Downpour

A Northern California rain starts acting Midwestern.

Minutes earlier we had stepped outside, believing the rain was done for the day.

My parental instinct to protect the boy from any possible discomfort was setting off emotional alarms, but rationally I was aware we were mere yards away from the bathtub and a fresh change of clothes.

Of course there were the other internal alarms, both emotional AND rational, about possible damage to the camera, that ultimately wound up getting me to stop the shot and run to the porch for shelter.

We played outside for another few minutes and got very wet indeed.

My wishes go out to the thousands in Napa and Sonoma counties for whom this rainstorm has been anything but play.

Length: 1:16

Click to view

No Time for Christmas

We worked diligently to introduce the boy to the applicable concepts: christmas trees, santa claus, sleigh, bag of toys, reindeer, chimney. He even had a Playmobil nativity scene, which he cleared out daily to make room for his train engines.

What I now realize is that neither "Twas the Night Before Christmas" nor his other Christmas-themed books actually get to the part where the children open the gifts in the morning.

Hence, this developmentally appropriate response.

Length: 3:22

Flashless? (Click here.)

Run

When we bought the house he wasn't walking, but I imagined one day he'd enjoy running around the loop of hallway that connects the kitchen to the rest of the house.

Little did I know.

Length: 3:11

Flashless? (Click here.)

[P.S. You can already hear his near-mastery of the alphabet here at age 22 months.]