Hi There Folks

We're back in Seattle and finally settled into our new place. I've been staying home with Hank while I look for a new job. We've been having a grand time. Hank loves going to the library to play with their felt board, then jetting over to the park next door to take advantage of the good weather and the slide.

Photographic evidence!

Now we just need a game plan for the winter!

110 Degrees? Problem.

I'd bet you all thought daddy had taken over this blog for good. You can put down your champagne, the party’s over; mama’s home.


We went to LA this weekend to get out of the heat. Here's Hank with his very own brand of root beer. OK, not really his brand, but close enough.
He was pretty scared of the ocean still. But we got in some fun anyway. We all had a great time people watching at Venice Beach and throwing sand and wading at Manhattan Beach. I'm a little sunburned and sore after all the walking around we did, but it sure was nice to be outside during the day.
I needed a picture of this t-shirt for the library and Hank was kind enough to model for me. This is one of the out-takes.

110 degrees? No problem!

Mama takes Hank swimming frequently. I like this charming closeup of him in the pool. Damn you Blogger that I can't make the default photo size larger. Please click for full effect.

Walter and Hankasaurus roam the earth together

This is Walter.

Hank loves him so much that I couldn't keep him out of the picture, even distracted with a comb AND a brush (if only I had remembered a bowl full of mush) . Mama and I took the Hankasaur to Toys R' Us to pick out a bear. After spirited dropping of more traditional bears, he carried around this one the longest. At the time, the bear was almost larger than he was, so carrying it even half an aisle was a sign that Walter was the one.

How did we choose Walter as the name? In honor of Clinton dropping out, we wanted a failed presidential candidate, and Walter's name seemed the cutest for Hank to mangle as he continues learning to talk: "Wall-tear". Here's another shot of Hank's attachment to the big guy. Lick!

Memorial Day Photo Slam!

We traveled to Ellisland for Memorial Day - Hank rarely lacked a new area to explore or someone to play with. He also picked up "no" from Grace. I read some of Eric's book and attended Fort Building 101 taught by Prof. Scott. Echo enjoyed shopping with Liz and crafted some crafty things with Laura. Lotsa photos below:

Grace (Ellis!) looking fierce...

...until felled by strep throat. Get well soon!

Which goes better with ham, Scott or the pineapple?

Crayons on cement meant skullduggery for Laura.

GROG!
(We're retiring his bottles this week - he likes sippies just fine.)

My favorite pic of the trip - "Scottball" on the trampoline.

Thanks for being gentle, kitty. Tough being baby's white whale.

Not that the meeting was entirely tension-free.

Hank had a great time in the huge yard with so many playmates,

but we were not entirely safe from Hankasaurus' alter ego, Tantrumactyl!
(Isn't it cute? Until he gets older, at least.)

Literature

Hank has a new favorite book:

He'll go to his bookshelf, pick up one book at a time and discard* it until he finds this one. Sometimes he brings the book to me, but usually it's daddy who gets the honor. Then he opens the book to his favorite animals for his chosen reader to make the animal sounds. He really likes the dog, kitten, chick, lion and tiger. My guess is that these are the animals that daddy has the best noises for. Less desirable are the penguin, macaw, elephant and zebra. Time to brush up on your animal impersonations daddy.

*toss it behind him, he's a machine.

Fever=Hair Growth?

See this boy? Well, he's got something to show you all, aside from every tooth in his ever lovin' mouth. Hair! He's got hair, at least a lot more of it.
Hank's been pretty ill since we got back from Sea-town. First it was gastrointestinal (you probably don't want the details on that one, lets just say it lasted 10+ days). Then he got a nasty cough/fever combo. One night his fever got pretty high (102, I know, not that high, but it seemed bad at the time). The next morning he had hair, lots of hair, combable hair with even more curls, curls curls! I'm all, "squee!" over the curls and daddy's all "do we even have a comb for him?" and, "How do you brush a baby's hair, anyway?"

Fun in the (Seattle!) Sun

Hank and I went to Seattle for a quick visit with the cousins etc. He had a great time with his only cousin on his dad's side who hugged him so bracingly, he didn' t know how to respond. Nana and Papa came over to Auntie's house and we all got to play outside in the gorgeous weather. Hank's favorite part? Eating watermelon with cottage cheese on the grass. He ran around making a mess of himself and anyone willing to let him touch them. He stayed on the swing for several seconds before getting freaked out and his cousin even played ball with him. We're all looking forward to more scenes like this one this summer. Hank let off some steam at the airport, waiting for our flight to Las Vegas. He pushed the stroller all over terminal B. Lots of, "Isn't he cute!" comments from the peanut gallery, he ate it up.

\m/

Hank loves rocks, he likes looking at them, touching them, picking them up, hell, he'll eat them if we don't catch him in time. Here he's taken one from a meticulously landscaped spot at the park and he's running with it. Sorry bud, you still can't keep it.
His love affair with inanimate objects expands to include the telephone. Talking on the phone is one of his favorite games. Confidential to the baby in the picture: your ear is a little to the left.

We had some time to kill at UNLV a few weeks ago, so we stalked one of our librarian friends. Where, you may well ask? In his natural habitat the library of course! I didn't let the baby eat any of the books in the reference section. Pinkie swear.
This looks like a boy who knows how to party. Come on in babes, it's five o'clock somewhere.

As far as I understand, calling his father by his first name and people watching from our little balcony is pretty much what he does all afternoon while I'm at work. He looks like he's having a pretty good time of it.We put a hat on the baby to protect his translucent pale skin from the harsh desert sun whenever he goes outside. Now when he wants to go out, he hands his daddy his hat like the dog bringing his leash sweet, intelligent child that we all know him to be.Hank and I will be up in the PNW this weekend. Give us a holler if you want to hang out.

Vanilla Peppermint is the finest of the flavors

We hoped that Hank could save up some height in a Swiss bank and then grow all at once on the trip to Washington, thus saving us a second-round baby proofing. Too bad the cunning plan didn't work out.

We are so screwed.

Hank has hit another milestone. He's tall enough to reach the following (formerly safe from baby) locations:

Kitchen drawers
Kitchen table
Top of the filing cabinet
TV power button

I'm sure this list will grow in the coming days. He has also figured out how to open the screen door to the balcony. Our world is forever altered.

Pop Quiz

What happens when Hank suddenly changes his sleep schedule from a short nap in the morning and a long one in the afternoon to a long nap in the late morning followed by a short one in the late afternoon and Daddy doesn't figure it out for a few days? This:

 

Victory!

Hank's sleeping has been off for the last month or so. He's either been sick or cutting teeth the whole time. Add to that a transition from two naps every day to just one and you have one cranky little boy who has forgotten how to fall asleep on his own. Daddy and I (OK, mostly Daddy) have been up with him most nights for several minutes to a couple of hours getting him back to sleep. Hank is a hard one to sleep train, he vomits when he gets really mad or sad or just too upset. I'm talking crying for two or three minutes then "cough, blurgh." It's no good. Earlier this week, I told Asa, no more of this crap, we're doing it tonight. (no, not that) Of course Hank cried, then vomited. We cleaned him and his bed and gave it another go. Wash, rinse, repeat. He did fall asleep on his own eventually and the next night, no vomit! w00t! Victory Dance! Hank's been going to sleep and staying that way on his own all week and we are all better rested for it.

Here's another picture from the park the other day, just 'cause he's cute.

Pay no attention to the man behind the baby

We went to the Krach's for an Easter egg hunt yesterday. Hank had some pretty serious competition in the form of Boo and her neighbor, another three-year-old. Hank held his own though. He collected 5 eggs with a little help from his daddy. Hank had fun shaking this egg and dropped it from a great height, at which point he discovered that it was full of peanut M&Ms. A thrill I'm sure. I put the M&Ms back in the egg so Hank could shake it some more. (Silly me!) He dropped it again, just to see its guts rattle to the ground. Note to self: gotta be smarter than the baby.

Playground Adventure

Hank likes playgrounds, as long as they don't have swings! Despite the chewing of fingers as a Hank signal of anxiety, he's actually pushing Mama to let him down the slide.


Hank in a Japanese RPG style 3rd person view. Just imagine a dragon instead of a play area. :)

Taking an infant down a slide, BTW, should go in the brochure advertising parenthood. (Along with a recording of excited baby laughter.)

Country Music Sensation

I've been playing Karaoke Revolution this weekend. Hank discovered the microphone I left out, and well, the rest is history.

It's so sweet that he still helps his folks out with the laundry, even now that he's made the Big Time.

He Likes to Put Things in Other Things

Last night after work, Hank and I went to our friend Kathleen's crib for a little celebration with the birthday girl. I needed to pick something up at home first, so we swung by the apartment, where I checked the machine and found a message from my sister. She sounded frantic, so I decided to call her back before heading out. Hank was a little testy on account of not being allowed to play with the phone, so I gave him my keys to entertain himself, which he did. 20 minutes later, my sisterly duties discharged, I picked up Hank and headed for the door only to discover, much to my dismay, no keys. I checked my pockets, purse etc. and took a cursory inventory of the horizontal surfaces in the living room before I remembered that I had given them to Hank. So I put him down and asked him, "Where are mama's keys?" he wandered off in no particular direction with a big smile on his face. I spent the next couple of minutes following the baby repeating, "key? key?" as he toddled around the apartment. If he didn't understand what I wanted, he did enjoy the little game we seemed to be playing. Feeling more than a little silly and getting frustrated, I stopped and flopped down on the floor, legs akimbo. Then it hit me like an anvil falling from the heavens, he likes to put things in other things! So I crawled around the living room looking for enticing cavities and this is what I found:

I'm just glad it wasn't the sub woofer again.

Awesome Hat

Just in time for the nice weather, we got Hank a new hat at Gymboree this weekend. The strap Velcros under his chin so he can't get it off. It's more adjustable than an elastic would be and easier than ties. Plus, it's cute and has a big fish on it. w00t! Here he is training for Festivus, I'm sure he'll make his father and me very proud this December 23rd.

Don't burst a vessel, baby.

Hank is starting to get the hang of the whole walking thing. He can carry toys across the room without falling down and has started trying to run. He falls a lot when he tries to run.

Grandma's Come to Town

Asa's mom is in town for a couple of days and Hank is loving all the extra attention!

You think this is good Hank, just wait until we move back to the PNW baby.

Hankasaur Transform!

As you know, Hank started walking at the end of February. What you may not know is that this is just one of the ways he has changed over the last two weeks. He's getting a whole lot smarter - he points at the things he wants, and can anticipate what will happen based on something I'm doing.

Sometimes he gets it wrong, however: He loudly frets at the mere suggestion of the blender's operation. In fact, I have to hide blender parts from his gaze as I'm emptying the dishwasher and stash them in cabinets to prevent an apopleptic baby from losing his mindz and boycotting breakfast.

Among his favorite things in the living room are the Xbox 360 controllers. I just watched him jam one of the battery packs against the back of the controller (which is never attached when he plays with one) so this is yet another time I realize he perceives more than I appreciate.

I should just be live-blogging: He just gave me a big smile and tottered around in a small circle and fell down. Okay, this is not fascinating reading! I, however, am entranced.

I'm a Model, You Know What I Mean

Our camera's anti-red-eye function produces an orange light before the flash goes off. Hank has figured out that when this happens, he gets his picture taken and can then see it on the camera. And he loves seeing pictures of himself (this reminds me of a certain cousin of his). Now, when he notices the light, he strikes a pose. Usually this is a huge grin, showing as many teeth as possible and closed eyes. You wouldn't believe how many pictures we get of him looking something like this: He eats his oatmeal with a spoon pretty much every morning now. He loves lcd soundsystem (especially the hit single, "Daft Punk is Playing at My House.") Other musical loves are, Daft Punk, Air, Led Zeppelin, and anything on Dance Dance Revolution. As you might have guessed, he spends a lot of time with his father.

Hank's new molar has been joined by a few friends in the last couple of days. He's working on three teeth and it's none too pleasant for the little guy. His, "Not to worry, it's just from the teething," clear runny nose has turned into a green stuffy one and that's not helping anything. The walking, however continues to develop unperturbed by his symptoms. He's making it seven steps before he falls now and he's standing while holding toys and bottles. Pretty slick. He's got a few new syllables in his babbling this week too. (Daddy promises to post more on this so I'll leave it alone for now). Basically, if you saw Hank last week, today you'd see a whole new baby, and if it's been a few months, you might not recognize him at all.

Be Still My Beating Heart

Hank took his first ever steps tonight after dinner. Just two of them before falling on his butt, but two steps nonetheless. He tried a few steps here and there later on in the evening. He's far from proficient at this whole walking business, but hopes are high here at Casa de Allen that he'll be tearing the place up soon. (These hopes reside mostly in his father, I'd be happy to see him stay a baby a little longer, but that's just me).

Hank Update

This is Hank's favorite book du jour. He loves pointing to all the pictures, especially spot's spot.

Other favorite games right now are "This Little Piggy," "Itsy Bitsy Spider," Airplane/Super Baby and Telephone or Computer (or anything mama and daddy do, really). If you give him a rag, he "helps" clean himself off after meals and in the bath, he'll even wipe the couch off when he has the chance. We may have our own little Monk on our hands (I kid, I kid).

Right now Hank is teething and it looks like he's cutting his first molar. He's been quite sensitive the last few days, always wanting daddy or mama close by.

Hank the Consumer

Hank loves going out on the town, even if that just means a trip to the grocery store.

It's My Party and I'll Cry If I Want To

We celebrated Hank's birthday with the Krachs the other day and a good time was had by all, really. Hank was a little upset at cake time. I don't think he liked his hat, or maybe it was the singing. C'mon Hank, It's not that bad!
A few minutes and a bit of cake make all the difference for the birthday boy. Yes, he did eat his cake with a fork.