Toast of the town

This morning got started bright and early, with Zachary up a bit before 8 am (local time, so before 5 am back home) for good. I'm guessing that was fine by mima and papa, who were happy to spend more time interacting with him! Oh, I forgot to mention last night that Zachary got to have his baffy time in the kitchen sink along with a very talkative frog rubber ducky (er, is it still a rubber ducky if it's a frog?) that ribbits a variety of tunes while flashing lights in time with the music. Zachary was mesmerized by it.

Then we were off to likely the first of several visits to the beach. Zachary decided that he was overdue for a nap, and was nodding even as we walked down. We got into the shade of one of those wooden semi-permanent double beach chair things, and he totally conked out as I put him down at the head of one of the seats. Seriously, for two hours. We're all convinced it was the ultimate noise machine (e.g. the crashing waves) that kept him out for two hours. By the time he was up, we were getting hungry, so he didn't even get to go into the water this time - we were off to grab some lunch back home.

In the evening, in an event that will apparently be the talk of clubhouses and retirement community bridge and mah jongg games for the next month (well, until something more interesting comes up 5 minutes later), we took Zachary out to dinner with his great-grandparents, nanny and poppy. The restaurant was very nice and the food excellent - and we got to eat out on the patio in the lovely weather. But it was Zachary's good behavior and happy coos and screeches that were the hit of the evening, with group after group of other enjoyers-of-the-early-bird (as well as restaurant staff) stopping by to compliment him, talk about what a good baby he was, and shoot looks of approval at the three generations of his forebears. He was once again kept entertained by a combination of menus, Mr. Whoozit, straw-delivered water, and of course a slow stream of sweet potato puffs (I saw six on the ground when we were getting ready to leave).

While we'll of course always welcome positive attention and compliments to Zachary, it's tough to see how the baby is "good" if they happen to be happy during a meal. Of course, it's even tougher when you get criticism or looks of disapproval when the baby is for any reason unhappy. There's no secret training or anything that you can do to determine which side of your baby will come out, just try to minimize the unhappy moments through a variety of distraction techniques (as well as the quick exit option). Okay, end of rant. A wonderful day with family, and hopefully Zachary will sleep better tonight now that he's fully locked onto the new time zone (then again, if he was up at 8 am when he was still on Pacific time, let's hope he doesn't make that adjustment?).