The constant gardener

After last Monday's (mis)adventures getting the boys to bed by myself, I called in some reinforcements last night, and Mima graciously assisted. Things went a little bit better, though Owen still took a while to calm down from the getting-into-pajamas sadness. We'll master this yet!

Happy seventh anniversary to the prettiest wife and best mommy in the world! We both admitted to each other yesterday that we'd totally dropped the ball on gifts for each other. Still, other folks I've spoken to use their home improvement projects as their mutual anniversary 'gifts'. So it's completely appropriate that we've just about wrapped up our backyard relandscaping. The yard had gotten pretty rough and tumble over the past few months (I'll blame it on knowing that we were going to be relandscaping), but even before that, a combination of invasive plants, fence repairs, and digging/pacing by Korby had left our yard in not great shape. Meh made it a goal to get it reorganized, and to give us some good kitchen garden space as well. She actually even got a head start last year; our first crop of blueberries from the front yard relandscaping came in this week and were super tasty - even Zachary tried a few, though he caught a tart one and gave up on the rest.

The plans looked fabulous, and over the past month or so, we've watched as the entire backyard has been transformed (full set of pictures here), with new plants, rebuilt stone steps and wall, a "dry riverbed" feature in the back, a new sprinkler system to keep everything from dying, and an expanded kitchen garden area on the side of the house that Meh has already filled with yummy veggies, fruits, and herbs. We also got a new shed in the back corner and are looking forward to dismantling the lean-to thing that had been the "shed" when we moved into the house. All in all, a very cozy backyard addition - and wrapped up just in time for our anniversary! Now if I can just get the replanted lawn to take, we'll be good to go; Zachary's clearly impatient to go tromping around, occasionally looked out at the yard and stating 'I want go outside!'

Blanket statement

First of all, a very grateful thank you to everyone who has expressed their condolences for Korby. It's been a hard beginning of the week, as I keep finding myself doing and seeing things that remind me of Korby. Zachary too seems to know something has happened; he walks around saying 'ah ah' and sniffing, and at one point Meh said he was shaking Korby's kennel door. The house is just very quiet, and food is far too safe on counters.

Zachary's actually been even a bit more out of sorts than that; he developed a low-grade fever that lasted for several days and kept him quite unhappy. We thought it might be related to his teething (Meh said she could see some of his rear molars starting to come through today), but after a doctor visit, it was diagnosed as likely roseola. Sure enough, today the fever broke and now he's mister rash. Still uncomfortable, and I was sorry that Meh had to deal with him being so unhappy for the past two days. When Zachary is uncomfortable, he loves to snuggle with a soft blanket (no, he doesn't appear to have a particular "favorite blanket" or anything like that) -- he'll carry it around, then put it on the floor and throw himself onto it, occasionally covering himself with it. Meh caught this video of the phenomenon today:



On the developmental side, Meh and he were cleaning up yesterday from the day's playtime activities, and he actually started putting items into a box (usually he's pretty focused on taking them out) -- in this case, his blocks into their container. When he ran out of blocks, he started trying to stuff his books into the box as well. Hooray for mister clean up! When the blocks are actually out, he still isn't really interested in stacking them, though he continues to enjoy knocking them down when grown-ups try. Here's a video we caught of him and grandma this weekend:

Remembering Korby

After getting back from spending Thanksgiving day at his doggie fun ranch, Korby got into the turkey leavings, which we very stupidly left outside within his reach. Normally after Korby gets into something he shouldn't, he gets a tummy ache, is a little sick for a day or two, and then is back to his dirt-eating ways without missing a beat. Unfortunately, this time his age caught up with him, and he developed pancreatitis. He spent the last day and a half in the animal hosptial, until this morning, when we allowed him to go to sleep peacefully and without any more pain.

Meh's reflections:
Korby was a naughty dog. He ate raw challah dough, cupcakes, muffins, pizza, brisket, and other things left only partially secured on the counter. He stole food from our guests, ate dirt and leaves, and made a play for any roadkill he came across on walks. He tracked dirt around our home, peed on the floor, puked on the rug. He pawed us (and house guests) for attention, leaving bruises and scratches. He barked at inopportune times and shed until we found Korby-colored dust bunnies under the furniture ("Korby cousins"). He was rambunctious and crazy for food, he blurred around the yard for no reason except that he could.

Korby was a very very good dog. He loved us unconditionally, even when we ignored him, shooed him into the kitchen, skipped his walks, and had a baby that stole any attention he was used to getting. He curled up with us on the floor, and protected us from evil squirrels and doorbells. He had the softest fur. He would sometimes sleep with the tip of his pink tongue poking out between his lips, or his ear inexplicably sticking straight up from his head, occasionally barking softly as he dreamed about dirt and pine cones.

I cried the day we picked Korby up from the Humane Society. When I knelt down in front of his cage, he licked my hand through the fence, and I knew we had to take him home. I cried today, when he slipped away to a place that I hope is full of piles of unsecured brisket and cupcakes, and lots of hands to scratch his belly.

Scoot's reflections:
From the very beginning, I knew this dog was going to be trouble. I'd been planning a somewhat elaborate marriage proposal for Meh when she decided that this was the weekend we should go to the animal shelter and look for a companion. He was so gentle and soft that we knew we were hooked, though I should've taken a cue from the fact that when one of the Humane Society employees led him into a run for us to try playing with him, he locked onto the fact that a dog next door was getting treats, and spent most of the time in that corner of the run trying to figure out how to get some goodies of his own.

Korby's first in-house activity was to walk around, sniff everything, and then pee on the corner of a table. By the end of the first weekend, he'd eaten a loaf of unbaked challah that had been rising on the (I thought) insurmountably tall countertop. And he even ate it intact -- when we took him to the vet, it, ah, came back up whole. Ew. On the day of the marriage proposal, Korby dutifully followed me around as I placed objects and flower petals around the house. Then suddenly he wasn't following me anymore -- he'd noticed that one of the objects was a tiny little box of mini-brownies, and he'd torn it open and eaten them (and most of the cardboard box too). But in the end, he was out there in the garden behind our house with me as I presented Meh with flowers, the last page of the story of our lives so far, and got down on one knee to propose to her. I seem to recall he even licked her face when she accepted and was crying happily.

And he was there too for all of the major events in our life that followed: wedding preparations, our wedding day, the move to our new house, trips to various parks and hikes, Meh's pregnancy, the birth of Zachary, and all of Zachary's many milestones. He was also always there to happily greet us when we returned from our various trips, often caked with mud from a particularly fun-filled time at the dog ranch. He's been such a patient dog, dealing with all of those other "important" things in our lives that kept us from giving him attention all day every day. He was happy to spend hours on end in the back yard, wearing a clearly visible trail along the route where he wandered back and forth. He's been a very patient older brother to Zachary, letting him grab his fur and tail, occasionally licking his face, and licking his hands clean after a meal. (Okay, sometimes graduating to a bit of gentle nibbling if there was a particularly tasty morsel in Zachary's pudgy fingers.)

Zachary learned to love him as well, smiling and giggling when he came out of his kennel in the morning, saying 'ah ah!' when he saw Korby running around outside, and looking around for him when he heard him bark, whine, or paw for food during Zachary's mealtime of forbidden foods. He has been fascinated by this large fluffy brother, and many of his favorite toys, books, and mobiles have been dog-themed as well.

Korby did have a perfect last day (for Korby at least): running around during the day at his dog ranch, and coming home to pull down and eat a turkey that evening. We had such a special six and a half years with him, time that we wouldn't give back for anything. We love and miss him very much, and know and appreciate that he has left us with so many wonderful and happy memories of that crazy food-obsessed pooch. The Bun, Good Bo, WhoGuhBoe, the Bun Bar Boe, Korb, Korben Dallas, Korby: we hope you're enjoying a next life with inexhaustible mounds of food, large fields to blur in, and a warm home to snuggle and rest up in between your continuing adventures.

Designated driver

Thursday was a cool but dry autumn day, so Meh and Zachary spent part of the day hanging out in the yard, where he pushed his cart around (getting moderately annoyed that it's harder to push it uphill, let alone through the Korby-dug holes, weeds, and sticks and rocks of the back yard). Meh also tried putting Zachary back into his motorized bus, and all on his own he figured out how to make it go. From the video, I'm not sure if he was enjoying it or just testing out the whole sensation of whiplash, but super cute nonetheless.



And here are those cart-pushing attempts, while Korby looked on:

Walk like a man

On day 433, one of the biggest early milestones of all has occurred - from early trials of a few tentative steps (and as I mentioned, sequences yesterday of four and then five), Zachary has moved on to actual walking! Here are two videos Meh caught today:




Zachary still enjoys his crawls and of course the Mickey walker, but it's a brave new day. Meh reported that one of the targets today was Korby, who was too busy cleaning up dropped bits of Zachary lunch to notice the figure walking toward him, and was mildly surprised when the little man reached him.

Walking and talking? Piece of cake. Meh caught him holding this conversation (filled with some pretty unique verbalizations) with his jogging stroller:

Fifty-two pickup

Zachary's new favorite game is dumping out objects from boxes and baskets. But he does it in a particularly charming way (well, charming until the tenth time you pick everything up), flinging them over his shoulder like so:



Last night the game even extended into dinner, with the end result being mushy peas, carrots, and of course quesadilla squares and various fruits all over the ground behind him. I later found a particularly mushed pea flattened on the wheel of his walker. Ew. Needless to say, Korby was a big fan, though his tracking is getting a little sloppy in his old age, and I had to point out a few missed items to him. We'll have to see if Zachary is superstitious and starts tossing salt over his shoulder given the opporunity.

If you're wondering, only on rare occasions (for instance, when he feels bath time is nearing an end) will Zachary do the opposite and actually put objects into a basket.

Yesterday Zachary took 4 steps (ending in a fall) and then later 5 (ending in a cruise). He still definitely prefers crawling or using his walker - though he also now uses his radio flyer rocket ship, walking around to the front of it and pushing it around backwards. Silly little man.

A time to gather stones

Grandma flew home on Wednesday; I followed yesterday, joining my brother, bubbie, aunt, uncle, and close family friends for my dad's unveiling ceremony. I led the brief service (psalms, a few prayers, the actual unveiling of the grave marker, and kaddish), and family and friends contributed their own memories and feelings about what was of course a difficult day for all of us. Hard to believe it was already almost 11 months ago. Of course, no Jewish event would be complete without obligatory food, and there was a nice spread (nope, no shiva cake this time) back at our place while we all caught up on the current goings on with our friends.

The weather was quite lovely, so after the lunch wrapped up and our last guests had departed, my aunt, uncle, and I took my mom's dog Gus for a walk. Wait, who am I kidding? He took us for a walk - he's a 70+ pound yellow lab. Gus is pretty much the complete opposite temperament of Korby - very calm, patient, not food obsessed in the least (there were so many plates, trays, and even dropped food that he totally ignored), other than making sure he always has a full bowl of food. (Korby is more concerned with maintaining an empty, licked-clean bowl.) When the bowl is empty, Gus paws it around to let us know it needs to be refilled -- though he'll just check to make sure it's full, and leave it that way until his next meal.

Tomorrow the rest of the family heads back to their homes on the east coast, and I'll head back to the west coast on Tuesday.

That's affirmative

For a long time now, Zachary has had basically two signs (in addition to his wide range of da's, grunts, and squeals) to help communicate with mommy and daddy:

1. Shaking his head (which he's done for ages, and signals "no"), and

2. Waving his hands wildly in the air ("all done", generally just for the end of meals)

In the meantime, we have one additional unidirectional signal that we give to him, though he's never done it himself - the "more" sign. We've both wondered at various times why we continue to sign it months after he would have started using it if he wanted to, but old habits die hard I suppose.

Anyway, what started as the funny answer to a question earlier this week has evolved into a more general third Zachary response, which the best I can tell means "yes". When I asked at lunch if he wanted more cheerios, at lunch today, he raised his hand in the air as if answering the "so big" question. This was clearly not the 'all done' or 'no' shake off. Throughout the day, he would answer my questions with either the shake off or the raised hand, so I think we may actually have established the word 'yes'. At the end of bath time, I asked if he was all done (he only sometimes uses the hand-waving in the tub), and he raised his hand. So I guess substituting one sign with another equivalent meaning indicates we've seen Zachary's first use of a synonym. Metaphors and similes will certainly be next.

Grandma is visiting this weekend! Zachary has been having a very fun time with her, smiling, laughing, and playing. The three of us went out for lunch (Meh is in the midst of a stretch of work and after-work activities), grocery shopping, and came home to have a walk around the neighborhood. Korby added to the, er, spice of the evening by escaping right as it was Zachary's bedtime. (First time in a while thankfully, and retrieved by one of our neighborhood fellow dog owners, who found him of course eating their dogs' food. At least he's consistent in his crazy food obsession.)

Recall how Zachary made crazy, um, going to the bathroom faces during lunch a few weeks ago? It was back during dinner tonight. Apologies for grandma's detailed commentary; listener discretion advised. Or something.

Clearly not born in a barn

Or is it 'raised in a barn'? Anyway, one of Zachary's favorite games is "open/shut". He finds a cabinet, child gate, or door, and starts opening and closing it. If one of us is around to offer commentary (e.g. saying "open" when he opens the object, and "shut" as he bangs it closed), that makes the game more entertaining, and he'll swing the door open and shut rapidly to see if we can keep up. Pretty complex rule structure, huh? The game only occasionally ends with a pinched finger - generally he's pretty good and careful about keeping his hands out of the way.

Lately he's gone beyond just opening and closing; when he walks up to an open door or gate, he simply must shut it. Sometimes it's after he goes through it, but just as often it's when he's still outside of the room that he was so interested in until this door thing showed up. Last night I was getting him ready for bathtime, and he was happily playing with a toy while I went to start filling the tub. I heard his door close seconds later -- I think he just wanted some private time. Same thing when he crosses from the kitchen into the music room - he has to close the child gate behind him (much to Korby's disappointment).

Another recent open/shut development: today I dropped a little toy into his rocket car's trunk while he was playing the open/shut game with it. The next time he opened it, he held it open long enough to fish the toy out before continuing the game. Then when he opened it again, he dropped the toy back in. There could be some complex choreography starting up soon - is Zachary's next stop Stomp?

Please do not touch glass

First he was trying to stand in the bathtub - now Zachary's trying to stand all of the time. This would be okay, except it makes for challenging and extra-squirmy diaper changes. I've tried distractions, changing him on the floor (Meh reported he almost rolled off the changing table), changing him standing up, on his tummy, crawling away from me - they're all pretty dodgy.

Today thankfully he was somewhat cooperative when I had to change him at Meh's work; the men's room had one of those changing tables, and I prepped everything to go before putting him up there, but as long as I sang and had him laughing (today's favorite song: "Who Let the Dogs Out" -- who knew?) he stayed still.

The two of us also visited a group of old friends that we hadn't seen in a while for a brunch/lunch party, and there were so many kids about - it's a little sad that we'd all lost touch in part because of our new families (and in part due to geography; folks were visiting from Boston, northern California, and even *gasp* Sammamish) but it was great to catch up. Zachary had a nice lunch with the other kids at the table, a few of whom were just a few months older than him but already even so much more communicative.

Zachary continues to interact with Korby more and more. Here he is watching Korby on the porch -- just moments before, Korby had wandered away and he'd happily hollered through the glass door for him to come back and play some more.

Round, round, get around

What started innocently enough as slowly orbiting the ottoman for snacks has quickly escalated into full-on cruising around the house. We're trying to keep up with the baby-proofing as Zachary discovers cabinets, drawers, display shelves, vent covers, entertainment center gadgets (he detached an Xbox controller the other day - I was so proud...), shelves under the kitchen's island, and the refrigerator, but he's always one increasingly sure step ahead of us.

A few days ago, Meh clocked a Zachary free-stand at eighteen seconds. Today he circled the music room unassisted (holding onto walls, chairs, and his push cart), then the entire kitchen and dining room. Meh helped him out with the empty space across the kitchen by spacing two chairs on a line directly across the room. He used them like a pro to make his way across to the opposite wall.

A few child-proofing highlights so far:

• Zachary started showing an interest in some outlets, so out came the plastic outlet covers. Pretty straightforward, but then...
• He grabbed and managed to lift up a vent cover, which I can't quite figure out how to secure.
• He then moved into the living room, and was opening (and pinching his fingers when he immediately closed) drawers in an end table. Meh's creative out-of-the-box solution was to remove the drawer pulls for the time being.
• Meh thought our heavy metal bowls under the kitchen island would be safe, but he started working them towards the edge of the shelf. Over they moved into a higher cabinet.
• He discovered the cute ladder we'd displayed tchochkes on. I came home, and the ladder had been moved out of sight.

I think we're about out of safe spots to hide objects and large furniture at this point!

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish for Breakfast

It's been our last weekend with close friends M and K (of Fish for Breakfast blog fame), who leave tomorrow morning to begin the long drive to their new home in Fort Worth. On Saturday, I (and, as a good measure of the number and quality of their friendships here, no less than 8 other friends!) helped them load their furniture and boxes into a moving truck - everyone was so methodical and, well, brawny, that the process was knocked out in under 2 hours. Meh and Zachary planned to come over and help as well, but Zachary had begun his new trend of super-long morning naps, and slept right through the move. With their Seattle life packed up, M and K spent the weekend and today staying at the Selfon house -- much as M started his time in Seattle some 9 years ago. It was so nice to have one last chance to spend some time with them, and Zachary certainly enjoyed their company as well. Oh, and M and K are amazing photographers as well, so they caught some great photos of Zachary cooling off in his bathtub-turned-pool on the back porch. Tomorow they begin their interstate car/truck caravan through the US heartland to M's new professorship at TCU (and K recently locked up a position at another university across town - such an academic couple!).

It's been a ridiculously hot weekend; Seattle can't seem to produce an authentic 'summer' day, it's always toggling between February overcast and August swelter. Our one portable air conditioning unit has gotten quite a workout, moving between Zachary's and our room. (K and M insist that their own room has stayed cool enough - I hope they're not just being polite!) When the thermostat in the house hit 84 yesterday (in our rooms upstairs, it was closer to 88), it was time to purchase a second unit, as well as pondering once more whether getting whole home air conditioning would be cost effective. We've all tried to beat the heat by spending some time outdoors, enjoying meals on the deck, swinging in the hammock (Zachary really enjoys this), moving Zachary's tub outside, making homemade ice cream (featuring chunks of Mackinac Island fudge from our recent trip), and occasionally retreating to air conditioned grocery stores, offices, and cars. M and K even got to finally take a (very brief) tour of Meh's work when we visited for a Zachary afternoon snack earlier today.

M and I grew up together, several blocks apart in the same subdivision and going to the same schools. (For non-Michiganders, a "subdivision" is what the rest of the world apparently calls a "neighborhood".) M was even prominently featured in one of our high school video projects (and remains one of the biggest fans of the Sesfonstein canon). But in many ways we've become much closer friends as adults here in the Pacific Northwest. M moved here about a year after I did, and other than a 15-month stay in Japan, we've been in the same city for the most time of any of my childhood friends.

K is as much a long-term Seattle transplant as we are. (We were reminiscing, and I believe I first met K before Meh and I were even together.) K and Meh have similarly been very close; part of their connection is possibly that whole spouses-of-Michiganders support group thing, but they've had so many other shared interests and activities - creating amazing (and cute) desserts, a love of reading, dogs (yes, even Korby), crafting, and knitting (I think Meh eventually tabled that activity, but K still does it, and made Zachary one of his favorite toys).

We're going to miss them very very much, and hope to visit them soon. Thankfully, I've actually got an excuse coming up, and will hopefully get to spend a few days before or after the upcoming conference I'll be attending just a few hours south of them in Austin. In the meantime, we look forward to reading about their journey and discoveries living in a new place and making new friends, even as they keep up with Zachary's adventures in the same way. Hooray for the connected Internets!

He shakes off the sign...

The head shaking that we hadn't consistently seen for months is back, and it certainly seems to be much more consistent -- in one particular situation.

Zachary's already demonstrated clear food preferences; Cheerios are at the top of the list, followed closely by string cheese. (Both of them elicit screeches of happiness and smiles as he first starts eating them.) Then, for the longest time, sweet potatoes were a close third, followed by a virtual tie between blueberries, grapes, peaches, and yogurt with applesauce. However, in recent days, he's been shaking his head every time we offer him a spoonful of sweet potatoes or yogurt. At first, I didn't think he was saying 'no', since after a shake or two, he'd eventually give in and eat. Then I thought perhaps his tastes were changing and he was finally getting sick of his previous favorite foods. But I'm often able to distract him into eating them by rotating through the other finger food favorites before offering the spoon. Still, the head shaking resumes after a spoonful or two.

Meh stumbled on a potential reason for the rejection today -- it may not be the food, but rather the presentation. It seems he may already be expressing a preference to feed himself; when the previously favorite sweet potatoes were dumped onto his tray, he happily gobbled them up, generating this excellently messy video:

Meh also tried offering him the spoon to see if he wanted to take it and feed himself, but he either still emphatically shook his head at it, or did what I've seen him do in the past: grab the food-side of the spoon and shove it (along with his hand) into his mouth. I'm sure we'll get to proper table manners at some point, though I'm in no rush to send him off to finishing school just yet.

Walk this way

(After the Mackinac trip's ridiculous number of blogged pictures, this entry is offered visual-free as a change of pace.) Our family has started a nice new morning ritual. Since Zachary was waking us up by 5 or 6 am anyway, we've decided to get the most out of our early mornings, and are taking a good long walk around the neighborhood. It certainly helps that it's finally starting to feel a bit like summer here with 60-70 degree mornings, though still a bit brisk in the shade. Zachary's generally still bundled a bit and wears his nifty tan hat, though the sun still bothers him for at least part of the walk. We'll have to break out those sunglasses again for him to try.

Lest you think this is just a leisurely stroll, we're typically out for around 45 minutes, and the area where we live isn't named after a hill for no reason. Thankfully, Zachary's spiffy new jogging stroller (a nice Craig's List acquisition) has cushy tires to keep the ride smooth both for him and for us pushing him. (And a newly purchased air pump helps keep said tires cushy.) Korby, however, is apparently no match for the terrain - he was dragging severely behind the times we tried to take him along, so now he generally stays at home. We're actually up and out of the house early enough that I think sometimes he'll still just be asleep when we leave.

The walk also gives Meh and me back a good opportunity to catch up with each other; with our hectic schedules, it's very special to find a new activity where we get to spend together. Zachary also often contributes to the conversations (which are frequently about him anyway) with combinations of high-pitched singing, "Dah"-ing, and a wide selection of other ultra-cute babbly sounds.

300

Zachary is definitely much more entertaining than any graphic novel or graphic novel-inspired movie. Well, at least that I'm aware of. :)

How time flies - I didn't even realize until I looked over at the little counter thing (I know, I know, at some point I'll have to 'upgrade' it to count years and months), but Zachary turned 300 days old on Tuesday. And he doesn't even look a day over 275.

Zachary continues to interact in new ways with the world and us all of the time. He definitely loves mommy; when Meh comes home after being away, or we come up to say hi to mommy after her morning shower, he smiles, laughs, and sings. He's also a huge Korby fan, always saying "dah!" and variants when I point the dog out to him, and squirming and kicking fiercely while making happy noises when we first see him in the morning or when coming home. His third-best-friend at this point appears to be gravity. While wild waving and banging of objects is still fun (and honestly, when won't it be?), it's dropping them on the ground to make a gratifying thud or clatter that's his new favorite. Whether it's from six inches (sitting on the ground) or several feet (in his chair at the table - and yes, I'm perfectly happy to 'reset' objects for another terminal velocity trip to the ground), gravity is fun. We'll have to wait and see how soon he shows an interest in trying out more advanced Newtonian experiments.

And continuing the world interaction theme, today he started actively waving when someone waves at him. Friend M was over visiting, and when she waved goodbye, he waved back! Similarly, when I got home from work, he responded to my arrival by waving from the doorway. Still not entirely consistent, but just one more sign that he's continuing to learn avenues for communication.

Speaking of communication, talking/singing certainly continues to be one of his choice activities, as demonstrated in this video:

The Bjorn Supremacy

Who would've thought the same pun would work for two completely different blog topics?

Zachary and I have come to know, love, and pretty much depend on the Baby Bjorn for mobility and functionality over the months. He loves the view of the world that he gets, swinging his feet around and making 'mmm' and 'ahh' sounds, particularly as we head out on walks or into a brightly lit store. I love the compact nature of it (travels anywhere), the fact that I basically get both hands free to do things (trying to walking the dog with Zachary in the stroller can be a bit of a juggling act), and just the way that I'm right next to (or at least behind) him and sharing his world perspective.

One of my favorite things that we started doing almost from the beginning was holding hands while walking. He often even grabbed my hand as I held Korby's leash, so it was like he was helping me walk the dog. That's been followed up with him starting to interact more and more with the world from the bjorn -- I mentioned the soda incident, but on the more productive side, when we've got a shopping cart, he frequently reaches out and wraps his little hands around the pushbar and helps push the cart forward.

Why the reminiscing? Two reasons: first, on the rare occasions (like yesterday) when the bjorn isn't available, even seemingly simple tasks tend to get a bit more challenging and I appreciate it that much more. And second, the bjorn is at long last starting to get too small for him -- it sometimes barely buckles closed when he's wearing a puffy jacket, and the amount of weight that it places on my back can get to be a bit of a burden after even short periods. Yup, we're starting to outgrow it, and it's just one of many things that will soon go by the wayside. On the other hand, I love his new comfy sling, which mommy has been showing me how to wear.

Speaking of which, my first demo of the sling was at the library yesterday, where we did our traditional mommy lunchtime visit. We've been intending to get a picture of Meh reading with Zachary for the library's "Read" poster series; apparently you just get a shot in front of a white background, and this fancy software automagically mattes in any of a variety of backgrounds behind you. So we went a little crazy trying to grab shots, none of which really competes with my favorite with Zachary and Mima, but definitely some cute pics - including the moment just before a sneeze.

Oh, and if you were wondering, the fact that we read his favorite book a little bit before bedtime wasn't lost on him; when I got him home, bathed, and ready for bed, I tried to read it to him again, and he would have none of it - so we skipped that particular part of the bedtime ritual last night!

It's a dog-eat-world, um, world

Korby has apparently set a new "chow hound" food obsession standard even for his local veterinary clinic - and has turned out to be more sleep depriving than perhaps even Zachary on his more challenging nights. The story begins yesterday, when I was up at 6:30 to take him in for his annual teeth cleaning, blood work, exam, prescription refill, and so on. He continues to impress the staff with his health and energy for a 12 1/2-year-old dog. During recovery from anaesthesia (most dogs are put under for teeth cleanings), the clinic uses warmed bags of grain in the kennels to keep the animals comfortable. Korby marked the first dog to tear one of the bags open and start eating the rice out of it. He apparently eventually decided he didn't like the flavor, but the vets reported he was the first to even sample this particular delicacy.

I brought him home at the end of the day with instructions to "watch out for reduced appetite". Uh-huh, right. He eagerly wolfed down his half-helping of dinner, and followed up these impressive digestive acrobatics by getting underfoot repeatedly during dinner and while Meh was giving her new sewing machine a spin (ah! bad pun!) last night. Underfoot is particularly trying when there's a footpedal involved. The evening was capped off with multiple late night awakenings to his whining and insistent barking, which thankfully haven't disturbed Zachary as of 3 am, but have kept me trying to dash downstairs as quickly and quietly as possible. And here we thought Zachary was going to be the primary one causing sleep issues!

We control the vertical

Probably more accurate to talk about camera perspective and orientation than 'vertical' but whatever. Zachary and I are enjoying a nice weekend together while mommy is working. (Yes, we visit her as often as she'll allow, which is usually once a day at her -- and Zachary's -- lunch/afternoon break.) Zachary and I are actually able to more actively play together - he laughs at the various sounds, faces, and actions I perform. Really anything I do seems to make him smile and/or laugh, which either means I'm very funny or he thinks I'm very funny looking. I guess I can live with either one. Anyway, he's been super-talkative and vocal, even somewhat more consistently saying 'da-da' while looking in my direction, though I still don't think there's any correlation yet.

If, during play time, Korby requires my attention (which is frequently - to go out; come in; come get his leash untangled from trees and rocks in the yard; refill his water bowl; to ask for food starting at 1 pm even though he doesn't get it until 5 pm... okay, 4 pm... fine, 3:45 pm at the earliest), Zachary will sometimes even let me know that it's not cool to stop playing with him for those brief few moments, with whimpers and whines sometimes shifting quickly into crying. I'm still amazed that the moment he starts crying, the waterworks kick in. There have been times where he's cried for just a moment getting in or out of the car seat, and then Meh sees him a few minutes later and asks what's wrong, with a few well-placed tears streaking down his face despite a giant smile for mommy. This kid may have a future as an actor.

There Will Be Poop

(Next year's top Oscar contender perhaps?)

Zachary's newest baffy time trend has replaced his previous cute and at least moderately sterile tradition of peeing to signal the end of bath time. Now he, er, goes number two in the tub instead. This is pretty challenging -- with only two hands (or even four if we're both bathing him), it's pretty tough to get him out of the tub, empty the tub, rinse the tub, refill the tub, and get him back in as quickly as possible. But this doesn't bother him, he's just as happy as can be. (In fact, we're starting to learn that when he's particularly happy and vocal, that may be what the professionals call a "late cue" that pooping is imminent or has already occurred.)

I could bore and/or gross you out with the, er, changing characteristics as he transitions into more 'solid' foods (well, they're all still a variety of pureed goos; he's now eating organic whole grain rice cereal in addition to a variety of fruits and veggies), but I'll spare our readers the details. Did I ever think there would be so much focus on bowel movements? Well, Meh and I have for years always similarly checked with each other on Korby's status after walking him, and debated/told stories of the size, smell, and/or location of his latest accomplishment, so I'd say we had an inkling this topic wouldn't be going away.

Tonight we're attempting another travelling bedtime, as friends S and S have invited us over for dinner - here's hoping that he sleeps through all of the transitions, and that he has (and we have) a restful night!

A fleeting glimpse of spring

And that's all it was, a glimpse. No, I'm not talking about the weather, which continues to hover in the 50s and occasionally hits 60. I'm talking about these pretty flower bulbs in our backyard (Meh says they're crocuses, and I tend to trust her flower identifying skills). The other day, they started to bloom, and we got to enjoy them for perhaps 24 hours. Then Korby noticed them, decided they fell into the close-enough-to-food classification (his criteria are widening every day), and they were all devoured in an afternoon. Silly dog.

We've struck back somewhat by annexing some downstairs territory for ourselves and Zachary; Korby has been getting more and more attention-seeking (despite me trying to sit with him and pet him more frequently than ever), to the point where at times we'd have to put him to bed just to be able to sit and relax in the evening without getting pawed to death. And Zachary spending time on the floor while Korby was indoors was out of the question, since Korby would want to be right in on the action. We'd always been a bit envious of friends who had nice blankets and toys spread out everywhere for their babies to play. So we finally picked up a few more gates, Meh installed them while I was out of town, and now Korby is restricted to the (still quite spacious) kitchen/dining room/mud room area for most of the day. Zachary loves sitting (and only occasionally falling backwards) on the puffy comforter and playing with his toys, including his new favorite, a plush soccer ball thing with the hebrew alef-bet on it.