School Daze

It's hard to believe, but Zachary already starts preschool this fall! A few weeks ago, we received a letter in the mail from the school district inviting us to registration today. Based on the time requirements and the comments not to bring kids, I was expecting a protracted affair; Zachary and I ended up wandering around the outdoor shopping mall (not sure how a school district lands an office at the mall -- must be some kind of lease break from the city or something) while Meh and Owen headed in for paperwork and proofs of shots and the like. However, by the time Zachary and I completed our first big block of stores, I had voicemail from Meh letting me know she was already wrapped up. Hooray for at least reduced bureaucracy! So starting in September, Zachary will be able to look forward to a school bus picking him up and dropping him off (I suspect this may be a highlight of his day) September. We're so excited for him, though a little sad of course too. Granted, the school he'll be at is at best 3/4 mile away, so we can occasionally walk over to pick him up afterwards. Little man is becoming a big man so quickly!

The constant gardener

After last Monday's (mis)adventures getting the boys to bed by myself, I called in some reinforcements last night, and Mima graciously assisted. Things went a little bit better, though Owen still took a while to calm down from the getting-into-pajamas sadness. We'll master this yet!

Happy seventh anniversary to the prettiest wife and best mommy in the world! We both admitted to each other yesterday that we'd totally dropped the ball on gifts for each other. Still, other folks I've spoken to use their home improvement projects as their mutual anniversary 'gifts'. So it's completely appropriate that we've just about wrapped up our backyard relandscaping. The yard had gotten pretty rough and tumble over the past few months (I'll blame it on knowing that we were going to be relandscaping), but even before that, a combination of invasive plants, fence repairs, and digging/pacing by Korby had left our yard in not great shape. Meh made it a goal to get it reorganized, and to give us some good kitchen garden space as well. She actually even got a head start last year; our first crop of blueberries from the front yard relandscaping came in this week and were super tasty - even Zachary tried a few, though he caught a tart one and gave up on the rest.

The plans looked fabulous, and over the past month or so, we've watched as the entire backyard has been transformed (full set of pictures here), with new plants, rebuilt stone steps and wall, a "dry riverbed" feature in the back, a new sprinkler system to keep everything from dying, and an expanded kitchen garden area on the side of the house that Meh has already filled with yummy veggies, fruits, and herbs. We also got a new shed in the back corner and are looking forward to dismantling the lean-to thing that had been the "shed" when we moved into the house. All in all, a very cozy backyard addition - and wrapped up just in time for our anniversary! Now if I can just get the replanted lawn to take, we'll be good to go; Zachary's clearly impatient to go tromping around, occasionally looked out at the yard and stating 'I want go outside!'

Take a hike

Yesterday we went with mima to Olallie State Park; the weather was gorgeous, and there were reports of lovely waterfall views for Twin Falls without too steep of a hike. We had a nice time even though we inadvertently walked right past the lookout where we had intended to stop (a few more switchback-laced climbs and we decided to backtrack). Owen had a good time watching the world from the bjorn (and later the ergo). And Zachary in particular did a great job with the hike, only getting too tired after quite a bit of trekking, at which point he got to relive his glory days in the ergo (as well as riding on my shoulders or just being carried). He did on the minus side suffer his first scraped knee navigating some tree root-laden terrain.

We had the fine idea to bring Zachary's aqua socks so he could wade in the river a bit - alas, he'd already outgrown them, adding to the number of clothes that he's worn one or less times. But he did have a great time stepping gingerly around the edges of the river in his tennis shoes. Afterwards, we all stopped for lunch at the eastside branch of one of our favorite pizza places. Zachary looked on with interest as the Neapolitan pies came out, but he declined to actually try a slice, sticking with his old standards of raisins, rice cake, and crackers.

The land of a thousand mommies

The heat wave continues; today it's capped out at nearly 95 degrees so far. The car's external temperature meter even hit triple digits, though I'm not sure how much you can trust them (at which point you might ask, what's the point?) And of course we just had new grass seed put out yesterday for our relandscaped yard (pics forthcoming, if said seed survives) so it's a battle of wills (or at least remembering) to keep it watered.

Owen is four months old today, which means it was time for his checkup this morning. Zachary and I stayed at home to avoid an overly crowded exam room, but Meh reported that Owen did great and gave all sorts of smiles to the nurses and doctor, right up until he got shots in both legs. Poor tiny man!

The stats:

• Weight: 16 lbs 12 oz (75th-90th percentile)
• Length: 26 1/2 inches (90th-97th percentile)
• OFC: 16 1/2 inches (25-50th percentile)

So he's a tall and robust tiny man, but at least he doesn't have a big head about it. Ba-dum-bum.

Our doctor reminded us of something that she had also said when Zachary was this age -- object permanence isn't quite within the grasp of the four month old, so every time one of us leaves Owen's field of view, the next time we return, even though we look identical, we're a "new" version for him. This also kind of explains why he isn't bothered when one of us leaves. Thankfully he's just as friendly with the many clones of mommy and daddy -- and continues to be extra smiley with friends and family as well, with special fascination for big brother Zachary.

Won't you please shine down on me

At long last, Seattle has joined the rest of the country in the summer season -- and in a big way, with the temperature climbing into the upper 80s today and expectations for it to be even hotter tomorrow. So it was a fabulous idea when friends B, C, and daughter T invited us to join them at one of our favorite local lakes for a picnic, walk, and Zachary's first experience in a wading ("paddling") pool. Mima came along as well, and we stopped off to 'make' our picnic lunch at the local organic grocer en route. It was even B's birthday, so we certainly had to bring some mini-cupcakes, though unfortunately we didn't have time to get them from the proper venue.

It took him a while (and a long preceding stroll around maybe a third of the lake) to warm up to the idea, but once in the pool, Zachary had a fabulous time splashing, dunking his head under water, and laughing. We even had to go back for a second trip sans swimming shirt ("bye bye shirt"), and only the pool's (hourly?) evacuation for scary chemical additives ended his enjoyment.

As mentioned in earlier posts, Zachary's vocabulary continues to expand daily, along with more sophisticated statements like "I want sippy cup milk". Here he is reading one of his favorite books to me:


Not to be outdone in the vocalizations department, Owen has been making cute baby noises with ever-increasing durations and frequency. These aren't the longest in his repertoire, but of course they're cute enough on their own:


He also has a serious love of music, and seems to generally be more effectively soothed by singing than any of the "true" 5 S's.

Paternity test

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

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

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

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

Oh say can you see

Owen continues to most enjoy looking at people, in particular his brother and parents. He smiles (often with his tongue sticking out) and laughs when he catches our eye, and one of our favorite father-son activities is when I help him with baby pull-ups and baby leg crunches, smiling and laughing as I count up the reps. He of course also has plenty to say to his dangling jingling toys:


Proof positive that Zachary understands far more than he lets on - mima and Meh were chatting on a car ride today, and the topics of dogs came up. Suddenly from the back seat, Zachary contributed the comment "barking noises" (a reference to one of his favorite books). Smart little man!

And on the topic of previously unknown vocabulary, today was a nap-free day for the little man (and a nap-light one for tiny man). By late afternoon, Zachary was getting a bit... shall we say beyond. Meh reported that he was walking around the house singing "Ohhhh... the [object]", looking around and picking a new object to sing about for every 'verse'. Here's a video she captured:

The best was when he couldn't find a new object quickly enough - then there was an extra long 'ohhhhhhh' while he tried to sort out something to sing about. On the plus side, we learned that he knows the word 'rug', and enjoyed his 'pih-nah-nuh' (piano). I arrived home to catch the late act and then got him upstairs for his bath and bed time. Later on it registered for us that "Oh the" was more likely actually "All done", since toward the end of the evening he started mixing it with "Night night [object]" - silly labelling man.

Everyone says I love you

A big milestone for a tiny man - Meh watched him roll from back to tummy twice in bed this morning! I still haven't witnessed anything closer than the video we took a few days ago, but congrats to a tiny man on his early mobility!

When we put Zachary to bed, he's gotten more consistent about saying "na na" (night night) to various things in his room, mostly the last book we read and then the stuffed animals and blankie that he snuggles with. Occasionally, he will even say a very cute "na na, dah-dee". But last night after I said "night night Zachary" back, he put his hand on my face and said something approximating "I love you". So endearing! I don't think Meh believed me, but today she was having an exhausting day with two non-napping boys, and right when she thought she was near the end of her rope, Zachary looked at her and said "I love you". Such a good and sweet little man!

Zachary goes to the beach

Yesterday turned out to be a beautiful day, and luckily we got to spend the morning at a local beach. ("Beach" in Seattle is a bit of a misleading term, as sandy beaches are pretty rare. Rocky ones on the other hand...) Zachary loved walking on the bumpy rocks in his Thomas boots, while Owen mostly slept, covered by both the ergo and his cute sunhat.

The Seattle Aquarium has generously had naturalists coming out to the local beaches at low tide, so we wandered over to see what they'd found, and got to check out a jellyfish, a purple starfish, some crabs, and these almost litter-looking moon snail "sand collars" (egg casings). Zachary was most excited by the Sound itself ("wah wah!"), looking up at passing sea planes ("bye bye ah-pah!"), and just stomping around on the squishy beach. A passing horn-blaring train certainly didn't hurt either.

Today mommy's choir had a performance at the local library. She had to go an hour early for warmups, so the boys and I headed over a little while later, picking up mima on the way. Determined to avoid a repeat of the boys' opening act for the last performance (and to make sure mima at least got to hear it this time!), I wore a sleeping Owen and strolled Zachary strategically near the door. The ladies did a fabulous job, and Zachary enjoyed looking on and munching on fish crackers like he was at a movie. We only had to stroll out of the room once or twice (due to insistent but appropriately volumed "push!" requests from Zachary). And Owen slept right through the applause that had startled him awake back at the last concert. Meh and my favorite part was when Zachary pointed directly at her during a song, smiled, and said "want mommy!"

Afterwards, another first - Owen's been doing such a great job of holding up his head that when he woke up, I turned him around in the bjorn so he could face out. He proceeded to give everyone giant smiles and even a few laughs; mommy then took him around for show and tell while Zachary and I headed home for well-deserved nap time.

Fluid plans

Meh has adopted the descriptive adjective of "juicy" when describing Owen's recurring (some would say constant) habit of spitting up, often in impressive quantities. She's convinced that on occasion he's managed to spit up more than he's actually eaten. In trying to remember the specific adjective, I myself coined the phrase "Mister Moist", though really that describes me more than Owen by the time I'm done holding him for an hour; when I went out to mow the lawn today after having snuggled tiny man, I had some lovely damp patterns on my shoulders.

Alas, it was Zachary who took the fluid-generation award on an adventure with mommy and mima on Thursday. His pre-preschool class was off for the day, so they decided to go check out the zoo. Unfortunately, by the time Owen woke up from his morning nap and they got out the door, they were quickly approaching Zachary's nap time. They walked around for a bit looking at animals, but Zachary was ready to be "all done", so they exited the zoo and walked over to a nearby restaurant, where Zachary needed a diaper change. And in the women's room (with of course no changing table in sight), the standing up diaper change went horribly wrong. Zachary emerged dry, but mommy, the baby carrier, and a great deal of floor had no such luck. Oh, and the electronic automated paper towel dispenser was low on batteries, so cleanup was particularly slow going. Poor Meh!

The fourth trimester

Owen is three months old today! The time has really flown (well, and/or stood still, depending on whether we're reflecting on this while awake in the middle of the night), and it's amazing to see the changes coming so quickly: social smiling, talking/cooing, the beginning of rolling, lifting his head, using the bathtub, starting to have an actual bedtime, and beginning to interact a bit more with the world around him. I know time flew for Zachary as well but whether from the passage of time or sleep deprivation, we'd kind of forgotten what happened when, and have occasionally consulted blog entries from Zachary's second month as well to try to recall what was going on.

Sunday was Zachary's toddler group's end-of-the-year picnic. They again brought the narrow gauge little train to the park, which Zachary was again delighted to ride, though not quite as excited to watch (see last year's great train chase). He was much more into the playground though, running up and down the stairs and slide, and wanting to play something approaching hand-tag with me via the railing. In the meantime, Owen spent most of the time sleeping on mommy, but occasionally woke up to check out the surroundings.

Heads up

In the last few days, Owen has been actively picking up his head. When he's in his play area or chair, this is really cute. When he's in his car seat, it just looks a bit uncomfortable, and he tries to sit up through half the drive home (alas, the other half is often still spent crying). Did I mention he's also already outgrown the size 2 diapers? I ordered a crate of size "2-3"s; the next full size up, 3's, only come in 'Cruisers', and actual Owen movement still seems a ways off.

That said, this morning Owen has jumped past head lifting, and was already trying quite dramatically to roll over! He gets about 2/3 of the way so far.

We tried the opposite (getting him to roll off his tummy), but he wasn't so into that yet. Owen also continues to talk up a storm - here he is hanging out with his sheep:

Synchronized swimming

Earlier this week, Zachary and Owen had their first shared bath time! Owen had previously gotten baths in the little sink-bound tub down in the kitchen, but as he's started going to bed (well, at least the first attempt of the night) at the same time as Zachary, it made sense to try to merge baths -- at least when Meh and I are both at home. So on Monday night, after a particularly voluminous spit-up-filled day, it was time for brotherly baffy time! Zachary thought it was very fun to play footsie with his brother, and other than that just seemed to treat it like a regular bath. Owen meanwhile continued his long-running fascination with his brother, looking on with big eyes, smiles, and occasional happy startles as mommy washed him and Zachary splashed or talked about his Salty, Thomas, Percy, and Bobby Ducky bath toys.

On the topic of water, Owen will be joining Zachary next month in the pool, with the boys in (hopefully; registration is tomorrow morning at the lovely hour of 6:30 am) back-to-back swimming classes. Hard to believe they start the program at 4 months of age, but as Owen already loves the water I'm hoping it will be as fun an experience for him as it has been for Zachary.

Speech patterns

Both boys have been talking up a storm the past few weeks. Owen coos at us and chats with his toys and sheep (in between presenting us with giant smiles):



And Zachary has been reciting bits of his favorite books and nursery rhymes. Today he was alternating between "The Wheels on the Bus" (my favorite: his hand motion for "the baby on the bus goes wah wah wah" involves putting his hands over his ears), "I'm Bringing Home My Baby Bumblebee," and the second half of "Bah Bah Black Sheep":



Not shown here is how when he answers "yes" to questions, it's sometimes now coming out as "yes sir, yes sir, three bags full".

Meh's choir had a lovely concert this afternoon at Northwest Folklife. We got there just in time for their warmups, so Zachary, Owen, and I met up with mima and papa for a late lunch at the Seattle Center's food court. Alas, another set of performers was playing some seriously over-amplified bluegrass, which echoed around the cavernous space. I think Zachary was a little overwhelmed (and ready for naptime); he wanted to be pushed around and was occasionally saying "Shh! Shh!" As concert time drew near, we headed down into the performance hall. Friends J and S had joined us and saved seats, but Zachary didn't want out of the comfy stroller. And little Owen, comfortably asleep in mima's arms, got startled awake by the burst of applause as the choir came on stage. Poor mima had to dash out of the theater with him and didn't get to hear her daughter's excellent performance. But she (and you) can hear the recording here [scroll down to Dunava, under 'Slavic Choir Showcase']. Owen's first recorded, um, solo starts about 20 seconds in -- but the rest of the concert was fabulous!

Crib notes

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

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



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

Mama's boy

Zachary continues to talk about Owie, frequently coming over to him in his aquarium bouncer to turn on the music or ocean noises ("wah-wah! bubbles!"), and occasionally even saying 'niiice Owie'. Meanwhile, Owen continues to grow and share his bright smiles with all around him. Other than when we're in the car, he's generally happy and fairly quiet, except when making extra cute cooing noises, or grunting when, um, working on a "special project". He enjoys down time in his little dangling toy play area, as well as up time on mommy and daddy, and of course snack time on the boppy. After everyone always commenting on Zachary's resemblance to me (the jokes about "mini me" are nearly always followed with my height making me the actual "mini me"), it's been great to see Owen looking a bit more like mommy - and of course that means super cute! Meh pulled out some old baby pictures of herself; I'll have to scan some in so our readers can do a more complete comparison.

Zachary isn't just talking about Owen lately; he's started saying (in his cute "grab the first phoneme of most words" way) random sections from his favorite books, songs, and nursery rhymes by heart. Yesterday he was saying "bee ehm," and I couldn't figure it out. Today I decoded it when he added "miice in moon, ehm ehm ehm". He impressively moved on to N, O, P, and Q before getting bored. He's also doing a great job of trying to make us understand him -- taking extra caution (leading to perhaps an extra 10% accuracy) in his pronunciation when we just don't get it. I've even seen him change it up and try a synonym on occasion. Go little thesaurus man!

A blessing on your head

Zachary has developed a bit of a cold -- it's my bad, I had one last week, and now he's caught it. He's long said 'bessu' (bless you) when he sneezes, and that now also appears to apply to coughs. But perhaps more entertaining is that he's saying it to whatever happens to be nearby when a sneeze/cough occurs. 'bessu milk', 'bessu high chair', 'bessu airplane'... He's been blessing the entire house lately.

Sandy's time has at long last come. No, I'm not talking about mima, but my 2000 Toyota Corolla (tan, hence the name). The brakes were again making concerning noises (only 6000 miles after they were changed) and a fair amount of additional work was going to be needed to keep her running, so it's time to investigate a new vehicle. I'd still been rooting for an electric car or another plug-in hybrid, but the options are still pretty meager in those areas -- particularly for what should clearly be a family car at this point. Tomorrow I'll go check out the options, but the current front-runner is the impressive 7-seating Highlander, which from my measurements will still somehow fit in our garage.

Mima and papa continue to settle into their house; we're looking forward to meeting them tomorrow morning for brunch! Zachary and Owen visited again on Thursday, and Zachary allegedly got to pet Lola -- he was very gentle and said "nice" and "woof woof" in between giggling at her.

Changing of the guard

Grandma flew home early yesterday morning, and this afternoon mima and papa arrived from their cross-country drive all the way from Florida! They were accompanied by their fearless chihuahua Lola, which Zachary reportedly excitedly called "Yo-la", then followed around saying "dah-dee" (doggy), "ah-ah" (arf-arf), and "niiiice". She steered clear of him -- go figure.

Mima and Papa's boxes and second car should be following in the next day or so, but for now it was nice to have a day together with the family! Interestingly, Zachary has taken the opportunity to renew his interest in our family photo album, with increasing name accuracy:


In other verbal news, Zachary's been really rolling on his ABCs. He even does the "now I know my ABCs" bit, despite getting a little bored in the videos Meh caught. My favorite part remains "L-M-N-O" coming out as "Elmo".

Big tiny man

First, a video of Owen with grandma - he had a great time with her during her visit!


As usual, I hopped over to the little man's room when he started talking this morning (at the actually reasonably civilized 6:45 am). We snuggled in bed for a bit with his kitty, Elmo, and blankie, and he started whispering the ABC's -- the whole song, including the "now I know my ABCs" ending. He had all of the letters down, except that L-M-N-O came out as "Elmo". Definitely a one-track mind!

Grandma left very early this morning -- we had a wonderful time with her and hope she had a great Mother's (and Grandmother's) Day with us! We spent it first at swimming, then a tasty lunch with Meh (both she and grandma scored gift cards from the restaurant for the occasion), a lovely family stroll along a local trail, then an afternoon barbecue with friends D & D and their boys N & B.

Owen had his two-month checkup today. Meh took him while the little man and I hung out at home reading books and listening to music ("mahsah!"). The doctor allegedly took one look at Owen and pronounced him a "moose baby" (an ironic match to one of Meh's childhood nicknames) - but a very healthy and happy one at that (well, until he got sad from the multiple shots):

Weight: 14 lbs 7.5 oz (97th percentile)
Length: 23 1/2 inches (75th percentile)
OFC: 15 3/4 inches (50th-75th percentile)

Definitely a big -- though very cute -- tiny man!

Sight Reader

Zachary has a(nother) favorite new book for us to 'read book again'. (Incidentally, he's added substantially more 3 word sentences, including 'bessu dahdee' [bless you daddy], and even a 4-word sentence: "Want eat high chair!") In the book, a little girl pig decides she's going to be a one-girl band. Halfway through the book, her 'band' (consisting of pots, pans, etc.) is together, and there's a giant fold out of sheet music. From the first time Zachary read the book, he's readily identified that page as "mah-sah!" (music). Smart little music man! I expect an analysis of the score's chord progressions within the week.

And speaking of music, last night was the premiere of one of my orchestral compositions by a wonderful Seattle orchestra! It was a piece I'd first sketched out several years ago, and had just wrapped up literally as Owen arrived; I recall working on final parts a day or two after we got home from the hospital. Meh, Owen, and grandma (who flew in yesterday from Michigan) all came to the concert, which was unfortunately past Zachary's bedtime. And our friend J (who used to nanny for Z) came with her nearly Owen-aged daughter M; they were all joking about the babies' first chaperoned date. The kids did great; I heard someone squeaking a bit from the rear of the hall during my piece, but it wasn't even them. Meh reported that the loud bits started Owen a bit (it's a very 'live' hall), but he didn't cry or anything. The piece went really well and I was so honored and excited that the orchestra played it; I'm looking forward to hearing the recording soon!