Another bedtime report from Zeke

Tonight when I took Zeke in for bed he didn't want to leave his mother. He cried and said that he "wanted Mommy." Then, suddenly, he stopped crying and sat up.

Z.: Daddy, do you sometimes get sad when you can't see Mommy?
Me: Yes, sometimes I do.
Z.: Why, Daddy? Why do we get sad?

Big-head Talia

Talia had her nine-month well-baby checkup Tuesday. To our astonishment, the fact that her head circumference is in the 95th percentile is a cause for concern. She's having an MRI and X-ray next Friday to determine whether there is fluid in her brain and whether the plates in her skull are fusing prematurely. Yeesh. Poor baby. They'll sedate her for the procedure.

A recent one-liner

Walking through the war memorial in the park by our house:

Z.: Daddy, what's this?
Me: It's called a memorial.
Z.: Not your morial. My morial.

Zeke sings the alphabet

A few days ago, while driving, Zeke decided to perform the alphabet. About forty seconds. If you can't hear the audio, call (510) 248-0386, and if that number doesn't work, click this link and get the correct number.

Another little batch of photos

I took Zeke to the park before bed tonight and he spent a while dashing around inside the bandshell. I took a bunch of blurry but (I think) interesting photos.

Zeke entertains Talia in her high chair

Zeke was really trying to amuse her, and she was loving it. Go through the whole series to get the full effect...

A "day out with Thomas"

Over the past six months or so, Zeke has become a big fan of Thomas the Tank Engine, a TV character with an enormous range of licensed products you can buy. I think he sees a fair amount of Thomas at the daycare. (We try not to think about how much "movie time" there is there; he definitely doesn't see TV at home.) I have a certain amount of ambivalence about this. I don't remember growing up with a lot of brand-name characters as important elements of my imaginative life, but I could be wrong about this. Anyhow, though, about an hour from here, there's an old steam railroad that's been maintained in daily operation. It's in Amish country, in Strasburg, PA, and it's a pretty significant tourist draw. Three times a year or so they stage a "day out with Thomas" event. We decided sort of on the spur of the moment (i.e., the night before) that we'd try to make it. Zeke was probably more excited than I've ever seen him about everything; it was pretty charming. So, we got up early this morning and drove out there. It was a raging success. Zeke loved it. He was patient waiting in line (though since we arrived at 8:30 a.m., this was pretty manageable). He was so excited that he basically didn't eat anything till the afternoon. Unfortunately most of the photos I took were blurry. Of course I made a video as well but that was also out of focus. I'll see if I can salvage anything over the next couple of days. But in the meanwhile, here are some nice shots.

The trains.


Photos of Zeke riding.

To see all the pictures from today at full size, click here (there aren't too many more than this).

Video diary: Talia plays with a balloon

Click To Play

Not a particularly high-quality video (one minute or so; made with my cell phone), but take my word for it, she was really having a blast.

A few photos of Talia

Photos of Talia eating ...

    
  



And playing music (while standing up)...

Talia tries cheese

This may amuse you... Sorry about the terrible quality. Made with my phone.

Click To Play

Exciting times at the homestead

These are exciting times indeed. The reason why is a little delicate, but Zeke does a pretty good job explaining it in the one-minute interview below. Have a look at the video. To listen to the audio by phone, call (510) 248-0386, or if that number doesn't work, click this link and use the number supplied there.

Click To Play

Last thing Zeke said to me at bedtime tonight

"I want to give you a big hug, Daddy."

Which he did. Then proceeded to curl up with his favorite stuffed animal -- a small green dinosaur -- and go to sleep.

I must have done something really nice in a past life, or something. That's all I can say.

Video diary: Talia today (Sept. 8, 2007)

Click To Play

Talia's basically been doing three interesting things lately: standing up (with support; she's trying to do it hands-free, though), eating a ton, and making a lot of noise. You can see her do all three in this four-and-a-half-minute video. (Nothing's wrong with your speakers -- there's hardly any sound, except when she pounds on the toy piano.) You can see her try to launch herself into the air from a sitting position. Her "piano playing" is so funny I started laughing while I was trying to film her; that strange noise coming from her is actually, we presume, laughter.

Oh, and yes, the dates in the video are wrong -- they should say Sept. 8, not Sept. 7. Oops.

Wait, you're not supposed to be doing this yet

That's correct, folks, your eyes are not deceiving you. Here's a photo of Talia, standing up, without holding onto anything, in a wading pool, chomping on some watermelon. This is not a trick.

Talia and my nose

It's sort of hard to tell in this photo, but she's actually manhandling my face with both hands here. It kinda hurt.

What Zeke said in the car this morning

While I was driving Zeke and Talia to daycare this morning, Zeke started telling me about "ghostez." After I'd dropped him off, I phoned in this post. If you can't hear the audio, call (510) 248-0386, and if that number doesn't work, click this link and get the correct number.

German, Zeeky-German, and Tally-German

I made this video with my phone while driving and you probably can't make out a thing, but what was going on was that Zeke wanted to practice saying the German word "Kipper," which means "dump truck." He's lately gotten very interested in the idea that you can express familiar terms in a language other than English, and he keeps asking how to say things (especially, for example, the names of animals and of construction equipment) in German. He has also started referring to Talia's babbling as "Tally-German," which I find hilarious.

A few recent photos

Click this link to browse through these photos one at a time.