Zachary's Magic Schoolbus (and Trike)

For Zachary's birthday, he received several new modes of transportation -- a large battery-powered schoolbus (an electric vehicle? Who knew children's toys would be so with the times!) and a neat and attractively primary-colored tricycle. The little man gave the bus a few spins last week. Here's a video:


And Saturday night, I finally assembled the trike. It came in a giant box, which of course the little man loved to use as another toy this morning. Assembly involved good use of allen wrenches, screwdrivers, and featured instructions in a dozen languages, and even a 'supplementary instruction for installation procedures' sheet. (Ouch to whoever missed that step in the original printouts.) He loves the trike, though he won't be able to reach the pedals for a little while yet.


Thanks to grandma and Aunt K for these, and to everyone else for all of his excellent and thoughtful birthday gifts!

Please do not touch glass

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

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

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

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

About face

I'd forgotten to mention a host of milestones Zachary has reached in the past few days:

• On the morning of his birthday, those two teeth we'd started seeing hints of two weeks ago poked through. They've been growing out very quickly since then, and he's now quite close to having a matching top and bottom set!
• One year marks the recommended time to turn those convertible baby carseats around -- so yesterday I made the flip in both of our cars. It was weird to drive and not have the easy view of him in the giant baby mirror we'd positioned over the back seat - now we've got to crane our heads to see down to the actual little man. Though he'd already had his first forward-driving experience last month, he was quite happy and talky to be driving facing forward -- Meh was concerned that with the new perspective on things he wouldn't be sleeping in the car anymore. But this afternoon he did indeed conk out on our way home from my office.
• He's continuing to be more curious and exploring everything around him. I got one of those giant fence things to put around our bookshelves, but he's still wandering into Korby's room, checking out things in the kitchen, showing an interest in outlets (thankfully all have plastic safety covers, though that makes them impossible for me to actually plug anything into!), and is starting to stand up alone for longer periods. He's also been trying to stand up in the tub, which is a little worrying - time to get one of those bath matts I think.

This morning was Zachary's one year check-up. His doctor was wonderful as always, and everything was looking very good with his motor skills and behavioral development. The vital stats:

Weight: 20 lbs 14 oz. (40th percentile)
Height: 29 1/2" (45th percentile)
Head circumference: 45.8 cm (40th percentile)

(The grandparents are likely simultaneously kvelling over his weight and worrying about the height going from 75th to 45th percentile. Remember, baby Scott was consistently off the bottom of the chart. And again, childhood height has no correspondence to adult height. Well, except in my case I guess.)

We chatted with the doc about table foods, and she agreed that he's ready for most everything that we eat. Oh, and he can start having cow's milk -- so he and I went to the store and got some tasty whole milk, which he seemed as happy to drink as formula for his afternoon snack today. He got four shots, including the long-awaited make-up for the one everyone had a shortage of six and three months ago. As with before, the sadness after the shots went away quite quickly - he's such a good little man!

How does "Happy Birthday" sound on a zither?

It's nearly inconceivable that Zachary is already a year old - happy first birthday, Zachary! I'm so glad that I got back in time for it -- when he woke up and came into bed with us, we sang him happy birthday and he gave us a big smile, before climbing all over me and pulling at my face. Then it was present time. He'd received cute cards and a variety of gifts (toys, blocks, books, clothes, a giant puppet theater, a tricycle, and much more) from friends and family over the past few days - thank you so much to everyone for their generosity and for helping us celebrate his birthday!

I'd brought him his first proper Paddington Bear from Hamleys (don't worry, I selected it after that conference call), along with a bobby (British policeman) rubber ducky and a battery-powered floating turtle that sprays water out of his shell. Zachary was somewhat interested in the last two when we used them for baffy time, though I think Meh and I enjoy the spraying turtle more than he does. Meh got him special baby crayons, a pirate doll, and three excellent books (including a replacement for the ABC's book we loved but had lost months before). And of course Meh brought her mad skills to bear to properly celebrate his birthday.

Meh makes amazing cakes. (Ask her to read that sentence aloud for proper 'Meh' emphasis.) And pies. And cupcakes. Really, if it's dessert, and she makes it, it's going to rock. But she truly outdid herself for Zachary's birthday. After brainstorming a variety of themes over months, she struck on the brilliant idea to create an alphabet block cake with a "1", a "Z", and objects that begin with the letter Z. For those who aren't yet zither enthusiasts, enjoy the Wikipedia entry, though my favorite was the amazing zebra. Of course the cake also matched the party's theme colors of brown (chocolate cake), white, and blue (fondant) -- friend J approved emphatically, as it was close to her own wedding colors.

A principal requirement of the first birthday is the first exposure to serious amounts of refined sugar, and Zachary didn't disappoint, with a series of faces and grabbed fistfuls of cupcake and frosting to keep everyone entertained. Note also his birthday hat and the clearly-designed-for-one-occasion '1st Birthday Boy' bib.

Lon-done

Here I am, trip wrapped up, waiting for my flight in the Holideck. No, really. It appears that a bunch of airline business lounges just banded together to make a single massive 3-floor lounge. There was no signage specifically for my airline, so I was wandering the terminal shops for a bit first - feeling a bit dumb for walking up and down Regent Street today shopping at the same stores that are right here in the airport. Granted, even 'duty free', I'm sure the airport versions are pretty marked up, but that's still a few extra hours, streets, and tube rides that I was carrying everything around.

Incidentally, that earlier central London shopping trip led to a pretty funny scenario - I was walking out of Fortnum and Mason after purchasing Meh's favourite chocolates and our favourite teas (you simply must add the 'u' when talking about proper British tea), and my phone started ringing. The caller ID showed a Seattle area code, and I figured it was someone from home who I could just call back when I got back to the US, where it wouldn't be $1/minute. Then again, it was 11 am at the time, so 3 am at home - more likely a coworker also in the UK. Whoops, yup, a question had come up at a meeting, and they were wondering if I could do a conference call. So a few minutes later, I took the call at the most unlikely location: on the third floor of Hamleys (London’s answer to FAO Schwartz) toy store in Regent Street. Nothing like discussing technical audio topics while winding through displays of stuffed animals, dodging silly magic-trick-performing employees, and checking out an impressive life-size Lego Indy display.

The conference went very well - we ended up having more than four hundred people attend! As one final challenge thrown my way, I was asked on the morning of the event if I could introduce the keynote speaker. So I got to take that treacherous two-step walk up onto the stage, with giant video screens behind me projecting, um, me, welcome everyone to the event, and introduce the speaker. It seemed to go okay, though I felt a little odd that everyone was welcomed to the conference by someone they didn't see again throughout the day unless they happened to attend the audio talks.

Well, my flight will be boarding soon, so time to wrap this up. Seattle may still be twelve hours off, but very much looking forward to being back with my wife and son later tonight, and celebrating Zachary's first birthday tomorrow!

Mind the (5 day) gap

It's been a whirlwind trip to London - my first 'long haul' flight away from the little man has occurred right before his first birthday, and I miss seeing, hearing, holding, and playing with Zachary. And I miss his mommy very much as well, and can't even imagine how she continues to be so amazing and incredible with Zachary while daddy is across the pond. I haven't exactly 'missed' the weather, as it pretty much came with - overcast, 60s, and frequent showers. (Of course, last week it was apparently 'glorious', and this week it looks like it's nice in Seattle, so just poor timing on my part.) Glad I brought an umbrella, especially since I forgot my coat. On the plus side, I have gotten to see two other youngster friends -- or their parents at least; I keep visiting in the evenings, and the kids are already asleep (hopefully for the night).

The night I arrived, I fought the urge to go to sleep at 5 pm, and wandered out of central London to visit for dinner with friends N & S (and their young sons J & R). It was so good to catch up with them (as well as grabbing and enjoying a tasty kosher burger). Son J (not yet 3), allegedly asleep, even heard me come in and wanted me to come say hello. His room was totally dark, and by the time I got up the stairs, he was mumbling that he just wanted to be back asleep. Ah well, good to almost see him. Baby R (now 3 months old) slept through the whole time I was there, so we'll have to just keep looking out for posted pictures for the time being.

The next day I was off to Brighton for work, and then planned to meet up with friends T and B and their son T (just days older than Zachary; Meh and then I spent a lot of time with T and T in our parent/baby class and subsequent playdates - a picture of the two boys together can be found at end of this blog post). My meetings ran long, and the trains and taxi took a little while, so I ended up arriving just after T's bedtime and didn't get to see him. But his mom (mum?) T and I had a lovely dinner together, I fawned over their amazing English home (complete with greenhouse-like dining area and a large properly-maintained garden of course), and we exchanged pictures, videos, and tales of the two boys. She also had me write little notes in the gifts we'd sent T for his birthday this past week, two of our favorite books. Oh, and I got to see another of his birthday gifts, a customized (customised? Sorry, I'll stop now) book about T (with cute cutouts of a photo of his face placed on each of the illustrations), and one page (as well as the back cover) talk about him playing with his best friend Zachary. Awwww! It actually says Zachery (so begin the challenges of misspelled first and last names for the little man), but it was so super cute and fun to see.

Today was setup for my conference. Everything is mostly looking to be in good shape; hoping that things go well - for the first time I'm actually in charge of all content coordination, not just my own track, so it's been a little more interesting gathering and tracking all 43 talks and 26 speakers. But hopefully the ~350 people who come tomorrow will get a lot out of the presentations and discussions! The conference is at Chelsea Football Club, so we got to walk down towards the pitch and check things out in between setup. I still say organizing a friendly (e.g. a soccer/football match) for the attendees would be a blast, though I'm not sure the club would agree. :) After set up, I took the speakers out to dinner at one of Meh and my favourite London restaurants. (As I understand it, friends M & K took a cooking class at this same restaurant's "home office" in Thailand during their vacation there.) It was yummy, and very nice to be able to celebrate everything being wrapped up and hopefully ready for tomorrow.

Block buster

Ack, I keep getting behind on posting half-finished entries. Today is the day I promise to finally post one on the day I start it!

That whole milestone with standing up in bed appears to have triggered another milestone - Zachary is finally kind of sort of starting to crawl. We've mentioned before how he was able to scoot backwards (particularly effectively in the bathtub). But now he's starting to figure out forward movement. He only uses one leg at the moment - insert lurching humor here. The speed will come soon enough (uh-oh, just in time for wedding flights at the end of August?), but for now he's just so cute to watch moving around.


Carpet edges are among his favorite toys. And speaking of toys, one of Zachary's early birthday presents from Uncle Brian and Aunt Jen was a large box of tactilely satisfying building blocks. Again, the box itself is a bonus toy - he loves pushing it around and turning it over, even when completely full of blocks that easily weigh 5-10 pounds. I've also noticed he's fascinated with the little push in tab that the box uses to keep closed - I think he'll be figuring out how to open it soon enough. He does play with the actual blocks as well, picking them up, holding them, dropping them, and occasionally trying to eat one. But the funniest thing for me is watching his reaction to mommy and daddy trying to build anything with the blocks. If it gets to be anything more than about two blocks tall, his hands swing in to knock it down.

I tried an experiment yesterday to see if he would care if I built something horizontally, just flat on the floor. Yup, the hands still came out and knocked the blocks in all directions. There's no real smile or laugh at this action yet, but he's definitely watching what mommy and daddy do with his toys before expressing his own artistic vision of organized chaos.

One night stand

Incidentally, last weekend's hiking and company picnic pics are now posted - thanks again to J and S for a wonderful time!

Early Friday morning, Zachary was lying in bed with us - he often comes in and we let him make super-cute happy noises and play with the sheets for a bit before we're fully awake (particularly as this is generally at around 5:30 in the morning). Then, he was suddenly sitting up, and then climbing over daddy. Meh announced that this definitely meant it was time to lower his mattress.

We had two competing fears with these adjustable baby mattress frames. One: now that he was sitting up from a lying down position, he'd be able to pull himself up with the mattress in its top position, vault out of the bed, and start doing cartwheels around the room. Two: conversely, if we adjusted the mattress too low, we're too short to reach all the way over and into the crib, and would have to toss him over the crib frame. So we started with a single notch lower (I think his bed has three steps). Okay, I'll admit, there was a third fear -- that I'd have to disassemble the entire crib to get access to the mattress frame again to lower it. Almost, but through a variety of arm contortions, I managed to make it happen with the crib intact.

We apparently made this switch not a moment too soon - last night, Zachary started crying about an hour after going to sleep. This in itself is really unusual; he's usually down for the night when he passes out. But he was getting more and more angry and, well, it actually sounded loud. So I went into the room after a few minutes to investigate, and lo and behold, he was standing in his bed with his arms holding onto the front of the crib, bawling and looking at me. It was the saddest (but very adorable) image and milestone for the little man. We'd actually read about this kind of thing in several of our baby books - how they sometimes figure out how to stand and then don't know how to (or are too hysterical to) sit/lay back down. So I soothed him for a few minutes, and then laid him back down. A few minutes later, he was crying and back up again when Meh checked on him. We consulted several friends who had gone through similar situations, but the consensus seemed to be that he needed to figure it out for himself. Sure enough, some time later (somewhat of an eternity for us), his room was quiet. I snuck in to check and he was sleeping on his tummy with his blankets in a pile around him. I rearranged them and snuck back out - he slept through the rest of the night. In the morning, Meh reported that he was sitting up in his bed talking to himself when she went him to get him.

We're hoping that the standing-and-crying-in-bed was a rare occurrence; tonight he went to bed very cozily for me, and has stayed asleep so far.

Ferry Tale IV: A New Hope

Yesterday it was back to Port Orchard for one more Balkan women's choir recording session. Zachary slept through most of the ferry ride and even a drive over to a coffee shop with mommy once on the peninsula. We dropped Meh off at the session, and the two of us headed back up to the downtown area. What a difference a few months makes (to the town, not just the little man); this is clearly a summer town (even if the weather disagreed, in the lower 60s and overcast/rainy much of the morning) -- the streets were packed with cars and pedestrian traffic, the docks were full of moored boats, and there was a cute farmers market/fair thing going on to keep us entertained. We saw flowers, fresh fruits and veggies, someone was selling dried jerkies of various flavors, and cute arts and crafts.

Eventually the little man got hungry, so we found a picnic bench and enjoyed lunch together - cereal, fruits (fresh and dried), some pita, and of course cheese. He was happy and active, and enjoyed watching all of the activity from his stroller. He also took a sippy cup of water and successfully held it and drank from it as we walked around the fair a bit more. Next we stopped off at the town's bakery to catch up with his little friend R, the son of the two owners of the bakery. Again, such a difference - during the off-season, it was always just the two owners, R's grandmother, and maybe one other staff member. This time, we didn't even see R's parents -- I finally spotted his dad on the way out, intently working in the back on some pretty impressive-looking wedding cake designs. But we did visit with R and his grandma, and the two boys vaguely showed interest in each other in between climbing and cruising around the bakery's tables and chairs.

We still had some free time before Meh's recording session was due to wrap up, so the two of us went to check out a county park that we'd seen signs for on previous visits to the city. Little man was making the whimpering I'm-close-to-asleep sound, so I put him in the ergo and walked around down to the lake. The weather had cleared and we had beautiful views of the beach, so we hung out for about an hour.

Back at the recording facility, we played outside in a giant grass lawn. He was obsessively grabbing at and pulling up the grass, then focusing in on a single blade and trying to grab it. When I and the engineer's wife scattered grass on our laps, he brushed it all off. Oh, and we found a pine cone, which he picked up and almost put in his mouth before switching to more standard swinging and batting of it. We headed back home on the ferry, where he was active and smiley the entire trip. And we finally caught the faces that he makes when you first pull out the camera and point it at him - squinting smiles, upturned chin, and all! Such a good little man.

Better get used to those bars, kid

Zachary's cruising has led him to the gates that we've used to keep Korby in the kitchen. (Yup, soon enough it looks like they'll be serving their named purpose as 'child' gates.) Here's a video Meh grabbed today:


It was hard being away from Zachary and Meh all day long for the past two days - got to see Zachary first thing in the morning, but he was asleep by the time I got home. The conference did get us to use one of the wonderful services my company offers - pre-screened and available-on-demand backup child care service (our nanny's family was out of town on vacation). Meh said the nanny was really nice, and Zachary seemed to do great with her (even if he slept through half the time). The conference went well too (thanks in no small part to his set-up assistance on Monday), but it was nice to be able to get home at a reasonable time this evening in time for dinner with Zachary and Meh.

Zachary appears to possibly have two new top teeth in the making, at least according to Meh's inspections. I myself haven't been able to see them, but we recall how his bottom teeth appeared ready to come through for months before they finally arrived. As with before, he does seem to be teething at times, and still refuses cold foods that might otherwise help those poor gums. On the plus side, the diet continues to expand - starches have entered the mix, with pita, pasta (he prefers cheese-filled ravioli to plain rotini if you're wondering), and even occasionally a quesadilla.

Looking forward to a nice weekend with the family. Tomorrow Meh's group heads back out to Port Orchard for another recording session, so Zachary and I will tag along on the ferry and continue to explore the peninsula. We're looking forward to visiting our "friends" at the bakery and seeing how they and their son R are doing.

Take your son to conference set-up day

My company actually had its annual bring-your-child-to-work day recently; thankfully my team has continued to be understanding and supportive of Zachary celebrating this event with me most every Monday!

This afternoon was set-up/rehearsal for the conference my group is putting on tomorrow and Wednesday for more than 1200 game developers. It's also a Monday, so Zachary came along with me. He certainly makes for a different kind of speaker rehearsal experience! We were stopped at the convention center entrance by staff who had to 'clear him' with the event coordinators on my team, since the conference wasn't supposed to have any children in attendance - I wasn't sure if I should be amused or annoyed. Regardless, a one-minute walkie talkie conversation later, Zachary and I were heading into our conference room. He happily played on the floor while I made sure my talk content looked okay. A few other speakers came in to check on their talks and demos, and here he started getting a little more vocal. It was afternoon nap time (which he's been fighting mightily the last few weeks), so we went and took a bit of a stroll while folks continued their rehearsals. Alas, no sleep was to be had, though the walk did keep him fairly amused, as did the fawning staff from our event team. We came back to our presentation room a little while later, where he had a tasty dinner of fruits, cheese, pita, cheerios, and puffs while other speakers practiced their talks. After dinner, he played for a bit on the floor, not bothered in the least by a game demonstration on the projector behind him with growling monsters, gunshots, and swordfights. He even occasionally looked backwards and up at the towering screen and smiled at it. Everything went smoothly, and we were able to get home not too long after his usual bedtime, where he had a nice baffy time and went to bed after a refreshing bottle. I think it will be bedtime for me too after this post, as I've got two very full conference days coming up!

Go west, young man

It was only a matter of time - Zachary now looks to be mastering the skill of cruising to the left, becoming fully bidirectional (and of course pretty omnidirectional when he's got his cart to walk around with).

We've had a jam-packed weekend so far, and it's just half over! Yesterday, after our morning family jog, Zachary and I went hiking with friends J & S in the morning. As with last time, the trail was pretty consistently uphill, and this one rated a whole three stars in the trail guide, but it definitely helped to be wearing Zachary on my back. We happened to choose a state park that was having a "Trailfest" event of some sort; J even got solicited by a hiker heading the other direction with a pamphlet and such. Ironically, despite the apparent event (we never did investigate) and fairly packed parking lot, we had a pretty quiet hike up the ridge. The uphill-ness was absolutely worth it, as we were greeted with an incredible view from the ledge at the top, just over an hour later. (I left the camera in the car, but will post pictures when I get them from J.)

After having to wake him up to start the hike, Zachary was making his nearly asleep noises most of the journey uphill, but stayed awake the whole time. At the top, he was definitely ready to be out of the wrap and checking things out. We all had a snack (he enjoyed a bottle while looking down on Rattlesnake Lake), and changed him (almost losing the diaper bag over the edge of the ridge!) before hiking back down. From there, it was a short drive onward to our second stop, the Microsoft Company Picnic, an astoundingly large annual mob scene (it's so big that they've broken it out into 3 separate dates, and it was still at capacity) highlighted by enormous amounts of food (perhaps 30 food stands with different options - including this year separate vegan, halal, and kosher options), multiple giant carts full of sodas, a giant volleyball tournament, and lots of other picnic/fair-oriented activities (live bands, other entertainers, races, sports, etc.).

The last time Meh and I had attended, we'd commented that it would be a lot more fun to be there with kids. And Zachary had a blast, looking all around, kicking happily in his stroller, and enjoying all of the attention from grownups and kids around us. He even got his first party bracelet -- they wisely require all kids to wear one with parent contact information, even if they're, um, unlikely to wander very far at the moment like the little man. Anyway, we walked through the farm and headed to the food area, where the four of us had a nice lunch together (he enjoyed some pita in addition to cherries, grapes, cheerios, and some pasta that he still only shows mild interest in; I had a very tasty tuna sandwich and strawberry shortcake) and walked around a bit before parting ways so Zachary and I could head back out to meet up with mommy at her afternoon break.

We had a nice visit at mommy's work (Zachary and I showed up a bit early, so we read a short board book together), headed home, and it was already just about dinner time. A meal, some brief playtime (including his first look at his exciting new wood blocks from Uncle B and Aunt J - thank you guys!), bath time, and bed time. A very full day!

Eine Kleine Zachmusik

If I had a nickel for every time someone has said that with parents like us, Zachary's bound to have music interests... Then again, he definitely does love it when we sing, when he listens to his favorite music, when he plays his little miniature piano, and in the past he's even happily banged on the piano when I put him on my lap in front of it. But today was a first - a spontaneous piano performance. I caught the second movement here:


Mozart only showed interest at age three? Bah!

Incidentally, another milestone to report - yesterday, Meh and the little man came and met me for lunch. Meh ordered a turkey sandwich, and gave Zachary a little bit of the turkey. He grabbed and ate several bits, seeming to enjoy it. (He even appeared to prefer it to a proffered french fry.) Not nearly as much as he enjoyed the super cool foldable car children's menu they have at this restaurant (he practically banged it back into a flat piece of paper by the end of the meal), but it's a start to his life as an omnivore.

Spaghetti-O's?

I wasn't 10 minutes into my morning commute when Meh called me on the cell phone this morning. Law-abiding citizen that I am, as I didn't have my pseudo-hands-free headset plugged in, I waited for a red light, got wired up, and called her back. Meh had been saying a happy "Uh-oh!" to Zachary when he repeatedly dropped his sippy cup on the floor after breakfast. (This is often one of his favorite ways to signify mealtime is over - he grabs the cup, holds it over the side of the high chair, releases it, and has a big smile on his face as he watches for us to react to the noise.) And for the first time, he responded to the "Uh-oh!" in kind! Well, sort of:

Meh apparently spent much of the rest of the morning trying to get him to repeat the feat - he didn't do it for me when I called back. And when I checked my voicemail, there was about a minute of Meh, without introduction or explanation, saying 'Uh oh!' followed by silence from the little man.

(For those of you who don't associate "Uh-oh!" and Spaghetti-O's, here's more than you ever wanted to know about the canned pasta-like product.)

Round, round, get around

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

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

A few child-proofing highlights so far:

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

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

Into the wood

Unbelieveable as it seems, today is already our fifth anniversary!

Unlike last year, with its improbable 4th anniversary gift tradition of fruit, flowers, and appliances (?!), the fifth anniversary has a more standard and gift-accessible "wood" theme. Books are indeed made of wood, so I was pretty well covered with gifts for Meh. (Of course, Zachary enjoyed his gift as well - the wrapping paper.)

We had a jam-packed day of activities, and it was just so nice to spend some quality time as a family (and of course even nicer that the little man was happy throughout most of the day). After the morning walk/jog (Meh has been adding jogging to our routine so gradually that I'm actually almost able to deal with it without whining), we all came home and had a nice breakfast - Zachary had a variety of fruits and yogurt, and we had tasty Meh-made crepes. Then Zachary took his nap, and that sounded so nice that we both joined him for a doze. Refreshed, we all went out for lunch/brunch at one of our favorite restaurants, then ran errands at the local outdoor mall. The weather was fabulous, so we walked all over the mall while Zachary took his afternoon nap. I picked up new running shoes, where I was doubly amused that I had to choose from women's styles (not that there's much difference; the smallest guy size was just slightly too big for my feet), and that the cushy ones that I chose were branded "Nimbus", which immediately made me think of Harry Potter. (I was so unimpressed that both Meh and the salesperson at the shoe store were looking blankly at me; the Nimbus 2000? Fast brooms? Anyone?)

In the evening, friends L & R had graciously offered to babysit, and arrived in time to watch Zachary's continuing adventures in backwards bathtub scooting. We headed off to a nice quiet dinner together. Quiet is perhaps an understatement; for the second time that we'd been at this place, it was completely empty when we arrived (and we felt sheepish mentioning that we had a reservation when we walked in, but why would you pass up those OpenTable dining points?). My only guess is that since it's attached to a lodge/resort/spa, maybe Sunday nights are quiet with lodge guests departing? Still, the food was phenomenal as always, and the setting was great - outdoor on their patio, with a nice fountain, grape vines winding overhead, and a little vegetable patch up against The Herbfarm (where we had an incredible meal almost a year ago).

The restaurant did start to fill up slightly (e.g. one couple sat at one other patio table) throughout the evening, so maybe we're just earlybirds. Speaking of birds, there were plenty of fauna around to keep us entertained between the scrumptious courses -- some tiny birds were taking baths in the large fountain/pool next to us, a few eagles or hawks flew overhead, and a friendly neighborhood hare hopped into the patio's strawberry patch halfway through dinner. We also shared a bottle of a more recent vintage of our wedding wine (we've actually still got a few bottles left at home, though as a white wine, they're probably not aging particularly well at this point - like we'd know, connoisseurs that we are :). Afterwards, we strolled through the Herbfarm's gardens, looking at all of the plants and flowers, visiting our friends the truffle-sniffing pigs-in-training, and also seeing two tiny baby bunnies hopping around the grounds. It was a wonderful evening to complete our first five years together -- now here's to eighty more!

Please insert coin

"Will cruise for food" could be Zachary's new motto. After watching Zachary circle our living room ottoman repeatedly, only to stop as soon as she ran for the camera, Meh stumbled onto the idea to use food as an assistive device. A small pile of his favorite crunchy stars didn't do the trick (though as I'll get to in a moment, it may have just been the wrong direction for him to reach), but strategically placing a few individual stars around the circumference of the ottoman got him moving:

Does this video remind anyone else of Pac Man? Granted, no ghosts or power pellets yet, though perhaps Meh will make the game more interesting now that he's mastered the basics?

Incidentally, like the predictable Pac Man ghosts, Zachary has apparently only mastered cruising in one rotational direction: counterclockwise. He confirmed this today for Meh, when at the shopping mall, he made multiple orbits of a boat-shaped-thing in the play area, but again only in the counterclockwise direction.

Take a hike

Friends J and S had invited us to go hiking this weekend. While Meh unfortunately had to work, Zachary and I elected to go enjoy a morning stroll (well, a second morning stroll - the three of us still did our traditional family walk) and then meet mommy in the afternoon.

New friends D and S (who we met at the fourth of July picnic) joined us as well, and the five of us set off on the fairly short drive to Twin Falls. Stroll is perhaps a slightly misleading term here. The hike was rated a 2 (out of 5) in our travel guide, and the above website calls it:

an ideal hike for small children, novice hikers, or anyone wishing for an easy low elevation walk in the woods at any time of year

So either I'm way more out of shape than I'd thought, the trail has been dramatically altered since the last printed updates, or the presence of a 20-pound load on my front (and a backpack in the back that didn't quite balance this) added an unforseen difficulty modifier. Thankfully, J and D both offered to help, and Zachary was mostly happy as his personal pack mule changed from me to J. Zachary spent most of the hike alternating between staring up at the various trees, and (once J was carrying him) swinging back around to make sure I was still there as well.

The trail was quite nice - mostly well maintained if nearly always uphill. I think the main source of confusion with the rating was that the guides were estimating the hike to a bridge over the namesake waterfalls. We reached that bridge, but the trail obviously continued, so we kept going, figuring there were even more vistas further along. While the views were nice, we eventually ended up parallel to the interstate and approaching large electric towers (while continuing to ascend) - and the path had narrowed and dwindled to a pretty narrow grade, so we eventually headed back down after what turned out to be a roughly 2 hour round-trip hike.

The weather was pleasant and just slightly overcast, though that certainly helped keep us cool on the hike. The walk was always within sight/sound of the river, which Zachary of course loved as he does all "water features". While we had a fairly quiet hike up, the crowds started arriving on our way back down, and it was amazing to see so many babies and young children - most of whom were in those fancy metal-framed backpack things. If we continue hiking with any frequency, that might be a good addition to consider -- though the carrier we currently use lets you put the baby on your back as well (if you trust yourself to gradually jiggle the carrier around 180 degrees; I don't have that much confidence yet).

After the hike, Zachary enjoyed his lunch in the trunk of the car (hey, it's a nice large flat surface - and yes, it's a hatchback) while everyone watched his cuteness gobble up sweet potatoes, crunchy star-shaped cereal, and raisins. All in all, a wonderful day out with friends in the beautiful scenery of the Pacific northwest!

Blogaversary

Hard to believe it was already one year ago today that we started this blog. Oh, how young and naïve we were back then, speculating about then-Ziggy's birth date, gender, name, room color... Not to suggest we're any less clueless now, but it's always easy to look back and self-criticize. :)

Time seems to do funny things when you have a baby. For us, the first few months alternated between sleep-deprived blur (I can barely even remember when Zachary was up four or more times a night, though I'm sure Meh's memory is unfortunately a bit clearer), crazy activity (building/assembling/organizing his room), and figuring out what this new little person truly needed and wanted (items not making the list: maya wrap, that snuggle nest thing, pacifiers, and I'm sure a few other items). But since then, the time has flown enormously fast - I can't believe he's already almost 11 months old!

One of Zachary's fun birth gifts was a picture frame with mattes to place photos of him at birth, each month, and then a large picture in the middle for one year. It was bugging me that we'd kind of run out of steam at four months, so yesterday I finally researched, resized, and printed out photos for months five through ten. Looking at these last six months' pictures, Meh and I agreed that we can't actually tell a significant change in his features - nothing like the change in the first month or two certainly. Incidentally, that was one super-cute contact sheet, with adorable pictures varying from smiles to finger in mouth to raspberrying. I was particularly pleased with the sunglasses photo, which happens to be angled so it looks like he's looking at the forthcoming 1-year center photo, Brady Bunch style.

Speaking of time and the circle of life and all that, today was the bris for our friends' newborn son. (Mazel tov to D & D!) Meh made some amazing cupcakes -- vanilla with chocolate frosting. I was going to make my always-demanded challah. However, the best laid plans... Checking the first pair of a double batch in the oven, they simply didn't seem to be cooking. I finally figured out that the oven had died, right in the middle of baking them, and wouldn't heat back up, leaving me with two and a half loaves of raw challah and two par-baked challahs. I put the half-loaf (a mini-loaf, given to D & D to eat upstairs while watching over baby B's recovery) in my toaster oven, and called a few neighbors. Thankfully our next-door neighbors have young children as well and were up early - they invited us to use their oven, Meh shuttled the dough over, and all of the loaves were successfully cooked and delivered to the bris straight from the oven. Well, except the one I gave to our neighbors in emphatic thanks for, um, bringing home the bread. :)

At the bris, we saw a full range of young children from 0 to about 3 years of age. And bizarrely, they were all boys (I think there were about eight in all?). One in particular is just a month or two older than Zachary and was walking/toddling around the family room. I can definitely see how Zachary's movements could turn into that at some point (I won't say "soon" because that would be pressure/setting expectations, and he'll walk/talk/pick a vocation when he's good and ready to), though we're in no rush to have to child proof everything!

Yesterday, Zachary discovered a new game - he was cruising around our ottoman, and grabbed my toe. It tickled, so I chuckled. He thought this was the funniest thing ever, so we had an ongoing game for a good 10 minutes, which went something like this:

What's your sleep comfort number?

Today was Zachary's first fourth of July (well, duh, so far every day is his first instance of that day - give it another month or so though...). We didn't make it to fireworks (with the late Seattle summer sunsets, fireworks don't start until after 10 pm; and our pyromaniacal neighbors often are detonating [no exaggeration] window-shaking fireworks late into the night - here's hoping they don't bother Zachary too much!), but we did meet up with friends J & S, A & B, and met a few new friends at a waterfront picnic for a few hours. Zachary did great, happily playing with his toys, telling everyone "da da", giving out big smiles like they were sparklers, and generally people watching. He gets very focused in one direction, but it's sometimes hard to tell just what he's actually looking at - this time with people frequently walking by (and his head following them), the subjects of his interest became a little more obvious.

Zachary reached another milestone last night -- in preparation for our ever escalating washload size/frequency, I pulled his fitted sheet off his crib mattress, and happened to glance at the icons on the mattress itself. I'd completely forgotten that we'd gotten a 'convertible' -- that is a mattress that's super-firm on one side for infants, and more like a regular coil mattress on the other side for the slightly older baby. The magic weight for the flip is 20 pounds. Meh had a hunch, and we did a quick weighing on our scale and Zachary looks to be just about 20 pounds. So the mattress was flipped, and Zachary took his first step toward the world of posturpedic comfort. Or something.

While not the first time, we also moved Zachary out of his tub-within-the-tub and into the bathtub proper. He loves being totally surrounded by the water, and kicks and splashes enthusiastically, generally getting his would-be washers as soaked as he is. Still, it's hilarious for all of us to see all of that kicking generate some backwards momentum that sends him scooting across the tub. I know at some point we'll have to invest in a bath mat, but for now this is just far to entertaining for Zachary -- and certainly for us as well.

Hey big smiler

Zachary has always responded to seeing and recognizing our faces (yes, usually in a positive way). But now he's gone one further - Meh was smiling at him and he started smiling back, and she gave him a big grin, and he imitated (exaggerated? Meh can't be sure her face gets quite this dramatic...) it in a super cute manner:

In other news, sweet potato is now back on top in the food preferences race. Meh chopped it into cubes rather than mashing it, since he's been developing that aforementioned head-shaking rejection of spoon-fed foods. And he grabbed it and loves it as much as ever. Even with cheerios, cheese, or blueberries on the tray, the sweet potato generally emerges as champion. On the other hand, the lentils, broccoli, and green beans still face a serious uphill battle. More on Zachary's culinary explorations to come, I'm sure.

Paper toys

We've finally found a good use for all of the junk mail we receive -- give it to Zachary. Just place him in the middle of a pile, and he's entertained for hours by newspapers, print ads, and credit card solicitations. At last there's an intermediate step between the mailbox and the recycling bin. (Though on a side rant, how many times can a company we already are monopolistically forced to use for phone service keep soliciting us to pick up their slow-as-molasses data service? It's seriously a nearly daily occurrence.)

A friend sent Zachary an early birthday present of some excellent super-hero themed dinnerware today (no, that certainly doesn't count as junk mail!), and Meh watched him happily play with (and in) the large cardboard box that it came in for much of this afternoon. He really does love his paper goods. Thanks so much to S for the plate, cup, bowl, and "bonus gift" (aka shipping box)!

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish for Breakfast

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

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

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

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

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

He shakes off the sign...

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

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

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

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

Walk this way

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

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

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

In-flight entertainment

I mentioned Zachary's self-entertainment with the in-flight food menu on our trip to Mackinac, but I forgot to mention we'd grabbed video of it, along with another non-toy he decided was a fascinating object to play with.

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!