Omakase with Phi & Michael

Last week, our friends Phi and Michael generously treated us to a goodbye dinner at this fabulous restaurant in downtown Riverside called Omakase. Brein Clements, the chef and owner, has an intriguing résumé that includes stints at Domaine Chandon, Gary Danko, and Manresa which are all well known restaurants in Norcal. Anyway, we got the 5 course tasting menu, which was delicious! Every time we go, we're always the only ones there, and each time we leave, we pray that the restaurant will stay in business. Here are some pics:

Shrimp and marinated watermelon salad-- light and yummy!


Braised beef cheek and white fish on a bed of polenta.


Delicious seared fois gras with cognac soaked apricots and fried brioche.


Some sort of chocolate lava cake with basil ice cream, which had a very interesting flavor. Yum!


Here's a pic of the four of us, all matchy matchy.



The chef is really friendly, like a big overstuffed teddy bear, and we got a private tour of the kitchen, which was immaculate. It's the only restaurant in Riverside County that consistently gets 100% on their health checks. If you live in the area, go check it out! $60 for a tasting menu of this caliber is a total bargain, in my opinion! In LA, it'd be at least $110.


Thanks again, and we'll miss you, Phi and Michael! Come up to the Bay Area soon, so we can hit up the French Laundry or have some other delicious food! You guys and Ripley are welcome at our pad anytime! =]

Playtime with Norie

We're in the midst of packing up our house, so Boo has been spending a little more time with his favorite babysitter, Norie. In a typical 4 hour period, Norie takes Boo to the park, plays with him indoors, then plays with him in the baby pool. Here are some pics that she took:

This one was taken during lunchtime with Mommy. Boo's #1!


Here is one she took of Boo playing in his baby pool.


Finally, here are a couple of videos she took. Boo's big enough to go down the big kid slide all by himself now! The second one is a video of him calling for Zoe.



We'll miss you when we move next week, Norie!

My Little Boy

My baby is no longer a baby. How did that happen so fast? Ahhhh! Anyway, here are pics of my little boy on our recent trip up to Palo Alto.

Playing with the Dolans.



Hanging out with Uncle John & Auntie Amy, Boo's new favorite person.

Plagiarism!

Recently, I read a coworker's blog, which basically was a list of her daughter's stats at a certain age, and I thought to myself, "Wow, what a great idea!" So here is a list of Boo's stats because I'm a major biter! Shame, shame on me.

Here what I can remember of Boo's stats at 16.5 mos:

Words Boo Says in Boo-Boo Language and Translation (about 80 words, but most with very poor pronunciation)
Ball (ball)
Dog (dug'n)
Cat (cat?)
Kayla (La-la!)
Zoe (Zo-zo)
Murray (murrey)
Yuck (yuck!)
All Done (ah dun)
Uh oh (uh oh)
Oh no (oh no!)
Chair (chae)
Poo poo (pupu)
No (nuh, nuh, nuh!)
Nose (no)
Mouse (mou)
Mouth (mou)
Eyes (aaahs)
Ear (eah)
Hi (hi)
Bye (buh-bye)
Kitty (kit-ty)
Tree (trei)
Banana (baba)
Eggs (egg'n)
Mommy (mama)
Daddy (dada)
Bird (bud'n)
on (uhn)
off (aah)
purple (purple)
bubble (bubble)
turtle (tuttle)
book (booh)
car (cah)
frog (grah)
up (up)
down (dah)
open (o-poo)
close (clah)
door (doh)
brush (brah)
bottle (bahtle)
duck (duk)
bowl (bol)
boat (boat)
shoes (zhue)
socks (saks)
spoon (poon)
clock (clok)
elmo (elmo)
cookie (coo-coo)
apple (apple)
blue (bluh)
chalk (chak)
drawer (drah)
draw (drawl)
hot (hat)
hat (hyat)
hand (han)
throw (trow)
zoo (zoo)
radio (dio)
deer (deh)
bear (beh)
walk (wok)
two (two)
four (fuh)
six (sick)
eight (ate)
ten (den)
more (moh?)
please (plah)
thank you (dank uhn)
crayon (crah)
bug (bug'n)
danger (dig dig!)
water (waw)
milk (nuk)
juice (jew)
keys (keeh)
baby (bebe)
bear (beh)
noodle (noo'le)
chicken (chick'n)
cheese (chee)
knock knock (nok, nok)
goat (goat)



Sounds:
Moo (cow)
Baba (sheep)
oooh ooh (monkey)
ruh, ruh, ruh! (dog)
eyow (cat)
neigh (horse)
hoo hoo (owl)
choo choo (train)
mwah! (kisses)


He can also pronounce the whole alphabet and recognizes all upper case letters.

Parts of body recognized and pointed to on himself and others:

Tummy
Hair
Nose
Ears
Eyes
Belly button
Tongue
Foot
Toes
Hand
Fingers

Favorite books:
Knuffle Bunny
Dog
Ocean Wonders
Madeline
Busy Farmyard
What Makes A Rainbow

Favorite song:
I'm Yours by Jason Mraz (his sleepytime song-- I think I listen to this at least 100 times a day)

Favorite foods:
Fruits, especially oranges and mangoes. And cookies.

Favorite toys:
Ride-on toy, deer ugly stuffed animal, WOW shape sorter school bus, TOTO cash register, keys (mine, of course!)

Favorite activity: watching TV, feeding the ducks at the VA ponds, trying to ride the dog, playing with the kitty and bunnies, going to the park, watching the ants, chalking up the driveway, scribbling, bubbles, and helping Mommy feed/water the animals.

Tricks: giving five and getting five back, giving kisses, patty cake, giving hugs, walking backwards, and following directions (e.g.: Can you get the book "Everyone Poops" and give it to Mommy? or Where did you put the ______, can you find it and give it to Mommy?)

About Boo:
~He hates eating, and makes a gigantic mess every time! Strangely, he loves watching and helping us cook by mixing stuff.
~He loves music and will listen to the same song over and over.
~He loves to try to boss the kitty and dog around, even though they don't pay him any attention really.
~He is extremely social and smiles and says hi to everyone.
~He can recognize images of everything that he can say, unless it's a chihuahua, which he thinks is a cat.
~He has a great attention span, but gets frustrated very easily when working on his motor skills.
~He loves to play with the phone and will hold it up to his ear or the dog's ear and say "hello?"
~He absolutely hates diaper changes, and will live happily with a poopie butt for as long as he can get away with it.
~He is very demanding, an excellent actor, and will try to take advantage of all weaklings (i.e. grandma)!
~He loves being outdoors, and would be outside all day if we let him.
~He's currently in the bottom 2nd percentile for weight at 20 lbs, but in the 50th percentile for height.

In other news, after 16 months, Boo is finally done breastfeeding, woo hoo!