Mind reader

O has been participating in a series of fascinating child development studies sponsored by the University of Washington -- every few months Meh brings him in and he's given a series of "tests", which vary from basically just observed play time to monitoring his reactions to seemingly random video images with interspersed audio chirps -- I haven't gotten to see this bit, but Meh assures me it isn't Clockwork Orange or anything like that. Meh and I also get to fill out surveys on family activities, interactions, our own support systems, and so on.

Anyway, O wrapped up his latest round of testing today and we got an early set of results that indicates he's doing really well on the areas they've been measuring/testing against. Go mister O! He also continues to enjoy necklaces (or in his words, "bracelets!"), paying close attention to anything and everything his brother says and does, and of course singing (even if sometimes a bit shyly, or abbreviated):

Meal on Wheels

Yesterday was Z's open house for his afternoon preschool program (which conveniently takes place in the classroom adjacent to his morning preschool), where we got to meet his teachers and a few of the other students, along with some fellow parents. Looks like a fun and intimate group, and both Z and O had a great time exploring the classroom's many fun activities, only occasionally jockeying for the same vehicle. One of the parent educators who is continuing from last year took the opportunity to compliment Meh on the amazing lunches she always packs for Z, and how entertaining and cute they are for the teachers and students. (We'll overlook for a moment the fact that Z himself seems mostly indifferent, and is such a selective eater that often the attractively packaged meal comes back home nearly intact.)

This is all backstory for today, which was Z's first full day at school, and thus his first packed lunch. I have no idea how she did it, particularly so early in the morning, and on another high quality night of multiple Z wakeups (which I tended to) and O coming to bed with her at 4 am, but mommy outdid herself with a very cute preschool lunch masterpiece. Yes, that is a bread, cheese cracker wheels, and fruit leather school bus. Mommy is the best!!

While Z had his first full day at school, Owen and mommy had a full day today as well. Meh indicated he had some fun play and interaction time with his peers at toddler group, along with arts & crafts, and his own version of snack time. And then had his 18-month checkup, which was thankfully shot free (all queued up for his 2-year checkup). His latest stats:

• Weight: 23 lbs 11 oz (10th-25th percentile)
• Height: 33 1/4" (75th percentile)
• Head circumference: 18 1/2" (25th percentile)

Tall, just like his daddy and mommy. Or something.

School Days

We're post Labor Day, which of course means back to school -- today was Zachary's first day back on the "yellow bus!" (both boys say this with substantial energy). The summer seemed to fly by, or at least simply fly right past the northwest, though we've finally had some warm days in the last week or so. Anyway, the bus came back this morning bright and early, and Zachary was eager to be aboard. Even Owen got to step on briefly so we could all give Z hugs and kisses for his first day, before, as O put it so eloquently, "bah-bah bus". We're not fully clear on how things went on the first day -- no tell-tale art project paint on the hands/mouth this time around -- though he did come home singing a song about learning the other kids' names, and we can only assume that he's got to be having a very good time indeed. Welcome back to school, Z!

The Color Purple

Owen's language explosion continues, and is frequently punctuated by him picking up choice catch phrases of Zachary's (recent examples: "Good job!"; "Time for potty!"; "Great sharing!"). In the last day or two, he's gone from mastery of a few color words to actually relating them to what he sees; I got home yesterday afternoon from work and he demonstrated to me his knowledge of a whole rainbow of bunny colors in his book. Equally cute, he's picked up on telling the 'joke' of asking if something is clearly the wrong color. ("[Is it] a green fire truck? Nooo...")

Here's another word I had no awareness O knew until Meh showed me the video:


And of course he likes to talk through playing with his blocks too:

Beach boys

We had a fabulous remainder of Uncle Brian's visit, and were sorry to see him go! On Monday, we picked up mima and all went to the lovely Carkeek Park to enjoy a sunny day at the (rocky) beach. Trains, planes, Puget Sound, playground toys, and even a visiting bubble man - what's not to like? Both boys had a great time, first down by the water, then up at the swings. Zachary actually couldn't be coaxed away from the swings once he got started, though Owen spotted the aforementioned Bubble Man making giant bubbles for a large collection of excited kids and parents, and started to toddle over while pointing and chatting about the guy's many-colored "umbrella!".

The rest of Uncle B's visit was very nice but over way too quickly! We went blueberry picking yesterday morning, played at the park while mommy got a super cute haircut, had family sushi (where Owen displayed renewed ability to shell and eat edamame), and then Brian generously watched the boys and gave Meh and me a date night last night. This morning, both boys were up and antsy way too early in the morning, so we actually all piled into the car to take B to the airport for his morning flight while Meh caught a few more minutes of sleep. The boys were delighted to see all of the airplanes again, but both understood that Uncle B was leaving and gave him hugs, kisses, and a hearty "bah-bah unka bah-yan!" (Owen) or "byyyye uncle Brian" (Zachary).

Say uncle

The boys' Uncle Brian is in town! He arrived late last night from the east coast. Z was a bit surprised and shy to see him first thing this morning, and both boys hid a bit initially before warming up pretty quickly. By late morning, Z had added him to the enumerations he does of friends and family who are around, and O was pointing at him saying "Brian!" We also have another special guest today, friend and fellow blogger M, who was in town from Texas this week for a conference.

We spent much of the day all hanging out in the backyard with Z in the swing, catching up as well as catching -- an improv game of four square (the original, not that location-based social networking thing) broke out, allowing us to demonstrate our mad athletic skills.

In addition to having a great time with Uncle Brian and M, the boys enjoyed having extra company and an audience for meals. O even suddenly figured out how to whistle:

Once the boys were down, we grabbed some propane, grilled up a tasty dinner, and then slayed a few episodes of a classic TV show that M and I have been separately working our way through (but serendipitously happened to be at nearly the same episode), along with resident expert Uncle B. M has to head back tomorrow morning, but it was so good to see him even briefly, and we look forward to seeing him again (along with K and N) very soon!

Turnabout is fair play

Friends and family whose children are older than ours often remark on how things have continually changed with regards to child safety recommendations - how kids used to be put to sleep on their stomachs, or bassinets were perfectly fine sitting in car passenger seats, or how plastic/glass bottles flip-flop between being mortally dangerous and critical requirements for survival. One minor such change has even occurred between Zachary and Owen - the official guidance for rear-facing car seats for children has expanded to be "as long as possible" for 1 to 3 year olds. Z made the flip at one year, but O has remained backwards long after his first birthday. In the past few weeks, he's been leaning as far out of his seat as he can to peek around and check us out in the front, generally with a happy "heh-low dah-dee!" and laughs. With all of that uncomfortable-looking neck craning (and occasional crankiness just getting into the rear-facing seat), we finally made the switch today at just short of 1.5 years, also using the opportunity to swap in an identical seat to Zachary's; if we want to really blow their minds, we can (gasp) even consider switching sides of the car they occupy on occasion. But for now, the seat orientation was change enough; O was thrilled to be facing forward, smiling and laughing along with his brother on our many errands today.