Friends and Family Plan

It's been a non-stop last couple of days for the little man. From Phoenix, we headed onward to Tucson -- stopping en route at a very cute farm-owned restaurant (as apparently featured on Food Network) to meet up with Zachary's Uncle Josh and Meh's college friend J for brunch. We got there a bit early, so Meh and I took turns walking with Zachary around the green manicured lawn between the restaurant and its smaller coffee shop counterpart. Many people apparently bring their dogs to this restaurant (there's tons of picnic table dining right outside in front), and Zachary made friends with at least three dogs. Here he is meeting one cute dog that was all yappy until Zachary got close, then wagged and gave him kisses.

We met up with J and Zachary's Uncle Josh, and all ordered our tasty lunches and sat down to eat. Zachary's newest trick is eating entire sticks (or at least half-sticks) of cheese. A few days before, we'd noticed he was rejecting the cut up cheese squares, and Meh offered him a half stick only to watch it disappear into his mouth - nope, no bites, he just keeps shoving it in and chews it up. Brunch was super yummy, with scrambles made with all local (mostly on-site) ingredients and apple fritters. Zachary of course finished before us, so we took turns walking around the grassy area with him; eventually I wheeled him around in the stroller until he conked out for a short morning nap. It was so good to see Uncle Josh and catch up with J, even just for such a brief time.

Then we were off to Tucson. The hope was that the little man would sleep on the drive, but not so much - he was up and talky, though he was happy to listen to music. It's funny, we made a new Zachary mix CD (I think his third or fourth at this point) to bring along on the trip and give to our friends, and Zachary seems to clearly dislike the tracks on there that he wasn't already familiar with. Kind of a misnamed CD when he vetoes half the tracks!

We arrived at friends T & P's house, and Zachary immediately made himself at home playing with his new friend J's toys while we brought in the luggage. J for his part was happy with the new company and perfectly willing to share all of his toys. The two boys were so cute - when I'd read a book, they'd both come over and watch together. J even called out the names (in Czech) for some of the objects in the book. At one point, he was so happy with the story that he gave Zachary a big hug. The two boys then went tumbling to the ground and both were crying - it was sad but so cute and sweet! They were right as rain quickly enough though, and had a really nice afternoon together while the grown-ups got caught up. Well, the moms at least -- my ear hadn't really unpopped from the plane descent and I was getting concerned about what to do if it was still blocked on our flight out, so P graciously took me over to the local urgent care center to get it checked out. Not much more than an hour later, I was grabbing 4 tasty prescriptions at the local pharmacy - functional health care, crazy!

There was even shared baffy time on the first night, though Zachary was clearly exhausted from the trip and didn't always have his happy face on despite all of the fun bubbles and some familiar-looking bath toys. That leads us into the one challenge for Zachary on the second leg of our trip -- I think there were so many fun toys and exciting places to explore that he wasn't really interested in the whole sleeping thing. In fact, he would only take his nap sitting in J's stroller out in T & P's back yard! But we all had such a nice time together, and it was so good for the boys to get to play with each other.

The boys were both up bright and early on Monday, so we took them to the park after breakfast. As usual, Zachary's favorite part was the swing, as illustrated by this excellent picture T got of him. Then T & J, Meh, Zachary, and I drove into the city to eat at mommy's favorite college sandwich shop. The food was still as excellent as Meh had remembered, even if she noticed the prices had gone up a bit. The boys enjoyed their own lunches, though of course Zachary wrapped up before us and wanted to walk around the parking lot and alleys behind the restaurant. From here, we met up with my old college friend C and her young daughter T at a neat outdoor park. Being a public park in Arizona, it actually had a giant water feature area, with buttons you'd press that would apparently turn on a bunch of sprinklers and dumping water buckets and such. However, it being 'winter' even here (and actually a bit chilly with all of the wind), the water was shut off for the season. Still, the boys had a great time running around the playground and up and down the stairs and slides.

We had grandiose ideas about taking T, P, and J out for dinner, but Zachary's aforementioned napping challenges caught up with him and he was ready for bed early. So after (solo) baffy time and some quiet snuggling and reading time, he was out cold, and we ordered in pizza and had a nice "grown-up" (e.g. silverware-free :)dinner together. The next morning it was already time to head back up to Phoenix to catch our flight -- after one more visit to the playground, where Zachary began to master going *down* stairs while holding onto a rail. He slept most of the drive up to the airport, which we knew meant we were in for an awake flight home.

For some reason we can't quite figure out, Zachary loves driving in shuttles and buses. Phoenix has this enormous overgrown separate rental car center connected to the airport by bus service, and he was smiling and laughing from his car seat as we took the bus both ways. I've also got to share one of my favorite moments of the entire trip - on our way back to the airport, every time the bus stopped for a traffic light or stop sign, Zachary would sign 'more', and then get a big smile when the bus started moving again. So cute!

The return flight was pretty exhausting, with a little man who wanted to be moving around and/or entertained from the moment we approached security to our flight touching down. He did let me put his cute new headphones on him for a good 5 seconds before he pulled them off; the rest of the flight time was trading off between mommy singing, daddy changing, mommy feeding, daddy feeding, mommy playing, daddy playing, mommy reading, and daddy reading.

While we had a wonderful trip and were so glad to get to see our family and friends, we were all grateful to be back in Seattle and ready to be home. This morning, the little man even went back to sleep when I brought him to bed at 6 am, and we all slept in until a little bit after 8 am. Such a luxury!

Home Suite Home

It's Zachary's first long-distance journey of 2009! After a record-setting first year and a half (where we noticed the difficulties growing exponentially as he got older), we've been trying to be a bit more cautious with number and duration of trips. So naturally this year we waited until the end of January to get started. First up for this year: a five day trip to the copper state. (Copper? I had no idea, despite the odd coloring of that star on the Arizona state flag.) We're visiting our friend S yesterday and today in Phoenix, and tomorrow we head down to Tucson, where we're looking forward to Zachary getting to meet our friends T & P and their son J (who's a month older than Zachary).

The flight to Phoenix was actually pretty good -- we invested in this incredible contraption that we'd noticed some other smart traveller parents using on previous trips (after originally thinking the wheels must be some cool built-in feature of a travel-focused stroller), and towing the car seat through the airport turned from an awkward head-balancing act to a combination mobility device / entertainment system for Zachary, who laughed and smiled whether being toted behind or in front of us -- he was especially a fan of the moving walkways. Once we got to the gate, Zachary wanted to spend the whole time walking along the window and watching the plane that we were going to get on. (We valiantly tried to ignore the fact that he kept pressing his face to the glass, and alternated between that and touching the dirty base of the window with his hands.)

Things only really got tricky as we boarded -- though the car seat trolley itself was narrow enough, the car seat widened out too broadly to go down the aisle. So here we were, me with Zachary and shoulder bags, and Meh with a roller bag and the car seat. We had to quickly ditch the roller bag, bring back the car seat, and then Meh had to fight her way back upstream to reclaim the bag while I got Zachary more or less settled. Onboard, he did really well, eating his lunch, chatting a bit, and then going to sleep for most of the flight.

Zachary appears to prefer his privacy - we opted for a suite-configured room this time so we could actually stay up and read (or carry on quiet chats with friend S) while he went to sleep in the family room. And for once, things even went to plan -- Zachary went to sleep with no fuss in the hotel's pack and play. As a bonus, the room has a full kitchen, which is awesome for the little man and his penchant for perishables (milk, fresh fruit, etc.). Oh, and it gave him his favorite toy so far on the trip: the paper towels stored under the sink.

Today we did two excellent activities (in between three tasty meals) with friend S: a visit to the very cool McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park and a tour of the Desert Botanical Garden, which currently has an impressive exhibit of Chihuly glass sculptures similar to the one we saw at Kew Gardens in London a few years ago. (Wow, I think I've just set a new record for number of hyperlinks in one paragraph.)

First, the train park, which puts the 'train park' near our house to shame with its 5/12 scale (Really? It felt smaller than that...) fully functional steam locomotive that totes kids one mile around the entire circumference of the park, which is an impressive set of playgrounds, fields, and picnic areas. There's even a little tunnel towards the end of the train ride (though thankfully minus the trippy Willy Wonka tunnel images I was reminded of as we approached). Zachary enjoyed his time on the playground, and monkeyfied through most of the actual train ride. He was ready for a nap pretty soon afterwards, so we skipped the carousel and the even smaller scale train we saw traversing some gardens on one edge of the park. But we did get to enjoy one of his favorite pasttimes before the train ride:

After relaxing back at the hotel for a bit (where we checked out the pool (too cold) before opting for the hot tub, which the little man enjoyed thoroughly), we were off on a drive to the desert (no really) to visit the Desert Botanical Gardens. Definitely a different experience from botanical gardens in more temperate regions, but in some ways that made the striking colors of the Chihuly glass stand out that much more. Zachary conked out as we walked into the entrance, so we got to enjoy all of the exhibits with a sleeping little man. He woke up as we arrived back at the entrance area, so we enjoyed tea and snacks together -- then the little man walked around and kept wanting to check out the cactuses up close and personal.



All in all, a wonderful few days visiting with our friend S - thank you so much for your hospitality, for hanging out with and accompanying us to all of these wonderful places, and definitely for suggesting and sharing such excellent food recommendations for our entire visit (did I even mention the tasty veggie place on the night we arrived?). Thanks for everything, S!!

An inconvenient tooth

Zachary frequently sticks his hands in his mouth as part of his self-soothing techniques (hey, I guess if it's between that and thumbs or pacifiers...), so it's hard to tell if he's ever actually teething. But last week, he seemed to be doing it more often, drooling, and then we noticed what looked like a bit of a bump, which later turned into a somewhat scary-looking big bump, which magically disappeared the next day -- and still nothing underneath. He'd been stuck at eight teeth for quite some time, so we knew that others would be coming at some point.

But finally this morning, he does indeed appear to have the beginnings of a tooth in the rear right quadrant. No idea if that's a molar or bicuspid or what, but tooth number nine is on its way! I'm also happy to report that he's finally been showing a food interest in some of the items he had long rejected -- we'd been marking ticks on a piece of paper on the fridge for each time he declined a specific food (since all them baby experts say to just keep offering the foods, and 'eventually' the kids will spontaneously decide to try them, or at least get bored of you continuing to offer things that they put off to the side of their plate). On the third attempt, he finally got interested in pizza (a slice of cold daddy pizza no less), and scarfed down nearly a slice while I enjoyed mine -- our first shared dinner! And on at least the fourth attempt (I really think we'd tried this more than four times), he decided that the pasta Meh offered him was indeed acceptable. So now, joining the fruit, cheese, quesadilla, and rice cake groups, he's sampling the flour-rich carbs group. Let's wait to see if this configuration shows up on an FDA food pyramid...

The age of aquarium

This weekend was what has been a rare confluence of late: both Meh and myself being off work and us actually being able to leave the house. Granted, it was still pouring rain and there's still some serious flooding further south and north (many thanks to family and friends who inquired after our safety; beyond a somewhat swampy backyard and soaked groceries, all is okay here), but we had the opportunity to actually go do something as a family. So we hopped in the car and met up with friends K and J and their daughter N at the city's aquarium.

I hadn't been there in years (I think the last time I was there was to play a wedding reception in the very cool 360-degree underwater dome), and Zachary had never been. K and J smartly recommended we get there at opening time; as with other attractions that I'd never even considered but are perfectly baby-friendly, the aquarium was packed with strollers and young kids by the time we left about 90 minutes later. Zachary wasn't happy in the stroller, so he got down and ran around -- occasionally even in the direction of the exhibits. By contrast to N making happy noises as she saw new creatures, Zachary was generally less interested in the cute puffins, sea otters, colorful fish, and other marine life than things like stairs and doors (often to the exits of exhibits). They do have got a neat glass-walled tide pool at Zachary height, and he could reach up and into the tank. He would then pull his hand back out and try to 'give' mommy handfuls of water. So thoughtful!

The Sound of Music

One of the constants in Zachary's life is music. Seriously, the kid loves his tunes -- from morning to night, he's always engaging with a wide variety of musical styles, devices, and people. When breakfast ends, he immediately runs over to the fridge and starts playing with his 'fridge DJ' and 'Old MacDonald' music makers. When he gets bored playing with his toys or reading stories for the twentieth time (the first nineteen times he always seems ready for another rendition), I'll ask him if he wants to listen to music, and he perks right up and runs over to the gate surrounding our stereo system, eagerly waiting for me to turn on the tunes. Then he gets a big smile on his face as the first song starts, whatever it might be (we learned long ago that 'shuffle' is our best friend). Throughout the day, he'll run over to the piano (either our regular upright or his little one-octave piano toy), play some notes, and look at us and smile. His favorite part of Sesame Street seems to be the songs, particularly the introduction to Elmo's World. Even on the road, when I put on a CD or a music radio station, he bursts into a wide smile. (Talk radio often gets him chattering along with the radio.)

When we ourselves sing or just say the word 'sing', Zachary himself often makes a little singing noise of a descending major third. Other times, he'll just stand or sit quietly and listen to some of the calmer tunes in his musical collection; in the afternoon, if he wakes up particularly angry from his nap, turning on music and snuggling with him on the couch is a good way to get a smoother and more relaxed wakeup.

For Chanukah, Zachary got a big drum filled with other instruments (which we filled with even more instruments from his existing collection). While he occasionally takes out a shaker or xylophone, he seems happy just carrying around the drum sticks and showing them to us; his preferred actual instrument appears to remain the piano -- in addition to his voice of course.

Pirate Soup

We didn't really buy Zachary Chanukah presents this year, mostly because we knew he'd be spoiled by mima, papa, and grandma. However, I saw this little kitchen on one of my favorite toy websites, and I knew that I... oh, I mean Zachary, must have it. It came the other day, and I put it together all by myself! Zachary's favorite part is the carrot that velcros together, so you can "cut" it with the little knife. He likes to pull it apart and carry the pieces around the house. Here he is checking out his new kitchen:





Then, yesterday, I found some pirate soup cooking on his little stovetop:



I have to admit, I added the mushroom (for flavor).