LAFAYETTE PARK, OH MY

It's how the other side lives, the side where the hills are too steep for the bums to climb and all the trash blows down. Get on the 1 and ride up to this absolutely gorgeous park (Sacramento btn. Octavia and Gough) with views of the entire world, plus outer space, and a fantastic playground to boot. National Light Up the Night is approaching and this park is putting on a proper Pacific Heights "gala" to celebrate. We are tempted to go. Bring your own balloon.

FERRY PLAZA PARKLET AND CHICKENS

A Friday afternoon drop-off in the financial district with too much time to go back home and argue but too little time to have a proper adventure led us down Market Street to the Ferry Building. Full of luxiourious things to eat, we picked up some clobbered cottage cheese (what exactly is clobbering?), oat biscuits, and five pounds organic hamburger (on sale! we haven't had hamburger in ages!). Not a very remarkable trip, afterwards we wandered around and found a small parklet at Clay and Embarcadero with a winding path, beautiful trees and flower beds. No playground. Pleasant, but again not remarkable, except for a rare chicken sighting. Andalusian chickens we suspect, although we are not breed experts and were stunned to see them pecking around the fallen leaves in the first place. The city is not known for its feral chicken population, so we suspect they are pets. If anybody has lost some chickens, we know where they are.

CHEAP THRILLS

Remember those dumb coin operated machines that wiggled and lurched and used to be outside of grocery and drug stores? Well, they are still around, and still a big hit for toddlers. In front of what used to be the 99 cent store on Mission between 22nd and 21st, now called "Giant Value" and not nearly as much fun as was shopping for dollar items, is a collection of these machines. They rotate them too, with new attractions showing up every couple of months. We miss the horse, who was reminiscent of Silver, the Lone Ranger's loyal steed, but then spied him a few blocks down in front of another junk store.
Phase two of weaning is progressing much better than expected. The first night witnessed some screaming, the second night, only a few complaints. An interesting side effect, Ruth is now sleeping until after 8 instead of her clockwork 7 a.m. We don't know why, maybe she always needed 11 instead of 10 hours but was too distracted by the call of the tit.

PANHANDLE PLAYGROUND

A pretty day begged the side trip down the panhandle (between Oak and Fell) rather than the usual and sometimes depressing trek down Haight Street. We found and enjoyed a playground about halfway down that is the first we have seen with handicap ramps. Nice, clean, purple, Ruth had fun. Phase two of weaning (no nighttime feedings past bedtime) begins in T-10 hours. Phase one was interrupted by a cold, which Ruth took advantage of by staging a hunger strike, gaining her prize and thus wiping out the progress made from the week before. She is also taking advantage of a weak moment in which she was allowed on the forbidden kitchen table. For the past three days she has been testing this territory, with each attempt at recapture beginning with just one butt cheek sliding up next to the butter dish. If unnoticed, the other haunch joins the first, then a five second pause, and suddenly there is a baby on the table. You can't give an inch with these people.

NOE COURTS

We have been visiting this little parklet on 24th and Douglas since before Ruth could sit up. An almost exclusively local crowd, it is also used as a popular place to run the pooches or shoot some hoops. This weekend Ruth sported her first pair of sneakers, a reward of sorts for surviving week one of phase one of weaning. Turns out coaxing a baby off the tit is eerily similar to quitting smoking. There are the endless proactive distractions, change of daily habits, craving for sweets, snacking and irritability not to mention the feeling of loss for a habit that was so comforting. With weaning, there is the added bonus of laying on the floor and screaming, or maybe that is just Ruth's way.

SF SWIMMING

After poking our heads out this weekend and feeling the unusual and welcome summer weather, we spent part of Saturday and Sunday afternoon at the Mission Pool. Ruth is pictured here stuffing her fist in her mouth to muffle the shrieks of delight brought by the mere prospect of getting in the water. There are Parks and Rec pools all over the city, and the modest $3 fee for adults and .50 for kids makes for a cheap and easy toddler pleaser. Check the schedule for "family swim" or lessons if you are the commitment type. With the coming super storms and the encroachment of the sea upon our shores, everybody should know how to swim! Course, you don't have to scare the kiddies with that tidbit.

Pasta Pomodoro

Everybody knows Pasta Pomodoro, there are seven of them in SF alone. It's cheap, fresh, tasty, and fast fast fast, which is key when you are more than a little cranky and don't want to walk back down the hill to make lunch for your very spicy toddler. The green on Ruth's chin is the basil dipping oil, she loves it. They also have a quick lunch menu that comes served with a salad or soup and a kid's menu that comes with a chocolate sundae. On this outing, Ruth got her first potty chair from Peek a Boutique. She isn't using it yet, but is demonstrating that she knows it is for her by putting her toys in it.

Oakland Athletics!

Despite the tears pictured (who can blame her -- giant elephant making squeaking noises?) Ruth had a great time at yesterday's game. The A's encourage young fans with a club and activities for older tykes as well as have a playground (Little Stompers, across from section 219-220) for when somebody gets bored. On a crowded day as was yesterday, you may be stuck wheeling around enjoying the game through the portholes since you can't really get a stroller up that many stairs. Course, this was a solo trip for Ruth and her dad, might be easier with two guardians.

K-Rod dropped the ball in a breathtaking finish to a game that will surely send us to the series. Perhaps somebody else cried like a baby...

Civic Center Plaza

We have begun combining our Wednesday rabbit food outing with a visit to the nearby playground. There are actually two fenced play areas, we presume segregated by age, but kids and parents seem to enjoy both. The bums steer clear which alleviates some of the worry about flesh eating diseases (this is Civic Center after all). One plus, the structures are pretty easy for parents to chase their toddlers around on. You will recognize this as a bonus after you have played the twist in a panic on those tiny little walkways trying to keep your 18-month-old from flinging herself off the monster slide.

Le Soleil in the Richmond

We finally broke our jalopy and had to replace Ruth's ride which entailed a visit to City Kids (3rd and Clement), the only full service stop for baby wheels in the city. Great store, great staff, best quote of the week ("we should send lawyers to China, maybe that'll slow em down") and tons of strollers you can test drive with your critter. When you're about to plunk down that many dollars, you best make sure your feet aren't cracking into the frame. Across the street is the excellent Le Soleil Vietnamese restaurant. Delicious, affordable, baby friendly. They only have one high-chair, so Ruth sat in her first big-girl booster seat. Were it not for the noodles (which the waiter brought out upon request in about 18 seconds) she may have wiggled out. But she loved it and so did we. Yesterday we received a good farmer's market hint from Apartment No. One. If you visit the later in the day, you not only get great organics but they are discounted. That's news as good as free beer.

Civic Center Farmer's Market

Wednesday mornings find us on the BART headed not to our usual Montgomery stop but to Civic Center to buy our bag of rabbit food. If it weren't for this market, we would have had to take out a loan by now to pay for the organic produce that, in regular stores, costs MORE THAN MEAT FOR CHRISSAKES. But, Ruth still has that surface to volume ratio that demands to be kept relatively pesticide free and one day someday sometime, the prices will come down. Do we buy exclusively organic? That's nuts, like trying to get through the night with cloth diapers. We just shy away from the more heavily doused crops and feel like we are supporting a revolution at the same time. You can also pick up a bouquet of flowers for less than five bucks, bedding plants at amazing prices, olive oil, nuts, and cheese. Wear a hat, it is always sunnier than you think.

NIMBY

Ruth experienced her first playground injustice a few days ago while innocently standing next to the bouncy horse. Another little girl approached, and pushed her a bit to get her away from bouncy horse. Ruth, not knowing what to do, stood there and her assailant, not satisfied, grabbed her by the cheeks and bit her in the face. Poor Ruth! The shock that the world contains people that would do such a thing! Hurt feelings, scratched and bruised, she recovered in a few minutes and continued to enjoy the playground. It took her mother several hours, however, to feel right.. We stuck to the backyard the next day.

Tyger's Coffee Shop

Five dollar burger? Yes! We have been wanting to come here for some time, not only because we like coffee shops but also because of the storefront's inviting green tile facade. Greasy spoon, but good old fashioned diner food. Ruth loved it. Diamond and Chenery in Glen Park, we would link you to their page but it is the most irritating, amateurish thing we have suffered on the web in some time now.

Dolores Park

We are lucky to have such a park within a fifteen minute walk. On a clear day, you can see downtown in its entirety as well as the bay. It is a well used park, which can turn the playground into something similar to a catbox, so no barefoot kiddies. The equipment is old fashioned and fun, put in during the 70s, swings, slides, plenty of grass shaded by palms and magnolias. Added bonus, depending on your tastes, are the sunbathers. Many of the leatherettes are the same you would find at any sunny spot anywhere, but being San Francisco, the upper terrace is the designated Castro beach where men (to our general embarrassment) wear gold lame pouches, and nothing else. Ruth took her first big-girl solo swing on this visit.

Haas-Lilenthal House

No, a historic Victorian house tour isn't the best choice for a Sunday afternoon outing with a baby, but we had to go (it's not worth explaining here). Our original plans stated we arrive at opening, enjoy the tour with a fresh and happy Ruth, then join the Pacific Heights walking tour at 12:30. We missed a bus, missed another, then tried to find this house on Jackson when it is actually on Franklin, and no amount of "all those president's names sound alike" made up for the fact that A: Franklin, well, obviously, and B: Ruth was only interested in getting at the stairs, of which there were many tantalizing flights. All that said, the tour was fantastic, the docent took us behind all the roped barriers, allowed Ruth to explore at will, and we were accompanied by the ever patient and upbeat Mr. Myers, who Ruth has yet to rattle. We will return again, next Sunday for the walk.

Hayes Green

The pagoda at Hayes Green is temporary, as we suspect will be the relative feeling of serenity this small new park imparts. This is our second visit, which confirmed our sense that this space won't best serve toddlers. Located on Octavia, some sort of revitalization project the city decided upon after tearing down a freeway to build another freeway in it's place, as soon as traffic opens back up this little green will sit in the middle of a swirl of cars. The lack of fence will keep parents on their toes. Hayes Valley is a strange neighborhood itself. We found several opportunities to purchase $100+ tennis shoes in various shades of green, and some lovely, gauzy slips and camisoles that apparently serve as outerwear for some demographic here. And then, if you walk up the wrong street, you are in the projects. This week Ruth learned how to exploit a new word, "up." From the sweet, arms extended request to be carried, this is now an all purpose command, often delivered with a surprising amount of fierceness.

Chenery Park Kids Night

It's Tuesday and time for dinner. There's good reason to have anxiety about taking a baby or toddler out to eat, sometimes they scream. At Chenery Park your kid may still let out a holler, smash their dinner to bits, or generally embarrass you, but this restaurant has reserved Tuesdays just for such an occasion. Have a glass of wine, eat their bbq special, enjoy dessert. Ruth had spinach and French fries, thumbs up to both. She made a racket playing drums with her spoon, but otherwise enjoyed her night out. One table of ladies near us seemed exasperated (they, apparently, did not know it was kid's night) as I overheard one huffing and puffing "I just want to tell parents..." Located in downtown Glen Park, a block off the BART, several buses run by, we have no idea about parking.

Yerba Buena Gardens

On the way to the Steinhart Aquarium we stumbled upon the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival. We stopped for a picnic and listened to some music, went and looked at the playground but didn't play, listened to the sound of bowling but didn't bowl, rode the carousel twice. Walked into Zeum. As school has let out, the city's attractions are teeming with children wearing brightly colored and matching t-shirts, which is why we skipped the Aquarium and did more gazing than participating. Although Ruth (who made another developmental leap last night by discovering she could twirl in circles until she fell down) would have loved to have thrown herself in with the big kids, her parents are not yet brave enough. The music on the Esplanade was great, and the calendar lists a month of free puppet shows next month. We'll be there.

Parque Ninos Unidos

We actually like calling this park "Parque de los Ninos Unidos" just because it rolls of the tongue a little easier. Love this place, but it has odd hours. Usually open till 6, we wish it was open till 7 since Ruth prefers her evening stroll to not end before 6:30. We can always go home early, but it just adds another half hour of screaming if she is having trouble with the gloaming, which she often does. When do they outgrow this? Dinner time is fun, naked play time is fun, bath is always a chuckle, bedtime is never too problematic, but getting to these evening activities can be like trying to toast fingers.

How We Ended Up at the Zoo

A goat!

The trick is to come very close to tears at breakfast, "you don't appreciate the level of anxiety this schedule change has created for me." Add other modifiers to suit individual needs. By lunch you can look forward to the offer of "do you ladies want to go to the zoo? I can take a day off." Remember to stipulate ice cream before agreeing.