District Tourists

Though Zachary was a frequent flyer seemingly from the moment he was born, Owen had yet to take an airplane -- that all changed this week, as we visited bubbie, Aunt I, and Uncle S in Maryland for bubbie's 91st birthday! Packing for four is slightly more challenging than even three, though in the end I think we had just about the right amount of clothes (particularly with a load or two of laundry thrown in at Aunt I and Uncle S's house). Zachary got to try out his new wheely suitcase in the airport, and had a great time riding it around. We also left plenty of time so the boys could enjoy themselves at the very mall-looking play area -- where they had the run of the place for part of the time, only occasionally needing to share it with other kids.

The flight itself was decent; Zachary was very excited to be back on a plane and actually took a great nap. Owen took a shorter nap and mostly just got bored despite a flurry of toys and foods. On the plus side, the plane snack packs were perfectly appropriate for both boys, with cheese (Owen tried to eat a giant cheddar wedge) and fruit. When the plane landed, Zachary smiled at me and said "one more time!"; he only got sad when we had to get off the airplane.

With the time change, we got into DC very late, then had to go grab the rental car, wait for them to sort us out, install the car seats, and then get mildly lost trying to get to our hotel -- we ended up dumped at the end of a freeway into downtown D.C., whoops. But by 12:30 or so, we were at the hotel and ready for sleep. Alas, it was a single bed (I'd asked for two doubles), and nobody was interested in trying out the sleep tent some friends had graciously loaned us. Suffice it to say, sleep was a bit elusive, though on the plus side, everyone did sleep until 8 am (5 am back home).

Uncle B and grandma also came in for Bubbie's birthday, and we all met up the next morning at Aunt I and Uncle S's house. It was Bubbie and Owen's first meeting, and they seemed to get along famously. Zachary said hi to everyone, while Owen was fascinated by "Minnie dog" (and her water bowl, and really any moderately off limits area; he spent much of the morning practicing climbing up the carpeted staircase. We all had a really nice day together, including a nice dual stroller walk.
The rest of the trip was nice (other than the sleeping -- the second night we discovered just how thin the walls of our hotel were, as our neighbors apparently had a party, and kept loudly giving driving directions over the phone as more and more people arrived) -- we took the Metro into DC and took the boys to the National Museum of Natural History, where Zachary and Owen had a very fun time looking at all of the dinosaur bones. From there, we walked over to the National Cherry Blossom Festival, which featured some stunning... flowers? Foliage? Anyway, the boys enjoyed the walk along the tidal basin, and even let mommy stop off and pick up some gifts along the way. We met up with Bubbie and Aunt I for dinner that evening (graciously picked up once more by Aunt I).

For our last full day in the area, we decided to explore Bethesda. There was an interesting-looking Playseum that turned out to likely be Zachary's favorite part of the whole trip. They've apparently solicited all of the local Bethesda businesses to set up miniature play "shops" in what was originally a bookstore. Zachary saw the fire truck and it was all over from there, he just kept checking out various stores and having a blast. Eventually both boys even ended up in a car together, playing very nicely together. After a tasty family lunch, we tried to have nap time back at the hotel (failing), and then tried to have dinner with Bubbie one last time (also failing, the boys finally did fall asleep in the car). Bright and early this morning we were off to the airport for the return flight -- Owen had a slightly rougher time on the way back, though mostly again just needing constant entertainment. Both boys did so well on a cross-country trip, we were so proud of them; but we all agree, there's no place like home, and it's good to be back!

(Full set of pictures from the trip here.)

Toeing the Line

Wednesday was a good friend's birthday, so Meh took her out for a lovely tea while I watched the boys. Z had gym class, so I was happy to be able to attend for the first time. It's a combination of running around, tumbles, balance beam, and other activities. Owen had a great time climbing around the lobby making eyes at the other parents and playing with toys, and Z clearly had a great time skipping, tumbling, and playing.

A possible explanation for Zachary's frequent wakeups over the past few days: a fever on Friday sent him home from school, and Saturday morning he had the eye goops. Sure enough, we took him to the doctor and he was diagnosed with both an ear infection and pinkeye. Meredith had the foresight to ask the doctors if they could check out Owen as well, but Z had a rough time and O wasn't showing any symptoms, so we ended up bailing. Naturally, the next morning O had the same eye goops, and another trip to the doc and pharmacy later, we had matching bottles of everyone's favorite pink antibiotic. The boys' response to the medicine has been pretty diametrically opposed: Zachary hates it, generally ends up crying, and we doubt if he's actually swallowing even a tenth of it. By contrast, Owen smiled, clapped, and signed for more after I gave him his dose this afternoon.

On the plus side, it seems to be working - both boys seem markedly better today (though Z wasn't quite ready for school). We hope everyone's back to 100% soon; we've got a flight to catch in a few short days!

The sound of two teeth gnashing

Yesterday was Owen's 1-year doctor's appointment. He's already doing many of the things that the doctor and his "report card" indicated were to be looked forward to in the weeks/months to come. Here are the stats for the tiny (but tall) man:

Weight: 21 lbs, 13 oz (25-50th percentile)
Height: 31" (75-90th percentile)
OCF: 18" (25th percentile)

The only minus to the 12-month checkup is the set of shots; last night at bath time we removed three separate silver sparkly holographic bandaids, and he had a rough night sleep-wise, waking up several times. Though on the plus side, he did end up sleeping for the final round until 7:30 am. Meh noticed that he was grinding his teeth a bit when she went in this morning -- which means of course that he suddenly has two teeth. Congrats O! Zachary in the meantime had a few nightmares and ended up having daddy snooze time. While it's sad to hear him crying at night, it's pretty adorable to see him standing at his door, whispering "daddy, snuggle" before climbing back into his cozy bed.

Owen's been more frequently interested in checking out the piano lately. Here he is exploring his minimalist side.

Universal tooth

Owen continues to impressively eat a variety of foods that one would think you'd need at least two teeth to deal with. Yesterday I gave him a little bit of raw carrot, and he chomped on it amiably for quite a while. Granted, he kept working on the same piece (and occasionally taking it out to examine it), but you can't fault the effort.

He also continues to show great interest and engagement in the camera (as well as anything else we use to interact with him, as well as of course whatever Zachary happens to be playing with):

Free standing

Owen's latest accomplishment: standing up without any furniture-provided assistance. Meh saw him do this several times yesterday, and then during bath time he kept trying to demonstrate his newfound skill to me as well. Hooray, but please remain seated while in the tub!

Today I finally assembled our new toy/puzzle/book-holding cabinet that Meh had excellently chosen from our favorite Swedish flatpack store. Zachary even helped me hammer in a couple of dowels, though both boys preferred the actual packaging for entertainment.

With the cabinet complete, Meh has started the reorganization, and it's already such an improvement over the many piles and stuffed glass door cabinets in the family room. At last we can see all of the books that we've (or at least they've) been totally ignoring! The funniest part was when Zachary started to "clean up" by pulling vehicles out of the cabinet and putting them back in their old pile in the family room. He thought it was really funny when we explained that the cabinet is the new place to park the fire truck.

Get packing

And just like that, Owen demonstrated another skill for dinner on Sunday.

Owen's actual birthday (as opposed to his observed one) did end up including some fun singing and play time despite our busy schedules. Zachary celebrated with his own new 'toy': in preparation for our upcoming trip to visit bubbie, he got his very own ride-on suitcase. Here he was giving it a spin:

We're looking forward to getting to visit with bubbie, Aunt I, and Uncle S -- and grandma is flying in too! But still a tad nervous about the long flight (thankfully direct) and sleeping arrangements when we get there. Time to hunt for hotels!

Happy Birthday (observed)

Owen's first birthday falls on a Tuesday this year. Alas, between our various hectic schedules (including his - he's got swimming lessons during the day), we'll probably have all of twenty minutes to celebrate with him on his birthday proper between dinner and bathtime. So we opted to have his official party on the preceding Sunday -- as in, today. The unofficial guiding principle for birthdays is apparently to invite a number of friends equivalent to your age; we broke the rule a bit by having two guests: mima and papa.

Meh of course was in charge of the festivities and outdid herself once more. Working in an entirely new direction from a theme we used for Zachary's first birthday, she created an excellent dual-toned batch of cupcakes with a special birthday message.

We particularly enjoyed brainstorming a few objects that start with the letter "O", which Meh expertly piped as chocolate:

Like his brother before him, Owen wasn't really into the cupcakes themselves, though he did gobble up quite a few of the chocolate piped letters and decorative objects. Zachary meanwhile enjoyed eating a pile of strawberries that we'd placed adjacent to (what we felt was) an alluring cupcake on his plate. But the rest of us enjoyed the tasty cupcakes, and everyone enjoyed singing happy birthday and helping Owen blow out the candle.

Still unbelievable that he's already a year old! So many new and exciting things going on for him every day, and it's so fun to see him discover the world and smile, eat, laugh, pick up, put down, or occasionally spit up on it. While it's still technically two days away, happy happy first birthday tiny man!

Back in time

I got back late last night from a productive but exhausting conference. This morning, Zachary was up at his usual 5 am, and when I went to get him, he quietly whispered "Hiii daddy!", as if surprised that it was me and not mima or mommy that had come to fetch him. Incidentally, apparently the mima/mommy combo had gotten a little too complicated for Zachary while I was gone, so Meh has become "mama". We'll have to see if that sticks, particularly since I'm still daddy. Anyway, huge huge thanks once again to mima for staying with Meh while I was gone and helping take care of the boys -- I think the boys particularly enjoyed the bonus mima time!

And there was plenty new in Owen's world as well. First, he started making noises while pushing cars around. You can possibly just make it out (under Zachary's whining in the background):


He also started cracking himself up trying to say the word "bubbles":

In general we're noticing him trying to say words (or at least their first consonant) while pointing at objects; "buh" might mean book, ball, or if it's "buhhhh", balloon. Cute tiny man!