A Sunday to Remember

We had a fantastic day today.  After a solid week of rain and gray, we finally had a nice day Saturday and were hoping for a repeat today and planned a big day out.  After some great homemade french toast, we went to the Arnold Arboretum for the first time in two years with the plan for Davis to ride his new Scoot around the wide paths while we enjoyed a walk and the flowers.  Davis wasn't interested in his bike, but he was interested in his truck book and running through the grass which he got his fill of.  After 1.25 miles (I was tracking it) in 80 minutes we headed to JP  for a snack then to the Franklin Park Zoo.  We had a great time at the zoo.  We fed the Budgies, took a train ride, rode the carousel, "drove" the tracker, slide down the slide and saw a lot of animals (lions, tigers, gorillas, ostrich, zebra, and peacock were highlights for us).  Davis had a great time and was quite exhausted by the end of the day.

We took a lot of pictures, a few of which are below.

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Weekend wrap-up

Labor day weekend was a good combination of being busy, relaxing and saying good-bye to summer.  Our heat-wave broke when Hurricane Earl passed off-shore and the weekend was a fantastic 70 to 80 and sunny.  A great break after 5 days of 94, 92, 96, 94 and 95 for highs.

This weekend we:

• Went to the Y.  Freddy's class was cancelled because of the holiday weekend, so we went a little later than usual.  However, we ran into Freddy in the gym and he gave a special 6 person extra hard version of his class.  It was a great workout, much better than we would have done by our selves.
• As part of the next bullet item, we made a quick trip to Ikea for dinner and a new table and chair set for Davis to play with in the living room.  So far, both the cats and Davis approve of the new plastic furniture.
• Saturday we went to our first Revolution soccer game.  Kristen got deeply discounted tickets from Groupon that included a free shirt.  The game was at 7:30, a little late for our little guy, but we went anyways for an adventure and to start testing our parenting comfort zone.  The game, what we saw of it was fun, but Kristen was expecting a European atmosphere as was a little disappointed by the lack of passion from the American fans.  I spent a lot of time out of my seat with Davis walking around, but was rewarded by catching a tee-shirt thrown into the stands at half-time.
• Sunday we went peach picking in North Andover.  Davis had a blast running around the orchard then feeding the animals afterwards.  We fed llamas, goats and a cow.
• After a family nap and sleeping on dad Sunday, we went to our friends for a BBQ.  Davis again had a blast running around, climbing in chairs, eating and playing chase / hide and seek between the air whole-house air conditions.
• Monday we took Davis to a cyclocross practice in Lexington with a few people from Quad Cycles. Kristen and I are both planing on doing a race next weekend so we wanted to get our bikes tuned in and get some technical practice in.  We took turns practicing and supervising Davis eating donuts, peaches, water mellon, water and blue berry muffins by the handfuls.  Unfortunately, I did crash and hurt my right knee a little bit.
• After we got back from practice, Davis took a long nap and we cleaned the house and yard. 
• After naps and an early dinner, we skyped with Grandparents then headed to the nearby sprinkler park for the last time this year.  School starts tomorrow in Arlington and the sprinklers get shut off.

I have some videos from this weekend that are not uploaded anywhere yet, but here are a few pictures from the soccer game:

Exploring the seats before the game

Seattle Fans

With Mom

Hey mom, there is a soccer game over there!

Mom watching the game, Davis watching something else.

Tired guy, right before heading home

More Choose Your Own Adventure

You are at the YMCA playing with your son in the mat room and mom and her three year old daughter walk in for a class starting in a few minutes.  The mom sanitizes the child's hands and proceeds to follow the her around the room making sure everything is "safe".  Do you:

a) Get off your chair and make sure your son on the other side of the room is safe

b) Wonder why you didn't think to sanitize your son's hands
c) Relax and do nothing

You and your son take the train to the Aquarium downtown.  There is a 40 person line to get in and many tour groups of 5 to 10 year olds visiting.  The entrance fee is $22.  Do you:

a) Pay $75 and become a member to by-pass the line

b) Go ahead with the visit

c) Bail on the visit and go find mom for lunch

The answer in each case is c, but we will probably become Aquarium members.  We think Davis will really like the Aquarium and it will be a great winter activity when it isn't quite so crowded.  Also, it wouldn't be a bad idea to wash Davis' hands after playing in the mat room.

9 months old!

Today, we celebrated Davis turning 9 months old by taking a day off of work and going to the aquarium with Grandma and Grandpa.  Davis had a fantastic time watching the divers feed the loggerhead sea turtles in the giant ocean tank.  I supported him on the ledge around the tank while he talked, pointed and laughed at the turtles and divers.  He didn't even notice when I took my hands off and he stood by himself for the first time.   It helped that he was in his first pair of real shoes which have helped him stand with a lot more stability.  He has been getting close to doing this at home, but he is usually too distracted by a toy to stay in one place long enough.

After a snack, we headed up to the touching tank where we spent some time touching star-fish and the slimy rocks under water.  It was a little hard to get Davis close enough to the water, but he seemed to enjoy sticking his hands in the water.  We were both a little worried he would grab something, or poke too hard, but he did great and seemed to enjoy himself.

We had lunch at the Faneuil Hall marketplace before trucking a tired baby home for a nap.  During his nap, I installed his new carseat and weather proofed a few windows.  The rest of the day was spent playing, weatherproofing and enjoying Davis and having Grandma and Grandpa visiting.  Kristen hemmed a few of Davis' pants so he his now able to crawl and pull himself up without standing on his pants.

Besides standing for the first time, he has been making huge strides with his motor control.  Friday, he clapped for the first time and has already  progressed from simply banging one closed fist into the other, to having one hand open while he moves them together. Grandpa taught Davis how to smash balls the balls in one of his Christmas presents with a hammer (that is the idea of the toy) and he seems able to pick things up very quickly.

We have continued to work with signs.  Our usual signs are: food, cat, more, touch-no, mom and dad.  Yesterday when I was feeding Davis, he gave what I interpreted to be the sign for cat when Domino and Lilly jumped on the table while he was eating dinner.  With his motor control still being coarse grained, it wasn't exact, but it was pretty thrilling none the less.  We think some of his clapping may be the sign for more (they are pretty similar and he claps a lot at dinner).

Here are a few pictures from the day:

At the tidal pool:

Reaching for something in the tidal pool:

Slimy rocks might have been the most interesting thing to touch:

Playing at home:

I also created a time-lapse video of us playing from our ceiling fan.

We could get used to a day off...

Yesterday, Veteran's day, the daycare was closed. This meant a day off for me, and John opted to take one off too! We started with the H1N1 vaccine clinic for patients of MIT pediatrics. They were amazingly efficient..certainly more efficient than we were getting out of the house. Davis had an awesome time in the car when we stopped back by it to eat before heading off to the Science Museum. Things were great and really exciting, until he accidentally honked the horn. Notice the really cute sweater from Megan! We were worried he would grow out of it too quickly to enjoy, but looks like he's going to be in this size for a bit (or at least longer than any other clothing size he's been in). The business-casual outfit is courtesy of Grammie. Can you believe they make button-down onesies?!

We met up with our friends Brian, Clara and little Emily (two months old) for a day, hm, ok a couple of hours, at the Science Museum. The highlight for Davis was probably the butterfly garden. The parents enjoyed the dinosaur exhibit.

Happy 6-month birthday Davis

Davis is six months old today! We went to the same arts and craft store today as we did on the day I was in labor to get some knitting needles for a hat for Davis. John remarked how interesting it was that we could know exactly where we were six months before. Six months is a fun milestone in the baby food timeline. Davis has now graduated from single food types, to mix food types. We now have things available to us like: corn AND butternut squash, green beans AND rice. I'm still making the majority of his food, but the jars give us a chance to try some stuff out before we invest a lot of time in making it. Top foods: Carrots, applesauce, and peas (but not split peas apparently). In addition to food, it's incredible the skills Davis has developed: commando crawling, sitting, eating on his own with a spoon (about a 25% target success rate), new vocalizations, rolling (I mean rolling, like whenever he wants, wherever he wants), swapping toys between hands, and memory. There's no such thing anymore as distracting him with something else. If he was after the cord on the baby monitor, you can't just hide it and show him a bear or an elephant..no, nothing will do but the cord. Also, cat feet and tails are excellent fun. Amazingly, Domino hasn't learned that there's a pretty unique giggle that immediate preceeds his tail being grabbed. He may one day...hopefully soon. I can tell that Domino is fighting an internal battle between his wanting to be near people and his NOT wanting to be near a flapping, squealing, grabbing Davis. One day, I know they will be great buddies.

Life has been incredibly busy lately, busy to the point that I can't remember to do basic things, like get my flu shot .. hm, and there was something else. Davis has been doing much better this week, it seems his fussy behavior was more likely due to a cold than to teething, since he's doing much better now but doesn't have any new teeth. John and I are very excited for the three-day weekend (John is taking off Columbus day from work). Yesterday, we went for a hike with our friend Dave and then had friends Bill and Sonya over for dinner (and more importantly, for one of Sonya's homemade desserts). Today, we went apple picking again, since my favorite apples are Mutsu, and weren't yet in season the last time we went. Turns out they STILL aren't in season, we were a week to two early. However, we had a nice time enjoying the gorgeous weather. Pictures from the weekend (so far) here. We went to a farm that we had visited last year when Grammie Jill was in town. John and I remember it quaintly, having yummy apple cider donuts, candied apples and a petting zoo. Well, we're not sure when exactly we went last year, but this year was quite different. The entire place was a zoo. We were able to pick apples since the fields are so big, but the line for candied apples and the shop were crazy. We picked our apples and headed out. The drive was gorgeous though, the beginning of fall is definitely here!

Tomorrow we get to take brunch to our friends the Apgars (baby Liam Apgar is only one month old and older brother Mack is a year older than Davis). We haven't seen them since just after Liam was born and they'll be moving soon to Conneticut. We don't know what we'll do with the rest of the day, maybe go downtown? What is for certain is that we will be waging an all out war with Indian Meal moths. We've been going at battling them for a while now, one infected bag of oatmeal/beans at a time. But now, now it's personal. No dried fruit will be left unturned, or corner unswept. Meal moths watch out, now I know it's either the freezer or the oven for you!

Lions and tigers and butterflies, oh my

Sunday, we took Davis to the zoo for the first time. He has gotten to the point where he is interested in what is going on around him and tracks people and animals really well. Originally, we had planned on going to The Butterfly Place in Westford, but it collapsed on June 29th. We decided to stick with the original theme and see butterflies at the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston. After a hearty breakfast at our favorite neighborhood breakfast place, we headed out with some of the best weather we've had in long time.

We spent about three hours walking around the Zoo. We saw a lion, tigers, zebras, ostriches, giraffes (include a 2-week old baby), lots of butterflies and birds and many other animals. We went to the Butterfly exhibit right away while Davis was awake. He enjoyed the butterflies, but they moved just a little bit too fast for him to track.

We also took him on his first carousel ride. According to observers, he grew more and more concerned with each rotation, but didn't fuss and finished with a smile for mom.

After the zoo, we topped the day off with a trip to Costco and Babies R' Us for a thoroughly long and exhausting day.

Pictures are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/john.naegle/20090802FranklinParkZoo.

The lion would wake up about every 30 minutes and roar to let everybody know to stay off his turf, then fall back to sleep. I tried to get a recording to train Domino:

In the butterfly garden:

Not too many of the butterflies would get close enough or stay still long enough to get a good picture (forgetting the telephoto also didn't help). This guy was the exception.


At the giraffe exhibit. The baby in the back ground is about 2 weeks old and two hundred pounds. The one in the foreground is 16 weeks old and about 17 pounds:


First carousel ride. This must have been one of the first times around as Davis has not yet started using his look of concern:

Everybody on the carousel:

Grandma singing Davis a song about a kookaburra (which we were watching):

A tired little guy:

Walden Pond

This Saturday, we took our first trip out to Walden Pond with Davis. We went to expose Davis to sand and water, for Kristen to swim, to see some friends and have some nice family time. Since Walden pond is limited to 1,000 people at a time to try and limit erosion and it was going to be beautiful sunny day, we left early. Even after I locked us out of the house and forgot the SLR camera, we made it out to Walden by about 8:30 where we were one of the first non-triathletes there.

We picked a choice spot on the beach and set up for a couple of hours of sand and early morning sun. Josh, Courtney and Mack joined us for some water play. Kristen took Davis into the water and dipped his toes while Josh and Courtney took Mack out into deeper water for a little more active play. After a while, Kristen's parents and I took over watching Davis while Kristen swam with a few friends from her department. Davis took a nice nap and we spent the rest of the day at home relaxing and playing with Davis.

Introducing Davis to the water:


Davis mentally preparing for the challenges ahead:

Dipping toes and standing in the water