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The Monkey Ballerina's are by Margot Curran and are available at Oopsy Daisy: Fine Art For Kids (oopsydaisy.com) Margot paints rembrandt-like paintings of her daughter's stuffed animals.

This morning Grammy woke up to the pitter-patter of little feet running around the dining room. Oliver’s latest thing is to play “Chase” around the table. He will run in circles for what seems an eternity provided that someone is following him. Occasionally he will switch directions to unwind, but he will keep going until he is winded and out of breath. He’s gotten pretty quick too. When he does this he refers to himself as “Dash” from the Disney movie The Incredible’s. He has not seen the movie, but he loves his Dash doll. He even resembles Dash! Sometimes Oliver will run in place as if he is peeling out before actually gaining any actual mileage around the table. It’s a great cardio workout to start his day and it is the only real exercise I get these days.

When Grammy entered the room Oliver was a bit reticent because he did not initially recognize her. That did not last long however, because Grammy was holding a bag of toy cars she brought with her to give The Kid. As soon as he realized that Grammy was holding something for him, he jumped out of my lap and ran to her in order to inspect the bag of goodies.

Inside the bag were four die-cast metal cars that propel forward when they are wound up. [Think big Matchbox cars.] Initially, I noticed the small dangerous parts, but Oliver’s face lit up when he saw the cars. He said “CAR!” and it was all over. He loves these things. So much in fact that I could not pry one of them out of his hands at nap time. Now whenever any of the cars are not in his presence he whines the word “CARRRR!”.

Last night when Papi was putting Oliver down to bed, he had to struggle with him just to keep Oliver from sleeping with it. The first thing Oliver said to me this morning when he woke up was “CAR?!”.

It seems as though he has no other toy at this moment. I think Grammy may have opened Pandora’s box.

(PS:Grammy's luggage arrived at 10:30pm last night)

If you can locate when "Men Having Babies: Beyond Conception" repeats on The Discovery Health Network then you should Tivo it. It's a special that documents the process of surrogacy and egg donation. It is pretty much the same thing Papi and I went through for Oliver. It's educational and informational and it starts from the beginning of the process through the birth of the baby. The diagrams and chyrons in the show are fabulously funny.

The surrogacy agency we used is featured in the show, and the cameras go to the same clinic we went to for the transfer sessions. Watching the entire process play out on the screen brought back memories for Papi and I. I was glad to see that the magazines/videos in the “donation” office were updated. (That’s code for something I won’t print here because children are reading.)

The show really tracked our story quite well. It tracked our story so closely that they even show some of the same nurses and mad scientists who created Oliver. It’s just like our story except our story was less gay. (Hard to imagine, right?) I should also mention that Papi and I were much better to Beth than the couple in the show were to their surrogate. (OK, maybe Beth will want to weigh in on that part!) Seriously though, the couple in the show are kind of annoying—however, I do commend them for putting it all out there.

You can view the trailer on the Persistent Visions website.

Grammy is here. Her luggage is not. The Luggage did not catch its' connecting flight in Atlanta and will be delayed. Grammy got in too late to see Oliver because he went to bed moments before I had to pick her up from the airport. Grammy did however arrive late enough to miss the 108 degree heat. (It was only 90 degrees at 9pm.)

When we got home we shared an ice cold lemonade and then hit the sack because we knew our Sunday morning would start early.

Could there be a better way to beat the heat? I think not. After spending the better part of the morning painting a garage floor with no power (and no air conditioning!!) We hit Uncle Walter's Pool Party. Oliver learned a new word when he saw Uncle Dilson in the pool with his wine glass: "Intervention". Say it with me everyone.

This morning Oliver and I went to the beach. We parked at Will Rogers and walked southbound looking for the ladies who volleyball. They were not playing this morning, or at least not while we were there, so we walked the bike trail, played in the waves and swung on the swing set. Oliver was too scared of the water to actually get close to it. After a while he let me carry him over the crashing waves, but he was not going to allow me to set him down. I think his favorite part was watching the helicopters, airplanes and birds fly over us. He also enjoyed the joggers and bicyclists who passed us by on the bike path. After about an hour of that we drove back home to help Papi sort out the garage which is still not done.

Keep reading for more on the beach...

Tonight just as I walked in the door from work we had one of Los Angeles’ infamous rolling blackouts. Luckily it was still light enough to eat dinner by. Oliver had no problem eating his spaghetti and meatballs. Today Oliver is 17 months old, it's only appropriate that we make his favorite meal.

Afterwards we had a long bath and then off to dreamland. Around 3am all the lights came back on. So did the Jacuzzi bathtub, the stereo and television and anything else that was on at 6pm. I was so exhausted that I didn’t even wake up. Thanks Papi!!

Today we beat the heat by swimming in Uncle Wally's pool. In case you have not heard, like Lisa and David, Uncle Walter and Uncle Dilson are in their new home too. It's beautiful! I think we will be seeing a lot of them this summer because Oliver loves loves loves their pool! He never wants to get out of it. He already goes underwater (a trick he’s been doing for months in the bathtub) and if you hold him, and tell him to do it, he will kick his feet and move his hands as if he’s in a race. He hasn’t quite mastered jumping off the steps yet, currently it's more of a "leaning fall", but he is working on his “jump” and will no doubt have it down by the end of the month.

Oliver has made himself right at home at Uncle Wally’s and loves to put little dusty white footprints on his dark hardwood floors. On a good day there will be a complete circle around his living room sofa.

After spending most of the day sweating in Hollywood, we invited ourselves over to Ethan's new house. If you have not heard yet, the new house is built and Ethan and his Mom and Dad were setting up the grill for an Independance Day cook-out.

Oliver doesn’t stay up late enough to enjoy the fireworks, however he is definitely able to stay up long enough to eat Lisa’s appetizers and play with Ethan’s toys. Oliver is really good at destroing every bit of block-art Ethan can create. Ethan had to come up with creative ways to keep Oliver from destroying everything he created. Having destroyed one building, Oliver would make his way back to the kitchen counter for more food, giving Ethan just enough time to set up more blocks before eventually returning to smash the new creation. This circle continued most of the evening.

Later, Ethan entertained the guests on his piano. At one point Oliver accompanied him by banging on the keys until it hurt his fingers and he said “OW!” and walked away--opting to eat mounds of artichoke dip, cheese, grapes, and spicy quacomole instead. A child prodigy, no?

Continuing our West Hollywood Park and recreation theme, this morning Oliver and I went to West Hollywood Park (647 North San Vicente Boulevard). A playground and toddler park that lies just steps away from The Abbey. As tempting as it is to leave your kid in the fenced in play area and grab a sour apple martini at the bar, please refrain from doing so.

This park is perhaps the cleanest, yes I said it, the cleanest park we have been too hands down. The sandy area in the toddler playground was freshly raked and the equipment was in great shape. West Hollywood Park also has a bigger kids play area with a really cool tube slide that spirals. The bigger kids’ park is covered with wood chips and surrounded by a big grassy area and shade trees. There is a public pool where kids of all ages can take lessons (although there is a ton of Chlorine in the pool—so much that I could smell if from the other side of the fence. That said, it’s probably a good thing given the number of kids peeing, er, swimming in there.)

The crowd initially was made up of attractive, presumably straight couples (although I had my doubts), Latina nannies, and expecting single moms with children. Who knew that so many “normal” people would be found in West Hollywood and did I mention that this park is right behind The Abbey. Go figure.

At around 11am a couple of single Dads (clearly gay, but whatever…) came around with their toddlers. It felt nice to not be the only “one” around. Oliver played well with all the other kids who were having a blast in the Toddler area. In addition to being well groomed and up to date with the latest playground equipment, the toddler area is also covered with a mesh tenting so that it is shaded even when the sun is at it’s peak—protecting Oliver’s pasty white complexion and provided a nice diffused light for pictures. As you will see from the blog I took quite a few.

There is a rock near the kids play area that dedicates the park to a little boy who died September 11th alongside his Daddy and Papa. Very sad, but moving dedication to a family who once enjoyed the park.

Without question,we will be frequenting this park. Four Stars!!

Today’s park adventure leads us to West Hollywood’s Plummer Park. Plummer Park is located at 7377 Santa Monica Blvd (at Santa Monica and Martel). Just so that it is perfectly clear, the park gets its’ name from the Plummer family home—the oldest house in West Hollywood (it’s been moved since and not longer resides here). The name does not come from “Plumber's Crack”. (I made that mistake—it can be very confusing.) It’s a nice little park with a large play area covered in wood chips and a smaller toddler area covered in wood chips, dirty sand and cigarette butts.

The local crowd is primarily dominated by Russian immigrants. The parents and young adults who frequent the grassy lawns love to speak Russian and smoke cigarettes. I had to run to catch Oliver from picking up a lit butt that someone through on the ground and didn’t step on. The Kid loves to pick up trash in all the parks we go to, and this park had more cigarette butts and used tissue than any other we have visited.

There is a large tube slide in the middle of the play area that seemed fun until I took a look inside the tunnel to see what was up and, well, lets just say other things happen in that tunnel besides kids crawling. There was some graffiti inside the tunnel too. At least we can be thankful that the Russian teenagers need to work on their spelling.

Aside from the dirty sand, and thuggish people, the park itself has a lot of potential. The large grassy lawns and big shade trees to cover the afternoon sun very nicely on these long summer days. Oliver loved to chase the dogs around and for the most part the people were very friendly. The older people playing chess and dominos loved to watch Oliver run around the trees. Oliver met some nice women who let him pet their dogs, and he was especially taken with the teenagers who were playing basketball on the full court adjacent to the playground.

There is a large new community center too. This community center is a community gathering area for Seniors, locals and various gay and lesbian organizations. When Oliver was younger we were here once for a Pop Luck Club gathering (See the link on the side for more on Pop Luck Club.)

This is not a terrible park, but it’s not the cleanest either. We like the location and the fact that it’s cooler than the valley parks this time of year. Who knows, maybe The Kid will pick up a little Russian too. We give it two stars out of four.

I write this entry not having actually purchased anything from here yet, but with that caveat, this little online consignment boutique seems pretty amazing. I am getting over the idea of buying something pre-worn especially given the number of cute outfits Oliver out grew before ever getting the opportunity to wear. There are some cute outfits (especially for girls) on this site that are perfect for one time use—especially at 10 bucks. Check out the site and let me know if you purchase anything.

To goto the site click here: The Little Lavender Hollywood Baby Outlet Store

(I also recently added some favorite shopping links on the lower right hand side.)

Hey Aunt Carol, is that enough Sauce for you?

Today’s park adventure led The Kid and I to Roxbury Memorial Park in Beverly Hills. This park is just south of Olympic on Roxbury. It’s a wonderful park with acres of rolling green hills for Oliver to run through and the impeccably kept trees provide a canopy of shade throughout.

In addition to the large space, there are tennis courts, bocce ball / croquet lawns, tennis courts, a baseball diamond and volleyball courts. We were there for the toddler playground.

The toddler playground is getting a bit long in the tooth, and the park has seen its share of fun. This is evident by the permanent black stains on some of the equipment. There are only two bucket swings working – a serious problem when you have a bunch of toddlers forming a queue to swing. We never actually waited for a swing to open up. We skipped it altogether. The play areas are surrounded by sand so you need to expect that your kid will get dirty here. Albeit a bit old, and very popular with the residents, Roxbury Park is a great place to spend an afternoon.

There are loads of picnic tables and places to toss a ball around and there is a section in the kids area where three dinosaur figurines are grouped in a circle under some misting machines to cool the children on hot summer days. Those were either not working, or not turned on today.

The crowd is mostly middle-upper class Jewish kids (Not that there is anything wrong with that, some of Oliver’s closest friends are Jewish.) Two of said kids happened to be quite bossy and Oliver and I got our first experience with 5-year-old bullies in beanies. Yes two of em. These two twin boys, who were apparently without parental supervision, told us “No babies are allowed on the dinosaurs” several times. Oliver climbed a purple Triceratops regardless. I thought to myself: “If only the sprinklers were working right now”.

After yelling at Oliver, the twins continued kvetching over who was going to sit on their dinosaur’s neck. After some whining the real action began. One twin hauled off and punched the other. It was a side swing to the back, and it landed with quite the thud. Had they have been in their 20’s, and shirtless, it might have been hot. Given their bossy/bully nature, and the yarmulkes it was just sad. If Oliver had the words he would have yelled to say: “Hey! No babies allowed on the dinosaurs!” Instead, he and I just looked at them, then at each other and thought: Karma.

The Dad finally took notice of his obnoxious kids once the violence erupted. He came over to break it up pretty quick. Oliver and I just walked away and chased half a dozen other kids who were circled around a mom and her automatic bubble machine. Note to self: We really need to purchase that automatic bubble machine.

We give it three out of Four stars--We'll definitely return to Roxbury Park.