Don't even mind the fog

Local weather has been a frequent topic this week.  It seems in all parts of our great nation right now, people are feeling the heat.  Except in San Francisco.  We are all whiny and complainy about the drizzly fog and "unseasonably cold" weather. I however, actually like it.  This is San Francisco summer!  I remember being a little girl from the Sacramento suburbs shivering on Golden Gate Bridge in yello Esprit capris and top siders while sightseeing with my Aunt Liz.  Point being that San Francisco is ALWAYS like this in July!  

After multiple summers of Sacramento, NYC and Los Angeles heat, respectively, I don't even mind the fog.  Neither does Avi.  He refuses a jacket, a fleece vest, and prefers his short sleeves or sometimes a hooded sweater he terms a "jacket." Today we went to Target in search of a potty and it was drizzling in Daly City.  I ran into the store with him in my arms worried that I was a bad mother, freezing my child to death, when I realized he was happy and not at all suffering due to the "elements." We left successfully, me with necessities for home and work and Avi with a Sesame Street potty top (he scorned the baby potties and preferred a seat that goes atop adult potty-hey, maybe he knows we are challenged for space and chose the best option) and Mickey Mouse underpants.

I know he is not yet 18 months old.  I am hyper-reluctant not to push him in any way, but my nanny tells me he has pooped and peed on the potty a few times and she also urged me to get pullups.  So of course I panicked and went to my new bible that has replaced Dr. Sears, The Emotional Life of the Toddler, and voraciously read the two pages about Toilet Training.  And she says 18 months is the earliest this behavior begins.  Okay.  Here we go.  But he may be just experimenting and by no means is on a path or anything . . . didn't we just wean?

Tonight the McFarlands came over and we had such a nice catch-up evening with them.  Avi and the Duck enjoyed new big boy time eating cheddar bunnies and watching Caillou.  Except that the sound was off because the grownups were listening to records.  It was really fun.  The boys bathed together and then Avi wowed us all by casually hopping into bed and calling it a night early and without fuss while we carried on upstairs.  I enjoyed a little Declan time.  He seemed like such a big kid! We loved hanging out while the ball game lulled in the background though the fog was too thick to actually see the lights from the park, easily visible when its clear.

I begin and end with the fog tonight.  My morning was encased with fog, which didn't stop Avi from plaintively asking "Outside?" while I shivered in my pjs.  I hadn't even made coffee yet because I was too engrossed in our time together.  Okay, and I was too lazy to get up.  His idea was to simply put his shoes on over his pjs to deal with the wet patio.  But I kept deterring him, first with scrambled eggs and a bagel(he was more excited to repeat, "Eggies?" than to actually eat them) and then with books and Sesame Street.  Until we headed to Target.  He was graceful, happy in a t shirt and jeans with socks under his Crocs.  I had a lovely day with him and also got to go to yoga.  The last day of July in San Francisco is cold and foggy but I feel warm and optimistic.