Danger

Birthday party - I'm 2 years old!!!

2008-04-23T22:32:00.001-07:00

Let me regale you with all the stuff I got for my birthday!

cake:
stickers:
an orange outfit, complete with hat:
a bicycle:
a Lego farm:
a bunch of farm machinery:
Tanks, artillery pieces, and ammunition were conspicuously absent from my present list. Taking over the world is going to require more than birthday presents, I'm afraid.

Now that I'm 2 years old, I get to start playing youth sports. We went to my first soccer practice on Saturday. Mostly I practiced not picking the ball up. It is a very tough skill to master.

A day at the park

2008-04-23T22:12:00.000-07:00

Mirabelle and I went on a date to a park in Los Gatos. There were airplanes and trains, two of my favorites:

Mirabelle and I waited on the bench for a ride on the train.
On the train we had to hang out with our chaperones, Megan and Mayanna.
Mirabelle hugged me before dinner at Willow Street pizza.
I got a cool Elmo balloon at dinner. I hope Mirabelle doesn't think it is dorky.

More pictures from San Diego

2008-03-30T21:15:00.001-07:00

Courtesy of my Uncle Paul.

Easter

2008-03-27T22:13:00.001-07:00

Easter was lots of fun. I met the Easter Bunny a few days ago and he promised he'd stop by my house and drop off some eggs for Easter. Sure enough, when I got up Easter morning, I found lots of eggs scattered about the house!There were even some hidden in Daddy's shoes.Good thing I found them or there would have been omelet all over Daddy's feet when he put his shoes on. Or so I thought - but when I opened the eggs they were full of stickers. Yay! I don't like regular eggs anyway.

After finding all the eggs, we went over to Doyle, Shirley, and Beth's house for brunch. Shirley taught me all about how to garden. First, you need to clear the land. Then you need to pull all the weeds.Then we dug holes to put the trellis posts into.Finally, we had to water the ground.All very interesting, should be a useful set of skills for feeding my army.

Speaking of my army, I found my first front-line soldier while we were gardening. He's been separated from his unit and lost in the jungles of the back yard for many years. I gave him a shower and brought him home.

San Diego

2008-03-26T14:52:00.001-07:00

Dad and I went to San Diego for a few days to meet up with my cousins David and Sarah and their parents Uncle Paul and Aunt Chris.

First we went to SeaWorld and saw a dolphin show.Then we went to the San Diego Zoo. We saw Hippos
and Orangutans.
At our hotel, Sarah and I chased kites on the beach. She gave me lots of hugs. I'm still trying to figure out how to hug back...
I invented a new game at the beach, called "use my digger to pour sand on Daddy". It's lots of fun! (Sorry for the corrupt photo)
Then we met up with Uncle Bill and Dina at the beach park. Dina has a new younger brother, Jack, who has red hair just like me. We played "Where's Dina?" all evening.I had a lot of fun going to the airports and flying on the planes. Here's a nice gentleman washing the windows of our airplane for us.
The best part of the plane ride was the pretzels.Whew, what a whirlwind vacation! Time for a nap.

Things I love (this week)

2008-03-18T21:25:00.001-07:00

Firetrucks!James!Easter Bunny!
Guitar Hero with Mirabelle!Actually, that doggie bed next to me was a much bigger hit than the video game itself.

Disease of the Month Club

2008-03-12T22:30:00.000-07:00

So, you are probably wondering why the posts have been few and far between for the past few months. Maybe it has something to do with the arrival of my sister, but I think it has more to do with my membership in the 'Disease of the Month' club. Let's recap:

January: RSV
RSV really wore me (and the 'rents) down. I was pretty darn sick. RSV sucks. Totally not recommended.

February: Hand Foot and Mouth Disease
The day after Mom & Mia arrived home from the hospital, I broke out in spots. Very contagious spots. I had to be quarantined from Mia for a couple of weeks till the spots went away. Oh, and I shared HF&M with my nanny. (Sorry Trang!)

March: Ear Infection & Pink Eye
March was a two-fer! And another quarantine from Mia. Not to let Mom feel left out (and so I could have someone to play with in quarantine), I shared Pink Eye with her.

Mmmm, I wonder what next month will bring.... maybe something really exotic!

Check out my sweet ride

2008-03-10T23:04:00.001-07:00

A Dinan-supercharged roadster? Thanks, Dad!

Wait... What do you mean, we can't take it home?

My other obsession besides cars is airplanes. Can you tell?

Rainbows!

2008-03-03T21:53:00.000-08:00

It's been pretty stormy lately. Fortunately, lots of storms means lots of rainbows. I saw a spectacular one a few days ago. I hope the pictures do it justice.There be a pot 'o gold in our neighbor's pool house!

Our friendly stray cat, Nelly, got into a fight with another local cat yesterday. I didn't get a picture of the fight itself, just some stare-down action, but you can tell by the aftermath in the second picture that Nelly (the brown one) did some serious damage.With all this excitement, plus the arrival of Mia, I should be blogging more often. But I can't seem to tear myself away from the latest toddler-crack fad, YouTube: Here are a few of my favorites:
Billy the Bulldozer
Digger Balls
Hippo
Dancing Robots
Big Bulldozers
Firetrucks
It is hard to concentrate on taking over the world with all the distractions that modern life has to offer...

I have done some training, though. I ran a whole mile at Rancho San Antonio, just edging out my Dad at the finish line.
I'm also getting pretty good at using chopsticks.It's a useful skill, but I haven't figured out how it works into my take-over-the-world plans yet.

Meet Mia

2008-02-13T15:07:00.000-08:00

Meet Mia, my new baby sister! She looks like she will be an excellent lieutenant. I have a lot to teach her, though. As I have learned, taking over the world requires lots of knowledge and practice.
See all the developments at Dare's blog.

Bubbles

2008-02-08T11:56:00.001-08:00

Bubbles, bubbles, everywhere!

A red-tailed hawk came to visit us today.

I'm crazy bottle-hands guy!

Mom and Dad say that my sister is coming any day now. I'm getting ready by picking up all of her formula off the floor
and putting away in her drawer.

Meeting Maeryn

2008-01-26T11:01:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven't posted in forever, I've been sicko-boy for the past few weeks.

Before I was sick, I went up to the hills to visit Maeryn, the daughter of my Mom's boss and old friends of my Dad's from college. We shared bananas.

Maeryn goes to the same daycare that I do, so I might run into her in the halls someday. It is good to know a sophmore girl when you're a freshman guy - it can really help your rep on the playground.

Tree shopping

2007-12-25T15:41:00.000-08:00

We went up into the Santa Cruz mountains to get our tree for Christmas. We had to hike into the woods and cut our own tree down. I surveyed the land for a good tree atop my pedestal.
All that work in the outdoors made me hungry. Fortunately Mirabelle shared her apple with me.

Right after Christmas tree shopping, Mirabelle got a new baby sister, Mayanna. She's a go-getter right out of the gate - here she is wrestling 'Boo.I'd better watch out - the two of them might gang up on me someday. I think I'll need to get a sister just to even out the odds.

A few days later we decorated the tree. We strung up lights and hung lots of ornaments.

Daddy and Mirabelle took charge of the top of the tree.

After all that work - where are the presents?
Santa better not stiff me, I've been totally good all year.

Philadelphia

2007-12-09T15:48:00.000-08:00

My other stop on the east coast trip was Philadelphia, to visit my Dad's family. My grandparents took us to see the Camden Aquarium. Note that you can see the skyline of Philadelphia in the background, just across the Delaware river.
Surprisingly, my future status as world leader is well known in this area. The aquarium director tried to ensure himself a post in my government by building a shrine to me!Back over the river, we went to visit Tom and Ann Marie, friends of my Dad's.I also took a trip to the park near my grandparents' house. Someone parked their steamroller there and left with the keys in the ignition. I decided to practice driving one of these contraptions, as they will likely be useful for crushing my enemies some day. "Think safe, act safe"? Not likely...

The park had lots of fallen leaves. We don't get that kind of foliage out here. So I had a blast kicking and throwing the discarded leaves.

Washington DC

2007-12-03T11:26:00.000-08:00

For the Thanksgiving holiday, I brought my parents along to visit Linnea near the nation's capital. I got on her good side by bringing a present.She liked the present so much she started to undress me. Ladies can't get enough!Or maybe she just likes zippers.

Linnea took me to the petting zoo to check out the animals. There were lots of cute, non-threatening animals like sheep, geese, ducks, pigs, goats, etc. They'd make good minions - they will do anything for food.
However, I wasn't prepared for what hid behind the green door...
Lookout for the giant snake! Run!

The next day we went to see the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. They have lots of spy planes and satellites. I spent most of my time surreptitiously copying down blueprints and schematics. Take that, Homeland Security!This plane will be my Air Force One.

Thanks to Linnea's parents for having us visit. Sorry for giving everyone a cold.

Trick or treat

2007-11-07T09:42:00.000-08:00

For Halloween I had a bunch of friends over. We got balloonsread stories,and then got dressed up in our costumes to go trick-or-treating.
My NASA outfit scored lots of candy, none of which I got to eat. Boo! My stupid parents never let me eat the good stuff.

In other news, my parents got a new set of pots. They put the old pots in a box.They are not sure what they are going to do with the old pots. I decided I'd try to sell them on Ebay. The key to a high price on Ebay is a good picture, so I set about taking the pots out of the box and arranging them nicely on the coffee table.They do look good that way, don't they?

Orange Orb Season

2007-10-27T21:33:00.000-07:00

Mom & Dad took me to Webb Ranch pumpkin patch to pick a peck of pickled pumpkins. Ha ha! Instead I picked out some lovely non-pickled pumpkins for Halloween. We hiked among the corn stalks to the top of the hill to scope out the u-pick-em pumpkins. I thought the small pumpkins looked like balls, so I did what any young boy would do, I threw 'em.We saw some neat sunflowers which were taller than Dad.
They had some Halloween paraphernalia there also. I wasn't scared at all, here I am checking out the "scary" ball full of bats.

Acorns

2007-10-23T15:48:00.000-07:00

I love acorns. They fall from our oak tree in prodigious numbers. I'm training for my baseball pitching career with them (Go Red Sox!). I try to put them back in the tree when I'm done. That doesn't work so well.

Flying

2007-10-22T12:34:00.000-07:00

I met up with Uncle Guy at Reed-Hillview airport and he took me up in a little Cessna for a ride. It was lots of fun, we did a two takeoffs and landings and one touch-and-go. It was kind of scary at first, but then I realized that it was a perfect opportunity to practice looking down on my subjects.

Awais and his family got rides also.Thanks Uncle Guy! (And Aunt Joahnna for the pictures.)

Yoda

2007-10-21T12:42:00.001-07:00

Rule the world, I will!
...or maybe I'm just a Jawa. Gotta get me one of those sandcrawlers.

I'm getting pretty good at using forks and spoons. I decided it would be fun to upgrade to a serving spoon.It didn't work out so well.

My other skills are getting better, stronger, faster. I train by doing laps around our island with my shopping cart.One of my newly acquired skills is kicking - here I am kicking the snot out of my balloon.
Take that, you inanimate object!

Teaching dangerousness

2007-10-14T15:24:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to be able to spread my dangerousness around the world all by myself. I'm going to need lieutenants. So I've started teaching Mirabelle, my favorite lieutenant, how to be dangerous. Here's me being demonstrating a very dangerous move:

And here's Mirabelle practicing a similar move:
I think she's got the hang of it. In fact, I think she's actually learning dangerousness a bit too well. I will not be usurped!

Sicko

2007-10-10T13:37:00.001-07:00

Mom and I were both sick over the past few weeks. We spent a lot of quality time huddled on the couch watching Sesame Street.
I recovered just in time for my scheduled naked-bike-ride-around-the-house.In other news, Mirabelle and I hung out a lot. We dined together on the island
And we met up in Napa for an afternoon.We held hands like it was going out of style
We were in Napa for Amy and Prentice's wedding. Mom, Dad, Grandmom, Uncle Wayne, and I attended.
Mom dressed me up in a crazy monkey suit. It was geeky, but Grandma liked it.

Torturing 'Boo

2007-09-23T22:35:00.000-07:00

Peek-a-boo loves it when I tackle him and bury my face in his fur.Well, most of the time he does. Sometimes he runs away before I can tackle him.
Mom loves to torture 'Boo as well. Mostly she plays dress-up with him. I'm glad she has someone to play dress-up with that isn't me.

I Do Sentences!

2007-09-03T14:10:00.000-07:00

Ok, it's more like I can say one sentence - "Bye Daddy!". I like to repeat it over and over and over. Repetition is important when learning to speak clearly, and I need to speak clearly in order to command my troops.

Oh, I've been busy growing two new teeth. Pre-molars, to be exact. I'm really hoping that my canine teeth come in next. I'm looking forward to sucking the juice out of an apple or two.

Tomorrow is my first day of school. I should have lots to blog about...

Ransacking & Pillaging

2007-09-01T16:16:00.001-07:00

To take over the world, I'm going to need some supplies. Historically, armies have had to ransack towns and pillage the land to get supplies. So I decided I needed to practice this much-feared skill in my parents' house. First I snuck into the cereal drawer and snagged a box of granola. I then fed the granola to my army, played by the local ant population.
That wasn't such a good idea, as it attracted a visit from the vaccuum-monster.

For my second ransack and pillage practice, I raided the party supply drawer. I'm crazy cuphands-man! Fear me!

Do I have something on my face?

2007-08-28T23:57:00.001-07:00

Eat this

2007-08-27T20:55:00.000-07:00

Yay, spoon! I like eating with spoons. I'm not very good at it, but it is fun, fun, fun! Eating with a spoon has made me realize what these bib thingies are for.
My new favorite food is spinach. I'm not really sure why I like it so much, especially because I gag a lot when trying to eat it because I don't have any back teeth yet.
Dad is thinking of getting a paternity test, as he is incredulous that his offspring likes spinach. Then again, my new favorite toy - 20 feet of 3/4" cable housing.
I'm just a chip off of the old block.

Play strong, smash face

2007-08-16T13:10:00.000-07:00

I've been playing strong this past week. Maybe a bit too strong, as you shall see. Here's what's been happening.

First, Mirabelle came over yesterday. I impressed her with a tutorial in the use of my Farmer Banjo music maker.Then we whispered sweet nothings to each other in a game of telephone.I think she said 'kiss me', but it's hard to be sure because Mom's old mouse doesn't carry sound very well. Nevertheless, I accepted the invitation and stole a kiss from her.She hugged me back, so I think we're cool. Tragically, I played a bit too strong later that evening and the loving mood came to a screeching halt when I accidentally ran over a baby with my tricycle. Sorry baby!

I played super strong at Gymboree today and ended up smacking my face right onto the corner of one of the wooden steps. I think I'm going to have a really nice shiner for the rest of the week.

Long time, no post

2007-08-07T16:11:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since I last posted, as I've been traveling to the east coast. Lots to catch up on, so here we go.

Before we left, Dad had the bright idea of lowering the garage door onto the open hatch of Mom's car. It magically wedged itself so it required some prying to get it loose.
Mom and I stood by and heckled.

Then it was off to Maine.I only fly first class.

It was cold and rainy in Maine. We took a boat ride to Monhegan Island and saw lots of wildlife, including whales, seals, dolphins, and otters. And lighthouses. And lobster pots. LOTS of lobster pots.I climbed all the way to the top of the island. Here I am readying myself for the ride back down.
Then it was off to Boston, where we visited my Dad's alma mater.They had a really cool bar down the street which has a very similar name to our house. Dad was bummed it wasn't around when he was in school.

Across the river, we got to ride ducks. For some reason, they didn't run away like most of the birds I try to ride.Then we were off to visit the grandparents at the Jersey shore. Here I am wearing some geeky MIT swag and complaining about my geeky hat.Double geeky? Come on parents! I have a rep to maintain.

The shore was lots of fun, playing in the surf, getting stuck in large holes in the sand,and getting buried so I won't be able to run away.Nana did her grandmotherly best to shower me with lots of attention.
That's about it. In summary, it was a great vacation. And enough with the hat!

More about the race

2007-07-09T22:30:00.001-07:00

Here's the Chapter 11 car before the start of the race on Saturday.

Check out our competition, in both before and after photos:
1st place, the Lemon Lappers
3rd place, Car & Driver 4th place, wtf? racing 5th place, the Holy Rollers
Some other pictures from the weekend:
some of our pile 'O spare parts, complete with a spare engine & transmissionour broken axletraffic jam, up aheadhow could this car possibly still run?this car ran on biodiesel this car ran on corpsesthis car helped push others gently off the track. For the rolling-challenged (like when we broke our front axle) they also had tow trucks.attempting to get a lap back on the race leader

24 Hours of LeMons

2007-07-09T15:26:00.000-07:00

My Dad is so awesome! He raced in the 24 Hours of LeMons this weekend and came in second place (out of ~90 cars). Mom and I kept the team going with some awesome cheerleading support.
Here's Dad out on the racetrack and coming into the pits.
We were part of the Chapter 11 racing team, sponsored by the likes of Enron, Webvan, and ValuJet.
Being sponsored by companies that no longer have any cash causes some issues. For example, our race team spent the night in lovely Tracy, CA at the Holiday Inn Express. And by lovely, I mean windy, dusty, and smelling like cows.

Happenings

2007-06-28T20:29:00.000-07:00

Mom took me lots of places this week because the floors of our house were being cleaned so it smelled stinky at home. We went to the mall with Mirabelle and her Mom, the Children's Discovery Museum in San Jose, the Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo, and old Grandmom's house. Whew! It was a busy week.
On Wednesday after my nap I decided it would be fun to play with my poo. I pulled my diaper down, fished some out, and spread it around my crib. Mom and Dad were not very impressed with my artwork. They could at least have taken a picture before sanitizing everything!

Hot, hot, hot!

2007-06-18T21:31:00.000-07:00

It's been really hot around here lately. My Dad's parents took us to a San Jose Giants game and it was 100+ degrees out. Ouch!

After the game I chilled in my new swimming pool I got for my birthday.
You can't really get cool if you aren't naked.

p.s. Don't drink and drive! Especially with your cousin...

My new car

2007-06-11T21:20:00.001-07:00

I'm going for a drive in my cool new roadster! Shades are required.Ok, Dad, get out! You are dead weight! Your lard butt is detrimental to my 0-60 time.
Unfortunately, Dad didn't let me take a spin in the roadster. I don't think he liked it when I tried to kick him out. I had to settle for being pulled around in my wagon. Not nearly as exhilarating. Bah.
When the grandparents came over, I put on my granddad's shoes. Or, more correctly, shoe.
It was hard to walk with granddad's shoe on. I think I need to study how shoes work some more.

Paparazzi at the park

2007-06-08T00:05:00.000-07:00

I had a run in with a paparazzo a few days ago at the park. His grandson was there also, so I'm not sure if he realized my celebrity status, or if it was just coincidence. In any case, he was nice enough to send me a few photos of the event.

An exciting week

2007-06-06T23:39:00.000-07:00

Mmmm, a yummy smorgasbord of food. Mom's used corn cob was especially delicious. I sucked it dry like a vampire bat. Gotta get calories out of this solid food if I'm going to take over the world.
Yesterday Mom, Dad, and I went to visit my grandparents who were vacationing in Monterey. We went to the aquarium for the afternoon. I spent lots of time splashing in the "please touch" pools. There were lots of seaweed and starfish.
There were some funny-looking fish in this tank.
The otters were fascinating, they look like 'Boo only they like water a lot more.
Oh, and I got naked with Mirabelle.

My birthday party

2007-05-28T21:45:00.001-07:00

Some new pictures surfaced from my birthday party. There must have been a paparazzi hiding in the woods.
My Mom, Grandmom, cousin Jennica, and girlfriend Mirabelle were all in attendance.
I had a banana cream pie and blew out a candle. I wished for world domination, of course.My cousin Jennica played with my new squishy bloody eye. Ewww!
My new Vans were really tasty. Then Mom explained that they go on my feet.

Travels, part 4: Bulgaria

2007-05-28T21:14:00.000-07:00

My last stop on my whirlwind Europe tour was Bulgaria. I visited friends of my Dad's from high school. Here we are in Plovdiv, a nice Bulgarian town.
The capital, Sofia, isn't very nice. It has a towering, yet crumbling, monument to communism. Beware of falling chunks of monument!
There was one nice church in Sofia. I didn't go in because there was a crazy long line at the time, but it looks cool from the outside.
Much of Bulgaria is pretty run down. Little maintenance has been done since the Berlin wall fell in 1989. The chimney below is typical.
I took a day trip to Rila monestary. My parents took turns carrying me around. Our tourguide got us special backstage access to the monk's quarters.
That's it for my trip. All of this travelling has really worn me out. I'm going to sleep for a week straight.

Travels, part 3: Germany

2007-05-25T12:02:00.000-07:00

After visiting family in France, I headed to Germany. My first stop was the lovely mountain town of Hinterzarten. Apparently they like their skiing there.
It was really cold and my hands were frozen - Dad had to carry me on his shoulders and hold my hands in his to keep them warm.
Thanks, Dad!
When we got back to the hotel, we took a dip in their pool. I had a great time hopping out of the pool and jumping back in again. My parents think it is a pretty dangerous behavior, jumping into a pool when you can't swim. I agree - that's right - I am dangerous!
After swimming, we went back to the hotel and hung out in the room in our bathrobes. They even had a baby-sized bathrobe for me!Then I headed off to Neuschwanstein castle, taking the autobahn most of the way. I heard that Maserati's did 185, but Dad was able to get it up to 200 (kph).
Mom started getting nervous at about 170. This is her at 200.Notice how calm I am. Go Dad.
At the Neuschwanstein castle, Dad got a crazy pretzel-apple-strudel-all-in-one for breakfast. It was almost as big as the castle.

Then I was off to Munich. The hotel gave me another cool baby robe to use after swimming.Then it was off to see the sights, like the old clock tower and the lego room at the technology museum. But the best part of all was the beer garden. Mmmm... beer bigger than my head...

Food at home

2007-05-23T12:43:00.000-07:00

Now that I can eat almost anything, look at my smorgasbord!
Cheese, peas, rice, strawberries, and blueberries, all chopped up into bite-size pieces. Yum! I even had chunks of ham and chicken meatballs yesterday.

Travels, part 2: food

2007-05-23T09:51:00.000-07:00

Long-time readers of this blog know that I tend to puke whenever I eat any solid food. Well, now that's had tended to puke. Apparently Europe can cure your puke tendencies, I highly recommend it. Now I only puke occasionally when I overstuff my mouth.

My new favorite food is grapes - here I am enjoying some grapes and mangoes.
Bananas straight from the peel are now A-O-K.

I also love bread and grated cheese.Beer and pretzels really hit the spot!
I wasn't quite able to finish the beer - Germans serve it in crazy large steins.

Travels, part 1: Family

2007-05-20T16:48:00.002-07:00

My trip to the east coast and Europe was a smash success. First I went to the east coast to see my Dad's family. Here are my cousins Sarah and David fighting over me.
Then I went to France to visit my Mom's family. There was a big family get-together where my parents showed me off. Here I am running a football clinic for some of my cousins.Below is a picture of some of my Mom's clan, from bottom left to top right: my cousins Alice, Guillaume, Benoit, Téo, Sebastian, grands oncle Daniel, Mom, Dad, grande tante Tania, cousin Madeline, grande tante Jeannine, cousin Florence, cousin Raphaelle and her boyfriend, cousin Pascal, oncle Pascal, tante Sylvie, and cousin Celine.
After meeting the family, I went to see the sights of Paris. I hit the Egyptian collection at the Louvre,drove by some really old churches,and checked out a possible house where I might live when I grow up, called Versailles.I could get used to ruling the world through this window. I will not make the mistake the previous occupants made of letting the peasants get uppity.

Dad challenged me to a race to the center of the hedge maze. Here he is pointing out the finish line.
Dad won, but only because he can see over the hedges and I can't.

Hello from California

2007-04-29T20:59:00.000-07:00

Hello from California! We're off to the east coast and Europe tomorrow, so I probably won't have a chance to post for a few weeks. I'll be visiting family and friends scattered across the globe. Hopefully I'll come back with a French accent so I can impress the ladies with it.

'Boo and I have been hanging out a lot recently. He's a silly cat, playing dead in acknowledgement of my superiority.

Here's us sharing my cool new red throne on the first hot day of spring.
p.s. I'm not wearing pants.

Happy First Birthday to Me!

2007-04-19T16:18:00.000-07:00

It was my first birthday yesterday. And it was AWESOME!
What I did on my birthday:

Slept in for 45 min so Mom could sleep in also.
Got some presents, including a card from Linneaand some presents from my grandparents,the best part of which was a clear plastic cover for a soft book.They also gave me a nifty jumpsuit. I'm going to try to bully my way onto the NASA Ames campus with it. Maybe I'll score a ride in the centrifuge.
When for a swing in my new swing in the tree in the backyard.
Had a picnic lunch at the park with Mom & Dad, my Grandma, Old-Grandma, cousin Jennica, and Megan and Mirabelle. I got totally awesome presents and got to eat my birthday banana cream pie! Thanks everybody!
Had a long nap after all the playing at the park.
Went to communal dinner and got shreikenaded with "Happy Birthday". I did not like that. I did like the vanilla ice cream cake.
I touched the candle flame. That wasn't fun. But at least it satisfied my quota for daily dangerousness.

Solid food?

2007-04-17T14:15:00.000-07:00

I'm really enjoying eating solid food now, even if I puke it back up half of the time. Here I am eating some freeze-dried fruits and my favorite, puff stars.
I puked about 1 minute after this picture was taken. Dad's getting really good at catching most of it in my bib pocket so I don't make a huge mess.

The three musketeers Mark, Megan, and Mirabelle came over last night. I spent a quick few minutes before they showed up swiffering the floor.

Then Dad, Mark, Chris (our houseguest) and I nerded out.
We were watching a racing video called "the pass".

Playing with the big boys

2007-04-15T14:10:00.000-07:00

Two weekends ago I got to play ultimate at UC Santa Cruz with my Dad and his college buddies. It was great fun! The pictures just arrived, courtesy of JJ. Here's our team photo:

Like father, like son. Except I didn't get schooled in the endzone as much as he did. Dad's old.
Ultimate takes a lot of energy! Good thing there were a lot of energy drinks on hand.

Early Birthday Present

2007-04-12T20:57:00.000-07:00

Mom could not wait to give me my birthday present. So when I woke up from my nap, I was the proud owner of a brand new red tricycle - complete with a bell and tassels. But, because I never had a bike before, I didn't know what to do with it.
Mom, a total pro at bicycles, set me up and I was on my way!
WooHoo! Riding a bike is so much fun! Thanks Mom!

Count Down to My Birthday

2007-04-09T17:59:00.000-07:00

My first birthday is in 9 days...
Even though a forward facing carseat is reserved for the one-year olds, my parents let me have the privelege a few days early. I really like facing forward in the car; I get to see where I'm going and I get to perfect my backseat driving. Here I am pointing in the correct direction Mom should go:
Next step: learning how to operate the car on my own!

Slave drivers

2007-03-30T18:17:00.000-07:00

Since I'm almost a year old, Mom and Dad have decided to start me on some chores. Don't they know I need lots of play time in order to develop my plans to rule the world?
Mom started me with watering her flowers.Then Dad made me grill him some dinner.
What's next? Laundry and mowing the lawn!?!? Slave drivers!

11 Months Old and It's Contagious

2007-03-18T16:09:00.000-07:00

I gave my parents a present this past week that I got from some of the other kids at gymboree - a cold. I have a little bit of a cold, but Mom & Dad! Whoa, they are really dragging themselves around trying to get through the day without ending up in a Sudafed coma. They even had to go to Costco to restock their Kleenex supply! One benefit of their sickness is that I got to try orange juice for the first time. It's interesting. Not sure if I like it or not.

Mom & Megan took Mirabelle & I out to a home improvement show last week - we got matching Home Depot aprons. This got me thinking... now that I have the apron, I can start using tools!
So, a few days after the show, I got to try out my first tool - a ladder! Mom brought out the ladder to put up some new hanging butterflys in my room. She turned around for just a second and I took the chance and climbed halfway up the ladder. Mom was not amused. Maybe it was because I was not wearing my Home Depot apron. But, boy, is ladder climbing fun!!
Uncle Pro is visiting us this week. He even brought me a toy! I would say thank you, but I can't talk yet. Pro is a daddy too - he even has a son named Alexander! Uncle Pro must have known it is my 11 month birthday today. Only 4 weeks left till I'm one year old! The resposiblity of being a year old is huge - I gotta start looking at preschools (a boy has to learn about the world he plans to take over), gotta start putting my toys away, and learn to feed myself.
Whew, there is a lot to learn.

Stylin'

2007-03-11T15:02:00.000-07:00

Dad and I are super cool in our fancy threads!I have to work on my chest hair.

Tooth #5

2007-03-09T14:34:00.000-08:00

Pretty soon I'll have enough teeth to be identified by my dental records. Sweet!

Prison Break

2007-03-08T22:20:00.000-08:00

Mirabelle came over today after our moms went to San Francisco to shop. Our moms were really tired afterwards, so while they were resting Mirabelle and I engineered a successful escape from the baby jail!Once we were on the lam, we made a break for the Canadian border. There's no faster way to Canada than on my speedy Radio Flyer. Mirabelle got me up to about 2 m.p.h. in the straightaways. That's dangerous!
Unfortunately, the baby-stapo nabbed us before we made it to freedom. So close!

Evolution of the Danger

2007-02-28T21:43:00.000-08:00

I just thought I would update everyone about what I can do:

I can wave goodbye and hello. Unfortunately, you can't tell which is which and on occasion I use both hands.
I can clap. I'm not quite sure why the 'rents taught me this, but it's really fun to do!
I can idenitify various things by pointing to them. I know the words for (and can point to) Daddy, Mommy, Boo, Rainbow Fish (He's a book charater), lights, cup, ceiling fan, palm tree, and ball. Gee, what a crazy mish-mash of words to learn.
I can stand up from a sitting position with one hand.

Next up on the learning list ... origami!

Streakin'

2007-02-26T23:33:00.000-08:00

Mom & Dad tried to give me a bath. I escaped. Ha!

Island Vacation

2007-02-22T00:00:00.000-08:00

Mom & Dad took me to Oahu for a week and a half. I had all kinds of fun while I was there. I got to play with horsesand sandThe birds on Oahu are very aggressive, especially the ones that hang out near the breakfast buffet. They are the perfect scouts for the army I will use to take over the world. Unfortunately, every time I approached them to recruit their services, they ran away. I suppose they're only trying to strengthen their bargaining position. Very sneaky. I will have you, birds of Oahu - don't get on my bad side.

I practiced my walking in areas pre-cleared for safety by the 'rents.I'm getting pretty good at it. I can even stand up without the assistance of anything at all. I'm still having problems walking downhill, though. Stupid bending at the knee.

One of my favorite activities was swimming, we went almost every day. I think I'm a natural. I can kick myself all around the pool!Looks like Mom was having fun also.

After swimming Mom and I relaxed at the beach.

Hawaii is beautiful. Here's Dad and I looking very photogenic in the setting sun.Dad played in an ultimate tournament while we were there. Here's me cheering Dad on from the sideline.

Walking, suckers!

2007-02-09T17:47:00.000-08:00

Game on, you'll never be able to escape my clutches now!
I've got this walking thing down. Or at least, I can make it from the coffee table to the fridge and back with a reasonable probability of not hurting myself.

All this walking like a zombie has given me a real taste for some brains! Brains... must .. eat .. some .. brains...
I went to the doctor today to get my stitches out, but he said I should wait a few more days, as my finger isn't quite healed. I was tempted to rip out his brains and eat them for his insolence. However, I decided I should spare him as he might be useful in the future. Especially given my recent track record.

It was my first visit to the ER and all I got were these three lousy stitches.

2007-02-03T22:10:00.000-08:00

I visited the ER at El Camino Hospital this evening. It wasn't a social visit. While Mom and Dad were getting ready to go out on a date, I got my right pinky finger stuck in the glass door of their shower and cut it up pretty bad. Dad wrapped my finger in gauze and Mom drove like a maniac to the ER. I don't know why they were in such a rush because after we arrived we had to wait an hour and a half in the waiting room, all the while dripping blood onto Dad. Luckily there was another nice baby in the waiting room that loaned me a toy to keep my mind off of my crushed finger. Then we were moved into the examination room where it took another hour to be seen by someone with a medical degree. I was starving! Thankfully, Mom called in a favor from Uncle Chookie and had him bring my diaper bag from home so I could get some dinner. Thanks Uncle Chookie!
The nice Doctor's Assistant and ER Tech were very cordial until they brought out the "Olympic Baby Papoose". We were having a grand ol' time, but then I got strapped in the Papoose, ER Tech James held my hand, and the DA brought out the - wait a minute - needles!! I screamed like a banshee!
Well, here it is. Yep, that's me with the giant boo-boo. The DA put in three stitches, which is like 20 in adult stitches. And my pinkie nail was removed - it will hopefully grow back. Until then, I'll only be able to scratch my face up with my other 9 fingernails.

Cat Food

2007-02-02T20:55:00.000-08:00

Boo has a shiny bowl that is filled with wonderful little nibblets. However, Mom and Dad don't let me play with it. Boo doesn't like it when I play with his bowl either. In fact, I was on my way to play with Boo's bowl and Boo was so angry that he tried to shoot me down with his eye-lasers!
Bad Boo!

I'm Sick

2007-02-01T17:54:00.000-08:00

Hi. I have a cold. I am miserable. My nose is drippy and I have a nasty cough. But the cold has not stopped me from trying out "I'm cute" poses to sucker the parents into letting me watch another Tivo'ed episode of Sesame Street.

Picture of my tooth

2007-01-29T14:52:00.000-08:00

See, there it is!

Teeth & Walking

2007-01-26T21:07:00.000-08:00

Ok, Ok. I've been a bit late in the tooth department. Apparently, I was supposed to get some teeth in the 4 to 7 month range. Not my fault, as I did not get the memo. Damn you, memo delivery man! Anyway, better late than never. My first tooth has arrived! I tried to sneak it past the parental units by getting it on my upper gum rather than the lower gum. It didn't quite work out though, Dad noticed it when I bit him with it.

In other news, I've just started taking steps by myself, no hands at all. Look out, New York Marathon! And the floor better watch out also, I see some serious head banging in my near future...

Sonoma

2007-01-26T00:00:00.000-08:00

This past weekend my parents and I went to Sonoma for a little R&R. I spent a pleasant afternoon splashing around in a cool fountain. Dad put me in a giant pair of black sumo-wrestling pants and pushed me around.
Notice the Tron-like glow in Dad's shoes. I think his day at the Jim Russel driving school at Infineon Raceway really got his nerdy juices flowing.

I don't think this is legal...

2007-01-17T23:52:00.000-08:00

My parents put me to work at a dinner party this evening. Slave drivers!

"Would you care for a Guinness, Sierra Nevada, or a Fat Tire?" Bah.

Date with Mirabelle

2007-01-15T14:25:00.000-08:00

Mirabelle and I went to the mall last Friday. Unfortunally, we had to bring our Moms.
We did some window shopping,played at the playground,
and crawled through the tunnel of love.
Ok, the tunnel of love is really a hollowed out tree trunk. But we had fun crawl-racing each other through the tunnel!
Thanks Mom & Megan for taking us out!

The Holidays are finaly over!

2007-01-09T22:34:00.000-08:00

Whew! You people do this every year?!?!? All the shopping, traveling, eating, visiting... I am pooped!
Mom and Dad took me to Philadeliphia to visit the Grandparents for two whole weeks. I had a great time playing with my cousins and hanging out with the Grand'rents. I wish I had pictures to show you but the 'rents forgot the camera. Stupid parents.
Mom & Dad also took me to visit Linnea! Wowee, has she grown into a hot young lady! And she sits up! To help out her parents, I showed them what cabinet doors needed to be baby proofed.

Check out my new pirate shirt! It makes me want to go Arrgh!In development news, I'm getting this walking thing down. Mr. Radio Flyer is helping me train.

For the new year, a new hairdoo! Notice in the pirate shirt picture how I was growing little wings of hair just above my ears? Not so anymore, check out my new fancy trim. Thankfully, Dad has now reclaimed the title of "hairiest man in the family".

I hate hedgehogs.

2006-12-20T19:09:00.000-08:00

I went to visit Unlce Chris for the first time at his parents' house. He is a real goofy guy. He is so goofy he bought a stuffed hedgehog that grunts when you squeeze it for his puppy dog. I did not like the hedgehog. I was damn scared of the hedgehog. I mean, who wouldn't be!?!? They are freaks with spikes!
I hate hedgehogs.

I am King!

2006-12-17T12:04:00.000-08:00

Here I am at the crowning ceremony. All hail me!

The camera is back!

2006-12-15T14:53:00.000-08:00

Since the camera is less than a year old, it was fixed for free courtesy of Canon. Yay, warranty! I wonder if I am still under warranty...
Mom bought me a new, bigger stroller. It is the same brand, but a Cameleon instead of a Gecko. And it matches my hair! Here's me and Peek-a-Boo trying it out.
Sorry for the crotch shot of 'Boo, he's an exhibitionist.

Singapore

2006-12-14T10:26:00.000-08:00

Singapore! The pictures are in (courtesy of Uncle Bill) so here we go, around the world, part 3...
Singapore is the jewel of the orient. Or so I hear. All I know, it's just like the US except it is hot and muggy and they are more bonkers about Christmas than the US is. By Christmas, I mean the Santa Claus part, not the Jesus part.
Here's Dad goofing off.
We happened upon a dinosaur skeleton while walking through the park. Really, they should get some paleontologists out there. It is a really nice specimen - it would look good in a museum.
Dina and I hung out at the beach. It was hot, hot, hot! Note the 3-wheeled stroller. They are very popular on the other side of the world.
For more pics, check out Uncle Bill's photo album.

Home for a few weeks...

2006-12-10T10:00:00.000-08:00

Not having a camera sucks. I have been doing a whole bunch of cool stuff and there has not been any photographic record of it. This is what living in the dark ages must have been like.
New Learned Skillz (skills with a 'z' is so much cooler that skills with an 's'):

Dragging myself around on my belly. I am quite mobile now - Mom & Dad had to put up some gates to keep me contained. I perfected this skill during my trip to Australia. I have crawled on a number of occasions, but I'm not very fast. I prefere the military belly crawl - it is speedy and it allows me to dodge bullets.
Pulling myself up to stand. This is realtivily new skill. I have to pull myself up carefully because I have fallen a lot. Ouch.
I recognise that Mom and Dad will pick me up if I drag myself over to them and pull on their pant legs. I am so learning how to manupulate the 'rents!

Despite the absence of the camera, I do have pictures for you! A month or so ago I attended a swank photoshoot and put on my best "cute baby" smile. Dad just got the pictures up on the web, so surf over there and check them out!

Around the world in 80 days... Part Two

2006-12-05T17:51:00.000-08:00

After a having a fun time hanging out with the ultimate frisbee crowd (including my girl Mirabelle) in Perth, the parents and I headed off to Singapore. Singapore is a very efficient city! By the time we got off the plane, got through customs, and flirted with the nice customs agent lady, our luggage was waiting for us on the carousel. Thumbs up!

Mom and Dad got me a suite at a swank hotel on the 64th floor. I had great views of the city from my crib. I would totally show you the pictures, but the camera was broken. Stupid camera.

The parents hooked up with Dad's old high school friend Bill, his wife Zhanar, and Bill's parents who were also visiting. I hooked up with their daughter Dina. What a cutie!! Look out Mirabelle and Linnea, there is a new girl in town!

Dina showed me the town - we dined at a local seafood resturant, went on a stroll through a forest, saw a bug museum, and swam together in the South China Sea. It seemed smaller than it really is because I could not see the horizon through all the cargo ships. Bill's parents then chaperoned a 'date' with Dina and I so the 'rents could go see a movie. I am definitely coming back to Singapore!

From Singapore, we took the world's longest flight - Singapore, Hong Kong, Chicago, and finally Philadelphia. 21 hours, people, 21 hours. And 11 hours of time change.

The Grandparents picked us up at the airport - I love Grandparents! They are such suckers for a smile. First the Grandparents, then the world! Mom and Dad spent most of their time in Philadelphia sleeping. I hung out with my cousins David and Sarah - I was very entertained by them.

Around the world in 80 days...

2006-11-29T09:00:00.000-08:00

Ok, it's more like 3 countries in 24 days....
Mom and Dad took me on a big trip to see how people in the southern hemisphere live upside down .
First we went to New Zealand. To welcome us, Air New Zealand lost all of our luggage. And to rub it in, our hotel room in Auckland overlooked the Air New Zealand building.
New Zealand was very green with lots of sheep.
Not only do they drive on the wrong side of the road, but they also face the wrong direction in their seats.We visited a volcanic area with lots of geysers and pools of acid.
I liked the green acid pool the best.
In the south island of New Zealand, we visited Akaroa. It was a painfully picturesque little French town in a bay.
We took a boat tour around the bay to see dolphins, penguins, and other wildlife. It was my first boat ride and I did not get seasick! (Note: Rare picture of Mom)
Dolphins!Oh, and it snowed.
Then it was off to Perth, Austrailia to watch Dad play in the Ulitimate World Championship. It was my first Ultimate tournament. I cheered on Dad's team during the eight day tournament.
I got to swim in the Indian Ocean. It was freak'n cold!
And then, the camera broke. Stupid camera.

Our trip continues with travels to Singapore and Philadelphia. Stay tuned for the big trip, part 2!

Halloween = FUN FUN FUN!! (Unless you have my parents...)

2006-11-01T09:54:00.000-08:00

On halloween Dad and I picked out a pumpkin. He wouldn't get me a giant one, boo.Remember that awesome car freshener costume? I did get to use it, but my parents had something even more devious planned. One of my girlfriends, Linnea, is moving to the east coast. So we went to a halloween party dressed as their family. I had to dress as Linnea, so Mom put me in a ridiculous baby girl outfit. Blech. Now I think I have cooties...

Once at the party, I got to put on my tree outfit, and the kids went trick-or-treating. Here's the gang, from left to right: Mirabelle (& Megan), Linnea, me, and Sophie. I don't know if my readers have met Sophie before, but she's the product of David and Nicole Pickett. As you can see, she's upset about it.

We're off on a three week trip to various contries, so I won't be posting for a while, farewell for now, dear readers!

Getting ready for Halloween

2006-10-28T13:31:00.000-07:00

Check out my fancy new Halloween costume!
I think it will pull in tons of candy. Not that I can eat candy yet, but I'll accumulate a stash I can use after my teeth come in.

Learning to Queue

2006-10-22T22:48:00.000-07:00

Mom and Dad took me to learn queuing today. We stood in line for over 3 hours. I thought that we must be in line for something really awesome. Prehaps a giant binky or a huge new toy store. But NOOOOOO.... At the end of the line was a nurse that pricked me with a sharp needle. Boy, are my parents dumb! And Dad was even more dumb because he allowed the nurse to prick him with a needle as well. Mom must have felt really bad about the needle prick, because we all went out to a steak dinner.
To defend myself in the future, Dad is teaching me Kung-Fu. I even have a little Kung-Fu outfit to practice in.
I will soon develop my super move and rule the world!

Happy 1/2 Birthday to me!

2006-10-17T10:34:00.000-07:00

I am SIX MONTHS OLD today!! Woo Hoo! I am not a baby anymore! I'm going to start doing grownup things like feeding myself. Check out the cool spoon I'm using. Just scoop up some gruel
and plop it in my mouth!
Success is just that easy. (Ignore the ample evidence of my repeated failures.)

Did I mention that Mom and Dad are sneaky? As blogged previously, my parents keep taking me to this place where Eliza the evil nurse pokes me with needles. I swore I'd never let my parents take me there again. They were sneaky, though, and whisked me away while I was napping. One minute, falling asleep to the soothing voice of Carl Segan on Cosmos. The next minute, waking up to the antiseptic smell of Eliza's lair. Yikes! It wasn't too bad, though, only two needles and I barely cried at all.

Trip to Minnesota

2006-10-16T16:14:00.000-07:00

The 'rents took me to Minnesota for 4 days so we could attend a wedding.
I flew first class.
I only fly first class.

We stayed in St. Paul at the St. Paul Hotel. I was a nice hotel, it had lots of carpet to spit up on. But, DAMN, it was cold! I am now glad Mom bought me that sherpa suit!

On Saturday we went to Mark and Sara's wedding. This was my second wedding, but my first in a catherdral. The catherdral was neat inside. It had a bunch of those long wooden benches that were fun to scratch with my fingers. I enjoyed the wedding so much and was so excited to be there that I puked into the pew in front of me. Mom was not amused.

After the wedding, I got to hang out with Mom & Dad's friends at the reception.
I had a blast! I espically liked Auntie Grace.Auntie Grace knows how to party!The day after the wedding, we hung out at Sara and Mark's house. I had a great time hanging out with all of them! I especially liked Sara because she let me chew on her hair.
The only thing that really upset me was the hat box. Nobody puts me in a hat box! My Mother did that to me once... once.

Spontaneous baby combustion

2006-10-10T17:45:00.000-07:00

Mom is off of her rocker. She has been conducting experiments to demonstrate the possibility of spontaneous baby combustion using me as a guinea pig.
So hot! It's the warmest outfit REI sells. Midget mountain climbers use it to scale Everest.
Mom, I don't like to be a guinea pig. Stop it!

Put him in... the comfy chair!

2006-10-09T16:52:00.000-07:00

I have learned that Mom & Dad like to spoil me. Woo Hoo! I have them wraped around my clammy, drool coated fingers. For example, remember that laptop that they gave to me? Well, I peeled off the letter 'I', so Mom bought me my own, brand new laptop! I think I might write a book about how to get what you want by just pointing and grunting. Here I am with my favorite red block feeling very satisfied with myself.
Also, I was getting tired to being treated like a baby when I took my meals, so Mom & Dad bought me my own dinner throne! I recieved delivery of my new throne today and I am satisfied with it's comfort level.
All hail me!

Crawling and Standing

2006-10-04T12:20:00.000-07:00

I can't conquer the world until I can access it, can I? So this week I worked on mobility. I can't really crawl yet, but I'm working on the positioning. I can hold it for about as long as it takes Mom to operate the camera.
I'm also working on standing. Here I am standing completely unaided! Well, ok, I'm kind of aided by the coffee table. But the coffee table is already one of my minions, so in effect the "Danger Army" is standing all by itself!
Note to self - no one ever conquered the world in footy pajamas. Gotta work on the wardrobe. The "I do all my own stunts" t-shirt is much better.

I do all my own stunts

2006-09-30T16:13:00.000-07:00

'Nuff said.

Picture Time!

2006-09-28T14:14:00.000-07:00

Howdy my blog-followers!
It's been a busy week for me and the 'rents! Dad watched me all day Tuesday because Mom was babysitting cousin Jennica. Dad and I played on computers all day. I am getting pretty good at hacking.
Yesterday, Mom had a minor surgery on her tummy to fix a problem that I caused while I was renting the space. So Mirabelle and her Mommy, Megan, babysat me. I had a blast!
Mirabelle is a bit hidden in the picture, but I think she was just being camera shy after Dad and her Mom caught her trying to kiss me last week.

Dad,my fish Maguro, and I took a nap this morning. Despite her surgery pain, Mom was able to snap this pic.
Mom almost cried because she said that we looked so cute. Wow, the doctor must have given her some great pain medication because she has gone wacky!

Road Trip

2006-09-24T15:42:00.000-07:00

Mom, Dad, Uncle Guy and I drove down to Santa Barabra on Friday. I got to use my new carseat - it is way comfortable. On Saturday, Uncle Guy & Dad went off to fly planes while Mom & I putzed around Downtown Santa Barabra and went shopping on State Street. Mom got me a jack-in-the-box toy and a cool shirt with a picture of a jolly roger on it. After shopping, we walked down to the pier. On the pier was this crazy sign that said, "MOTORCYCLE PARKING ONLY."
But there was a pirate cannon parked there. Mmm, I wonder if it got a ticket?Dad & Uncle Guy enjoyed flying the planes, but Dad puked a lot. At least I know where I get my puking skills from!

I am a GIants fan.

2006-09-21T11:22:00.000-07:00

So, Mom & Dad took me to the A's game last night. I hated it. I was really tired after partying at the tailgate party in the parking lot, and it was way too loud in the stadium so I could not fall alseep. I cried after every loud noise. After the 7th inning, Mom could not handle me feeling so uncomfortable and made Dad agree to leave.
Great, now I am going to grow up having an unnatural fear of hot dogs, beer, and the people dressed in the color green.

First base

2006-09-20T10:04:00.000-07:00

My girlfriend Mirabelle and I made it to first base yesterday! In front of Dad and Mirabelle's mom, no less. I guess the cat is out of the bag, we can't hide our love anymore. (Note to other ladies: baby relationships are not exclusive - you're still in the running.)

I think Mom is going to be mad. In my defense, Mirabelle was clearly the aggressor. Just look at the picture below, taken just before the kiss. She totally wanted a piece of me. She's the older lady and probably a lot more experienced than I am. I wasn't really sure what to do, I've never been to first base before.
Speaking of first base, the family is going out to the Oakland A's game tonight. I think Mirabelle and her parents are going to be there. Maybe Mirabelle and I can sneak some alone-time underneath the seats.

In other news, I've become very obsessed with drinking out of cups. Here's mom feeding me some formula out of an 8oz tumbler. Mom, don't you know the rule? Upgrade the vessel, upgrade the contents. Everyone knows you're supposed to drink scotch out of tumblers!

Boy, am I OLD.

2006-09-18T08:38:00.000-07:00

I am five months old today!!! I was so excited, I woke up at 5:55 AM. Mom wasn't as excited about waking up so early. Party pooper.

My present is a new car seat. My infant carrier is limited to babies who are under 29" in lenght. Mom mesured me this morning and I am at 27.5". One and half more inches and I will not be a baby anymore! Sweet!
And, as promised, Mom & Dad gave me my own laptop.
Soon my plans to take over the world will come to fruition!

I am a geek...

2006-09-16T17:00:00.000-07:00

I love computers!
Mom and Dad promised me that they would give me Mom's old laptop! Woo Hoo! Now I can surf the web for ways to take over the world with out the 'rents looking over my shoulder

Success!

2006-09-13T09:03:00.000-07:00

The eagle has landed!
My Mom & Dad like to dress me up with shirts that have words printed on them. Since I can not read yet, I have no idea what the heck I am advertising.

Manamana

2006-09-12T11:45:00.000-07:00

I'm going through a Muppet Show obsession right now. Coincidentally, so is Dad. Here we are downloading bootleg Muppet videos from the web. Yay, web! Our favorite is Manamana.Please note that I can now do a reasonable attempt at sitting up. For about 3 seconds at a stretch before I teeter over. Also check out the awesome toy Mom made for me, a Kirkland water bottle filled with 3 pennies.

Pacific Ocean!

2006-09-09T20:56:00.000-07:00

Mom, Dad & I went to the beach today for Beth's birthday BBQ. I am already a beach pro thanks to two weeks at the Grandparent's shore house, but I was not prepared for how freakin' cold it would be! Mom bundled me up real good and I had a blast making Dad chase the birds.
I met tons a cool new people at the BBQ, including the guy who helped to invent the best toy in the world.

Whew! What a day!

My first Google

2006-09-07T20:18:00.000-07:00

I did my first Google search today. I searched for "22." I did not want to search something totally obvious, like 'world domination.'

A poop of a different color

2006-09-07T16:15:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the introduction of a few vegetables (namely, carrots, sweet potatoes, and peas) to my diet, I have been entertaining the parents by producing technicolor poops. It has been a joy watching Mom's facial expressions during diaper changes.
I've moved up to two solid food meals a day - veggies (and soon fruit!) in the morning and cereal in the evening. I really like eating from a spoon - it's like so grown up and stuff. I even get a bit upset when I see Mom & Dad eating and I am not.
Other grown up things I like to do is play 'Danger is a Hat', 'Peek-a-Boo', and take baths. 'Danger is a Hat' makes me giggle like crazy!
Besides impersonating headwear, I really like playing in the water, but I have to wait till I am 6 months before I can start taking swimming lessons.

@%&#! Gravity

2006-09-04T08:48:00.001-07:00

I had my first physics lesson yesterday. Mom & Grandma took me to visit Uncle Wayne at college at UC Merced. While Mom & Grandma were busy trying to organize Uncle Wayne's dorm room, I was hanging out on the bed. I thought to myself, "Hey, I wonder if I could fly like that bird outside the window?" I took a rolling start and did a swan dive off the bed and flapped my arms... and BANG! Two and half feet later, I hit the ground. Flying didn't work. Here is Uncle Wayne imitating me when I hit the floor:
Everyone wants to imitate me, not just Wayne. Here is Brynne pretending to be me and playing with my toy gym:
Unfortunately, not everyone can rule the world. Only one can rule the world, and that ruler will not be a pretender.

The best toy in the world

2006-09-02T14:50:00.000-07:00

My new bouncy seat is the best toy in the world! I've decided to spend the rest of today and most of tomorrow bouncing around in it. It provides just enough levitation to help me hold up my huge head. In fact, it pretty much satisfies the specs for my Baron Harkonen lift belt. Now I will be able to conquer the world!

Solid Food, Part Deux

2006-08-31T14:28:00.000-07:00

Carrots! In easy-to-digest liquid form. But wait, then it isn't solid food, is it? Hmmm.... In any case, Mom fed me these liquid carrots:
I decided I didn't like them, so I puked them all up, together with the formula meal I had 2 hours previously:
I had to take a bath afterwards. Turns out the bath was a good thing, as Mirabelle came over today. I tried to woo her by holding her hand and staring lovingingly into her eyes. I don't think it worked very well, she just ended up crying a lot.

Toes

2006-08-31T13:20:00.000-07:00

Can.. almost.. reach.. mouth..!

Immune system 1, bacteria 0

2006-08-28T21:04:00.000-07:00

I'm just recovering from my first cold, given to me lovingly by Mom. It wasn't too bad, just a light cough and a bit of wheezy breathing. My immune system definitely kicked some ass and took some names. Mom was sicker than I.

Mom & Dad went to Vegas this past weekend for my Mom's second 29th birthday. Grandmom, Great Aunt Jane, and Ferra looked after me in their absence. Jennica (my cousin) was jealous of all the attention I was getting.

It was too bad I couldn't go to Vegas with the 'rents. I've been reading up on optimal blackjack play. Oh well, maybe next time.

4 Months Young!

2006-08-23T00:09:00.000-07:00

It's been an interesting week! Dad has been taking care of me most of the time because Mom has been laying around the house rubbing her nose with lots of little disposable burp cloths. She has something called a 'cold'. I don't know what this 'cold' is, but it doesn't involve skiing and sledding. I miss puking on her. Sigh.

I turned 4 months old a few days ago! Woo Hoo! I've come a long way, baby. This is me at just a few minutes old:And now:
<<<>>>>
My current stats are: 14lbs 5oz in weight and 2'2" tall. I'm really tall and svelte like my Dad. I'm in the 85th percentile in height and in the 45th percentile in weight. Yet I still have a second chin, go figure.

Yummy rice gruel!

2006-08-20T10:52:00.000-07:00

OK, I'm sold, this stuff is actually pretty good...