A step up

We've been continuing to have a fun daddy/son weekend, though we both of course miss mommy a lot -- fear not, she returns tomorrow! Zachary occasionally looks around and says 'mama'; I've taken the opportunity to "read" to him more from our little flipbook photo album of family and friends -- he's even brought it to me a few times. I open it up and start pointing at people and asking him who they are. The first two pages are pics of us, and he pretty consistently says 'mama' (for both Meh and myself). But on other pages, he's doing a great job of starting to identify people and pick out a sound or two to say from their names: 'Papa' (papa, poppy), 'mama' (mima, Meh, and of course daddy), 'baba' (bubbie), 'uhkabah' (Uncle Brian, who got to hear him say this on the phone this evening), 'uhkajah' (Uncle Josh), and of course an energetic 'dah!' for friend J (who elicits the same initial response when Zachary sees him in person).

Zachary's vehicle organizing continues; I don't know if he's trying to arrange his inventory for the Cash for Clunkers program or what. Today he first pulled all of his cars out of his push cart and put them on the ottoman. Then he leaned over the gate around the TV and put them up on the TV stand. Then those spots weren't nearly precarious enough, so he managed to balance most of the cars on one arm of a chair, only signing for daddy to help when he ran out of room. And when we got back from an evening walk, the day wrapped up with another well-presented and thorough collection of cars on his stroller (including a nicely featured Mini Cooper on the stroller footrest - he's clearly got an eye!).

In between the car show events, we headed into the city and had lunch with friends D & S at the tourist-swarming Pike Place Market. With the beautiful weather, I'd hoped to get us a patio table here (I hadn't been in years) -- but I'd forgotten about the very stroller-unfriendly 20+ stairs down from the entrance or 30+ up from the market, and the 30 minute wait that D reported when he scouted ahead was the end of that idea. We instead chose a tasty sandwich shop with a bunch of outdoor tables, one of which had some diners with two greyhounds snoozing around them. I waded around the pooches, and the little man enjoyed his lunch while watching the dogs and listening to a street musician strumming a guitar twenty feet away. Only a ceiling fan would've kept him more entertained!

One of the fun birthday presents Zachary got was a Thomas the Train step stool, which we use at the bathroom sink after his bath. He loves to step up it, smiles at his reflection in the mirror behind the sink, and eagerly waits for his toothbrush (which he generally just tries to slurp the toothpaste off of). He hasn't quite figured out how to step back down yet, but it's a work in progress, and both he and his parents' backs are very pleased to be able to reach the sink without us having to hold him up. Anyway, he definitely thought outside of the box (stool?) at bath time tonight; when I start drawing the water for his bath, sometimes he'll excitedly run into the bathroom, check the temperature of the water, and occasionally even halfway try to climb into the tub. (Thankfully he isn't quite tall enough yet, since he's often still in his clothes at this point.) Tonight I heard a noise from the bathroom while the water was still warming up and I was getting his pajamas ready. I came in to discover he'd picked up and was moving the step stool over from the sink to the tub for an easier entrance -- what a clever little man!