A goat says meh

It's been an action-packed weekend and Monday for the little man. Yesterday we went to a belated birthday party for Zachary's good friend T. Grandma and I met many of his old friends (not just figuratively; he's definitely the youngest [the baby?] of the bunch, though it's generally by a matter of weeks or a few months), and he carted himself around, only occasionally getting into baby toy traffic jams. The boys were all active and running/toddling around (Zachary's the only non-walker of the group), while the girls seemed to be shy and chose quieter and more introspective activities. Meanwhile, it was nice to see some familiar faces that I hadn't seen since that parent-baby class. And the kids are all so unique and different, it's so neat to see their different dispositions already showing themselves even without yet talking.

This afternoon, grandma, Zachary, and I were off to the zoo for the first time in a few months. Zachary spent most of the time in the stroller sitting straight up and actively trying to scooch us forward to see the next critter. Occasionally he was even paying attention to the featured animal when we approached, though he was just as happy to play with his water bottle, the stroller, or most especially the zoo map:


He particularly liked the sea otters (which garnered this smile) and the farm animals. He was 'dah'-ing happily at a pair of goats, who then let out a loud bleat, which he attempted to imitate back at them. It was hilarious and super cute. We also got to finally check out the zoo's excellent Zoomazium, an indoor playground facility geared towards young kids. There were snakes to pet, a stage for some more organized activities, and some impressive climbing areas for the slightly older kids. But Zachary was perfectly happy exploring the play area for younger kids, with faux tree trunks for toddlers to cruise around.

After the zoo, we had a few minutes before mommy wrapped up work, so I took Zachary and grandma up to the top of a tall building in which my company has offices in downtown Bellevue, where you can go out onto a patio and see spectacular views of the city. Zachary started whining, and grandma suggested it was that he was annoyed that he couldn't see said spectacular views from the stroller. Sure enough, I pulled him out and he was all smiles as he looked down at the city, lake, and Seattle across the water. From there, we all met mommy for Rosh Hashanah dinner at a restaurant that has at least a tentative apples-and-honey connection (in that they sell cheesecake that contains apples, and probably another that has honey). We all had a nice meal together, though Zachary got bored and full by the time they delivered his "kids meal" of a very grown-up Cheesecake Factory-sized grilled cheese sandwich. Ah well, tomorrow's lunch!

That's affirmative

For a long time now, Zachary has had basically two signs (in addition to his wide range of da's, grunts, and squeals) to help communicate with mommy and daddy:

1. Shaking his head (which he's done for ages, and signals "no"), and

2. Waving his hands wildly in the air ("all done", generally just for the end of meals)

In the meantime, we have one additional unidirectional signal that we give to him, though he's never done it himself - the "more" sign. We've both wondered at various times why we continue to sign it months after he would have started using it if he wanted to, but old habits die hard I suppose.

Anyway, what started as the funny answer to a question earlier this week has evolved into a more general third Zachary response, which the best I can tell means "yes". When I asked at lunch if he wanted more cheerios, at lunch today, he raised his hand in the air as if answering the "so big" question. This was clearly not the 'all done' or 'no' shake off. Throughout the day, he would answer my questions with either the shake off or the raised hand, so I think we may actually have established the word 'yes'. At the end of bath time, I asked if he was all done (he only sometimes uses the hand-waving in the tub), and he raised his hand. So I guess substituting one sign with another equivalent meaning indicates we've seen Zachary's first use of a synonym. Metaphors and similes will certainly be next.

Grandma is visiting this weekend! Zachary has been having a very fun time with her, smiling, laughing, and playing. The three of us went out for lunch (Meh is in the midst of a stretch of work and after-work activities), grocery shopping, and came home to have a walk around the neighborhood. Korby added to the, er, spice of the evening by escaping right as it was Zachary's bedtime. (First time in a while thankfully, and retrieved by one of our neighborhood fellow dog owners, who found him of course eating their dogs' food. At least he's consistent in his crazy food obsession.)

Recall how Zachary made crazy, um, going to the bathroom faces during lunch a few weeks ago? It was back during dinner tonight. Apologies for grandma's detailed commentary; listener discretion advised. Or something.

You must be this tall

Zachary's newest trick is to indicate his height when asked. As with many people of limited stature (*cough*), I think he perhaps exaggerates a bit, but hey, at least he's not bothering with fractions of an inch?

Clearly not born in a barn

Or is it 'raised in a barn'? Anyway, one of Zachary's favorite games is "open/shut". He finds a cabinet, child gate, or door, and starts opening and closing it. If one of us is around to offer commentary (e.g. saying "open" when he opens the object, and "shut" as he bangs it closed), that makes the game more entertaining, and he'll swing the door open and shut rapidly to see if we can keep up. Pretty complex rule structure, huh? The game only occasionally ends with a pinched finger - generally he's pretty good and careful about keeping his hands out of the way.

Lately he's gone beyond just opening and closing; when he walks up to an open door or gate, he simply must shut it. Sometimes it's after he goes through it, but just as often it's when he's still outside of the room that he was so interested in until this door thing showed up. Last night I was getting him ready for bathtime, and he was happily playing with a toy while I went to start filling the tub. I heard his door close seconds later -- I think he just wanted some private time. Same thing when he crosses from the kitchen into the music room - he has to close the child gate behind him (much to Korby's disappointment).

Another recent open/shut development: today I dropped a little toy into his rocket car's trunk while he was playing the open/shut game with it. The next time he opened it, he held it open long enough to fish the toy out before continuing the game. Then when he opened it again, he dropped the toy back in. There could be some complex choreography starting up soon - is Zachary's next stop Stomp?

Home from the range

Home at last, and for good! Well, for two weeks at any rate. The rest of my trip to Texas was a combination of productive (Austin, Dallas meetings and conference) and a good opportunity to catch up with friends and family (Austin, Fort Worth). I did get to have dinner with my hurricane evacuee cousins in Austin (at a tasty seafood place), and they were certainly handling things in stride. Hopefully in the next few days (if not already) they can head back home, where another cousin who stayed reported there was thankfully minimal damage. The rest of my conference went really well too; one of the highlights was an event called 'Iron Composer Texas', featuring 3 competitors who were trying to produce just-in-time sound effects and music for a video game played live by two volunteers from the audience, and who were then judged by 3 'American Idol'-style judges. (The contestants had been allowed to prepare a musical keyboard full of sounds, and were given a 'secret ingredient' at the event that they had to incorporate into the performance. The secret ingredient was of course cowbell.)

After the conference, I drove back up to Fort Worth for another meeting as well as further catch-up time with friends M and K. I met M at his university, where I got the full tour of the school. Their football stadium was completely open, so we even got to walk out onto the field and speculate as to whether one could touch a goalpost (answer: not with our combination of height and jumping skills). I also picked up a Horned Frogs (their mascot) little t-shirt for lil man, though they had a pitiful 18-month selection, so he got his very first "2T" shirt. Hopefully it'll fit him, or will at least by winter time (aka today, but more on that in a bit).

Thursday night we met up with several other friends (one of whom I'd known since elementary school) for a tasty dinner at an all-vegan restaurant. I was astounded by the selection; it's so much easier when there are only 1-2 things on the menu that I can eat. Oh, and they had hilarious names for their faux meats and dairy: bacun, san'iches, cheez, and i-scream. We actually passed on the desserts to enjoy them at another restaurant next door. It was great to see everyone, enjoy a good dinner together, and get a little bit caught up on the news.

Friday, M and I went to breakfast at the Paris Coffee House. The name is perhaps a bit misleading, this is the epitome of a great southern diner. And I think this place is the antithesis to the vegan restaurant; when I ordered eggs and biscuits, the waitress quizzically looked at me and asked suspiciously, "No meat?" Same response when M bypassed their bacon, pork sausage, and other beefy entrees. But the biscuits were excellent.

Random musings on the Lone Star state:

• They've got a serious love of concrete there - the number of freeways alone is pretty impressive (even the major north/south freeway I-35 breaks into I-35 W and I-35 E branches hitting both Dallas and Fort Worth, leading to interesting directions like 'take I-35 east north'), and I lived in LA. Now overlay multiple freeway labels (at one point the road I was on seriously had five freeway names, including interstate, business loop, Texas state route, turnpike, etc.), extensive service drives ('frontage roads'), giant ramps, and cloverleaf entrance/exits, and you've got a recipe for 79,000 miles of public roads. Yikes.


• "News" stations get pretty scary between Austin and Waco. I was trying to find some news, and heard this unbelievably biased and racist story criticizing employees who had gone on strike at their company for not letting them move their break to sunset during a religious observance. Here's a somewhat less biased version (less biased from FOX news?), but the radio version talked about the workers not being or becoming 'American,' and stayed about a half step from suggesting these workers were militant extremists.


• There's apparently a large and tourist-promoting Czech community in the town of West, Texas. (Yes, that's right, not West something -- just West, which is actually in northeastern Texas.) I don't think I've ever seen highway signage before for a Shell gas station telling you to stop and try their kolaches. T and P, take note for the next time you're in Texas. :) I asked friend K, and her history of Texas class paid off -- she had good detailed info on why Czech and German communities moved to the middle of rural Texas in the mid 1800s.


• Overheard on the radio: "It's going to be unseasonably cool today: 83 to 87 degrees." By contrast, Seattle is 55 degrees today. And rainy.

A huge thanks to M and K for hosting me; I had such a nice time visiting some of their haunts and getting to know their city a bit!

I Don't Like Ike

The Scoot road trip continues; about 12 hours after returning from Orcas Island, I was back on the road today for a conference in Austin -- this is hopefully my last business trip for quite some time, and likely my second-to-last trip overall for the rest of the year. Boo on the timing; Meh worked today, so it was a bit of extra stress on her dealing with my company's backup care scheduling that I would've preferred to avoid (well, along with all of the travel to begin with).

The flight was uneventful and I arrived in Dallas/Fort Worth in time to meet up with friends M and K (friend S joined us for a bit) for a tour of their cozy home and a late lunch. (Random story: an entire large family walked in and sauntered to the table behind us. And I do mean sauntered -- the kids were all in powder blue cowboy jumpsuits and boots, complete with jangling spurs. Wow.) We then enjoyed some authentic Texas gelato at their favorite local market, where I picked up snacks for the drive down to Austin. Then I was, as they say, "on the road again..." (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

Any whining I've done in the last few weeks about challenges dealing with Zachary in one-room hotels and cabins seems completely inappropriate and out of place now. The drive down didn't give much hint as to damage from Hurricane Ike, other than frequent digital freeway signs warning people not to drive to Houston, and a few seriously angled (but still intact) telephone poles along the side of the road outside of Waco. M and K reported that the previous day, when Ike had passed through Fort Worth, it had spun down to mainly rain and a bit of wind. And Austin itself seems to have fared pretty well too.

However, the story changed dramatically when I pulled the car into the hotel -- the lobby is crowded with families, children, and lots of dogs. (Thankfully, the hotel appears to be dog friendly -- there were even bowls of dog biscuits up at the check-in counters.) As I'm guessing is likely true throughout the city, the hotel is filled with folks fleeing the hurricane. It sounds like power won't be restored to some areas for a month or more, so they may be here with nowhere else to go.

After talking with members of my extended family (from a Houston suburb, and who ironically evacuated to a hotel I must have just driven past on my way into Austin), it perhaps doesn't sound like it's quite so dire for those who evacuated ahead of time. My cousins sound like they're faring pretty well, and we're going to try to meet up this week. But still, I can't even imagine such a life disruption. Everywhere I've lived there's some kind of natural disaster waiting to happen - tornados, earthquakes, volcanoes, etc. But despite the fact that hurricanes at least provide some warning, they still seem the most terrifying -- Zachary's Mima and Papa are so brave to deal with these storms year after year!

Island life

Once more (and theoretically for the last time this year), Zachary got to travel with us on a trip. But this was not a cross-country trek, nor even a flight down the coast. Nope, just a quiet holiday getaway with friends J & S (and quite a few other friends as well who joined us the subsequent day) at a lovely retreat on the gorgeous Orcas Island in the San Juans.

Car travel was enoromously more straightforward and comfortable for all of us. Zachary got to sprawl out in the back seat -- well, in his car seat still, but it was certainly more comfortable than an airplane. And his stuff certainly sprawled out over the backseat and trunk. While Meh and I easily packed into less than a suitcase each, he filled ours, a few backpacks, canvas bags, and introduced a few additional items to lug to the cabin (in particular, his pack and play; at least we didn't have to deal with any "death cribs" this time around). The journey also featured the happy return of the ferry ride; Zachary still loves them, and was happy and talky throughout the journey. Plus he cruised around the deck fence with mommy and daddy.

The trip itself, while perhaps not 'relaxing' in the traditional sense, was still a very nice slowdown from our other travels and even at-home life. We stayed in a cute cabin overlooking a meadow (and with views through the trees down to the bay that was the resort's namesake) where deer and bunnies kept popping up to graze. Zachary didn't show tremendous interest in them, though a few other guests' dogs had him pointedly saying 'dah' and smiling at them. Another milestone relating to canines - while reading his favorite doggie book, he responded to Meh's renditions of the dog sounds by repeating a similar dog 'whimper' noise, and the next day was making other dog-like sounds.

We had a nice combination of hiking (we walked around a beautiful lake), exploring (driving to the top of Mt. Constitution to take in stunning views of all of the San Juan islands -- apparently you can even see as far as Victoria on occasion), strolling through the cute sea-side communities (we even found the cozy Orcas Island Library - complete with hand-painted ceramic shelf labels), and enjoying some seriously good food. The weather was glorious, and the scenery simply couldn't be beat. The pictures pretty much speak for themselves:





Zachary did amazingly well, though of course sleeping in a one-bedroom cabin was a challenge (we went to bed when he did, though those 5 am wakeups were tough) and 'late' dinners (e.g. 6 or 6:30 pm) tended to push his patience a bit. I'll share one other possibly slightly off-color, but utterly hilarious story of our trip. When we arrived on the first day, we all went out to lunch together. Zachary was enjoying and talking about his lunch happily in the (nearly empty) restaurant - one of the benefits to showing up before the big tourist weekend rushes. Then he started making this crazy smile and freezing in place. We figured out that he was just straining to, um, use the facilities (do diapers count as facilities?), and while in the past this has gotten him red-faced and clenching his hands out in front of him, this time it was accompanied by a crazy half-squint/half-bug-eyed grin that just had us all in stitches as he repeated it about 10 times during lunch. J caught a video; I'll have to post it when we grab a copy.

No more tears?

As a hopeful sign that Zachary is fully back into his routine and comfort zone, I was able to put him to bed tonight without any crying -- while I was in Japan, Meh reported that he was taking a while to settle at night, so maybe he just feels more settled with the whole family together again?

Today also marks the day Zachary turns 13 months old. Yes, I've got to update the stats counter on the blog to start counting in months instead of weeks at some point. (And then soon enough we'll just be counting in years - crazy!)

Skin conditions are a natural part of being a baby (most parents we've talked to have confirmed that 'baby-soft skin' is somewhat of a myth/misnomer). Zachary had a little baby acne thing going, so today I took him to the doctor and they gave us an antibiotic. Thus far I've got three complaints:

1. Why does it have to be pink? Okay, fine, it's "cherry flavored", but does that really help 'sell' the taste experience to Zachary? All this means is that we stain his pajamas, the floor, and our own clothes when we administer it. Clear would be just as effective medicinially I suspect.


2. The dosage is 6 mL. The pharmacy was kind enough to give us a dosing syringe -- but with markings only up to 5 mL. So yes, it takes two draws to get the proper medicine out of the bottle, by which time he's again squirming free.


3. Children's medication is always ridiculously sticky. This is icky twofold -- from #1 above, we end up getting it on us (and Zachary around his mouth, on his clothes, etc.), and secondly, even just drawing it from the bottle, you end up with a syringe that's sticky inside and out. So now I'm fishing around for kleenex or wipes for Zachary, myself, the floor, and the syringe.

Changing Zachary is becoming more and more of a challenge - he hates being laid on his back and is constantly trying to roll away. Meh has mastered the art of the standing and crawling changes, but I'm still too afraid of, um, something rolling away onto the floor when I open the moving diaper target. For now I have to resort to distraction (toys, songs, and tummy raspberries) to get him to somewhat stay still, but I suspect this won't last much longer...

Eat your booty

I got back from Japan yesterday morning, and the little man and I got to spend most of the day together. Zachary already seemed different than when I had left - even more interactive, playing, and verbal. He also now has a fifth tooth coming in (bottom right-of-center, for the inquiring grandparental minds). He was singing for mommy this week while I was gone:


A somewhat new food in Zachary's cuisine since I got back is what Trader Joe's used to call Pirate's Booty (really? a Wikipedia entry? What doesn't that thing cover?!), but recently replaced by their own brand of (suspiciously still maritime/treasure chest-themed) 'Unburied Treasure White Cheddar Corn Puffs'. He loves them as a snack or at dinner time, though he still hasn't quite figured out the whole "biting off a piece" concept, and stuffs them into his mouth whole.

This leads us into a review of his current dietary state in general, which is an occasional concern, such as on our recent trips to NY and LA (where we went to fruit markets or grocery stores to stock up on Zachary-friendly cuisine). Apparently any hint or mention of a child being a 'picky eater' is taboo and actively discouraged by the child care folks in the know -- at our otherwise consistently supportive parent-baby sessions, Meh was actually chided at the final graduating class a few weeks ago for even suggesting such a thing within earshot of Zachary. Wha? Anyway, here's my current understanding of his eating standards:

1. Finger foods must be consciously grabbed by Zachary. Anything placed in his hand or inadvertently dragged/brushed in passing is unacceptable and elicits hand shaking until the item is flung in a random direction.
2. Items must not be sticky or gummy, since this may lead to violations of #1. ("Wet" appears to be okay, since his favorites include fruits.)
3. Spoon-fed items must be accompanied by live entertainment (and occasionally by a second spoon that he must hold). The choo-choo train and Jaws theme are his favorite delivery mediums.
4. Items with complex textures are not generally acceptable. This has been proven thus far by pizza, waffles, and quesadillas that included more than just cheese and a hint of carrots.
5. Items must more or less fit in his mouth whole; biting off a piece is unacceptable. (There was a hilarious example last week where I gave him a rectangular Japanese rice wafer we'd gotten. He insisted that it must be eaten in vertical orientation, so he was getting frustrated and having issues trying to chew it while it propped his mouth open.)

Of course all we can do is continue to offer these other foods; as our doctor reminded us, it's pretty uncommon for a child who has been consistently offered foods to starve. And Zachary certainly is doing fabulously with the foods that he does like; tonight he ate about a half of a quesadilla, a small bunch of grapes, a few mommy-picked blackberries, a handful of pirate's booty, apple sauce, and one and a half rice cakes. Korby got the honor of eating the rejected pizza and late quesadilla and grape bits; I think he's looking forward to mealtime more than Zachary is.

Today, Zachary took 3 quick little steps in a row! He was cruising around and then holding onto mommy, and she backed up - he responded by walking back over to her and grabbing her skirt. I tried to replicate it with daddy, but he preferred to just keep crawling towards me, which was its own brand of fun entertainment for the little man; we had a few chase daddy around the kitchen sessions this afternoon while mommy was at work.

Home is where the layover is

The remainder of our Los Angeles trip just flew by - it was so good to see so many friends and to be able to celebrate with R and M on their wedding day, though both Meh and I looked at each other on our drive back from the SeaTac airport and simultaneously sighed 'home'. That was last night. Today I'm off to Tokyo for the third and final installment of this year's Gamefest conference. Never a dull moment!

Wrapping up our LA trip, Monday morning we headed off to visit one of Meh's oldest friends C, along with her husband M and their two young sons. Zachary was moderately fussy, but locked onto the excellent large ceiling fan they have in their family room and became happy. We had a nice breakfast with them and tried to get caught up, though eventually my cat allergies got the best of me (didn't actually see the kitty though - usually they sense these things and do everything in their power to be all cute and pettable, forcing me to pet them with pens and such to avoid the direct contact) and we had to make an escape.

Then it was back into the city for lunch from my favorite kosher deli. Between the young children joining us (we got to see friends T & S and their daughters M & R) and the potentially large party, we elected to do takeout. (I also pondered the fact that Zachary's favorite lunchtime food is actually dairy, and thus likely wouldn't be allowed in the door at the deli.) Friend J graciously hosted us, and friends (M and C) and family (Aunt K) came by and joined us for various amounts of time. Friend M brought Zachary a cute onesite and an excellent cushy football toy branded from his daddy's school - fight on!

The flight back (Zachary's 24th! I'm feeling I should start tracking these on his stat sheet on the right column of the blog) was thankfully smooth, though on this plane our so-called "bulkhead" seats were really just regular seats right behind the first class row, with a little curtain - no bulkhead, and thus not much real extra space for ground exploration for the little man. Still, he was so tired from the weekend's activities that after I changed him (in a restroom that, hooray, finally had a changing table), he conked out on mommy pretty quickly, and slept through to the landing. Hopefully Zachary will adjust back to his regular schedule smoothly -- he was such a good little boy during all of our summer travels this year!

Bridal trails

Continuing our LA trip adventure on Sunday morning, we had a tasty breakfast at one of our favorite LA breakfast joints. (As with New York last week, I was astounded to arrive at a generally popular and crowded restaurant and have it be virtually empty - then again, we were there by a little past 8 am.) Well, my breakfast was good at least - Meh had some kind of super-rosemary in her eggs that she said tasted like either perfume or window cleaner. Yum. Zachary again dissed eggs, toast, and even most of the fruit bowls that Meh and I had gotten - so it was another breakfast of mostly just grapes and Cheerios for the little man.

After breakfast we headed onward to meet up with friends M and L and their daughter C for brunch/lunch. (Our visits really do seem to center on eating opportunities, no?) Zachary played while C tried to interact with him, and the adults kind of sort of got to catch up in between playing with the kids. But it was again so nice to just spend some quiet mellow time in our friends' home and hang out. Zachary was a big fan of their mini-kitchen toy set, and played with plastic eggs as well as a few of C's other toys (drawing some concern from her at times) and walking around with their little plastic walker. Lately I've noticed that when Zachary finds a toy that he likes, he'll sit on the ground and drag it around himself in full circles. Meh says he's done this with his blocks as well; not sure what exactly this behavior signifies, but it's cute to see him do it with such focus and thoroughness.

Then we headed back to the hotel, the little man taking a cute little nap in the car en route, and waking up smiley like so. We had a little extra time before the evening wedding, and it was another fairly hot LA day, so we attempted to go down to the pool with the little man after our success at C and L's yesterday. He was very happy to be getting in, but quickly started to shiver once he was actually in the pool - looks like it wasn't heated to his liking, so we ended up bailing on that plan, drying off next to the pool and just enjoying the warm weather for a bit.

Meh and I had a wonderful time at the wedding. The venue was the Los Angeles Equestrian Center (several horses crossed the road in front of us as we entered - yes, to get to the other side), and it was beautiful, with a gorgeous shaded alcovey outdoor area with a waterfall for the ceremony, and a great room with band and excellent food for the reception and celebration.

We arrived a bit early so I could rehearse the last of the music with the musicians, and Meh took the opportunity to snap some nice pictures and catch up with some wedding party members. The ceremony was lovely, and I hope that our music added to the experience. It was special for me to be able to play some of Meh and my wedding music again, in addition to some pretty melodies that had special meaning for R and M. When arranging music for a wedding processional/recessional, I generally put in a few potential spots where the music can loop, since you never know how long a procession will take. (Hm, I guess it's like video game music in that way.) This was one of the first times I'd actually needed to use all of the 'loops', with the large wedding party and extended processional path.

Then I got to put the viola away and enjoy the wedding festivities. One fun tradition that you can't get enough at weddings is the concept of entertaining the bride and groom through shtick and props. Of course, the weddings these past two weekends have certainly demonstrated that in spades; friend E had brought a bunch of 99 cent store (though perhaps not for long?) props, including some silly glasses and hats that made their way around the table. My hat was deemed a cute option for Zachary, so we kept it. Pictures in the next post I'm guessing.

A huge huge thank you to R for babysitting him while we went to the wedding; she did an amazing job with what sounded to be a very cranky Zachary while we were gone. We got back to the little man sleeping soundly in his crib (don't worry, he woke up several times later that night), and were so thankful that R took such good care of him and let mommy and daddy celebrate at their friends' wedding!