8 months old

Wow. Wow. Wow. The months are going by FASTER. Someone please stop time and freeze my sweet baby!

Our little dude has been busy this month... mostly great stuff, but some not so fun stuff too.

We started sleep training (this qualifies as 'not so fun'). As a matter of fact, I hate it (but probably not as much as Van hates it). The first night we put him to bed on his own, I was gone. Thankfully. The second night, I was home and I cried right along with Van. I wont lie, it sucks. And I partially feel responsible for getting us into this position. But! 6 days in, and I'm happy to report that he's usually only fussy when he goes down now and there's little to no crying. Fingers crossed that it continues, or gets even easier. Sleep is a good thing, my little love! We like to go to sleep.

Now for the FUN stuff... we started our baby class at BCC last week. Seems like some great moms and babies are in the group, and Van spent our whole first class checking everyone and everything out. He'd look back or reach for me occasionally, just to make sure I was still there, but otherwise, he seemed very interactive and loved the new environment. He was so enthralled, he didn't even bat an eye when an older, walking kiddo came over and took his toy right out of his hands. He thought the other kids were just as interesting as the toys.

Ready for our first day of class
(Van's expression is 'enough with the pictures, I'm staring at the sun here!')

We have not one, but TWO teeth on the bottom. I thought his gummy smiles were the cutest, but it keeps getting better and better.

He also started (last day or two) to get onto all fours and rock back and forth. Crawling is imminent and I really, really need to get the house baby-proofed!

And of course, we've spent more days out in the September sun. Here's a shot from yet another zoo, Woodland Park:


We're also a very happy babbler lately. The favorite sounds are: n-ga, gu-gu, uh-wahhh-eee.

Happy 8 month birthday, Van. You are so very loved!
mama

Husky season is here

We're all a little nervous to see how the season goes.

But we're loyal fans, through and through.

Go dawgs!

The animal lover

Van has been getting some face time with animals lately... he's probably thinking that his books have come to life, since we have quite a few animal books that he enjoys.

First we went to Kirkland for an outdoor playdate with our friends Shanie and Kyan. We fed the ducks, walked around the park and then the mommies did a little shopping. Van loved to see the ducks and wasn't nervous at all (I say that, because the ducks were quite aggressive and certainly bothered me). Then again, he was up high in his stroller.

Van, the tiger and a spread eagle

We took advantage of another sunny September day and explored our new neighborhood a little more. We have a small zoo less than 5 minutes away: Cougar Mountain Zoo. Van seemed more interested in watching the wild children at the zoo vs. the animals. I think he's really going to like our wobbler class we start next week. He'll be able to interact and play with some other babies on a weekly basis.

Margarita Man

We finally made it to our all-time favorite restaurant in Seattle... El Camino (Belltown Pizza is a close second, very close). Before Germany, we used to go to EC a couple times a week. It was conveniently located between our jobs downtown and house in Greenwood. After working out, we'd exhange a look that said, 'I want El Camino'. Off we would go.

We knew all the staff. But that was 3 years ago. Guess what happened on our first trip back though... The maitre d' remembered us and treated us to a guacamole and plantain chip appetizer (thanks Alfredo!). There are many, many reasons to love this restaurant. In addition to the great food.

Look at that margarita... Just one sip, Van.

KIDDING!!

We've missed you El Camino, and we will be back. (on Sunday, actually. ha! twice in one week, just like the old days)

p.s. Notice how light it is outside? Grantid, it's summer. But, we're also eating dinner at 5:30pm. That is not (with a capitol 'N') like the old days. The scenery is all the same, but we have certainly changed. The restaurant was empty, except for us and one other couple with a kid. You know what that means right?! We really can have our munchkin cake, and eat it too! We were experiencing the best of both worlds that night.