Mobile operator

Over the last few days, we've witnessed Owen transitioning from fully stationary to somewhat mobile. I wouldn't say he's crawling precisely yet -- more leaning, grabbing onto things, and adopting (to continue the bad punnage from this post's title) a pull model. We'll park him in the center of his playmat, and a minute later, he'll be to one side of it, often disassembling and chomping on its foam pieces. If he reaches any kind of large device (his toy piano, or more recently his jumper), he'll drag it (and/or himself) around -- probably some good resistance training exercise right there.


Yesterday mommy worked, but the boys and I had a fun morning all playing together. And indeed another transition I've been seeing lately is for Zachary to actually occasionally pay attention to and even (gasp) interact with his brother. He kept sampling Owen's toys -- and by sampling, I mean putting them in his mouth and saying 'Eat it!'. Owen for his part continues to be fascinated by his brother; when he comes into view after not being seeng for a few minutes, Owen gives a giant smile, often a laugh, and sometimes even a mildly piercing scream/grunt of happiness.

Bird is the word

Happy Turkey Day! We had a nice gathering of friends and family for the holiday, and of course ended up eating way too much and still having crazy leftovers. In the morning, I took Zachary sledding once more before the snow was due to start melting. We got to use the excellent new coaster that Mima and Papa had picked up, and made about four runs down the fresh layer of snow on the hill, only totally losing control and spinning out once. Zachary loved every moment of it -- except when I asked if he was ready to go down the hill and he presumed 'down' meant 'get off the coaster', which resulted in an objecting 'Nooo!'. But once he understood, there was much giggling, clapping, and smiles.

When we got back, we all pitched in to straighten the house out a bit; Zachary helped swiffer, Owen helped hide things in his mouth, and mommy set up the incredible table decorations for both the adults and the kids. Of course Meh had outdone herself, even creating little turkey finger puppets for the three kids in attendance (alas, I neglected to grab any pictures of them). Owen and Zachary weren't so big into their naps, but we did get them into their Thanksgiving finery; Zachary even sported his first (clip-on) tie.

And in the afternoon, mima, papa, the H family, and friends S & J came over to celebrate the holiday. We all had a great time -- the H family boys of course enjoyed and played very nicely with all of Zachary and Owen's toys, it was wonderful to catch up with everyone, and much tasty food was made, brought, cooked, and eaten. Even Owen got in on the act, chowing down on challah, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, stuffing, turkey, green beans, and more! The full album of festivities can be found here -- thanks to our friends and family for making this such a great Thanksgiving!

Snow day

The automated phone message came through last night that Zachary's school was cancelled for today (we actually just got another one this evening indicating the school district is off tomorrow too, though Z doesn't actually have class Wednesdays anyway), so we all got to have a family day at home today -- and a good thing too, since the roads were still icy and littered with abandoned cars when we ventured out in the afternoon. But in the morning, we had family play time, both indoors and outdoors. The local walking distance junior high has an excellent hill for sledding, so we bundled everyone up and headed over with a cookie sheet in tow. (Mima and Papa stopped by later in the afternoon with an honest-to-goodness coaster that we can use for future sledding -- thanks Mima and Papa!)

There were already a few other families sledding, and a nice dad offered us his spare plastic toboggan, which had ample room for both a very well-bundled-up Zachary and a parent; Meh and I each had a turn riding down the hill with Z. Here's my run; he had a great time until he went flying past mommy, at which point you can hear the beginnings of some whining.

All in all, a great time for everyone. We came home for hot cocoa and a cozy afternoon indoors, only briefly heading out to grab supplies for the upcoming Thanksgiving dinner. We hope the roads are safe enough for our guests to actually attend! In other news, we finally captured the elusive Owen wave on film -- er, compact flash card:

White out

While I could swear this was a rare event when I first moved out here, we once again got snow today -- actually had a dusting last night that didn't stick, but by this morning, the flurries were back, surprising even the local weather folks. Zachary kept looking out the window at the white stuff, and was very excited to get to wear his Thomas boots on the walk out to the school bus; Owen was a little less aware of it, more interested in continuing to chew thoughtfully on his foam playmat.

Unfortunately, Meh still had work this afternoon, and bravely stuck with it until all of the rest of her coworkers started clearing out near the evening closing time (many of them heading for local hotels). Her drive home wasn't the three hours that some of my coworkers reported, but was very scary nonetheless, with plenty of snow, ice, and inexperienced winter weather drivers; the road she was driving down was suddenly closed with police cones and signs, and as she slowed down to see if it was safe to turn around, another car slid out of control and sideswiped her car's back corner. She was okay but shaken up; the other driver was very nice and offered a ride (though with the control his car had demonstrated, it was probably good that Meh stuck with her own car). Eventually she did manage to get home, driving through a mess of an earlier accident involving two buses and twenty or more cars. I'm very very glad that she's safe and sound, and I think we'll all be sticking around here tomorrow.

Back it up

Grandma is in town for the weekend! She's been having a wonderful time with the boys, and was rewarded by an "I love you gah-ma" from Zachary during stories tonight. Meh and mima also took her out for her upcoming birthday at the most excellent high tea in Seattle, which I think she really enjoyed. And she let Meh and me have a date night tonight; we enjoyed a casual dinner and a movie - it was nice to get an evening to ourselves. Thanks grandma!

Owen is ever so slowly starting to get a little mobile. Right now he's at a point where if there's something that interests him, he'll stretch as far as he can and even perhaps pull himself along a little bit. And this morning, I watched him squirm around, first in a full circle pivot, and then backwards a few inches. Like his brother, I think backward crawling may precede going forwards.

Zachary's swimming lessons continue to be a highlight of our Sundays, and he continues to love them. He often gets a bit ahead of the teacher, saying "ready", taking a deep breath, and then dunking his own head under the water. His favorite is when the floaties come out and he can go off and be independent, swimming, kicking, self-dunking, and occasionally even going all mellow/peaceful and backfloating around the pool.

New Wave

First a picture of our Halloween giraffe -- seeing as he slept through all of the costumed shots on the actual holiday.

It's not entirely consistent yet, but Owen has begun to occasionally wave at us -- it's very cute to see! We haven't yet been able to grab a video of him doing it, but will keep encouraging him. He also continues to squeak and speak happily, particularly when there's food or his big brother within visual range. And he's got a fabulous laugh that he uses for everything from tickles and zerbers to silly noises to hide and seek. Such a good tiny man!

Meanwhile, I'm very glad to be back from my conferences in SF. While it was exciting and rewarding to give my first keynote and both events went well, it was difficult to be away for so long, and both boys were fighting colds to boot. Though the airport was hectic and all flights overbooked, I did somehow manage to beg and plead my way onto an earlier flight; I still missed the boys' bedtime, but was very happy to see them the next morning, even if it was before 5 am!