A Baby Boy's Best Friend

Kissin' Merlin

Grabbin' Merlin

Planning Their Escape

Merlin and Wyatt were like two peas in a pod each time we visited Novato. 

Merlin would go into his crate and Wyatt would follow and shut the door. Or if Merlin was in his crate and Wyatt felt like hanging out with his buddy, he'd open the door and free him. (Wyatt was really good at that) At this point, Wyatt was still crawling and Merlin would steal his socks. They both played with the same chew toys (yuck!). And every morning, as we'd approach the door to Grandma and Cha-Cha's house (Merlin's home), Wyatt would bounce up and down in my arms, clap and say "Oeuf - oeuf!" Like "egg-egg" in French, but it was his own way of saying "woof-woof!" He's 16 months old now and he still says "oeuf-oeuf!" everytime he sees or hears a dog.

Another uniquely Wyatt quirk is whenever you tell him to "be gentle", which is pretty often when there is a fairly helpless pup around, he'll look at the animal and then rub his belly in a quick circular motion. It's a funny little sign language "word" he made up on his own.

Bolinas, California

A Stroll and a Ginger Ale Settles A Tummy

Sunbeams on the Beach

Digging for Sand Ammunition

Yay, Bolinas!

Baby in a Backpack

There is a funky little artist/surfing community just off of Highway One, north of San Fransisco called Bolinas. William, Wyatt and I may never have known of it's existance, had Carolina not called us one Saturday to see if we wanted to join her for a little daytrip. 

We met her in Mill Valley. She parked her car, then jumped in ours and did the navigating as William drove the car up and around turn after windy turn. I was seriously regretting the fact that I had no dramamine on me, as my stomach swished and sloshed and I felt my face turning green. The ride from Mill Valley to Bolinas, although in total was probably only 20 minutes, felt like about an hour, and I was grateful that upon our arrival, I found the dusty little 100 year old grocery store and in it I bought a yummy, old fashioned ginger ale to soothe my tummy. 

Carolina planned to surf on this trip. She slithered into her wet suit and headed down to the water with her surfboard. There were a surprising amount of surfers, both young and old there. I had bought a large sketch pad a few days earlier and I brought some charcoals with me to draw with.  This meant that William was going to wrangle Wyatt. However, drawing proved difficult as I was often sharing my small blanket with Wyatt and William. 

This trip to the beach, Wyatt was old enough to enjoy the sand, and he loved scooping it up in his little hands and letting it squish through his fingers. He also decided it would be fun to scoop up sand and stand behind me as I sat on the blanket, and pour fistfuls of sand down my back. It was just about the funniest thing ever, as it confirmed what I have thought for a while: my nearly one year old child has quite the mischeivious sense of humor! In fact, as he was pouring little fistfuls of sand down the back of my shirt, he was giggling and chuckling and cracking himself up. That little bugger.

Hiking with New Friends

The Hiking Group

Do we look like an ad for Ergos, or what?

Otis in Back, Wyatt in Front

Otis in the Ergo

Around the 11th of November, we left New York and headed to Novato, California to visit Wyatt's west coast grandma and Cha-Cha. An added bonus was that Wyatt also got to see his Brooklyn buddy, River, who moved with his family to northern California back in July.

Through River and his mom Carolina, we met a fantastic group of moms and dads. The first day we landed in California, Carolina called to see if Wyatt and I wanted to join her and River in Berkeley for mommy and me yoga in the park. We joined them the next day and had a great time. We did a little yoga, but mostly it was a chance to chat with other moms and let our babies have a little play time and get some fresh air. It also turned out that these moms do quite a bit of hiking in and around Berkeley, and there was a family hike scheduled for the following weekend. 

So that Saturday we drove up hills and windy roads and eventually got lost, but then found our way again to meet up with everyone in the Berkeley Hills. There was Carolina and River (Laurent had to work that day), Maya, Otis and Tim and, oh no, what were the names of the other family???? Well, their baby's name was Kaiwa. I remember that much. Oh, and we brought Merlin, the dog, with us, too. Anyway, there were four babies and all four were worn on the front or back of their moms in Ergos. There should have been a film crew from the Ergo marketing department there. If you've ever watched the DVD that comes with the Ergo, it's pretty funny. Earnest Hawaiian hippies showing you how to "wear' your baby.

It was a fun day. Good weather, good people, good times.