“Ga-TO!” 🙂
Our neighbors’ cat d’Artagnan (aka Tuxstein, Tuxy, or just “you fat dumpling”) has been a good sport lately as Finny becomes more comfortable petting creatures, ascending the neighbors’ steps, and generally exploring the world. More pix to follow.
We’ve fallen a bit behind in sharing some photos of the fam in action, so I’ve rounded up a gallery (HTML) of miscellaneous Finndustry. The gallery includes:
Lately Finn has taken a crazy shine to my ridiculous “Der Bomber” jacket, peering excitedly at the coat rack every time he walks past. Here’s a little video of him discussing “Bomb-O.” 🙂
The squirrel-man and his buddy Leo are a pretty inseparable pair. Lately we’ve had a little fun tossing Leo onto Finn’s (and everyone else’s) head as a hat. Here’s a little gallery (HTML) from the goings-on. 🙂
Who needs a fancy new Elmo Phone when you’ve got a sippy cup? “Hehwo?” 🙂 (Click the image for a larger view.)
I’ll tell ya, I’m a lucky guy to get to come home & romp around with Finny. Here are a couple of shots I snagged with my phone as he celebrated the resurrection of our neighbor’s bee-attracting fountain (“BEE!”). (Click the image for a larger view.)
Big adventures this Memorial Day with Finny. FIrst up was brunch at the Pawligers’ house, and some quality playtime with their son Adam, and another little friend, Lazlo. All three piled into the backyard hammock for some R&R after chowtime. After Finn’s afternoon nap, we pit stopped for some frozen yogurt at the neighborhood yogurt hut, then we headed out to the Emma Prusch Farm Park.
The park is a city park not far from us. It used to be a working dairy farm, bequeathed to the city from the woman who owned it in the first half of the 20th century. We’d heard that there are all kinds of farm animals roaming around, a nice playground, and even a large vegetable garden and orchard. Needless to say, we thought Finn would love seeing and hearing the *real* animals that he sees in books.
As soon as we got out of the car we heard the “cock-a-doodle-doo” of roosters, which were wandering around the parking lot! Finn had a great time, and was fascinated by the chickens and goats. Here’s a little gallery (HTML) of our adventures from the day, including the roosters, goats, and Finn’s excited *squeeeeeezing* of some weird fruit from the orchard. We wrapped up the day with some sweeping in the backyard, and some goofando in the bathtub.
Okay, okay, I might be overselling it a little, but today Finn strung together words for the first time I’ve heard. His first sentence was (drumroll please)…
{{ We interrupt our regularly scheduled Finncast with breaking news about our own MLN }}
I’m delighted to report that the little guy and I now share a home with Margot L. Nack, Project Management Professional! Despite much squirrel-chasing and pregnancy-induced fatigue, Margot has been devoting many hours over the last few months to studying for this exam, and today she passed! This certification should be a great help when she returns to the job hunt after El Segundo arrives.
Way to go, hon!! We’re so proud of you.
Margot and I have a weird soft spot for “Lucha Libre,” aka masked Mexican wrestling. Knowing this, our friend Hughes’s mom Eileen got Finn both a tiny “luchador” mask and a whole calendar of luchador portraits. We have lots of fun putting the little mask onto a ceramic penguin, as well as going through the calendar to see “Los Matematicos” and more. (Well, it’s fun until the 700th or so time, at which point one of us has to hide the calendar under the couch.) Here’s a little gallery of the goings-on.
On a related note, I think Finn may grow up with a warped sense of what the term “doctor” means. A few months ago he started checking out our little portrait of the wrestler “Dr. Wagner,” saying “DAK-dah!” I wonder whether he’ll think that “doctor” = masked wrestler, and if so, what he’ll think when we say we’re going to the doctor’s office. 🙂
Join us, won’t you, for another installment of What The Heck Are John & Margot Talking About??
A couple of weeks ago, the three of us cruised up to see our friends Bryan, Alex, and little Miles Hughes at their home in the nearby Santa Cruz mountains. We’ve uploaded some photos (HTML) showing a little (metal) goat-riding, corn-launching, mooning over Miles, and more.
During the course of our great little cook-out, Finn–who normally sticks to Dad like glue–was rather taken with Hughes. He’d protest whenever Hughes would walk inside, and he’d track this other daddy’s every move.
Finally it started to dawn on me: I wonder whether he thinks that’s his daddy. We put the idea to the test. Finding a picture of himself with me in the desert, Hughes pointed at me and said, “Who’s that, Finn?” No response. And then the moment of truth: I pointed at the picture of Hughes and said, “Who’s that, Finn?” “Da-Da!” was the immediate response. 😛
Since then, I’ve discovered that Finn now uses the term “Da-Da” fairly generically to refer to dad-like men, including our friend Tom & various characters in books. I feel a bit better now. 🙂
PS–Thanks to Hughes & Alex for the hospitality, and to Hughes for the great photos. The Papa-razzi strike again!
Who’s a trendy baby, then? ;-P
I know, I know–I’m setting myself up for endless (and justified) teasing from Margot, Hughes, and probably everyone else, but I couldn’t resist setting up Finny (and El Segundo!) on Twitter. Now the boys have their own little stream called “Micronaxx”, and you can view updates right on this blog: look to the right on the main page.
We don’t intend A) to have Twitter replace the blog, or B) to ask anyone to do anything extra. Instead, it’s just a supplemental way to capture & share little bits of info. For example, we might be at the park and want to share a photo and/or little quip. Twitter makes it easy to compose a message on the phone, then upload it with or without a photo. Just look to the sidebar for these bits.
[Update: Hmm, it seems this service is a little flaky, and the list of messages from Twitter may not show up sometimes (when lots of people are trying to access the site). Hopefully it’ll show up more often than not.]
Clearly Dad was having a little fun with the ol’ Adobe products this weekend. Mom was on hand to art-direct. 🙂
Finn spontaneously performs this squeezing gesture every time he sees any kind of work truck (white pickups, box trucks, or just about any truck with a light on top). He knows they’re somehow related to trash cans (i.e. the things the garbage truck *squeeeezes* with its big gripper arm).
Apparently this morning I missed some big adventures with a backhoe, Bobcat, and jackhammers. Mom and Finn were on the scene. Childhood curiosity rocks!
Grandma Nack: Guffaws requested
West Coast Naxx: Guffaws *DELIVERED*!
Our little squire loves to romp around saying “NOK-a-DAH!,” aka “Knock you *Down*!”–and of course we’re only too happy to oblige. 😀
Our pal Bryan recently shared with us the photos he took during our Easter visit to his folks’ house in Carmel. The bubble-blowing pipes in Finn’s Easter basket provided all sorts of entertainment for the little guy & dad, and both Finn and Grace–a dog literally 4 times his weight!–did great together. Here’s our gallery (HTML).
Yeesh–we’re so used to the most crazy, complex technology working without a hitch, and yet of course it can fail. Our blog server has been acting up, so we haven’t been able to post any news (or approve comments) in a few days. In fact, we’ve had to hide comments temporarily. To quote Finn, “*Bleaugh!*”
Anyway, we’re working to get the problem fixed, especially as we have lots of fun photos we’re waiting to share.
Over the last couple of weeks, Finn has gotten really, *really* interested in All Things Stinky. He loves to go to the back door and say, “Bleaugh, bleaugh!”–as in, “Take me to the garbage cans immediately!” Wednesdays (trash days) are a real hit, with Finn checking out the garbage trucks and saying “Beep beep beep… bleaugh!”
The whole ritual has gotten quite elaborate lately, involving trips to the neighbor’s yard where they let weird lemon-like fruit fall and rot. Finn grabs each piece of fruit, at which point we walk it several doors down to another neighbor’s where he theatrically fires it into their garbage can. I don’t know whether people think we’re insane, charming, or both. 🙂
Here’s a little documentary evidence of our activities:
“BeeBeardBoo, LightDogPolka…” Walking after Finn outside today, I found myself reciting little mnemonics, trying to make sure I could remember (and report) all his little goings-on. At exactly fourteen months of age, he’s one busy dude.
Recent stylings:
