The Zog Blog

It’s been something of a transition, coming home this time. The weather has been gray, there have been a few (minor) crises here, things have been busy with chores.

But I feel like this weekend, we finally came out the other side and things are looking sunny-side up again. Although it’s just email at this point, we’ve had some interest in the condo for the next year (starting 1 September, if you know anyone who is looking!). The garage is manageable again. The house is immaculate. The laundry and financial management chores are caught up. I’m back in the saddle on my contract work. Jacob is healthy, happy, and very talkative.

I still miss New England, but I’m no longer plotting ways to hop on the next plane. I hope you’re all doing well, too.

Oh, New England.

How I’ve missed you.

(Yes, yes, of course there were baby pictures too. Go take a gander at the whole set, if you want.)

Looking forward to some fun in the sun. See you all in a few weeks!

Things we have to do before hopping on a plane late Wednesday night: Approximately a million.

Things we did this weekend instead of getting on that travel prep?

Played with some water.

Rearranged some furniture.

Watered some plants.

Played the world’s first-ever teapot flute.

In other words, we had a great time and didn’t sweat the small stuff. One way or another, we’ll make it! And I’m reeeeally looking forward to it.

We see you!

Hopefully we will see some of you soon, actually. As I mentioned in my last post, we’re soon to be headed to New England. All three of us arrive at Logan god-awful early Thursday the 21st; Jon leaves for Venice on something like July 2, and Jacob and I leave on July 9th. Tentatively, we’re going to try to do Providence/Sturbridge/Boston things until Tuesday the 26th, then go to Maine for most of the rest of the time. Jon and I are hoping to get away baby-free down to Boston for a night… we’ll see. It would probably be the weekend involving the 30th.

So! Let me know if you’d like to make plans.

It seems flatly impossible to me that over a week has gone by. Our dishwasher broke and we’re still waiting for a replacement, so I knew I was spending more time in the kitchen lately, but over a week? Yikes! Honestly, I don’t remember much that happened before Thursday. On Thursday, we went up to San Jose and visited the Children’s Discovery Museum with our friends the Laughlins.

There was an honest-to-god fire truck, sans door, ready to be explored.

Of course there was a ton of other stuff, too–we spent over three hours there and had a blast. But the fire truck was clearly the highlight of Jacob’s museum experience. I can’t wait to take Jonathan with us on Friday! Back at Asher’s house, Jacob got himself soaked at a water table:

We really had a fabulous day in San Jose in every way, but I had two personal favorite parts. First, it was so wonderful to see close friends again. (Due to trips and illness and whatnot, we hadn’t seen Stacy and family for a month.) We’re trying hard to make good friends here on the peninsula, but the process seems to take an eternity, and it’s soul-filling to spend time with friends who have known you for a decade or more. Second, it was warm and sunny in the Silicon Valley. I hadn’t realized until we arrived how much summer is programmed into my being. June is supposed to be warmer and sunny! It just is. But we’ve seen none of that in Pebble Beach–just foggy, 50-degree days. (I know, I know. I gloated about how cool the summers would be before we moved here. I was wrong.) So Thursday recharged me in all kinds of wonderful ways, and gave me such a positive outlook on things.

And then the Laughlins visited us this weekend, and they brought their beautiful weather with them!

Life is a lot better than it was a week ago. I’m really looking forward to our upcoming trip back East.

Red hair is really, really rare out here on the west coast, so Jacob attracts a lot of attention. Given the craze about the Harry Potter book and movie coming out this summer, we’ve been getting a lot of Weasley comments lately. I usually think people are out of their mind, smile politely, and back away. (Hello, people, it’s fiction…)

But then sometimes I’ll snap an otherwise crappy picture, look at it, and think to myself: “Huh. Maybe they’re right!”

Who the hell put Ron in my living room?!

*****

I’ve been using our Netflix subscription and our Tivo to try out various exercise videos and shows lately. This has been great, mostly because Jacob will gamely play along in the same room and sometimes join in while I do a video. (“Mama Ex Video? Mama Ex Video?”, says Jacob) So I’ve been getting real exercise almost daily.

Currently in the top slot is the “high energy yoga” program Inhale, on the Oxygen network. It’s completely 100% fabulous. I had totally forgotten how flexible I am, and it’s been great to rediscover. Sadly, my memory was completely accurate about my triceps strength. Oh, well. You can’t have everything. :)

Other winners: Turbo Jam: Punch, Kick, and Jam, by Beach Body. This is my favorite gym kickboxing class, on dvd. It’s high-energy, not too dancy, and lets me feel all “raar”. (Yoga makes me feel loose and jello-y and very happy, for contrast.) The New York City Ballet Workout also gets very high marks from me, but I’m not sure it’s for everyone. In particular, I worry about whether people who have never had ballet would enjoy the workout–they don’t really explain the terminology or how to do the ballet moves. It’s a great workout, easy on the eyes, and easy on the ears too. Classical music and ballet warm-ups, basically, done by some of the best dancers in the world. Just make sure you know how to plie first, I guess.

I haven’t enjoyed “The Goddess Workout” as much. I miss bellydancing a lot, but this dvd didn’t do it for me. She doesn’t explain technique very well, and I found her faux-sultry affect a little off-putting.

I have no idea why I just told you all of that, but I think I’m going to hit “post” anyway. Do any of you have favorite exercise videos to share?

Summer has arrived on the Monterey Peninsula, which is really too bad, because “summer” here apparently means “cold and foggy”. We’ve had to use the heat more this weekend than any other time since moving here, and today I wore a thick sweater. Jacob seems impervious to cold.

Jon and I have spent most of the week trying to catch up on work, and it finally feels like we’re (almost) on top of things. Today, while Jon did some consulting work, Jacob and I played in the front yard. It was fun, and he let me take some pictures of him actually playing, which was nice. (Often, he just wants to play with the camera himself–it sure was a lot easier to get great pictures of him when he wasn’t so dexterous. :)

All of the books on childhood development told me that months 18-24 were marked by rapid brain development, which excited me in the abstract. But as it turns out, I was really unprepared for the reality. Dont’ get me wrong–it’s very exciting! But I’m continually awe-struck by Jacob and what he can do, in the true sense of that word: both wonderful and somewhat frightening.

The kid just started talking two months ago, for crying out loud! These days, he continually uses two- and three-word sentences; he knows all of his colors, all of his letters (!!), and can recognize and say about half of the digits. He can actually count to and understand amounts up to three. He picks up several new words each week–it’s like living with a parrot, sometimes. He plays pretend, he makes up silly games, he sometimes wants to “read books to himself”, puzzling out the letters and babbling about the pictures without help. He runs, jumps, bounces along to songs, does the little hand motions to a few songs, turns somersaults, and “helps” me do yoga. He has a sense of humor, and is starting to realize what makes things funny to other people. He can recognize hunger and thirst and, rarely, when he needs to go to the bathroom.

One of the things I have most enjoyed about being a parent is that I’ve gotten a chance to ease into things. When babies arrive, they can do so very little that you get a grace period to figure out what you need to do before the next thing comes along. I’m starting to feel like things are moving a little too quickly now, though. I don’t always get a chance to process and fully savor one miracle before 5 more come tumbling out behind it. Sometimes I just want to grab Jacob into a great big hug, hold him tightly, and drink in this surprising, glorious little person.

But that would just make me miss out on the sidewalk chalk.

Yesterday? Not the greatest day. In fact, one of the more trying ones, in the dying-from-a-thousand-papercuts sense. But hey, it’s over. And I promise I’ll get to your comments and questions from the last entry soon. Of course, part of the problem was another slew of computer issues. Thankfully (and almost unbelievably), none of them are due to our favorite little devil:

One very frustrating day aside, we’ve been enjoying some warm sunny weather here lately. A few days ago, we all walked the pedestrian path through the Fisherman’s Wharf section of Monterey. It was sunny and almost hot and gorgeous.

(I caught this smile at a museum.)

I’m working on a big deadline for MITRE this week, which I should really stop procrastinating on. This weekend I plan to do no work of any kind, and just enjoy the extra time with Jon. What are your plans?

I’m no Martha Stewart, I’m no June Cleaver. But some days, I come closer than others.

Challah. Jacob and I make it together every week. I get all teary whenever I think about how his childhood will be anchored and woven through with the smell of baking bread, the feel of flour and dough on his hands.

Asparagus-morel-gruyere bread pudding. Made with fresh, local ingredients.

Of course, life has a way of reminding me of my true place. Tonight, while reading books with Jacob, we had gotten halfway through “Where the Wild Things Are” when he started whimpering. He gave me what I can only call a dirty look, grabbed the book, climbed down out of the chair, and scampered over to where Jon was web surfing. He pulled on Jon’s pant-leg and whimpered “Dada! Dadaaa…” in the most pitiful little voice. You’d think I’d killed all four of the Teletubbies and the Baby Einstein turtle to boot.

As it turns out, I don’t roar my terrible roars, gnash my terrible teeth, roll my terrible eyes, or show my terrible claws quite as well as Daddy can. In fact, I wasn’t allowed to read him any book after that.

The little stinker.

I think the universe was trying to tell me something when I thought up the title to that last post. This weekend, two of our three computers threw fatal hard drive failures. Joy! Wait, no. That’s wrong. What’s the word I’m looking for?

…Oh yeah. Suck!

We’ve managed, at this point, to create a workaround since we really can’t afford to upgrade our machines at the moment. The desktop is now booting off of an external drive, and Jon took my laptop, since I didn’t really need it. I can’t be too upset about the desktop, since it’s 7 years old. But the laptop is only 3 years old and our AppleCare on it expired 2 months ago, and I can’t help being a little pissed at Apple.

Jacob, of course, is happily oblivious.

(Actually, right now he’s alternating screaming fits and peals of laughter, because while we were drinking our coffee and trying to wake up at 6:30am, he was sneaking into the cupboard and getting into the dark chocolate.

We think he ate a couple of ounces of it before we realized it was Quiet. Too Quiet. in the house. Gotta love life with a toddler!)

More joy later, I promise. Until then, FEH!

And sadly, this goes for grandmother visits, too.

I think they had a good time.

I hope so, because we loved having them, and hope they return soon!

Me? I’m rejoicing in the spring that has finally arrived. The weather was so warm for Bev and Nancy’s visit, and everything was so sunny for most of this week. Today is cooler and foggy, but that’s okay. I have pictures to remind me!

And to help even more, we got some of the season’s first peaches and tomatoes at the farmer’s market yesterday. Has spring sprung where you are?

We have visitors! Mie-Mie (short for “Grammie Bev”) and Nanny (Nancy) are spending some time with us this weekend. Jacob is having a blast with all of the silly attention. Yesterday, we went to the Hakone Gardens up in Saratoga.

Jacob has previously only seen these gardens from the immobility of the back-pack carrier, but yesterday we just let him run wild. Nanny and Mie-Mie taught him how to say “Bamboo”!

He loves bamboo.

They have also successfully taught him how to say “Backhoe”. Not so much, “Mr. Mestophiles”. Boy, he loves his Grammies.

They seem to be having a wonderful time, too!

Is anyone having trouble viewing the blog itself (rather than via an RSS feed) with Firefox?

We had a lovely day here today, even by the local standards. It was 65 degrees, sunny, and very clear. To the north, you could see all the way into the Santa Cruz mountains (about an hour away). To the west, nothing but ocean. I feel like I write a lot about our day-to-day activities here, but that I haven’t spent much time talking about this place we picked up and moved to. Except maybe to say, again and again, how beautiful it is here.

(View into the bay from Lovers’ Point, Pacific Grove.)

And it is lovely. It takes my breath away, sometimes, even after almost a year here. But there’s more than just the lovely water and trees. First of all, the Monterey Peninsula is pretty small, both geographically and in terms of population. At around 50,000 people, it’s as populous as the several-town area I grew up (if more culturally sophisticated), and really quite a lot smaller than anywhere I’ve lived since leaving home.

(Looking back at Lovers’ Point from the pedestrian/bike path that runs around the peninsula.)

The size has both advantages and disadvantages. I think my family, when visiting, feels more at home here than they ever did near Boston. Not only is the ocean right there, just like home in Maine, but it has that friendly small-town feel, particularly to a tourist. It’s not too big to comprehend. And people are much more friendly here than in a big city, simply because we can be, I think. You see the same people as you go about your life. On the other hand, if you want something that isn’t at Target or Home Depot, you’re driving an hour and a half up to San Jose to get it. There’s one traditional movie theater and one art-house theater. There aren’t a ton of restaurants, and the ethnic food is very limited.

(Our street.)

It’s true of the whole peninsula, but especially where we live here in Pebble Beach, life has a very easy feel. I think this is simply woven through the local culture, since we have such a high percentage of retirees here. People aren’t in a hurry. Nothing is very far, and times are loosely-kept. Jon loves this. I love it too, intellectually, but my inner New Englander sometimes gets in the way of my emotional enjoyment. (Like when I’m stuck behind someone who’s only going 15 miles an hour, enjoying the scenery.)

(Spanish Bay beach, 15 minute walk from the house.)

We’re talking a lot about what we’d like to do for housing next year–our lease is up at the end of July, and we’d love to have a yard. We toy with the idea of moving out of Pebble Beach and into Pacific Grove or Carmel, which are more family-friendly, but it’s hard to think about leaving our peaceful oasis. Pebble Beach, since it’s county land owned by a corporation and very well-protected, is much more green. There’s a lot of space between houses, and no sound but the ocean when we open the windows. Pacific Grove and Carmel are much closer to the typical beach-town: houses quite close together, painted lots of fun and interesting colors. More lively, but… well, that’s it. More lively. :) Less wildlife, more noise. On the other hand, lots more families with young children if we leave PB. May we all always have such choices.

(Sunset, over rocks at Asilomar State Beach.)

Sunsets are lovely here, but honestly I miss sunrise back East. I find the beginning of the day much more quiet and calm, and that speaks to me more right now. Sunset over the Pacific is brash, warm, fiery. I really miss the quiet pre-dawn purple, the first silent peeks of light over the water (especially on a cold morning), and then warm light ushering in a new day. Call me crazy.

Jacob saw his first helicopter today. He was pretty excited about the way it looked, up there in the sky like a bug, but he hated the sound.