Life of a goldfish April 2 - 29, 2007 Between Easter and a bicycle, there are trips high and low

	We prefer to hold an American Easter - kids look for eggs hidded in our back yard by the Easter Bunny.

	We got visitors - one of their first destinations was Golden Gate Bridge.

I regard living together with someone else's child as one of the most effective contraceptive methods available. Not that I would have any desires to extend my collection of almost-twins by another rascal, but a visit by my friend Martina with her nine-months old Elizabeth has strenghten my conviction that parents should always use power play with their kids. All this while Elizabeth being a quiet and happy baby; her own mother took care of her for hundred percent of the time. I saw Martina twice during the last six and half years, and both times very shortly -- and so I was curious, how much we both got impacted by changes life brought on us (marriages, children, etc.).

	Alcatraz

	San Francisco

Martina has defined it best right in the beginning -- she said that she was currently at the mental level of a goldfish. Well, in that case my mental capabilites match the square root of a gold fish. And two fishes -- that simply means disaster. It took us at least half hour to pack for the first day, one-hour, walk up to Quicksilver -- and when we stepped out of the car at the foot of the hill, we discovered that none of us brought any carrier for babies, and hence, with only one stroller available, we were faced with Elizabeth who does not walk yet, and with Lisa, who can trot on her own, but at a snail pace from one pretty little stone to another. A goldfish, however, does not lack brute strength -- the girls took turns in the stroller and we carried the rest just like that in our arms.

	A view to Richmond Bridge.

	A view from Mt. Tama At right, from Pacific, a cloud rolls through the Golden Gate inlet. At left, San Francisco Bay can be seen.

Besides occasional confusing situations, the whole visit turned up great. Tom and Lisa were at first thrown off balance by the new baby, but they did quiet down after a few days -- it was obvious that the baby was not holding claims to THEIR mother. Tom, curiously, showed some attempts to play with Elizabeth. He also allowed her to play with him -- tug at his ear, for example -- during which he squealed, but did not interfere with the little girl physically in any way. However, her brother's treason made Lisa mad; it had been apparently the cause for several especially well performed tantrums. Lisa is simply used to be the sole focus of Tom's attention. Fortunately, she tended to ignore Elizabeth imperially, though she did not descend to physically eliminating her rival; at most, she simply yanked away any desirable toy.

In lieu of the visit, I had to reconfigure our bus to seven seats. I chose to move our kids to the third row and mentally prepared for whine of the poor little ones, who got put out of mother's reach. Well -- if my kids squealed, then it was in the moments when they bumped each other while rushing through the car's door, as they raced to be first in the third row. Again, I was very grateful to have a bus -- a combination of "three child seats with kids in them + three adults" would be quite hard to accommodate in any other vehicle. Still we had to open the trunk/rear door very carefully, for sometimes various stuff would burst out on one's feet -- beginning with clothes and diapers, and ending with a whole stroller.

	One can see several horizons from Mt. Tama - including San Francisco skyline.

	Golden Gate with a cloud. Bridge towers can be spotted on the left between hills. The actual inlet is so narrow that it cannot be seen from this angle.

We drove the visitors around several favorites spots of ours -- i.e. those that one can manage with a nine-months old baby. It turned me one year back -- when Lisa was in such phase. She, too, needed to have some exercise every day and to spend some energy, but did not walk -- and it was up to us to keep organizing regular breaks, where we were able to release our quadruped safely. Martina had to continuously plan and bring food along: before she could eat, Elizabeth had to be fed. I felt deep empathy -- and was very glad that our kids had grown and turned self-reliant. Two goldfishes, however alert, can easily lose track of three children -- there was always somebody whimpering, needing to change diaper, food, put to sleep, wake up, change clothes, apply sunscreen, read a book, hand a toy, fix a rail, confiscate a half-devoured sticker etc. What a rush.

	Tom climbed this rock on his own.

	Expedition at the foot of the lookout atop Mt. Tama.

My aquarial mind had captured only fragments of our trips. For example, we caught wonderful weather with visibility of the whole Bay from Mt. Tama. Tommy the explorer, who ran ahead on the trail and suddenly call from behind a turn that he "climbed high". I sped there -- and really -- my son had scrambled up on a fifteen foot slanted rock. I did not know whether to be proud of his rock climbing success, or be afraid that he may fall down -- or to laugh for Tom sat there like a frog on a well and apparently began to realize that he could not get back down without help.

Alas, our weather was very variable; it was quite cold and windy, it even rained for a couple days. On the last rainy Saturday we left Martina packing at home (they were leaving with Elizabeth on the next Sunday) and went to buy a bicycle for Tom. Lizzi, of course, demanded one for herself as well -- and so we let her try a small number ten from the shelf, letting her notice that it still was a very complicated machine for her. Lisa cannot pedal yet and her lack of success lasted about half a minute. Then she proceeded to enter plastic cars and we had our peace. Meanwhile Tommy zoomed around the store on a beautifu sixteen-inch bike. Originally we thought of getting him number fourteen -- but junior categorically refused to sit on a "small bike" and that was that.

	Kids on a natural hike -- fortunately there is some civilization here!

	Point Lobos Weather was variable; sun was shining, but the wind was icy.

While paying, we decided to add ten dollars for assembly -- we did not enjoy the idea of Sid, getting angry over wrenches, and ennerved Tom, helping and hurring up his father, as a good afternoon's program. Then they finally brought Tom his beloved bike. He merilly saddled up, stepped on the pedals, turned purple -- and nothing happened. With a sigh I moved to help him -- to turn the pedals -- and still nothing! The bike would not turn the pedals! The exceptional bicycle would get tested by several young employees and became the object of many a jest. Tommy just stood sadly in a corner and looked completely devastated -- he already possessed his bike, held it in his hands, felt it under his butt -- and they took it away!!! I must say I felt terribly sorry for him. Fortunately in fifteen minutes they handed him another bike, this time a regular, pedaling one, and all was good.

Following week was spent on bicycle training. I have a feeling that the number sixteen is still a bit too tall for Tom, but he handles it bravely. It took him two days to learn how to brake and make turns. I would not have believed that an engine with training wheels can be "laid flat", but it really is possible. Luckily the desire to ride is greater than Tommy's bellyaching, and so far he has not come to hate his new vehicle. It seems that the bike might be more successful than his scooter, and perhaps even tricycle. Now we ponder whether to put Sid's old bike, hanging in the garage, back to service; we could get a carriage for Lisa, and ride out together.

	Point Lobos

	The ocean is very clear in the spring -- and also quite stormy

Lisa embarked on another mother-smothering scene -- I guess it relates to the visit, and she renewed her attachment. Sometimes her refusing of father and granny tends to wear me out. Other times, she is rather cute. On one afternoon she got up after her nap, walked to the living room. She discovered her grandmother, started crying and ran for me to our bedroom. When she finally found her mother, she declared happily "Lisa mamas" and wanted a hug. Simply put, my mamas is back and that is that. I hope it shall recede -- as of next October, my mamas is written up for preschool. She is supposed to go to the same building on same days like Tom does; I hope that this would help Lisa to adapt. She loves to come along when we're picking Tommy up; I can't tear her away from toys in his classroom, and subsequently from toys in the schoolyard. Also, she's been obviously bored by herself, just with her mother at home. And to be honest -- her mother is quite jittery after the three and half years with kids, and so we think that Lisa's school would benefit the whole family.

	Photo captured in the garden of San Juan Bautista Misson

	Finally a real bicycle!

Lisa speaks beautifully now -- she's been using sentences of three and four words, articulates understandably, sings in tune (unlike Tom, who apparently lacks a musical ear). She musters numbers up to seven, and currently learns to name colors. Some things she does not need to learn at all -- the other day she was watching boys from the neighborhood out of her room's window, and shouted at them "Hi! Come on!" How she figured to invite boyfriends into her bedroom, I have no idea -- and she had used English!

Two families live across the street, who together have five children in ages from seven months to four and half years, thus my juniors fit right in the spread. Often it suffices to walk out in front of our house and we find great fun -- and I may even have a chance to drop back home and leave the kids in my neighbor's care. I think we may be approaching a very pleasant phase -- children becoming big enough to stay partially on their own, but we still don't need to deal with bad grades, nightly returns from parties, or unwelcome friends. So I hope that we will enjoy it -- before Lisa's age of resistance kicks in, then school, and double teenage.

Copyright © 2007 by Carol & Sid Paral. All rights reserved.