At the Wild Animal Park. Once a year, the bonsai club has our monthly meeting at the Park. I convinced Travis that this would make an ideal family outing, and I could show off my baby to my bonsai-peers. (They hadn't seen him since he was weaned.) So we dressed him in his Wild Animal Park outfit, and I went to my meeting, and Travis took Alex all around the park. Down the hills, up the hills. So they were both exhausted before the end of the bonsai meeting. One witty park guest commented that 'we start them young in this country'. (He came from down-under, I believe.) Yes, well. Here he's drinking a YoBaby. (Which I calculated that we spend about $1,250/year on... and we buy by the case.)

Alex has a kid-sized tent that he was wanting me to sit inside of while he climbed over and around me. So I decided to get out the real camping tent, and to set it up in our 'nook' area. Halfway through set-up, with an excited and jumpy toddler dancing around me, I read the part of the instructions where it said 'at the same time the other person is doing this'. All I can say is that Curious George would've been proud of how well I used my feet. The cat liked the larger tent, as well. Plus, to the amusement of both little-creatures, it had multiple doors.

In addition to Caira liking to go to Alex's play spaces, Alex likes going to Caira's hang-out spots. Here they are both sharing the top of the small couch. (The idea of not allowing the baby to climb the furniture went out with the 'no food in the living room' and 'toys are to be picked up before the next ones come out' rules.)

Here's Caira enjoying the attention Alex is giving. “Caira Tail!” he might be saying excitedly. Or maybe it's “Caira Down!!!!” - another favorite expression.

Alex happily sitting at his chair to eat. We've found that getting kids drinks at restaurants provides us with an inexpensive source of drinking cups, and after the epiphany about marking the lids so that they can be matched with their cups, it's our source for all of his cups. At dinner time, Travis and I sit at the table, and after a couple weeks, Alex learned the routine enough that when Papa comes home, he crawls into his seat. His attention span doesn't usually last through supper, but we don't force the issue, deciding that it's better at this point for Alex to find the dinner table a pleasant place to be. He also still eats whatever he wants, which is usually more a frustration for me than anything else.

At the pool with Papa. Barbara & Jack's community pool is tepid and shallow, ideal for playing with Baby in. This particular day, we spent more time blowing up the toys I had cleared from the shelves at Target than actually being at the pool. (A giant ride-on shark, and some other large inflatable... and a beach ball...). Alex has also learned to ride on shoulders (in and out of the pool), and this is sometimes the most efficient way to move him from place A to place B. (He doesn't like riding in the stroller, and likes to inspect and point out every snail “bug tunnel”, “dog poop”, and “bug” along the way.)

So not liking the stroller, I thought it'd be a good idea to get one of those wagons, so instead of a stroller which pretty much only can contain a baby, we could put 'other stuff' in as well. So we picked out and bought the all-terrain Radio-Flyer, and once it was assembled, realized that it was probably a little too heavy to pull around the Wild Animal Park (or anywhere else with hills), and 2) that we had acquired another very large indoor toy.

It can be used in the “Train Truck” game without undue stress on an adult's back, as shown here with Caira riding. The bear, by the way, in the Tricycle in this picture and being hugged in the prior, is “Lovey The Bear”, and is the recipient of Desitin when Alex wants to change its diaper. (It was the 2005 Godiva / Starbuck's Bear, which I bought in a fit of “I'm Pregnant And It's Cute!”)

I taught Alex to open wide so that when sugar packets are emptied in his mouth, he doesn't get the packet all wet. The skill transfers to whenever he's being fed. In this case, it was banana cream pie. Mmmm. He also tends to push his hands against his mouth whenever he's stuffed it full, to keep stuff from falling out as he attempts mastication.

“Mum, I-ya go poop.” He said to me as he walked into the bathroom, itching at his bum. And he sat on the throne, unzipped his jammies a bit, and grunted. He'll also use the “Go Away” phrase (he picked it up from “Go Away Josh”) to get some privacy. I think he's about ready.

Auntie Autumn came down with Rocki, who was an instant hit with Alex. (They had met one other time, and got on well then, too.) Autumn didn't get much attention from the baby with such a distraction around, sorry to say.

This was also Grandma Barbara's birthday, and she brought over new Curious George pajamas she had made for Alex! (I had bought the fabric a couple weeks earlier.) Aren't they cute? It's great having a Grandma that can make clothes to fit such a long, lean baby!