Cruising for a bruising

With crawling now more or less mastered, Owen is exploring the whole house, and we're finding all sorts of interesting things that we never thought to childproof (or had since de-childproofed) when Zachary first got mobile. In particular, he found the stair down to the mud room yesterday; his landing was cushioned by a box of blocks, but it's still time to close a few more doors. Similarly, many of Zachary's toys aren't exactly baby friendly, so we (and Zachary) are starting to do a more thorough job of clearing a path for the mouth-sized-toy- and book-focused tiny man. At the same time, standing while holding onto furniture has been gradually giving way to actual tentative cruising (particularly if there's something interesting further around the side of the table/couch/ottoman/etc.) Again, this sometimes ends with plops, spins, bangs, and swerves. Owen's got a few bruises to show for his efforts, but he happily gets right back to it after some mommy and daddy snuggling.

Since Owen passed his cold onto the rest of the family (how exactly is patient zero the one person who ostensibly isn't exposed to anything other than our house?), mima graciously helped watch the boys today, and I even got to take a little nap along the way. Thank you so much mima! In addition to fun play time with mima, Owen and I discovered a new game; for a few weeks now, he's actively shaken his head to indicate a food or toy he doesn't want. Today I shook my head back at him and he thought it was really funny, shaking his head back at me. This monkey see/monkey do continued for a good 10 minutes, which had him in stitches. Here's his repeat performance for mommy:

Floor exercises

It's official - Owen is crawling! He still doesn't quite use both legs at the same time, but he gets round quite well, and continues to focus most of his energy on getting to whatever Zachary is playing with, or just heading towards his big brother directly.
On the minus side, Owen appears to have picked up a bug of some sort - congestion plus fever over the weekend, thankfully knocked down to just a stuffed nose for the last few days. The doctor said they've seen the same symptoms going around and it's just rest, liquids, and Tylenol for now. And to his credit, other than being tired, Owen's still maintained a pretty happy mood during the day. But he's definitely snotty and a bit uncomfortable, particularly at night. Poor tiny man -- here's hoping he feels better soon!

Color commentary

With Zachary off school for last and this week, we've gotten a great opportunity to spend more time with him. It's been fabulous to see how much he's grown verbally even since the school year started. He'll occasionally ask about the yellow bus, and when we explained that there's no school for a few weeks, he asked if we were going to gym. (That's the activity he does on the one weekday when he doesn't have school.) Such schedule/routine awareness! He also continues to sing (or sometimes hum to himself) songs that he's picked up at school or around the house -- last week, nearly three years after the song's composition by mommy, he started singing the "Baffy Time" song. He sang it the whole walk up the stairs and while the tub was filling. He's also been interacting with his increasingly curious little brother, keeping an eye on his favorite toys when Owen approaches. (Note: any toy that Owen approaches tends to become a Zachary 'favorite'.) In the bath a few nights ago, Zachary grabbed a toy from Owen while stating "Owen share". Owen for his part doesn't get upset, but just continues to persist in reaching for whatever's got Zachary's interest. This is going to get interesting...

Stand by me

Owen has gradually progressed from scooting backwards to slowly wiggling forward -- not really crawling yet, and he needs a surface with traction (e.g. carpet rather than our hardwood floors) to make much progress, but definitely starting to get mobile. Of course, the primary goal for movement tends to be Zachary's toys. Zachary will occasionally be the gracious big brother and give Owen the toy of interest before moving onto another one, but not always; Zachary's collection of toy vehicles was a constant target for Owen today, so Zachary moved them at least twice before mommy wisely suggested he move the cars and trucks to his tent. The tent continues to be a popular respite for Zachary, often accompanied by requests for milk, juice, and/or mommy/daddy snuggles within its plush toy-filled confines.

Owen has also started showing some major interest in pulling himself up - he can't quite do it himself yet, but he's very determined and it likely won't be too long. With assistance, he'll stand, crow happily at his new perspective on the world, and even make the first tentative attempts to play with a toy while still holding on for dear life (this mostly still ends with him parked back on his butt). He's also been enjoying the riding toys in our house - the red plastic Swedish rocker, the toy rocket, and most particularly the combination car and pushcart he got from mima and papa for Chanukah:

Meh saw the sign

Owen had his 9-month wellness visit today! It was at the same time that Zachary's bus comes, so Meh and Owen went to the doctor and I got to walk Zachary out to the bus. It continues to be super cute watching how happy he is to see the bus turn the corner and drive down our street, as well as how he somehow manages to scale a step that must be half his height. He also is very interested in buckling at least part of the seatbelt by himself. Meh had made these amazing chocolate treats for all of Z's teachers and the bus driver, so we had an extra little surprise delivery to give to bus driver G.

Owen had actually just been at the doctor last week, since we noticed him getting a little unexpectedly fussy and Meh correctly guessed at what turned out to be a double ear infection. But a regiment of pink stuff doses later (which only seems to dribble out and stain his clothes about half the time), and he's right as rain; the doctor confirmed that his ears are looking much better. On to the stats:

• Weight: 20 lbs 4 oz (50th percentile)
• Length: 29 1/2 inches (90th percentile)
• OFC: 18 inches (50th percentile)

So he's quite the tall man, clearly expressing his dad's genetics. Or something.

In other big news, Meh reports that Owen signed for the first time today! As with his brother, we've introduced and modeled several basic signs - more, all done, milk, and water. He already clearly understands them, getting all happy and smiley when we ask if he wants water (he loves playing with sippy cups and dribbling water out of his mouth), and sometimes grunting in agreement when we ask if he wants more of a food (incidentally, he's a strong supporter of all grown up foods we've offered to him!). This morning he turned the latter around and signed that he did indeed want more -- nice job, Owen!

[Updated 12/20: Whoops, no - he hasn't shrunk. Length corrected to 29 1/2 inches, not 24 1/2]

Make a run for the border

Uncle B had a really nice rest of his visit with the boys, but his flight departed Wednesday morning. Never fear, the parade of visiting relatives continues -- that same evening, Uncle J arrived! He's been having a nice visit with the boys (though somehow I haven't gotten any pictures of them interacting yet); it was actually his first opportunity to meet Owen, who of course adores him and gives him great big smiles. Of course I also got to introduce Josh to that little project I've been working on for the past little while, and we had a fun evening doing punches, kicks, jumps, and the like.

Meh's Balkan women's choir was invited to participate at a folk dance event up in Vancouver this weekend. Originally, we were researching options for the four of us to make the trip up, but then realized that Meh would still end up going to her evening concert all alone (while I'd likely be sitting in a quiet and probably dark room with two possibly sleeping sons). Mima, papa, and Uncle J then volunteered to stay at our place and watch the boys so we could have an evening away -- it was a wonderful and very generous gift from them!

We stayed at a very cozy B&B in the Kerrisdale neighbourhood, walking around a bit before heading to a lovely afternoon tea. The B&B proprietor mentioned that it's actually her nieces who operate the tea room -- and it was wonderful, with a live harpist, a three tiered tray of sandwiches, crackers, scones, gingerbread, and other yummy foods, and of course excellent tea (I had the creamy earl grey). We then popped off to meet Seattle friends S & J, who happened to be up the same weekend for a craft event, for gelato at the crazy 200+ flavor place near downtown.

In the evening was the folk dance party, which was a lot of fun - there was a great band that went practically non-stop, while Meh's group popped in with a huge variety of large and small ensemble pieces while everyone danced around them. (Yes, I made an attempt or two at the folk dancing, mostly just stumbling as I watched other people's feet. But at the very least definitely enjoyed the music and atmosphere!)

The next morning we had an amazing breakfast at the B&B and hit Granville Island for a brief visit before heading home, perusing the public farmers market (with these interesting precariously pyramid-stacked cherries) and picking up some small toys for the boys. We did incidentally spend much of our trip talking about the boys and what Zachary would have to say about the various things we saw, but it was so nice to get to spend some quiet time just the two of us!

The Winter of Our Disc Tent

With Chanukah here, the boys have been getting a flurry of generous presents from friends and family alike! Owen will occasionally grab for a box (though far more frequently, he'll start scooting for something Zachary is actively playing with -- on rare occasions, such as the picture to the left, he's holding a toy that Zachary will actually gently give him, before moving onto another one - so cute!), but Zachary hasn't really been interested in the box until he sees the wrapping paper fall off -- often exposing something Thomas-themed underneath. Of course then it's a race to try to get the present unwrapped and extricated while he eagerly says 'open' and 'help'; so-called "security wrapping" has gotten pretty ridiculous at this point. One present's instructions even specifically called out the required use of a phillips head screwdriver to remove it from the box!

One of Zachary's favorite presents came last night from mima and papa - a collapsible circular tent! He climbed inside and was having a great time just hanging out; we'd only occasionally see a hand emerge holding an empty glass of milk for us to refill or dispose of. Today, Meh had the excellent idea to consolidate it with his (literal) pile of plush toys, filling the tent with the coziness. Zachary climbed inside early in the afternoon after swim time, and proceeded to fall asleep -- for more than two and a half hours! I caught this picture right before he conked out; when I checked back a few minutes later, there was just a pile of plush toys with a little sock sticking out.

Our visit with Uncle B continues to be a fun time all around -- while Meh was at a craft fair yesterday, B and I took the boys for Z's long-overdue haircut (still sadness, despite me even bringing a Thomas DVD) followed by a walk around the local shopping mall and a nice kaiten sushi lunch. Zachary sat in the booth itself (which he insisted was a "couch") rather than a high chair, and Owen squawked (mostly happily) at the parade of passing sushi plates. Uncle B also came to swimming with Zachary and myself this morning -- Zachary would occasionally look over to the edge of the pool where uncle B was sitting and say "Hiiii Uncle B" and give him a big smile before resuming his dunking and paddling exercises.

Say uncle

The boys' uncle B is visiting from New York! It's been a very fun trip so far; he's been having a great time playing with them (though I had to make fun of him for needing a nap after today's activities!) and of course it's been wonderful having him in town with us just to hang out and spend time together; he's even wanted to gear up with the bjorn and wear Owen around, as seen in this picture from a Costco excursion. And tonight he's even generously volunteered to babysit while Meh and I head to my work group's holiday dinner and then our business unit's huge holiday party -- here's hoping for a smooth night of sleep from the boys!

Chanukah started the night before Uncle B arrived. Mima and papa came bearing presents for the boys, as well as for us (thanks for the Superman cufflinks!); Zachary was thrilled with his excellent Caterpillar-approved heavy loader, complete with multiple engine noises, mechanized lifter, forward and backward movement (though Zachary somehow already managed to immobilize that part) and a music button that Meh insists reflects what must be construction workers' musical tastes when "on break". We got him Thomas pez dispensers, which he was eager to introduce to his Wonder Woman and Miss Piggy ones.

Across the room, Owen got a fun combination ride-on/push cart from mima and papa. Once papa had figured out the extensive assembly instructions, Owen was off and running (or at least grabbing) with it. Here's how he looked in ride-on mode, before we flipped it to push cart, which he of course scoots over to and plays with (generally trying to somehow fit various corners of the cart into his mouth). Owen continues to gradually scoot more and more, often leaving a path of disassembled play mat in his wake. Lately he's been somehow scooting himself half under the couch -- if he ever disappears from sight, I think that's the first place we'll have to check!