know, David and Stanley were in their normal cloths, but they still had a fabulous time.

Stanley had a great time, but also got scared a few times. He sat next to David in the choochoo train. He was happy to get onto the train, but as soon as it left the station he started crying. It was going in a circle with a 10ft diameter. He just looked at me during the circles crying and asking to get out. David was so cute and held his hand and told him that it would be OK. After crying the entire time, I took Stanley out of it and he looked me straight in the face and said "Mama, more choochoo". Hmm.

Stanley also passed on the pony rides, but had a great time in the petting zoo. You can see in the pictures, that he has a sticker on his back. The place request all kids to have stickers with their name, the parent's name and the parent's cell phone number. There were quite a few staff with radios talking about different lost kids.

Stanley really enjoyed the more modern version of bobbing for apples. It involved finding thing in hay and putting them in the little bag that he had decorated.

The boys also went to wizard school and went fishing. It was a fun time and Stanley did not want to come home for his nap.

Our little Fireman

Stanley loves to read about trucks and trains. He particularly enjoys reading books about fire trucks and firefighters. Last Saturday, we went to visit the fire station and got a great tour of the trucks. We found out that some of the ladders on the truck are well over 70+ years old.

Stanley was a bit shy, but very happy to sit in the truck and pretend to drive it.

He also enjoyed seeing himself in the wheel of the firetruck and dancing.

Thanks Noe Fire department.

Nannyshare activities

Each day, Halima sends over a range of pictures from the boys activities. They definitely go from one activity to another pretty quickly. During a 10-12 hour day, they definitely get to do lots of things.

Here are some pictures from today...

This evening, I asked Stanley what was on the painting. He clearly pointed to the blue circle area and told me 'eLephaan'. I don't quite see the elephant, but he clearly did from the circles on the paper or at least elephants were on his mind.

The other news from the house is that Stanley is starting to increase and diversify his food intake. This evening, he decided to eat 2 pieces of pork tenderloin. Geoff and I just starred as he ate it making the pig noise.

Cleaning

I'm pretty sure the cleaning just spread it more, but at least they were all trying to help. 

Friends

Stanley and Wheeler have both gotten in the habit of crying when they leave their respective parents, but by the time Halima is walking down the street, the two of them seem happy and enjoy playing together.

Here are some photos that Halima took of them...

The most amazing part of the top picture is that Stanley is holding Wheeler's shovel and Wheeler is holding Stanley's pacifier and random other "toy of the day".

Giving hugs to each other at music class.

Preparing for music class

Corn!!

It turns out Stanley loves corn on the cob.  His teeth were hurting him the other night, so we bought some ears of corn at the grocery store thinking it might be a good thing for him to gnaw on during dinner.  Well, you can see by the picture below that he enjoyed it quite a bit.  He started with a whole ear of corn all to himself.  I think his grandmothers would be proud since they both enjoy corn on the cob quite a bit.  I just hope we don't have to wait until he is teething to get to eat it again.

Counting

We are working with Stanley on counting.  Halima has been trying to teach him his numbers, and he recognizes most of them (seven is pretty elusive, though) and can even string a few together in order.  Four-Five-Six is his current favorite.  We are trying to work on actually counting stuff so he can figure out what to do with these things.  Here he is giving it the ol' college try on his dinner with Julia.  Almost there!

Hanging together

Dylan took this cute picture. Stanley and Peter decided to take a little break. Amazingly it was not posed at all. Just two friends, hanging out together.

At the market

It was beautiful and 75. I love fall in SF. 

We got to spend part of it with Peter. 

Baby Car wash

Clyde really loves to go to the car wash. Poor Stanley has never enjoyed this treat since he is rarely in the car and I don't bother to clear my car.

Maureen made a car wash for the boys. Stanley did not understand why we called it a car wash, but he sure enjoyed the fun.
Here is a video of the car wash.

Basketball

What cute kids. Thanks Clyde for sharing your toys. 

Red shoe team ready for the game. 

Studying the other team's moves. (Or the 10 year old playing on the court)

Jumping at the zoo

I'm learning that you can take kids to an activity and sometimes they will like it, but sometime they will find something even better. 

Behind these two cute boys are two amazing sleeping tigers. Yes, they did realize there were tigers, but the jumping was way more fun. 

The zoo

Stanley and I spent the weekend with Clyde and Maureen. It was wonderful to get to spend time with my friend and Stanley and Clyde got along like best buddies. Our first adventure together was to the zoo. This was Stanley's first time at a zoo and it was perfect timing. He has really been enjoying talking about different animals. 

Running to see the elephants. Clyde knew the zoo
quite well

j

Strolling together

Stanley and Mommy enjoying the baby elephant. 

Checking out the lions. 

Stanley just called these "rrrrrrRRRR".