Staycation, all I ever wanted...

We are now at the halfway point of our Summer Staycation and having a great time. Staycation is a term I only recently heard, but it sums up our vacation plans to a tee. We are staying at home here in Seattle and being tourists in our own city! We first instituted this idea a few years ago, before Lukas arrived, and had such a great time that we have continued the practice every year since. We thought "Why are we traveling away from home during August when it is the most beautiful time of year right here". Summers here in Seattle and the Northwest are just about perfect, with the warm temperate climate, the beautiful local scenery, abundant water, and vibrant urban environment with plenty of fun things to do.

With Lukas just passing the 13 month old mark, we haven't ventured too far from home yet, but have tried to focus on activities that he would find new and interesting close to home. We took him on a trip to Snolqualmie Falls (a large waterfall just a short drive outside the city limits), have visited local parks with friends to try out the wading pools, taken bicycle trips to other scenic parks, and have plans for some local hands-on children's museums in the next couple of days. All the while we have taken every opportunity to be outside and enjoy the warm weather and cool breezes off the water. There is an abundance of vacation worthy destinations right here, just waiting to be discovered.

Given the current tough economic times it's a great idea, wherever you happen to live, to discover those local attractions which people travel to your area to visit. In our case, we can stay at home in a hip and eclectic neighborhood, sleep in our own beds, and wake up refreshed and ready to enjoy the day. Best of all, the price is right. We will save the out of town trips for a time when it is grey and gloomy here (In case you haven't heard, it rains a bit in Seatte during the Winter months) and we need to get away to re-establish a bit of sanity.

How about you? Are you traveling this Summer, or having your own Staycation?

Personally, I don't See it.

It happened again just the other day. I was walking into a rest room and some guy stops me with a strange smile on his face and proclaims. "You know, you look a lot like Sean Hannity". When I just smiled politely and headed for the nearest urinal to go about my business, he followed up with "You know who that is don't you? I'm a big fan." I wasn't sure whether to take that as a compliment or not, but given his demeanor (even though coming at an inappropriate time), I could tell that this guy was not weird and most likely fairly harmless.

"Isn't he a news guy?" I asked (I had a vague idea that this Hannity guy was on cable news, and from what I remembered it he was teamed up with another guy on Fox News. I never remembered which one was Hannity, but I did remember that one of them was fairly goofy looking, so I was hoping it wasn't that one!) "Yeah, he now has his own show now" he continued. Ok, that confirmed what I had thought. My memories were clearing a bit and I now remembered that the two guys on on the show were on opposite sides of the political fence, (me thinking...so if this Hannity guy now has his own show it's probably on FOX, and if so, chances are he is a right wing proselytizer. Great, I look like some right wing proselytizer. Just what I need.) "I have an active toddler and no television, so am not familiar with his recent work." was my reply. "But thanks. I guess."

Sean Hannity

(hmmmm.......not seeing it)

It was not the first and probably won't be the last time I have been stopped on the street (or restroom, elevator, beer line) to be told that I have a strong similarity to someone on the screen, or in the news. Actually, it happens to me with non famous people as well. Someone will ask we often if they know me from somewhere. I guess I have the face of the average guy. As for famous folk, here are a couple of other actors that I have been told more than once that I resembled:

Matthew Perry

(This one happened all the time while 'Friends" was airing)

Chris O'Donnell

(Heard this one a few times as well, during his 'Robin' days.)

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Famous Anonymous Blogger

(People approach me on the street all the time to say I look like this guy.)
.

Perhaps if this Hannity guy ever decides to run for office or happens to become more important than he currently is, I can parlay my supposed look-a-like status into a new career. I could at least do the convention circuit, and if he really gets popular I may even get some screen time playing the buffoon version of him, kind of like the Bush look-a-like gets to do. (Wait, he probably plays the straight version come to think of it!)

Unfortunately, that would also mean that this Right leaning guy would be gaining prominence and I would be benefiting. I guess that is not in the cards for me after all. Easy come, easy go.

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What about you? Come clean! Who are some famous people strangers have stopped you and told you you looked like?

Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs...

Lukas has been polishing his communication skills lately. We hoped he would take to ASL, and it would seem that our boy is aiming to please. In addition to the spoken words that he is adding to his vocabulary recently, ('dada', 'mama', 'nigh-nigh', and just this evening I swear he said 'light') Luke has began in earnest to speak to us using sign language.

Mrs. LIAYF and I have been using certain basic signs with him for several months now, with Lukas catching on rather quickly at five months old to the sign for 'milk' (of course!), and a few months ago to the sign for 'sleep.' We attempted to teach him several other signs, which he seemed to understand well enough but gave no indication that he would ever imitate. That was until recently. In the last, maybe two weeks, our Luke seems to have made a mental switch with several other signs.

You might even say a light bulb turned on in his head! Tonight Lukas discovered that if he signed 'light,' dada would respond by turning on said light. He then used that particular sign over and over, pointing and then signing 'light' at each light he saw in the house until I flipped that light on and off several times. This was a fun new game!

He has made other ASL signs in the past two weeks including the signs for 'more,' 'all-done,' 'hat,' 'bath,' 'keys,' and 'change' (as in change diaper). This quick progression of signs has also come at a time when he's become increasingly frustrated in his attempts to communicate exactly what he wants. He points and grunts, and we reach for several objects until we finally find the one he is asking for. If we can't figure it out quickly, he may utter exclamations of irritation (as if saying "come on, how hard could this be?? I'm saying please hand me the banana for cripes sakes!") or even cry if he's tired and and the end of his patience level.

We understand that tears and frustration are common in a child this age. They have clear likes and dislikes (Lukas, for instance, will select a specific book each night if given 2-3 to choose from). They comprehend a good portion of what is being said by those around them and will often follow directions. However, they know more words than they can speak. This is precisely why we decided early on to teach him ASL - we hoped it would reduce the terrible-two-tantrums by giving him a way to talk to us before he could form the complicated words. In any case, we are glad he's figured out a better way to talk to da-da and mommy than just by grunting and pointing!

Stuff the Bus!

This past weekend, it was time to deliver the diapers that were so generously donated by friends and family (in lieu of gifts) at Lukas' first birthday party. Stuff the Bus was an event sponsored by WestSide Baby, a local charity which helps out local families in need, and it was a huge success. We collected about 500 diapers (plus a large box of wipes). Costco generously agreed to match diaper donations, so along with that matching donation the drive collected over 40,000 diapers! Given the matching gift we are proud that our friends and family donated 1000 diapers to the cause. This will be a terrific story to relate back to Lukas as he gets older and can appreciate the spirit of giving and helping others.

I have been holding off on posting about this until I could upload a picture of the wagonful of diapers in route to the bus, but due to technical difficulties with the photo card that was just not happening. So I am simply including a picture of the diapers from the day of the party (with our little cloth-diapered dude). The actual diaper delivery was an experience that we won't soon forget. We loaded the diapers into Luke's red wagon, put him on Mrs. LIAYF's back in our Ergo carrier, and headed out for a stroll to the local Sunday Farmers Market, where the big yellow school bus (donation central) was parked and accepting the donations.

We were hardly prepared for the reception we received. As we crossed the street and approached the bus, we were spotted by a throng of yellow-shirted volunteers (perhaps 2o or so) who immediately began to let out a chorus of cheers and applause, joined then by dozens of bystanders, that escorted us the remainder of the way to the steps of the bus. We couldn't help but feel more than a bit proud at that moment as a smile cracked my face and I noticed a small tear fill Mrs. LIAYF's eye. Indeed, this was a very good thing! The organizers asked us to pose for pictures before unloading our wagon, and once we had related to them the story of how we had gathered our diapers, they all broke out and sang Happy Birthday to Lukas. Then, Lukas got to sit at the wheel of the shiny yellow bus and honk the horn!

It was one of those moments that stick. It was much more valuable than Lukas receiving several extra toys that might be played with just a few times and then forgotten. We plan on trying this again next year, but realize our window for substituting donations for gifts is probably about as small as our generous little guy. This time was not difficult, or particularly generous of us really. It took just a bit of extra thought and work to pull this together. We are just grateful it will help out some people who are having a tough time right now.

Thanks so much to all of our thoughtful family and friends who helped make this a reality! I will upload the picture as soon as we receive it from Westside Baby.

Reality Bites

Last week Lukas came home from daycare with a nasty bruise on his arm. I didn't initially recognize it but Mrs. LIAYF, being a former daycare director herself, quickly identified it as a bite. We were not terribly traumatized by it since it did not break the skin but wondered which of the bigger kids (he was visiting the pre-tod room, where he will move next week) had inflicted the damage. Of course the daycare policy was not to name names, and we understand the reasoning. And, most of the kids there have teeth, so it could be anyone.

Well, today it appears that our little guy is a quick learner. Yes, he has turned from the bitee to the biter! Luke has a healthy set of teeth now and has been sinking them into varying body parts of his parents recently, and always received a stern 'No Bite Lukas!' response from both of us. He seems to be learning that this is not acceptable behavior at home . Hopefully this is just a phase he is going through at daycare. Today he bit two of the other kids in the baby room and apparently knocked another over the head with a bucket!

Perhaps he is just practicing his self defense skills in anticipation of the move. As we left the daycare today, he was wrestled to the floor and scratched across the face by an older boy in the pre-tod room (o.k., only four months older) who just minutes later purposefully smacked another kid in the face several times. Yes, it was the end of the day and the little ones were tired, but this little boy (a.k.a. "The Nemesis") seemed to enjoy the painful cries that resulted from his actions and smiled with glee when doing his deeds. The Nemesis is almost a full head taller than Lukas, and a wee bit more aggressive than we have seen in the baby room.

I asked one of Luke's caregivers if this was a phase that all the kids go through and he responded by indicating that he thought Lukas was bored with the infant room and is just ready to move. I agree. He really wants to be interacting with the older kids - the toys are cooler, he gets to sit on a chair at a table at meal time, and there's a lot more room to roam. However, Mrs. LIAYF and I also suspect he is biting because he's learning it from the older kids (perhaps, The Nemesis). Well, only two more days in the infant room and he moves in with the pre-tods. I guess then we'll know for sure!

Home to the Farm

Yesterday we visited Grandma and Grandpa's organic dairy farm for a family birthday party. After breakfast and some morning play time, we loaded up the car with enough provisions to feed a third world family for weeks, then headed out for the farm which is 1 1/2 hours away. Luckily, we timed Lukas' nap near perfectly and he was still sleeping when we pulled off the interstate. So, we decided to drive into 'town' to give him a bit of extra sleep. This is the town where I grew up and went to school. It is really just a small blip on the map, with around 700 residents, one stoplight, and one tavern (appropriately named The Only Tavern).

The town, being in the opposite direction of the way we usually drive to visit home, is not a place we pass through very often, and for good reason. It is out of the way, not unlike most other small towns in rural America, with a few struggling businesses, an identity centered around its High School, and a few well maintained houses amidst many other ramshackle homes with weedy and junk-filled lawns. It is however, the town of my youth, and thus passing through for the first time in a while sparked many fond memories. I learned to play baseball on the old little league field. I spent many evening and holiday nights with my parents at the aged and weathered local Grange Hall (no doubt stirring up some sort of trouble). Those memories, though nearly 30 years old, still managed to bring a smile to my face.

After passing through town, we took the back road to the farm. This was the road the school bus carried me home on so many afternoons. It was once so familiar to me that I could have driven it, with all its twists, turns, and steep shoulder drop offs blindfolded, in my 74' Malibu - the cassette player blaring out some 80's iconic song (most likely a Van Halen ballad). Yesterday though, there was no blindfold. Only the smell of freshly cut hay bales, wrapped the day before by my brother Ron. Those giant marshmallows dotted the fields and reminded me of some life-sized surrealist pastoral landscape placed just so, in a museum, to make you stop, drown out all other thoughts and ponder their meaning.

Grandma and Grandpa were eager to see Lukas. They had seen him the weekend before in Seattle, but it had been about 3 months (they go by so fast) since we had last visited home. This time Lukas is over a year old and much more in tune with the things around him. It was not long before Grandpa had scooped up Lukas and carried him to the big green John Deere tractor and hay baler. They climbed up and in, started it, and drove forward and back a few feet for the full effect. This was Uncle Ron's tractor and was almost an exact duplicate of one in a Baby Farm book that Lukas enjoys reading. The tractor was parked close to the yard, where the barbecue and party were focused, so every time we set him down Luke would make a b-line towards the tractor, his index finger extended, making a 'ga' sound. He was transfixed! Grandpa also took Lukas to the barns to see a baby calf and his mother, both of which brought expressions of joy to his face. The milking cows, who were out grazing in a nearby field of lush green grass, were another source of wonderment for Lukas who stared at them with wide eyes (perhaps because they were black and white, like our cat 'Albert' and his favorite stuffed monkey 'Monkey'!)

The party was a birthday party for my Sister (two years older than I) and my Niece, who is now 20 years old. It was hard to believe that Luke's oldest cousin was born when I was 20 myself! I have watched her grow from a baby into an amazing young lady, who is studying to be a teacher. There were also many other family members to ohh and ahhh at all the fun little things Lukas did and, true to form, he basked in the attention. At the end of the day, it had been another great party. Another chance for Lukas to get familiar with family members who will always be there for him as he grows up. At a place that will always be there for him to visit as well. A place steeped in family history. A place that is full of new and interesting things to do and see. A place where his 'dada' learned about life, the value of working hard, and the love and laughter of family.

For the afternoon at least, it was nice to be home.

Smells Like Toddler Spirit!

Here are a few random thoughts for the day:

We had another first in our household last night. With Mrs. LIAYF tied up with work in a city an hour away last night until past 8 PM, it was up to yours truly to get Lukas home, make dinner, get him fed, get him bathed and get him put down to sleep for the night. No big deal you say? Well, it was at this household as it marked the very first time in his 1 plus years now, that Luke was not breast fed before he went to sleep for the night. For the record, he was in good spirits most of the evening, but seemed a bit confused as to where mom was. He fussed a bit after I gave him his sippy of warmed breast milk and put him in his crib, but our nightly routine payed off as he was familiar enough with it to know if was time to put himself to sleep. Way to go buddy.

I had a proud daddy moment this afternoon. While silently entering Lukas' daycare to pick him up this afternoon, I spied the director of the daycare (unbeknownst to her) leaning over the wall to the infant room talking to one of the babies. Yes, it was Lukas. She then looked up and mentioned to the caregiver in the infant room "Do you see this? Lukas is stacking these blocks. Most babies his age aren't stacking yet, but good at knocking things down." Luke then looked up and saw me and said "Dada!" The director looked surprised, but continued to rave about his progress. I was beaming.

Lastly, I had an NPR driveway moment as I arrived at home from work. Luke was napping in his car seat and a story came on about Spencer Elden, the baby from the cover of Nirvana's Nevermind album. Turns out he is now 17, and wishes he would have come of age in the 90's! It was a great story, and again made me realize that time most definitely marches on. (You can listen to the story here and have your own PC or Mac moment). Spencer's parents were paid $200 for that picture. Can you imagine, millions of people seeing your privates and you get a measly $200??

We won't be selling pictures of Lukas (or his privates) anytime soon. What's the point? Friends and family can see him in all his glory during our nightly "naked baby" time - the 10 minutes or so he gets to run around naked before his bath. It may not be enough to inspire a generation of music fans, but it's good enough for us!

Fuu-get About It...

Ok, this is kind of funny now but if things don't change, I can see how it could get seriously scary in the blink of an eye. I am referring to the fact that I have been seriously....oh, what was I going to say...oh yeah, forgetful as of late! This currently includes some minor sorts of things, like making a 'mental' grocery list with, say four items on it, then running out to the store shortly thereafter only to remember at most two of those items. Or, realizing I left home without my nice packed lunch for work AND my wallet and now having to scrounge, or beg (I haven't had to steal...yet) for my lunch that day.

Not much harm in missing a lunch, but there are bigger things as well, such as completely forgetting that I had a pre-operation appointment a week before my recent knee surgery. Or, worse, forgetting about a high-level lunch with the boss of my boss, also known as 'The Big-Boss'. Luckily, it was a social lunch with several others invited, but still it didn't look good and was precipitated by the fact that it totally slipped my mind, and that I didn't get an Outlook reminder (Yes, The Big Boss was skeptical also). Unfortunately, these things both big and small are happening with much more frequency in the past year and I am beginning to question my organizational approach to life.

Why might this be happening? Let's recount the facts: (1) I am the big 4-0 now. Nuff said. (2) I am a new dad. Ok, Lukas is over a year old so am I really still a new dad? (3) I am an involved dad. Mrs. LIAYF works full time, so we share the household duties pretty evenly. (4) I am blogging regularly now and distracted. And, (5) I have a job that requires me to problem solve all day long, and make decisions on the fly, so I am used to keeping things in my head and not taking notes (this means I am also the type of person who believes that I can use my mental compass to figure out which direction to drive in a strange town, and have generally had great success with this approach).

Personally, I think my memory problems are not the result of one of these factors, but a combination of all of them. But, I am not sure what combination. What I do know is that I want to address this before I forget something really important, or something that could affect Lukas' safety. I am realizing that what I believe I will remember, and what I actually do, don't completely reconcile. So, when Mrs. LIAYF lists four things for me to get at the grocery store and tells me to write it down, I need to do just that instead of rolling my eyes because it is only four things and I can't be bothered. In other words, I need to make good use of the organizational tools at my disposal - pencil, paper and a pocket (or my palmpilot!).

It is a great feeling to know that you can improvise well and solve problems. But, it is high time I concentrate more on making sure there are fewer situations, rather than more, where improvisation is required. How about you? Did your memory begin to fail more when you became parents? Or about when you reached a certain age?

Please tell me I am not just lazy, or just getting old!

Walking the Walk!

Sometimes, It takes a very good cause to rouse a man, or a group of men, to action. This coming week, Dan from over at All That Comes With It, and several of his buddies from across the pond, have endeavored to rise up and take such action. They will be walking the Dales Way in Yorkshire England, a path that will see them walking 78 miles over the course of 6 days. What, you may ask, would motivate this extreme group of highly skilled and highly trained athletes (see below), to slow their pace down to a walk, yes walk, for 6 whole days?

Well, they are raising funds for a very good cause. The Joesph Salmon Trust, a charity set up by Dan's good friends Neil and Rachel in memory of their son, Joseph who tragically, at 3 years old, went to sleep one night seemingly healthy and never awoke. Please consider visiting Dan's site, to read more about the walk, or more specifically to make a small donation (or large if you possibly can) to this worthy cause. Just click on the Joseph Salmon icon in the upper right corner of his site or the donate link just below. You can then spend the rest of the weekend with the wonderful feeling that you have just made the world a smaller, and better place. Because you would have done just that. Thanks.

Difficult Transitions.

Lukas is set to move out of the infant room of his daycare on August 1st. It is an exciting time, as he prepares to transition from being one of the oldest children in the infant room, to being the youngest in the pre-toddler room. The daycare, to its credit, has done a good job of getting him ready for the other room with frequent trips this past month to hang out with the older kids. He visits first thing in the morning, plays outside in the pre-toddler play area, and recently even sat down at the miniature table and chairs to eat his lunch with them. It helps that he is walking like a champ and can hold his own against kids who are in some cases several months older than he is.

Mrs. LIAYF and I did have one recent daycare issue, though. Now that Lukas is past the one year mark, he is taking all fluids out of a sippy rather than a bottle. As soon as this transition occurred, they pushed us heavily to switch him to cow's milk during the day, rather than supporting our desire to continue feeding him breastmilk out of a sippy cup. This did not sit well with me, and especially not well with Mrs. LIAYF who is making a terrific effort to continue breastfeeding and pumping (and scalding her milk because of excess lipase), knowing how beneficial it has been shown to be for toddlers well into the second year and beyond.

Our daycare would give him the milk in a specific hard plastic sippy cup, which was different from the sippy we use at home, and when he wouldn't drink much of it, they immediately assumed that he didn't want the milk. They made statements to us like "He probably just wants what the other kids are having" or "He is trying to indicate that he is ready to move on to cow's milk." This was despite our insistance that we didn't witness the same reluctance at home and that we needed to give him a bit more time to adapt to their type of sippy. We got the distinct impression that they were trying to transition him for their convenience, not his. I actually had the infant room manager tell me that, they would have to give him cow's milk if he didn't start drinking the breast milk better out of a sippy. This was after only a couple of days without an actual bottle.

All of this was accompanied by an atmosphere where it was not actually said, but implied, that we were being difficult about this decision and that we should just get out of their way and let them do things the way they do for all the other kids. We had to endure a few snide little asides that were laughed off as jokes, odd looks from the staff, and a general sense of tension when I would go to visit or at pick up and drop off. All of this, and we never once raised our voices to them, or were anything but pleasant while dealing with the frustration. Mrs. LIAYF even got off work early a few days to come in to nurse Lukas at daycare and talk to the manager about the health benefits of extended breastfeeding.

Now, I do want to say that these are a very nice group of people who are doing a great job taking care of our son and we totally trust them with his care. The rub was with that fact that we wanted to continue to do what we thought was best for our son and doing so seemed to make things a bit more difficult on them. It was not the what 'normal' parents would do, so we met with resistance. It was uncomfortable, to say the least, for a several days.

In the end we sought out a solution. We asked that they try different cups with Lukas, and it was exactly what was needed. Once they gave him a different cup (one the pre-toddlers were using) and took out the cup's flow restrictor, he began drinking the breastmilk rather well and the situation eased. I applaud Mrs. LIAYF for being firm in her resolve about this. She kept me on point when I wanted to smooth things out and compromise where we had no business doing so. It is the type of decision that is not easy, but needed to be made for Luke's well being. I have learned something from her once again.

It certainly won't be the last time!