Heavy Drinker

Particularly with the continuing heat (though thankfully we've backed down a bit from the crazy 105 degrees from earlier this week), we've been focusing on Zachary getting his liquids. Related to the drinking came a breakthrough earlier this week - he signed for milk (as he often does; I think he'd try to subsist on milk alone if we let him), and when Meh asked him if he wanted milk, he said "mih!". It's been repeated more and more consistently since then.

Yesterday, Zachary and I had lunch with friends J & S at their house. With the increasing heat (and his newfound skill verbally communicating a desire for milk), he's been an even more selective eater (though I did watch him eat three kernels of corn the other day), and requests milk more often. Thankfully today he seemed more comfortable, and both ate more and drink more juice ("juice" generally meaning water with a splash of juice).
After lunch, we played outside under J & S's deck, which Zachary decided was the perfect place for spinning. He's really goofy-looking when he spins around, because he locks his eyes opposite the direction of the spin for some reason, which I'd think likely makes him even dizzier. He did encourage J to spin along with him, and then laughed and watched.

Beyond 'milk', other sounds are starting to come into the mix as well - "dada" occasionally relating to me (though typically when I ask him who I am, I'm still "mama"), more "yeah" and "go", and my new favorite would have to be the seemingly random syllables he'll throw at an animal when he doesn't know what sound it's supposed to make. One of our favorite games lately is for him to complete my sentence - I'll say "uhhhb...", and then he'll happily reply "baka-waka". The extended "wah-baka-waka" remains one of his favorites, and he even developed a joke around it yesterday:

Catch Meh if You Can

Meh surprised me last month with tickets to see a new musical previewing in Seattle before it heads for Broadway. The show was last night, and we had such a fun date night! We started with dinner at a tasty tapas place we'd never been to, and lucked out when we discovered that their valet parking was both free and time-unlimited. Then we strolled the few blocks over to the theater, where they had costumed flight attendants out front handing out bags of peanuts - silly!

Before the musical began, the artistic director (who of course has a blog) came out and explained what a preview entails, that the show is constantly being tweaked in response to audience feedback, and that they really appreciated our participation in the process. And then for only the third time, the show was presented! The music was fun and there were some great numbers; a few minor glitches were covered brilliantly by the actors (one almost cracked himself up when a pratfall off the stage almost became a real one). The cast was fabulous as well; Aaron Tveit (playing Frank, DiCaprio's character in the movie) had some showstoppers, and Tony-winning Norbert Leo Butz was hilarious as the obsessive FBI agent Hanratty. The audience loved it, and there was even an 'in' moment where Hanratty did a film noire bit and said "It was hot. Practically August hot," with a knowing look to the audience.

Curiously, I haven't been able to find any reviews of the show online; I'm not sure if the local papers are holding off on the moving target that a preview must be, or if a gag order is part of the preview process. But it runs for another week here, and then is off to Broadway. I recommend everyone check it out!

(500) Degrees of Summer

It's hot. Really hot. Driving home with the little man, my car's external temperature gauge measured 98 degrees today, and while it's generally pretty inaccurate, I saw similar numbers on the news and weather-related websites. My work even put out an e-mail advisory to turn off extra computers, unplug refrigerators, and still be prepared for buildings unable to sustain normal working temperatures. And this is just the start; tomorrow we may hit triple digits - yikes!

Readers in much of the rest of the country are probably flashing a big 'W' our direction, but you've got to understand that these temperatures are uncommon enough here that most homes don't have air conditioning. Thankfully we invested in portable units for both bedrooms, but the downstairs thermostat is still reading 86 at 9 pm, and Zachary's unit was working hard to hold at 78 earlier today (ours is meagerly struggling at 83; I hope it isn't about to break or something). At least it isn't too humid, but this is still pretty darn yucky.

All of this severe weather means two things: maximizing time indoors, and finding water activities when outside. Today we did both -- first we met visiting London friends N & S (and their sons J and R) at the excellent and never-before-explored Seattle Center Children's Museum. The place is enormous, and like other 'museums', boasted a wide array of vehicles, arts and crafts areas, and play areas. Meh's favorite was the grocery store, which had a dizzying array of canned and boxed goods, scanners, and about thirty kids pushing miniature shopping carts around. I liked the giant central 'forest' path/cave, which Zachary ran through several times before climbing into the camping tent at the center of the path area. Zachary also spent quite a bit of time behind the wheel of a livery-appropriate King County bus, as well as sitting in the back seat waiting for it to 'gooo!'.

We then walked outside to the giant Seattle Center fountain, which was on in full force; J had a wonderful time running around in it, and there were even a few synchronized musical numbers launching spray hundreds of feet up into the air, just to come crashing back down on the happily screaming kids. Finally, we all headed to the air conditioned confines of a new kaiten sushi place and enjoyed a lovely lunch together. It was so good to catch up, and it sounds like they're extending their visit to further enjoy Seattle - hope we get to see them again in the coming days!

When we got back this afternoon, it was water, shade, and indoor play with a fan going full blast. Here's how Zachary prefers to keep cool:

(not pictured: servants waving fans while feeding him grapes)

Bachelor party

Meh and several of her friends are having a girls' weekend up in Victoria, so Zachary and I have been having our very own guys weekend here. Today was action-packed, with a grocery trip (which he talked and sang/screeched through), a walk to the park, a bit of play time at said park (with a chatty 5-year-old who was trying to get him to play with her, or at least move out of the way rather than trying to climb the slide she was sliding down), backyard playtime (where he helped me water mommy's flowers and herb garden -- of course it rained a few minutes after we finished), indoor reading time, and music listening/dancing time with friend J (who joined us for dinner while his wife S is also on the trip). A very full day for the little man, and he seemed to have fun - though every once in a while he'd look at me and say "mama", as if wondering where she was (Meh is convinced that he just thinks both she and I are named "mama").

We both do miss mommy very much, though we thankfully did get to video chat with her this morning from her hotel room. Well, Zachary mostly ran around rather than chatting, but did smile and wave when he sat down for his snack. Sounds like Meh's having a great time, but we're still looking forward to all being back together tomorrow evening!

Go for it

Zachary had a new word yesterday! He's been signing "more" for multiple purposes (variably meaning: yes, maybe, help, switch to the next piece of music, clapping, go, itsy bitsy spider, and a few other things we can't quite decipher). Meh figured it might be time to try to help him start to differentiate a bit. So while he was in his favorite backyard swing, whenever it would come to rest, Meh started saying "go" and simultaneously signing 'go' to see if he could indicate that, rather than just 'more'. He skipped right past the sign, instead saying "go!". He did it several times during the swinging session, and repeated it for me later in the evening, when I asked if he'd had fun on the swing. And he said once more for me today when we went for a walk and I asked him if he wanted to play or keep strolling when we got to the park.

Don't touch that dial

It's a girl! Congratulations to friends M and K on their new baby N!

One of Zachary's favorite (perhaps obsessively so) toys is the little magnetic toy radio attached to the fridge, with several "channels" of music, and multiple songs per channel. (Incidentally, I've seen this same radio at virtually every home I've visited - I think this might be "the" toy, moreso than legos, books, blocks, or anything Elmo-related.) After breakfast, the radio is often his first stop. And when he's got way too much energy, he'll run over to the radio, push the button to start the next song, run back to us to read perhaps a half page of his book, then run back over to select the next song before the previous one ends. It's like toddler "musical chairs" or something.

Anyway, he's had it playing the 'alphabet' station for quite some time (where he laughs and smiles when I announce the song name by rote, imitating the toy's announcer-like voice), and I was about ready for any kind of change from those same four songs, so I flipped the switch to the 'numbers' station. He ran back over, gave me a hard look, and flipped the channel back to the alphabet, before dashing back for more reading time with mommy!

Here you can hear and see the radio in the background while he quickly cycles through Mike Mulligan to get to his favorite page:

I think at the very end of the video he's turning to go feed the Fridge DJ another quarter...

A seat at the table

The true Seattle summer is back in full force, with temperatures in the upper 80s if not 90s. That might be a bit mild for some of our readers, though I suspect most of them at least have air conditioning to retreat to -- no such givens here, and our thermostat was reading 89 earlier today. Yuck! We've coped with air conditioned drives, trips to cooled malls, filling up the little man's pool, semi-shaded walks, and giving up on shorts (for him at least) by late afternoon.

Today, Zachary and I met friend J for lunch. J had made a tasty lamb dish and invited us over to share it -- but the little man's high chair was in Meh's car at her work, so we didn't have a seat for Zachary. I put him in a chair at the kitchen table, where his eye level was high enough to see what was going on, and he did a great job of reaching up onto the table to eat his various lunch selections (alas, the lamb dish was declined). I'd even put his food options on a proper (plastic kids) dish, and after initially wanting to pick the dish up, he carefully would pluck up the foods he wanted before shoving far too many rice cake bits in his mouth at a time. The only focus challenge was the fan in the front hallway, which Zachary kept trying to turn around in the chair to watch. Eventually he did end up on my lap, but it was still cute to have the three guys all sitting around the big boys' table enjoying a meal together.

His cup overfloweth

Those three new cups I had to track down online for Zachary? He's already chewed off part of those straws, so we were back where we started. Monday I offered him one of the cup styles he'd previously rejected, and he wasn't really interested. Tuesday, he drank maybe a quarter inch of juice from it. But today, Meh gave him the cup, and without batting an eye, he grabbed it and happily drank. He also drank milk from it, which was unprecedented! So much for long term drama, though I'm certainly not complaining.

We've been trying to offer him non-regulated flow cups (or, what the rest of the world just calls "cups") as well on occasion. Tonight he actually did great until halfway through, then he decided to upend it. Still, it's progress!

Six Iron

Neither of us can believe it, but Monday is Meh and my sixth anniversary! Meh already got me a wonderful and amazing gift back in May, and I wanted to do something special for her too. Consulting the list of traditional anniversary gifts, the sixth year is apparently "candy, iron, and wood". Iron? Who comes up with these things, the mining industry? Is next year lead? (No, it's actually copper, as well as 'desk accessories'.)

In the end, I did a slightly updated recreation of how I proposed to her seven (yikes!) years ago. And yes, part of the surprise was doing it a few days early (hey, if she can surprise me in May...). The pictures hopefully tell it better than I can describe -- Meh arrived home last night to find a pop-up card, then there were arrows made of lego candy blocks (see, candy!), which I used to lead her on a small course around the house, with small gifts (books - does that count as 'wood'?) at each stop on the course.

At the end of the course was a book that I'd created for her, incorporating a bunch of inside jokes into some of Zachary's current favorite reading materials (with many apologies to Dorling Kindersley, Curious George, Dr. Seuss, and others). Alas, I couldn't figure out how to get the book actually printed onto board book material - but I think I captured the spirit pretty well at any rate. Oh, and I even incorporated 'iron' with a picture of our scary old fireplace. There was much laughing at the silliness, and reminiscing with pictures of us and the little man over the years, and then we each ate a few bits of those lego candy arrows.

Happy anniversary, pretty wife!

New construction

Happy fourth of July! We actually split our celebration up over several days; on the third, friends S (of J & S) and S (of D & S) invited us to join them at the horse races. We left at 5, so Zachary finally got to have some extended playtime with his babysitter (during the winter, he was already asleep by the time she'd generally start sitting) while we had an evening out. Neither of us had ever been, and we had a lovely time. I even placed two bets on the last race with some technical assistance from J, though neither horse came in. On the plus side, after the races were done, they had an excellent fireworks display, launched right from the middle of the track; it was a longer and more impressive show than some of the Seattle ones I've seen in the past few years, and you couldn't beat the view or seats!

Mima and papa mentioned a few weeks ago that they wanted to get Zachary a playhouse for his second birthday. This past week, Zachary and I got home one afternoon to discover two large boxes in front of the garage. The original plan was to store the playhouse in the garage until mima and papa come to visit next month. But realizing that August is often already late fall for Seattle (okay, maybe not that bad), we all decided that putting it together before the visit would maximize Zachary's use of it.

So yesterday, after returning from a nice Fourth of July afternoon of hanging out with friends J & S (twice in 16 hours!) at a local park (where Meh brought some incredible strawberry cupcakes with white chocolate frosting she'd made) and putting little man to bed, we set out to begin assembly. I sorted the 40 pieces while Meh did an excellent job sorting the various bolts and washers into nicely labelled cups on a tea tray. (Only Meh could make flat-pack construction projects actually cozy!) I got three walls up before it started getting too dark and buggy -- plus the neighbors had started their 4th of July pyromaniacal ways and I wanted to avoid falling fireworks debris (after last year's "show", our yard was covered with cardboard tubes).

This morning while Zachary took his nap, I wrapped up construction. When he woke up, I let him go outside and explore his new playhouse. He went right for the windows (which Meh had rubber-banded together to keep them closed; I think I'll go invest in some magnetic strike plates today), and had no interest in the side of the house with the door until I physically led him to it and opened it. Then he was in love! He immediately ran inside and started trying to figure out how to decorate the two cute little shelves -- with combinations of his watering can and the removable sink bowl that came with the house:



The most entertaining part of assembly was seeing all of the miniaturized elements - tiny hot and cold water taps (I had to consult a real faucet to confirm that the instructions actually had hot and cold backwards), miniature shutters, a cute little doorframe overhang, the small interior shelves, and even a small mailbox - at last I've got a place to deliver all of those credit card applications he's already been getting. Thank you mima and papa for such a wonderful gift!

Affirmative action

For a long time now, 'no' has meant, well, only Zachary knew; head shaking could mean "No, I don't wan't more juice", or "No, I'm really thirsty, give me juice", or even perhaps "No, I don't think the Mariners have what it takes to make it to the postseason this year". Over the months, we had a few guesses at what might constitute 'yes', but none has won out.

So we've been trying to get him to nod his head yes, and we've been saying 'yes' when he responds to a question by clearly agreeing in action. And yesterday we had a bit of a breakthrough - Meh reported that she was saying 'yeah' in response to Zachary agreeing with questions she'd asked, and suddenly Zachary looked at her and repeated 'yeah'. It was a one-time response, but it's something! Later in the day, he said 'yah' (as opposed to 'yeah') when Meh read him a particular book, on the page that has a pirate. He repeated this for me this morning; my best guess at the moment is that on a few occasions, I've pointed to the pirate and said 'yarrrr!' or something like that.

Also new today - Meh has always done hand motions for the itsy bitsy spider, a song that Zachary's a big fan of. Today she let him lead, and he actually kind of sort of initiated many of the motions:

Walk and talk

One of Zachary's favorite afternoon activities remains the family "walk". Kind of a misleading term, since for him it's more of a jogging stroller ride, generally to the local park, where he runs around like a crazy man on the play toys. Anyway, he likes the walk so much that we'll occasionally notice that he isn't playing with his toys or asking us to read books. Here's how it usually plays out:



If you actually inquire with the magic word ("Walk?"), he'll make a really happy sound and then run over to the stroller, often jumping in head first. But yesterday, he first responded by smiling at me and saying "Walk!". I figured I'd misheard and it was just 'dah', or maybe he got interrupted in the middle of a 'wokka wokka'. But later in the stroll, I asked him if he was enjoying his walk, and he again happily repeated "Walk!". I even got him to say it on the phone for mommy, but she only heard "bah". Fear not; today he did repeat it for her when she suggested a stroll.

Groupie

Zachary's been to several live music concerts - orchestral, Balkan, Celtic, a cappella - and loved most every form of musical entertainment (or, ironically, at least been lulled to sleep by it, particularly when it was loud?!) But yesterday marked the first time he attended a show designed specifically for his demographic, and his reaction went far beyond mere enjoyment. A Seattle-based children's music trio (comprised of three guys who are actually teachers between gigs) was playing at a local library, so mommy took him. He spent the entire concert kicking, clapping (not yet in rhythm with the music, but he's got time!), and laughing -- along with 70+ other kids. Once the crowd thinned a bit toward the end of the concert, he even got down on the floor and danced and spun around to the cheery tunes. As Meh described it, the only bad parts were when a song finished; as with his concerns about recorded music, he'd begin frantically signing more even if the band had some shtick to do between pieces. But the music was fabulous in what Meh described as an 'early Beatles' style, the singers appropriately silly and goofy, and a CD had to be purchased.

I got to hear a sampling on the drive to our date night (hooray and thanks to Meh for organizing it!), featuring a lovely stroll through Woodinville's wine country, dinner, and a film that managed to make Meh cry only four times. But we both did like it a lot, and drove home rocking out to more of the tunes of Recess Monkey.

A good foundation

Zachary's been frustrated trying to assemble Duplo lego structures on the fluffy shag carpet in the living room. (Meh has separately been frustrated trying to keep said fluff from invading every other room of the house, but that's another story.) I'd occasionally help him out by building large lego bases for his structures, but they'd still eventually topple over to hollering and occasional tears. So it was time to take the next step, and this morning, we introduced him to a big green flat duplo surface (sorry, a "building plate"). First he wanted to walk around with it and play with it like a regular (albeit awkwardly large) toy, but as soon as I showed him that his legos would attach, he got very excited with it and started building up crazy Zachary structures on the floor. Gravity and sound engineering practices are no obstacle for the little man, but at least the plate might give his towers a fighting chance.

The big sleep

...was not meant to be this morning; still clearly on Eastern time from our trip, Zachary was up before 4 am. We went downstairs to let mommy sleep just a bit longer, and he was again excited and happy to be home, pulling out and dumping out his legos to build another tall and crazily unstable creation.

Mommy began her 4-day-in-a-row work rotation this morning, and put little man down for a nap before she left, at around 8:30 am. At about 10:20, he woke up very angry. I changed his diaper and snuggled him with his blanket on the changing pad on the floor, and before I realized it, we'd both fallen asleep! At 11:20, we both sort of woke up - I'd somehow ended up using a small bit of blankie for a pillow. Zachary stood up, pulled his blanket out from under my head, threw it back down on the floor, and collapsed back onto it, asleep again. I snuck out (though not downstairs; I didn't want to leave him sleeping outside of the crib!) and did some work in the office until he woke up for good (and very happy) at a little after 12. Crazy three-and a half hour napping man!

Lady of the lake

When we returned from Greenfield Village on Tuesday afternoon, Zachary wasn't much interested in a nap. So with a warm partially cloudy afternoon winding down, grandma suggested a boat ride. (Fresh from winter storage, Uncle B, Grandma, and I had brought the boat through the narrow tunnel to grandma's dock earlier in the weekend.) Meh had been concerned that he might not like having to wear the life jacket, having complained loudly when his swim class had made him use (a likely already damp and cold) one. But he was happy as could be, and was kicking, waving, and making happy noises as we boarded the boat. This quickly settled down to total vegging and drowsiness - that was a very relaxed little man! We had a nice low-speed ride around the lake (I took a turn at the wheel, though Meh declined), appreciating the pretty homes and the plethora of geese, ducks, swans, and herons; someone even had a pair of peacocks strutting around in their backyard - pets?

Wednesday was another rainy day, so we decided to try a trick from our Seattle playbook and head to the local mall. Furthering the use of the playbook, we had a lovely family lunch at the mall's somewhat newly arrived Seattle staple, whose cafe Meh and Zachary have frequented with friends, but was new to grandma and myself. A quick stroll later, Zachary ran around like a mad man at their play area, which featured a bizarre assortment of (I'm not making this up) candy and medical-themed climbing toys. Says the website by way of explanation:

"The newly refurbished play area features a health and wellness theme in which children can skip, frolic, and step along the ribbon of gauze to the mending Teddy. Healthy messages teach healthy lifestyle to even our youngest visitors!"

Yeeeeah, I'm not sure about the healthy message of Wonka-sized lollipops and melting creamsicle slides. But anyway, regardless of the representations they were going for, Zachary had a wonderful time running around with grandma in hot pursuit. Energy somewhat abated, he even let grandma and mommy shop for some cute new clothes for him while we toured the mall.

Grandma had mentioned a few times earlier in the week that she really wanted to babysit and let us have a date night. This was our last night in town, and Zachary was having a wonderful time giggling, laughing, and signing 'more' to grandma, so we took her up on the offer. We left in the midst of playtime (to what we learned later was only the briefest of Zachary objections) and got to have a nice, quiet, and relaxing dinner together in a cute nearby town's even cuter main street Italian restaurant -- Meh judged its tiramisu to be among the best she's ever had. When we got home, grandma reported that Zachary had had a fun evening of playing and even a mostly happy bath and bedtime. We're so glad that he's gotten comfortable and acquainted enough with grandma over the past few days that he trusted her with the cherished and sacred routine that has often left him in tears with other non-mommy/daddy participants in the past. That, and maybe he's starting to accept small amounts of change in his schedule? Nah...

Today was homecoming day; it was overcast again, we had a few hours, and the mall was on the way, so we went back to let Zachary play again, and enjoy one last bit of Michigan cuisine (hooray for orange cream coolers!) before heading for the airport. The only glitch was that the airline had auto-upgraded me (but not Meh or Zachary) the night before, and then of course gave away my seat. They didn't have two extra first class seats available (darn!), but the gate agent was able to do some shuffling and get me back into the same seat. Zachary slept for perhaps 45 minutes of the flight and was a crazy active man the rest of the time, wanting to climb between his seat and mommy and daddy's laps, and occasionally walking the aisle. With no real nap for the day, he was pretty much running on fumes, but seemed to mostly keep in a good mood.

It was so good to be able to visit with family and friends for the week, and huge thanks to grandma for hosting us, dealing with various baby- and schedule-related challenges, researching fun things for the little man to do, catering multiple parties, babysitting for our night out, and just being grandma! Thanks also to Zachary's Uncle B for flying in for a coordinated visit, and to all of our family and friends for making the journey out to grandma's house to visit and catch up.

Little man was so excited to be home, running around and smiling, laughing, and playing. His bathtime and bedtime were both happy, but I'm wary of what time he'll think is appropriate to wake up tomorrow. Meh's already asleep and I think I'll be conked out soon enough too!

Let's do the time warp again

It had been many years since I'd visited Greenfield Village, a historical re-creation of a nebulous mixture of 19th and early-to-mid 20th century life, with authentic (transported) buildings alongside more 'modern' replicas (most replicas were built by Henry Ford in the 1930s and 1940s) illustrating home life, crafts, industry, business, and of course early automobiles of the times. I'd last been there more than a decade ago, when our family had attended a Detroit Symphony Fourth of July outdoor concert, and the last time I'd actually walked through the village itself was probably a decade before that.

The cynic in me perceives historically recreated places as falling somewhere between M. Night Shyamalan's sinister "The Village" and fictional dystopic accounts of egomaniacal tycoons trying to recreate whitewashed visions of their youths. Thankfully the real thing is much more innocent (and kid-friendly) than either of these, though I still think it's a bit strange to see Henry Ford's parents' house and his elementary school transported brick-by-brick to their current locations, alongside an early 1800s hearse shed, the actual Wright Brothers' bicycle shop, and the original Heinz factory, apparently known more for horseradish than ketchup?

Our first destination upon entering the village was lunch, as everyone was pretty hungry. We selected the Eagle Tavern, a cute transported 1831 stagecoach stop, serving from an authentic circa 1850s period menu (well, minus the prices), and all using locally grown ingredients. Each of us got an 'asparagus pie' (a tasty quiche), and Meh and I tried their vegetable soup. The inn 'proprietors' were cute and friendly in their period costumes without being crazy over-the-top, and were impressed to have visitors from 'the western territories' (dork that I am, I had to check my history afterwards to confirm that Washington was correctly identified as a US territory at that time). The food was decent, though I think our favorite part was actually the pickled eggs that were served while we waited for the food.

After that, we strolled around the village, visiting the working farm (Zachary enjoyed the sheep), some of the arts shops (Meh and grandma watched a printing press in operation), a millinery (women's hat shop), a carousel newly added since my last visit, and noticing the sheer number of knowledgeable staff (period-dressed people singing, petitioning for suffrage, just out for a stroll, and working in each of the buildings, including two people hand-cleaning the tiny gears and mechanics of the Edison factory). Zachary's favorite part was the train that whistled its way around the circumference of the village; we caught sight of it several times to much 'mmm'-ing and hand-waving.

Speaking of 'mmm', Zachary's newest trick is to imitate our appreciate of food by saying 'mmm' whenever we're eating and/or offering him food. It doesn't mean he's going to actually sample a dish, but hey, at least he's appreciative. Here he was at that 1850s tavern, talking mommy into eating a bit of period bread she'd given him:

The biggest fan

Zachary still loves his overhead fans, and lucky for him, grandma's house has at least four of them. He's been spending a lot of time running around the house with (or without) a variety of toys and books, smiling up at the fans, getting very excited when his favorite music (grandma has the Enchanted soundtrack) plays, and occasionally piling up objects.

Sunday was Zachary's social event of the season (if not decade!). In the morning, many family friends came out to grandma's house to visit and enjoy a bagel brunch. Zachary slept through the first hour or so, then came down and had happy snuggle time on the couch and out on the deck, smiling and laughing at people he hadn't seen since a brief appearance at his uncle B's wedding last year.

And in the early afternoon, our extended family (grandma's aunt, her daughter, and her granddaughter) came by for a visit and barbecue! Zachary was getting a bit fussy, so Meh tried to put him down for a nap. When he remained unhappy after she left the room, I went in to try to sooth him, and when he hollered as I tried to leave, I flopped on the bed, hoping he'd take the hint and go to sleep. Somehow I ended up falling asleep for twenty minutes while (according to those upstairs with the baby monitor) he continued to chat away. We finally ended up having play time down by the water, where he walked back and forth along the stone wall.

Today uncle B headed back home to New York. Before going to the airport, we drove down to Ann Arbor to explore some more of Meh's favorite Michigan city. We started at our favorite Ethiopian restaurant (nope, Zachary wasn't interested in injera or any of the dishes), and then took Zachary to the very fun Hands-On Museum. They have a large room totally devoted to toddlers, and even a gated area focused on under-18-month-olds; Zachary of course saw objects in there and was annoyed that he couldn't go in. There are also some fascinating exhibits that we didn't really make it to this time -- likely next time when Zachary is a bit older. We spend the whole visit in the toddler room, splitting our time playing with cars and trucks, a giant Duplo Lego table, and a fire truck with a side channel that rubber balls could be rolled down into a crate. They even had a child-sized kitchen area that Meh (but not Zachary) checked out. And speaking of kitchens, while the Selfon men played, Meh popped out to hit a world-renowned cupcake place and a great paper store. We joined back up and visited a second world-renowned cupcake place (the owner was pressing us for info on our favorite flavors at our favorite Seattle cupcake bakery) before bidding farewell to Tree Town and heading for the airport.

We were so glad to see uncle B for the weekend, and Zachary smiled and waved as we dropped him off for his flight. We'll have to find more opportunities to visit him and aunt J! Back at grandma's house, we cheered ourselves up by eating some cupcakes (with impressively light frosting, I might add), and that evening after a Copper River salmon dinner, we all split the ones from the second store as dessert -- which was right about the time we heard that, six hours later, uncle B's flight still hadn't left. He finally took off around the time we went to bed, and with no cupcakes. Poor uncle B!

Rain out

We arrived safe and sound in Michigan! The flight wasn't too bad, though Zachary was awake and asking for entertainment most of the flight. On the plane, we alternated between reading books, looking out the window, and of course the occassional snack; no napping this time around.

One of the biggest pains of air travel at this point is our total dependence on elevators, particularly when carting Zachary's car seat-turned-stroller (for those keeping score, our use of that adapter thing solicited only two compliments this time; the novely must be wearing off for other travelers?). At SeaTac airport, they're all in weird out of the way locations, completely removed from the smooth pathing of the escalators; at the South Satellite, we ended up having to take a route through the customs area with TSA agents making sure we didn't mingle with folks arriving from international flights. Bizarre.

Anyway, Uncle B and grandma were there to greet us at the airport, and we all got to catch up on the drive home. We arrived to grandma's house, where Zachary immediately started exploring and discovering the new toys and books she had for him, before a quick dinner, bath, and bedtime. His furry uncle Gus wasn't quite sure what to make of him, and alternated between face licks and just trying to get some petting and attention from all of these adults who were clearly focused on the floor anyway.

Zachary actually slept in a bit today! Well, he was up the first time at like 6, but snuggled in bed with us until like 7:30 am, which is still 4:30 am back home, so I suppose that doesn't really count in the end. The weather forecast had been for sun practically our whole visit, but I'd forgotten that forecasting remains an inaccurate art in the midwest, and we had heavy rain most of the day. Looking for an activity to do with the little man, we turned to a list one of grandma's coworkers had given her, and found a promising indoor play area ("Michigan's largest!") not too far away.

I think all of us (including Zachary) were a little bit overwhelmed by what greeted us - four stories of indoor PVC-piped, exercise matt-filled childhood craziness! There was a small area ostensibly for toddlers, but a lot of older kids were running around and into it. Uncle B hid in a corner and read (the kids running around 'made him nervous' - I'd have to agree), and Zachary was often more interested in exploring the central sofa area where parents were relaxing than the actual play areas. The loud chaos was also a good opportunity for him to test out his latest sensory play activity, sticking his thumbs in his ears and then smiling when he removes them. In the end, he did play for quite a bit on the slides, bridges, and floor areas, and had fun running up and down matts while grandma, Meh, and I looked on.

Our drive home was again through a torrential downpour, but the skies finally cleared in the late afternoon and we took a family walk. Zachary chatted through much of the stroll, continuing to work on his three-syllable-and-rhyhmes-with-"ah" vocabulary. A very full first day in the great lakes state for the little man and his family!

Does not compute

We're off to the airport momentarily to visit grandma (and many other family members and friends!) in Michigan. But I had to share this discovery Meh made this morning -- though Zachary has been getting much better at climbing up onto the couch himself, only today did he begin climbing up on chairs. And then soon after this picture, standing on them. Hm, this will have to be corrected. But for now, we'll have to see what he decides to blog about first.

The chicken or the leg?

Saturday afternoon was the annual picnic for our toddler group. I didn't realize that it was actually for all of the various sections and age groups, which ended up totalling more than 75 kids. So the group pretty much took over this park, with kids running around everywhere, playing on the gym equipment, watching some grownups climbing around on an impressive ropes course, sampling the wide variety of potluck items everyone had brought, and in general having a wonderful time. And then the train showed up, and everyone simply converged as it chugged up to the shelter from the parking lot. Zachary in particular was in love, with giant smiles, hand waves, and attempted head-on approaches to the locomotive. Watch what he did when it left for its first park loop:



Mommy was able to join us after work, and we had a really nice evening getting to catch up with other members of his play group, as well as some familiar faces from other sections of the toddler group: J (Zachary's nanny), her son T, and a few other kids and parents we'd met back at our new parent group so many months ago.

Today Zachary and I were playing with, among other things, his cute toy picnic basket. Inside are a banana, a soda can, a sandwich, and a chicken leg. I held the banana up to my ear, which he thought was very funny. He wasn't interested in the sandwich or soda can. I then offered him the drumstick and asked if he wanted some chicken, and he replied "cluck cluck". Vegetarian it is.

Poop deck

Seattle's crazy early summer heat wave continues! Yesterday, Zachary's nanny J took him and her son T to a nearby water park (e.g. a giant paved park with a bunch of fountains and sprinkler-like things - and on a day like yesterday, a lot of kids). As J told us later, he was the brave one who walked right up to a gurgling fountain and giggled while batting at it.

Temperatures peaked at over 90 degrees today, the second straight day of record highs. Meh and Zachary went to toddler group, where apparently they had a new record attendance to take advantage of the refreshing air conditioning. The theme was cooking, and the day's art activitiy was decorating a potholder. After Meh showed him how to do it, Zachary actually did a great job of pushing rollers, stamps, and his own hands into the paint and potholder, creating a lovely art nouveau/abstract post neo-impressionistic melange with subtle hints of fauvism. Or something.

After they came home, Meh and Zachary kept cool in the backyard. Meh filled his new little pool, and also suggested he help maintain the excellent garden Meh has been establishing with a cute little watering can. Rather than risk wet clothes, it was naked outdoors time! This was a fabulous idea, and the little man had a great time running around buck naked and watering (generally more by shaking the watering can than tipping it over).

Alas, one unforeseen result: Meh heard a grunt, and before she could respond, the little man had pooped on the deck. Oh, and while she cleaned it up, he made a wee on the lawn. I'm giggling, but also feeling a tad guilty that she had to deal with the cleanup and a naked gardening man without me.

Turn the other cheek

The other day I noticed what I thought was a piece of schmutz on little man's cheek. (Trivia: Meh learned from a reliable NPR show that schmutz is quite specifically any piece of dirt whose composition is not identifiable.) But when I went to brush it off, it remained -- yep, Zachary has his very first (switch to high-pitched voice) teeny tiny little freckle!

More animal sounds this week: a lion ("rawr!") and a dolphin ("ee-ee-ee", sometimes so high-pitched that he doesn't quite make a sound.)

You can't handle the tooth

Little man had his third dentist checkup this morning. He was cute and happy while we waited; the waiting room even possessed an 'unabridged' (e.g. regular hardcover) Dr. Seuss's ABC's, which surprised me by demonstrating just how many modifications his board book version has. Ah, the joys of an edited childhood. The actual dentist appointment started off okay; little man sat in my lap and smiled at the hygienist. But when the chair started going down, he started to get unhappy, and with toothbrush and mirrors in mouth, he melted down with streaming tears. Even Dora on a big screen suspended over him couldn't distract him - maybe if they had Murray's word on the street? He calmed down afterwards, and was again briefly smiley for our super friendly dentist when she appeared a few minutes later, only to cry again when she did her exam.

There aren't the long list of exciting stats like at the pediatrician's office, but Zachary does now have 16 teeth, including his soon-to-be-fully-in canines. No tooth decay, a good bite (Meh was concerned he needed braces already with his underbite smile, but the dentist said he's just figuring out where to position his jaws), and a 6 month reprieve until his next appointment. They even gave him a little Chuck E. Cheese-like token to take to a stand of toy dispensers at the sign-out desk. Meh selected a very cute little ducky on a string loop (a duck necklace -- a ducklace?), which we spent the rest of the day trying to pry out of the little plastic shell it was delivered in.

Play with your food

I guess you could say that the Sloane women have always had a thing about fake food as decor. For example, I remember a basket of papier-mâché fruits and veggies in the kitchen that my brother and I would somtimes play with. I have been known to make minature versions of food out of polymer clay. Nowadays, my Mom has a plate of realistic-looking ceramic cookies on the counter (don't even try to pick one up, they are fused to the plate) and papier-mâché breads in a basket.

My Mom's newest project (inspiried by me?) is knitted cupcakes:


I have been looking around online for other handmade cupcakes to give her inspiration, and I found a tutorial for making felt cupcakes, I just had to try it. I even had all the materials lying around, evidence of my former life as a Sunday school teacher.