A Murder Close to Home

I never considered our old neighborhood in SoMa to be especially dangerous, but crime was a factor when we decided to move away. It was the only place I'd ever lived where I heard gunfire at night, and quality-of-life crimes were rampant — graffiti, people peeing in doorways (or worse), sideshows, smashed windows, raves lasting until 10 a.m. There also was that time police shot a crazed driver. In short, it maybe wasn't an ideal place to raise two small children.

Our neighborhood in Berkeley, by comparison, feels like something out of Norman Rockwell: clean streets, friendly neighbors, kids running up and down the sidewalk shrieking with glee.

So it seems ironic that after just three months living here, our street had a homicide today — something that never happened in the old neighborhood.

(Photo courtesy of Berkeleyside)

When I walked home from BART tonight, I had to do a detour around a cordoned-off block to get home.

The Berkeleyside blog reports:

Police received a report of a loud noise and responded to find a “deceased male in the back yard of a home,” according to Lt. Andrew Greenwood of the Berkeley Police Department. The victim had been shot to death.

Police are not identifying the man at this time and there is no information about a possible suspect, said Lt. Greenwood.

According to one of the Berkeleyside commenters, the victim was a father of two. When you hear these things, you try to reassure yourself that it can't happen to you or your family. The majority of murders are committed by acquaintances, so I take solace in the fact that I don't know any murderers.

Still, it's hard to believe that such a crime occurred so close to where Elliot and his 3-year-old friend from up the street were playing this morning.

One (small) silver lining: It was only the first murder in Berkeley in 2011. That means we're on pace for about five this year, slightly fewer than the six in 2010. Coming from the city, it's quite something to be able to count a municipality's homicides on one hand.

Baby Stuffed in Overhead Compartment

This may be the biggest infant-in-peril story out of Australia since Azaria Chamberlain was eaten by dingoes in 1980: A flight attendant for an Australian airline shoved a baby in the overhead bin and closed it.

It seems the flight attendant was engaged in horseplay-gone-wrong (rather than trying to become a folk hero by silencing a screaming infant).

From the Mommy Files blog:

Seventh-month-old Riley Williamson wasn't fussing at all on a [Virgin Blue] flight from Fiji to Sydney. He was engaged in a playful game of peek-a-boo with his father when the attendant decided to join in, scooped up the baby, and put him in the overhead locker. At least that's the story Riley's mother, Natalie Williamson, gave Melbourne's Sunday Herald Sun.

Virgin Blue admits that an incident occurred. The airline fired the flight attendant and offered to reimburse Ms. Williamson for the full amount of two return flights.

But Ms. Williams says that she's too traumatized to fly again.

"My husband, Shayne, was standing one metre behind my son, Riley, when the air steward picked him up and placed him in the overhead compartment," Ms. Williamson told the Herald Sun.

"I stood up and there were people laughing and then I said, 'Get my son out of there now.' I was devastated. I was absolutely devastated. I was crying. My husband was in shock. For days on end I was crying."

My main thoughts are (a) that mom needs to chill (b) the flight attendant was taking peek-a-boo to a whole new level (c) this story would be a lot better if the flight attendant drank a beer and slid down an emergency chute afterwards.

Elliot loves beyond shut into confined spaces — whether it's a cabinet, his "home" or a fort made of cushions.

So if this had happened to him, it might have been the greatest moment of his life.

But who can find enough space for a baby in the overhead bins anymore? It must not have been a full flight.

You Made Your Bed, Now Lie in It

We celebrated a major milestone in our household today: Elliot switched from his crib to a big-boy bed.

He was very excited to help with the construction of the bed, which we got at Ikea. 

Never before has such exuberance for a job been combined with such a degree of ineptitude. It was like trying to build an SQL database with Jessica Simpson.

Finally, we got it put together. I'm hoping it's sturdy enough not to collapse like a soggy taco.

It did manage to support my weight.

The real test of the big-boy bed switch comes this evening. That's when Elliot suddenly finds there's nothing keeping him from terrorizing us in the middle of the night.

Seriously...Another Yaya?

I've discussed the plague of Yayas in our home — mostly as a cautionary tale for future parents.

To recap: As a safeguard, we bought several copies of Elliot's security blanket — known to him as his "Yaya"...with unintended consequences.

Now I find that he had an entirely different Yaya at daycare this whole time. Since he no longer goes to that daycare, it's currently residing at our home.

Unlike the others, it doesn't have a duck head. He refers to it as Misty Yaya (Misty was his old daycare provider), and it appears to have its own etiquette for when he wants it and doesn't want it.

Again, parents — I can't urge you enough: One security blanket per child.

Learn from our story.

Alice's All Smiles

Kelly captured some nice photos of Alice smiling today.

They say girls progress faster than boys, and that seems to be the case with our kids. Elliot didn't reach the smiling stage until he was closer to two months old (though he eventually made up for lost time).

Here's to a long life of one-upping boys, Alice.

How Daycare Is Like Renting a Car

At Elliot's new daycare center in Berkeley, we have to fill out a form every morning when we drop him off. Among other things, there's a space for "any new bumps or injuries." Apparently if your child is damaged, they want to be able to show that it didn't happen on their watch.

It's like when you rent a car and point out any existing dings or scrapes.

As we soon found out, when your child is hurt at daycare, they fill out an Accident "Ouch" Report. Elliot ran into a wall each of the first two days he was there, scraping his head both times.

Two days, two Ouch Reports. Not a good start.

A Bittersweet Week for Elliot

Elliot is starting at a new daycare/preschool in Berkeley, which means he won't have to commute into San Francisco every day. (Until now, he's still been going to daycare in SoMa.)

But it also means he'll be separated from his best friend Sophia (known to him as "Haha"), along with her mom Misty.

(Photo credit: Papa Jeff)

He's spent most every weekday with Haha since he was a few months old (before he could even sit up), and in many ways they're as close as siblings.

The really heartbreaking part: He naturally assumed she would come with him to the new daycare. We had to tell him that she won't.

UPDATE: Another photo, taken by Misty on Elliot's last day with Sophia.

Drinking buddies