i was so excited as i was getting ready go to the parade this morning.  but mama didn’t let me pick out my outfit like i usual do — she dressed me in a light blue polo and brown shorts.  mama and i matched!  the only difference was that mama’s shirt had a pound puppy rescue logo on it.  mama said that there weren’t going to be a lot of potties around and that i should wear “special underwear” (a pull-up diaper), but i refused.  mama didn’t have time to argue because we were running late.  so we grabbed koda, and off we went.

as soon as we got into the car, i asked mama for apple juice.  remembering that we wouldn’t be near a bathroom for hours, mama tried to stall me.  but i insisted.  i got my juice.  mama got nervous.

we made it to the los altos pet parade, and guess what.  we actually got to be in the parade!  all of us, even koda!  how cool is that?!  we marched with pound puppy rescue, which is why we had to wear light blue and brown — pound puppy colors.  apparently, mama and koda march in this parade every year, but this was my first time.

mama volunteered me to hold the big banner at the front of our group, but i am too short.  oh well.  maybe next year.  it was so fun to get to walk in the middle of the street and see all the people on the sidewalks watching me and taking pictures.  one guy even got right up in my face with a big video camera.  look me for me on tv

it was so cool to see all the police motorcycles, hear the bands play, play with the puppies, and march in the pet parade.  but about half way through, i turned toward mama: “mama carry kyden”.  she knew i couldn’t be tired from walking (since i walk much farther when we walk around the neighborhood), but she carried me anyway.  and then she realized that i just wanted a better view so that i could count all the puppies.  i counted out loud to 38 (skipping a couple of numbers here and there), and then i lost track.  i had such a great time that i am already looking forward to next year.

(oh, and guess what…  i didn’t pee in my underwear.  see, i don’t need those “special underwear” that mama tried to make me wear.)

part of me is worried that i won’t be able to keep my stuff out of her reach for much longer, so but part of me is so proud.  i wonder when she’s going to start climbing out of her crib.  climb, baby, climb!

auntie judy says that she wants to take me rock climbing when i’m old enough.  now, i wonder if she’ll want to take sienna instead

i want to ride the tour next year, but only stage 3.  it starts about a mile away from our house.  miss denise, mama, and i actually went to go check it out today.  luckily, miss denise lives less than a block away from the start, so we parked at her house and walked.

there were lots of bikers hanging out in the middle of the street, and a guy was saying the names of all the riders in a super loud voice — like 10 times louder than my outside voice.  so cool!  then just a few minutes later, all the bikers rode away.  and suddenly the excitement was all over.

watching a bike race is kind of boring because it starts and ends so quickly.  but i think being in a bike race might be more fun.  so what do you think — tricycle or run bike?  either way, look for me in the 2013 tour of california!

dada really likes bowling and he has always wished that mama would like it as much as he does. she doesn’t. but i do! (see video). i see lots of daddy/son bowling dates in our future. dada is so proud (and so happy).

and when we went shopping to buy new shoes, mama gave me my choice of shoes at stride rite. i picked the flip flops! they are a little bit hard to walk in because they fall off sometimes, but they are my new favorite shoes — i show them off to everyone. i want to wear my flip flops all the time, just like mama does. mama is so proud.

while we were out, mama got a special delivery — a big box of chocolate covered strawberries and cake pops from auntie barbara ! what a sweet surprise. i think auntie barbara is trying to show me up. mama loves all her special treats, but wants to know why everyone is trying to fatten her up

after breakfast, we packed up all our stuff for the day and headed out. first stop, chipotle. that’s right. grandma wanted burritos for her mama day lunch. we hung out with grandma for awhile, and then off to swim lessons. uncle randy and grandma came to watch me and sienna swim. uncle randy was inspired at how fearless we are in the water. grandma was horrified.

after swim lessons (and our usual post-swimming froyo at pinkberry), we went straight to zoe’s birthday party. both sienna and i fell asleep on the way there. the party was at airborne, the same place where maddie had her party a few months ago. it took me a little while to wake up from my power nap, but once the fog cleared from my brain, i had a good time. and now that sienna is crawling and cruising, she got to participate in the fun, too! well, sort of. she mostly hung out with her friend, malia, while i participated in the birthday party obstacle circuit. (remember when i said that sienna has man hands? well, she has big floppy rabbit feet, too. check out this photo!) sienna wanted to get in on the big kid action, but i she’s too little. i almost flattened her when i was going down the slide that she was trying to climb up.

after playing in the gym, we went to the party room for dinner. there was pizza, lemon grass chicken, shrimp rolls, and a whole spread of vietnamese food. mama kept offering me chicken and broccoli and other stuff, but i kept saying “no, i’m good”. i got to eat a whole slice of pizza — which i never get to do — why would i want anything else?

what a busy day we had. i had been practicing all morning to say “happy mama day” to mama and grandma, but sometimes i accidentally said “happy birthday” instead. now you can see why. happy mama day to mama and grandma. and happy birthday to zoe!

when we first got to the bowling alley, matthew and i got special slippery shoes to wear.  dada couldn’t believe that they make (and rent) bowling shoes in our sizes.  on the way over to our lane, we picked up some 6 and 8 pound balls to use.  the bumpers went up, and then we were all set to bowl!

i didn’t really know what to do, but i wasn’t worried because matthew had already been bowling two times before today.  plus, dada and auntie audrey were bowling with us.  they both have their own bowling balls and shoes, and they both used to play in leagues.  they are pros!   and just as we were getting started, logan showed up with his family.  logan was afraid of the alley and didn’t want to bowl, so uncle greg got a lane with no bumpers.  but then logan eventually decided to play, and he bowled with no bumpers.  go logan!

so with all these expert bowlers around, why did i go first?  i dunno, but it wasn’t the brightest idea.  mama helped me carry the ball to the start of the lane and put the ball down right behind the foul line.  she started to say something about rolling the ball, but before she could finish, i did what i thought was obvious.  i kicked it.  what else are you supposed to do with a ball that’s placed on the ground right in front of you?  it’s just like soccer, right?  well, i quickly learned that i am supposed to push the ball down the lane.  but when i did that, the ball rolled so slowly that it would have taken three hours to finish one game.  so auntie audrey got us a special ramp.  we put the ball on top of the ramp, then we pushed it down the rails, and it rolled down the lane super fast.

we bowled two games, and we even got some strikes and spares in there!  i don’t know who won, but we all had fun.  i wonder if there are pee-wee bowling leagues that we can play in so that we can be just like our parents!  dada would be so proud.

sienna must have gotten the big-teeth gene from auntie barbara.  i’ve seen pictures of auntie from when she was little, and she had big teeth too.  dada says that he and uncle randy used to call her “bucktooth barbara”.  ”bucktooth sienna” doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, but “bucktooth baby” does

anyway, now that sienna has enough teeth to chew with, i’m worried that she is going to start eating my food.  and if you’ve ever seen me eat, you know that i can eat.  a lot.  well, sienna can too.  if she starts eating my food, i will go hungry!  so i found a solution to the problem – i’ve started eating her food!

i’ve discovered that baby’s food is so yummy that i want to eat it all the time.  my favorites are avocado chunks, baby carrots (steamed extra soft), and baked pears.  all organic, of course.  i’ve always preferred organic carrots over regular ones.  regular carrots taste like dirt.

today, i re-discovered the magic of puffs.  magic puffs used to be my favorite – i can’t imagine why i ever stopped eating them!  i wanted to eat the entire container of puffs, but mama kept telling me that they belong to sienna.  baby wants wants to eat my steak.  i want to eat her puffs.  i think that i can work with bucktooth baby to negotiate a fair trade.

last week, a lady came to our swim school and took pictures of everyone.  the photos are finally posted, and i spent a lot of time looking at them this morning.  you know what i noticed?  my photo:  eyes closed.  sienna’s photo:  eyes open.  eyes closed.  eyes open.  closed.  open.

i told dada that when i dive into the water, i’m supposed to close my eyes.  but mama corrected me and said that my eyes should be open, like sienna’s.  that way, i can see where i’m going.  especially now that we are learning to circle swim (dive into the water, turn around, then swim to the wall) we need to know where the wall is!

okay, eyes open.  i’m going to try that today in swim class.

another thing i noticed is that sienna has enormous hands (and feet, too).  i had always thought her hands were tiny, ‘cuz they are… compared to mine.  but malia is almost the same age as sienna (less than 2 weeks younger), and her dainty little hands are 3/4 the size!  i’m not exaggerating at all.  sienna says that her fingers are just long like mama’s, but i don’t think so.  she has man hands!

i tried to get a side-by-side picture of sienna’s and malia’s hands, but sienna wouldn’t cooperate.  i guess i don’t blame her.  i wouldn’t want photographic evidence that i was a freak of nature, either.

miss denise still comes to take care of me and sienna every day.  and between gym class, swimming, soccer, and my very busy social calendar, i get plenty of socialization with other kids.  and i’m only 2!  so why would i need to go to school?  well, dada said something about having money in a childcare spending account that he needs to use before the end of the year.  ahem… if dada needs to spend money on his children, i can think of a whole lot of other things to spend it on — like sharks games!

anyway, the plan was for me to go to school 2 days a week, 3 hours a day.  we did lots of things to prepare.  mama went with me to visit the school 4 times.  we wrote on our calendar so i could see when my first day of school was coming up.  we talked a lot about how mama was going to bring me to school, leave to go to work, let me play with my friends, then come back and pick me up later.  mama taught me how to firmly say “NO!” and “STOP!” if someone does something that is not nice.  i’m even shifting my nap time to match the school schedule.

even with my early nap time, i was still asleep at 3:45pm this afternoon.  mama woke me up and asked me if i wanted to stay home or go to school.  “new school!”  so i packed my backpack with some of my favorite snacks and a toy from home, and off we went.

mama went inside the school with me, just like before.  but when we started getting ready for our sports activity (hitting whiffle balls with foam bats), mama told me that she was going to leave.  it was 4:30pm.

after mama left, i cried.  a lot.  i calmed down after 15 minutes, but i still didn’t want to participate in the group activity.  i was hungry!  but after i finished eating my snack, i got busy playing with my new friends.  we cooked pizza and oatmeal for breakfast in the play kitchen, and i made a puzzle.  when mama came to pick me up, i was busy talking on the phone, so i didn’t want to leave.

mama came to pick me up at 5:45pm.  i was so happy to see her that i started tearing up.  mama saw my tears and was worried that i had been crying the whole time, but miss shawna (my teacher) assured her that i was doing fine.  i gave mama a hug and said “i miss mama!” and i told her that i had fun at my new school.  mama was so relieved.  if this works out, i might extend my 3 hours to full days.  we’ll see!