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Jonah was unusually difficult when I picked him up early from preschool today. I was excited to spend the adternoon with him but he broke down crying about everything from where we chose to cross the street, to the snack I made him, to not getting another Lightning McQueen band-aid. After I couldn’t take it any longer, on a hunch I laid down, he joined me for a moment, and I wemt for his achilles heel: a back tickle. Viola… Hunch confirmed: he was exhausted. he crashed within minutes and slept on me for an hour and a half.

This post was photographed, written, and uploadedd entirely on my phone, onw-handed, during aforementioned nap. I might get tendonitis in my left hand because of it, but it was worth it.

When he woke up, first thing he said in a raspy voice was, “mommy, my tummy is mad cause it doesn’t have any food it likes in it.”

Pictures don’t show how wicked the wind was, the bonfire we huddled by, the angry, pounding surf, or the sand-crusted snot on the kids noses. But they show some sweet moments from a fun, did I mention windy? afternoon at North Beach in Pt. Reyes.  Afterwards: Pt. Reyes Station for salad, pizza, IPA, and apple pie and a little Harlem Shake dance party.

After almost 6 months of swimming lessons (not to mention swim classes the last 2 summers) we were beginning to think it would never happen…maybe our boy would wear floaties the rest of his life. But alas, he has graduated to the next level at swim school. There is hope.

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Jonah: Why don’t I have swimming today?

Me: It is a holiday.

Jonah: Oh yea, it is Easter egg day.

Some people searched for Easter eggs. We flew a kite, then hid out from the rain baking salted brown butter cookies.

Saturday: BART into SF, 12 mile bike-ride along the waterfront to Fort Point.

Sunday: Fort Cronkhite / Rodeo Beach

Last Friday Lee and Jonah flew to LA and Lee kicked-off a photo shoot. Monday I flew to Nashville.  The boys flew home Wednesday morning.  I flew home Thursday morning.  Lee left for Tahoe Friday morning. Weather permitting, there is only one thing to do after a week like this; go to the beach. Jonah and I went to Stinson on Friday, Berkeley Marina on Saturday…

As seen in the last two photos, Jonah scrambled across the rocks on the waterfront by Shorebird Park.  Physically, Jonah can be a little timid, and needs to figure things out on his own time. I was pleasantly surprised to watch him climb far across the rocks on his own, and when he circled back to me he exclaimed proudly, “Mommy, it wasn’t even me, it was my body doing it.”

Lastly, on Saturday afternoon we went to the Elmwood Cafe and I told him he could pick out a baked treat. He pointed to the chocolate croissant in the display case.  I acquiesced. When he took his first bite he looked at me, eyes wide and said, “Mommy, this is so good. It is chocolate in here. I thought it was going to be olives!”

Berkeley kid.

Note to self: next time get him some bread and tapenade, save yourself from the sugar crash.

The staff of Jonah’s school has an annual in-service day the Friday before President’s weekend. So I took a half-day; brought him into the office for the morning and we played around in the city all afternoon. As always, he says the Bart rides were the best part, but I think he had fun on the in-between parts too. After the office we went out to lunch, then to Yerba Buena Gardens and the Children’s Creativity Museum.

Work is better with a buddy to share my desk and request, “business papers” for drawing.

I am a hippocrite. I think grown-up Valentine’s Day is a farce. Luckily, Lee agrees and we pass the day like any other, not emptying our pockets for roses or prix fixe dinners.

I am a hippocrite however because I love kid Valentine’s Day. I think it is damn cute when a bunch of half-pints who spend their days antagonizing each other over blocks and who is better on the monkey bars, exchange cards and make things for each other. Last year Jonah was transported by the bag of cards he received from his classmates. We spent hours, no days, laying out all the cards and discussing who they were from and what he liked about each one.

Which brings us to this year… I learned last year that large scale craft projects need time. So we started a our homegrown sponge-painting card production a couple weeks ago and slowly chipped away.

It was fun to watch Jonah experiment with mixing color and creative ways to write his name.

When the temps dropped, we stayed warm…