Halloween Festivities

This last couple of weekends have been a whirlwind of activity.

There was a parade at his preschool... here's part of the class picture...


Here he is with his best friend-- cute!


We had a Halloween play date at his best friend's house...


Terence's Totoro pumpkin...


Dinner with John and Amy-- Boo loves seaweed!


Jason's 3rd bday party at Chuck E. Cheese, which apparently has turned into a Las Vegas for kids....

Fun at the PreSchool Family Fun Day...





Fun at the Junior Museum and Zoo, then onto the Palo Alto Menlo Park Parents' Club Halloween party...



Finally, trick or treating in our new neighborhood. Boo made me be a witch. Terence didn't dress up because he refused to humor Boo, who wanted him to be a mermaid).

Milestones?

Today, Boo did something he never did before-- he made his stuffed Mickey Mouse talk! It was a little weird hearing that falsetto come out of Boo's already very high pitched voice. I must admit, I was both strangely pleased that he'd make his stuffy talk (how creative!), but also kind of creeped out by that voice you only hear in horror movies. But instead of saying something like "I'm coming for you," he said something reassuring like "I want to lay down and cuddle next to Gavin on his bed," or something similarly unremarkable. Whew!

In other news, Gavin is really growing more social at preschool. He has no separation issues whatsoever, and seems to talk to both adults and the other kids there. Sometimes he plays with them, too, but mostly, he's just happy to explore. Even when it's my day to work there, he doesn't play with me. I used to worry that he'd have separation issues since I've pretty much spent almost every moment with him for the last 2.75 years, but thankfully, he's blossoming into a little independent person... who uses the potty consistently, no less!

The reason there are no pics on this posting is because I just spent the last hour waiting for a video to upload, only to have it crash on me. The video was awesome-- it was a video of Boo reading a book he's never read before. He reads at approximately a 1st grade level, as I discovered when we were at the library the other day, and all these tall willowy first graders were haltingly reading books aloud that Boo's already read on his own. Even though I'm proud that my 2 year old can read like someone who's 6 or 7, I'm generally very hesitant to admit that he can read to other parents that have kids a similar age, since they either wonder if I'm the stereotypical crazy Asian mom who forces their poor babies to do math for hours while kneeling on abacuses, or even worse, come to the realization that kids really don't start out equal and that maybe their previously brilliant kid isn't really THAT smart. Or, worst of all they start questioning their parenting style. While Boo is naturally smart, I know that he's also extraordinarily lazy, and we all know that it's not how smart you are, but how hard you work.

Weekend in Napa

Terence had to go to an old friend's wedding in Napa last weekend, so Gavin and I had a mommy date! It was fun.

Here is a pic of us dropping off Terence at the wedding shuttle venue (they had shuttle service to the ceremony, which was in a winery). Gavin was quite sad to leave Daddy, who is "the best" as you can see.

Ever the diplomat, Gavin also thinks I'm the best (in response to the question "who's the best?" he'll often say "you (i.e. daddy) and mommy are the best." We had fun at Playground Fantastico in Napa.

Then, we went shopping and dog hunting/petting at the outlets, where I bought his Halloween and Xmas outfits. Gavin loves little and medium sized doggies that don't lick. Doesn't it look like he's walking them here?

Then, we checked into Avia, our hotel that we booked last minute. Gavin also loves hotels and elevators. He's looking sad here because I forced him to take a pic, when he wanted to go explore the room.

After that, we walked around downtown Napa and had a dinner date at Pearl Restaurant, which had a really delicious cheesy polenta and pork chop. Gavin especially enjoyed their olive spread.

The next day, we had brunch with the wedding couple at their villa in St. Helena. It was very pretty, and Gavin loved playing with Luke (the couple's child). They were instant buddies, although they've played together in the past.

Here is a pic of Terence and Gavin at the villa (their grapevines are still relatively young).

Here is a picture of Matty-Matt (the groom), Terence, and Boo. Aren't they cute?

We stopped by the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone on the way home because we couldn't resist. Terence and I dropped in on an awesome demo class on making panna cotta and almond tuille there a long time ago. Here is a pic of our chef in the making.

Pumpkin Patching

Today we went to the pumpkin patch in Ardenwood Farms for some fun before a long, long day looking at plumbing fixtures. Here are some pics.

Gavin loved the Indian corn best, and didn't want a pumpkin after finding them. We were able to escape the pumpkin patch only one dollar poorer!

Climbing the hay bale tower with dada.

The bale maze, Gavin's favorite part. He must have run the maze about 10 times before we forced him to leave.