Uh oh

Zeke had to sit on the naughty bench at daycare yesterday.

Some decent weather for a change

We had our first almost-hot day this weekend.


Zeke played with the girls next door.


Zeke has discovered a fascination for ants, but he's also suddenly gotten phobic about bees. For about a day and a half he would start crying at the prospect of going out the front door because he remembered he'd seen a bee on the porch earlier. Today, though, it rained again, and Zeke was down on his hands and knees in the wet, watching a few ants and worms crawl around. It was great to watch.

He seems to be mostly over the panicky part of his fear of bees, though they still scare him. Which is understandable, I guess.


H. has taken some nice photos of Talia lately. She has a lot of new clothes.




And I like this cameraphone shot of Talia eating. Even though it's a little strange.


And this one too.


And finally:


That's it for now.

On stage

0424071742-3, uploaded 24th April, 2007.

The park near my house has a bandshell. Zeke climbed on stage, and I told him to raise his hands and say "hooray," and ... voilá.

Neighborhood kids:
  

"Everybody wants to see Zeeky"

Overheard an odd monologue coming from the back seat today while driving Zeke to daycare. Roughly:

"Everybody wants to see Zeeky. But Zeeky's daddy says no. Daddy doesn't want Zeeky to go to school. Zeeky will stay home with Mommy."

A few recent pictures of Zeke and me

Earth Day: miscellaneous photos

                

Earth Day: petting zoo at Ursinus campus

Earth Day: petting zoo at Ursinus campus, uploaded 21st April, 2007.

Zeke and a very small, very friendly ram. At least, I think that's what it was. More photos to come.

Zeke is mad

Zeke is mad, uploaded 20th April, 2007.

H. took this with her phone.

Zeke, Billy, and a bunch of red balloons in a crib

Click To Play

This was Heather's brilliant idea. Try to ignore the grown-ups in the shot. The other kid, who you can hear but not see (he's lying on his back), is Zeke's friend Billy.

Video diary, episode one: Zeke's shoes

Click To Play

In which I put red socks and brown shoes on Zeke in preparation for "school" (daycare). Zeke figures out what he's seeing about halfway through.

Recent photos of Talia. What a babe

Many, many more.

Happy Easter 2007

Zeke was OK putting the rabbit ears on his head, but then he wouldn't hold still for a picture, and they kept falling off. By the time this photo actually got taken, he was pretty fed up ...

That's not what that's for

She's chewing a rattle.

Zeke, what are you eating?

Zeke what are you eating, uploaded 1st April, 2007.

(Cereal, in case you were wondering.)

Part of our morning routine

Part of our morning routine, uploaded 27th March, 2007.

That's his nebulizer. He seems to have something very much like (and which could indeed be) childhood asthma, just like his father did.

We call it "a step in the right direction"

About twenty minutes after this photo was taken, one of the rugs was soaking up a minor puddle. It wasn't a very nice rug anyhow.

Look how smiley #2

H. took this with her cameraphone.

Things Zeke has been talking about lately

• Most common: he asks what things do. E.g., "What do dump trucks do?" Or: "What does Hector do?" Or: "What does a hexagon do?" (That's a new addition to his vocabulary. He learned it because he was asking about the names of the shapes in his shape-sorter. I don't think he really knows what it means.) A variation on this is that he wants to know what something "has" -- often when it's something he can't identify, like a picture in a book. He'll point to an image and say, "Daddy, what does this have?" I never know how to answer that one.
  
• He asks what things eat. Recently:
  Z.: "Mommy, what do shrimp eat?"
  H.: "Um, daddy?"
  Me: "Shrimp food."
  Z.: "Shrimp food. Yeah."
  Today he asked me what bulldozers eat.
  
• He asks if you like things. Mainly vehicles. Example: "Daddy, do you like tractors?" Particularly cute: "Talia, I show you something else, might you like it."
  
• He asks about the alphabet and how things are spelled. In particular, he frequently asks letter a word begins with. For example: "What letter stands for camel?"
• He has been stringing together some relatively complex ideas. This morning, he woke me up and announced: "Daddy, I want to open the door, but I can't. Can you help me?" Tonight, before bed, he asked: "Daddy, do you know something that Pipkin [a stuffed animal] dooze?... He loves trains. I do too."
  
• He likes to play games with language, especially songs. He likes to sing familiar songs but with strange words inserted into them, or with all the words pronounced funny, or whatever.
  

Zeke at the creek

Trip to the creek on Vimeo
Three minutes of cameraphone video, made during today's little excursion to the creek that runs through Valley Forge Park.

Oatmeal with gusto for breakfast

Oatmeal with gusto for breakfast, uploaded 22nd March, 2007.

With raisins, eaten room temperature. Tasty.

Boy and ballon

Zeke and ballon, uploaded 12th March, 2007.

The balloon came from the grocery store. He carried it around all afternoon. He loves it.

Look how smiley

Look how smiley, uploaded 10 Mar '07, 4.59pm EST PST.

You'd never know she'd just been rudely awakened... What a trooper!

Windy day at the park

 
 
 
Windy day at the park today. H. stayed inside with Talia.

Zeke and Talia on the couch

Zeke and Talia on the couch, originally uploaded by myroblyte.

They actually look sort of alike in this shot.

Do you have a bug in your ear?

Do you have a bug in your ear? on Vimeo and Eyespot.
This has recently become one of Zeke's favorite games. In the background you can hear Talia wailing disconsolately and Heather trying to shush her. It sounds awful (and Heather says it was.) Try to ignore that. In case you were wondering, there are really no bugs.

Nani and Talia, Feb. 17

02-17-07_1449, originally uploaded by myroblyte.

Taken with Pop-pop's phone.

Seriously cute

Look how smiley, originally uploaded by myroblyte.

H. told me she was stopped in the grocery store today by a woman who just wanted to tell her how beautiful Talia was.

Zeke sings again ("happy birthday dear Grammy")

Yet another cuteness attack ... Try to ignore my voice and concentrate on Zeke's. This is a voicemail message so the sound quality is suboptimal.

Heather bought Zeke a pea-coat, so now he can dress just like his father. Actually, Zeke's coat is nicer.

Talia smiles

Talia smiles
Originally uploaded by myroblyte.

I guess this is the first photo of Zeke's sister I've posted here. Cute, huh.
See more of Talia:

www.flickr.com

On the swings

Swinging on Vimeo
Cameraphone video. It may make you a little seasick. Taken this morning, an overcast and chilly day, in Lower Perkiomen Park right off the freeway -- somewhere near here.Video link

Zeke builds a "floor-stand table" (whatever that is)

Zeke's blocks on Vimeo
Four and a half delightful minutes of Zeke playing with his new foam blocks. Sorry the quality is so lousy.

Zeke sings

A one-and-a-half minute recording of Zeke singing "This Old Man, He Played One." He accompanies himself on the doumbek.

Outing with Pop Pop and Nani