I have a long night ahead doing paperwork for our comic company but I had to document a few simply exceptional things that happened.

Today is one of those rare San Francisco sunny-and-calm-and-not-too-hot-summer-days. As Larry is away at Comic-Con in San Diego (and it’s a zoo down there, everyone is covering it from Entertainment Weekly to Fandango) I decided to spend the day in Golden Gate Park. We went to the Children’s Playground (thanks for the tip Zia Hilary) and then got a burrito at Gordos. Walker got a quesadilla but was more interested in his raisins and Cheerios. We sat at the window seat and Walker stood on the chair and waved at everyone walking by. We then wandered into the Arboretum and sat and played in the shade. After some time, a group of seven Chinese people came and shared the shade of our big tree. They sat and discussed dreams and camping in a combination of Mandarin and English. One woman kept looking over at Walker and would clap once in awhile. He’d clap back. It close to naptime so he wasn’t terribly active. He watched the group while sitting quietly in my lap with Flat Frog and his pacifier. And then something exceptional happened. The group started singing to Walker in Mandarin. He was transfixed. After three songs, he smiled and applauded.

With the beautiful music resonating in our ears, we headed back home for a nap. Within two blocks, Walker was asleep in his seat. Rather than risk waking him by moving him to the crib, I parked by the beach. And it was one of those exceptional times when there were very big, loud waves and it was warm enough to keep the windows down. So henapped with the natural wave machine lulling him to sleep. (Walker was out for an hour and forty minutes. I rested my eyes, read Wired, and played Solitaire. It was fabulous.)

We go home and our neighbors are having a birthday party for their three year old son. We don’t know them well but we’ve exchanged small talk. Around 6:00, I heard light tap on the door and there was Mom with a big piece of birthday cake for Walker. In broken English she said she would have invited us but everyone speaks Spanish. I was so touched. (If you’re counting, I consider that an exceptional experience.)

Last night Walker and I had our first dinner date. We met with Karen Shapiro, the woman who took a chance and hired me at Bank of America for my first Internet job. We went to Park Chow at 5:30 and I was a bit concerned about how Walker would fare. But the restaurant was so very baby-friendly. I think every table had a child in a highchair and the waitress was quite attentive to Walker. Even the folks at adjacent tables were great — picking up items Walker threw from his perch. I think we’ll be going back there when I’m jonesing to go for an “adult” dinner. (And that wasn’t exceptional. Just notable.)

Walker is really starting to be independent. He’s very vocal when he doesn’t get what he wants. And he crawls around and plays with his favorite toys. And the thing that melts my heart is he’s doing a lot more of coming over to me, putting his arms around my neck and resting his head on my shoulder. That is the most exceptional thing I could ever imagine.

I can’t end on a sappy note. So I have to share part of a sign I saw on the Adobe employee bathroom stall: “Please use the toilet seat correctly…” Really? I’m not sure of the different ways I could use a toilet seat. Perhaps my imagination is limited.