The Small Family   

After a long week last week with His Royal Feistiness, I am happy to report that Sir Happiness has been back with us all week long, charming everyone in sight. I am also happy to report that we have a guest blogger this week: Chris, who graciously offered to take over blog writing for the week because I am swamped with four books going to the printer on Tuesday. (I've never done more than two in a week before, so four has been quite a feat. Especially when one is rather high-maintenance!) So, without further ado, words from Chris:

Hi everyone—it’s Chris. My wife, the patron saint of multitasking, has four books going to print on Tuesday, on top of an award-winning bout of insomnia last night, so I figured I’d chime in with a few thoughts this week. It wasn’t the most eventful week for us, but Theo never fails to give us lots of material! :)
 
On Monday, one of my office days this week, Cath took Theo to his weekly Little Gym class, which he quite enjoyed. Off doing his own thing most of the time, which included climbing the highest thing in the place that he could find and giving the balance beam a try. Not to mention, we think his classes are why he’s suddenly become a fan of somersaults—we were puzzled for a few days as to why it looked like he was trying to do handstands all the time!
 
Speaking of climbing, Theo’s obsession with scaling the couch continues unabated. For a couple weeks now, he’s been using various toys as ladders to try to get up there so he can stand and run around. Some of the toys work—his big piano and a large bag of blocks come to mind.  Others, not so much—small rubber balls, books, his shoes, and sometimes us. :)  Funny thing is that we have no problem with him being on the couch, per se. Only when he stands and doesn’t sit back down, which earns him a trip right off the couch. To save us the headache of fighting this battle 10 or 20 times an hour, we moved most of his big toys to the other side of the baby gate temporarily, but as usual, he outsmarted us. Minus his actual toys, he decided to pull the toy basket out from the fireplace and use that to climb up. Well, said basket is now in the garage, replaced by Theo’s heavy wooden toy chest, a 1st-birthday present from my parents. Let’s see how long it is until he realizes he can climb that!
 
Theo and I also have a few new father-son routines that we’ve started—it’s never too early to get a man into a routine, right?  It used to be that Theo would go off and play by himself in the living room while I ate breakfast and read the paper, but lately he’s been joining me up at the table to share—after we read a few books and play some songs on his Smarty Bear. Plus, whenever I get up the ambition to walk with Theo to Starbucks in the morning to get a mocha for Cath and me, Theo and I split a piece of pumpkin bread while we’re waiting. It’s funny—what I wouldn’t have given a year or six months ago to be able to share little things like food and favorite places with Theo. Now, sitting there and watching him devour about two-thirds of a piece of pumpkin bread by himself, I’m realizing how much he’s grown up already and that he’s really becoming a little boy.
 
Cath and I did manage a non-Theo date this week, to Thai Basil (our favorite Thai restaurant in Roseville) on Friday night, while Grandma Diane watched Theo back at our house. We hadn’t been there since just before our wedding, and of course we realized again what we’ve been missing. Especially the spring rolls and yellow curry, which Cath always gives me a bad time about because I order it every time. :) Not that Theo’s ever out of mind completely, though. Toward dessert, we noticed a couple two tables over who were out with their twin boys (about 6 months old). Each of them had one of their sons on their laps, and the boys were just as content as could be, looking around calmly, as their parents served themselves and had a leisurely conversation. Cath and I looked at each other and shook our heads and laughed, thinking about the angry screaming, flailing arms and legs, arching back, and grabbing of food, utensils, etc. that would have started in the first 10 seconds if we’d ever tried that with Theo! (Thinking of the time he grabbed the soup out of the waiter's hands in Seattle last January, when he was a mere nine months old...)
 
Saturday was our big adventure of the week—we went down to San Jose to spend the day with my family. Theo spent most of the morning and early afternoon playing with Grandma Kathy’s collection of toys and books, most of which he doesn’t have at home. (My mom’s a recently retired teacher, so you can imagine what she still has in the garage.) Great-Grandma Norma, Aunt Tanya, Uncle Steve, and Cousin Nik joined us before too long, and we sat and watched a slide show of my parents’ trip to Europe last month. The highlight was that my grandmom was able to see pictures of the town where she was born in Italy—Villaorba, near Udine, north of Venice. My parents were able to visit while in Venice, and they met up with one of her cousins and his family. In case you don’t know the story, my grandmom left Italy with her family when she was 5 and came out out to San Jose, then met my grandfather when they were kids living off the Alameda. After the slide show and letting the boys play, we took a walk to Thousand Oaks Park, and had dinner, then took off and got back to Roseville around 10.
 
On Sunday, Theo seemed to make it his mission to test us at every turn, which made for a very long day, but we did manage to get out to Whole Foods for lunch and Once Upon a Child for some new books and a shiny new purple car for Theo. Well, honestly, the car is actually quite well loved, but Theo is quite enamored of it, so we couldn’t resist for $10.  Cath is also trying out a new pie recipe tonight—Nutella pecan, made from scratch. It may make its public debut around the holidays. :)
 
This coming week, I think Theo’s going to help me tackle a few household projects, especially fixing up the downstairs bathroom a bit. Not that it was in terrible shape by any means—the house is only 4 years old—but a few cosmetic things never hurt. I’m thinking maybe he can handle the electric drill better than last time? :)  Have a good week everyone!