It's quiet in the house. It's not too late, but I'm the only one awake. I put Dexter to bed earlier, Suzie's asleep in our bed and Buckaroo is cuddled up next to me. I'm crying quite a bit right now. Suzie bought a present for me for Father's Day. It's a book I wanted called, The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I finished it in two days. It's about a father and his son. It's about painful decisions a father has to make in order to find a better life for his son in a difficult world.

I love Dexter. There is no ambiguity to that, nor should there ever be any question to it. I love him more than I love myself. I will do anything for him. Just like my father did for me and that's what I think makes me so sad, hopeful and loving and much more all at the same time. I miss my pop, but I know that I can talk to him whenever I want and in my heart, I can hear him. I know he is watching me continue to grow and watching Dexter grow every day. Whenever I get sad about my dad not physically being with us, I am always brought back to the day that he met Dexter and asked me, "Can I hug him?". I will always carry that moment with me because of not only the love he showed for Dexter, but for the love he had for me. I miss you pop. I really do.

I'm not a perfect man/husband/father and I never claim to be. I try to do what's right and will continue to do so. I'm saying this, not to solicit anyone's input to the contrary. I'm saying this for myself, not for any validation.

I don't normally write this much, but if you're reading this, you know it's a little out of context for this blog. Don't get me wrong, it's always about Dexter, but thought I'd share how I feel right now. But I guess when it comes down to it, I did write this for my love of Dexter. So it is about Dexter...

So we're trying to get Dexter to shun the diaper and use the potty/toilet. It's difficult. We're trying to incentivize (is that a word?) Dexter by having him reach goals; for example, every time he pees in the toilet, that's 5 stickers. After 5 stickers, he gets to go to the toy store and get a toy (we're not millionaires, so we kind of guide him as to what toy he can get). Anyway, it's not going as easy as we thought, but we're trying to get Dexter to move away from the diaper and move towards the toilet.

I thought I would share that he did hit 5 and we did get him a new toy flatbed tow truck (at least it wasn't a bell tower...please, if you must know, email me). He was so happy with it. When we got back to the car with it, I asked him, "Hey Dexter, can I play with that when we get home?". He was pensive about it but then it occurred to me that it was his reward for his efforts and I shouldn't take away (borrow?) his reward. So I bent down back to him and I said, "Dexter, I'm sorry, that's your toy so you play with it all you want". He looked at me and said, "That's ok, daddy, I love you". That made me cry. There I was, a 39 year old man, crying in the parking lot with his son. He's so thoughtful and understanding. I wish I could share with everyone in the world just how neat Dexter is.

That said...

Went to the Oakland Zoo within the last week. We love to take Dexter there cause 1) we live not more than 2 miles away from it, 2) we have a membership there so there's no cost to it and 3) it's a fun way to tire Dexter out and have fun looking at the animals. But Dexter isn't the only one who has fun. Suzie finds it funny to watch the baby giraffe try and eat. It really is funny to watch.



FINALLY. There is a sign that pretty much says, "You must be this tall to ride this ride" to get on this children's ride at the zoo. For a child to ride alone, they must be at least 36 inches tall. In the past, we've gotten away with sneaking him in, but, no more. No more sneaking him in, no more pleading with ride operators, no more getting mad when shorter kids come in to try and ride. Dexter is now well over 36 inches. And by well over, I mean a fraction of an inch.



If you haven't been to our house, this pretty much sums up the amount of traffic that happens when Dexter busts out all his vehicles (not including the ones he likes to sleep with).




Dexter's uncombed hair gives him the look of a disheveled genius and curious little guy.



We've been lucky to get sun during the weekends up here in Oakland. During the week, well, that's an entirely different matter of overcast skies. Buckaroo seems to enjoy soaking up the rays.



Buckaroo is fascinated with the squirrels in our neighborhood. You can't see the squirrel in the tree, but you can see his reaction to the squirrel (the squirrel's actually taunting him by going up and down the tree).

Since we haven't been updating the blog with as much frequency as we'd like. And we haven't mentioned at all that Grandma Carolyn has been visiting the Dexter residence for a couple of months. We just said goodbye to her this past week. It was great to have her visit with us and have her spend time with her grandson.



So much love!



In the midst of Grandma Carolyn staying with us, Suzie and I sneaked away for a weekend retreat to Calistoga. We had a swell time that allowed us to spend some time together without a certain little someone. While on our little vacation, we went horseback riding!



This weekend we went to the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Marin county (north of San Francisco and right off the Golden Gate Bridge). It was an overcast day but a fun one to do exploring the museum. Here's a shot of the Golden Gate Bridge.



Dexter was talking all morning about cranes (the loading variety). And guess what? the museum had a working model of a loading dock crane.



The museum is located in an old US Army base (formerly Fort Baker). I understand Fort Baker was established back during the Civil War. You can actually stay overnight at these cool quarters in Fort Baker.



Anyway, back to Dexter's adventure at the museum He had the opportunity to put on a hardhat and get in a hard day's work down at the quarry, like his old man.



Dexter was loving racing around the dump trucks. But he wasn't the only one, the other kids were racing dump trucks around.



The museum had a cool model of the Golden Gate Bridge. The cool part is that the kids can add to it as a construction model.



I think this smile on Dexter tells you how much fun he had!



Goats! We live very close (a little over a block away) to King Estate Open Space. It's a great open space/park since it's so close to us and not a lot of people know about it other than the local yokels.



It's so cool to have these goats/sheep clearing out the hills of fire dangers. How very green of Oakland!



And lastly, Buckaroo went to the vet this weekend to get neutered. Oh no! He's gotta wear an e-collar so he looked a little awkward. Oh well, he's recovering quickly and he'll be ready to play around with Dexter very soon!

I think it's kind of pointless for me to say that we've been busy here at our house. Everyone's been busy, I suppose. It's hard to imagine that life would be going by at a million miles an hour, which is so cliche, but so true in many aspects. I wish we could slow down time, but you know, we savor it. Suzie and I savor our lives together and we love every single second with our little (or not so little) Dexter.

Life with Dexter is always a lot of fun. The last month or so has seen a lot of changes in his life. He did turn 3 not long ago, and with him getting older, he's correcting us at every opportunity whenever we refer to him as "a little boy". He loves to point out that he's "a big boy". Also, Dexter's talking so much (good thing...most of the time!).



Lola bought Dexter his big boy bed! We tried taking the side off of the crib, but he rolled out in his sleep the first night. Then we decided (with Lola's assistance) to get Dexter a bed. He LOVES the fact that it's shaped like a car. We're glad that it's not as confining as a crib for him.



Dexter's buddies are Ellie the Elephant, Baboy (pig in Tagalog), Teddy the Bear (with baby bear) and Monkey. Apparently Ellie and Teddy are the mother and father of baby bear based on Dexter's explanation!



This weekend had great weather. We went to visit Stephanie, Matt, the twins and baby Elijah. Here is Suzie with baby Eli. The most gorgeous thing to see on this little guy (beyond his beautiful face) is the fact that he has two differnt colored eyes. One brown and one blue. I wish pictures could capture cause it really is a sight to see...get it?



The twins had built a secret fort in the backyard that Dexter had to check out. Here's Sophia inviting us in to check it out.



And here's Aidan and Dexter hamming it up for the camera.



And here's the boys, daddy Matt, big brother Aidan and little Eli.



That's it for now. I hope everyone is well and we'll see you later. Summer is ready when you are!

Dexter's birthday has come and gone. But the images of his birthday will always remain. It's funny, his birthday is actually April 15 so it happened right in the middle of the week. So basically the whole week was a celebration of Dexter's birth.

Thank you very much to my family, Lola, Tita Nini and Uncle CJ for celebrating with us (Lola stopping in between coming from the Philippines and getting back home to Los Angeles). Lola brought some very good food to share with everyone. And generally, thank you everyone who either came by to say happy birthday, sent a gift, a card or even a phone call. It's nice to know that Dexter is loved by so many people.

That said, I thought I'd share some pictures of Saturday when we had people come over. I think that Dexter was overwhelmed with kids coming over, parents saying happy birthday to him, lots of noise that Dexter just fixated on one toy (from Tita Miriam and Uncle CJ), a firetruck, to help him deal with all the commotion.

In this picture, starting with Dexter going clockwise is Amelia, Liam and the back of Mason's head.



5 kids in this picture. Starting at the bottom left going clockwise is Eli, Mason, Dexter, Amelia and Liam.



And while Dexter wasn't looking, Amelia got a ride on Dexter's new scooter from Grandpa John.



Very attached to this firetruck. He's been sleeping with it every night since he got it.



And last pic of the birthday boy. I can't believe it's been 3 years since he was born. Time really does fly.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Dexter! I had the privilege of being the first to see Dexter when he woke up this morning. It was just like old times that I opened the door and sang, "Happy birthday to you". Back when he was a wee little man, I would wake up with him and sing, "Good morning to you" (sung to the tune of Happy Birthday). When he was little he loved it. Suzie and I were looking at pictures from when he was born all the way to today and it made us a little sad that he's grown up so much in 3 years. But we're happy to be Dexter's parents and watch him grow everyday. He's such a beautiful little boy.

That said, business had to be taken care of this morning. And for Dexter, business meant birthday presents. So in no particular order, here's Dexter opening up a present from Grandpa John (Suzie's dad in Colorado). A brand new scooter!



He loves it and is really good at riding it (wearing his helmet...safety first, everyone!). I guess he loves it so much, he didn't even realize he was missing one boot. Oh well, he can pick it up on the way back. And let's not forget, these boots were made for scootin'. Am I right or am I right?



Another view of Dexter trying to understand the magnitude of owning his very own scooter.



Mommy bought Dexter a flashlight. Daddy carries a small one with him so it only makes sense that Dexter have one too.



Grandma Gail and Mommy also got him a couple of DVDs. The Sandlot which, surprisingly, Dexter loves. It combines his love of baseball with his love of watching other boys play and the movie Shrek.



Dexter also got his very first tee ball set. Here he is stepping up to the plate.



Dexter is eyeing the perfect pitch, right at the letters and knows it's the one he's going to hammer. He knows to keep his eyes on the ball.



He's got the sweet sweet swing that reminds me of Joe DiMaggio or Ted Williams.



And check out Dexter's follow through. His feet are PERFECT. That, and he knows to ham it up for the cameras because as every baseball player knows, chicks dig the long ball.



I figure this one'll be the one I'll use to create the very first collector's issue of Dexter's baseball card with his stats on the back. Well, hope everyone enjoyed the pics.

Yup. It's been a while. Life's been going by at a million miles an hour.



Last month we went to visit Amelia and her parents Jennifer and Pat. Actually, we wanted them to meet Buckaroo. Buckaroo is popular with all the kids!



Amelia was not afraid to bust out a few dance moves for Dexter.



Amelia took us to a cool retro-candy store named Powell's. Here's the end result of a few minutes of candy eating.



Speaking of Amelia...it was her 3rd birthday party this weekend. It was such lovely weather to be out and about to celebrate a birthday. Dexter had his first sip of that sweet sweet juice bag (aka Capri Sun). He promptly got behind the wheel of a large automobile and proceeded to do laps in the backyard.



Cupcakes! Amelia the birthday girl shared cupcakes with everyone. Next up? DEXTER'S BIRTHDAY! Dexter is turning 3 on Tax Day!



But before Dexter's birthday, it was Easter. Here is our little man getting ready to color some eggs. And check out the sweet shirt Dexter is rocking (Atwater Village being the neighborhood that daddy grew up in in Los Angeles).



And here are the end result of all the egg coloring. And guess what? Not one cracked shell!



And the hunt is on! Dexter searched for eggs that the sneaky Easter bunny left in our front yard. Buckaroo gave him some assistance; by assistance, I mean eating his candy.



Dexter has discovered the tastiness (or nastiness depending on your viewpoint) of corndogs.



Zoning out after stuffing himself with Easter candy. And Dexter was stuffed too! Hope everyone had a great Easter weekend.



Ok, it's time to go to bed...Good night everyone! Enjoy the soothing sounds of Dexter.