September 2005 Archives

Well, Henry and I meandered down to the torus district on Friday in search of some grub and we discovered that indeed, Top Pot has opened its doors to hungry, doughnut-deprived Wedgwoodians (or are we Wedgwoodies?). (No, I'm sorry, but the Mighty-O donuts they've been serving at Grateful Bread, with their movie popcorn aftertaste, simply do not qualify. I want to like them, I really do, and then the popcorn thing just gets in the way.) We sprang into action, jumped in line, and called Brad to come on down with the wee one so they would not miss out. (No, Charlie is not yet eating doughnuts. At least, not directly. I'm not sure how much doughnutty goodness passes through to breast milk. I'll have to check the literature. Hello, La Leche League?)

So, lest you get too envious, we've only been twice since it opened.

Um, yeah, it's been open for three days. Your point being?
Hey, we walked there!

Yesterday morning, we all took a walk down to Grateful Bread for breakfast. GB is a neighborhood bakery a couple blocks from our house. They have great bagels, breads and other baked goods, and they make decent espresso, too. It happens to be located right across the street from Top Pot, our soon-to-be favorite neighborhood doughnut place. Between the bagels and the doughnuts, it's turning into Wedgwood's own little torus district.

We walked across to take a look at the progress on Top Pot and by the looks of things they're close to opening. As we stood there ogling the terrazzo patio, the windows into the kitchen, and the wall-of-books, one of the owners (we think) came out to chat. He said they're just waiting on the last few inspections and expect to be open by Thursday or Friday. Woo-hoo! Henry vividly remembers the grand opening of our neighborhood Starbucks earlier this summer and I can tell he has even higher expectations for this one.

Me, too.

This weekend, the circus is in town. Not our town, exactly, but just up the road in Everett. Henry and I had tickets to see the big show Thursday evening and we were both pretty excited. The last time I saw the circus it was some third-rate circus that set up in the field across from my junior high school. And Henry has never been.

Thursday morning at Henry's preschool we found out that some of the kids and most of the parents had been exposed to pertussis (a.k.a. whooping cough) earlier in the week. Great news, eh? Henry should be fine, as he's near the peak of his immunity, but Kathy and I haven't had a vaccination in years (they say immunity wears off after 5-10 years) and Charlie has only had his first of five doses of the vaccine. Symptoms typically show up 6-21 days after exposure, so we'll see.

Completely coincidentally, Henry was feeling tired at preschool and was running a slight fever and complaining of a sore throat by mid-afternoon. He napped most of the afternoon and was feeling better in the evening, so we gave him the choice whether to go to the circus. He said he wanted to stay home "because I had a fever and I don't want to get anyone at that place sick." How thoughtful. He went on to say "I'll just wait until next year. I like waiting!"

Last week, Henry and I took our second annual father-and-son trip to Mount Rainier. Last year, we did it mostly to give Kathy some quiet time alone to rest and relax. That she spent much of the day helping with our preschool's clean-up day does nothing to diminish our good intentions. This year, the trip gave Henry the undivided attention of one parent, something that has been lacking since Charlie arrived. Unlike last year, we made this one an overnight trip (Henry's first without Mom).

We had a great time (pictures are on flickr). The weather was just about perfect and the crowds small. We hiked at Sunrise, Ohanapekosh, and Paradise and just generally enjoyed ourselves. We stayed just outside the park at the Alta Crystal Resort. Our "one bedroom suite chalet" was a big hit with Henry, especially the fact that it had a kitchen. We made one of his favorites—mac & cheese—and watched Finding Nemo. We missed Kathy and Charlie, but it was pretty clear that our getaway was just what Henry needed.