The full monty

Good lord, four days between posts? We're totally slacking off here - hopefully this isn't a sign of things to come, with yet another dead-end out-of-date blog. Incidentally, this week, we've been getting back in touch with all of the other new parent participants in the pre-birth class we took a few months before Zachary. The original class actually had a scheduled reunion, but it was right around the time Zachary showed up (we were apparently the last due date in the class, and were then too shy to point out to the instructor that the reunion likely wouldn't work for us), so we didn't get to catch up with them then. It's fun to see pictures of all of the other babies and discover that they're all blogging about them as well -- sounds like they're going to try for a reunion next weekend, which should be nice if we can make it.

Zachary is often the most happy when he's naked. He'll be fussing or crying, and if I start to get him ready for a diaper change, he's suddenly happy and smiling in that head-turned way that we all love -- even if the diaper turns out to be completely spotless. We've also mentioned how he loves bath time (and again, only yells at me when I start to cover him up afterwards). So Meh has been giving him a little bit of naked time every day -- and yesterday's session included a photo shoot in the buff. While I'm all for collecting embarassing photos to be shown to family, friends (particularly his, once he's a teenager), partners, spouses, etc., I'm not entirely sure what to make of Meh's minor obsession with Zachary's tush. The photos are cute and all, but I think we'll reserve them from public viewing (well, except for the one I actually posted, as above) for the time being.

Last night, Zachary went to his second 'concert'; Meh's Balkan women's choir was performing as part of the monthly evening Kirkland Art Walk at one of the local galleries. As with the sukkot (and orchestra in the park) experience, the music began (the style is often loud and bright, though some songs fall into the more 'soothing' category), and he zoned out then conked out, even sleeping through the frequent applause breaks. During the second set, he got a bit more fussy though, so we hung out outside of the gallery as he listened, wide-eyed and occasionally smiling. He continues to be so friendly and happy with strangers (Meh insists moreso than with her), cracking big smiles when he meets someone new.

Later in the evening, Mima arrived to visit for the weekend. Of course, she was accompanied by several cute new outfits sporting the latest in baby couture, that we look forward to Zachary modelling in the next few days. And it sounds like Meh, Mima, and Zachary are out perusing more activewear this morning! We're looking forward to a nice fairly low-key weekend, checking out a local farm's giant corn maze (maize maze?), having shabbat dinner with friends tonight, and Mima has graciously offered to babysit one evening so Meh and I can go have a (brief) date night out.