Zeeke has been so talkative lately! He spends much of his day talking and singing, often expressing his feelings on things quite clearly (and cutely). His vocalizations give us some real clues as to how fast his mood can change from happy to sad and back to happy depending on whether he's getting his way.
During playtime, Zeeke is really learning to use both hands together. Grabbing a spinning toy with one hand and spinning it with the other, passing toys back and forth.
Zeeke and our guest Patsy got along famously this week. It was so great to have Patsy's help for a few days and for all of us to enjoy her company.
On Monday, Karen, Zeeke and Patsy trekked up to South Street. After the second shoe shop, Zeeke put his foot down and made it quite clear that he was done looking at shoes. They had specialty hot dogs, handmade sodas, and fries with curry and chile sauces at The Hot Diggity. Zeeke had his lunch in the graveyard at Old Pine. When Steve got home, they whisked him off to our much mentioned Birra for a quick dinner before Zeeke's bedtime.
On Tuesday, Karen, Patsy and Zeeke headed up to Mannayunk to see Heather and Thilo for homemade gazpacho. Their daughter Ariadne was great with Zeeke and loved the way he smelled. Heather said Zeeke's whole face had changed since the last time she'd seen him. Zeeke handled the drive pretty well.
On Wednesday, the threesome headed out to West Philly to visit Steve during his lunch break. He took them to his favorite food truck, Cucina Zapata, for chicken satay tacos, short rib tacos, and green curry. Then we went out for gourmet popsicles at The Pop Shop. Later on, Karen and Patsy walked Zeeke over to David & Steve's house for a little drink.
On Thursday, we had a nice breakfast at Hawthorne's, then Steve went to work while Karen and Zeeke drove Patsy to the airport. Zeeke did well on the drive down with Patsy sitting in the back to entertain him, but was pretty upset driving home in the back by himself for the first time. Karen and Zeeke both cried seeing Patsy leave for another year.
Friday, we went to a retirement party at Karen's library. Zeeke handled the crowd a bit better this time, but still preferred sneaking away from the spotlight for some quiet time. It was the first time a lot of people had seen Karen since before Zeeke's arrival.
Zeeke got the day started very early on Saturday morning (4 AM), which left his parents zombies for most of the day. Fortunately he generated lots of extra cuteness to make up for it. At one point, he grabbed his gush rag out of Steve's hand and blotted his own mouth dry. In the afternoon, we tested out his his new upright car seat (a hand-me-down from his cousins) out on the front stoop. Instead of instantly crying (as he usually does in a car seat), he smiled and giggled the entire time.
On Sunday, we drove down to Wallingford to see our friend Gordon who was visiting from Japan with his wife Kanako and daughter Samantha. It was a lovely afternoon with his awesome parents and great friends. Bonus: Zeeke did great in his new car seat!