our week with zeeke

Zeeke delighted Karen by saying "Mama" this week.  He's been making the sound for a long time, but on Thursday it became very deliberate, repeating it as he stared at her.  

Zeeke is doing great at getting up on all fours during crawling practice and even took his first few tentative steps forward on Tuesday.  He still tends to push himself backwards most of the time though, happily jamming his legs under the sofa or changing table.  It's great to watch his progress.  Just a few weeks ago he couldn't sit up by himself and now we can leave him happily sitting in the middle of the room without him ever falling, even when he reaches for toys that are a little out of his reach.

He's still cracking us up his with his head jiggle and he seems to like that it makes us laugh.  He's also started waving to people this week.   His hair is starting to get pretty long, but Karen says we can never cut it.

We introduced Zeeke to strawberry yogurt.

Zeeke's book of the week: Snuggle Puppy by Sandra Boynton.  This singable board book was a hand-me-down from Elspeth & Augie and has become a big hit in the house.

Sunday night, Zeeke slept from from 8 pm to 5:45 am with no wake ups, so it was a very happy Monday in our house.  Then he took such a long nap in the morning that they missed storytime.  Later, Karen & Zeeke took a long walk with Leah and Zack and bumped into their friend Alyssa from Nice Things and had a nice chat about sleep patterns.  That night, Zeeke slept until almost 6:30 am with no wakeups.

On Tuesday, Karen started calling daycare providers in preperation for returning to work in May.  It was a very emotional day.  Zeeke & Karen went to Miss Liz's storytime at Santore.  Later, on their afternoon walk, they ran into Marcy and Zeeke was very interested in Marcy's dog, Ginger.

Wednesday, they went to storytime at Fumo.  Later while walking around the neighborhood, they ran into yet another new baby within a block from our house.

Thursday, Zeeke & Karen visited her patron Michelle & her son Rocco.  Karen returned a maternity coat she borrowed and four-year-old Rocco entertained them by talking at length about superheroes.  Later, they went for a walk with our neighbor Erin & her three-month-old Kate.

Friday was a rough day.  After a great week of sleeping, he went back to multiple wakeups and being difficult to get down.  He compounded the problem by refusing to go down for a real nap all day.  They joined Sharri & Nate for play group at Circle of Hope.  Zeeke was so tired that he didn't even mind riding in the stroller.  When Steve finished work, we went to visit a great daycare center two blocks from our house.  We really liked it and the lady who ran it, although they won't have an opening until a month or so after Karen returns to work.

Saturday, while Steve went to the movies for the first the first time in six months, Karen & Zeeke met up with Jen & her baby Amelie to talk about the day care center we're considering.  He was in a great mood all day, but sadly gave us a rotten night's sleep.

Sunday, Zeeke woke for the day at 4:00 am, then when Steve & Karen finally gave up on sleep and were getting ready to go out to the Italian Market, he decided to go down for a long nap, which sadly his freshly-caffeinated parents could not join him in.  When he finally woke up, they hurried to the market, enjoying the warm weather and some more coffee from B2,  By the time we got back, Zeeke was starving for some solid food.  Once he was fed, the three of us went to book club Jenifer & Eric's, where Zeeke showed everyone how annoyingly rigid he can get when people try to hold him.  We call it "the board."  Karen left early to meet her friend Lorisa for lunch and Zeeke actually took a nap during book club.  

 

Zeeke turned eight months this week!  Time is really flying.

Last weekend we lowered the crib and installed the bumper, in preparation for getting tough on Zeeke's bad sleep habits.  After a great night sleeping Sunday night, we were feeling pretty optimistic, but the frequent wakeups and difficulties getting him down came right back and lasted all week. His sleeping just hasn't snapped back from the progress we lost during his sickness.  Of course, once we're all up he's often happy to take a long nap in the morning, so he's the only one in the house that isn't completely sleep-deprived.

Zeeke still hasn't mastered crawling, but he's gotten around that by combing his skills at spinning himself around and pushing himself backwards.  He doesn't get where he wants to super fast or with any great accuracy, but with enough effort he can get there.  He even looks back over his shoulder to keep an eye on the direction into which he's reversing.

We introduced Zeeke to yogurt this week, first banana, then peach.

One of Zeeke's new quirks is hording toys.  If you wave a toy at him while he's playing with another one, he has to have them both.  Then if you wave a third toy, he'll freak out trying to grab it between his feet or the hands that are still clenching other toys.  It's pretty funny.

Feeling well rested Monday morning, Zeeke and Karen decided to organize Steve's closet.  Later they met up with up some other neighborhood moms & babies for Miss Joanne's storytime at the South Philly branch.  Afterward, they walked around the neighborhood until all the babies were asleep.

Tuesday, after Miss Liz's storytime at Santore, Karen & Zeeke went to Italian Market to pick up some produce.  Later we took down the Christmas tree and Karen got a little teary taking down Zeeke's first ornaments.

Wednesday, after Miss Lindsey's storytime at Fumo, Karen & Zeeke went to Steve's office and we all went out to lunch at Han Dynasty.

Karen's mom came to babysit for a couple hours on Thursday.  Zeeke was a little stand-offish at first, but once she danced for him, he loved her.  While Karen ran some errands, they had a good old time and he even napped for her.  Later Karen and Zeeke went to the park where they bumped into Teresa & her baby Beatrix, whom they had met months and months ago at baby yoga, and also Karen's library patron Jake & his mother.

Friday, Zeeke & Karen went to Fumo and visited with her boss David.  Katie the guard, who is already one of Zeeke's favorite people, entertained him royally with a lizard puppet.  And they came home with a DVD of Zeeke's favorite part of Sesame Street: Elmo's World.  That night, Dena came over and babysat Zeeke while we drove out to Jersey for our friend Elspeth's party.  It was our second Friday night out in a row and we had a great time.  Elspeth also sent us home with some great hand-me-downs from her son Augie.  Meanwhile, back at home, Dena had a great time because Zeeke woke up and she got to hang out with her little buddy.  We came home to find them cheerfully snuggling on the couch, watching tv.

Saturday, we went to lunch at Birra with Sharri, Paul & Nate and it was such a warm day we went to the park to push the babies in the swings.  After Zeeke's afternoon nap, we ran some errands together, including a huge Target run.

Sunday, Zeeke and Steve got to spend some together while Karen went out for a lovely brunch with the girls from her old West Philly library.

 

 

 

It was a very hard week in our house.  Zeeke's fever got pretty bad at times, even getting up to 104.2.  It became extremely difficult to get him to eat anything or to get him to sleep.   There was a lot of crying and screaming and he needed to be held almost constantly.  In many ways, it was like when he was a newborn, except with the added dimension of his scary fever.  Thanks to advice from Karen's sister Sarah, we managed the fever as best we could with ice pops, cool sponge baths, and alternating doses of Tylenol and Motrin.  Thanks to the holiday, we couldn't take him to th doctor, but our pediatrician called us back on New Year's Eve to let us know we were on the right track.  Miraculously Zeeke's exhaustion put him soundly to sleep for the worst part of the neverending explosions and very loud public drunkeness that is New Year's Eve in South Philly.

The fever was gone by the end Wednesday afternoon and he showed a lot of signs of feeling better, but he hasn't yet shaken the bad sleeping he picked up during his sickness.  We've had some miserable nights this week and are probably as exhausted as we've ever been with him.  But at least he's back to eating and breastfeeding like his old self.

Thursday, Karen and Zeeke went to visit Miss Joanne at the South Philly branch.  It was Zeeke's first outing since last week.

Friday, Karen & Zeeke went the Fumo branch to pick up a book.  Later, Steve and Zeeke took a trip to the grocery store.  That night our friends Jenifer and Eric came over to babysit so that we could go out to holiday dinner at Butcher & Singer with the people Steve works with.

No longer sick, Zeeke has devoted his recovered energy to rolling.  Very early Saturday morning, when Zeeke was unable to sleep, Steve and Zeeke were hanging out on the sofa.  When exhausted Steve passed out, Zeeke managed to roll off the couch.  Fortunately he was all right once we calmed him down, but we're no longer taking any chances leaving him places that he can roll off of.  

Later, when we took him to the park, but we could tell that he still wasn't feeling 100% because he was bored on the swings.

The weather was beautiful on Sunday, so we went up to Chestnut Hill for lunch at Iron Hill Brewery and a little shopping with Jen, Kim & the twins, then the boys played together back at the house while we chatted.

 

Zeeke's got rhythm. He beats his hand against his side in time to music, even when it's just a song one of us is singing to him.  He's also started bopping his head from side to side, although he doesn't need music to inspire that.  Sometimes he'll sway from the waist up, practically hurling himself over.

Zeeke continues to happilly munch on Cheerios while we prepare his food, although we always find a few underneath when we lift him out of the high chair.

Zeeke's hair is starting to get long.  He's outgrown all of his six month pyjamas and moved up to the nines, although there's still enough room in them for him to move his feet around inside his pants legs.

Zeeke's book of the week: Yawn by Symes & Sharratt

Tuesday was Christmas with Karen's family at her sister Sarah's house.  Zeeke got lots of great gifts and adoration.  But it was exhausting and he had a meltdown on the way back to Philly.

Wednesday, we drove out to the shore to visit with Steve's college roommate Edwin, his wife Carey, their daughter Lila, and newborn son Logan.  It was a long drive home through sleet and rain, but it was a great time and well worth the trip.

On Thursday, while Steve was at work, Karen took advantage of Zeeke's holiday exhaustion to take back the house while he napped.

Friday, Karen & Zeeke went to the Fumo branch to stock up on more picture books.  That evening the three of us went to Jenifer and Eric's holiday party for a while.  After Zeeke went down for the night, Steve and Karen took turns popping back to the party while the other held down the fort.

Sunday Zeeke was running a fever when he woke up.  We were a bit worried, but by afternoon he was feeling so much better that he was laughing and jumping in his bouncey chair, so we took him out to the supermarket.  Little did we know that the fever would be back with a vengence that night and not leave for days.

 

Zeeke's second tooth arrived this weekend, another lower central incisor.  

Zeeke's arms are always in motion these days, slapping things, and he gave his first tentative high five to his cousin Connor.  We've been helping him master getting up on all fours with his head and belly both off the ground.  He can do it on his own now, although he still just rocks back and forth, rather than crawling.

Zeeke fed himself for the first time this week.  We gave him a couple Cheerios Tuesday which he expertly picked up and--after a little trial and error--actually got into his mouth.  He really seems to enjoy them.

Zeeke's book of the week: Playtime Puppy:  Let's Have Fun at the Park by Lambert & Goldhawk.  Karen's cousin Lillian gave Zeeke this great book that has a puppy puppet right in the middle of it.  Zeeke gets so excited when we read this to him that we had to ban it at bedtime because it makes him too excited to sleep.

Monday, Karen & Zeeke went over to Chestnut HIll for lunch with Jen & the twins.  The boys had a good time playing together in the baby gym, really taking notice of each other..

Tuesday, Karen & Zeeke went to retiring Miss Karen's final storytime at Rittenhouse Square and then took advantage of the beautiful weather to do some holiday shopping in the area.  When they got home there was a big package full of presents for Zeeke from Karen's friend Gina in Germany waiting for them.  

Wednesday, they joined Sharri & Nate for Miss Lindsey's storytime at Fumo.  That night, Dena came by to deliver treats and visit with Zeeke. They had a great time playing together on the floor.

On Thursday, Zeeke and Karen went to work with Steve for his office Christmas party.  Zeeke did a great job handling all the attention and rambunctious kids running around and got some great presents from Steve's co-workers.  After that, we went over to the Christmas Village at Love Park and did a little more holiday shopping.

Friday, Zeeke had a great day of napping which let Karen get her wrapping done.  When Steve was done work, we all went over to Nice Things to let Zeeke pick out his first Christmas tree ornament: a little white bear with a knit scarf.  (He completely ignored Steve's attempt to get him to choose the fez-wearing monkey.)

On Saturday, while Steve went out for a long lunch with the boys, Karen & Zeeke had a nice conversation on the phone with Patsy who we miss dearly.

Sunday, we drove out to Pitman for an early Christmas with Steve's family.  He got lots of great presents, including the first of many handmade ornaments from his grandparents.  Zeeke rekindled his love with cousin Becca, had some manly bonding with cousin Connor, and met cousin Carin and her boyfriend for the first time.

 

No new teeth showed up this week, but Tuesday night he was so miserable that we fully expect a second tooth to show up soon.

He's doing great in the car these days.  Karen has a scheme where she hypnotizes him with his musical mirror until he makes sleepy sounds and then switches to classical music to knock him out.  

Zeeke is eating three solid meals a day now.  This week he tried avocado and a little spinach.  

Zeeke's books of the week:  That's Not My Pony and That's Not My Monkey.  We've been reading these books to him for months, but this week he really started appreciating the tactile elements of them, knowing on his own where to reach out to touch the pony's fluffy mane or the monkey's velvety feet.

Monday, Karen & Zeeke went to storytime at Central and visited Zeeke's friend Wanda.

Tuesday, they went to storytime at Rittenhouse Square branch and did some shopping, then went to lunch at Sabrina's with Steve.

Wednesday, Zeeke & Karen went to storytime at the Fumo branch.  It was their first time seeing Miss Lindsey do the show solo.  Zeeke fell asleep on the way home, so Karen took advantage of the moment to grab a hot chocolate and a little peace at Starbuck's.

Thursday, Karen's mother came to babysit so that Karen could do some shopping.  She and Zeeke had a great, tearless time, and he even napped for her again.

Friday, Karen & Zeeke met up with Sharri & Nate for a playgroup at Circle of Hope.  Later on, Steve's parents came over for a visit.  While Steve & his dad replaced a faucet in the sink, his mom, Karen & Zeeke checked out some neighborhood holiday displays and went to the playground.

Saturday, Zeeke kindly napped while Steve & Karen baked lemon cookies and then the three of us stopped by Jen & Eric's to see their Christmas tree.  When we got home, we found a package of Christmas books sent to Zeeke from Karen's Uncle Wes & Aunt Kathy.

Sunday, after a morning stroll with Steve, Zeeke passed out for a couple hours, leaving Steve & Karen time to trim the tree.  Afterwards, we took our lemon cookies over to Tara & Matt's for their annual cookie swap.  Zeeke had a good time being passed around among all the good people and we came away with a great haul of delicious cookies.  Peter & Melissa gave Zeeke a great outfit their son Jude was too big for.

Zeeke officially has his first tooth!

That suspected molar that we got all excited about months ago never really poked through and may have just been an abscess.  But this time it's for real.  After giving us a week of amazing sleep, waking up briefly just once a night, he suddenly had two lousy, fitful nights.  And then on Sunday morning, Karen was rubbing his sore gum and there it was, a lower central incisor. 

Zeeke's still not doing anything we'd confidently call crawling, but he's starting to get the hang of getting his belly off the ground when he gets on all fours.  And he's able to sit without any support now for a couple minutes before tumbling over.

We started Zeeke on oatmeal, his first cereal.

On Monday, Karen & Zeeke visited Aunt Dena for an exchange of baked goods, went to Miss Joanne's storytime at the South Philly branch with Leah & Zack, and then met up with Jen & the twins for a picnic at Whole Foods and a stroll along Boathouse Row.

Tuesday, Karen & Zeeke went to storytime with Miss Karen at the Rittehouse Square branch.  That evening, Steve joined them for a doctors appointment with the pediatrician.  She gave Zeeke a clean bill of health and called him "Lover Pants," a nickname which has caught on around the house.  Zeeke got three shots and did very well for them, not getting upset until the last one, and calming down pretty quick once the needles stopped.

Wednesday, Zeeke was having such a nice morning nap that they skipped storytime.

Thursday, Karen convinced Jen that they should take the boys to storytime at the Chestnut Hill branch, but when they got there, there was no children's librarian, so Jen did the storytime (with backup from Karen).  Then they had a lovely lunch and the boys spent some quality time together at Jen's house.

Friday, Zeeke was grouchy from teething, but he and Karen managed to get some errands done and then took Steve out for lunch.  Later they went to the library to return some books and Miss Joanne took him to the reference desk and put him to work checking out books for patrons.

Saturday was Zeeke's seven month birthday.  The three of us joined Tara, Matt & Moira for a spicy, delicious lunch at Han Dynasty.  At the restaurant, Zeeke sat in a restaraunt high chair for the first time and was very proud of himself.  He also ate his first solid food that hadn't been cooked by Steve, a pouch of organic apple & carrot, which he loved so much he was kicking his legs.  As we were leaving, we got a call from Jen & Kim who were in the city, so we met up with them & the twins at the Donnatucci branch for pictures with Santa and then brought them back to our house for beer, bourbon, and cheesecake.

Sunday, after finding the tooth, we went to David and Steve's Christmas party and caught up with lots of people who haven't really seen us since Zeeke was born.  We had a great time and Zeeke even took a nap there so that we could really get into the swing of things.

Karen's been getting extremely nostalgic for the tiny baby we had a few months ago, getting teary looking at old photos and videos.  We made Zeeke's Christmas list and used some of our favorite photos of him to create a holday card.  Zeeke's been getting a lot of practice using his fine motor skill and speaking this week.  One day, everytime he came into a room and saw Steve he said something that sounded suspiciously like, "Hi, Dada."

We introduced banana to Zeeke this week.  He had a tendency to squish it out of his mouth more than with other foods, but he seemed to like the sweetness.

Zeeke's book of the week: Hello, Bugs by Smriti Prasadam & Emily Bolam

On Monday, after a good long morning nap, Karen & Zeeke took advantage of the beautiful day to go visit Jen & the twins.  Once again Zeeke slept both to and from Chestnut Hill.

Tuesday, Karen & Zeeke braved the rain to go to Miss Liz's storytime at Santore.  Zeeke enjoyed being used as Miss Liz's prop during stories and songs.

Wednesday, inbetween a bunch of errands, Karen & Zeeke visited Miss Joanne at South Philadelphia Library.  There, they chatted with another mom about using sign language with babies. Zeeke had been so grumpy that morning, but after a good walk and visiting friends, he was in a much better mood for the rest of the day.

Friday, Steve joined Karen & Zeeke for fish sandwiches at Ippolito's.  After that, Zeeke met Michael, one of Karen's fans and the son of Steve's friend John.  Michael was very excited to meet him and was already planning how he wanted to entertain Zeeke the next time he sees him.

Saturday, Steve finished up the bookcase project.  Karen & Zeeke went for a nice walk and ran into one of her library patrons and later, Dena came by for a visit and to drop off a parenting book Karen had requested.  That night, Zeeke ate twice his normal amount of solid food!

Sunday, Steve took Zeeke for a walk in his snuggly, winter-weather bearsuit.  The three of us went to the South Philly Taproom for lunch and then visited Jen & Eric and new Kitty, Marcel.

Zeeke's been a dream baby this week:  good-natured, well napped, and hardly bossy at all.  Knowing it woudn't last, Karen was determined to enjoy it for all it was worth.  Zeeke outgrew his first pair of shoes this week. 

We introduced Zeek to pears this week and he loves them.  We also started giving him two solid meals a day.

Zeeke's book of the week: Black & White by Tana Hoban

Monday, Karen & Zeeke went to the storytime at Central.  After visiting with the staff, they saw it was such a gorgeous day that they decided to go see Jen & the twins in Chestnut Hill.  Thanks in part to the new light-up, musical mirror in the backseat, Zeeke slept both ways.  It was very liberating for Karen to be able to travel with him without fear of a meltdown.  Jen & Karen had Indian food for lunch and took a nice walk through Chestnut Hill together with the boys.

Tuesday, Karen & Zeeke went to Miss Liz's storytime at her new branch, Santore. Then they bumped into Miss Lindsey (who replaced Liz at Fumo) and walked down Passyunk Ave.  When they got home, they picked up Steve and went to lunch at Green Eggs.  After lunch, Steve's parents came by for a quick Zeeke fix and to drop off supplies for Saturday's project.

During their morning constitutional on Wednesday, Zeeke & Karen ran into Maria and then Dave & Steve.  Karen's friend Kathy visited from Cape Cod with her husband and their three boys, Jack, Liam, and Calvin. The boys brought Zeeke some of their favorite hand-me-down clothes and toys. They had some lunch then walked over to the playground.  That night, we finally scrubbed off Zeeke's cradle cap.  His hair looks much lovelier now, although the smell of the special shampoo we used faintly lingers on no matter how much we try to wash it away.

On Thursday, we dressed up and droved out to Malvern for Thanksgiving with Karen's mom's side of the family.  Zeeke did very well with the large crowd of fast-talking strangers and spirited children, but got a little antsy towards the end.  

Friday, we joined Steve's family for Thanksgiving leftovers. 

Saturday, Steve's parents came over and put in a hard day of labor bolting our fourteen bookcases to the walls in an effort at babyproofing.  Amazingly Zeeke took a two hour nap through the drilling, vaccuuming and commotion.  Karen & Zeeke snuck away late in the afternoon to visit Jen & Eric's new kitten Marcel (along with Dena and the Rizzios).

Karen needed a treat on Sunday, so after we did some chores, we went to Belle Cakery for hot chocolate, an apple muffin, and a slice of salted caramel cheesecake. YUM!

Zeeke's been clutching at his left ear this week.  At first we were worried he was sick, but he's been very happy and sweet every day, so we think it's probably just a teething thing.  Zeeke has definitely been getting better and better at just hanging out and entertaining himself.   We also got him a light-up, musical mirror that hypnotizes him a little while he's in the car.

Eating solid foods has been going so well (except for peas), that we graduated to two solid meals a day.  We introduced him to apple on Tuesday and acorn squash on Friday, both of which were hits.    

His dedication to blowing raspberries knows no bounds.  He's even branched out into fart and motorboat sounds.  But at least he's quit with the grunting for the time being.

Zeeke's book of the week: Baby Says "Moo!"  by JoAnn Early Macken & David Walker

Monday, Karen took Zeeke with her to her doctor's appointment and unoffically weighed Zeeke in at nineteen pounds.

Tuesday night, Steve's niece Becca and her boyfriend came by for a visit with the little guy.

Wednesday, Karen's mom came up from Maryland.  They took Zeeke to Miss Liz's last storytime at Fumo.  Then she babysat Zeeke while Steve & Karen went to lunch at Morimoto to celebrate their anniversary.  It was the first time we left him with anyone for several hours and he did great.

Thursday, Karen & Zeeke met up with David for breakfast at Black & Brew and then a walk around the park.  Then they met up with Leah & Zack for another walk.  That afternoon, Karen went to Little Beth Boutique to find a cute outfit for Zeeke to wear at his three Thanksgivings.

On Friday, Karen & Zeeke joined Sharri & Nate for a trip to the park and a playgroup at Circle of Hope.  Zeeke happily put with the stroller for the entire trip, which was pretty amazing.  That afternoon they went to Martha's retirement party at Central.  They saw lots of people and Zeeke was very well behaved, even on the car ride home.  

Saturday, we drove all the way down to Maryland for Thanksgiving with Karen's dad's house.  Zeeke slept almost the whole way down and was fairly good for the drive home too.  It was a great time and his cousins wore him out so much that he slept through dinner.

On Sunday, Steve was sick, so Karen & Zeeke went to brunch at Kendra & Don's without him.  Zeeke was very interested in their dog Jalapeno.  They gave Dena, Liz & Kate a ride back to South Philly and Zeeke was very happy with all the attention they provided on the way home.