Z learns Mandoline #2

Z learns Mandoline #2
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

Debbie and Z #2

Debbie and Z #2
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

Walking, those first steps!

So for a little while Zachary has been standing up and walking on fingers like a champ. And over the last few weeks we've been dropping those pinkies he clings so tightly to, and have had him walking one handed. In the last few days though he has made some motions towards stepping one maybe two steps. But nothing we would ever call walking, until today. He had his back to the couch, and stepped away, one, two, a wobbly three, and back on steady legs for four, then crash, down to the floor. Only four steps but with those I'm calling it, the first steps!
But, we have not had a repeat, yet.

much fun on the jetblue toys

much fun on the jetblue toys
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

static is a wonderful thing

static is a wonderful thing
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

who is the cutest

who is the cutest
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

Photo's from California

posing
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

As much as Snoop loves his mama?

Yup. I do think Z loves us thaaaaaaat much.

:D


Our plane had to go BACK TO THE GATE to pick up Snoop Dogg and his crew.

Yes. The economy is doing so badly that they're flying JetBlue. It looked like his mother picked him up in Burbank, but I couldn't vouch. It was very weird. His bodyguards (i'm assuming that's who they were) were the size of small houses. It was intense. They required seatbelt extenders. Also? Apparently Snoop is banned from Heathrow Airport. And British Airways. Which isn't a problem, because apparently the UK won't actually even let him enter. So that.

Zachary was a busy busy boy, but a good traveller. He looooooves his new car seat. Right up until he was exhausted and we were stuck in traffic on the 210. Then he cried till he threw up. *sigh* Hopefully it will not be a habit. He looked surprised. We felt bad and stopped immediately - I think he was a bit overheated (both from the crying and the fact that the high here was 90 - its cooling off a bit already). And totally exhausted.

We're staying in an apartment run by Caltech. Its nice to be somewhere with a kitchen and a room seperate from the bedroom, so Z is crashed out on the floor while we get a little work done. More later.

And no, I didn't let Mark take a picture with Snoop Dogg. BECAUSE I'M THE WORST WIFE/MOTHER/DAUGHTER EVER.

:D

We're off!!!

And that's that :) We'll be in pasadena till Saturday, then in Santa Cruz till Nov. 30th.


OH! And we think we've got a first word with "Mama". He had a day of very authoratative speech (rather than babble). We may have also had "Light". Today, Mark reports a day of howler monkey communication. We find ourselves saying "Use your words!" quite a lot. because really, I'm not Annie Sullivan, and I only have finite interpretive skills.

In other news...

I don't remember and have to keep packing. :) But we'll update from the road.

playing with the cats

DSC_0256.JPG

DSC_0256.JPG
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

DSC_0255.JPG

DSC_0255.JPG
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

modelling

modelling
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

DSC_0136.JPG

DSC_0136.JPG
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

DSC_0174.JPG

DSC_0174.JPG
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

Evel Knevil

is really the father of my child.

It was bound to happen. Zachary finally threw himself off the diaper changing table.

Frankly, I'm glad it has taken this long. And possibly a little surprised. It was traumatic, we were both within like 1 foot of him, Mark had a hand on him, we both managed a hand, but didn't catch his fall. HE IS ABSOLUTELY FINE. He may have damaged the drawer he landed in, but otherwise unscathed.

Of course, this morning he gave himself a bump on his head. How, you ask? He tried to dive through the floor. From sitting. No falling. He was sitting on the floor, and tried to duck under a sheet, but apparently expected the floor to move away from him. It did not. Echoes through our concrete floor ensued. I comforted him, instead of laughing. Ok, I laughed first. But discreetly. And comforted him.

Bath time *is* awesome

that's Z, sound asleep on my lap. We're adjusting back to our split schedule. He just crawled over, nursed for a minute and passed out. I don't have the heart to move him. He's warm, he looks like a sloth, he's snoring, and I can reach my laptop to work on my public talk for tomorrow night.

What an awesome ...

first election for Mr Z.L.C. He can be proud to be an American.

because it had to happen sometime...

Last week Zachary pooped in the bath, much to the amusement of Sarah and I. Zachary was a little traumatized, mainly from getting yanked out of his bubbletastic warm fun place, to get wiped down and cleaned up.

standing

standing
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

slide time

slide time
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

First Day

Well, I managed to hold it together until the elevator after I dropped him off yesterday.

It was sad and fantastic all at the same time. Now he's off living a life without us. Which is exactly right, but makes me a gasp a little all the same. He's good, he clearly has the coping skills and understands whats going on in the world. I dropped him off again this morning. He sat right down to playing with his friend Pearl and didn't look back. Heartbreak never felt so good.

Now its just up to adapt to... regular life. I'm so grateful for this last year of our weird schedules and getting to spend so much time with Z. I just have to bring the same attention to bear on my "other baby" now....

Just a few minute favor

So the pretty picture of Z I put on the blog yesterday, I just entered in a competition.
Vote for it here
You have to sign up, for a free photrade account (much like flickr) and then vote for me. The competition is part popularity contest part judges, so the more votes the better chance the judges will consider it!

upside down pinapple boy

ZacharyZoo stretching and strengthening all those muscle he needs for walking. Or that's our interpretation anyway. There are some new pictures up, many taken with my new toy, a 50mm lens. It is soooo much fun, thanks mum and dad.


standing dog pose
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

And this one I've entered into a competition, "portraits", we'll see how I do. I might get a new camera bag or even a new camera, 'cos of course I really need one! The odds are pretty slim thought 1/2000 or so!


DSC_0403.JPG portrait set
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

oh and p.s. in other exciting news zachary will be starting daycare tomorrow! Zenaida Nadal will now be looking after Zachary from about 9-5. She runs (and has been for 14yrs) a small (5-6 kid) family daycare, where Z's friend Pearl also goes. And its 3 blocks from our building and one from the park!

UPDATE

He's 27lbs 2.5oz & 31" tall.

So... still giant. *grin*

In a charming way. He also had his first MMR vaccine and his HepA. One poke in each chubby thigh. He looked unimpressed and gave a little cry, but was distracted by... oh, everything. I think he's forgotten already.

Our first fight

Zachary and I had our first fight.

It was over the disputed ownership of a cheesestick.

It is hard to say who wanted it more, the newly minted toddler, or the nursing mother of the newly minted toddler.

There was wrangling.

There was negogiating.

There was a gaping shriek in which his mouth opened so wide there was nothing left of his face.

He was placated with the wrapper and a few bits. I was placated with the rest of the slightly mangled cheesestick.

That all our future disputes should be so swiftly and satisfactorily concluded.

New grownupshoes

New Shoes
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

Oh yeah, going out in style

Whatchu talking bout?

Whatchu talking bout?
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

New carseat! WHOO! Safe, thanks to the other grandparents (now he's safe AND warm. Lucky bugger).

It has a cupholder. He thinks its awesome for stashing things. And it lasts (the carseat, not the cupholder) till he's 100 lbs. So at least next year. ;)

(juuuuust kidding)

Warm!

Bottomwarm
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

That's right, winter is a comin. And the grandparents hooked Z up with serious warm ware. This is the bottom part, and the most dangerous grin in the world. And rapid fire catch up pictures (because lots are cute....)

Another Comparison

giddy-up daddy

Happy Family

Happy Family
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

Well, there you go. We all live here. We've been at this for a year now, and I might say we're starting to get the hang of it. You can tell Zachary is getting the hang of it, because he's covered in GRUB. Good clean New York grub. He had a marachino cherry with dinner, so the grub had some help with the sticking.

A year ago, he was just a giant baby trapped in my womb. And now, just trouble. Wonderful giggly all over the place trouble. We wouldn't trade him for anything.

Well, maybe a really good chocolate cake...
No, no. Not for anything. Really. ;)

Happy Birthday, Zachary. Here's to having no idea what we're doing, and loving every minute of it.

walking on fingers

walking on fingers
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

that's right, he has started to walk on fingers again. Bringing the inevitable closer :-) Ever since his crawling got better than the walking, he has pretty much refused to stand up and take even a few steps. His main form of protest being picking up his legs and throwing himself on his bum, and looking up angrily with a why do make me do that look.

Ta DAAAAAAAA

DSC_0137.JPG
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

Grandma and Grandpa Cornwall have arrived. And there is a bunch of pictures up, although in fact none with them as yet.

Ooooooooopen

*grin*

Catching up

Giddyup
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

Because our visit was soooooo fun, we have lots of pictures that I (sarah) am slow to upload). Naughty naughty. Also a few silly videos coming up. Anyway, tada, fun! Zachary really did love the mandolin, and the grandpa wrestling. There was lots of wrestling. Z may mistakenly think he could take down a horse, though, since every time he "tackles" one of us we collapse to the floor. Oh well...

happy end on summer

DSC_0052.JPG
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

today the play ground was fun for both of us. The rain has washed all the muck from the slides making them much faster, and from Z's grin, better. I had a blast messing around with a new flash technique on my camera. It's a snoot! how fun is that to say. Basically a cardboard tube to focus the beam. Then you highlight, and don't lose those pretty leaves turning in the slightly chilly blue sky.

Blocks in Hat

or: the craziest birthday hat ever. It has a stash pocket. Thank you, Tucker Girls.
Zachary is an unconventional user of the birthday hat, but we're hoping through desensitization that he'll end up wearing it long enough (awake) for us to get a picture.

Lots of pics & videos to upload from the Grandpa Michael visit, but just this to start with:

junior mando-time

Z loves to pluck those strings and pet the body as it resonates, from Grandpa Michael's strumming. He left us today, heading back to California.... on a jet plane.

Within Minutes ...

Grandpa Michael is here, and the fun has started. Yes, Mom, that's Zachary up to his elbow in a water glass. I TRIED TO INTERVENE. But as you know, once the precedent is set... *grin* Damn. Besides, Grandpas are notoriously hard to train. We're having a blast. Zachary loves linguini, and madolin, and grandpa wrestling. Bath time! More later...

science is fun ... no really

This is adam, he has a 1 in 40 chance of being the next BBC Tomorrow World presenter. Today he was learning the wonderful lesson of never work with animals or children for his screen test.

Don't any grown ups live here?

down the slide on his own

then around the corner, to the big slide and he did it again...adrenajunkibaby

RAHHHHHH!

RAHHHHHH!
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

crazy hair, he's suddenly sleeping a bit better, must be 'cos we're about to travel and mess his schedule up again. Some photos to tide you over the weekend while we're off in North Carolina :-)

Reading Rocks

bumpy frog
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

Zachary sometimes keeps himself happily busy with his toys in our living room. Last week I was busy and turned around to find him quietly on his back, flipping through his book about "Colours" - multicultural, see? We got it in England ;) He looked up when I got the camera, but for ages he was just busily flipping through the pages and touching the animals (one side of the pages has textures, such as the bumpy frog you see here. Bumpy frog = Grandma Jackie's favorite).

Whoo! We're off to North Carolina on Wednesday, so things might get a little quiet in the blogosphere while I FREAK OUT. *grin* Just kidding. Well, not about the quiet. But hopefully about the freaking out.

PS - Zachary turned 11 months on saturday. 11 months! How did that happen? Did I blink? Bugger. I must have done. Expect a retrospective by next month ;) Maybe we'll have a quiz .....

Zachary Louis Collins and Great Grandpa Louis Tucker

Arm dimples, Check.
Pudgy thighs, Check.
Cute ikkle nose, Check.
Jaw line, Check.
Chubby cheeks, Check.
Sitting still for a photo, hmmm no. I have no idea how they had Lou sit that still as a baby. Bearing in mind we're talking fairly long exposures for portraits taken back then. It took at least 2 dozen shot to get this one of Zachary and just seconds before and straight after he was off again, zooming around the apartment.

In all seriousness thought they do look related :-)

bubble bath

DSC_0177.JPG
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

is tasty it turns out. Some foto's are up for all those who requested an update. Last night Sarah, Mike Berkowitz, Zachary and I went to columbia university to watch Obama and McCain in the ServiceNation Summit. You can see me and mike just right of the stairs and watch it online at the link in the article. It was really fun and Z was amazing well behaved. He even cheered when Obama came on the jumbo screen (we tried to get ticks but it was bad odds 100seats/15,000applications), we'll maybe not cheered so much as screamed from the roar that exploded around us. Other than that everyone was fairly subdued, listening rather than cheering.

Drill, baby, drill....

As we speak, John McCain is accepting the nomination of the Republican Party.

By the time Zachary notices? We'd like the world to be better.


Help. :)

Thanks to everyone who is already doing their bit - making phone calls, donating money, talking to random strangers on the bus.

I hate opposing anyone named Sarah, but one does what one has to do to make the world right.

Happy Thursday.

getting pushed around

Zachary made a new friend yesterday, she is just 6 days older, and striding around the playground with this walker like a champion. In fact she pushed Z in a circuit all round the playground after 2 warm up laps.

Shoulda gotta swiffer...

But Zachary is sooooo much cuter....

Heckscher Playground

Since it's gotten a little hotter than the last few sunshinetastic weeks we've had in new york, Zachary and I have been exploring the variatiey of parks the city has to offer. While Sarah was enjoying brunch with Niki, Zachary and I went to Heckscher Playground, which is designed to look like a volcanic landscape. Complete with water (lava) flow. It was awesome fun. Zachary climbed, four wheel drive, part way up a crater. And splashed quite a distance in the lava flow. He was asleep by the time we left central park and didn't even wake up on the subway home, we really tired him out.

Lessons learned living in new york

Best. Game. EVER.

running the gauntlet

running the gauntlet 4
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

fun at the park again, and then today Z and I went to the 116th tot lot, for water sprinklers in the hot hot hot of the end of summer.

Flashback

I was cleaning up some of my files and found this.....

awwwww......

Also? The post below?

1) that picture gives my baby and awkward chin
2) and he needs a haircut
3) also? activity squared is not exponential. just for the record.

Activity squared

standing 1
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

that right Zachary's activity level is currently an exponential equation, this is him standing in the garden having pushed off my knees. But in the flickr set you can see him enjoying the wonders of the playground. He loves watching the older kids walk/run around and got inspired. He crawled quite a distance to get to the slide, passing many leaves on the way, and none went in his mouth, talk about focused. We enjoyed the slide for a while and the steering wheels underneath. Then he decided to step up into the climbing structure and crawl around up there. Quite a day for figuring out steps. He even turned around and went down one of the small steps.

Tent Fun

Busted
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

Not the worst mom ever. Look, I took pictures and I'm posting them ON THE SAME DAY. Zachary had a ton of fun in the tent today. Who knows why it suddenly had such appeal. It did.
Knock on wood, the sleep seems to be slipping back into some kind of normal, and the cold/snot is receding... for now...

Uh oh, the kitchen slave is calling for assistance... I guess I can't use blogging as an excuse for much longer. Bye!

Incorrect door usage

Not using the door
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

Well, generally we'd focus on pictures of the other cute side....

walkering

It has been one week since Zachary noticed what the blue walker was for. Since then, Zachary has discovered the stroller and crawls over to it, past the shoes, past the cat food, past the cat water (astounding, since usually the cat water alone has irresistable mess potential). All the practicing is paying off. He is clearly improving, and this morning he tried walking his hands up to his toes to get to standing sans leaning post. He failed and ended up on his bum on the floor, but the time when he won't is rapidly approaching.

really sore teeth face
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

some funny faces and some aided walking, pictures are now up... bed calls our name. Zachary seems to be getting over his cold and three new teeth are here (well almost).

Baby+NewTeeth+Snot

Equals sad sad mommy.
No... sleeeep... till high school (da da da!!)

*thud*

Mark has lovingly taken the baby to the park so I can do some hazy science. Oh my life.

Snotsnotsnotsnotsnotsnotsnot.

Snot.


So there.

I'm probably sick too BUT I CAN'T TELL. *grin* The snot masks reality. It is his superpower.

How active?

This is Zachary chasing Linus, playing with the tent and oh! there he goes after the cat again.



Also a new teeth picture, note no baby was harmed in the taking of the photograph, in fact he thought it was a funny game.

10 months old??

My goodness.
That's it then. He's officially been out in the world longer than anywhere else, pretty much. Plus or minus a few days. For some reason this seems like a real milestone to me, even though that's deeply weird. Too bad :) Lots of our friends are pregnant, and it seems like such a very long time ago. I can't imagine this time last year. Being pregnant is filed away in some other cabinet in my brain. I suspect its some side effect of keeping up with a baby + survival instincts so we all keep having children.

Zachary is moving around like crazy. Crawling really is locked in, and he has suddenly started popping up to walk again. Hmmm. I'm suspicious of where this is leading, yes I am. He's following us around the house. And going where he wants to go. As Mark mentioned... Yesterday, he took himself to the bath. Too funny. Mark found a cool pop up tent in our lobby swap area and brought it home. Zachary took a prebath spin (mostly to show me how fun it was)... and we were still entertained when he was like "Hello, people. Its BATH TIME". Right. Sorry. Bad parents, no biscuit.

He's been flirting with the idea of one nap. *SIGH*. *grin*. I guess. I don't want to talk about it. Night has been slowly getting better.
And he seems to be almost the owner of three teeth. One of the middle ones? I don't see. How can he be gap toothed before he has teeth? Hysterical.

Oh! And he and linus are wrestling. Its ridiculous. Zachary falls on linus. Linus fails to get out of the way and goes flat on the ground. We intervene in a variety of ways (and speeds) trying to encourage Linus to MOVE ALONG. Linus makes it clear this is funny to him. I think its his way of playing martyr. Hard to know...

8 more weeks and he'll be ONE YEAR OLD.

I don't know what to do with that, so I'm knitting him a sweater. You'll see pictures as it progresses. 8 weeks. Huh. ;)

antigravity cheerios 1

antigravity cheerios 1
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

Sarah will put in a blog post tomorrow, for now here is a happy 10 month birthday, to Zachary. And tonight our son stopped playing and crawled to the bathroom (where the tub was already filled) to initiate his bedtime routine :-)

Next thing you know, he'll want to borrow the car.

moving more everyday

boy impressed, willow unimpressed
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

Today, our boy who screams if we leave the room (separation anxiety sucks) is currently chasing the cats around the apartment. Bedroom, hallway, living room, hallway, bedroom, bathroom and back. Without really caring if I'm in view or not. Line of sight no longer seems important, yay, I can go pee or make coffee again!
Also we've noticed that now he has his crawl on, he has started being more verbal again. No words on purpose of course but he's definitely started stringing nonsense syllables together.

New cupboards, yay!

I have 3 minutes: ok Zachary had his first big fall this weekend. He caught us off gaurd because he has gotten pretty good at only falling backwards, and doing a kind of slow motion, martial arts fall, and seems to be find and never bang himself.....until now. Sarah and I were both doing things with half an eye each on Z. He pitched forward, a rarity in itself, and smacked his heaqd on the corner of the rocking chair leg. He came up SCREEEEEEEAMMMING but soon calmed down and really hated the ice more than the bump. It also seemed to take his mind off his hurty teeth. He had a huge dent above his right eyebrow and we both thought, uh oh, this is going to go black and lumpy, call cps, type bruise. But fortunately it never really got bad. We off course looked up all the head injury symptoms straight away, since this was the first major bang, but all is well otherwise. Also 2 of the four teeth are now poking through, I may try for another mouth shot to capture this momentous occasion since he has been in better spirits, after a good nights sleep, and a little less pain on the teeth front. In the meantime here for your entertainment is Z at his best, active as always, a playing with Sarahs record box:

not dead, just dead tired

Crush on marmalade
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

And really busy, Z is a ball of fuss, about 50 percent of the time at the moment, he has all four top teeth cutting through, and is unsurprisingly not that impressed with the whole teeth thing. We're giving him ice, and lots of things to chew, and tylenol to help him at night. We're also trying to get some work done, ha. And keep the apartment tidy after the now rapidly moving Zachary descends on every shelf within grab-standing range and pulls stuff to the floor. My rule I have to tidy it before bed otherwise I'll break my neck if the cats require my attention in the middle of the night. Also I have a DIY project of building and screwing our new ikea shelving to the walls. We got some shelving, for extra stogage space and with big doors to limit the mess described previously. ok off to the store to get fud for dinn-arrrggggwhatamIgoingtomake :-)

for Mike "where's the ring?" Berkowitz, who complained about the lack of posts before any of the grandparents did!

boys will be boys :-P

manny and z playing with borrowed toys