Lyricists

The boys of course love music; Z has been singing a wide range of songs lately that we suspect may be part of tomorrow's preschool graduation "performance". But we've been seeing more and more creativity in the past few weeks with music. O started by adding new verses to "Row Your Boat" ("...and if you see a car, don't forget to vroom!"). Now both of them are tagging new verses onto many of their favorites. Tonight was one of the best -- they love "How Much is That Doggie in the Window" (which they follow with an energetic "woof! woof!"), and Z has been extending it to cat, pig, cow, and a variety of other animals with corresponding noises (though still always a waggley tail). Tonight, O contributed his own new lyric: "How much is that mommy in the window, hug hug!"

Roadie

It's been a well-travelled 48 hours for Meh and myself as we had a (very) brief road trip down to the Beaver State for a pair of concerts by Meh's choir. It was fabulous to get to see them perform (I'd miss their Folklife triumphs), and both Eugene and Portland are great towns to spend some time in. So, at 7 am on Saturday morning, Mima arrived (thank you again so so much mima - and right in the midst of Owen deciding that he wanted to be potty trained) to watch the boys, and we were off in the green car.

It was our first time in that other Emerald City, and we stayed at a very cozy inn at the north end of town. After meeting up with the other singers for lunch and a rehearsal with the band, Meh and I successfully stopped at the one site I had wanted to see in town -- a few years ago (at Folklife no less), I'd found an amazing vegetarian food cart serving up vegan cheesesteaks. I know, I know - what's the point. But they were so good that, when I discovered they were based down in Eugene and wouldn't be back in Seattle anytime soon, I'd even gone as far as to e-mail asking them for the recipe. They gave some hints but declined in general, so it was great to be able to visit their, um, home cart (semi-permanently established in a parking lot) and share the yum with Meh.

There was some actual yum (or more specifically Yumm) for dinner with the singers before heading to the concert venue, with a quick detour to a local bakery of repute to select post-concert treats. While in line to pay, I spotted cookies shaped like a monkey and a dinosaur, and knew that I'd found Z and O's gifts from our trip. O has already gobbled up most of the dinosaur today ("Where'd the dinosaur's head go, daddy?"), though Z preferred to just hold and look at "George cookie".

The concert itself was fabulous; I continue to be amazed by these women picking up and mastering such a multitude of songs in multi-point harmony, complex rhythms, in a number of wholly foreign languages, and putting on concerts of fully memorized music to boot! The audience was receptive and supportive, and Dunava's set was followed immediately with a round of Balkan dancing -- even I managed to get my feet untangled enough for a circle dance or two, though I also helped capture the audio recordings (and of course pictures).

For day 2, we had a little while to explore before heading up to Portland, and visited the (unfortunately closed, but grounds-accessible) Shelton McMurphey Johnson House before walking along a nice Willamette River park. Then we were off to PDX, where there was a nice casual afternoon performance for the director's grandfather, followed by a few hours to explore. Of course we had to make a return visit to everyone's favorite 68,000 square feet of independent bookstore. My favorite stop this time was the rare books section, which had everything from a $15,000 archaic book to a giant $500 book of Star Wars blueprints.

After a tasty pizza dinner, it was time for concert the second! This one was in an excellent but slightly more intimate coffee house-like space at a local church. Again, the girls did amazing work (with their third concert in twenty four hours) and the audience was very supportive. Pictures here. Afterwards, we were back in the car and on our way home to relieve mima -- huge thanks to her and papa once again for watching the boys during our 40 hours away!

The driver's seat?

We all know about the boys' cars (and more specifically Cars) obsession. The other day at the store, Meh noticed Cars underpants and decided to pick some up for O for when he indicated he might want to try starting potty training. Today the Cars incentive was proven out in amazing form - Meh picked up some Cars underpants for O a few days ago, telling him he'd get to wear them once he started going in the potty. I'll let Meh tell the rest of the story, as she did to me in a mid-day e-mail:

"This morning, O asked to wear his new undies. I told him he had to pee on the potty, so we sat on the new potty seat and he peed and peed! We read some books, he peed some more, so I let him wear the undies. We did dry checks every 10 minutes, then we sat again before we left (he tinkle-tinkle-tooted some more, as he calls it) and I put a pull up on him over the undies. When we go tot group, he didn't want to sit again, so of course the next check was wet, but then he sat and peed there and we got fresh undies/pullup. He peed one other time there on the potty, then he made it home dry and we peed again at home. I let him eat lunch on the potty. A few minutes later I put him on again, we read books and then he POOPED ON THE POTTY!!!!!!!!!! Then back into undies with a pull up and nap."

Go Mister O! Alas, he wouldn't sit on the potty for me before bathtime and then intentionally went in the bath. But still, a very good first day with the toilet. Congrats to O on the beginning of the end of diapers!

Trouble that stands for pool

I've been attempting to get increasingly brave (or is that dumb?) in trying to do activities with both boys that don't involve either or both being confined (to a car, shopping cart, etc.). I walked the boys to the park on Friday - the event went pretty well all things considered; I joked to Meh that I was more or less able to keep the boys within a football field of each other at the somewhat sprawling park near our house (which thankfully at least has decent sightlines).

On Saturday, we returned to the park soon after watching a Curious George episode that prominently featured baseball. (They've actually liked/requested this episode so much that they now sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" as part of their regular rotation.) The boys made the connection and wanted to check out an unused baseball diamond. There happened to be a baseball sitting near home plate, which O promptly picked up and talked about. Then we ran the bases: One last example of trying to handle both boys without the benefit of a stroller/shopping cart: Sundays, Z has swimming lessons. I was solo with the boys this Sunday - which made for interesting challenges getting both boys to the pool on the tail edge of O's nap time, Z changed into his swimsuit, and keeping O entertained poolside during the lesson without him heading into the water. Thankfully O did pretty well, and the only real challenge was afterwards, when both boys wanted to sit in the hot tub and I had trouble getting both to agree to actually come out at the same time. There was a nearly comical round of taking one boy out, trying to get the other one out, and the first stepping right back in. Nonetheless, we did survive, then had bonus fun time at the park across the street before heading home.

The boys find very random turns of phrase to crack up about - and then proceed to echo the words back to each other for hours on end. Here was dinner the night before last:

A very merry unbirthday

Zachary came home from school yesterday afternoon wearing what looked like a green crown with some pipe cleaners sticking up from it. Meh wasn't quite sure what it was about, as he was the only kid on the bus wearing a crown, and she was trying to guess whether it was supposed to be the very hungry caterpillar or just some random school craft that Z had decided looked better on his head. But his backpack held the answer: "Today we celebrated summer birthdays - that is why Zachary has a birthday crown. -S" Sure enough, there were 5 pipe cleaners in it. Z was a big fan, and O renewed his interest in headwear after seeing Z's crown, posing for a while in front of the mirror while wearing the red fireman's hat.

Last night was also Z's summer camp orientation meeting. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but he and I set out (at *gasp* nearly his bedtime) for the community center, with the aforementioned crown still firmly in place. He did remove it when we got to the venue, where we parked like some kind of Swingers choreographed car caravan alongside not one or two but three blue Priuses (one of the drivers had to snap a picture). We ran into friends R, M, and their son J before heading into the meeting itself. Z did really well with the introductory speeches, though he was a bit too shy to join the other kids when they headed to the gym for counselor-camper playtime while the parent orientation continued. I was finally able to walk him down towards the end of the info session, and he actually had a great time running around with the other kids, and even ran over and sat with another group doing songs with hand movements in a circle. I didn't quite catch that on this video, just him happily coming back to check in with me and my corner of the gymnasium.

After orientation, there was even a bonfire with marshmallows on (very long, kid friendly) sticks. Z was at first concerned with the idea of putting a stick in the fire, but before long he was flaming up marshmallows with the best of them. He didn't actually eat any (mostly just burned them to a crisp), though he did grab a few chocolate bar components of what were supposed to be smores. All in all, a very successful orientation - hope he has this much fun at camp proper in a few weeks!

Shalom Yafa

It's the end of an era: the boys' nanny Yafa is moving to Wisconsin to be with her new grandchild. While we only saw her twice a week, the boys have gotten very close to her and were always happy to see her when she arrived, and sorry to see her go. She has the magic touch with cars (she wasn't even aware that they fight over them for us), and I also don't think Zachary ever ate more than with her no-nonsense Israeli bubby sensibilities to eating meals! This was her last week with us; I'm not entirely sure if the boys were fully aware when we said goodbye last night that we won't be seeing her nearly as frequently, but they did give her extra special hugs on her last day, in addition to a bouquet of flowers and a frame with two pictures of them with her (which they decorated themselves with puffy stickers and such). The boys have had so many wonderful experiences with her, and continue to share Israeli songs, dances, and a love of our many Hebrew versions of children's classics with both us and each other. Shalom Yafa, safe travels, and see you again soon!

Now gluten free

As a follow-up to the last post on Zachary's make believe with Mima's phone, here's what he's been doing with a teeny tiny telephone that comes from one of Meh's childhood dollhouses. I've been neglecting to talk about the boys' ever increasing swimming skills; they're still in weekly classes, with me taking Z on Sundays, and Meh taking O on Mondays. Here's Z at last week's lesson: And while this isn't particularly representative of O's skills, it's water related and seemed pretty silly at the time. As Z continues to have frequent tummy aches, we've begun a two week experiment going gluten free to see if that helps. This is particularly challenging for him since his favorite foods besides fruit are Cheerios and goldfish crackers. For the former, we've swapped in gluten free cereals like Corn Chex for breakfast. For the latter, Meh did some amazing outside of the box thinking and decided to make her own. From scratch. And with a car-shaped cookie cutter. That's right, gluten free goldfish car crackers. I can't speak for Z, but I think they're pretty darn tasty. We'll have to wait and see how he judges them, though he certainly enjoyed helping to make them.

Tear down this wall

Another milestone for the boys - for the first time in something like 4 years, we have taken down the giant gate around the bookcases and TV/AV components in the family room. There was actually a small adventure involved while I tried to figure out how to make an appropriate cover for the open cabinet where the DVR, amplifier (with its enticing volume knob; Z has already blasted himself with sound a few times), DVD player, and Xbox all live. But, better living through plastic; I successfully created an acrylic screen that shields the components while still allowing remote controls to work. Without the fence, the room feelings shockingly large. The boys were quite curious, and of course started checking out the books on the shelves now that they're in reach -- but I was about ready to declare victory with the actual audio/video components being inaccessible. Yet somehow this afternoon, Z managed twice to get one or two (though not all) components on. I'm not quite sure how, but will have to stealthily watch and see if he's fashioned some kind of crude IR remote out of his electronic toys. Or maybe he's just figured out how to pivot the acrylic screen so he can reach behind. An investigation is underway.

A bit of scariness yesterday - while O was napping and Z was chillaxing, Meh was unloading the dishwasher and heard a loud thump followed by Z crying. We're still not sure exactly how or where, but he managed to bump his head pretty good. Thankfully papa was able to come over and keep an eye on the sleeping O while Meh took Z to the doctor -- everything looks okay though he got a staple in his head. O apparently slept through the whole adventure none the wiser. Z was unphased, and this morning apparently had a fabulous time in the Ikea ball pit while Meh did some speed shopping. O was very sad to not be able to join him, and apparently they've added a height requirement to the age and potty training one -- even Z barely clears the height limit, so it may be a bit before O can join him in BjållPitLünd.

Today mima came to visit Meh and the boys after work, and Z reportedly kept taking her cellphone, holding it to his ear, and saying "Hi, hello, how are you? Good... Bye!" Silly man.

Smell you later

Spring continues to occasionally become summer, and the boys are enjoying more and more time outside, whether in the backyard or at the park. Yesterday Z indicated he really wanted to be up in the tree, and was quite happy to sit in the crook of it for a few minutes while I took his picture. Tree climbing was one of my favorite childhood activities, though I'm moderately nervous about both the height and integrity of the mossy apple tree. For now, sitting is just fine with me. Z has also been slowly starting to master the art of pumping his legs to swing, and has even started to take an interest in sharing the swing with his brother -- so long as he gets to push:

O's ability to make long term and sometimes complex connections continues to astound (and occasionally confound) us! While he was taking his nap yesterday (he still takes some very impressive 2-plus hour ones), Meh had a piece of chocolate. When she went to get him when he woke up, he smiled at her, then curiously sniffed and declared "Mommy smells like chocolate. Mommy eat some chocolate! Eat some chocolate too!"

On the topic of sleep, nighttime continues to be a bit of a challenge. 4:30 remains O's wake up time of choice, and he generally starts suggesting that we take him downstairs by 5 am; negotiating a later time is a dicey situation often leading to loud declarations of "I want to go downstairs daddy. Puh-lease!" Coupled with Z waking up once or twice a night (tummy trouble? bad dreams? We haven't been able to figure it out yet), sleep remains a precious commodity around here.

Total Recall

It's been a Mothers' Day weekend full of mom-related news and events. First, mazel tov to grandma on her engagement -- we're so happy for her and J! On Mothers' Day proper, I got the boys downstairs and tried to let Meh sleep in a bit (note that it's all relative for us, getting up at 4:30 or 5 most days). We started making mommy breakfast to bring her in bed, and O really got into the act, helping me beat the eggs, pretending to make his own pancakes on his stove, and so on. (Z assisted by overseeing us while eating cereal and drinking juice.) Anyway, O was very intent on helping me bring the breakfast upstairs to mommy, and at 7 am it got to be too much and we had to head up. I soon discovered the source of his interest: he climbed into bed with mommy and proceeded to help her eat her breakfast. I'm still finding crumbs in bed two days later.

Anyway, a few hours later we went into city with two moms (mima and Meh) for some yummy international district Chinese food. The boys had fun with their chopsticks, and in restaurant number two (yes, it was a progressive lunch), they got to sit next to the lobster and crab tank; both boys found the sea creatures fun to watch, and thankfully we were all able to enjoy a mostly civilized lunch. The boys were given lollipops on our way out of the second dim sum restaurant. On the walk to the car, O managed to drop and shatter his -- though thankfully he wasn't too upset. (He did fall apart when we detoured to the Asian grocery store, particularly when we couldn't find lollipops, but then again, we were well into naptime.) Z incidentally dropped his onto the pavement as well -- but managed to pick it back up and put it into his mouth before I could get to it. Ugh, though perhaps still not quite as gross as the time he rubbed a lollipop on the carpet of a barber shop in between licks.

Anyway, so O was asking about lollipops as we headed home, and Meh said that yes, after his nap, he could have a lollipop. We walked upstairs, read some stories, and then put him to bed with a song. Sure enough, when O woke up two and a half hours later, his first words were "Go downstairs and have a lollipop!" And he did.

Class photos

Bedtime continues to involve a crazy extra burst of energy after bathtime. After brushing his teeth tonight, Z said "first pajamas, then silly". Indeed. Sometimes I'm convinced that I'm just reading stories to myself while the boys run around the room or climb up to the bunk bed. But tonight, everyone magically ended up snuggling in bed with me for two whole stories. When I said good night to Z he said, "bye, have a nice weekend" (it's Sunday, so I'll take that as appropriate).

A few weeks ago at toddler group, they had a professional school photographer come. Meh bravely elected to bring Z along as well for sibling photos, and the images that came back this week are certainly evocative of the many years of our own school pictures growing up. The matching union jack sweaters are excellent, and I particularly dig O's prop:

Meh's Magical Mystery Tour

Meh's birthday was on Wednesday - unfortunately a work day this year, so we didn't get a chance for a good solid family celebration (though I did sneak her some flowers towards the end of the day at the office). But mima, papa, and I coordinated a slightly belated birthday present: they watched the boys at their place overnight (mima was careful not to call it a 'sleepover' with her doubt of any sleep actually happening) while I took Meh on a secret outing; her only clue as to the destination was to pack sandals (though she didn't end up needing them anyway). Despite me missing one turn that turned into a slight scenic detour of the quirks of the Washington state highway system, we had a nice drive, listening to a fairly riveting book on CD, and she was finally tipped off as to the general vicinity of the trip when we approached the Mukilteo Ferry terminal: we were off to the lovely Whidbey Island.

We stayed at a cute B&B in the cuter Langley, the weather cooperated by staying mostly clear, we walked along the beach (where both a large bald eagle and heron were hanging out), toured the little seaside city (mostly closed down on a pre-high-season Friday night, though a cute little Italian restaurant was still open and hopping), relaxed, and most importantly, got to sleep in the next morning! After the nice breakfast part of the B&B, we checked out a local farmer's market (smallish despite the enormous amount of incoming car traffic for it), bought some new plants and herbs for our garden, toured a few more shops, then headed back across to meet up with the boys, mima, and papa for afternoon birthday cake. It was a very short trip, but we had a very nice time - and it sounds like the slumber party actually did involve some slumber, at least for the boys. Huge thanks to mima and papa for the very generous birthday present!

Winding down

Isn't the whole bathtime and quiet reading routine supposed to be to help everyone mellow out for bedtime? This is the typical end result in our house. Followed by...

Say Uncle

The boys' Uncle B is visiting for the weekend! We didn't book any formal activities, but kept quite busy just hanging out with the boys. There was much outdoor time, where Z and O showed him our garden, went on the swing, watered the dump truck (?), and discovered the joy of snatching Uncle B's glasses off of his face. I'm not quite sure why Z finds this so hilarious, since daddy wears glasses every morning too, but it's become his new favorite game to stealthily approach then snatch. The weather was also fabulous, so the boys dined al fresco on our deck on Friday night.

After watching what I might argue to be one of the most impressive hours of early 2000s WB television programming on Friday night, Uncle B graciously gave Meh and me a date night on Saturday, which we thoroughly enjoyed. On Sunday, we had a nice brunch with mima and papa, then B watched O while I ostensibly took Z to swim lessons. Unfortunately, I forgot his swimsuit, and by the time we doubled back to grab it, it was too late to make the class. But the four of us (Meh was at friend S's baby shower, amazingly planned and executed once more by Meh) did get to go on a nice walk around the neighborhood and then played on the local school's track and field, before having dinner at the house of one of B's high school friends, who has not only two similarly aged boys but also a treasure trove of vehicles. I was very proud of the boys - they played very nicely, shared with each other (and as importantly the toys' owners), actually ate dinner at the table, and didn't fall apart when it was time to clean up and head home.

Present Perfect Tense

We're still getting occasional hints of spring here, which means it's time for gardening. The boys love to help water our plants, though they also enjoy plucking flowers, and apparently are also into pulling up seed markers. Hm, we may have to limit backyard play time just to give our garden veggies a fighting chance.

Owen's vocabulary continues to expand. Tonight when I was getting his and Z's bath ready, he said "The water was cold. Now it is warm!" Meh also reports that he's started saying "but not Owen" as a comparison. (Example use: "The cars go in the box -- but not Owen!") And while it's perhaps a bit silly, one of my favorite activities is when he asks me to sing the Hebrew song "Ooga" with him, which involves holding hands, walking in a circle, and some sitting down/standing up. Nothing really beats how happy he is at the end of the song when there's a final "lakum!" ('to stand' in Hebrew) and he gets to jump up -- but equally impressive is how he knows and belts out all of the lyrics. And yes, far more accurately than daddy does.

Of course, he's equally cute with single word sentences:

Need not be present to win

Happy Passover! We had a lovely first seder at friends J & S's house. The boys did great, both sharing the coveted (cue heavenly chorus) cars of our hosts and even occasionally sitting at the table and enjoying some food. We'll just ignore that most of Z's choices were chametz (Cheerios, goldfish...) - I was stunned to see him actually try the parsley that's ceremonially dipped in salt water. In the meantime, O was his fairly adventurous culinary self, trying matzoh, charoset (which he keeps calling 'jam'), and one of the fun square eggs that J & S had made into a fabulous pyramid scene complete with lego slaves and taskmasters (the latter of whom were cast as Star Wars stormtroopers). The boys made it fairly far into the evening, though mima and Meh eventually took them home when they started turning into pumpkins, while papa and I stayed to the end.

One of the traditions of Passover involves the person leading the seder slipping away and hiding a piece of matzoh (always impressive that this succeeds when ostensibly everyone is sitting at the table - just a sign of the chaos and distractions I guess?) for the kids to try to find; the meal technically can't conclude until it's found, and there's often a prize involved for the lucky winner. I didn't even really notice that the matzoh was gone, nor that it had reappeared in time to conclude the seder -- but friend J indicated that it had been found by Z. Really? Well, it had originally been hidden in plain sight in their son L's jumperoo, and the next time they looked, it was over in the living room changing table/pack and play. Since Z was the only child tall enough to get it over the bars -- or old enough to have the coordination to throw it I guess -- he was declared the finder in absentia. His reward? A wrapped box that he eagerly tore open the next day ("present!"), which contained the hit new board game "Matzkoman". We've had no opportunity to play the actual game yet, but the boys helped me sort through the many shapes and sizes of playing cards. Owen spotted the four brightly colored dreidels, and has been asking for them ever since, walking around the house happily with fists clenched around them -- we'll see if they disappear before we get our opportunity to, um, free slaves and make matzah while avoiding plague cards! While I somehow forgot to snap any during tonight's slightly smaller but still very nice dinner at home, a full set of first night seder pictures can be found here.

Back in Time

When film festivals and comic book conventions collide... Last night's date night/"Back to the Future" film screening turned out to be tons of dorky fun, as well as Meh and my second film seen at a theater in three days - crazy! After battling our way in the car through the Convention Center's Comicon pedestrian traffic (several superheroes, not so much on the more traditional cosplay), we first enjoyed a lovely dinner at the Melrose Market. Then we headed onward to the main event, a screening of my favorite film, complete with opening Q&A with Lea Thompson. The queue for the theater was already well around the block, but we got to catch up with friends J & S and friends S & J (heh) while we waited. There was a parade of apparently 23 DeLoreans (on the main street; they came by sporadically one-at-a-time down our side street), and of course there's a Pacific Northwest DeLorean club -- how, well, Pacific Northwest of us. Anyway, there was much cheering as they drove by, mostly with their gull-wing doors open (at least until the rain started).

Once we got into the theater, there was a costume competition (a bunch of Marty's, three docs [one with an impressive head-mounted mind reading prop], random 1955 high school prom attendees, and even a Jennifer) and it was just so fun to see the film on the big screen again with a big enthusiastic audience. There was a little girl sitting behind us who just kept giggling every time Doc was on the screen, and it reminded me of just how I felt the first time I saw it.

My mostly blurry photo album is here; for far better shots of the pre-show festivities, check out these two instead.

Jump Around

Today Z attended a birthday party at what turned out to probably be his favorite venue yet: there were wall to wall trampolines, a giant digital clock (his new pasttime involves announcing the time every minute at meals), and topped off with ceiling fans. Here's a ten second video that apparently represented the entire hour that he was there (minus a 2-minute potty break).

But he did fabulously, not objecting one bit when mommy cued him that the hour was up. He even enjoyed everyone singing happy birthday to his friend N - the only minus was that the nap that followed meant he's likely going to be up crazy late this evening; Meredith and I are going to see a film, so hopefully he'll do okay for the babysitting mima.

Playing with food

In addition to his constantly expanding vocabulary (new recent words include "both" for pairs of items and "just" for emphasis or excluding something - "I just want to go outside" when I ask him to get in the car), Owen continues to surprise with his ability to both pretend and draw comparisons to other things he knows. Whether it's riding his horse, picking up a blue lego and pretending it's a car (yes, the cars are still on holiday), cooking in his kitchen while mommy or I am making something to eat in the grown-up version, or inventing some new friends to read to (watch below), this kid has a wonderful imagination:

Mommy has a yellow hairclip that he says "looks like an airplane", and indeed, when he said that, I immediately saw the biplane shape. (He more specifically says it's an "airplane with fruit", since it has some dangly plastic fruit decorations.) Here he is making comparisons and references to both a piece of construction equipment he saw recently and one of his favorite books:

Garden Gnomes

Spring has finally started to, um, spring, with a few warm days sneaking through the grey ones. The boys have been really enjoying getting to spend more time outside; they often want to check on the fairy door Meredith installed a few months ago, to see how our little neighbors are doing -- though unfortunately this often involves tromping through/flattening mommy's pretty and just-sprouting flowers. Then of course O has taken to the toy lawnmower, and thinks that those same flowers are the perfect items to mow. Z for his part has rediscovered the large blue ball, and enjoys sitting on it and then rolling/falling off it (forward or backwards is apparently equally fun). Here they are both incorporating Thomas the Tank Engine into their outdoor activities:

On the plus side, they've been doing fairly well with sharing -- taking turns on the swing, both playing in the playhouse, and even occasionally cracking each other up with their antics. Oh, and I don't know if it's just that I have a somewhat squinty smile that O is imitating or what, but when we ask him to smile for a picture, it usually ends up looking something like this -- silly man. Anyway, heavy duty outdoor playtime is always balanced with a bit of chillaxin', sometimes back inside the house with snacks, but several times now on the deck chairs, casually sipping on milk or juice while surveying the premises: