Thinking Fast

Yom Kippur started at sundown on Sunday, and I definitely experienced a pretty wide range of observance styles over the next 26 hours! On Sunday evening, I went to synagogue with friends J & S at S's parents' lubavitch shul for Kol Nidre. J and I actually ended up in front and center seats (literally right in front of the rabbi), so there would have been no escape -- but it was a very nice and welcoming traditional service, with a really warm community feeling.

On Monday, Meh and I were hoping to take Zachary to a Reform childrens' service in the afternoon; we'd made a similar attempt last week for Rosh Hashanah, but he slept clear through it. Anyway, I stayed home and did a miniature service for Meh and myself (in between her preparation of a yummy chocolate wafer/whipped cream/banana concoction for break-the-fast later in the evening -- talk about making it a tough fast!) during his nap. He woke up at a perfect time for a quick lunch, and then we were off to the temple.

The little man was of course smartly dressed in his new shoes and an excellently dapper outfit, and he did amazingly well at temple. The service was the perfect length for him (and, Meh joked, for her): about 35 minutes, with a 7-page prayer book consisting mostly of group songs, featuring a tiny little torah that the very engaging rabbi unrolled and briefly read/translated from, plus a few quick stories thrown in. There were probably close to a hundred kids plus their parents there, and they all seemed to like it. Zachary did a great job sitting still -- well, not sitting exactly, but staying on and around his chair; he kept standing up on it, leaning back against it, sitting back down, climbing down, climbing back up, etc. But there was no wandering away, and his eyes remained fixed on the rabbi (though he was occasionally saying 'ah-pah' -- granted, they've got lovely wide windows and skylights, but I couldn't for the life of me see any airplanes up there). My favorite part: about a minute after each song ended, he'd suddenly realize it was over and start clapping his hands. He was occasionally talky, and wide-eyed and entranced at the music and service overall. Afterwards we drove home and had a quiet family afternoon. All in all, a great first High Holiday experience for the little man!

These shoes were made for walking

Meh got Zachary his first pair of real non-"one-size-fits-all-toddlers" shoes on Wednesday -- and he already wears a 6 wide. I vaguely remember being trapped in the childrens' 11-12's as a kid for what seemed like forever, so he's already totally on my tail. He gave the dapper duds a nice workout at the park today, where he ran around multiple play structures, down a bunch of slides, occasionally parked himself in a little glass porthole/window seat on the second floor of a play structure, and commented on the multiple 'ah-pahs' as they flew overhead.

The big news today was that the little man actually ate some cinnamon toast for supper. It was on his plate, and then before we realized it, he was shoving it into his mouth and going for the second piece. (Both Meh and I valiantly feigned disinterest, though eventually she had to hop into another room and let out a small squeal.) Fourteen offers before a child tries a new food? How about forty? But very exciting; we'll have to see if he remembers the taste the next time we offer it.

Gooshie has been kicking up a storm, though I can't feel the activity quite yet! We took him/her to a play last night with friends J & S, and Gooshie seemed to enjoy it; we had a nice time having an evening out together, with kaiten sushi dinner and a play that was, per the program description, very certainly pastiche (good new Scrabble word) as well as completely silly.

It goes to eleven

We've been discovering over the past few days that Zachary's able to count - well, sort of. I generally carry him down the stairs in the morning, and I've almost always counted the steps as we walk down them. The other day, he smiled at me on the top step and said 'wah' (one). So since then, we take it a step at a time, and he counts and I echo with the actual number. The key to the Zachary numbering system:

1. 'wah' | 2. 'dah' (not much rhyme or reason for that one, though 'dah' is often his default in general) | 3. 'dah' | 4. 'fah' | 5. 'fv' | 6. 'sha' | 7. 'shasia' (both ceiling and seven apparently) | 8. 'eh' | 9. 'mah' | 10. 'tah'

11 is the crowning achievement, where he proudly announces 'el-wah!'. He likes the sound of it so much that sometimes the twelfth through fourteenth stairs are also 'el-wah', though on other occasions he realizes that breakfast is near, and starts saying 'mih' (milk) instead.

We've started another round of swim lessons, and this time we scheduled it for the weekend, so both mommy and daddy can come along. Zachary still has a great time splashing around in the pool, and particularly likes jumping off the underwater platform to mommy. After swim lessons, we even got to have family brunch at a nearby yummy bagel deli.

In between playing with his favorite blue plane (which alternates between 'ah-pah' and 'boo pah'; 'boo pah' is also any blue toy, blueberries, etc.) and red car ('wah kah'), Zachary will often carry on conversations and make some really strange noises. When I say 'Oh Yeah' (think Kool-Aid Man), he'll frequently say a cute extended 'yeahhhhhhh' back. Not in this video, but at least you'll know why I'm saying it:

King of Hearts

Home at last! Another long trip away, and it was very good to be back; the little man was already asleep when I got home, so hope he's happy to see me in the morning! Meh was baking today, and Zachary simply had to watch - so in came the step stool, and up he went to check out the mixer. Note how blankie had to come with him.

I had a great time visiting friends M, K, and their nearly two-month-old daughter N. I couldn't believe how tiny she was when M and K let me hold her! And even her noises were tiny; I remember when Zachary was unhappy at restaurants as an infant, we'd quickly scurry out. With N, I felt like I could barely hear her across the table (not that she was making much noie to begn with) - though I'm sure M and K are a bit more sensitive to it than I was. :)

M and K have an incredible home outside of Forth Worth, and baby N's room is very sweetly decorated for when she's ready to check it out. (For last night, M's friend A, visiting from Chicago at the same time as me, got to borrow N's room). The five of us hopped into Fort Worth to enjoy the lovely vegan restaurant I'd visited with them last year. I had the 'Paul Reuben', made with faux corned beef and faux cheese (or as the menu called it, 'cheez') -- it was super yum. We headed home in the afternoon and passed the time with a few rounds of cards. We actually attempted to indoctrinate K into the 4-player Michigan classic known as euchre, but N refused to be part of such a backwards Midwestern game, so instead the three of us played hearts. For whatever reason, I had the game of my life and ended up winning with 8 points; I jokingly asked where the nearest casino was, but I think that would've been pushing what little luck I had. Instead we had friend S (another Seattle-to-Forth Worth transplant) grab some tasty takeout tex-mex and come by for dinner and catching up.

M's friend A headed home early the next morning, but the four of us got to eat breakfast at the Fort Worth classic diner, where baby N was the center of attention for staff and patrons alike. And yes, all three adults again had to answer "no" when the incredulous waitress asked if we really didn't want any meat with our breakfasts. A quick trip through the entertainingly large and varied Central Market and a take home Thai lunch, and I was back on the road to the airport. A huge thanks to M and K for hosting me, and to N for letting me occasionally hold her - it was good to get a little practice in!

Gooshie Kickoff

We've been gradually sharing the news around, and with yesterday being the first day that Meh felt a certain familiar kick, this seems like a good opportunity to post the announcement on our blog - we're expecting! On or about March 1 (plus or minus 2 weeks or more of course), we're all looking forward to meeting Gooshie.

The name came about quite early; I actually remember we were sitting on a dinner date, where a few minutes before, Meh had surprised me with a gift-wrapped book that we'd actually read through once before -- it was a wonderful way to find out the news! Anyway, Gooshie just popped into my head when we started thinking about what to call our in-vitro baby. It's certainly appropriate and consistent, as Zachary was originally named Ziggy, another name that happens to belong to a Quantum Leap character.

Not sure yet whether we'll find out the gender this time; Zachary was a surprise, but I think Meh would like to know if we'll be needing a new color and clothing-style palette or not. :) And as to Zachary's own awareness, not sure if he has any idea yet. One of his favorite books remains "The Berenstain Bears' New Baby", but I think that might mostly be for wood-chopping sequence for brother bear's new bed (in which I still think papa bear looks suspiciously menacing with a sharpened axe).

I was bummed to miss the first kick as I'm still in Texas, though I know it's a bit longer before they can be felt by others (though preferably not strange people touching Meh's tummy like last time!). On the plus side, I'm now visiting friends M, K, and their super-cute baby N - we've been having a wonderful time together! It certainly brings back memories, though I still have a hard time remembering Zachary being that small.

Float like a butterfly...

I'm once again on the road, this time for a conference in Austin followed by some meetings in Dallas/Fort Worth. On the plus side, the second stop will allow me to catch up with friends M, K, and their new daughter N! On the minus side, it seems like we just got back from DC, and Meh had been fighting some kind of bug for the past few days - it was hard to get on another plane early yesterday.

Some sad news reported from the homefront today - Meh and Zachary went to one of his favorite parks, where he was having a great time playing and running around. At some point, he started picking the flowers (our own little Ferdinand), and before Meh could stop him, he picked a flower with a bee on it. Little man got his very first bee sting, and was very sad - though thankfully had no major allergic reaction. Meh cleaned it out (with a credit card to avoid pushing in more venom, though apparently now not all sources deem this necessary?), but he had a tiny little swollen thumb for the afternoon. Meh said that when he got home and tried to play with his legos, he'd occasionally pick one up with the stung thumb and be uncomfortable once again. We hope he learns from this to avoid bees, though Meh thinks it's as likely he'll avoid flowers, legos, or both.

He was doing much better by the evening, and the bite seemed almost unnoticeable. If there's a silver lining to the experience, at least it hopefully indicates that the little man won't be as susceptible to bee allergies.

Let them eat cake

Yesterday we had our return flights, and we'd learned from our outbound journey to not underestimate the value of a smooth start. Thankfully, BWI was practically deserted -- check-in took about 5 minutes, and the security line was nonexistent as well. As we walked toward our gate, we were met with a fairly unusual sight at an airport: a gate decorated with streamers, balloons, a giant table with cake and cookies, a trio of classical musicians, and a small press contingent. Apparently, JetBlue now serves Baltimore, and we were witnessing the arrival of the maiden flight, full of $19-paying passengers. Why can't we get deals or service like that out west? Meh remarked that airports should always have live classical musicians, and I agree that they and free cake would certainly make travel a little easier!

Zachary's sleep schedule was totally out of sync with our itinerary today -- he fell asleep 10 minutes before we arrived at the airport, 20 minutes before our first flight landed, and 25 minutes before our second flight landed. Despite being woken up every time (unlike our last amazing experience with multiple sleeping man transfers), he really did quite well; it was just exhausting trying to keep him entertained! We attempted his headphones (he'd dissed them on previous trips), and this time they actually stayed on and elicited a small smile and some music listening for a whole two minutes before he was done with them:

We had a decent layover in the Twin Cities, and Zachary spent much of it running from window to window, watching the planes and commenting on them like so:

He also frequently said "ah-pah!" [airplane] and talked about their colors; he particularly likes the blue Southwest planes. Another flight, and we were back in Seattle; we grabbed our luggage, had another happy (but clearly tired) shuttle ride back to our car, and headed home. Zachary was very happy to see his own bed, and was practically asleep as his head hit the sheets. We had such a wonderful and fun trip with bubbie, aunt I, uncle S, Meh's friend C, and my friend J. But it's good to be back in our own home and sleeping in our own beds tonight.

L'Infant Plaza

Yes, he's more of a toddler at this point, but the title still seemed apropos considering our location today; aunt I and uncle S were working, so Meh, Zachary, and I braved the Metro into DC for a visit to the Smithsonian Institution. The Metro claims to be fully stroller accessible, though there were a few dodgy moments; on the way back we were fully stumped and had to shlep the stroller up an escalator and down a broken escalator (a.k.a. a long metal stairway) to get to our train; Zachary thought the bumping and jostling were hilarious. Suffice it to say, he was happily beside himself watching the trains approach - the combination light show (in addition to the headlights on carriages, circular lights embedded along the track flash when trains arrive), train horns, door chimes, and gusts of wind had him laughing and smiling. Aboard the train, he kept glancing over at me and bursting into a big grin in between chowing on goldfish crackers.

When we arrived at the Smithsonian, we started with a stroll through their gardens and then hopped into the castle for a quick look as it started briefly raining; the centerpiece there was a pile of props mocking up famous items in the Smithsonian's collection, as used in the recent family movie -- and yes, there was a giant gift shop display next to it hawking "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" souveniers. We moved on to the Museum of Natural History, where Zachary fell asleep about 5 minutes into the visit. We sat down for a nice lunch in their cafe, and when he was still asleep as we wrapped up, we started our museum tour with a sleeping passenger in tow.

First we visited the Hope Diamond and a really neat gemology exhibit, with all different shapes, sizes, and textures of various precious, semi-precious, and really-not-precious stones. Meh and I think we saw the Hope Diamond previously at an exhibit in London, but it really is ginormous. They're apparently planning to re-set it and currently have an online vote to choose the design. After wrapping up the gemstones, we visited some ancient and then semi-contemporary fish and mammal exhibits. We were trying to save the dinosaurs for the little man, but he was still out, so we ended up viewing the fossils as he slept on.

At last he woke up as we wrapped up the insect exhibit (the last major exhibit at the museum), ready for milk and lunch. We hopped outside to the National Mall, where the little man enjoyed some yogurt, raisins, and crackers, before we all headed back to the Metro for the trip back. He was happy and looking around through the whole walk through the station and train ride, though I unfortunately wasn't able to capture a video of his full excitement for the approaching train.

Refreshed from his long (I think another 2+ hours) nap, he had an excellent afternoon playing with bubbie, reading books, and playing with a series of toys. All in all, a very good last full day in Maryland -- tomorrow we head back to Seattle, so it's good to see him happy and well-rested in time for a big travel day. A huge thanks to aunt I and uncle S for hosting us, picking up all of Zachary's giant list of needed gear, feeding us (we weren't allowed to pick up a single meal), and playing tourist with us!

Waste management

Two of Zachary's favorite features of aunt I and uncle S's house are the ceiling fans, one located in the bedroom where he's sleeping and the other in the master bedroom. This makes him constantly want to climb upstairs, where he happily runs around between the two rooms, smiling and saying "shah-siya!" [ceiling?] as he looks up at the fans. Meh even got him to say "fuh-fuh-FAH!" [fan?] as well. This morning, Zachary woke up fairly early, so I brought him into bed with us. We all actually slept nicely for a bit longer, then he sat up, made sure I was awake, and signed 'more' and then 'please'. I quietly whispered "more what?" and, just as quietly, he whispered back "shah-siya!" This was so cute that I simply had to go turn on the fan for him, though that just made him happily say "shah-siya" again and again in a regular loud voice; we scurried downstairs for breakfast to let Meh sleep some more.

Today we all drove down to Baltimore's Inner Harbor. They've got a ton of activities there, including the 1854 USS Constellation tall ship, a not-quite-as-old submarine (which sounded its diving alarm like every 5 minutes), and plenty of outdoor strolling. Zachary was eager to be in the stroller and 'gooo'-ing, so we walked most of the harbor with him. Then we spotted their children's museum and headed inside. Zachary was very not pleased for the stroller to stop moving, but we wanted to try to get him at least a little activity, so in we ventured.

There were at least a few minutes of happiness (or at least quiet exploration) in between whining and outright crying. Poor little man had around 20 minutes of Port Discovery before we gave up and headed out. He was not a fan of the ID bracelet, though the rest of us kept ours on in case we decided to venture back later. It was not meant to be though; 10 minutes later, Zachary was totally conked out. So we all went and had lunch (at a place with a *lot* of ceiling fans - his loss!) and then roamed around some of the shopping areas, one of which had freshly filled cannoli for Meh, and another which is the only licensed shop in the country to sell Charm City Cakes merchandise (more on them in a bit). Zachary was still asleep, so we walked the whole length of the harbor, down to some extra swanky-looking condominiums. He was still asleep after that, so Meh and I stopped and relaxed on some benches (I chuckled at the concrete lounge chairs) while aunt I and uncle S got ice cream. He finally woke up as we got back to the car.

Before heading back home, we simply had to drive the 10 minutes from the harbor to stop at the home of our favorite Food Network bakery. I'd looked on their website, and it was quite clear that they don't want their TV fans stalking them - no tours, no visits without appointments, etc. So uncle S pulled over the car, Meh ran out, and I snapped a quick photo of her in front before we dashed back away. The windows were all heavily tinted and/or covered; I'm not sure if they were in the midst of shooting for the show, or in general have had to get even more private. Oh, the inconveniences of celebrity!

Lastly, on to the title of today's post. Tonight, Meh was giving little man his bath, and he suddenly started making the face that indicated he was, ah, making. In the bath. Meh quickly pulled him out and put him onto the toilet. Rather than crying, he just completed his business; hooray for Zachary's first potty training moment!

(Editor's note: We had an alternate title for this post: "Maryland is for Crap." But despite chuckling approval from the few Marylanders we tried it out on, I couldn't quite bring myself to blemish the Old Line State in a blog post title.)

Line rage

We're off once more to the east coast, visiting bubbie, aunt I, and uncle S. Things started off promising, with a happy drive to the airport followed by Zachary happily saying 'wah wah!' when Meh asked him what color the giant yellow airport shuttle was, and then laughing and talking happily through the shuttle ride into the terminal. And that unfortunately concluded Zachary's happiness for at least a few hours; while ticket check-in went quickly, the luggage check lines were obscenely long and slow. Meh and Zachary (the latter esconced in his excellent stroller-adapted car seat) orbited the terminal while I waited for nearly 40 minutes to check our bags -- people were getting impatient left and right as lines closed (unannounced), other passengers had to shuffle their bags' contents for being over the weight limit (who carries 50+ pounds of luggage in a single bag?), and in general things were mildly unpleasant. Meanwhile, Zachary went from whiny to nearly inconsolable without explanation. Bags finally checked, we approached the security checkpoint, and had another 30+ minute wait, again with an angry little man. They of course had to take extra time to screen his bottles of milk, which didn't really help as the tears continued to flow.

Once we were up and moving through the terminal, he did a little bit better. But when we got to the gate, he again switched to angry tantrum mode, and was inconsolable for a good twenty minutes. Finally, Meh got him over to a window, and he stopped crying long enough to say 'ah-pah' (airplane) and start watching planes go by. This was of course just in time for us to board, leading to another round of crying. Finally on the plane, blankie and bunny came out, and he snuggled them and fell asleep. During the layover and next flight, he happily commented on the airplane and 'boo-bah!' (his new favorite blue truck toy) in between drinking what seemed like several gallons of milk and not eating much. We arrived late in the evening and were picked up by aunt I and uncle S, who had impressively acquired the full list of suggested baby paraphanalia from another friend who was a recent grandparent. Zachary was so exhausted that he went right to bed in the pack and play with minimal fuss.

Today was our first full day, and Meh's (very dedicated!) friend C drove all the way down from New York to visit for the day. After we met up, we were off to meet bubbie (Zachary's great-grandmother) for brunch, and things unfortunately went a bit downhill from here for the little man. Zachary still wasn't interested in food, and quickly moved into a tantrum. He was only happy once we got him outside, where there was a large fountain to look at and then wildly run around. After a tag-team dining experience, we ended up taking him home for a very needed nap, while Meh and C hopped the Metro into DC and got to enjoy some catch up time while perusing Dorothy's Ruby Slippers at the Smithsonian, and visiting other monuments around the Mall.

Aunt I and I took him to a local park, where he played on the slides for a bit before we had to beat a hasty retreat from the mosquitoes. We all caught back up for dinner with bubbie, and Zachary had a good snuggle and play time with her. Aunt I and Uncle S have pulled out some of my cousins' old toys, and the little man has really taken to them, particularly all of the vehicles (anyone for a TMNT pizza launcher?) and a turtle on rollers that plays music; he'll press the music button and clap his hands when the music starts - so cute! Alas, the heavy travel (and lack of good naps) caught up with him, and he had a rough time getting down for the night; hopefully now that he's down, he'll sleep well and be ready to have a more consistently fun time tomorrow when we head to Baltimore's Inner Harbor!