Stick Walker

Now that rainy and cold weather has begun to come, I had to buy Zane his first real outside shoes. Not too many more days or weeks of walking in bare feet! We like to practice walking outside on the flat sidewalk. Zane loves to carry sticks and a broom, so we've co-opted them to save our backs when helping him walk.


Earlier in the week Zane and I had our first trip together to the zoo. It was near nap time and we couldn't stay too long, but the best thing was the jaguar. What a BIG exciting cat! It was also fun to see other bunnies at the petting zoo. The petting zoo wasn't open at the time we were there; next time I hope we have better luck.

Not much else to report! Enjoy these wonderful pictures from Maine I just received from Ann and Jon. Thanks guys!

He Walks Among Us

Zane is walking! Not very far, but he can do it on his own. The video above shows just a step, but the farthest so far was 8 steps Saturday night. He was trying to get to his bunny Bob who was in my lap getting blow-dried after his spa date, and Zane forgot he couldn't walk yet, so he did it! All this week Zane has been working on standing and going up and down, and now that he's pretty good at that, he decided to just go right into walking! He's even doing it in the bath tub. I'm amazed at the fast progression. By the end of next week I bet he'll be pretty good at it.

On Wednesday we went to the UW brain lab to participate in a study. Zane got to play with toys, and occasionally a lady would blind fold herself and see if Zane knew whether or not she could see. Instead of acting as though he thought she could see the toys she was looking at (with a blindfold on), Zane would point to the blindfold as if to say "Um, you might want to take that off."

Monday we go to another developmental screening, and we get to help them test out some new questionnaires for social development.

Two weeks ago we went swimming again, which Zane hadn't done since he was just learning to crawl. He had a blast and I need to try to squeeze that in more often. There aren't any story times for a while in September, so maybe we'll take that time and go to the pool.

Our next adventure is a trip to the zoo tomorrow morning with some other moms and kids. I haven't been for a long time, but Zane has with his daycare! This will be our first time together. I can't wait to see what he thinks of seeing rabbits that aren't JoJo.

Here's our cutie-pie in Maine with Grandma.

Happy Birthday, Zane!

We made it! We made it! Zane turns one year old today. We had a really nice BBQ out back with friends and family. It was a lot less organized than we would have liked, but it's hard to get with it and also take care of the Birthday Boy. Oh well. There is no cake picture as he was completely uninterested in his cupcake. So I ate it. And then in the evening I offered him another, but he was again uninterested. So I ate it. The sacrifices of a mother.

I've been thinking a lot lately about last year at this time. When labor started, what I was doing, and how Zane finally came into the world 49 hours later! We've been watching old videos and marveling at how wobbly and un-able he was (Michael says "pathetic"). Zane sure has changed a lot in the last year, but he's not done yet! Still a lot of growing and changing to go. This next year will bring walking and talking and tantrums.

Here he is when we brought our little elf home and the eleven months following.

He slowly changed each month. I think he really achieved his Zane-ness at around 4 or 5 months. Before that he was much more of an infant and didn't look so much like himself.

I may put up more pictures from his birthday later, but I'm plum tuckered out!

Zane Walker, Ballard Ranger

Zane is really working on walking this week! He needs to hold onto both of my hands, so I don't think solo walking is super imminent, but it is definitely on the horizon. When we are outside I think Zane recognizes the value of walking as a way to not bang up his knees. He really seems to enjoy it. At storytime on Wednesday he forgot to hold on and took one step by himself, and then later at daycare he did that again but crashed and burned. We'll get there!



Today we went to ReclinerLand in Lynnwood, which turned out to be very exciting for Zane. Miles of soft furniture and carpets. We got a new chair to replace the rocker/glider I used for Zane's first year. He doesn't need so much rocking and effort to get to sleep these days, and we wanted something soft that everyone could enjoy. It'll be delivered Friday or Saturday and I can't wait! I've also ordered something to organize Zane's toys and I received a new bookshelf for his books. Now they're all accessible to pull out at any time!

Tuesday I managed to finish getting a baby bike seat (Thanks, Sabina!) installed onto my bicycle, and we went out for a ride on Tuesday and Wednesday. It was fun! The first day Zane said "Ahhhhh" for a while and seemed to be playing with his bumpy voice. When we got going fast down a hill he put his hands and feet on my back. A backseat driver putting on the brakes! Wednesday we took an early morning jaunt to a park overlooking Puget Sound (now also the Salish Sea) and had a nice time talking to some people and exploring. This morning we went to the Locks and saw many dogs, joggers, and rushing water but not many fish. Once I get my bike legs back (I haven't been biking for about a year and a half), we can go to Golden Gardens. Zane looks like a little boy, not a baby, in his big bike helmet.

Eating and sleep have been wonderful! For most nights in the past week he has slept 9-11 hours straight. Zane has become a pea-fanatic and now I give them to him as an appetizer while I'm preparing his meal. It helps cut down on last minute Oh-god-I'm-hungry whines. I've started trying foods that he disliked in the past with some success. Lentils with ham got urped up, though. I'm not sure if it was yucky or a thick texture thing. I'm adding ground chicken to meals, too, so he's getting more protein. Today he had tiny star pasta and had stars stuck to his lips after dinner.



On our way to the post office on Monday I picked up a sorter toy at a yard sale. The little shapes are rattly, which is fun. I showed Zane how to put the toys in, and when I point to the right hole he can manipulate them the right way and push them in. He seems to think that's pretty cool. On his own he doesn't quite get the idea of the right shape and color for the right hole, but this toy might help that light bulb go in. These are also a nice size to practice throwing!

This week's mischief has been learning to open the toilet lid and fish around. A toilet lid lock is in our future, but hopefully not a complicated one so I don't pee my pants trying to get into the toilet.

Wednesday was our last baby story time at Shoreline! Shoreline's story times are on break until September, so we are going to start going to a young toddler story time at Ballard during the same time. We can bike to the library!

Graduating to the next level of story time is one of many almost-birthday changes. I've been thinking a lot in the last couple of weeks about what I was doing last year at this time. Last day of work. Mom comes to visit. Big and pregnant during a heat wave. No idea what's coming!

Mr. Engineer

Michael helped to engineer Zane, but of course he has an older baby, too.

People are always asking me about how Michael's software MoI is doing, and what the heck is it anyway? Here is a nice big 5 part series all about it.

A Stand Up Guy

More pictures from Maine! A couple of professional portraits, some at the lake, and some with Zane outside and inside the L. L. Bean aquarium.

Zane continues to get a bunch of new skills. I wonder if his improved nutrition is helping these come out? He now loves to play with lids: he takes them off, he puts them on (correctly!). He is also beginning to precariously let go with both hands while standing. Friday morning he stood for 3 seconds, standing tall and straight! This week he learned how to let go of a toy and hand it to me. The first time he did this he laughed and laughed! We had to do it over and over, and he still thinks it's pretty good fun. Sort of related is that he will also feed me some of his food (as long as he isn't eating bananas).

Poor Zane got pretty sick earlier in the week. He had a high fever, excessive drooling, runny nose, and no appetite from Saturday night through midnight Sunday. Monday the fever and snot were gone but the drooling and lack of appetite continued along with severe unhappiness. He may have had a sore throat. Only a bath would make him happy, so we had some extras. It was sad to see our happy boy feeling so poorly. The only plus is that he was so limp and tired JoJo felt confident to hang out near him. Wednesday afternoon he broke out into a little bit of a rash, so it may have been Roseola.

Tuesday he was better and eating again, which was good because we had a weight check coming up! Wednesday Zane went to see Dr. Globerman, and he is officially chubbier! At the last visit Zane had only gained 6oz in 6 weeks and had dropped to 1.35% for weight for babies his age. This time he had gained 13oz in 4 weeks and is up to 1.99%! Yay! We are really making progress now, which is a relief to me.


Sleep has been totally awesome! I've been trying to get Zane to bed consistently earlier, and we've been shooting for 8pm, and getting there at about 8:15pm. Tuesday night we got to bed late but slept until 9am! That has never happened! Wed, Thu, and Fri nights he slept about 11 hours with just 2 wake up breaks! I'm feeling really refreshed and hopeful that this is a new trend. Many many people tell me that if I can get him in bed by 7:30 he will most likely still sleep until 7:30am. This would be wonderful because I would have more time to get chores done in the evenings, and maybe even a little down time.

We are just back from a Sunday stroll, and Zane now has his first bike helmet so he can go for rides on a seat on the back of Mommy's bike. Hopefully we can go tomorrow!