Trains, planes, automobiles... and carriages?

I think we covered practically all forms of transportation on our vacation trip this week with Zachary's grandma and friends J & S to Mackinac Island: car, plane (both jet and semi-scary turblence-battered turbo prop), airport rail, van, ferry, bicycles (tandem, no less), pedestrian, and horse-drawn carriage.

Background: Growing up, my family used to take summer vacation trips up to Mackinac every couple of years. The island is situated between Michigan's two peninsulas in Lake Huron, and is known (well, at least in Michigan - most folks elsewhere that I've mentioned it to give me blank looks) for roughly four things:

1. All automobile traffic is banned (how's that for irony in the car capital of the US?) - the island is completely traversed by horses and bicycles. Zachary had his first horse rides, and occasionally looked with interest at the large horses as they trotted past. (The island even has rentals of horses and horse-drawn buggies, though we passed on that particular pasttime this trip.) We of course got lots of stroller time as well in Zachary's new compact umbrella stroller on the excellent footpaths throughout the town and surrounding state park. Meanwhile, Meh and I took a lovely (or as Meh would describe it, death-defying?) tandem bicycle ride around the 8.3 mile island with friends J & S.


2. Mackinac Island fudge. For some inexplicable reason, about the time that the island became a tourist destination, it was decided that fudge was a good tourist draw. This led to a precursor to the Starbucks phenomenon, where the six fudge shop chains occupy like thirty storefronts along the main street, often directly across the street from each other. But it's darn good fudge, and you of course get to watch them make the various flavors daily on large marble slabs. We of course ended up bringing home several pounds, some of which we hope to transform back into Mackinac Island fudge ice cream (one of the tastiest uses for it).


3. The Grand Hotel. A massive and impressive 120-year-old hotel with the world's longest porch (660 feet). Also apparently the only 5-star hotel in the world without valet parking. We spent one rainy evening here enjoying their lovely dinner service (the font and formatting of the menu remain intact from my last childhood visit), enjoying listening to the after-dinner harpist in the lobby, and walking through the hotel's halls to see pictures of its history (including visits from 5 sitting presidents no less). One nice thing about the hotel is that jacket and tie are required in the evening, so even Zachary got dressed up for the occasion. And my, that was the fanciest faux-wood infant high chair that I'd seen.
   


4. It's the setting for the 'unabashedly romantic' (that's Netflix description, which became our running gag throughout the trip) film Somewhere in Time. That alone would be well and good if it wasn't hammered home by every storefront (many sold a variety of film-themed tchochkes, books, and even 'officially licensed' jewelry; one particularly groan-inducing moment was seeing a clothing store subtitle itself 'Somewear in Time'; another was a store that had stencilled lettering announcing that it was through this particular pane of glass that Christopher Reeve was filmed for one scene), map of the island (highlighting the various locations where the film was shot), and even this placard placed where they shot a scene of the film. Our own resort (previously the island's college) was used for a few other scenes, though they thankfully didn't loudly advertise that fact.

The flights were for the most part great, minus the aforementioned rough ascent on the second plane. Zachary was again interested in playing with the in-seat inserts (these were thankfully laminated, so it wasn't quite as bad to see him continually trying to put them in his mouth). We had another first once we landed (at the cute and way-fancy regional airport that hosted a total of two gates): the shuttle booked to take us over to the ferries had installed the car seat facing forward, and it looked like backwards was going to be a bit too challenging to attempt. Zachary loved facing forward, screeching and clenching his fists in happiness the whole drive. He also *loved* the ferry ride over, smiling and giggling the whole time.


On the island, the weather wasn't entirely cooperative (not pictured here :), with rain washing out much of the first full day. Thankfully, that didn't really stop us from taking a nice morning walk around the island, meeting up with J & S for a cozy lunch (followed by fudge of course), and enjoying the aforementioned Grand Hotel dinner -- arriving in style by horse taxi of course. The second day, we had some glorious weather, and got to explore more of the island, including the Michigan governor's summer home and some of the other incredible residences. (All things considered, the prices weren't that insane - or are we just totally impervious to reason with the crazy housing market in Seattle?) We also enjoyed the resort we were staying at - Meh, J, & S took advantage of some of the massage services (grandma and I played with/strolled with Zachary during these), and we all had a lovely tea served by an unlikely candidate (a college student who was the water server at the fancy restaurant at the resort).

Mackinac was much as I remembered it, though there are of course slight changes - an internet cafe on the main street, and a big to-do last year with the opening of a Starbucks downtown. (The sign is totally hidden under awnings, so you wouldn't even know it was there from the street.) The prices are all going up as well; the cost to visit the Grand Hotel if you're not a guest (and aren't going for one of their meals) is up to a whopping $15. (I think maybe it was $4 when I was there last time?) But all in all, it was wonderful to be able to introduce Zachary, Meh, and J & S to one of my favorite childhood vacations, and it was great to be able to share the time there with Zachary's grandma as well.

Weekend cruise

Earlier this week, Zachary started unofficially to 'cruise' - that is, he will hold onto a couch or the ottoman and, step by step, gradually work his way around it without our assistance. These stints were typically interrupted or ended by him hitting the ground -- not usually hard, but generally with either one pivot too many or the splits getting his feet too far out from under him. He kept trying to pull himself up, but often ended up in a position where he was sitting with his legs under the ottoman, so he couldn't make much progress.

Today however, we were visiting friends D, D, and N, and he was sitting on the ground, facing mommy on the couch, and lo and behold, he grabbed her knees and pulled himself up. Another milestone! He celebrated with happy screeches.

Here's a great video Meh got of him in mid-cruise yesterday, where he stopped to play with one of his new favorite toys, a large decorative plate we keep on the ottoman.

The art of the raspberry

Just because we haven't talked about it recently doesn't mean it isn't still a Zachary favorite! In addition to more and more consonant and vowel-like sounds, Zachary still loves the spraying of raspberries. Sometimes it's in response to the weather (in particular when it starts to rain), other times it accompanies screeches and singing), and sometimes there's just no rhyme or reason to the wild spraying.

Here's an excellent video Meh caught of Zachary and her having a raspberry conversation. (Apparently this had already been going on for a few minutes when she turned the camera on.)

Engines full reverse

Zachary's starting to show a little more interest in moving around. (Capturing him on film while he does so remains a challenge though - either me leaving for the camera or the camera's little red distance-detection light tends to distract him from moving.) Monday morning, he and I were hanging out playing, and I put him on his tummy. Usually this makes him unhappy pretty quickly, but this time he was focused on a toy he was trying to grab that was a few feet out of reach. He pulled himself up with his hands, which inadvertently pushed him backwards. He kept occasionally repeating this, and ended up moving about six feet into the next room. Oddly, his inability to get to the toy didn't really seem to make him frustrated, as every time he backed up, he found something else new and exciting to grab at in front of him - another toy, the edge of the carpet, his jumperoo, and so on.

Then last night mommy was giving him a bath in the tub proper (not that plastic insert tub thing we usually use - long story), and he was scooting himself backwards the length of the tub and laughing about it. Movement may indeed be inevitable...

Last night after the bathtub scooting was date night! Friends M and K had wanted to come babysit once more before they move away :(, so Meh and I got to go out for a nice dinner and movie. (And no, I wasn't the only guy in the theater for SATC; there were at least two or three others, even if they all straggled in during the trailers.) It was again nice to get to spend an evening out together, and it was fine if our conversation frequently came back around to the little man and the cute things he's been up to lately. The movie was fun, but turned out to be a bit of a marathon (I likened it to squeezing a full season of the show up onto the screen, which it almost was at 2.5 hours!), and we felt a bit guilty being out so long -- M and K were so wonderful to watch Zachary, and to stay so late!

Self Serve

The little man and I have kept very busy this weekend - he continues to do amazingly well being out and about (actually even better than hanging out at home all day; I think that actually kind of bores him) with multiple errands and fairly full days. Yesterday we went to the bank (where the tellers already know him, but he shamelessly flirts anyway), then to lunch with friends S & J at one of the most excellently child-friendly cafes in Capitol Hill -- who else would dedicate like 15% of their in-restaurant space to a gated and well-padded area with tons of kids toys? On the walk down to the restaurant, friends D & D and their son N were driving past, so after they got home, D and N came back out and joined us for lunch.

Zachary's been eating great - he went through an entire jar of food at lunch, along with his favorite finger foods -- Cheerios and bits of a stick of string cheese. Incidentally, I've been noticing a definite left-hand preference in picking up food, even when I put it closer to his right hand. His papa and nanny are southpaws (and his grandfather was a lefty as well), so it's a definite possibility -- though the child specialists are always quick to point out that it's a bit early for a handedness preference to assert itself. And indeed, apparently most children go through a few flip-flops before settling on one.

After lunch, we popped over to visit mommy at work, then did some shopping at Costco before heading home in time for a nice baffy time, stories (still not a fan of my renditions of Goodnight Moon, though he's happy enough when mommy reads it -- as in the dark video below, where you'll notice he turns pages with his left hand), and bedtime.

Today was a bit mellower - Zachary and I took a nice long walk with Korby, met mommy at work in the afternoon, and then came home and played for a while. When I gave him dinner, we reached another milestone! He started reaching for the spoon, I let him try to grasp it -- and he successfully put it into his own mouth. Granted, it was like his existing finger-food eating technique: the hand wrapped around the food end of the spoon and went into the mouth along with at least some of the sweet potato/lentil mix. But this outfit was just about at the end of its use for the day anyway, and he actually did a pretty decent job with the food transfer. He seemed pleased with himself as well; I'm thinking mealtime is about to get a whole lot messier, which I previously would have found hard to believe!

300

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

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

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

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

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

Is it goodnight for "Goodnight Moon"?

The last few nights, Zachary has been happy with his bedtime stories until we get to what was always his previous favorite. At first I thought he was just getting overly tired and was ready to pack it in for the night before I got to the coveted "In the great green room...", but tonight I tried to do 'Goodnight Moon' first, and he still yelled and 'nah-nah'ed as the book opened. I tried another favorite, and he happily sat and listened (and even grabbed and turned the pages, which he does really well, though sometimes he gets a little bit overeager and turns the pages a bit faster than the actual telling of the story). It was always nice to end the day the same way, but change is after all inevitable and shows that he's developing his own opinions and tastes, yes?

I'll have what she's having

Another nice and full day with Zachary's uncle Josh and some friends! This morning, we met friend K and her daughter N for brunch (well, by the time Zachary wrapped up his nap, it was more of a lunch) at our continuing favorite family-friendly breakfast joint, and N's dad J came by a bit later to join us as well. Zachary was of course very happy to play with his menu and happily eat a lunch of apple sauce, cheerios, and jack cheese. He was also frequently looking across the table at N to see what she was up to - as she's got a few more teeth, she's already graduated to bits of chicken and other fancier foods.

Then we were off to the Ballard Farmers Market. The iffy weather meant it wasn't totally crazy packed, and Zachary conked out pretty quickly. We picked up fresh cherries, a large bouquet of flowers, some tasty toffee, Josh grabbed a vegan brownie, and just had a nice time wandering around the various stalls. We even spotted one or two vendors that had been at that herb and food fair yesterday.

We then wandered over to the home of all that is kitsch, Archie McPhee's. Zachary woke up and spent the whole time in the store with his eyes glued to the ceiling - there's pretty whacky stuff suspended from above throughout the warehouse. I was particularly impressed with the ginormous selection of devil duckies, but the whole place is always fun to wander through.

Headed back home and spent the afternoon hanging out before getting invited out for some of the tastiest sushi in Seattle - at a place I still haven't been to! Alas, Zachary and I were still sniffly, so we decided to stay home and make it an early night. He's already been out for several hours; hopefully this extra rest will help him kick his cold!

I'll take s-words, Alex

Zachary's Uncle Josh flew in this weekend for a visit, and brought many fun gifts for both Zachary and us. Zachary's favorite is a very tactilely satisfying sword. No balsa or particleboard here, this sword is all hickory, bubinga, and the aptly named bloodwood. Zachary keeps on trying to pick it up (by the blade of course; clearly a warrior) and happily thumps it on the table.

We've been having a really nice time - today we went to the nearby homeopathic medicine university, which was having an herb and food fair. Zachary slept through most of it (though he was awake and pleased with a live marimba band performance). We wandered through some very cool herb gardens (arranged in fascinating ways - a few by the part of the body's systems that they affect; others grouped by the four elements?; and others just in aesthetically pleasing arrays). And we also learned how to make home remedies in a lecture held in a gazebo; infusions, mieles (herbs suspended in honey), herb vinegars, etc. It all sounded (and the samples tasted) yummy enough, even if the actual medicinal properties might be a bit more challenging to accept on first presentation. And I also learned that Trader Joe's stocks larger sized containers of honey than grocery stores. (Challah recipes tend to burn through the stuff pretty quickly, so this is a good tip.) Interestingly, despite a few young babies in the audience, the speaker didn't mention that young children shouldn't eat honey, homeopathic remedy or otherwise...

The evening was another big milestone -- we had our very first teenaged babysitters! Meh's choir had their major concert (she'd actually been at the venue most of the afternoon after the herb fair), and Josh and I of course planned to attend. One of Meh's coworkers had offered for her daughters to come and watch Zachary, and they did a fabulous job. It was nice to be able to be out for an evening, though I felt like a total dork trying to tell the girls what I thought they might need to know about the house, phone numbers, what to do if Zachary woke up, etc.

Tomorrow's another planned full day - we're hoping to meet one of Zachary's lady friends for brunch, then we'll be checking out a Sunday farmers market or two.

A boy and his toys

Zachary has not yet focused on any one particular toy as his 'security' item. Which on the whole I think is great -- he's interested enough in a variety of toys (and even non-toys; recall his love of menus and airplane safety cards) that if any one were to disappear during our many transits, I'm not even sure he'd notice.

His favorite "toy" continues to be Korby. When I bring Zachary downstairs in the morning and first let Korby out, he (Zachary) gives a squeal almost equalling the ones he makes when we play his favorite music tracks. And he then continues to say "dah" and smile every time I point Korby out to him, whether Korby is inside or outside. When he plays on the floor (or out on the deck), Korby has been very careful but friendly around Zachary, coming up to him, sniffing, and occasionally licking his face. And of course when Zachary is eating, Korby is very interested in staying near those often food-covered hands.

Another fairly new favorite is the pull handles on our kitchen cabinets. They're fairly big and high contrast, and he kept reaching out for them when I walked through the kitchen. So I let him grab one, pulled him back a little so the cabinet opened, and then pushed him back so the cabinet closed. The cabinets have those spring-loaded hinges, so they close very satisfyingly, and Zachary now loves the 'open/closed' game. (I say 'open', he grabs a cabinet handle and pulls it open; I say 'closed' and he either pushes it shut or sometimes just lets go and lets the spring do its work.)

Extrapolating from the menu/airplane safety card enjoyment, we've learned that Zachary loves paper. Junk mail and catalogs actually have a use now (besides keeping our recycling bin full); Zachary will swing them around, crumple them up, and yes, occasionally try to eat them. His favorites are those envelopes with the clear plastic address window in the front - that makes for the most satisfying crumpling noises.

Of course, he still has lots of more traditional toys that he loves - his piano, Mr. Whoozit, plastic toy airplane, rattle, plush toys, books, etc. One of the more cozy and unique (one of a kind actually!) toys is Sheldon, an amazing knitted turtle that our friend K made for him - thank you so much K! Here's a video of him enjoying Sheldon and talking to Sheldon and mommy.

Submersible baby

As Meh previously mentioned, Zachary has been taking his Waterbabies classes weekly with mommy. It always sounded super cute to hear about the kids being bounced and swirled in the water, and everyone singing welcoming and goodbye songs in between developing new skills (learning how to hold their breath when going underwater, good splashing technique, etc.) and a general level of comfort in the water. Yesterday I was finally able to arrange my schedule so I could attend and watch, and the class didn't disappoint!

From the moment they sat on the edge of the pool, you could tell Zachary loved the water. He was all kicky and making happy sounds. Once actually in the pool, he kept kicking and waving his arms in the water, and had a giant smile the whole time.

The big skill of the day was the first day of the underwater 'pass', where the baby would be swooped underwater by the instructor and then sent towards the parent (hooray for the daddy who was swimming with his baby!), who then scoops the baby up. The babies all did a wonderful job, though I think they were mainly confused or surprised rather than actually happy with the process.

Bringing in the harvest

In honor of Memorial Day, today was my, er, annual mowing of the lawn. It's not quite that bad, but it had definitely been a few seasons, leading to a running joke that we were going to have our harvest in May. At least I can at least partially blame it on the weather; they always say you're not supposed to mow a lawn that's wet, and when in the past few weeks have we had a rain break that lasted long enough to dry out our jungle of a lawn? The point was born out when the lawnmower occasionally stalled in thick patches of grass/moss/weeds, and I'm suspecting once things really do dry out back there that we'll have some nice patches of pre-cut hay sitting out there for Korby to graze on. (Fear not, he got an early start on the grass-eating season by finding a few little piles the lawnmower had spit out.)

On the plus side, the predicted rain for the day turned out to just be a short morning drizzle, so we had glorious weather for the lawn mowing and later for a barbecue with friends M & K. Meh brought out a blanket for Zachary to sit on the deck while I mowed and mowed and mowed (to the tune of what felt like several hundred pounds of grass clippings) and Meh weeded, and in general we got to reclaim a little bit of our backyard from the wilderness. Korby was happy to wander around the yard and even came to say hi to Zachary on the matt - I saw Korby sniffing him and wagging his tail, but when Meh came over to see how Zachary was doing, there was a bit of dirt on his face, so I think some dog licks may have occurred as well.

In the end we had more or less successfully reestablished our lawn; if not a pristine one, at least one where we could see our way across it. Along the way, I found several previously hidden Korby dog toys, a tennis ball, a basketball, and a soccer ball. Talk about hidden in plain sight.

If you're happy and you know it

Zachary's got the old adage reversed; after previously being startled or scared by applause, he now appears to love it when groups of people clap their hands. This was well-demonstrated at Meh's Balkan women's choir's performance (yikes, that was quite the string of possessive nouns) at Folklife this afternoon.

Today was actually a pretty packed day for the little man -- in the morning, we met up with friends L & R (at their cozy new house), headed off to brunch in the city, then onward to the Seattle Center for Folklife (where a bunch of friends came out to support Meh's group, hooray!), before wrapping things up with dinner with visiting LA friends C & R.

For those who don't live in the northwest, Folklife is a giant carnival-like weekend of folk music, dance, and arts and crafts. It takes over the entire Seattle Center, and has like 20 different stages, so you could really wander around all day and enjoy Zimbabwean music next to Celtic music next to a band that mixes Zimbabwean and Celtic music. (I kid you not, there are some pretty eclectic performers out there!) The music is all excellent; the crowds perhaps not so much. Particularly with the Seattle Center's layout and the food stalls all being stacked up on top of each other, it gets pretty claustrophobic in a hurry. The stroller acts somewhat like a cattle catcher as far as carving a path through the crowds, but it still gets pretty uncomfortable, and Zachary got unhappy when the stroller couldn't make quick enough progress, so I was eventually holding him while pushing the stroller.

Meh's group had a fabulous show, and many friends were there to cheer them on, which was wonderful. Zachary was happy through most of the show, and again, really got a giant smile on his face and laughed every time people applaued between pieces. Oh, and during pieces he kept finding women around us to smile at and make happy sounds towards - he's such a little flirt! If you'd like to hear the concert, check out the recording I made here. Interestingly, when we listened to it on the drive home, Zachary didn't have any reaction to the applause - maybe he really does need to see people clap their hands for him to be happy and to know it?

Swingers

Hm, Blogger's videos still look to be broken. So let's try Flickr's fancy new video support and see how it works. Here's that video I alluded to yesterday of Zachary enjoying himself at a Newton park. This kid was seriously happy in the swing!

Blue eyes, meet red-eye

Zachary's great summer travel adventures continued this past weekend, with a cross-country trip out to Boston. Well if we're getting specific, we were actually at Tufts' veterinary campus in North Grafton, our hotel in Westborough, and a few car trips into Newton, Boston, and Cambridge.

First things first - at some point in the past, we'd decided due to schedule constraints that the best way to get to Boston was to take an overnight flight. On the plus side, we were flying JetBlue, our new favorite airline -- at least when flying to Boston or New York (the only two direct places you can go from Seattle). There was an amazing fare to supplement the leather seats, lots of leg room (though still as always a bit crowded with a lap infant), 35 channels of live satellite video, ridiculous number of Sirius radio channels, and a free/nice variety of snacks (remember when airlines used to actually serve food?). On the minus side, the flight left after 11 pm and got in at 7:30 am local time, or 4:30 am back home.

Our plan to put Zachary to sleep until leaving for the airport backfired, with a rare early glimpse of summer leaving his room too warm for sleep - is it already time to start researching a second in-room air conditioner? So he was angry until we were with him, and then he was awake, happy, and talking to the fan that I'd brought into his room. He stayed awake the whole ride to the airport, through security, and was happily screeching at the gate while other passengers looked on with what I can imagine were wary expressions. On the plane he was talky on the ground (as were the flight crew on the PA system every time we thought he was going to settle down and fall asleep), but as soon as the plane took off and the lights went out, he pretty much conked out, and stayed asleep through most of the flight.

The trip itself was really nice -- Zachary got to spend some excellent quality time with bubbie, grandma (who flew into the airport just after us), Uncle Brian, and his great aunt, great uncle, and then-soon-to-be-DVM cousin once-removed (that's what my cousin is to him, yes?). It was very moving to see my cousin graduate in the same field that my dad had occupied for so many years, and from what sounds like a very challenging program. We'd also organized visits to several friends we hadn't seen in a while who live in the Boston area. The weather was for the most part decent, only really raining during graduation. And Zachary only had really bad moments on the drive to and from Boston on the day when his naps were thwarted - he did do so amazingly well!

Backing up to the morning that we arrived, after getting settled into the hotel and playing with family for a bit, we made our first visit to go see friends S & A (surprising S on his birthday) in Newton. Meh was loving the beautiful forests and super-cute New England architecture on the drive in. In addition to seeing S & A (and their two wonderful kids, one of whom is just a few months younger than Zachary), my brother had bussed in from New York, also to surprise S. After grabbing some tasty sandwiches from a local shop and catching up with S & A, we all headed over to a local park, where Zachary was introduced to his first actual swing. (He'd had a mechanical infant-rocking swing when he was younger, but never really liked being in it.) He loved it, as demonstrated by a great video we captured (Blogger's video uploads seem broken at the moment, so I'll post it later). Oh, and he also almost dozed off from the motion. We'll definitely have to find more swinging opportunities for our little swinging monkey man.

As previously mentioned, graduation was really nice - everyone was very well-spoken, the class co-presidents were certainly entertaining with the kind of harrowing tales that might extend slightly beyond the sensibilities of All Creatures Great and Small, and of course Meh and I looked for most unique/random undergraduate degree backgrounds among the doctoral candidates. (One person already had three degrees, a few had law degrees, there was one person from UW, and a randomly large number of U-Oregon folks?) Zachary slept through most of it, but woke up and made some excellently timed raspberries and squeals during the veterinarians' oath that had our family and folks sitting around us chuckling. Afterwards, we consolidated rental cars before heading into Boston for dinner. And here's where Zachary went downhill - on the way back to the hotel (not in my car), he was apparently laughing maniacally at nothing in particular. And on the way to the restaurant, he started crying hysterically, on the scale of how he used to be during all car rides. I think he was just completely overly tired out, but it was still a harrowing drive into the city.

Dinner was at the Union Oyster House, which has apparently been a restaurant since 1826, and was even a hundred or more years old then. Certainly can't argue with the "Ye olde" sign outside. The food was great, and we were seated in the "original" restaurant booths, which reminded me a bit of some of the older restaurants Meh and I have been to in London. Zachary slept through much of dinner, and was quietly monkey-like during the rest, never objecting to Cheerios or his appropriate new food for the day, tasty oyster crackers.

Our trip wrapped up on Monday with breakfast at our cousin's fabulous apartment, then a nice visit with one of Meh's friends (from the apparently recently discontinued Hillel JCSC program she was in when she first moved to Seattle) in Cambridge - we'd last seen A & D at our wedding, nearly five years ago! It was great to catch up, and we also got to take a nice stroll through Cambridge and around Hahvad Yahd, where they were packing up from their own graduation ceremonies the day before.

A quick stop at friend S's office to drop off their generously offered pack-and-play, and we were on to the airport. While waiting for our flight, Zachary took an interest in kind of sort of waddling around. Again, I think he may be thinking about skipping crawling entirely!

The Biggest Loser

There is a joke in my family that I am a loser. That is, that I lose stuff. Lots of stuff. Sometimes stuff that normal people would have a hard time losing. Some of the stuff I've lost:

Gold locket (twice: once in sandbox, found by teacher, once forever)

A 20" x 20" framed piece of art (left at the airport, later recovered)

Countless sweaters/sweatshirts/hats/earrings

My turquoise unicorn ring (gosh, I loved that ring...for the week or so I had it before losing it)

All of my mother's vintage Barbie clothing (well, I was only four at the time)

Last week I took off my wedding rings and placed them atop my folded pants on top of the toilet while I applied lotion to my Seattle-winter-scaly legs. Once finished, I carelessly grabbed the trousers, flinging both rings. I found the band on the floor just inside the bedroom, but my engagement ring was nowhere to be found. I crawled around the floor, looked under everything that had an under, and shook out the pants. I finally realized that there were only two places it could have gone: into the toilet bowl, or down the heating vent. I stuck my hand into the mercifully clean bowl and felt around, but it wasn't there. That left the vent.

I was on my belly with a eyeshadow mirror and flashlight, Zachary playing with toys nearby and whining "neh, neh, neh!" Finally, forehead to the floor tiles, I saw a glimmer, and called a vent cleaning place to see if they could help. They informed me that the machinery they used wouldn't retrieve a ring, and that I should try a clothes hanger coated with duct tape. "If that doesn't do it, someone will have to come in there and tear up the floor," they informed me. Sobbing and thinking of my beautiful,one-of-a-kind ring and our practically brand new bathroom floor, I called Scott, scared that he would be disappointed in me, to say the least. He once again proved his saintliness by calming me and promising to help get it out when he got home.

We tried more hangers (it took three taped together to get down to where the ring was), as well as the vacuum cleaner, with no luck. We were off to Boston on the red-eye that night, so I called people to come rip up the floor the day we got back.

This morning, I brought down the laundry. As I bent down to pick up a pair of pants, the ring was there on the floor!!! It must have slipped into the pocket of the original pair of pants, stayed put through the shaking, the wearing, the throwing of the pants into the laundry basket, and the trip downstairs, only to fall out just then. All I can say is nes gadol haya poh!

Only one mystery remains: what's down in the heating vent?

Zachary through the looking glass

Today was Zachary's 9-month doctor checkup. It's amazing to believe that he's now existed as long in the 'outside' world as he did when he was making these kinds of noises. The noises he makes now are more and more expressive - happy screeches and squeaks, 'guhs' and 'duhs' of happiness (or when spotting Korby), 'nuh-nuh-nuhs' when he's unhappy, and a fabulous giggle/laugh -- the last of which he surprised me with tonight as he talked himself to sleep with an apparently funny joke.

The stats from the doctor's visit:

• Weight: 18 lbs. 14.5 oz (25%)
• Height: 29" (75%)
• Head circumference: 45 cm

The doctor commented that from his measurements he's tall and lanky. Really? He seems to have plenty in the way of tummy and pulkes, but who are we to judge? :) Anyway, he completely shredded the paper on the exam table; he really liked the crinkly sound it was making. Everything else in the exam was looking great (ptu, ptu, salt over the shoulder) and he even recovered very quickly from getting his latest shots -- less than 10 seconds later he was already distracted out of crying by something else to play with, and he remained happy the rest of the day.

Meh's first mother's day

Not all of the milestones are restricted to Zachary - today, for instance, was Meh's very first mother's day! Zachary and I had descended on the mall yesterday (Meh was of course immediately suspicious) to pick up things that we'd honestly planned out ahead of time -- while Zachary loves walking around retail stores and seeing all of the fun colors, he isn't as thrilled with the standing relatively still that browsing entails. So he and I had mostly picked out things ahead of time for mommy - thank goodness for accurate and functional retail browsing online!

We met friend J (of J & S, not S & J) for lunch first, where all three guys enjoyed a meal together - Zachary had cheerios and yogurt, along with a side of tasty laminated menu, as is his preference. Then he and I were off for the gift pick-ups, where there were of course a few small glitches. A cute set of dessert plates to match the lovely tea set that mima had gotten her for her birthday was nowhere to be found, and we eventually ended up with the last ones in the store. We strolled around outside to get to the next store, and encountered some picketing women handing out pamphlets explaining that mother's day actually (at least in their view) originated as an anti-war movement, and suggesting that everyone join their crusade to end government oppression and human rights abuses. And here I thought it was just an innocent Hallmark-invented/driven holiday. *shrug*

Today friends S & J (not to be confused with J & S) invited us over for a lovely brunch, where they busted out with their impressively large pro camera and snapped phenomenal photos of Zachary, which you can see here. He was very happy and screechy (that's the explanation for all of the open-mouthed shots) while Meh and I enjoyed a variety of tasty breakfast treats created by S & J. When Meh headed off to work, Zachary and I hung out a bit longer, where he had his own lunch and we got to catch up more with S & J - hopefully not overstaying our welcome too much!

I've somehow mastered the art of carrying 2 hot dogs, 2 sodas, and Zachary (well, the last in the baby bjorn) at once, which came in handy when we got the opportunity to bring Meh a sophisticated mother's day dinner of, well, a Costco hot dog and soda. We then got to visit briefly with mommy before heading back home, the end of a busy weekend of good shopping, good food, and good friends!

This place is also a zoo

One good zoo trip deserves another; three days after our Florida zoo visit, Meh and Zachary met some other mommy-baby couples who are friends of ours, and they all headed over to our own local zoo today for a nice walk around. The giraffes in particular were out of their enclosure, and the babies were all fascinated by the one they were watching.

This was also Meh's first opportunity to try out our fancy new camera, which seems like a pleasure to operate - crisp pictures, a functional flash (our old one made everything look like a blown out ghost), and most particularly the fact that it *gasp* has no time limit on video recordings (which are higher resolution to boot). Zachary proved this point by talking through most of this excellent video:

Tofu in my bowl

Our visit to mima and papa has wrapped up and we're at the airport awaiting our long (but hopefully not as long as the way here!) flights back to Seattle. It's been a wonderful visit and Zachary has been such a trooper, but it will be good to sleep in our own beds tonight. Incidentally, today's new sound is "k", which Zachary keeps making in wild abandon any time he sees something interesting around the terminal.

Yesterday we took Zachary to the impressively rebuilt Palm Beach Zoo (it apparently took damage in recent hurricanes). A little weird to see such a pristine zoo, and all of these wood structures (don't they know that hurricanes will blow them back down again?), but you can't beat the setting, and the weather was fabulous. Of course, Zachary had to don his new sunglasses along with one of his not-yet-to-be-worn-in-Seattle short sleeve/short combinations. This was definitely not like most zoos I've seen, with lots of fun things for the kids to do and adventurous settings for the animals - a giant fountain spouting water for the kids to play in at the center of the zoo (Zachary again was hypnotized, he loves him some fountains!), a full Mayan temple replica, the kinds of lush rainforests that Seattle just can't emulate without the tropical weather, and a few strange choices as well, including a white alligator in a somewhat sad bayou-themed enclosure. (I think it's because they have to keep it out of the sun? But still, pretty isolated, and I know I'd be driven crazy listening 24/7 to the mardi gras music they had piped in there.) Zachary loved looking around at everything with his monkey eyes, and even took a rare nap in the stroller.

Yesterday was also papa's birthday! So for dinner, we all went to a yummy sushi/Thai restaurant we'd visited before. Zachary was very awake, sported his new sushi bib, and kept staring over at one of the staff and smiling (or maybe the glowing light on the espresso machine behind him?). Our waitress kept fawning over him, and she had the neat idea to bring him a bowl of small tofu cubes. We gave it a try, and he loved it -- hooray, another new food for the little man, and something we can even get him at our own favorite sushi places. We then hopped over to Cheesecake Factory for dessert - excellent choices all around by papa!

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!