First Ear Infection

So a lot of the random fussiness, including a horrible Friday night has an explanation: ear infection! Jen and I can't remember ever having gotten them ourselves, so we had no idea how to spot one. I guess the answer is: If your baby is really cranky and writhing in pain, and it is not gas, hunger, stomach virus, teething, dirty diaper, then it is obviously an ear infection! (He wasn't running a fever and wasn't pulling at his ear, making it more puzzling) He's got a slight infection in both ears, most likely as a result of being sick for the first half of last week. So a dose of Tylenol helps the pain, and we got the proverbial pink liquid medicine.

We were worried that since giving him small squirts of cough and cold medicine was hard, then giving him 1.5 oz of pink stuff would be impossible. So here's what we did: We gave him the large eyedropper along with his pacifier and he curiously checked out the eyedropper and sucked on it. Then we said we are going to give him a "squirt" and he thought it was fun and ate the pink stuff right up - even asking for more!! So fortunately taking temperatures and giving medicine are now fun activities, however I'll bet the pink stuff has gotten tastier over the years. I thought I remembered it being yucky, but I tasted a bit, and it is quite good! Why do we always have to have it worse than the kids these days!?! :-)

Zack's First Podcast

So now we have the audio experience along with the stories and photos. Thanks to the Gcast tool from GarageBand.com this was really easy to set up. All I do is call a special phone number and can record audio directly to this site, so no matter where Zack is when he starts making funny noises or sentences, I can capture it for everyone if I have my phone handy. This should be fun to play around with. Our first posting isn't so interesting, Zack wasn't very talkative today. More audio clips will appear in the upper right of this blog page as we make them.

Update: Ear Thermometer

So I went out and got one of those digital ear thermometers. It was only $30 at Safeway. And now, getting our temp taken is fun! Zack holds still and he likes to imitate the beeps that it makes. You only need to do it in one ear, but Zack likes it so much he demands his temp be taken in the other ear too. Who knew this could be so much fun. And it only takes 3 seconds in each ear. Soooo much more helpful!

Fussy Fussy...Flop

12142005.jpg, originally uploaded by Drumbone.

We must be approaching the "twos". Zack's been sick and had a fever yesterday, but routine things that used to be easy are becoming more difficult. Giving him medicine was as easy as showing the eye-dropper to him and he would eagerly suck it down. Now it takes two people and a lot of restraint and tears to give him medicine. Even taking temperature under his arm is no easy feat (i should look into those ear temp tools), and even putting on a bib at times is too much.

We just did all three while restrained in the highchair for a snack, which lead to a lot of crying, not much eating, and an instant nap in the chair. I'm not kidding, this picture was taken 20 seconds after a 5 minute crying session ended.

End of the high chair?

Recently Zack has been asserting himself as a big boy in certain ways. Most recently he has demanded to sit in the booster seat, or big boy seat, at the table instead of the high chair. that way we all eat together at the same table. he's been sitting on the potty more frequently but no other progress there yet.

Zack is getting into counting now. We count trucks on the highway as we drive. Unprompetd, here is how he currently counts to ten:
"One, two, three, four, six, five, ten!"
I'm sure this will change by the end of the week because we are counting so much.

He got his flu shot last week, and cried after he felt the needle, but stopped abruptly when he got a band-aid on the arm, saying "sticker!". I guess stickers do the trick!

A Ham for the Cam

A shot today of Zack having fun at daycare. When he is asked to smile, he cocks his head and shows his teeth. Very cute.

Here's another criblet:
Smile Pants - He said this after seeing my boxer shorts that have smiley faces on it.

Stay tuned for the Zack Podcast Channel coming soon! Hear Zack's latest squeals, words, and noises! I'll be using GarageBand.com latest offering

Big shoes to fill

Heres a video of zack walking in mommy's shoes. Turns out i stopped the recording a few seconds too soon, because just after i stopped it he said "Bye Bye. Working" as he walked away, apparently imitating his mommy.

http://www.gracks.com/zachary/12022005(2).3gp

Here are some new Criblets: (Criblet - Meaning)

Play Lotion - He heard both of these words in the same sentence and though they sounded good together i guess. he repeated it a few times.
Andy Pandy - His new nickname for me. He recently learned our real first names, and thought "Andy" sounds funny. Flashes of grade school name-mocking memories are suddenly flying back to me now.
Santa Closet - Santa Claus, but i think he likes using other words he's familiar with.
Goofy - Excuse Me. He thinks burps and farts are funny, so we are trying to get him to say "excuse me" after it. However, he says "Goofy" instead, which unfortunately perpetuates his funny aspect.

First computer

Here is a pic of an old dell laptop that barely has enough memory to run windows XP, but i reconfigured for Zack to use. I removed the keys for all the F1, F2, Ctrl, Alt, etc. and left the others so that he wouldn't get himself into too much trouble. He loves it and loves the simple web-based games we've found.
When he wants to use the computer, he'll say "Tickle Elmo" or "See Froggies" which are two fun keyboard-only games to play on Sesame Street website

Sick Day

And boy, was it. For some unknown reason we all got sick early this morning and were miserable all through the day. Zack threw-up at 1am in his crib, and after we woke up we both felt bad too. Jen spent the rest of the morning sleepig on the floor of one bathroom and I spent it sleeping on the floor with Zack in the other bathroom. There is nothing that makes me feel more like a dad than to be caring for and sleeping with a little guy who keeps throwing up every 2 hours.
It's pretty sad watching a toddler throw up and seeing him not care anymore because he'd been doing it off and on for the last 12 hours. The secondary problem was getting rid of his hiccups afterward, since drinking water would be kept down. Accidently bumping his head on the wall is the only thing that worked so far.
As Jen said "I used to think the worst thing was throwing up, but now I know the worst thing is throwing up while hearing your son throw up too."
Anyway, he was very happy and seemed healthy tonight, Jen and I can't say that unfortunately.

First time ice skating!

Zack really really wanted to try skating when we all went up to Squaw Valley. He wanted to have skates on his feet and after we started out in the corner of the ice he said "Skate with big people" meaning he wanted to go around the rink with everyone else. He was a champ and didn't get upset at all, except for when we stepped off the ice too early after a few rounds, and he said "More Ice Skating". I thing someone may get skates for x-mas...

First Conversation

Zack is now 22 months old and in the final stretch toward turing 2. Yesterday I got a call from day care reporting that he took a big tumble off a bench and hit his head on the gravel. He was fine by the time I arrived, so on the way home in the car, he said at some point,
"Zacky fall down."
"Oh, you fell down today?" I asked.
"Yeah" Zack said sheepishly
"Did you bump your head?"
"Yeah...Zacky Cry"
"Oh, did you cry?" I asked.
"Yeah" sheepishly again.
"That's ok, its OK to cry. Are you happy now?"
"Yeah!" he said more excitedly.

Also, he is starting to say phrases and more correct sentences. Yesterday he said "Fire truck in the castle!!!" which is the first complete use of a prepositional phrase I can remember after he put his toy fire truck into a barn silo that looks like a castle. When we went outside last night, he commented, "It's dark".

How to eat meat

Zack is a carb-loving baby and it has been more and more difficult to get him to eat anything other than bread-related foods and certain fruits. However this weekend we had a breakthrough and we were able to get Zack to eat a whole slice of meatloaf by using the following techniques:
1) tell him it is chicken. chicken seems to be OK, and when it it cut up to look like little chicken bits, it is just like "dark meat", right?
2) play hide-and-seek with the piece of food, but tell Zack to hide it in his mouth. He will stuf the piece in his mouth and then eat it and quickly exclaim "all gone!"

Draw Face

From the Funny Story of the Day dept:
We all went our for dinner at Applebees last night and Zack was having fun with the crayons, scribbling on the kiddie activity placemat. There was a section that had a blank ghost with the instructions to draw a face on the ghost. We said to Zack, "Zack can you draw a face?" Then he proceeded to bring the crayon up to HIS OWN face, closed his eyes, and tried to scribble on his cheeks and nose. He then stopped, smiled and said "Draw face!" We couldn't stop laughing.

New Criblets:
Tickle Treat - Trick or Treat.
Oat Email - Oatmeal, Zack's favorite breakfast food. He started saying ee-mail for Oatmeal, and then realized that it wasn't quite right, so he added "Oat" a few days later, but kept "ee".

His pronunciation is great except for a few expections, like "Oat-e-mail", and "Budder-boon" (balloon)

Bounce Video and Criblets

Here are some new criblets:
Criblet - Meaning
Mommy Tights - ???
Slippery Cows - Describing how animated cows look walking across the screen
Piggy Forklift - said after looking at his fork at dinner. He said "Fork", then "Forklift", then "Piggy Forklift"

Also, here is a video clip of the bouncing castle. It is in .3gp format, which works for me, but i don't know if it will work for you. Let me know, if it doesn't and I'll try another format.

http://www.gracks.com/zachary/10262005(002).3gp

Bouncing and FireTruck

Zack is becoming a physical rough-and-tumble little boy. We stopped by an inflatable jumping castle by a pumpkin patch yesterday and allowed Zack to jump in it. Alone, he was cautious but happy, but when two 10 year olds entered, he went crazy and had a blast. He would imitate how they would jump, run around and fall down. And even joined in the play tackling - the bigger kids were very nice to let themselves be tackled by a 21-month-old. I've got some good video of this but need to convert the format and upload. Should be available soon.

And there is a brilliantly written funny article about a child's encounter with a Fire Truck at theOnion.

'Noofy and Role Playing

Zack just discovered Jen's family of Snoopys in his closet. He pulled them out and was very curious about them. Very quickly he began arranging them against the wall calling the two big Snoopys "Mommy 'Noofy" and "Daddy 'Noofy" and the two smaller ones "Girl 'Noofys". After playing with them for a bit, he decided to put them to bed back on the closet shelf. So he then started saying "Nite nite 'Noofy" and started putting them back on the shelf lying down. He then started whispering "Quiet" and looked at me and said "Shhhhhh" with his finger in front of his mouth. It was all I could do to keep quiet and not laugh. He then closed the closet door and waited.

And if that wasn't enough, he then realized something was unfinished. He opened the door and took out the two small snoopys and put them on the chair and opened up one of his favorite bedtime books "the Corgiville Fair" and started to read it to them. I was so curious to see how he would do it. He was saying things like "fix car" or "race, yea!" or "wash goat" which is what he could identify on the pages of the book. It was very cute, and we'll see if he starts to become more attached to the Snoopys going forward.

Halloween costume preview

Well, that last video post generated a bunch of requests for more video. So here's another. Zack is trying on his bear suit for halloween. Take a look. 20MB.
http://www.gracks.com/zachary/zackybear.mpg

funny noises

Zack has discovered funny noises to make on his arm. Here's a link to the video which is 6.8MB. If that link didn't work, try this: http://www.gracks.com/zachary/funnyzacky.mpg

It's Potty Time

Zack is now 21 months old. The criblets aren't coming at the pace they used to. But here are some more
Criblet - Meaning
Car Sleeping - a toy car that is upside-down
Moose Muffin - his favorite book "When you give a moose a muffin"
Cinco Seis - ??? it sounds like he's saying 5, 6 in spanish, but he waves his arms at the same time. I hope I find out what he's trying to say.

He is excited about Halloween saying "Halloween Coming" and yesterday learned how to walk around like a zombie with his arms out going "arrghhh!". He is very interested in identifying people, and now says "Who's that?" when he sees someone new, and can identify all his friends, AND his friend's parents. I picked him up the other day from daycare and he saw someone getting out of a car and said "Kalya Daddy" and he was right!

We bought our first potty over the weekend, and zack has been excited about it. He currently practices sitting down on it and saying "Zacky Peeing" but I suspect he's just pretending. As long as he's getting used to it though, that's good. That's step #2 along the potty training path.

Zacky and Zackaroo

These are two new names he's given himself. I assume Zackaroo is what someone called him at daycare and he picked up. He now uses the word "hurt" correctly in short sentences which is VERY helpful, he can now say "foot hurts" or "teeth hurt" which helps us identify what is wrong. Also he has started to announce his #2's, saying "Zacky poop", which is the first step in getting potty trained.

We also invented a new game called "Poof!". Zack sits on the edge of a beanbag and I sit down hard on the rest of the beanbag sending Zack flying. We discovered this by accident of course, but Zack was so amused that he demanded More More More!

Zack and Mom at the hockey rink

The cold temperature brings out his little rosy cheeks. This has to be my all-time favorite smile shot of Zack. He normally is very happy, but it is hard to capture smiling with a camera.

Imitating Crazy Uncle Oliver

Sometimes the unexpected pictures are the best...or not.

Criblets, Colors and Crooning

Here are some new criblets created recently:

Criblet - Meaning
Zebra Socks - Zack's way of describing his new striped socks he is wearing today.
Tiger Sauce - ??? Zack said this repeatedly while putting a toy seal on a small floating mirror in the bathtub. Any guesses?

His pronunciation is quite clear and good for nearly everything his says, with one exception: "Balloon" is pronounced "Budder-Boh". He is having a blast using adjectives in 2 word phrases like Funny Mommy and Crazy Tobey and Hot Water. We are trying to get him to say "Tobey is Crazy" but he sees no point in passive verbs yet.

His attempt at learning colors isn't going so well so far. He knows how to say "color" and when asked he can say "Green" and "Blue" and "Red" but so far hasn't been very successful at matching them correctly. Either he hasn't grasped the color concept yet or he might be partially colorblind, which i understand runs in the men on Jen's side of the family. Much too early to tell however.

He loves his music class, and has started actually singing now along to some songs we play regularly for him. He can now sing the first 4 verses of American Pie, and most of Frank Zappa's Don't Eat the Yellow Snow, and has taken interest in Coldplay recently. Just kidding! he sings along with some folk music from his class and Sesame Street tunes.

20 months

Here are some new criblets:
Criblet - Meaning
Google Wipe - remembering what is was like getting his face wiped after lunch at Google. Zack said this at a dinner restaurant however, when his mouth was wiped in the same way (wet paper napkin) as he was at lunch.
Rain Duck - referring to a bird flying after a rainstorm we had yesterday.

People's Names! - Zack has shown excitement and satisfaction in learning names of everyone he sees on a regular basis. He can already identify and correctly say the names of his 8 classmates and 2 teachers (including tough ones like "Rhiannon" and "Astrid"). And he has done the same with neighbors on the block Saying Clark, Kevin, Will, Kurt, etc. We have no idea where he gets this because both his parents are horrible at remembering names.

A funny t-shirt story: Zack was shown his mickey mouse t-shirt before we put it on him last week, but then we put on a sweatshirt and zipped it up. When he got to daycare and saw that teacher Anna had the exact same shirt, Zack unzipped his sweatshirt, pulled it open and yelled "Mickey Mouse!" showing Anna his t-shirt! I guess it will be many years before one is actually embarrased at wearing the same clothes....

Zack has also shown an increased interest in books and being read to. He now has more patience to sit through a whole book. However he still doesn't see much point in painting, drawing, and art yet. He is more interested in breaking the chalk and crayons. As for music, he likes to dance and play with drumsticks, but he hasn't tried to sing or imitate songs yet. Currently, he likes to just repeat words he hears in songs.

A Picture Share!

A Picture Share!, originally uploaded by Drumbone.

Criblets

Remember "sniglets" from Not Necessarily the News on HBO back in the 80's? They were made-up words that describe things we are all too familiar with. Well, I'm introducing "criblets" which are words or word phrases used by toddlers to describe something in their world. "Criblets" also sounds like a degerative joint disease or a tasty item on a Bennigan's menu, but I digress...
Zack has produced a few two-word phrases recently that consist of real words, but they are paired in an unconventional (and humorous) way in his attempt to describe something new with his existing vocabulary. Sometimes the definition is obvious, sometimes not, but I'll post the definition as best as I can figure it out. Here are the criblets so far:

Criblet - Meaning:
Water Helmet - ???
Butterfly Hockey - A newly-invented sport that involves pushing toy butterflies around with a hockey stick.
Cookie Pocket - ???
Gregory Penis - Apparently it already has a name...

Butterfly Hockey

and "Cookie Pocket" are phrases that Zack is saying that you don't hear too often. Zack picked up a hockey stick this morning and brought it over to two butterfly toys on the floor and tryed to move them with the stick saying "butterfly hockey". Also when he woke up this morning he kept repeatedly saying "cookie pocket" which later changed to "cookie backpack". we couldn't quite figure out what he was referring to or what he wanted, but breakfast seemed to clear it up.

He just demonstrated his first recollection and association with music this morning. We have a small musical keyboard that we were playing with this morning. Zack pressed the Demo button and the keyboard played Yankee Doodle. Zack then yelled "Barney!" It took me a second but then realized that Barney's theme song is to the melody of Yankee Doodle! I was amazed!

Found Dog

Ok, everythings better. At 3pm today we got the call we hoped for. So apparently here's what happened: Friday evening Tobey followed a group of teenagers three blocks away from our house, and then continued down the same road 12 blocks to a small shopping center. Another teenage girl found him WITHOUT HIS COLLAR near the Baskin Robbins around 7pm. She picked him up and took him home to Woodside, the next town over. She didn't know how to ID him so finally one of the flyers we put up in the park was noticed by a friend of hers on Sunday, she took a picture of the flyer with her camera phone and sent it to her, and then once the ID was made, she called us. So Tobey spent two nights away in another home with another dog, but all is well.

So the moral of the story: Posting flyers is KEY, and one should expect the ordeal to last a few days. Everyone we talked to at vet clinics and animal shelters said not to worry because in 3-4 days chances are very high it will resolve itself. Sure enough it did.

Here's another tidbit we learned regarding animal shelters. It is typically the FIRST place that someone who lost a pet would check, but is also typically the LAST place someone who has found a pet would contact for fear of euthanasia. The pet finder usually thinks the pet is better off with them (if it is not a nuisance) and may not even call the shelter to let them know.

So my faith in humanity is now restored and we can end the weekend on a happy note. Horray!

Lost Dog

So the last 24 hours have really sucked. Yesterday at around 6pm, we noticed Tobey was gone, and while he was in the front yard hanging out under periodic supervision by Andy who was mowing the lawn, we later heard from a neighbor that she saw a group of teenagers leading Tobey down the street to the park. We haven't seen or heard anything since and are hoping that he is with a family that will very soon return him to us. However, Tobey is very cute and friendly, and we don't want to think that the separation will be a long one. We've done all the necessary steps to help recovery. Fortunately Tobey has a chip in his back that will identify him if scanned at the vet or animal shelter. However, he needs to physically get there first.

We've changed www.gracks.com to be the easy "more information" destination for our ads. Hopefully this will just be a wild weekend for Tobey and he'll be back with us next week. I just worry most about the bond that he and Zack have developed over the last few months. I'm not having a lot of faith in mankind at the moment since anyone responsible seeing his collar would have contacted us by now.

A Picture Share!

A Picture Share!, originally uploaded by Drumbone.

Great Weekend Visit

This past weekend we had my parents visit from Colorado for 4 days and had a great time. Zack recognized them from their previous visit 3 months ago and excitedly referred to them in three syllable names as "Ol Da Da" and "Gra Me Me". Some of the highlights include a trip to the Children's Discovery Museum and Happy Hollow in San Jose. Zack really enjoyed the tennis ball and water ball exhibits at CDM. At Happy Hollow the Zoo part was great, expecially the goat petting pen. Zack made sure that all goats were not just petted but also hugged. The Capybara exhibit was also very interesting to Zack, he laughed at them quite a bit.

Zack has learned how to open doors and gates with latches now, and doorknobs are not far away. He is learning and using very specific words now like "teapot", "pinecone" (thanks Ol Da Da), and "tennis". However the "terrible twos" are one their way as evident at dinner last night. Zack's attempt to feed applesauce to himself was more a of game. He would put the spoon between his lips and blow, spraying applesauce everywhere, and then laugh and laugh. We tried not to laugh too but we failed.

The end of innocence?

Zack turned 19 months yesterday and we've now had our first time-out. He's been running around like a crazy boy having fun, but, he's just as likely to run away from us as run toward us. The problem has been developing around Zack's treatment of Tobey. He's been occasionally hitting him with toys and just started kicking the dog. He is throwing and kicking a ball well, it is just that those actions are translating to the dog. What doesn't help is that if Zack makes Tobey squeal in pain, he laughs because it is a funny sound. Tobey has been very forgiving in all of this which is fortunate. However, we've started to take time-outs with him when he doesn't listen to us. The challenge there is trying to keep a toddler still for 30-60 seconds. That is just as hard.

Baby got a new pair of shoes

Zack got great mileage out of his 5 1/2 StrideRite shoes, but they were getting more and more difficult to put on so we brought him into the kiddie shoe shop expecting to get a size 6. Well, his feet measured at 6 1/2 and it is suggested that you buy a size up, so we got size 7 1/2 shoes! They look a bit bigger than the old ones, but Zack can run around in them just fine with no tripping. Now the only question is what to do with the old ones. Bronze them? Toss them over a neighborhood telephone line? Encase them in lucite? Turn them into a dog chew toy?

Giraffe Television

A few days ago when Zack was having difficultly going back to sleep after waking up around 11:30pm (teething?) we brought him into our bedroom to watch TV to distract and relax. We settled on the Discovery channel, and they were doing a segment about extreme animals featuring the giraffe. Zack regognized the giraffes, saying "Jaffe", and was very captivated. However the show ended at midnight, and Zack wanted more. He then started signing "more" with his hands, this is the first time he has used the concept of "more" outside of a food consumption context. He then repeatedly made the hand motion and said "More Jaffe TeeVee". We were amazed, but unfortuantely couldn't carry out the request since that was it for shows on tv with giraffes. Fortunately he didn't get TOO upset about it. But since then he has signed "more" and said "More toys" when he can't find the toy to please his current liking.

Test Post

No Need to Click Here - I'm just claiming my feed at Feedster feedster:3ff457a4ee6029f9e03e2ea4212ec050

18 Month Update

We had our 18 month checkup last week.

Here are the stats:
Weight: 29.5 pounds (75-90%)
Length: 34.5 inches (95-97%)

I just learned that I've been incorrectly calling length as height. They mark his length laying down until he is 2, then they measure how tall he is (height) standing up, and the difference is that height is an inch or two less than length, which would explain why at 34 inches of length he is still not tall enough for the 34 inch height requirement at LegoLand.

Zack Stats at 18 months:
-Tooth count: 11, thanks to the 4-teeth-in-one-day experience. (6 @15mo)
-Weight: 29.5 pounds (26 @15mo)
-Length: 34.5 inches (33 @15mo)
-Words:Zack is not a quiet baby, he talks almost all the time. Again, we've lost count of words, but he can understand sentences and commands and can say about less than half of what he understands. His pronunciation has greatly improved and there are words and phrases he can say that sound as clear as that of a regular child's, such as "All Done" which he says when he is finished with his food, and "My-kle" which sounds JUST like "Michael" but means "Motorcycle" (the first time he said it i looked around for a Michael wondering how he new to say it so clearly). He has surprised us by following commands correctly like "Zack, can you run around the fountain?" and "Zack, can you show me where the bee stung you?" He doesn't seem to have any favorite word because in the last week or so he is literally repeating the last word of any sentence he hears, most of them are new words, like "Taco", "Giraffe", "Umbrella" which he can now identify as well. Oh, and we are now correctly saying "Tobey" instead of "Bo-tey". He likes pointing at things and verbally identifying them. At the 18 month checkup our doctor was amazed at his grip on words as he correctly responded to the bee sting question. Zack then started to babble words about some pictures on the door and she said "Oh! he's using expressions!" She said Zack is exhibiting everything that a 2 year old should be doing and that he seems to be absorbing language well so she encouraged us to challenge him by introducing more words, a second language, or music (viewed as a language). I haven't heard him say a complete correct sentence yet but we are close with "Yummy Banana" and " Want to see Meow". He can identify and name his friends and caregivers from daycare "Kayla, Ella, Anna, Gregory" and the latest tough one "Rhiannon." (he also knows all the parts of the face and understands that other people and animals have them. We bumped into a very friendly cat and after saying 'meow, meow', zack proceeded to touch each part 'nose', 'eye' (VERY friendly cat), and 'ear' - he also has a little pig toy that he does the same thing to with the addition of 'tail' and 'feet'-Jen )

Interesting side note: we just started participating in a study at Stanford's center for infant studies that tracks vocabulary development for kids from 18 mo to 3 years. At the end of the study they will present to us a complete list of spoken and understood words by his age. Should be very interesting!

-Special Skills:The gross motor skills of climbing, running, kicking, throwing, dancing are lots of fun. We hardly use a stroller anymore because he prefers to walk. He hasn't started jumping yet, but that may start soon. (Bean bag tackling, however, has become a fun sport. He throws himself into the bean bag screaming with delight and then rolls around until he falls off at which point he laughs and giggles, gets up and does it again. Tobey likes to participate in this as well and sometimes gets clobbered as Zack leaps into the bag on top of Tobey. -Jen) He's really enjoyed swimming and likes to jump in from the edge into the water and into my arms. He can't swim on his own or climb out on his own, but with minimal support he can do it. He kicks well, uses his arms, and can go underwater with great comfort. Reading books is still fun and we've gone to the library. Drumming and dancing to music seems to be a lot of fun and so I'm going to explore some Music Together classes with him instead of Gymboree. We've tried experiments in drawing/painting but he doesn't seem to be an interest for him yet. (Although he does come home from daycare covered in paint from the various activities they do there. -Jen )
-Food:eating mostly people food and starting to have more interest in fruit. He can eat a lot when he wants to. He has been getting better about trying new food. We use a sippy cup for convenience, but he can (and likes to) drink out of an open cup. The challenge has come in throwing food down to the floor when he's done for Tobey to eat. Additionally he like grabbing dogfood and tipping over Tobey's water dish. All that is going to be tough to continue to control. (He also thinks it's fun to put food into his cup of milk when he's done eating but still has energy for playing - another reason we prefer the sippy cup for now-Jen ).
-Naps: Still one a day from 12-2, although he may steal a cat nap in the car occasionally. Bedtime has slipped 30 min to 8pm but he still sleeps through the night until 7:00am , thank goodness! (not much change from 15mo)
-Other notes: we've noticed that in the last week he has started to "pretend" with his toys.
He had two small people toys and marched them onto a toy bridge and and babbled words for them while moving them. His favorite toys are his water table and his Brio train set. He absolutely loves loves loves to play with cars, trains, tractors that are of the Brio size or larger. He also has a large plastic car that he can sit in, and he will entertain himself by packing it up with toys, getting in and closing the door, sitting down at the steering wheel for about 5 seconds, (saying 'beep, beep') and then getting out and unloading. I guess he is imitating the car trips he's gone on. He is now interested enough in TV to sit through an entire episode of sesame street without getting fidgety, (he even laughed at Grover being silly) although we try to limit TV exposure. Also, when he falls down and even bumps his head, he rarely cries or gets upset anymore - I guess he is used to it by now.

southern california trip

over the 4th of july week, we did our first family roadtrip south to LA and San Diego. It was one of the best vacations we've had! We stayed at the generous accomidations of our friends Eric and Becca in San Diego, and Rafi and Erica in LA, both of whom had two young kids for Zack to interact with. Doing the main driving in evening and at night while Zack slept in the car was key.

New toys: visiting a different house with kids is a new toy explosion! things we resolved to get for zack after seeing his interaction were: a water table (he loves water), mini table with chairs, Little People bus and people, wet/dry dustbuster (for easy cleanup), mini stroller or cart for pushing, more trains, toy Rhino.

The San Diego Zoo: we went in the evening which was perfect for crowds, heat, and animal activity. Zack's favorite animal is now "Rhino"

Balboa Park: went to the Science Museum, Natural History Museum (just like a zoo for zack but less walking and more animals), and Model Train Museum (baby torture: cool trains but all are behind plexiglass so no touching!)

San Diego Beach: Zack now likes sand, and getting dirty, and eating sand, and eating raisins covered with sand.

LegoLand: This was the biggest unexpected hit of the trip. Very interactive for kids even his age. just barely not tall enough for some of the rides.

DisneyLand: I liked it more than DisneyWorld: more walking room and less stroller congestion. Zack now loves Mickey Mouse. The Bug's Land exhibit in California Adventure was our favorite for Zack. I didn't realize how scary some of the regular Disney rides (like Pinnochio) can be until I go through with a toddler in my lap

Uncle Steve: Zack finally got to meet his great Uncle Steve and a good time was had by all.

One other mention: he entertained himself for hours just getting in and out of the large plastic sit-down cars that Erica and Rafi had. Something about opening and closing the car doors...

Crazy Toothbrushing

Here is a report from Jen as relayed to me. We've introduced Zack to personal grooming activities and he has really shown interest. He likes to say "comb" and "brush" and use them (to minimal effect) on his hair. He has also been brushing his own teeth. Last night after his bath, he was so excited to brush his teeth that when he got the brush he started moving his hand fast and swinging his head from side to side. Unfortunately, he ended up gagging himself with the toothbrush and threw up a little bit in the bathroom. I guess now that the limit has been tested, he knows not to brush the back of his throat anymore!

Blogarithm is a cool new tool!

Wow, so I just discovered that a good friend of mine, Max Minkoff had developed a tool, Blogarithm, that allows for easy notification of new blog postings. If you want to be notified by email whenever there is a new posting to this blog, then type your email address into the form on the right column of this page. Also, from Blogarithm's website, you can enter any other blog site to receive notifications from. This is great for those of you who don't have RSS readers, since email is much more convenient. Feel free to add their form into your blog too, they have tools on their website to allow you to easily do that.

Hanging Ten in San Diego

First Bee Sting

I haven't been able to write about last week's vacation yet because we had an interesting event this evening. I've gone over 32 years without a bee sting to my knowledge and now Zack gets one a few days before turning 18 months.
Zack was in the back yard on the deck playing with his new favorite toy: a water table
We were in and out of the back yard preparing for dinner when we hear Zack give out a few agitated cries, which, knowing his reactions, made me think he got his hand or foot stuck in something. We came out to the deck and asked him what was wrong. He pointed at the table and said "Bug". sure enough there was a honey bee waddling around on the table with it's backend missing. We had to search Zack for the sting because he wasn't crying. We found it on the inside on his right index finger. After some quick consultation with neighbors and reference books we scraped the stinger out with a business card and put baking soda paste on his finger. He would periodically whine and cry for the next hour, but in general carried on like it was no big deal, except he would leave his index finger extended when grabbing something, acknowledging that he had hurt that finger. The doc says that allergic reactions show within 2 hours of a sting and if there is no shortness of breath, swelling, or coughing, then we are fine, and we are. He's sleeping soundly tonight.

A Picture Share!

A Picture Share!, originally uploaded by Drumbone.

A Picture Share!

A Picture Share!, originally uploaded by Drumbone.

A really really fun weekend

Wow, what a time we had. With mom out of town for work, the weekend belonged to the boys! Some of the highlights included:
Library! We went to the mountain view public library and had a blast in the children's section. there were all sorts of puzzles that captivated Zack's attention for nearly an hour. Oh, and we looked at some books too.

FireStation! a saturday visit the the fire station to look at the fire engines. Zack was playing with his toy fire trucks so much and making siren sounds that I thought he should see the real thing. The firemen were SO nice, that they let him sit in the passenger and driver seat, and even got to go on a ride in the fire engine! Zack sat on my lap as a fireman drove the engine out of the building and around back to re-park it. So much fun.

Play! He has even shown more interest in chasing and wrestling with the neighborhood boys who are under 10. Zack really enjoys being thrown up into the air, but I'm wondering how much longer I can continue to do that as he approaches 30 pounds.

Drums! I've put him on my lap a few times while sitting at my drumset to see how he likes hitting the drums with sticks, but this weekend he sat alone on the drum stool and then banged on the drums and cymbals for quite a long time. He seems to have some rhythm, but i could just be projecting on him. :-)

Puppets! And to close out the weekend, to try and calm him before bed, I played with some dinosaur puppets, and this time he wanted to participate. He pulled out a regular stuffed dog and tried to find out where to put his hand, I instead gave him another puppet and put it over his hand (and arm). When I said "hello" to him with one of my puppets, he paused, seemed to think, and then said "hi" while moving his puppet. It was quite funny, however the puppets wouldn't remain on his arm for very long.

A Picture Share!

A Picture Share!, originally uploaded by Drumbone.

A Picture Share!

A Picture Share!, originally uploaded by Drumbone.

A Picture Share!

A Picture Share!, originally uploaded by Drumbone.

Dog misidentification

Ok, funny story. Zack was looking at the back of a dog book that had pictures of different dog breeds on it. He was saying "Woof-woof" at most of them, but he then pointed to the Shi-tzu and said, "Roooaawwr" imitating a lion. As if that wasn't enough, he then pointed to the Pug and said, "Monkey! Ooo-ooo-ooo"

First Toy in the Toilet

Fortunately the toilet was clean and Zack didn't flush. But I'll bet the driver of that Matchbox car never saw it coming...

Also, Zack hasn't started flushing toilets yet. I've been careful not to have him see me do it. Plus it requires a bit more leverage. However, future toys may not be so lucky...

New Buddy

Wow, I sure am not regular with these postings. We have a new member to the family, Tobey, who is pictured below. Tobey is 6 months old and has integrated into the family without missing a step. Zack has been very sharp with words but continues to reverse the consonants saying "Bo-Tey" with much enthusiasm.

Also, recently Zack had a teeth explosion, getting 4 teeth in a day. We've had unconfirmed reports from daycare that he has said his first complete sentence, but I'm not counting that yet, although he is saying alot of two-word sentences. "Yummy Eat" and "Happy Bo-Tey"

A Picture Share!

A Picture Share!, originally uploaded by Drumbone.

Zack's first music video

So with Mother's Day arriving, Zack starred in his first music video. He takes FlashDance to a new level... Please contact me with any publicity requests.

For the 40MB wmv file click here You may be able to stream this one.
For the 80MB mpeg2 file, click here

Both of these are hosted on Streamload.com and I'm evaluating different hosting providers, so let me know if this works well.

The Contender

Below is a picture of Zack after going 12 rounds in a match on the new reality series "Toddler Contender" where they pit up-and-coming boxers against each other at a very early age.

Actually, Zack has pinkeye. His first (and certianly not last) sickness contracted from daycare. 1 hour before the picture was taken, his eye was so swolen it wouldn't even open. But eyedrops have been clearing it right up. If I thought wiping a raw and bleeding bottom was the worst of the necessary things to do to a child, I stand corrected. It seems as if trying to get a single drop in the swolen eye of a toddler can elicit new depths of screaming and pain. Only 12 more times to go, says the medication...

A Picture Share!

Being a dad is...

putting on your shoes only to find a matchbox car hiding inside one of the shoes. just as long as the car keys aren't hidden...

First Haircut

Oh, and I forgot to mention, on Sunday, Zack got his first haircut. Now maybe he'll be mistaken less for a girl. :-) I'll post a picture soon.

15 Month Checkup

So I've been quite tardy on the updates recently. We had our 15 month checkup last week.

Here are the stats:
Weight: 26 pounds (75%)
Height: 33 inches (95%)

We've been informed by friends that for amusement parks, the min height requirement is 36 inches so zack may reach that before he even knows what an amusement park ride is!
Zack just started daycare and seems to be loving it.
So as the Daddy Sabbatical ends, here are the facts that were tracked over his 11-15 month time frame:

Zack Stats at 15 months:
-Tooth count: 6, but a molar eruption is about to occur. (4 @11mo)
-Weight: 26 pounds (23 @11mo)
-Height: 33 inches (31 @11mo)
-Words: a torrent of new words such that I can't count all of them anymore. I would estimate spoken vocab of around 30 words and an understood vocab of 60. He is responding correctly to complex sentences with different nouns and verbs, such as "Zack, can you smell the grass? Zack, can you give mommy a kiss?" His favortite new word is "Hockey", and one word that seems to mean many things is "Kah-goo" or "Dah-doo" which can mean "Cracker, Tractor, Dragon, etc". Oh and we can finally imitate a kitty-cat with a resounding "MEEE-OWWW!"
-Special Skills: running, kicking, throwing, dancing. he seems to have an early gift for balance and body movement. We see him shifting his weight all round his toes and ankles, even his tippy-toes in a way a dancer might. He hasn't started jumping yet, but that may start soon. We love love love to read books, and it seems as if he can't get enough. His current favorites are Pat the Bunny and Big Dog, Little Dog. We've learned to play the drums, but don't show a strong desire to listen or sing to music yet. We are just starting experiments in drawing/painting.
-Food: eating mostly people food with a strong penchant for dairy products. He has become quite fussy and unaccepting of new food. uses a sippy cup, but doesn't like juice yet. (not much change from 11mo)
-Naps: One a day now from 12-2, although he may steal a cat nap in the car occasionally. Still sleeps through the night from 7:30pm - 7:00am , thank goodness! (2 naps and occasional waking @11mo)

A Picture Share!

Catching up and talking

Sorry about the lack of updates. I'll follow with a physical update at his 15 month check up in a few weeks, but in the meantime here is what has been going on the this first half of being 14 months:

Talking: Zack has been really talky lately. I've rigged a mic connected to the computer to work with the software Sound Snooper to voice-activatedly record his crib babble. It hasn't worked so welll so far because the mic or software produces an annoying level of background signal noise, but i'll have to fix that. Needless to say he is very cute and his vocabulary of spoken words is:
Ball "baah"
Star "tar"
Toy "toyie"
Wheel "wee-oh-wee-oh-wee-oh-wee-oh"
Bike "bie"
Balloon "bah boo"
Bubble "buh buh"
Hi "Hieee"
Bye-Bye "buh bye doh"*
Daddy "dah-ie"
Mommy "mah-ie"
These are in addition to about a dozen or so other words he understands but doesn't say, and a chorus of about 6 animal noises. he likes to make.

* we finally realized where this extra syllable came from. We would say "Say bye bye to mommy" or "say bye bye to the doggie" and he would say, "bye bye to"

A Picture Share!

Parental Discipline Failure

So I've failed at my first real test of bad behavior. My excuse is that it was just so funny. I had taken a box of crayons out to show zack for the first time how to draw and color. We spent some time playing with the crayons, holding them, tasting them, placing them in different places before we really understood how they could mark on the large pad of paper I had. Well, he only drew a very small amount on the paper, i think because it was on the ground and not as easy to draw on as something that was vertical, like, umm...the wall for example. Zack walked over to the wall with a crayon and quickly marked the wall before I could stop him. I then said"no" because he shouldn't do that, but I was happy to see that he finally knew what a crayon could do. Except, he then giggled at the attention and went back to trying to mark the wall and saying "no". I again said "no", watched him giggle and I started laughing. I couldn't keep a straight face. He would walk to the hutch and try the same thing, and I would say no and start laughing because his reaction was so funny. I knew I was failing miserably but I couldn't stop laughing. Jen finally arrived to put an end to Zack's behavior because I was completely ineffective. And now, Zack thinks "no" is a game that gets him physical attention.
I've got more parenting work to do..... :-)

A Picture Share!

museum trip at 14 months

We went to a great fantastic museum today, The Children's Discovery Museum and we had a blast. Zack walked all over exploring various exhibits and his favorite were the large tannis ball machine that had tennis balls rolling down all sort of different ramps, chutes, and tubes. The was also a fantastic hand on water exhibit that was very cool for both of us to play with. Zack quickly saw the objective of some of the hands-on tasks and enjoyed doing them over and over. I've got a great video of him playing with an air vent and a rubber ball that I'll try an upload in the next day or so. He is very independent and will explore on his own. However when we are at home and a guest comes over, he will back into me or my legs, showing some signs of shyness or caution.

Zack also has a habit of doing something new on the day he turns another month older. Today he turned 14 months, and has started running. He will burst into a run briefly for about 10-12 steps and go back to a walk while he figures it out. At first I thought he was falling and trying to catch himself, but i guess he planned it!

Other fun things I've noticed: He now will grab the remote and point it at the TV and stereo equipment and start pressing buttons, because he sees what we do with it. Also, he knocked on the door of a neighbor when he approached it. I didn't think he's seen me knock on doors so I don't know how he learned that one...

Amazing Vocabulary

Well I've been truly amazed at his vocabulary today. It's easy to think that a baby's vocab is limited to what they can say, but they know much more than they normally express.

Here is how our great evening went:
After we got in our PJ's we played in the living room some more. I found some bubbles and blew them to his enjoyment. After a few times of hearing me say "bubble" he started to say it and associate it with the bubbles. We wrestled around on the floor and chased each other around the room, then started to calm down as bedtime was approaching. I then said "time for bed. bedtime" and zack looked at me, took a toy into his hand and started walking to his room and stopped at the crib pointing at it. I put him in, gave him a pacifier, and opened up one of his books to read. While Zack can't say many things, he can identify things. So on a page in the book that had many items, I asked "Where's the ball?" and he correctly pointed to the ball. I said "Where's the cookie?" and again another correct point. I asked "Where's the blanket?" and he grabbed his blanket rather than point to the blanket in the book. I then asked "Where the pajamas?" and he tugged at his shirt rather than point to the PJ's in the book. I was shocked since I didn't think he knew some of those words. I asked "Where's Bob the Bear?" and he grabbed the right stuffed animal. I asked "Where's Pooh Bear?" and again grabbed the right object in his crib.
After this I turned out the light, said goodnight, and closed the door and he went right to sleep.

I doubt evenings are always going to be this easy, especially as he gets into his twos. But 13 months is a fantastic time and age. Zack is so happy and excited about everything, he says new things each day and continues to amaze me. Each month gets better and better, and if Zack isn't careful, he'll end up with many brothers and sisters.... :-)

A Picture Share!

Vacation Update

Wow, what a week! Zack just returned from Cancun where he had his first (and probably not last) spring break experience. Here are some highights:

-Learning how to imitate a fish and a horse. His animal sound vocabulary now also includes: lion, tiger, duck, bird, cow, dog, squirrel. The funniest moment came one morning when we were still in bed and he was awake in his crib and went through his entire inventory of animal sounds unprompted. Now that's a real morning zoo.

-our room had steps inside from the kitchen to the living room, so it was time to finally really learn how to go down stairs on his own. His grandparents made it their mission to make sure he learned it and he sure did. He even backed down the 20 steps of the back of the resort by himself

-he saw the sand and the ocean for the first time, but seemed unimpressed. If he had to put his hands in the sand to stand up he would try and use his palms and have his fingers avoid touching the sand. He loved the kiddie pools though and if he could, he would spend the whole day in them.

-he's talking even more now saying "hi" and "bye bye" to many people, and the best highlight was when Zack boarded an elevator with two bikini-clad buxom spring breakers. Zack looked at the two women and exclaimed loudly, "WOW"!

finally more teeth

Zack turned 1 year old and had only 4 teeth. Fortunately, his two front teeth have decided to come in bringing it to a total of 6 so far. 4 on top, 2 on the bottom. It is not so nice to put your finger near his mouth anymore....

It's a late night/early morning as Zack has woken up a few times with a stuffy nose, so I'll catch the reader up with some rough updates while I'm still awake, waiting for the next outburst.

We've now discovered how to hide remote controls. This was cute at first but becomes very annoying quickly. We got Zack a small wooden train set and he LOVES it. he has developed a soft touch to push the cars around the track without causing them to jump the track, and carries the train cars in his hard around with him almost contantly, trying to find new surfaces to roll them on. The baby babble continues, cute to hear him almost form words, but he talks and giggles almost contantly.

Zack is now off to see the Gulf of Mexico and see his first beach. I'll have much more to report in a week.

A Picture Share!

Built for power, not speed

Zack is a terrain consumer. He reminds me of those Stomper 4x4 toys of the 80's that will crawl over anything. He seems to want to learn new terrain. On inclined ramps and walkways, he will continuously walk up and down them as if he wants to practice. Also in the sand at the playground he seems drawn to this new terrain and will work on walking over it again and again to get better. He's currently moved onto lumpy grass patches. He's certainly not the fastest baby on two feet, but he seems dedicated to making sure he can walk on anything. However, going down steps are still a barrier. He refuses to back himself down steps and wants to hold a hand and walk down it forwards (dangerous). At least he won't do it forwards by himself.

Food fights: Let the difficult feeding sessions begin. Peas and Cheerios aren't just for eating anymore, they fly nicely through the air and onto the floor.

A Picture Share!

A Picture Share!

"No!" and blanket bondage

It finally happened, at 12.5 month, he said "no" . This has not been witnessed by us first hand yet, but our nanny said that as she started putting his toys away the other day, he responded by protesting, "No, No, No, No!" She was taken aback, as were we. We haven't been saying "No" too much to him, other than gently correcting things that he does, like playing with the fireplace, grabbing pens or dangerous objects, or tipping hanged pictures within his reach. I guess he's learned quickly!

One funny pen story: Zack picked up a pen from the couch, we said, "No Zack, put it back", he seemed to understand and then put the pen back on the couch. We praised and applauded him, which in turn got him to grin and clap. But then he went for the pen again, we repeated our command and the same result happened. Then he started going through and repeating the following cycle all on his own: Pick up pen, shake head "No" (while grinning), put the pen back down, and then clap in delight. It took all our strength to keep a stern face and keep from laughing!

This week has seen Zack go from zero attachment to super attachment to one of his bankets. He now needs to carry it around the house and we've started taking it with us on car trips and walks, requiring a lot more cleaning now. The change was so sudden, and it didn't seem to replace another attachment to another object. It seems to be a new, but healthy attachment.

Also we went down a slide all by ourselves the other day, with daddy catching at the bottom. He needs to be placed in a seated position before going down, but he will initiate the inching forward until he starts to slide, and seems to enjoy it quite a bit!

baby signing

So since zack has started to recognize and respond to words, but isn't talking, I decided to teach him a few simple baby sign language signs. We started with "eat", "milk", "more" and then we are expanding to "all done" and "bed". Zack picked these up pretty quickly in about 3 days. He now is easily able to tell (or remind us) that he hungry rather than us having to figure out why he is crying. He seems to like the signing and wants to learn more.

I found these sites helpful:
baby hands
signing baby

Also he makes a funny new sound. He is can now laugh while inhaling. It's quite a funny sound, I thought he was choking at first, but now understand that he's just really excited. We just need to make sure he doesn't try it with food in his mouth!

vocal developments

Well, the postings aren't as frequent as I had hoped. But that doesn't mean we aren't having a great time. Yesterday we went to the Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo and got to see many live animals for the first time with the picture below showing Zack's encounter with geese and ducks.

Zack is finding his stride with vocal imitation. He now likes to imitate the "roar" of the lion king electronic toy he has, and the "moo" of and electronic farm toy. he has even tried to imitate the quacks of ducks and the meows of cats, but he can't quite get it right, but his attempts sound so funny.

He is also developing his walking skills beyond the basics. He purposly likes to try out inclines and declines (like driveway or sidewalk entrances) to see if he can maintain his balance. Yesterday at the park he spend most of his time walking on the sand and small grass hills. He seems to welcome this challenge of new surfaces to walk on.

We've gone back to 2 naps a day instead of one, perhaps because of the increase in exercise. However, it has another advantage in that there are no more night wakings, even for a bottle. his bedtime has shifted to 8pm and he gets up at 7:30am.

A Picture Share!

1 Year Update

Well, with some delay for posting, here are the latest stats:
Weight: 70th percentile
Height: 90th
Head size: 97th percentile
So he's still on the large size, but doing well. The headsize didn't surprise me, as we've actually had to cut a slit in a shirt collar so it could fit over his head.

Zack had his first birthday party, and we all got to see how he reacts on his first sugar high. A few bites of cake and 10 minutes later, there was no way we could keep him in the high chair. He seems to handle meeting lots of people at one time fairly well though.

He's really doing a lot of very cool things now. He is clapping both when you clap with him, and he will now do it when you say "clap". We've lost the morning nap now and now he sleeps from 11:30-1:30. I didn't initally realize how rough this is for me, since I've only got 1-2 hours during the day to do other things while he is napping. Maybe I need to teach him how to play solitaire.

Which reminds me, I've learned that when the baby is on his own and suddenly quiet, that is bad. Something is up. He is not, as I imaged, quitely reading a book in his room. He has in fact found one of his ointment tubes and is squeezing it out across the floor.

weekday shopping

Boy, it's been a while since I've been to the supermarket mid-day on a weekday. I've forgotten that the supermarket is ruled by the retired and parents with little kids. I no longer take our stroller shopping since Zack is attentive and does well enough in the regular shopping cart. And he saw and flirted with at least 5 other babies during our trip. And of course grandparents have to chime in too. It's funny, now that I have a baby, I can really spot the grandparents in any crowd, since they don't immediately ignore Zack as he passes by.
Zack seems to love the shopping experience and will continue to point at the things I've never noticed before, such as the large stuffed animals on top of the frozen food asiles (i guess they need to do something with that high shelf space).

On the home front, we've build simple tunnels with couch cushions on the floor, and Zack loves hiding in and crawling through them. I think we need more tent and tunnel making material!

Daddy Sabbatical

Well, its been a while since the last posting, but that is about to change. I'm currently on a daddy sabbatical which was initiated nicely by the acquisition of Stata Labs by Yahoo!. My goal is to set aside 3 months to be a stay-at-home daddy. We had a full-time nanny, and I was considering dropping her completely and going 100% daddy day care, but at the advise of a few other parents, I've kept her on for 2 days a week to allow work on other projects, errands, and sanity.... :-)
However, there are many other factors that may come into play to determine the actual length of this sabbatical, such as other projects I'm working on and other exciting business and technology opportunities.

I was going to start this last week, but our first week of daddy sabbatical was interrupted with a stomach flu that made its way through baby, mom, dad, and nanny. So, here we go again, for real this time! I hope to post 3 times a week as to the adventures of dad and baby, which might even be enough to keep the grandparents sufficiently informed :-)

My goal is to capture the more subtle changes Zack will go through as he progresses from 11 months to 14 months. So to best do that here is the baseline, 1 week away from his first birthday:

Zack Stats:
-Tooth count: 4 (we had been at 3 for almost 3 months!)
-Weight: 25 pounds
-Height: ?
-Words: general cute babble, with some hints of being able to say "da da" when pointing at me, and "ma ma" when pointing to mom. also he can click his tongue in imitation and can usually imitate the correct number of syllables with babble
-Special Skills: he has been walking since 10 months, but cannot easily navigate down steps. enjoys hide and seek and peekaboo immensely.
-Food: eating half baby and people food. uses a sippy cup. early attemps at feeding himself with a spoon have resulted in quite a mess.
-Naps: 2 a day. up at 7:30 am, nap from 9:30-10:30, and again from 1:30-3:30 (usually) and bedtime at 7:30 pm. (recently he is no longer lasting 12 hours asleep, and wakes up briefly around 4:30am for a bottle)