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.