Everybody's a Critic

As if to prove my point on Friday about people talking about how "good" a baby is when they happen to be happy, yesterday we got the opposite - glares, stares, criticism and "helpful" suggestions when he wasn't as happy. Oh, and some excellent almost-masked attitude from smokers at a restaurant. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

First we went to brunch at a great restaurant down on the beach. (Visits to mima and papa often revolve around, or at least focus greatly on, excellent food!) Zachary was again pleased as could be to play with his menu and then his rings throughout the meal. Then we were off to a giant antique fair in West Palm Beach at the South Florida fairgrounds. We attempted his stroller, but he wasn't really happy in it. So we switched to the ergo, and he still wasn't happy and started to break down a bit. Here the looks and glares (real or imagined) got us stressed out a bit; we figured out that he wanted to eat, but had to find a discrete corner in which to set up shop. Zachary was much happier after a snack, and got a few compliments again - but once more, two women working at the fair had to separately comment that "he looks cold. And I'm cold, so you know he's got to be cold...". And then a return of the comments about him needing a hat as we walked outside. *sigh*

In the afternoon, we headed back home and Zachary got to try out his fun new blow-up pool. He loved splashing around in it and grabbing at his fun new pirate ship floaty toy. And mima blew some bubbles that had him fascinated and smiley as well.

And in the evening, we went out to a tasty coal-fired Italian/pizza place nearby. The hostess didn't seem to have a good handle on customer placement; she first sat us down at an outdoor table next to some adults who were all puffing up a storm when I got there. I caught a snippet of their slightly raised conversation that they'd actually intentiontally lit fresh cigarettes right when we sat down to try to give us the point that we were going to be sitting by smokers and should move. Nice. Anyway, mima did an impressively discrete job of getting us moved to a table table along the other patio of the restaurant, where there were already several families with young children sitting. And we weren't positioned here at first why? But as an added bonus, there were several ceiling fans that Zachary kept leaning back to look at - always checking one after the other to make sure they were both still there. Dinner was incredibly tasty, and Zachary once more enjoyed his menu extensively, along with peekaboo from mima and papa. We also ducked into a cute baby shop across from the restaurant afterwards - where we of course came away with for-mommy and for-friend gifts, but nothing for Zachary. :) All in all, another wonderfully fun day despite random strangers' attempts to deflect our good times!

Today has already been jam-packed. After another successfully cute and happy breakfast at the Original Pancake House (similar in menu and tastiness to the one near our own home), this morning featured our return to the beach. Zachary again pretty much conked out when we got there, though this time he stayed down for a little under an hour. At last, we were able to show him the beach and the ocean. He was monkey-faced as we played in the waves a little bit, but I think he had a good time. (Yes, he was fully covered in sunscreen, SPF-rated clothing, and a hat, for yesterday's naysayers.)

Then we were off to Festival, a giant indoor flea market where we can always find eclectic selections of sunglasses, jewelry, Judaica, purses, and cute baby items all under one roof. This time we came out with new sunglasses for Meh and an excellent sushi-themed bib for Zachary. As he always does in retail areas, he had a fabulous time - happily squealing and banging his plastic loops while leaning out of his fabulous mima & papa stroller to see more of the fun wares.

The last stop of the afternoon was for a dessert lunch (well, I think it's okay, since really we had brunch for breakfast...) at Jaxson's, an amazingly tasty ice cream parlor - one of the few that I recall seeing and being in since the heady days of my youth. (Farrell's anyone?) Their special is called 'The Kitchen Sink', and it's served in its namesake - there's a big clanging bell that they ring when someone (well, a group - I think you need a party of 4 or more for it) orders it, which someone did as we were sitting down. The restaurant is covered in floor-to-ceiling license plates; the most clever one I spotted this time was a Michigan plate that said "LATELY". (If you don't get it, here's a hint: I'm guessing it was on a Ford.)

A full day, and we're now back home getting ready (e.g. naps and being mellow) for a BBQ dinner with Zachary's great-grandparents nanny and poppy.

Toast of the town

This morning got started bright and early, with Zachary up a bit before 8 am (local time, so before 5 am back home) for good. I'm guessing that was fine by mima and papa, who were happy to spend more time interacting with him! Oh, I forgot to mention last night that Zachary got to have his baffy time in the kitchen sink along with a very talkative frog rubber ducky (er, is it still a rubber ducky if it's a frog?) that ribbits a variety of tunes while flashing lights in time with the music. Zachary was mesmerized by it.

Then we were off to likely the first of several visits to the beach. Zachary decided that he was overdue for a nap, and was nodding even as we walked down. We got into the shade of one of those wooden semi-permanent double beach chair things, and he totally conked out as I put him down at the head of one of the seats. Seriously, for two hours. We're all convinced it was the ultimate noise machine (e.g. the crashing waves) that kept him out for two hours. By the time he was up, we were getting hungry, so he didn't even get to go into the water this time - we were off to grab some lunch back home.

In the evening, in an event that will apparently be the talk of clubhouses and retirement community bridge and mah jongg games for the next month (well, until something more interesting comes up 5 minutes later), we took Zachary out to dinner with his great-grandparents, nanny and poppy. The restaurant was very nice and the food excellent - and we got to eat out on the patio in the lovely weather. But it was Zachary's good behavior and happy coos and screeches that were the hit of the evening, with group after group of other enjoyers-of-the-early-bird (as well as restaurant staff) stopping by to compliment him, talk about what a good baby he was, and shoot looks of approval at the three generations of his forebears. He was once again kept entertained by a combination of menus, Mr. Whoozit, straw-delivered water, and of course a slow stream of sweet potato puffs (I saw six on the ground when we were getting ready to leave).

While we'll of course always welcome positive attention and compliments to Zachary, it's tough to see how the baby is "good" if they happen to be happy during a meal. Of course, it's even tougher when you get criticism or looks of disapproval when the baby is for any reason unhappy. There's no secret training or anything that you can do to determine which side of your baby will come out, just try to minimize the unhappy moments through a variety of distraction techniques (as well as the quick exit option). Okay, end of rant. A wonderful day with family, and hopefully Zachary will sleep better tonight now that he's fully locked onto the new time zone (then again, if he was up at 8 am when he was still on Pacific time, let's hope he doesn't make that adjustment?).

Flying the crowded skies

Spring marks the return (and some might say the beginning of a hectic summer) of Zachary's world travels. Okay, maybe not world yet, though certainly all around the country. This summer will feature trips to Boston, Michigan, New York, Los Angeles, and we started things off with one of the longest continental US routes possible, travelling to Florida (indirect via DC of course; no airline yet seems to think direct flights from Seattle to Fort Lauderdale or Palm Beach are compelling) for a nice visit with mima and papa.

As if to further confirm Meh's last entry, at the security line at SeaTac, we were engaged by the rarely talkative and friendly TSA agent, who replied to Zachary's name by mentioning she too has a young son named Zachary (though he already apparently goes by the nickname "Zack-a-ree-ree". We'll let her keep exclusive use on that one. :)

Once more, Zachary flew really well. He alternated between sleeping and actively grabbing at everything in sight to play with and/or put in his mouth. It's always funny - and a bit ironic - that the toys friends and family have gotten for him often lose out to the most seemingly innocuous things for sheer entertainment value to an 8-month-old. At restaurants, we've already mentioned how he loves to grab (and gum) menus and coasters. And on today's flights, it was the airline safety cards that won out. (Incidentally, for the best selection of safety card diagrams, only some of which are crude, may I recommend this site.) He was happily waving it around and chewing on it until Meh looked over and noticed it was turning to a pulpy mess, with bits of paper and ink (soy-based, I hope?) around his mouth. Silly little man.

The longer first flight seemed to go by quite slowly, though we were rewarded with a surprisingly excellent lunch at a DC staple that's somehow made its way through the security barriers and into an unsuspecting corner of the otherwise crowded, industrial, aging, and fairly depressing Washington Dulles Airport. Zachary enjoyed his lunch as well - it's been fun seeing him start to eat more and more foods more consistently, though of course the messes tend to increase a bit along with them. His latest addition, besides Cheerios, is these little puffed sweet-potato-tasting stars. As with the Cheerios, most of the ones he tries to feed himself end up firmly in a fist that enters the mouth, where they become a gooey semi-dissolved mess in his hands. But he does love trying!

Today's new development in the Zachary's vocabulary was the letter 'N'. Meh believed he was practicing saying "Nanny" (what he calls his great-grandmother). We spent some time on the flights getting him to crack up with a variety of words beginning with the letter N -- noodle and nincompoop were by far his favorites.

Though we'd booked aisle/window pairs on both flights, hoping for an empty middle seat, it was not meant to be, and lucky passengers got to change from middle to aisle seating. Still, he was happy through most of both flights, and received compliments and attention from the crew and fellow passengers. There were several other babies on our flights (mostly a bit older) who didn't do quite as well, though no major meltdowns or anything like that. So Meh and I were moderately perturbed to disembark the plane in front of an obnoxious gentleman who, not seeing us right there, proceeded to whine to his travelling companion that it was simply 'disgusting' that babies were allowed to fly on planes, and that the airlines should have special flighs or sections for babies. Meh tried to retort generically, but I don't think he caught on. Dude, it's a mid-day flight, you've got nothing to justifiably complain about. (As if you even really do on a red-eye flight...)

Zachary needed a diaper (and as it turned out, a full costume) change just before the second flight's descent, so he and I had a bit of a quick change in the restrooms as the seatbelt light came on. Thankfully the second flight's A320 was properly equipped with changing tables in the restrooms -- the first flight's 737 was not so much, so Meh had a much greater challenge in changing the little man.

And we've arrived intact - a very full day of travel, and now exhausted, but ready for the beach, spending quality time with Zachary's grandparents, and whatever fun and new-to-Zachary activities may come our way in the next few days!

What's in a name?

I have been thinking lately about the incredibly difficult and painful process we went through in order to choose Zachary's name. We were so determined to choose something interesting, but not too weird, and not too popular. Zachary was number 33 on the Social Security Administration's most popular baby names for 2006. I thought that was low enough that it wouldn't be too common. Well, as we've seen, there is another Zachary in our swimming class, and last week I noticed that one of the babies in the class immediately before ours is also named Zachary. That's 3 out of 14 babies. Well, I tried to console myself by thinking that with so many Zacharys around, at least his name will be spelled correctly. I was wrong. Misspellings we have had of Zachary so far (and, I still love you all, but these did come from friends and family):

Zackery

Zachery

Zachariah

I was hoping to save Zachary from the curse of a difficult name to spell (or even to pronounce). I love my name, but it has rarely been spelled correctly over the years, even on official documents. That goes for my maiden name, too. Just tonight, my sandwich order came out under the name "Marida." I have never even heard of someone named Marida. My favorite misspellings of my name over the years are (loosely in order of frequency):

Merideth

Meridith

Merrideth

Marydith

Nedda

Yes, that last one is actually on the list. And it has happened several times, always on the telephone. I must speak really quickly, for my name to drop a syllable like that. However, people I have called in the past have received messages along the lines of "Nedda called."

Anyway, I was hoping we had chosen a name that was beyond all of these issues, but it appears we were wrong. And he'll always have to sit in the last row of the classroom, too.

Stand in the place where you are

I forgot to mention that earlier this week, Zachary reached another milestone - he's now self-supporting, at least in the most literal sense. Granted, we've got to position him correctly (standing him up in front of a table) - but once there, he can hold himself up more or less. We do need to keep a hand or leg around just in case, but it's still a milestone in my book.

He's always liked "standing" much more than tummy time (which we continue to offer for those worried that this might be impeding him crawling, walking, or taking up tap dancing), whether we're holding him up, supporting him on the floor or a table, he's in the jumperoo, or if he's kind of floating upright in the bjorn (or our stylish new ergo - more on that once I get to try it out). And he's often reached out - for shopping carts, whatever's in my hands while I'm holding him, etc. So I suppose it wasn't a huge leap for him to figure out to put his arms down on a table to help support himself. Granted, he's not actually pushing himself up yet, and still will tip one direction or the other after a bit if we don't keep an eye on him. Still, look at the little standing man!

The perfect Passover breakfast?

I find it somewhat amusing that it's during Passover that Zachary has experienced his first solid food, and it's firmly in the chametz camp. Yup, though our own favorite breakfast choice is off limits for us for the rest of the week, the ubiquitous Cheerio (or as our baby development newsletter tried to genericize, "O-shaped breakfast cereal") has now entered Zachary's diet, and he's a big fan. Meh gave him some yesterday, and this morning I offered him some more. He actually grabs them himself at times, but hasn't quite figured out how to get them into his mouth; I found two on his pajamas when he came out of the high chair after breakfast, and another at the bottom of the stairs that must've fallen out of another clothing fold later on. But the ones that I offer are happily devoured and chomped (gummed?), along with much happy talking, smiling, and waving hands.

I'm dreaming of a white Passover

The weather craziness continues, with more snow over the weekend. Just to check, we are currently in mid-spring, no?

Passover began on Saturday night, so Zachary got to experience his first seders. We'd expected with the late-ish (for him) start times that he'd likely be asleep, but he was having none of that. It doesn't help of course that it's staying bright later and later (well, when you can see the sun through the snow clouds). Anyway, he was incredibly happy and talkative at both seders. I think he just liked being able to look around the table and see all of these fun faces to interact/flirt with.

On the first night, friends J & S had us all over for a wonderful dinner (featuring J's world-famous brisket and salmon gefilte fish), and they had offered him plush seder plate and seder plate item toys. He loved them, continuing to grab one after another, chomping the grabbed item a bit, screeching happily, smiling, dropping the toy, and repeating with the next one within his grasping range. One of us would occasionally pick them up and the cycle began again. Eventually when Meh sensed he was finally getting drowsy, she snuck him back off to a bedroom and he did indeed sleep for a few hours, only waking up when we got ready to head home at nearly midnight!

He was just as happy for the second night seder, at friend I's parents' house. This time he actually slept much better and somewhat earlier, though mommy and daddy were exhausted and ready to pack it in by around 9:30 pm or so. But we were so glad to be able to introduce him to these traditions in positive and fun ways. He really seemed intrigued to hear a foreign language being spoken, and definitely loved all of the singing. (One of his favorite songs in the weeks leading up to Passover was Dayenu -- likely the combination of a peppy beat and repetitive lyrics? Anyway, he got really happy when he heard that one at the seders.)

When viruses attack

Zachary's weekend unhappiness turned out to likely be some kind of bug. His fever passed pretty quickly (well, after the multiple nights of being unhappy), turning into a rash that too is almost gone. Unfortunately, it looks like he's passed the virus on to mommy, so she was out of commission for the day yesterday, and is still recovering today. Something nasty has been going around, as I've seen coworkers and friends knocked out by this thing for multiple days.

Unbelievable, but it hailed and snowed yesterday. And it stuck. Climate change is such fun, who would think it would cause snow in the middle of April? According to reliable sources (the guy who delivered our final pre-Passover chametz pizza last night), this was the first time in 30+ years that it's snowed this late into spring. And the weekend forecast is for more snow; even as I type, I see some snow and freezing rain starting up again outside - nuts!

Back to the little man, there have been a few more Zachary advancements. First, his two bottom teeth appear to have finally possibly ever-so-slightly broken through. Still looks a bit too close to call, but there's definitely more white than pink there, and you can definitely feel them when he gums (or I guess at this point, bites!) a finger. And this morning, mommy was playing with him and he was actually holding himself up on our ottoman for like 15 minutes. Then he took a bit of a faceplant (I guess better to do those before the teeth come in?), but he was back at it when I tried a little later on. He isn't pulling himself up yet or anything, but definitely some progress towards mobility, and he seemed to be looking around in wonder at his slightly higher self-driven view of the world.

Fever in the morning

While Zachary's achievements and milestones continue to arrive nearly daily, the teeth remain elusive -- and the likely cause for late night wakeups. Last night was unfortunately similar to the night before, with nearly hourly crying - though miraculously the last time he got up, we were all able to get back to sleep until 9:30 am, woo hoo! And I'm not sure if this was a cause or effect, but this morning, Zachary was lethargic, listless, and warm - I took his temperature, saw that he was running a bit of a fever, gave him some motrin, and called the dcotor. Our practice is fabulously open on weekends and had an opening, so I brought him in. Either the motrin or getting out seemed to put the pep back into him; he was singing, talking, and cooing the whole drive to the doctor, and once more, he seemed to get healthier just walking in the front door.

We got another weighing out of the deal (updated on the right column of the blog); while he's only up 7 oz. since last time, he's definitely getting enough to eat, so I'm guessing he's taking a pause or focusing on mental growth at the moment. And the nurse confirmed that he was running a (now lower, but still above normal) temperature. The doctor, not one we'd seen before, was very nice, and she complimented his happiness -- I'd positioned him on the table facing the mirror, and he was laughing and talking to the cute boy in the reflection (all while repeatedly grabbing and basically shredding the exam table's paper cover) for much of the exam. All was good, the doctor suspects he's just fighting a bug. Zachary had a snack in the car before we headed off to pick up dinner for mommy.

I should mention that the word "ma" has entered his vocabulary, so you know that "Meh" likely isn't far behind, though I'm sure Meh would also accept "ma ma". Still "da da da" (yup, generally in threes) remains the favorite. And speaking of "da da da", today was almost another big breakthrough. As I said, we brought Meh dinner at work, but arrived a little early, so Zachary and I were hanging out in an office while mommy was still working. I was eating in between playing with him, and explained to him that the fish tasted yummiest with tartar sauce. He thought 'tartar' was another of the funniest words in the world, laughing every time I said it. And after a few times, he actually responded "da da", with what could have been the slightly hint of r's at the end of each. I tried to get him to say it again, but we were back to regular squeals and babble; the closest were a couple more "da da da" triples.

The Baby-Sitters Club

Zachary continues to demonstrate his place as an overachiver; who else do you know who has started babysitting at the age of 8 months? Friends D & D called us up earlier in the week asking if we might be available to babysit their 2-year-old son N this morning while they were taking a class. We've hung out with N many times before (even babysitting a few times before Zachary was around), though usually it's both Meh and myself. However, today Meh had to be at work, so it was going to be an all-men's day! D & D wisely suggested their place, already child proofed and flush with N-friendly/familiar activities.

We got things started appropriately for an early morning babysit by being already awake. Repeatedly, all night long. Meh took the brunt of it; Zachary was up every hour or two - we're guessing it was his teething once more, and we hope that his gums stop bothering him soon. Two teeth still look ready to come through, but we've been saying that for months (and indeed, they just look more ready every day). Anyway, Zachary and I drove over and got the tour from D & D. N started things off for us so nicely, offering Zachary a rattle he used to play with. Zachary accepted and shook it happily for a few minutes; the treaty of Seattle was signed soon after. The rest of the morning was really nice, though certainly exhausting - we did all of the following, in no particular order:

• Played with a wide variety of toys. N made a show of emptying several boxes of small parts onto the floor early into the playdate; we made small attempts to tidy things before D & D got back - mostly futile.
• N got to watch a bit of his favorite movie - perhaps 20 minutes before he got bored with it. On the plus side, this was Zachary's one opportunity for a quick nap; at other times N seemed to want to engage and keep him awake - which is not to say he wasn't always very considerate and gentle with Zachary.
• I read a few books to the boys, including one of N's written by one of Zachary's newest favorite author/illustrators. I was impressed that Zachary seemed to recognize the illustration style as similar to the books we own, and he was very happy to look at/paw at the brightly colored pictures. All of us gathered on the couch, the boys were both entranced, and it was very cute.
• I sang a few songs. N had a book about the five little monkeys jumping on the bed, and I transitioned from reading to singing the song from our Putamayo CD. Zachary recognized and loved it, and N seemed entertained as well. Similarly a book about animal sounds turned into a Laurie Berkner favorite.
• We took a walk around the neighborhood. Zachary was in the bjorn, and N was self-mobile. Well, except the occasions when he wanted to see something up high (a ladder on the other side of a fence, the buds I was pointing out on a tree, etc.), at which time I had to pick him up and carry both boys for a bit. :)

Whew! D & D returned home (the home was hopefully mostly intact) and all five of us had lunch. Zachary, still exhausted from his late night, fell asleep right in the middle of eating some blueberry/apple sauce. I hadn't seen him sleep in my lap like that in a long time, so you know he must have been very tired.

Anyway, Meh was somewhat relieved to hear that I'd fared okay with the two boys. She admitted she'd been worried that I might be overwhelmed, and that this would perhaps cast some doubt on us having a second someday. (At this point, our Zachary grandparent readers lean forward in their seats.) But fear not, we really did have a good time and I think that some day in the future, I might just be able to occasionally handle two (Grandparents ask: "Are you sure not 3? 5 perhaps?") of our own.

Zachary the Waterbaby

Yesterday was Zachary's first swimming lesson! We signed him up for Waterbabies, a children's swim school that friends D and D take N to, among other families that we know.

There are about 7 babies in our class, which started with all of us lined up on the pool deck, dangling our legs in the water. The teacher went over the safe way to enter the pool with kids, then she handed out foam toys to distract them, and we sang and swooshed them around in the water for 30 minutes. Zachary loved it, he just chewed his toy and kicked his feet the whole time, occasionally squealing with delight when I swooshed him.

The teacher has a great sense of humor. My favorite was when she demonstrated how not to do the activities using her small plastic doll. "Sometimes babies get a little upset, and it can help if you rock them a little," she said while rocking her doll in the pool. "Just be careful not to do this," she said as she dreamily dunked the doll underwater, "because that won't help them relax."

A little disappointing is the fact that this is only Zachary's second "class" environment (if you count parent-baby class), and already there's another Zachary. He is about twice our Zachary's size, and half his age. When his mother said he was 4 months old, there was a collective gasp of disbelief from the other parents, even from the lone father snapping photos from the pool deck.

Zachary looked so stylish in his mandatory swim diaper, and Mommy looked killer in her bright yellow bathing cap. We can't wait for next week!

Ferry Tale the Third

Before I forget, I actually did get a shot of Zachary giving mommy a kiss in Vancouver. The follow up shots looked more like him just clutching at her face, but this one at least hints at how his kisses work. Yes, we'll have to shoot a video at some point to more properly demonstrate it.

And speaking of videos, here's one from Vancouver's Granville Island market. Zachary was very happy with the pretty colors, smells, noises, lights, and of course all of the attention from singing mommy and duelling camera-wielding daddy and friend J.

We got back from Vancouver on Friday, and Meh's choir was recording their small ensemble pieces back out in Port Orchard on Saturday. So Zachary and I once more came along on the ferry to continue to explore the area. Things didn't go exactly to plan, though this wasn't really a bad thing: after we dropped off mommy, I started to drive into town, and Zachary fell asleep about ten minutes into the drive -- and stayed asleep for the 90 plus minutes that mommy was singing. When she called to tell us she was done, I'd been sitting in the parking lot of that little bakery, waiting for Zachary to wake up so we could go in and visit with Zachary's young friend and the nice bakers. But it all worked out fine - we drove back out for mommy (Zachary still remained asleep the whole ride back, so maybe 2 hours in all?), drove back into town, gave Meh the tour of cute things we'd discovered on previous trips, made a visit to the bakery, and walked around the small downtown shops. It really is like a little town trapped in time -- a whole host of antique shops (we scored a pretty tea cup for Meh's collection, along with a 1960's-era Disney Mary Poppins book), candy shops (we got Zotz for Meh), and somewhat oddly, multiple bail bondsman storefronts as well. I was somewhat mystified as to the point of the latter until I heard that there had been 'a bit of trouble' at one of the several bars along the main street a few nights earlier. Oh, those crazy Port Orchard kids!

International Man of Mystery

Yesterday was another big first for Zachary: his first trip to another country! Yes, we drove up to the highly exotic Canada (or in French, it's spelled Canada), to beautiful Vancouver for a one-night stay; friends J and S were going up for S to attend a conference, and had invited us to meet up with them there. The drive up was fairly uneventful (after the car got a bit less crowded by unloading Korby at his kennel-free boarding facility - he really never does even look back); Zachary slept wonderfully through most of the drive, and was happily chatting or looking around with his monkey expression for the remainder. The border crossing was totally smooth as well, maybe a 10 minute wait.

Once into British Columbia, I flipped the odometer to kph (I know it's not actually an impressive speed, but how cool is seeing 110 kph show up on the dashboard? I didn't even realize the odometer had the third digit), and we took the freeway into Vancouver, stopping off first at one of our favorite (and a favourite of friends S & J, not to be confused with J and S who we were meeting) European fast food chains that hasn't quite broken into the US yet. Yummy, and Zachary was happy as a clam in his high chair - he even ate a little bit of his own food while mommy had chicken and daddy enjoyed his lemon herb veggie burger.

We drove onward to Vancouver, where we stopped for the afternoon at the beautiful Queen Elizabeth Park. I'd last been here several summers ago for friends A & R's wedding, and it was so nice to be able to introduce Meh and Zachary to the charming rock quarry gardens (a bit sparse with spring just coming into bloom, but still dramatic) as well as walk through the somewhat Epcot-looking Bloedel Floral Conservatory, complete with exotic birds, koi pond, and Scoot-sized palms.

After driving the rest of the way into the city and settling into the hotel (which generously provided a pack-n-play for Zachary's sleeping pleasure), we met up with J & S for a dazzling dinner at Tojo's (he's the guy who actually invented the California roll), where J's bachelor party dinner had been. It was Meh's first time there, and we all had omakase, where you tell the chef what you don't eat, and they bring a series of dishes out at their own whim. We appreciated the layout and design of the restaurant (they'd moved buildings several months earlier), but Zachary seemed to appreciate it most of all, starting and smiling at all of the waitstaff as they cooed over him, and focusing in on the blue light suspended over our table. This was likely his first time out at a restaurant after his bedtime, and he did so so well. He wouldn't go to sleep (going so far as to bend over backwards watching the light when I tried to rock him to sleep), and was making happy squawking noises from time to time, but he was definitely pretty pleased the whole time as long as he was being held; the last course or two was taken standing up, but he really did do incredibly. The food was all amazing and so fresh - I think this was my favorite ever spicy tuna roll, there was an incredible nori roll with pineapple in it, and they even brought an amazing tofu dish for me. Meh and Jonathan of course enjoyed crab, shellfish, and other goodies.

Full of a variety of sushi and other fresh fish dishes (and some surprisingly excellent fruit ice cream dessert -- you never know if dessert's going to be yet another variant on sweet bean curd at Japanese restaurants...), we headed back to the car, where Zachary promptly conked out, as we drove on to our second and final gastronomic stop of the evening at La Casa Gelato. 218 (arbitrary number, I know) flavors of gelato at this shop, and it's always a fascinating new mix. I hung out in the car while everyone else grabbed flavors, then Jonathan helped me peruse and choose my own. A few that caught our eye this time (but that I wasn't brave enough to sample) included plum tomato, pear/blue cheese/gorgonzola, durian fruit (so stinky that it was the one flavor with the lid on), Guinness, licorice, wasabi, balsamic vingegar, garlic, and many others. I sampled dragonfruit (yum), toblerone (super-yum), and fig/lemon zest (yummiest, I got a whole bowl), while Meh got scoops of rum/eggnog and bailey's.

We were back at the hotel by 9:30 pm, and Zachary promptly went right back to sleep after a quick bedtime snack - he really did handle the late night so well, and slept through the night (that makes... 5 nights in a row?), waking up a little after 6 am. Once we were all up, dressed, and breakfasted, the three of us and J (S was at her conference) ventured out to Granville Island, an old industrial island reclaimed in the 1970s with shops, art, theatres, and a public market. The weather had turned a bit less agreeable, so we ducked across the island trying to keep Zachary's stroller from getting too wet in the rain, and into their fresh produce/food market. Zachary was happy and screechy, loving all of the colors and smells of the fruits, vegetables, flowers, pastas, meats, baked goods, and teas. We had a nice time walking from market to market -- after the public market, we wandered through some paper goods shops (Zachary dazzled the staff there, who kept coming by to say hello), and then through an entire market full of children's shops.

With time running out before we had to get back to pick up Korby, we wandered down to one of Vancouver's two kosher meat restaurants. I was hopeful, but the "restaurant" turned out to mainly consist of a catering company with a sad display of Passover goods and a small menu of lunch options; the corned beef sandwiches Meh and I had came right out of small consumer-sized plastic sealed bags of corned beef. Ah well, it still tasted good; we'll have to try the other one next time I suppose. And then we were off like a flash, back to the US! Well, if only our country would let us. There are two main border crossings, and they've even now got an electronic sign posted telling you the waits at the two crossings, which is nice. Except when the signs both read "60+ minutes". *sigh* So it was a long wait, during which I mused over all of the wasted fuel of the hundreds of idling cars. I also got this artsy photo of the Peace Arch with the subtext of the long line of cars in my rearview window. Interpretation is left to the reader or something.

Back in our native land, we picked up an incredibly muddy Korby (and had forgotten to bring a towel; will have to try to avoid looking at the carpetting in our trunk for a few days...) and continued home, where Zachary burned off a serious amount energy bouncing around like a crazy man in his jumperoo for a bit, then talking to grandma via video chat, before heading upstairs for baffy time and sleep. A seriously full 36 hours for a little boy!

Does no already mean no?

We've seen Zachary start performing three new behaviors in the last few days; while all are of course cute, I'm hoping the last one doesn't hint too much of tough times a-comin'.

First, Zachary now shakes his head "no". Granted, it's primarily when he's on his back getting a diaper change, and generally in response to prompting from mommy shaking her own head (he doesn't really do it for me yet). So it's mainly just imitation at the moment, but still very cute, and continues to demonstrate that nifty head control and his improving small-motor coordination.

Second, he's started to give kisses! It was hard to tell at first, but he'll occasionally wrap his hands around your face (or, with his always improving grabbing abilities, occasionally hook your mouth/cheek, grab an eye or eyebrow, or once even two fistfuls of mommy hair), pull you close, and plant a wet open-mouth on your face while smiling. It's much cuter than it sounds; will have to try to grab a kiss on the camera the next time he's feeling affectionate.

And perhaps slightly more worryingly, we had the first possibly hints of tantrum early this week. Meh and Zachary met me for lunch on Monday before the traditional Monday afternoon Zachary hand-off. He sat in the high chair while we ate lunch, and, after munching on the corner of a menu for a few minutes, he spied and started playing with one of those cardboard coasters for drinks. Yup, a few minutes later, it too went in the mouth, and eventually started to dissolve. When Meh took it away while it was still moderately recognizable as a coaster, Zachary let out a big whine of displeasure. It was over very quickly, but I think we can say with some certainty that he's starting to get the concept of object permanence. And possession. Or perhaps a little bit of both? Uh-oh.

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!

And I thought they smelled bad on the outside

Last night, Zachary slept through the night - woo hoo! We've now got a handful of examples of this, and while I don't want to jinx it, perhaps the sleep patterns will continue to gradually improve from here. Not that we should complain; he's usually up once or perhaps twice. And not that I have any right to complain at all, since Meh is generally the one actually getting up.

While fairly rare (he often goes a day or more between, um, going), Zachary's poop continues to be a prime conversation topic around our house. What amazes me is often the sheer amount - though again, when it's so infrequent, I guess that makes sense. Today he managed to literally poop up to his ears. I'm not kidding; I went to change him, and it was all the way up his back. Ew. By the end, I was seriously just giving him a wet wipe bath; next time I'll likely just run a regular one for him, whether or not it's the middle of the day. Soiled diaper, onesie, pants, shirt, socks, cloth diaper, changing table cover, and about 50 wet wipes later, he seemed clean. We went downstairs for his lunch, and I was still smelling it. I kept looking at him, but couldn't figure out the source - then I noticed my own fingernails. Double ew.

The continuing blowouts have us once again debating if he needs to ramp up to the next size of diapers. Of course these debates always seem to occur when we've got a fairly large stock of the current size that we'd have to unload - hopefully not straight into a landfill. But if an upgrade turns out to be the solution, that will be yet another example of defective sizing guidelines; Size 3 claims to range from 16 to 28 lbs, and Size 4 is supposed to be 22 to 37 lbs. I don't know if he's 22 lbs yet, but he's definitely well within the heart of that so-called Size 3 range.

Sew Cute

A few weeks ago, my friend L (mother of baby E) and I decided to have a talent exchange: she would teach me to sew pants for Zachary, and I would teach her to bake cupcakes. I went to her place and she very patiently taught me how to read a pattern, cut the fabric, and sew the pieces together using her sewing machine. Zachary even obliged by taking a marathon nap, so that I almost finished the pants (made of pirate fabric, by the way). I didn't quite get to finish them, though, and ever since then I had been thinking of how the next time I saw a sewing machine on sale I would snag it. Nevermind that I have no idea how to really use one.

I was finally sent over the edge when a mother posted the link to a site with instructions to make your own baby sling on our support group's listserv. Well, I was on a mission. These slings are around $50 (or more!) to buy, and it looked too easy to pass up! I thought I would just go buy the fabric, then beg L to help me sew it at her place. Off I went to the fabric store with Zachary in tow. I picked out some fabric, and was entertaining Zachary by "peepee teepee"-ing in his ear while the sales lady cut it for me, when I saw that they had a sewing machine on sale. I took it.

When I got to the car, I called Scoot and the conversation went something like this:

Me: "Hi, don't be mad..."
Scoot: "Do I ever get mad?"
Me: "Okay...I bought a sewing machine."
Scoot: "Oh, cool! I can show you how to use it."

Is there anything my husband can't do??? And how many women can say that their husbands taught them to sew?

I really need to teach L to make cupcakes...to regain my domestic dignity.

Another Ferry Tale

Meh's Balkan women's choir had another recording session out in Port Orchard this weekend, so Zachary and I had the choice between hanging out at home without her for the day, or accompanying her out to the peninsula (and staying out of the choir's way in the one-room recording studio). Since there were a few promising exploration options last time that we hadn't hit, as well as that tasty bakery with Zachary's little friend, and of course the opportunity to see mommy at least a few times during the day, we opted for the ferry trip. We were actually driving another choir member and the drummer, so it was a nice full car -- and Zachary again seemed to take issue with people sharing the backseat with him, at least at first. He eventually conked out though, and snoozed until just before we boarded the ferry.

This was apparently an eventful day for the Washington State ferry service. On the way out, there were several PA announcements about car alarms (which turned out to be a choir member's car, whoops!) and mispositioned motorcycles, as well as a docking delay while a medical emergency forced the preceding ferry to turn around and redock. And on the way back, there were more emergency vehicles with disembarking priority, and a strange batch of vehicles that for some reason boarded the ferry in reverse. It was strange enough seeing a bunch of cars and trucks driving past us backwards, but I was most impressed with the big yellow school bus backing up several hundred yards at a fair clip to get onto the ferry.

When we got to Southworth, Zachary and I said goodbye to mommy and the choir, and drove out into the "city". Last time we'd passed what looked like a cute (and very pink) doll store, so this time we planned to stop in. Well, first I had to change Zachary out in the parking lot in our thankfully spacious, carpeted trunk - he was in the process of making up for not going for about three days, by going three times in three hours. Freshly rediapered, we ventured inside and looked at some impressive (and impressively expensive; most were high 3-figures) dolls and other cute tchochkes. The doll shop turned out to also house a Victorian tea house; while it likely can't compete with our two favorites, we'll have to check it out with mommy the next time we're in the area. Zachary was entranced with everything we saw, smiling, kicking, and letting out his happy high-pitched screams of delight.

Minutes after we were back on the road, Zachary conked out listening to his favorite music. I drove through the rest of the city's downtown and out along the Puget Sound. I caught glimpses of some impressive looking battleships docked in the Bremerton shipyards before we turned around and headed back to the recording studio. Zachary slept a bit longer, but woke up before mommy's designated lunch break, so we walked around the forested grounds a while, and then played for a bit in the sunshine.

For our second excursion of the day, we drove back into downtown Port Orchard and stopped off at the cute little bakery we'd visited on our last trip. The young couple that owns(?) the bakery was there, along with their nearly Zachary-aged and very cute son, and they recognized Zachary and me from last time. After covering why we hadn't been back (I explained that we weren't exactly locals), the dad and I chatted a bit about what the kids were doing, eating, etc. I found out that during the day, their son goes out on the delivery runs with a woman who was beaming at him from a table towards the back of the bakery. I didn't get to ask, but from the way she was complimenting him, she might be the grandmother or an aunt? After catching up, we grabbed a loaf of tasty rosemary bread and headed back in time to meet the choir at the ferry for the ride back. Zachary had a full day, but spent most of it very happy, interactive, and chatty with everyone he met. Hooray for positive travel adventures!

Delay of game

Remember when you actually had an excuse for not having pictures handy right after taking them? Namely, that you had to finish the roll of film (which was somehow always an unpredictably few more than the 24 or 36 on the actual label), crank it back manually in the camera, drop it off at a drug store, and a few days later you'd be back to pick up your pictures, half of which were underexposed, blurry, had the lens cap or a hand in the frame, or had everyone looking like red-eyed devils? No such excuses anymore - yet I still managed to forget to upload a few pictures off the camera from earlier in the week. And with that to set the stage, I present a few more pictures from grandma's visit this past weekend, as well as a shot of Zachary at breakfast this morning (where he added cantaloupe to his always increasing palate) sporting his excellently punny bib.

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!

Gonna make me happy

Several years ago, I wrote a musical arrangement for my favorite Microsoft a cappella group. (Yes, there actually are several a cappella groups at the company. Honestly, between the various extracurricular activities, teams, clubs, sports fields, "campuses", and the omnipresent cafeterias, I really do think we're a cleverly disguised high school.) The song was called 'Gonna Make You Happy'; I can't actually claim credit for the original tune and lyrics, which came from an excellent Australian comedic music group, but it was a fun challenge to put into a strictly vocal arrangement. The Baudboys are a fabulous group of singers -- they do a nice eclectic mix of styles, understand the need for a polished 'performance' to complement their already stellar vocals, and really just seem to have a good time singing. (Incidentally, friend J of J & S is a tenor in the group.) After I gave them the sheet music, I didn't hear from the group for several months, and then it was suggested that I might enjoy one of their upcoming performances -- where they proceeded to brilliantly perform the arrangement for the first time, getting big laughs and cheers from the audience.

I'm pleased to see that it's remained one of their most popular staples ever since -- I think the Microsoft 'geek' persona (also clearly labeled on the t-shirts they frequently wear at concerts) certainly doesn't hurt its effectiveness either. :) Anyway, the group competes in the annual Harmony Sweepstakes a cappella festival, a major a cappella competition with the winners of the eight regional competitions moving on to the national finals. The Baudboys have frequently been in the top handful at the Northwest Regionals, but hadn't actually won. Yet.

Yup, last weekend, they were back for this year's competition. Apparently a few people who'd heard them before even asked if they were going to do "that Xbox song". And with two excellent new arrangements by group members and my own arrangement getting huge audience reactions, they were crowned champions! One of these years I'm going to have to attend; it would be a blast to hear the arrangement (and of course the group as a whole) performed in front of a packed house. But for now, the Baudboys are off to the national finals in May (May 3 in San Rafael, for those Bay Area folks who'd like to scout things out). Huge congrats!

Oh, and if you want to watch their performance via a handcam recording in the audience, check it out below (or here if the embedded video doesn't work). My song starts about 5:15 in:

And if you'd like to compare the arrangement and performance to the original Tripod version, look here.

Clean-up, aisle six

Grandma has been visiting for the weekend, and we've been having a great time so far! Well, except for Zachary's ongoing cold. And me dealing with my first experience of him screaming uncontrollably early this afternoon. But we'll get to that in a moment...

So Zachary's early consternation with being held by that stranger -- who's likely held him more than any other non-mommy/daddy individual (other than mima) -- has quickly evaporated. Grandma is once more one of Zachary's favorite people, and he smiles, laughs, and makes loud happy sounds in her general direction when he sees her.

Grandma generously invited Meh and myself to go out on a date last night, which was wonderful. We had a nice leisurely sit-down dinner, enjoyed excellent food, and in general just got to talk and catch up. We both noticed that we were holding hands and realized that it had been some time since one or both of our sets of hands wasn't occupied with Zachary, a cloth diaper, a bottle, or a denim diaper bag. Thank you grandma!

This morning something was not quite right with the little man - he just could not get happy, and started hollering more and more as the morning went on, even when he was being held. When Meh headed to work, he got particularly mad, and I ended up rocking him to sleep (and napping with him) in the rocking chair in his room. When he woke up, he was still mad, and felt a little warm. I took his temperature, but there was thankfully no fever. With dual potential causes of that ongoing cold and his teeth being pretty close to erupting, I tried several tacts: one of those nasal aspirator things (a little suction ball that you stick up the nostril - fairly ineffective for Zachary, and it often makes him mad - today it made him madder, to quote daddy's favorite children's book Ferdinand), and then some baby tylenol to address both the cold and the teeth. The latter worked wonders, and by the time we headed out for our afternoon errands, he was back to his happy and talkative self.

Grandma, Zachary, and I went to Costco before heading to see mommy for Zachary's lunch. First grandma and I grabbed some lunch at what continues to be about the only restaurant serving kosher meat in this city -- the Costco hot dog stand. (Yes, yes, I know it's not even remotely kosher when there are cheese pizzas and ice cream sundaes being served alongside on the menu, but ah well.) And it was while I was grabbing condiments for said hot dog (a Sinai Kosher polish sausage, actually) that Zachary chose to demonstrate those improved grabbing abilities I mentioned in the last post. Yup, my soda was tantalizingly close to him in the baby bjorn, and before I knew it, Zachary's hands were out, and over it went, with caffeinated aspartame-y goodness sloshing everywhere on the condiment stand and concrete floor -- though thankfully not on Zachary or myself. I made a vain effort to towel up the worst of it, but it was quite a mess and I didn't make much of an impact on it. Short of going inside and purchasing what would've likely been a six-pack of industrial mops, there wasn't much more I could do, but I still felt pretty bad, particularly when it still hadn't been mopped it up when we'd finished our lunch and slinked away 15 minutes later.

Zach in the Hat

(We'll just keep rotating the 'Zach's and 'Zack's in these post titles, just to keep things interesting, and our nickname objectivity intact.)

Well, one good hat photo deserves 3 more - so today mommy made sure to get pictures of Zachary in several other cute hats that he's gotten from friends over the past few months. He's honestly worn all of these before, but we didn't have the proof to show to all of his generous fans/clothiers. Thank you all, and enjoy!

Grandma arrives tomorrow, and we are very excited to be spending the weekend with her. She's actually going to get two opportunities to babysit; she volunteered to let Meh and me have a date night on Saturday night, and then she scheduled her flight to ensure she could take the standard Monday evening babysitting shift. Thanks grandma!

We'll have to see if Zachary recognizes her; he laughed and laughed at (with?) her during her last visit, and has chatted with her via video conference on many occasions since then. He seems to be starting to understand that the screen represents another person; he's smiled and looked more directly at both her and mima on the computer screen during the most recent few video calls.

Meanwhile, Zachary's hand-eye coordination continues to improve. Well, maybe not based on this cute movie Meh captured of him playing his xylophone.

But honest, his grabbing at toys, books, envelopes, and anything within reach on the floor, tables, our laps, etc. is becoming more and more sure. He's definitely working on these small motor skills first (as to large/"gross" motor skills, nope, no crawling yet -- and even rolling over remains pretty rare, though he's certainly big on dancing and bouncing), and making the most of exploring the world with his hands (and then of course placing the world in his mouth).

Zacklander

Our son is a male model. At least that was Meh's first impression based on the photo on the right, which she took of him in a super-cute outfit he just got from one of Meh's coworkers. I think I share that impression too, though I'm certainly not biased. We've actually caught ourselves looking at baby clothes catalogs and commenting that some of the infants just aren't, well, cute!

Some friends of mine actually had their kids do some modelling. On the plus side, you get great professional photos taken of your children. And it likely certainly helps fund their (education / first sportscar / hobby-of-the-week) as well. On the minus side, definitely feels a little weird and potentially exploitative. But perhaps that's just me? Anyway, I think Zachary will stick with the amateur modelling. That should keep him Olympics-eligible as well when cuteness becomes a recognized sport, which we're working on for 2012.

Breakfast at Zachary's

Today marked another first: the entire Selfon family ate the same breakfast! Yes, we all had oatmeal with fresh organic pears. Granted, Zachary's pears were pureed, and his oatmeal was actually rice ceral, but it was still practically a family meal, which is very exciting. Zachary is getting more and more interested in eating foods all the time. He smiles, licks his lips, occasionally grabs the spoon and tries to put it into his mouth (sometimes missing and getting food on his face), and seems very alert and happy while we perform airplane nosedives and chugging trains with his food to keep him interested. Once the food is actually in his mouth, sometimes a hand follows, so the food does end up everywhere pretty quickly if we're not monitoring with napkins or wipes at the ready. But he's definitely getting into it!

It wasn't that long ago when we first gave him bananas; he's now graduated to many other kinds of fruit and veggies (incidentally, Meh and I agree that canned peas do indeed taste as metallic and gross as I remember them being when we were growing up), and even will use a sippy cup -- though he's as likely to bang it on his tray as actually drink from it.

This place is a zoo

(And it was actually pretty busy to boot, though part of that was due to it being a decently sunny winter day.)

Incidentally, this post's title reminds me that I should point out that a certain zoo advertisement which I grew up with is arguably Detroit's most important contribution to the ad industry, if not its greatest contribution to television and wildlife conservation as a whole. That's just sad.

In honor of Zachary turning 7 months old (already?!), we decided to renew our attempt to go to the zoo today. The trip actually started off like the one that didn't work out, with a trip to our favorite kaiten sushi with friends M & K. (Recall that last time, Zachary ended up sleeping in the restaurant's parking lot for like two and a half hours, so by the time we got to lunch it was already late afternoon, and too late for the zoo.) This time he was awake and alert throughout the drive and lunch; he really loves his new convertible car seat, which lets him look all around and see the world zooming (or, depending on traffic, often creeping) by. At lunch, he split his time between the high chair and Meh's lap. He demonstratred his new favorite drinking option - via an elevated straw half-filled with water, with our finger in the other end to help control the flow. He alternates between lapping, gulping, and sucking, all while smiling and raising his hands. He also found playing with a chopstick wrapper to be fascinating.

After saying our goodbyes (and taking a quick detour to pick up some tasty cupcakes) we were off to the zoo! Yup, we definitely must be in Seattle if the zoo had the foresight to snap up the coveted zoo.org address. I can't speak for zoos in other cities, but the Woodland Park Zoo seems to be the place to take your babies and young children. Well, at least a very popular one; the mall where we had lunch tends to be pretty stroller-rich as well. And despite it being fairly chilly still, the zoo was pretty packed with grown ups and kids alike. The zoo actually has a giant indoor kid play area (the Zoomazium) that might alone be worth the price of admission -- we didn't go in this time, but it looked like a blast. Meh was particularly thrilled by the tiny child-sized round doors a few feet over from the adult-accessible entrance.

Zachary still hadn't had a nap, so we knew there was an impending meltdown, but for the first bit he was very happy and kicky. He particularly loved the sounds of the animals - a squawking bird and bleating goats were his favorites. Most of the indoor facilities unfortunately ban strollers, so eventually he went mobile with daddy in the bjorn, and we checked out reptiles for a few minutes and then the nocturnal animal exhibit. He didn't really seem to get the animals scurrying around in the near darkness, but he loved looking at the blue-tinted barely-illuminating lights along the path through the exhibit.

Zachary eventually fell asleep in the stroller, and we kept puttering around for a bit. It was somewhat amusing (and yet worrying) to see all of the young toddlers and pre-schoolers wandering around the park. A few were calmly sitting in strollers, but a bunch were in those harness/leash contraptions, and others were running their parents a bit ragged. We kept seeing and hearing exasperated/annoyed parents scolding or warning their kids, though I still haven't heard someone yelling for their young Zachary yet... We also had a surprise encounter with somebody Meh knew in a totally different context; when we walked past the outdoor bird-flying/demonstration facility, Meh recognized the bird wrangler (who was holding an impressively large owl on her gloved hand) as one of her teachers from library school. Talk about a jack (jill?) of all trades!

Tonight I'm performing at an orchestra concert; hopefully in another year or two Zachary and mommy will be able to come and hear these kinds of evening concerts, but for now I think we'll be sticking with matinees.

Whispering hush

One of Zachary's favorite bedtime rituals is the reading of a book - it's actually the last thing before his nighttime snack, but in many ways he seems to enjoy it even more! We've tried a few different books over the weeks, but the one he just can't get enough of is the classic Goodnight Moon. He particularly loves the color pages, which he paws and taps happily (and tries to turn forward or back to when the alternating black and white pages come into view). The squeaking sound as his hands push down the pages almost make me laugh every time, despite it being his 'mellow' time. I tried to capture a movie or two of it last night; he was hiccuping, but beyond that, he's always quiet and very focused on the book as mommy or daddy read it to him.

If you want something done right...

Several months ago, Meh was thrilled to discover that Gymboree had a new line of cupcake themed baby outfits -- and then moderately devastated when she learned they were only girl ones. Despite protestations to store clerks, it couldn't be helped -- and very few of them were even close to gender-neutral enough to consider getting for Zachary.

Zip forward several months, and cute cupcake onesies surfaced on her favorite cupcake blog. (Incidentally, I don't recommend looking at that blog on an empty stomach. Or even if you haven't already got a seriously good dessert sitting right in front of you.) But at a price of $32 not including tax or shipping, Meh refused, and was convinced she could do one just as well herself. Well, let me tell you - she bought white onesies, some cool fabrics, fabric paint, and strange iron-on-sticky material, made four onesies (cupcakes and an elephant, which Zachary wore today) last night, and then a cute owl one this evening, and they are fabulous! Zachary sported one this morning, and he really liked brushing his hands over the fabric and paint textures. Seriously, if this whole librarian thing doesn't pan out, she should totally go into business and put these up for sale on etsy.

Make Room for Mommy

Scoot does an amazing job of keeping our readers up to date regarding Zachary's activities, vocal progress, bowel movements, etc., but I thought I would just chime in with some of the Mommy perspective.

On the weekends I work (every other weekend, for those of you who don't know) Zachary and Daddy have fun together. I miss them so much during these times. I'm so lucky that Scoot brings Zachary to work to visit me! They would stay at the library all day if I let them, but I think that's pushing it. Yet, there's nothing quite as soothing as opening the workroom door to see their smiling faces after assisting a patron in finding the next movie that stars Who0pi G0ldberg (for the third time that day). Sigh. I flatter myself that Zachary brightens everyone's day when he visits the library for a snack with Mommy. Luckily, my new 20 hour schedule kicks in tomorrow, so I will have more Zachary time!

I am trying to keep my foot in my more creative activities, as well. Dunava performed at a Baba Marta festival last night (I went straight from work and got home just in time for Zachary's bedtime snack), and we are working on recording a CD. I'm also joining a stamping/card-making club that meets monthly, and our monthly book club is back in session after a brief holiday season hiatus. Sometimes I worry that Scoot isn't getting enough "guy" time away from Zachary and me, but when I voiced my concern he responded with the ever-appropriate and comforting, "Meh-meh...meh-meh". Most of my activities take place while Zachary is asleep, but I felt bad leaving Scoot so often the past couple weeks. We made up for it by staying up too late watching Law and Order and our Netflix movies the past couple evenings.

What with my work schedule the way it was, I have been having a hard time pumping enough milk for my growing boy. It has been the cause of much anxiety for me that Zachary might (gasp!) have to supplement with a little formula. I was given only formula, and I think I turned out fine, but you just get so bombarded with "breastmilk is best" propaganda that it seems like the worst failure in the world to run low on milk. I did my best for months, pumping before bed, after Zachary's meals, whenever I could to get the bare minimum for him as my measly stockpile in the freezer diminished, but this week I finally ran out. Zachary had some formula with his nanny J last Friday, and a little before bed last night (though I made it home to finish him off before he fell asleep). Now, I have been told that it is a myth that giving formula to babies at bedtime will make them sleep longer (something to do with it being less easily digested, keeping them full longer). However, Friday night Zachary slept until 4:45am, and last night he slept until 3am. Normally, he is awake for a feed between midnight and 1:30am or so. Hmmm.

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.