We have a budding Picasso on our hands--fragmented woman after fragmented woman

Grandpa Ross visits

and a few more:

I love how generous Atticus is with his hugs and kisses lately--with us, the cat, and his teddy bear as well.

I love how he protests every time a spoken verse comes up on the CD of animal songs we've been listening to in the car. If it's not a song, he doesn't want anything to do with it.

I love how determined he is to climb slides and just about everything else, though this determination is also cause for some concern. Today one of his daycare teachers asked me about it--she says he's constantly trying to climb the furniture and it's hard to keep up with him. At least he's not wicked though, like another little kid in that room I won't name. That child is nasty every day that I go in there to pick up Atticus. He's thrown things at me, knocked down chairs, yanked things from kids, yelled "mine" at me as he tried to steal my purse, and pinched kids, etc. And today when I went in there, I was kneeling in front of Atticus, talking to him, and this kid came up and hugged me and called me "mommy," but eyed Atticus as he did it. I swear to you that it was a wicked act--that he was taunting my kid.

really quick lunchbreak notes:

Atticus is saying a few more words--such as "cheese," "please," "book," and "cat."

He signed two words together for what I believe was the first time--"more please." :)

I love how he says "bye bye" to our house when we leave it, and "hi" and "bye" to the cat.

He's expressing interest in being potty trained. The other day on a whim I asked him in the middle of a diaper change if he needed to use the potty. He nodded "yes," so I sat him on one of his toilets, and within a minute, he peed. It went all over the place. We'll have to work on his aim. But I congratulated him heartily, and he grinned and applauded himself. So, I'm going to attempt to full-on train him this upcoming Labor Day weekend. If he's not into it, no big deal. We won't try to force it, but my impression is that he is ready to get started.

San Francisco Trip August 2011

I had trouble uploading photos just now, so I'll try again another time. Some notes from our San Francisco vacation:

Atticus sampled four new forms of travel this past week: a bus, a subway, a bicycle trailer, and a ferry. He tolerated the often-overcrowded San Francisco buses better than one could hope--much better than his father, that's for sure. He mostly just checked everyone out, though on his last bus ride, he did attempt to train in the art of pickpocketing by reaching for a pamphlet in an unsuspecting man's back pocket. He also tugged at the feathers hanging from a woman's necklace--the necklace was practically hanging in his lap after all, the bus was that crowded. The bicycle trailer was by far the most interesting travel experience of the week though. The poor kid had was asleep in the ergo carrier when we arrived to pick up our bikes at about 4pm, and he hadn't had a proper lunch (crackers and blueberries) because Chris and I are not so good at making sure everyone gets fed when we're out and about on the town all day. So when I attempted to ease him into the trailer without waking him, and he woke, he was not in good spirits. In fact, he was terrified--a stranger was trying to strap him in and place a helmet on his head. Not good, not good. I took him out and we went outside of the bike garage and waited until he'd calmed down and woken up more, then lured him into the trailer with crackers. That worked. Then he had a marvelous time for about 45 minutes or so--until he ran out of crackers. Then he cried most of the rest of the 35 minutes or so home.

Mostly though, Atticus had a glorious time. We went to the park just about every day (three different parks over the course of the week--all within walking distance of the house), and he mastered getting up steps and sliding down toddler slides all by himself; we visited several aquariums (he especially enjoyed the first one at the Cal. Academy of Sciences, maybe because it was novel then, maybe because it was more impressive than Aquarium of the Bay with the exception of the fascinating eels at AB) and saw an assortment of fishes, sharks, mollusks, penguins, etc. He danced, his arms spread high over his head, at the site of these full-wall aquariums and ran about giddily; he cheered people running in the San Francisco marathon, which I sadly was unable to participate in; he perched on top of a bagel shop table looking out through a window at passersby in the financial district and got a lot of smiles; he napped in the stroller we rented while we pushed him all over town (and while I toured the DeYoung museum, Chris napping back at the house); he napped in the ergo while we walked all over town; he went hog wild in the plaza in front of the big water sculpture near the Ferry Building--I don't know that I've ever seen him that ecstatic; he chased pigeons; he saw families of squirrels in Buena Vista Park and viewed the city and the ocean from its breathtaking summit; he goofed around in Crissy Field by the Golden Gate Bridge; he discovered a new book to love, I Love You Through and Through; he goofed around at Alcatraz; he got to hang out with grandma Ginny; he ate lots and lots of crackers, black beans, and berries (possibly the most delicious blackberries I've ever had), and drank milk with cream on top.