You and me and the bottle makes three

Today's milestone for L (or at least for me) was that we tried, and she accepted, a bottle for the first time! Meh's women's choir was performing at Folklife, and while I'd initially pondered taking the three kids, I recalled a number of past performances where I'd had to quickly flee in the middle of the set when one or more got sad. I wasn't quite ready to try that yet with three kids solo. Ah well, we'll have to settle for the streaming edition -- congrats to Dunava on what sounds like was a solid and well-received performance!

In the government-documented milestone department, L is also the first internationally prepared kid in our family; her new passport (good, ridiculously, for a full 5 years) arrived yesterday -- one more step completed on the path to her and mommy's upcoming choir trip to Bulgaria! Still can't believe that's going to be happening, and that it's only one among a number of trips coming up this summer -- in just a few weeks the boys and I head to Michigan to visit Grandma and John as well as for my (slightly belated) 21st high school reunion.

A pattern has been developing in our weekends as we start to move from spring towards summer: the boys get too bonkers to stay home, so I take them to a local park while L (and sometimes mommy) naps. This one is still Z and O's favorite. Per the picture, yesterday O was literally climbing the walls. It's always amusing when there's another kid in their general age range there, and O has to (very shyly, and preferably with daddy company) approach the kid and find out their age and name. Once the social ice has been broken though, he's friends for life; as we were driving home yesterday, he was asking when we'd see the boy he'd met at the park again, and if he could have a playdate with him. We may need to move onto kids business cards or something (and yes, as soon as I typed this I checked -- of course those are already apparently a thing).

A very merry unbirthday

Zachary came home from school yesterday afternoon wearing what looked like a green crown with some pipe cleaners sticking up from it. Meh wasn't quite sure what it was about, as he was the only kid on the bus wearing a crown, and she was trying to guess whether it was supposed to be the very hungry caterpillar or just some random school craft that Z had decided looked better on his head. But his backpack held the answer: "Today we celebrated summer birthdays - that is why Zachary has a birthday crown. -S" Sure enough, there were 5 pipe cleaners in it. Z was a big fan, and O renewed his interest in headwear after seeing Z's crown, posing for a while in front of the mirror while wearing the red fireman's hat.

Last night was also Z's summer camp orientation meeting. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but he and I set out (at *gasp* nearly his bedtime) for the community center, with the aforementioned crown still firmly in place. He did remove it when we got to the venue, where we parked like some kind of Swingers choreographed car caravan alongside not one or two but three blue Priuses (one of the drivers had to snap a picture). We ran into friends R, M, and their son J before heading into the meeting itself. Z did really well with the introductory speeches, though he was a bit too shy to join the other kids when they headed to the gym for counselor-camper playtime while the parent orientation continued. I was finally able to walk him down towards the end of the info session, and he actually had a great time running around with the other kids, and even ran over and sat with another group doing songs with hand movements in a circle. I didn't quite catch that on this video, just him happily coming back to check in with me and my corner of the gymnasium.

After orientation, there was even a bonfire with marshmallows on (very long, kid friendly) sticks. Z was at first concerned with the idea of putting a stick in the fire, but before long he was flaming up marshmallows with the best of them. He didn't actually eat any (mostly just burned them to a crisp), though he did grab a few chocolate bar components of what were supposed to be smores. All in all, a very successful orientation - hope he has this much fun at camp proper in a few weeks!

Shalom Yafa

It's the end of an era: the boys' nanny Yafa is moving to Wisconsin to be with her new grandchild. While we only saw her twice a week, the boys have gotten very close to her and were always happy to see her when she arrived, and sorry to see her go. She has the magic touch with cars (she wasn't even aware that they fight over them for us), and I also don't think Zachary ever ate more than with her no-nonsense Israeli bubby sensibilities to eating meals! This was her last week with us; I'm not entirely sure if the boys were fully aware when we said goodbye last night that we won't be seeing her nearly as frequently, but they did give her extra special hugs on her last day, in addition to a bouquet of flowers and a frame with two pictures of them with her (which they decorated themselves with puffy stickers and such). The boys have had so many wonderful experiences with her, and continue to share Israeli songs, dances, and a love of our many Hebrew versions of children's classics with both us and each other. Shalom Yafa, safe travels, and see you again soon!

Tell me where it hurts

Did I mention O sang me happy birthday at a mad gallop?

Everyone is basically wrapping up recovery from that nasty stomach bug, and Z's cough has mostly dissipated and both boys seem to be their raucous selves again. Unfortunately, O's been teething in a major way (at his dentist check-up last week, they apparently indicated that he's got quite a few coming through at the same time). He himself has been pointing toward his mouth and saying "teef hurt!" though some tylenol or motrin has helped out enormously.

Zachary loves to run around before bedtime in his room, sometimes singing songs from school or reciting sections from his favorite books, and generally laughing and having a great time. We're convinced a lot of this sudden energy comes from, um, him holding his #2 for the day until right after bath time, after which he's ten pounds lighter and needs to express this Lightness of Being. Occasionally during the running around he'll trip (on himself, or a book, or the stuffed bear seat), then get back up and run around some more. But tonight when this happened, he got upset and stayed on the floor for a few seconds. I took a look and couldn't see any obvious signs, and when I touched his knee, ankle, and toes, he didn't seem to mind. I asked him if/where it hurt, and he seemed to actually be more concerned with his wrist or elbow - again, nothing that actually seemed uncomfortable though. Hopefully he just hit his funny bone, but we'll certainly keep an eye on it. Poor little bumping man!

Puppet Master

Many months (years?) ago, we got a fabulous make-your-own-puppet for the boys from our friend T. They hadn't really shown much interest in it before, but then O wanted me to pull it out yesterday, and it instantly became his best friend. He eventually even wore it himself, faced the puppet towards him, and said "Hi Owen!". Even Z got into the act of engaging with it.


We had a lovely New Years brunch for my birthday this year; Meh made a fabulous lemon meringue pie (among many other tasty treats), the boys and I grabbed bagels (a very gracious baker helped walk the three dozen rolls with holes to our car, where O noshed down happily on a piece of pumpernickel) and we had a nice time with family and friends.

Unfortunately it's been a pretty rough new year health-wise. Attendance at the brunch itself was down a bit due to a nasty stomach bug that had been going around -- and which landed with Z the next day. As he recovered, all three of the rest of us got it at the same time, leading to an exhausting and rough time all around. Here's a video of O already on the way to recovery:
Then Z's recurring cough got him sent home from school on his first day back from the bug; I took him to the doctor (where he did really well) and he was diagnosed with walking pneumonia. Pink stuff was prescribed, and he's overcome his general distate for medicine (follow up pieces of chocolate have helped) and is nearing the end of his regimen. Hopefully everyone will be in top shape by the time we head down to Arizona in a few days to visit friends P and T (the same T who gave us the puppet -- and so we come full circle) and their boys J and M.

Someone set us up the Connect Four

(If you're not familiar with the meme, see this.)
The boys have been enormously enjoying Chanukah this year. On the minus side, when I announce it's time to light the candles, O often responds "presents!" And there has been a fair amount of present jostling and fighting when we give each boy a present; for the past few days we've gone down to a single present for them to share (possibly with enough components that they can both have fun without noticing the other one is playing with something clearly more interesting than what they have). To prove that they can play nice, here's more fun at the train table (which sports a new Chanukah-gifted set of tracks, bridge, and station):

Today's present was Connect 4. As I assembled the board, I was a bit bummed to see that even our childhood games are getting updates; there are now variants for making the game into a "5 in a row" version, as well as specially marked checkers that do special things like giving the player a bonus turn. Each of these checkers is actually named for its obvious icons: anvil checker, wall checker, and so on. Except for the one that knocks out an opponent's checker, which has the obvious classic bomb logo on it, but is simply described in terms of playing "this checker". Oh how the times have changed. Anyway, the boys enjoyed taking turns putting checkers in, but they've removed the most fun part of the game - the little switch that drops all of the checkers out. Now it's a weird twisting hinge thing that a grownup has to manipulate. Still, it was fun to have a family game day!
O's got a new tooth or two coming in, so he's been a bit under the weather. Zachary's fighting a cough that seems to mostly appear in the evening and first thing in the morning. And I'm recovering from allergies after visiting some friends for a Chanukah party last night. Meh's been doing a good job of taking care of us, but I think we'd all love a nap. Over the last few days that I've been home alone with the boys, we've gotten closer and closer to landing the communal nap, but still no dice - either Z will get bored and start to turn on the radio or O will be a squirmer (or push me out of the way to try to snuggle Z, keeping both of them awake). I still have hopes for the stars to align one of these days!

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.

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!

Cold front

Poor Owen has just been getting bug after bug; he's once again congested and coughing, but still somehow stays happy despite it -- even when he's got a an extra drippy nose. He also does so well at trying to keep himself asleep once he's down at night, despite the tiny coughs we occasionally hear over the monitor. But he does eventually wake up, at which point he stubbornly stays awake until in bed with us, at which point we've occasionally had some fairly sleep-light nights. Sometimes he wakes up at 2 am, sometimes 4:30 (the luxury days), but we're all still waiting and hoping for the night that the tiny man sleeps through. Meanwhile, his big brother isn't always having a perfect time of it either; a few nights ago he was crying at 1 in the morning. I snuggled him and he went back to sleep - but again at 6 he was upset. When I got into his room, he was asking for blankie -- which I found halfway across the room and draped on his stuffed bear chair. That's quite an arm for a half asleep little man!

Of course, sleepless nights mean a need for extra nap time during the day, and Zachary has been known to curl up in the most random positions when you turn your back. He still occasionally conks out (or at least will veg out) in his cozy tent surrounded by plush toys. Owen of course still loves whatever Zachary is doing, meaning I've caught him climbing into the tent on several occasions. Someday we'll have to arrange for an everybody nap in the tent!

Owen will occasionally babble a bit, and I've been noticing some suspiciously consistent consonants - mah's around mommy, nah's when he's displeased, and buh's for the ball he and I occasionally kind-of-sort-of play catch with. It's a bit early yet, but I think this kid might talk at some point.

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!

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]

Potty wars

Today was the day we made our first serious attempt to focus on potty training for Zachary. There's of course plenty of reading material on the subject (my favorite ironic title was "Potty Train Your Child in Just One Day" -- for a book that was nearly 300 pages long), and we took a few cues from friends and family as well. We also had lined up a reward system with one of his favorites (chocolate chips), including an iconic sign on the bathroom door stating "[image of child on potty] = [chocolate chip]". (Really I think the slightly melting chocolate chip in the picture looked more like, um, something that would end up in the potty, but that's just me I guess.)

Alas, it was an exhausting day of staying in the house and near a bathroom, and even then things didn't really go as planned; despite lots of drinking and occasional praised on-potty production by Zachary, Owen needed occasional attention as well, and Zachary took advantage of any lull in toilet time to go find a place to potty that wasn't the potty. The 6+ accidents (several on a carpet, and all requiring wardrobe resets and much towelling) have us thinking we may hold off until after preschool starts. On the plus side, Zachary still doesn't have negative connotations about the toilet; we've continued a tradition for the last few weeks of sitting on the potty before bathtime, which he seems to like as part of the evening routine.

To wrap up a frustrating day, I managed to shatter a glass on the floor in the kitchen, which sent an impossible number of shards and fragments into every possible room; it took multiple sweeps to get them all up, and I'll still feel better if everyone wears socks for the next day or two. Ugh!

In happier news, yesterday Zachary got a large package in the mail -- it was a welcome kit for preschool, which starts next week! Teacher K (apparently "Miss"/"Mrs."/"Ms." doesn't start until elementary school) sent along chalk, a mini-coloring book of one of Zachary's favorite stories, and a super cute series of story cards telling about the adventures Zachary will have at preschool. A sample card: "At preschool, we will have snack, circle time, free play, and recess." We've read it several times, and Zachary is already excited about recess in particular, and also states "I want to go on bus!" There was also an introductory letter for parents, and we're looking forward to open house and the start of classes next week!

It's my potty

For the past few weeks, we've been gradually getting up the courage to start potty training. First and foremost, Meh of course brought home some children's books from the library on the topic. (I'm only mildly concerned with the thoughts of just how sanitary library books on the topic are likely to be -- both before and after we're done with them.) Zachary has really enjoyed them, particularly this one by an author we've got another illustrated book by; impressively, he named the other book the first time he saw the cover of this one. Anyway, all of these potty books have got him talking about the potty when he sees it (and sometimes even when he doesn't). He also continues to call Owen's bath seat a potty -- hey, there's at least a passing resemblance. But when we've asked him if he wants to go, or suggest that we spend some time sitting on it, not so much. So it's definitely a work on progress.

One area where he has gotten a bit more comfortable is interacting with and sitting on the little potty that we'd had sitting unused in a corner of the bathroom. Meh had the brilliant idea to put it in front of his costume trunk and mirror, and he now uses it for one of his dolls to go on, as well as a seat for, um, modelling head wear. There's still always a diaper separating him from the toilet seat, but we'll take things one step at a time; our hope is that he can be at least starting down this route by the time school starts in, yikes, less than three week!

Paternity test

Though it was preceded by an excellent three-day weekend, today is the first "official" day of my paternity leave, one of my favorite benefits offered by my employer -- a month home with the boys and, when she's not working (she went back yesterday, more on that in a moment), Meh too! This weekend we got to visit the zoo with friends B, C, and their 10-week-old daughter T (they're soon moving to the east coast - sad!). I noticed once again that there aren't a lot of exhibits well suited to the stroller-seated viewing angle, but Zachary did notice and occasionally talk about some tree-bound monkeys and the giraffes. We also got to enjoy a lovely group pizza lunch. Oh, and the boys managed to sleep through the pyromaniacal 4th of July show put on by our neighbors between 6 pm and midnight -- even a car alarm didn't interrupt them, hooray!

Yesterday I got some early solo time with the boys, since even though the 5th was the observed Fourth of July holiday for many companies, Meh's library was open for business and it was her first day back. Everything went great earlier in the day -- I even somehow managed to get both boys down for naps. We then drove to mommy's work to meet her there for Owen's afternoon snack. He was extra smiley for everyone, and Zachary happily counted the stairs up to the second floor and said "Hiii mommy!" when he saw her -- super cute. Owen even cooperated by not getting angry on either end of the car ride. We even had a nice afternoon walk when we got back; Zachary had a great time watching the construction vehicles that are helping build the new "environmental" junior high school (though I noted with irony that this so-called environmental high school features clear cutting of a bunch of old growth trees, with some even going straight into a chipper!).

Supper time was about when things started to unravel a bit. Owen likes to take a late afternoon cat nap, but he wasn't interested for me, and started getting fussy (despite some heroic distractions). On the plus side, Zachary has started imitating us and saying "It's okay Owie" when he hears him cry. Of course, once we progressed to bathtime and I had Zachary in the tub, I was even less effective, and by bedtime, Owen was more or less hysterical. So I left Zachary to read a few books to himself while I calmed Owen down and got him into his pajamas. At which point Zachary decided to try to escape downstairs, and in the end I had two boys who were both pretty unhappy to be going to bed.

The evening was salvaged a bit when Owen woke up an hour later (angry once again) and I was able to calm him into finally accepting a bottle. But all in all a challenging test for daddy, and I totally understand why Meh has often called to make sure I'm on my way home in time for bath and bedtime -- it's definitely a job for two!

Crib notes

Owen inherited Zachary's crib, but really hasn't had much of an opportunity to use it yet. His naps tend to be most effective when on us (when put down in a pack and play or bouncer, he maxes out at like 20 minutes, and often will wake up a bit angry), and at night, he's been sleeping in bed next to us (with one of those nifty bed rails keeping him from rolling out). Sure, in a pinch if only one of us is home, he would lie down and coo (or grunt and then cry) for a bit in the crib during Zachary's bath time, but using it for its own purpose? Nonsense.

But with sleep still at a bit of a premium in our house, tonight we decided to try to put him down in the crib for a bit to see if he would sleep for a while, particularly if preceded by feeding and swaddling. And lo and behold, we're 90 minutes in, and he's still down! No victory laps yet, and I know we'll still be up several times tonight, but it's still nice to see him adapting to one of many transitions on the path to his very own room, bed, and then life. Okay, now I'm going to go cry in the corner. :)



[Postscript: he ended up sleeping for 5 1/2 hours!]

Mild Manners

Another milestone for Zachary: when I gave him his milk this morning for breakfast, he signed an unprompted "thank you" before accepting it, and another one when I poured his Cheerios. Meh reported he's been doing this more and more often for her as well. Interestingly, the phrase itself remains out of his vocabulary; it's the one thing he continues to sign without attempting to pronounce.

Owen is one month old today - happy first month, tiny man! This morning was his checkup; Zachary and I stayed home while mommy and he visited the doctor. He was mildly sad about a shot, but did great otherwise. And all of the stats look good too:

Weight: 11 lbs 5.5 oz (90th percentile)
Length: 23 1/2 inches (90-97th percentile)
Head circumference: 38 1/2 cm (50-75th percentile)

We also learned a random bit of trivia - it's apparently very common for babies to break their collarbones during birth, and while they hadn't detected it in his initial doctor visit, Owen apparently now has the tell-tale little clavicle bump. The pediatrician said it clearly isn't bothering him and there's nothing to worry about -- she even said that by the time he's one year old, the break wouldn't be detectable even on an x-ray. Those resilient kids!

Bedside Manner

Our success with transitioning Zachary to his new bed last night was astounding - he cried and got up once or twice, but when I put him back down, he settled down and was sleeping very quickly. Meh reported similar success with today's nap.

Alas, the third time was the, ah, opposite of a charm; tonight after bath time, cozy book reading, and lights out, it was time for extended meltdowns. Here's how it played out, roughly forty times:

1. Put Zachary in his bed. (Optionally tuck him in.)
2. Walk out door.
3. Shut door.
4. Hysterical crying, thump, Zachary runs to and opens door.
5. Sees mommy or daddy and returns toward his bed.
6. Repeat from the top.

We tried several variants, but quickly settled into the "no socializing" mechanical repeat so he didn't think it was a game or that he was getting attention from it. Eventually #3 turned into leaving the door cracked, and that seemed to help; he very gradually settled down, and Meh was able to sneak away, though we were afraid to make noise downstairs for the rest of the evening with his door open.

On the opposite end of the Zachary happiness spectrum, today was also his last day of swimming before spring break. He had a fabulous time, particularly when they pulled out a mid-pool six-step-up slide. He climbed up it and, daredevil that he is, almost tried to lean back and pitch himself into the water the hard way (smiling all the while). Thankfully the instructor was at the ready, and he instead came down the slide, flying into the water with a giant grin on his face. He did great with backfloating, and there was even a bit of "swimming" across the pool that went well, always followed with giant hugs.

For the last few weeks, we've wrapped up pool time with shower time - partially to rinse out some of the extra chlorine I'm sure they put in pool water used by a bunch of young kids, partially because Zachary was, um, doing things that justified the use of extra chlorine (cutting at least two lessons short with water diaper incidents), and mostly because he loves holding the shower nozzle, talking about the "wawa" (water) and how it's "hot!"

I'll close with a video of Zachary's newfound love of (or at least demand for mommy performances of) Balkan folk music:

Empty chairs at empty tables

I forgot to mention, we gave Owen his first 'real' bath on Sunday (previously we'd opted for the sponge route). He was quiet and happy with it, even nearly falling asleep at one point.

Last night marked the departure of mima and papa, so our local family is once again down to four -- but only for a little while, as mima and papa will be moving out to join us in a few short weeks!

Last night also marked the return of Zachary escaping his crib -- this time after being put to bed (rather than nap), and this time as a recurring event. Friends B and J had generously brought us dinner, but I spent much of their visit upstairs trying to get him down. I started by actually snuggling him into his bed, but he kept grabbing my arm and wanting me to stay with him. Eventually he went back into his old crib. I snuck downstairs, but heard his door swing open moments later. We started just doing the "minimal feedback" thing of putting him back in bed without saying anything, smiling, etc. It was perhaps the low double digits before he finally did conk out for the night; I had to sneak a peek slightly later on to confirm that he hadn't just gone to sleep on the floor of his room. In the meantime, I took the opportunity to flip the doorknob on his new room so the lock is on the outside -- hopefully we wouldn't ever have to lock him in, but if he's exploring his room rather than sleeping, I wouldn't want him to lock us out! Tonight Meh has choir, so I think we'll make an attempt to switch him to his new room and big boy bed.

Tall tale

Zachary's interactions with Owen took another step forward today, with Zachary looking down into Owen in the car seat and saying "Oh-wee". No touching yet, though he did extend his hand toward him in a moderately kiss-the-ring looking style.

Owen had his first appointment with the pediatrician today. Everything was looking great, though as usual, the doctor's office will likely be associated with unpleasant sensations, as he got his second PKU poke in the heel. (Wow, I just connected that to the previously enigmatic phenylketonuric warning you always see on diet soda. Go figure.) Anyway, the stats:

Weight: 8 lbs 8 oz (25th-50th percentile)
Height: 21 5/8" (90th percentile if I'm reading the chart correctly)

He's already well over his birth weight, which was great to see (they typically give it two weeks). And the doctor believes he's going to share his brother's blue eyes. (She then proceeded to list all of her favorite dreamy male movie stars with blue eyes. Meh helped out with her own favorites, and I contributed Jude Law.) Lastly, the doctor repeated the request she'd first directed at Zachary two and a half years ago, reminding Owen that allowing his parents to sleep would make for happier and better parents. We'll have to see if he listens any better than Zachary did!