Yom Kippur started at sundown on Sunday, and I definitely experienced a pretty wide range of observance styles over the next 26 hours! On Sunday evening, I went to synagogue with friends J & S at S's parents' lubavitch shul for Kol Nidre. J and I actually ended up in front and center seats (literally right in front of the rabbi), so there would have been no escape -- but it was a very nice and welcoming traditional service, with a really warm community feeling.
On Monday, Meh and I were hoping to take Zachary to a Reform childrens' service in the afternoon; we'd made a similar attempt last week for Rosh Hashanah, but he slept clear through it. Anyway, I stayed home and did a miniature service for Meh and myself (in between her preparation of a yummy chocolate wafer/whipped cream/banana concoction for break-the-fast later in the evening -- talk about making it a tough fast!) during his nap. He woke up at a perfect time for a quick lunch, and then we were off to the temple.
The little man was of course smartly dressed in his new shoes and an excellently dapper outfit, and he did amazingly well at temple. The service was the perfect length for him (and, Meh joked, for her): about 35 minutes, with a 7-page prayer book consisting mostly of group songs, featuring a tiny little torah that the very engaging rabbi unrolled and briefly read/translated from, plus a few quick stories thrown in. There were probably close to a hundred kids plus their parents there, and they all seemed to like it. Zachary did a great job sitting still -- well, not sitting exactly, but staying on and around his chair; he kept standing up on it, leaning back against it, sitting back down, climbing down, climbing back up, etc. But there was no wandering away, and his eyes remained fixed on the rabbi (though he was occasionally saying 'ah-pah' -- granted, they've got lovely wide windows and skylights, but I couldn't for the life of me see any airplanes up there). My favorite part: about a minute after each song ended, he'd suddenly realize it was over and start clapping his hands. He was occasionally talky, and wide-eyed and entranced at the music and service overall. Afterwards we drove home and had a quiet family afternoon. All in all, a great first High Holiday experience for the little man!
Meh got Zachary his first pair of real non-"one-size-fits-all-toddlers" shoes on Wednesday -- and he already wears a 6 wide. I vaguely remember being trapped in the childrens' 11-12's as a kid for what seemed like forever, so he's already totally on my tail. He gave the dapper duds a nice workout at the park today, where he ran around multiple play structures, down a bunch of slides, occasionally parked himself in a little glass porthole/window seat on the second floor of a play structure, and commented on the multiple 'ah-pahs' as they flew overhead.
The big news today was that the little man actually ate some cinnamon toast for supper. It was on his plate, and then before we realized it, he was shoving it into his mouth and going for the second piece. (Both Meh and I valiantly feigned disinterest, though eventually she had to hop into another room and let out a small squeal.) Fourteen offers before a child tries a new food? How about forty? But very exciting; we'll have to see if he remembers the taste the next time we offer it.
Gooshie has been kicking up a storm, though I can't feel the activity quite yet! We took him/her to a play last night with friends J & S, and Gooshie seemed to enjoy it; we had a nice time having an evening out together, with kaiten sushi dinner and a play that was, per the program description, very certainly pastiche (good new Scrabble word) as well as completely silly.
We've been discovering over the past few days that Zachary's able to count - well, sort of. I generally carry him down the stairs in the morning, and I've almost always counted the steps as we walk down them. The other day, he smiled at me on the top step and said 'wah' (one). So since then, we take it a step at a time, and he counts and I echo with the actual number. The key to the Zachary numbering system:
1. 'wah' | 2. 'dah' (not much rhyme or reason for that one, though 'dah' is often his default in general) | 3. 'dah' | 4. 'fah' | 5. 'fv' | 6. 'sha' | 7. 'shasia' (both ceiling and seven apparently) | 8. 'eh' | 9. 'mah' | 10. 'tah'
11 is the crowning achievement, where he proudly announces 'el-wah!'. He likes the sound of it so much that sometimes the twelfth through fourteenth stairs are also 'el-wah', though on other occasions he realizes that breakfast is near, and starts saying 'mih' (milk) instead.
We've started another round of swim lessons, and this time we scheduled it for the weekend, so both mommy and daddy can come along. Zachary still has a great time splashing around in the pool, and particularly likes jumping off the underwater platform to mommy. After swim lessons, we even got to have family brunch at a nearby yummy bagel deli.
In between playing with his favorite blue plane (which alternates between 'ah-pah' and 'boo pah'; 'boo pah' is also any blue toy, blueberries, etc.) and red car ('wah kah'), Zachary will often carry on conversations and make some really strange noises. When I say 'Oh Yeah' (think Kool-Aid Man), he'll frequently say a cute extended 'yeahhhhhhh' back. Not in this video, but at least you'll know why I'm saying it:
Home at last! Another long trip away, and it was very good to be back; the little man was already asleep when I got home, so hope he's happy to see me in the morning! Meh was baking today, and Zachary simply had to watch - so in came the step stool, and up he went to check out the mixer. Note how blankie had to come with him.
I had a great time visiting friends M, K, and their nearly two-month-old daughter N. I couldn't believe how tiny she was when M and K let me hold her! And even her noises were tiny; I remember when Zachary was unhappy at restaurants as an infant, we'd quickly scurry out. With N, I felt like I could barely hear her across the table (not that she was making much noie to begn with) - though I'm sure M and K are a bit more sensitive to it than I was. :)
M and K have an incredible home outside of Forth Worth, and baby N's room is very sweetly decorated for when she's ready to check it out. (For last night, M's friend A, visiting from Chicago at the same time as me, got to borrow N's room). The five of us hopped into Fort Worth to enjoy the lovely vegan restaurant I'd visited with them last year. I had the 'Paul Reuben', made with faux corned beef and faux cheese (or as the menu called it, 'cheez') -- it was super yum. We headed home in the afternoon and passed the time with a few rounds of cards. We actually attempted to indoctrinate K into the 4-player Michigan classic known as euchre, but N refused to be part of such a backwards Midwestern game, so instead the three of us played hearts. For whatever reason, I had the game of my life and ended up winning with 8 points; I jokingly asked where the nearest casino was, but I think that would've been pushing what little luck I had. Instead we had friend S (another Seattle-to-Forth Worth transplant) grab some tasty takeout tex-mex and come by for dinner and catching up.
M's friend A headed home early the next morning, but the four of us got to eat breakfast at the Fort Worth classic diner, where baby N was the center of attention for staff and patrons alike. And yes, all three adults again had to answer "no" when the incredulous waitress asked if we really didn't want any meat with our breakfasts. A quick trip through the entertainingly large and varied Central Market and a take home Thai lunch, and I was back on the road to the airport. A huge thanks to M and K for hosting me, and to N for letting me occasionally hold her - it was good to get a little practice in!
We've been gradually sharing the news around, and with yesterday being the first day that Meh felt a certain familiar kick, this seems like a good opportunity to post the announcement on our blog - we're expecting! On or about March 1 (plus or minus 2 weeks or more of course), we're all looking forward to meeting Gooshie.
The name came about quite early; I actually remember we were sitting on a dinner date, where a few minutes before, Meh had surprised me with a gift-wrapped book that we'd actually read through once before -- it was a wonderful way to find out the news! Anyway, Gooshie just popped into my head when we started thinking about what to call our in-vitro baby. It's certainly appropriate and consistent, as Zachary was originally named Ziggy, another name that happens to belong to a Quantum Leap character.
Not sure yet whether we'll find out the gender this time; Zachary was a surprise, but I think Meh would like to know if we'll be needing a new color and clothing-style palette or not. :) And as to Zachary's own awareness, not sure if he has any idea yet. One of his favorite books remains "The Berenstain Bears' New Baby", but I think that might mostly be for wood-chopping sequence for brother bear's new bed (in which I still think papa bear looks suspiciously menacing with a sharpened axe).
I was bummed to miss the first kick as I'm still in Texas, though I know it's a bit longer before they can be felt by others (though preferably not strange people touching Meh's tummy like last time!). On the plus side, I'm now visiting friends M, K, and their super-cute baby N - we've been having a wonderful time together! It certainly brings back memories, though I still have a hard time remembering Zachary being that small.
I'm once again on the road, this time for a conference in Austin followed by some meetings in Dallas/Fort Worth. On the plus side, the second stop will allow me to catch up with friends M, K, and their new daughter N! On the minus side, it seems like we just got back from DC, and Meh had been fighting some kind of bug for the past few days - it was hard to get on another plane early yesterday.
Some sad news reported from the homefront today - Meh and Zachary went to one of his favorite parks, where he was having a great time playing and running around. At some point, he started picking the flowers (our own little Ferdinand), and before Meh could stop him, he picked a flower with a bee on it. Little man got his very first bee sting, and was very sad - though thankfully had no major allergic reaction. Meh cleaned it out (with a credit card to avoid pushing in more venom, though apparently now not all sources deem this necessary?), but he had a tiny little swollen thumb for the afternoon. Meh said that when he got home and tried to play with his legos, he'd occasionally pick one up with the stung thumb and be uncomfortable once again. We hope he learns from this to avoid bees, though Meh thinks it's as likely he'll avoid flowers, legos, or both.
He was doing much better by the evening, and the bite seemed almost unnoticeable. If there's a silver lining to the experience, at least it hopefully indicates that the little man won't be as susceptible to bee allergies.
Yesterday we had our return flights, and we'd learned from our outbound journey to not underestimate the value of a smooth start. Thankfully, BWI was practically deserted -- check-in took about 5 minutes, and the security line was nonexistent as well. As we walked toward our gate, we were met with a fairly unusual sight at an airport: a gate decorated with streamers, balloons, a giant table with cake and cookies, a trio of classical musicians, and a small press contingent. Apparently, JetBlue now serves Baltimore, and we were witnessing the arrival of the maiden flight, full of $19-paying passengers. Why can't we get deals or service like that out west? Meh remarked that airports should always have live classical musicians, and I agree that they and free cake would certainly make travel a little easier!
Zachary's sleep schedule was totally out of sync with our itinerary today -- he fell asleep 10 minutes before we arrived at the airport, 20 minutes before our first flight landed, and 25 minutes before our second flight landed. Despite being woken up every time (unlike our last amazing experience with multiple sleeping man transfers), he really did quite well; it was just exhausting trying to keep him entertained! We attempted his headphones (he'd dissed them on previous trips), and this time they actually stayed on and elicited a small smile and some music listening for a whole two minutes before he was done with them:
We had a decent layover in the Twin Cities, and Zachary spent much of it running from window to window, watching the planes and commenting on them like so:
He also frequently said "ah-pah!" [airplane] and talked about their colors; he particularly likes the blue Southwest planes. Another flight, and we were back in Seattle; we grabbed our luggage, had another happy (but clearly tired) shuttle ride back to our car, and headed home. Zachary was very happy to see his own bed, and was practically asleep as his head hit the sheets. We had such a wonderful and fun trip with bubbie, aunt I, uncle S, Meh's friend C, and my friend J. But it's good to be back in our own home and sleeping in our own beds tonight.
Yes, he's more of a toddler at this point, but the title still seemed apropos considering our location today; aunt I and uncle S were working, so Meh, Zachary, and I braved the Metro into DC for a visit to the Smithsonian Institution. The Metro claims to be fully stroller accessible, though there were a few dodgy moments; on the way back we were fully stumped and had to shlep the stroller up an escalator and down a broken escalator (a.k.a. a long metal stairway) to get to our train; Zachary thought the bumping and jostling were hilarious. Suffice it to say, he was happily beside himself watching the trains approach - the combination light show (in addition to the headlights on carriages, circular lights embedded along the track flash when trains arrive), train horns, door chimes, and gusts of wind had him laughing and smiling. Aboard the train, he kept glancing over at me and bursting into a big grin in between chowing on goldfish crackers.
When we arrived at the Smithsonian, we started with a stroll through their gardens and then hopped into the castle for a quick look as it started briefly raining; the centerpiece there was a pile of props mocking up famous items in the Smithsonian's collection, as used in the recent family movie -- and yes, there was a giant gift shop display next to it hawking "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" souveniers. We moved on to the Museum of Natural History, where Zachary fell asleep about 5 minutes into the visit. We sat down for a nice lunch in their cafe, and when he was still asleep as we wrapped up, we started our museum tour with a sleeping passenger in tow.
First we visited the Hope Diamond and a really neat gemology exhibit, with all different shapes, sizes, and textures of various precious, semi-precious, and really-not-precious stones. Meh and I think we saw the Hope Diamond previously at an exhibit in London, but it really is ginormous. They're apparently planning to re-set it and currently have an online vote to choose the design. After wrapping up the gemstones, we visited some ancient and then semi-contemporary fish and mammal exhibits. We were trying to save the dinosaurs for the little man, but he was still out, so we ended up viewing the fossils as he slept on.
At last he woke up as we wrapped up the insect exhibit (the last major exhibit at the museum), ready for milk and lunch. We hopped outside to the National Mall, where the little man enjoyed some yogurt, raisins, and crackers, before we all headed back to the Metro for the trip back. He was happy and looking around through the whole walk through the station and train ride, though I unfortunately wasn't able to capture a video of his full excitement for the approaching train.
Refreshed from his long (I think another 2+ hours) nap, he had an excellent afternoon playing with bubbie, reading books, and playing with a series of toys. All in all, a very good last full day in Maryland -- tomorrow we head back to Seattle, so it's good to see him happy and well-rested in time for a big travel day. A huge thanks to aunt I and uncle S for hosting us, picking up all of Zachary's giant list of needed gear, feeding us (we weren't allowed to pick up a single meal), and playing tourist with us!
Two of Zachary's favorite features of aunt I and uncle S's house are the ceiling fans, one located in the bedroom where he's sleeping and the other in the master bedroom. This makes him constantly want to climb upstairs, where he happily runs around between the two rooms, smiling and saying "shah-siya!" [ceiling?] as he looks up at the fans. Meh even got him to say "fuh-fuh-FAH!" [fan?] as well. This morning, Zachary woke up fairly early, so I brought him into bed with us. We all actually slept nicely for a bit longer, then he sat up, made sure I was awake, and signed 'more' and then 'please'. I quietly whispered "more what?" and, just as quietly, he whispered back "shah-siya!" This was so cute that I simply had to go turn on the fan for him, though that just made him happily say "shah-siya" again and again in a regular loud voice; we scurried downstairs for breakfast to let Meh sleep some more.
Today we all drove down to Baltimore's Inner Harbor. They've got a ton of activities there, including the 1854 USS Constellation tall ship, a not-quite-as-old submarine (which sounded its diving alarm like every 5 minutes), and plenty of outdoor strolling. Zachary was eager to be in the stroller and 'gooo'-ing, so we walked most of the harbor with him. Then we spotted their children's museum and headed inside. Zachary was very not pleased for the stroller to stop moving, but we wanted to try to get him at least a little activity, so in we ventured.
There were at least a few minutes of happiness (or at least quiet exploration) in between whining and outright crying. Poor little man had around 20 minutes of Port Discovery before we gave up and headed out. He was not a fan of the ID bracelet, though the rest of us kept ours on in case we decided to venture back later. It was not meant to be though; 10 minutes later, Zachary was totally conked out. So we all went and had lunch (at a place with a *lot* of ceiling fans - his loss!) and then roamed around some of the shopping areas, one of which had freshly filled cannoli for Meh, and another which is the only licensed shop in the country to sell Charm City Cakes merchandise (more on them in a bit). Zachary was still asleep, so we walked the whole length of the harbor, down to some extra swanky-looking condominiums. He was still asleep after that, so Meh and I stopped and relaxed on some benches (I chuckled at the concrete lounge chairs) while aunt I and uncle S got ice cream. He finally woke up as we got back to the car.
Before heading back home, we simply had to drive the 10 minutes from the harbor to stop at the home of our favorite Food Network bakery. I'd looked on their website, and it was quite clear that they don't want their TV fans stalking them - no tours, no visits without appointments, etc. So uncle S pulled over the car, Meh ran out, and I snapped a quick photo of her in front before we dashed back away. The windows were all heavily tinted and/or covered; I'm not sure if they were in the midst of shooting for the show, or in general have had to get even more private. Oh, the inconveniences of celebrity!
Lastly, on to the title of today's post. Tonight, Meh was giving little man his bath, and he suddenly started making the face that indicated he was, ah, making. In the bath. Meh quickly pulled him out and put him onto the toilet. Rather than crying, he just completed his business; hooray for Zachary's first potty training moment!
(Editor's note: We had an alternate title for this post: "Maryland is for Crap." But despite chuckling approval from the few Marylanders we tried it out on, I couldn't quite bring myself to blemish the Old Line State in a blog post title.)
We're off once more to the east coast, visiting bubbie, aunt I, and uncle S. Things started off promising, with a happy drive to the airport followed by Zachary happily saying 'wah wah!' when Meh asked him what color the giant yellow airport shuttle was, and then laughing and talking happily through the shuttle ride into the terminal. And that unfortunately concluded Zachary's happiness for at least a few hours; while ticket check-in went quickly, the luggage check lines were obscenely long and slow. Meh and Zachary (the latter esconced in his excellent stroller-adapted car seat) orbited the terminal while I waited for nearly 40 minutes to check our bags -- people were getting impatient left and right as lines closed (unannounced), other passengers had to shuffle their bags' contents for being over the weight limit (who carries 50+ pounds of luggage in a single bag?), and in general things were mildly unpleasant. Meanwhile, Zachary went from whiny to nearly inconsolable without explanation. Bags finally checked, we approached the security checkpoint, and had another 30+ minute wait, again with an angry little man. They of course had to take extra time to screen his bottles of milk, which didn't really help as the tears continued to flow.
Once we were up and moving through the terminal, he did a little bit better. But when we got to the gate, he again switched to angry tantrum mode, and was inconsolable for a good twenty minutes. Finally, Meh got him over to a window, and he stopped crying long enough to say 'ah-pah' (airplane) and start watching planes go by. This was of course just in time for us to board, leading to another round of crying. Finally on the plane, blankie and bunny came out, and he snuggled them and fell asleep. During the layover and next flight, he happily commented on the airplane and 'boo-bah!' (his new favorite blue truck toy) in between drinking what seemed like several gallons of milk and not eating much. We arrived late in the evening and were picked up by aunt I and uncle S, who had impressively acquired the full list of suggested baby paraphanalia from another friend who was a recent grandparent. Zachary was so exhausted that he went right to bed in the pack and play with minimal fuss.
Today was our first full day, and Meh's (very dedicated!) friend C drove all the way down from New York to visit for the day. After we met up, we were off to meet bubbie (Zachary's great-grandmother) for brunch, and things unfortunately went a bit downhill from here for the little man. Zachary still wasn't interested in food, and quickly moved into a tantrum. He was only happy once we got him outside, where there was a large fountain to look at and then wildly run around. After a tag-team dining experience, we ended up taking him home for a very needed nap, while Meh and C hopped the Metro into DC and got to enjoy some catch up time while perusing Dorothy's Ruby Slippers at the Smithsonian, and visiting other monuments around the Mall.
Aunt I and I took him to a local park, where he played on the slides for a bit before we had to beat a hasty retreat from the mosquitoes. We all caught back up for dinner with bubbie, and Zachary had a good snuggle and play time with her. Aunt I and Uncle S have pulled out some of my cousins' old toys, and the little man has really taken to them, particularly all of the vehicles (anyone for a TMNT pizza launcher?) and a turtle on rollers that plays music; he'll press the music button and clap his hands when the music starts - so cute! Alas, the heavy travel (and lack of good naps) caught up with him, and he had a rough time getting down for the night; hopefully now that he's down, he'll sleep well and be ready to have a more consistently fun time tomorrow when we head to Baltimore's Inner Harbor!
Friends J & S had a lovely end-of-summer barbecue yesterday afternoon. Meh was working, so Zachary and I went together after his second nap of the day. He was a bit fussy when we arrived -- still waking up, a bit overwhelmed by all of the people, and as I found out later, busy, um, producing something at the time. So we headed past the amazing spread, out on their back elevated deck, and then down the stairs to their excellent now completed backyard. After a bit of clinginess, Zachary was happy to get down and run around like a madman. First he spent a bunch of time running around on the paved area directly under the deck, glancing back at me, smiling, stomping his feet, and collecting and brought daddy each of the many pine cones that he found.
Then it was free range Zachary time. When he reached one particular tree, he touched it and then craned his head way back to smile up at the top of it. And when he found the wooden fence, he started leaning up against it in a super-cute way. A few other guests had brought their dogs; Zachary hadn't gotten to spend much time with pooches since last seeing Uncle Gus at grandma's house, and he learned that dogs make other sounds besides "ah ah":
Today's milestone: Zachary's first crying-free haircut! I took him back to the place we'd gone last time, and he was in an excellent mood beforehand. Two little girls were ahead of him, and I was nervous that mood would wear off by the time it was his turn, but he was satisfied to play with a giant basket of toys (first putting back the animal toys the girls had left out, then finding each and every car in the basket) and with a giant magnetic blackboard covered with colored letters and numbers. When we got to the haircut, he brought one die-cast car along, and I plopped him into a truck-shaped barber chair. He played with the wheel and buttons, but when the scissors started, I could see he was potentially ready to be unhappy. The stylist was way ahead of me, bringing over a giant tub of cars and trucks. The little man spent the rest of the haircut sorting through and playing with the wide variety of vehicles. There was even a Harold the Helicopter, which prompted Zachary to say one of my favorite new little man words: "ha ha". (He says this every time he sees Harold in one of his Thomas books.) Zachary was happily distracted through the whole cut, only occasionally raising a hand to try to grab the comb (succeeding once), and giggling a few times as the scissors and comb tickled the back of his neck. Such a good and cute little man, and now he's got a smart haircut in preparation for visiting bubbie, aunt I, and uncle S this weekend!
Meh has wisely decided to visually document a few of the lovely meals we've offered to Zachary -- if he isn't always going to eat all of the variety of selections we present to him, at least we'll have pictures of our efforts. Granted, every once in a while he'll surprise us and get past stage 1 below with a new cuisine:
(Frequent) Pick it up and reach as far toward us as he can, trying to get us to eat it.
Bring it toward his face, inspect it, and then put it back down.
Touch it to his lips, then put it back down.
Put it (gasp) into his mouth, then sit there frozen, evaluating the flavor, then spit it back out.
(Rarely) After #4, start vacuuming down the rest of the food item on his plate.
(Once in a blue moon) The next time we serve a food that reaches stage 5, he remembers he likes it and eats it again. Otherwise, it's back to stage 1.
Last week, plums reached stage 5 (but not 6). The other day, cucumber reached stage 4. And as seen here, our lovely heirloom tomatoes are stuck at stage 1. This is the excitement that is our dining adventures. In the meantime, we'll keep following the advice of most child nutrition books - it's our responsibility to offer him a variety of healthy foods, and it's his to actually eat them. Worst case, I help Zachary finish off particularly yummy-looking things that don't appeal to our young food critic.
Tonight we were once again reading Zachary's favorite bathtime book, Elmo's book of opposites. When I asked him the opposite of "tall", he looked at me, smiled, and said "Dada!". Cruel, but true.
We've been continuing to have a fun daddy/son weekend, though we both of course miss mommy a lot -- fear not, she returns tomorrow! Zachary occasionally looks around and says 'mama'; I've taken the opportunity to "read" to him more from our little flipbook photo album of family and friends -- he's even brought it to me a few times. I open it up and start pointing at people and asking him who they are. The first two pages are pics of us, and he pretty consistently says 'mama' (for both Meh and myself). But on other pages, he's doing a great job of starting to identify people and pick out a sound or two to say from their names: 'Papa' (papa, poppy), 'mama' (mima, Meh, and of course daddy), 'baba' (bubbie), 'uhkabah' (Uncle Brian, who got to hear him say this on the phone this evening), 'uhkajah' (Uncle Josh), and of course an energetic 'dah!' for friend J (who elicits the same initial response when Zachary sees him in person).
Zachary's vehicle organizing continues; I don't know if he's trying to arrange his inventory for the Cash for Clunkers program or what. Today he first pulled all of his cars out of his push cart and put them on the ottoman. Then he leaned over the gate around the TV and put them up on the TV stand. Then those spots weren't nearly precarious enough, so he managed to balance most of the cars on one arm of a chair, only signing for daddy to help when he ran out of room. And when we got back from an evening walk, the day wrapped up with another well-presented and thorough collection of cars on his stroller (including a nicely featured Mini Cooper on the stroller footrest - he's clearly got an eye!).
In between the car show events, we headed into the city and had lunch with friends D & S at the tourist-swarming Pike Place Market. With the beautiful weather, I'd hoped to get us a patio table here (I hadn't been in years) -- but I'd forgotten about the very stroller-unfriendly 20+ stairs down from the entrance or 30+ up from the market, and the 30 minute wait that D reported when he scouted ahead was the end of that idea. We instead chose a tasty sandwich shop with a bunch of outdoor tables, one of which had some diners with two greyhounds snoozing around them. I waded around the pooches, and the little man enjoyed his lunch while watching the dogs and listening to a street musician strumming a guitar twenty feet away. Only a ceiling fan would've kept him more entertained!
One of the fun birthday presents Zachary got was a Thomas the Train step stool, which we use at the bathroom sink after his bath. He loves to step up it, smiles at his reflection in the mirror behind the sink, and eagerly waits for his toothbrush (which he generally just tries to slurp the toothpaste off of). He hasn't quite figured out how to step back down yet, but it's a work in progress, and both he and his parents' backs are very pleased to be able to reach the sink without us having to hold him up. Anyway, he definitely thought outside of the box (stool?) at bath time tonight; when I start drawing the water for his bath, sometimes he'll excitedly run into the bathroom, check the temperature of the water, and occasionally even halfway try to climb into the tub. (Thankfully he isn't quite tall enough yet, since he's often still in his clothes at this point.) Tonight I heard a noise from the bathroom while the water was still warming up and I was getting his pajamas ready. I came in to discover he'd picked up and was moving the step stool over from the sink to the tub for an easier entrance -- what a clever little man!
It's been a whirlwind of a week; Zachary's nanny is out of town, so Wednesday I stayed home with him. And yesterday morning, Meh headed to a Balkan music and dance festival in Oregon for the weekend. Before she left, Zachary performed a short recital for us:
Now the men are home alone for four days! We'd handled it pretty well last time, though then Meh was only gone for about 3 days, and one of those days Zachary spent with his nanny.
Wednesday, the little man and I went to visit the South 47, a farm that's all of 10 minutes from our house -- I drove past it daily on my old work commute, and embarassingly had never visited, nor pondered that it would be fun for the little man and might have tasty U-Pick fruit and veg. Of course, fields with minimal tractor ditches aren't really conducive to strollers, so we were on foot. Or at least I was; Zachary wasn't interested in walking, so I carried him all around the farm, pointing out various plants and asking him what color the berries were (he correctly identified them as 'wah' and 'bv'). It was in the upper 80s, so we ducked into one of the greenhouses with picnic tables, where I finally got him to run around while gigglging by singing a silly song. Then we hopped back to the farmstand at the front of the farm to peruse their pre-picked fruit and veg. Some gigantic heirloom tomatoes, along with fresh peaches, plums, nectarines, and even the first apples of the season -- but we already have quite a stash at home, and a delivery was coming yesterday, so I resisted. As we departed, I realized we hadn't yet found the token farmyard animals that I'd predicted he would be most interested in. Looking back towards the farm as I drove off, I saw that they'd been right there by the entrance. Whoops, next time!
Since then, we've gone to the local state park, where I attempted an 'easy' hike, again with him in the stroller. "Easy" doesn't take into account tree roots along the trails, so I'm going to upgrade that route to 'moderate' when you have a stroller plus 27.8-pound toddler. On the plus side, he mightily enjoyed the swings after we emerged from the forest. We've also enjoyed the summer weather by having playtime in the yard, including tricycle (he isn't quite tall enough to self-guide via the pedals, though he's starting to use the steering wheel), pushcart, swing, and daddy/son snuggling in the hammock (which he calls 'hama'). We swung in it for a bit and he kept looking back up at me and smiling.
Today we ventured into the city for lunch (or at least an early afternoon snack) with good friends S & J, who we hadn't seen in ages. It was so nice to catch up with them, while Zachary spent much of the time playing in the restaurant's excellent gated play area with a variety of legos, cars, dinosaurs, and other fun toys. I wish more restaurants would imitate this; he had such a great time while the three adults sat at a table right next to the play area keeping an eye on him. A few times he whined and craned his neck when he couldn't see me for a few minutes, then smiled and went back to his activities when I waved at him. Whether at a restaurant or in the hammock, it's a good feeling to have him check up on you and make sure you're nearby!
Another milestone: Zachary has made the transition to 2% milk. For those keeping score, this isn't actually a huge leap from whole milk, which I learned along the way is about 3.6% milkfat. But still, perhaps a slightly less fatty cup of milk will mean slightly more interest in trying new and different foods?
Today I got to take Zachary to his swimming class all by myself; I hadn't attended in ages, and last time I'd been an observer. The little man was excited and happy from the moment we got out of the car, and knew exactly where we were. Changing was a minor challenge, as I got him into his swim diaper and then noticed a puddle start to form around his legs. Meh mentioned afterwards that the pre-swim pee is is a common tradition for him. I cleaned it all up, but he still managed to soak my shirt pretty well -- and we thought he was the one for whom we needed to carry a change of clothing? :)
He definitely knows what he's doing much more than I did; the class songs would start and he'd be smiling, excited, and splashy, and when there was an expected dip, he was halfway into it before I knew to dunk him. There were songs, fun toys, some back floating, life vest practice, playing on a little underwater platform, and sliding down a slide. I can't speak for Zachary, but I was ready for a nap afterwards!
Zachary continues to be fairly organized with at least certain toys; a few days ago, he managed to place all of his cars, trucks, train cars, and other wheeled objects up on the counter top in a continuous row, even continuing it around a corner to the wall. And today when mommy asked if he wanted to go for a walk, he ran over to his stroller, but Meh was surprised that, as she got her shoes on, he didn't impatiently whine for her to hurry up. When she got to the stroller, she discovered the reason: the little man had been carefully removing the full complement of cars he had placed in it, moving them one by one over to the bench.
More speech advances: last night I read him that same Elmo bathtub book, and when I asked him the opposite of 'Stop', he said 'Gooo'. And when I asked the opposite of day, he said 'nah'. And then today, Meh reported that with Sesame Street on the television (and Zachary at least appearing to not really pay attention to it), he ran into the kitchen and happily told her 'bih bih' when Big Bird came on. Go, little man, gooo!
New vocabulary has been coming almost daily for the little man. Zachary imitates more and more animal sounds (though my favorite remains his attempts to 'guess' when he doesn't know what the animal sounds like - the most random syllables come out of his mouth!), and still requests milk with the word "mih". He's also now starting to identify colors: blue is "bvv", and yellow and red are both "wah".
But perhaps the most surprising development is his ability to verbally identify a certain red Muppet, which he started doing yesterday when we read a book about said muppet. Zachary is rarely interested enough to watch the live action version, so it's all the more surprising that this character has become his first multi-syllable, non-repeated-syllable word - and the first non-familial name to boot. During bathtime, he gave a repeat performance:
Zachary's second birthday has come and gone, which means it's time for his two-year check-up! We called yesterday to schedule it (at the time of his 18-month appointment they said they didn't schedule that far ahead?), and they had an opening this afternoon. I missed out due to work, but Meh reported that he had a good appointment, and was even actually happy -- at least until the otoscope went into his ear, at which time the waterworks started.
But regardless, Meh's side of the gene pool seems to be holding sway (at least for the time being), with the little man at close to average weight and height:
Yup, at two years, we are now officially at the end of tracking ounces! They're also apparently at the end of needing strictly accurate weighings, as he wore all of his clothes for the measurements.
While Meh and I were enjoying Olympia, Zachary was having a blast with mima and papa. They had a return trip to Carkeek Park, where a train whizzed by just as they arrived, to much big Zachary smiling. They also visited the local Children's Museum and enjoyed a few meals out together. Again, I'm pretty sure mima and papa were having as much fun as Zachary!
They thankfully documented their experience with fun photos; Meh and I had spent much of our trip speculating about the fun times they must be having, and what the little man would have made of the B&B, state capitol, and other places we explored. I'm not sure what the symbolism or subconscious indicators are here, but both grandma's and mima and papa's cameras appear to have every picture they've ever taken still on the camera's memory card. On the plus side, this meant that yesterday morning we were able to pull down photos from our last visit to Florida from after our camera got washed; those pics are now featured with the rest of the collection here.
We were all sad to see mima and papa leave yesterday morning, and are looking forward to their next visit (or our next visit to their warmer climate!).
Zachary and his grandparents were getting on so well that Meh and I were able to go take a quick 2-day mommy and daddy getaway vacation to our state's capitol -- or rather to an incredibly cozy bed and breakfast just outside of the city. Huge thanks to friend I, whose own stay there last month led to the recommendation!
I'd forgotten just how close Olympia is; the drive down was under 90 minutes. We started our trip by actually passing the city and driving to visit a very special sanctuary for wolves, many of whom are endangered, and most of whom were raised in captivity (zoos, private owners, etc.) and reside here because they can't be released to the wild. Fear not, only about 75% of the other tour participants were raving Twilight fans -- I heard a few speculative mumbles about Jacob Black candidates among the wolves we saw, and one tour participant was even wearing a shirt whose back listed all of the vampires in the book series, like some kind of literary band tour. But I suppose the fandom can be only a positive for a non-profit like Wolf Haven, and this sanctuary goes even further, with "howl-in" evening events on summer weekends. The guide was silly and she clearly loves working with the wolves. The wolves (and a pair of coyotes) themselves were lounging (quite a few up on the roofs of their dens), strolling, stretching, and in one case actually howling a bit at us -- he was apparently a recent addition who had been rescued from poor conditions and was still a bit wary of a pack of human tourists:
From there we headed to the B & B, which was tucked away appropriately enough on the edge of a cove. The grounds were wonderful, with lovely views of the sound, multiple flower gardens, a fruit and veg garden that the proprietors pick from for creating their breakfasts, a large forward-positioned deck overlooking the Puget Sound, a forested path down to the cove and beach (with kayaks available for aquatic exploring -- we ran out of time to take advantage of them), and an amazing and perfectly situated house in the middle.
The house was incredible, with ample space for relaxation -- multiple sitting rooms, a library/study with floor to ceiling bookshelves (and yes, a rolling ladder on rails), the dining room, a living room, and a sunroom/solarium (where yesterday afternoon Meh and I had an epic Uno duel while sipping cocoa). We later learned the house itself had been substantially rebuilt after the Nisqually earthquake (the epicenter was literally a mile away), which had allowed the owners to invest in all kinds of fascinating details like floors made from locally grown renewable wood and transforming the house from brick into more of a wooden Tudor-style house. Which brings us to the suites, which were even cozier and more relaxing, fully furnished with indoor and covered outdoor seating areas, giant jetted tubs, large fireplaces, and a tremendously calming vibe. We took afternoon naps each day, spent a lot of time just lounging and reading, and really got to relax. We also took advantage of the time to enjoy twotasty dinners out, and even got to go take in a movie (in IMAX 3D no less, though it was only used for the coming attractions and the first 10 minutes of the film, which seemed a gimmicky way to bump up the ticket price; the film itself was great though!).
On our full day away, we also explored Olympia, with a small cute downtown and an enormous and impressive state Capitol building, featuring a *lot* of marble, all Tiffany lamps, and what the tour guide (whose tour we stumbled into) called the fourth largest dome in the world, with the largest chandelier Tiffany ever made suspended from it. I would not have wanted to be under that chandelier during the 2001 earthquake! The state senate and house are on recess, so the building itself was pretty quiet -- no thanks to me; when we went into the Capitol reception room, the guide wanted someone to play their piano to demonstrate how it resonates in the space. Meh volunteered me, so I sheepishly plunked out a few chords. The room also featured a fun 42-state flag used for the state's inaugural parade but never adopted by the US, who jumped straight from 38 to 43. After the tour, we even found Olympia's very own cute little tea house, which is in the central atrium of a tiny unassuming commercial building. The owner was so friendly and cordial, the tea lovely, and the foods were scrumptious!
The whole trip was wonderful and magical. As if to punctuate it, before heading to dinner on our last evening, we took a walk down to the cove and then along the Puget Sound beach. Suddenly, Meh spotted a young fawn beyond a fallen log. He walked right toward us and stopped about 10 feet away, looking at us for several minutes before turning and literally prancing away. We ended up having to take off our shoes and socks and wade through the inlet to the cove on the way back; the tide was coming in, and we didn't realize quite how quickly the small creek would become unjumpable -- for us, at least; that fawn would've had no problem, I'm sure.
Yom Kippur started at sundown on Sunday, and I definitely experienced a pretty wide range of observance styles over the next 26 hours! On Sunday evening, I went to synagogue with friends J & S at S's parents' lubavitch shul for Kol Nidre. J and I actually ended up in front and center seats (literally right in front of the rabbi), so there would have been no escape -- but it was a very nice and welcoming traditional service, with a really warm community feeling. 
