Hanging in Petaluma with Aunt April

May 21st, 2011

April met Tanyon and I in Petaluma to hang out for the day. The first stop was the park, where Tanyon got to use the Big Boy swings. Here April is teaching him how to pump your legs on the swings.

  

After the park, we had lunch at Dempsey's by the river. Tanyon enjoyed watching the boats:

Next, we took a walk downtown and found ourselves in the middle of the American Graffiti weekend. There were classic cars, booths, and live music.  Tanyon particularly loved dancing to the music. Here are a few of his moves:

We spent the rest of the time walking around, then we finished the day by getting some frozen yogurt.  What a fun day!

Jumping

For about a month, Tanyon wanted to be able to jump. However, he did not have the skills to do so.  So, he held on to chairs, tables, etc, and jumped while holding on to something.  Around the middle of May, he started jumping on his own.  There wasn't much air under his feet, but he left the ground with both feet nonetheless. Here is a demonstration of jumping on May 15th.

Pitching

May 14, 2011

Practicing pitching skills.

Chinese Heritage Night at the Ballpark

Since 2007, Paul and I have attended Chinese Heritage Night at the Ballpark to celebrate the birthday of our friend Kevin Wong. In 2009, this Chinese Heritage Night was Tanyon's first Giants Game. Now, 3 years later, he went again and we had a blast. The Giants won with a bottom of the 9th, in true torture fashion. I forgot my camera, so all of these photos were taken by our friend Elton and stolen off of his Facebook page.

April displaying Kevin's mom, Diane's famous lemon bars. We strategically sat behind her, so we could get our hands on all of her homemade goodies before anyone else.

Our friends, Jeff and Tara (or "Tawa" as Tanyon puts it):

Mother's Day 2011

For Mother's Day, the family went out to a park in Rio Nido, where Grammie Dee organized a party with her friends. Here are Tanyon and I playing on the slide:
Grammie Dee making grilled polenta:

Aunt April enjoying the yummy food everyone brought:

Paul and I enjoying the sunny day: There was a large hill next to the park and Tanyon found great happiness while running down it as fast as he could. His cautious nature was thrown out the window as he bounced along:

He even enjoyed hiking back up the hill:

After one of his jogs down the hill, Tanyon fell and started to roll. I thought it would be the end of playing on the hill, but to my surprise, he started laughing and tried to roll more. He started by running fast and falling on purpose, but it didn't work. He needed a little help from mom to get him going:

More rolling:

After we got back from lunch, Paul had to go to work. So, Tanyon and I met with Nana and Aunt Sheila for dinner.

1st Giants Game of the Season

For Mother's Day this year, April took Tanyon and I to our first Giants game of the season. We were very excited to see our defending World Series Champions. It was a 6pm start time, which was nice for Tanyon (we could get home a little earlier). April also got us the perfect seats for Tanyon's first game as a 2 year old. They were in the front row of the upper deck, which meant nobody was in front of us to kick or nudge. We were also at the end of the row, so there was a fenced in area for him to stand most of the game without bothering anyone.

Now, Tanyon has always been a Giants fan, but now he is trying to pitch, throw and catch the ball himself at home. This makes the game immensely more interesting. He seems to be the most fascinated with the pitcher and will often yell out "PITCH" during the game as the pitcher winds up.

Throughout the game I was impressed, as Tanyon sat and watched inning after inning. He never once asked to get up and do something else. He loves his baseball! Thank you April for a lovely evening.
Some people put beer in their cup holders at the game...Tanyon has Joe's Os and a water bottle:

Hanging with Aunt April:

One of Tanyon's favorite parts is when Brian Wilson comes in to pitch the 9th inning. They always play the song, "Jump Around," by House of Pain. Tanyon takes the song very literally and jumps over and over and over while laughing.

Me and T after a diaper change break:

Finally Posting...EASTER!

Yes, I know...it is June and I am just getting around to posting Easter pictures. Better late than never, I guess.

The family portrait:

Tanyon hanging out with Papa:

Most of Paul's family was in Mexico enjoying a vacation, so his Dad joined the Malvino bunch to celebrate. I think it was a bit larger and noisier than the Easters he has had in the past. Here he is with Tanyon:

T with Aunt April:

Running around on the lawn just like I did when I was his age:

Here is some video of Tanyon's first real Easter Egg Hunt:

Easter Part 2

Sarah-Maye and Vincent before the Easter Egg Hunt:
Mariano and Tanyon:

Mommy and Tanyon:

When Tanyon hunted for Easter eggs, I had flashbacks to when I was a child hunting for eggs in the very same locations. I was nostalgic for that time, but quite pleased to be giving my son a similar experience.

The hunt continues...

Playing with our new "monster fingers"...

Getting ready for Easter Lunch...

Ahh, just like the old days, except many of us have finally graduated from the kid's table...

Bapa and Tanyon taking a lunch break to play:

Papa and Dan:

Paul and Doug chatting after lunch:

Violet's 2nd Birthday

So, way back in April, Tanyon's friend Violet had a birthday party. The theme was dinosaurs. Tanyon dressed in his dapper dinosaur sweater vest. At the party, there were many children to play with. There were dinosaur chicken nuggets to munch on and Becca organized a "Dinosaur Egg Hunt" (so close to Easter, it functioned as a warm-up). Tanyon had a great time looking for eggs. Once he found them, he checked out what was inside, put it in his basket, then dumped the egg on the ground. After the hunt, Tanyon spent most of the time playing ball outside. Unfortunately, Paul had to work that evening, so we left before cake. However, we all enjoyed seeing our friends and celebrating.

Saturday Farmer's Market

On April 23rd, we dressed Tanyon in preparation for rain or sunshine, put him in the wagon, and trekked off to the Farmer's Market at the Vet's Building. We went to stock up on tomato plants and veggie starts, when we were plesantly surprised to find some special kid's day events. There were animals to pet and info booths to check out. Tanyon was fascinated with the bunnies and the baby cow. He wanted to stare at them for long periods of time, but he did not want to touch them. However, he did ask us to pet them for him. On the way back, Tanyon rode in the stroller (much to his dismay) and all of our new plants rode in the wagon. Can't wait to get these plants in our new garden beds!