Finn is picking up the few Spanish words we use around the house just as quickly as he is the English ones…common Finn utterances include:
We’re trying to limit the crazy Nack-branded Spanglish we use all the time and stick to *real* Spanish words. He’ll have enough kooky English slang to deal with, thanks to us!
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.
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:
Finny really knows how to bring on the hilarity! Every day it’s something new and totally unpredictable.
We’ve known that Finn is very into toes (touching them, purposefully stepping on our feet, “sweeping” them with a paintbrush), but today he added an entirely new angle to his repetoire. One of his current favorite books is Dr. Seuss’s Hop On Pop. His favorite page in the book is “HE ME. He is After Me!” wherein a goofy tiger/lionish looking creature with big teeth is biting an equally goofy-looking kid on the toe (see image).
As he and I were goofing around, barefoot, on the couch this afternoon, he spontaneously leaned over, bit my big toe, and growled, knowing that the appropriate response would be to holler “No!”, which is what we say when we read the book. I delivered a good yelp of “No!”, and started laughing hysterically because it was so unexpected. This encouraged Finny to bite the toe several times and wait for my soap-operatic reaction. He was super surprised when I grabbed his toe and did the same thing!
Yesterday morning, I found myself in the kitchen with Finn (doing his typical let’s-grab-grownup-knees thing) while Margot was in the living room seeking some Kleenex. “Finny,” I said, handing him a box of tissues, “Bring to mama? Give to mom?” And off he toddled, bringing her the box.
I was delighted (having freed my knees & gotten out of the task myself), and I said to Margot, “This marks my first use of Finn as an economic implement!” Way to go, kiddo, contributing to family welfare. (Just let’s make sure Kathy Lee Gifford doesn’t read this post & start recruiting him as a future sweatshop employee!)
Oh, how I wish what happens in Vegas would stay in Vegas! We 3 Nacks had a good time seeing our pals Adolfo, Romina, and Brunito, but man we were fighting some tough circumstances during our stay.
Wandering around in the Las Vegas heat while 7 months pregnant with a raging head cold is, well, not ideal. What I thought was just allergies is actually a nasty cold (which John also got during our stay), which I am *still* getting over and which has now passed itself to Finny. Trying to keep a little guy fed, entertained, and not-too-sleep-deprived is a tough order when all you *really* want to do is blow your nose and rest in a dark room.
And then Finny had his own sleep issues…he was so *not* interested in the crib we requisitioned from the hotel. He slept there one time (because he was probably too pooped to complain much) but the rest of the time it was in the bed with mom and dad and their stuffy heads. Naps, nighttime sleep, all of it. And waking up when you’d leave the bed to go to the bathroom or get a drink. Yeesh.
Now that we’re back he’s struggling to readjust to sleeping and napping in his own crib. Yesterday afternoon and last night were not too bad but this morning’s nap went nuclear for about 45 minutes until he just plain pooped himself out. I tried staying in his room and patting him but that didn’t seem to help at all…and leaving him on his own had the same effect (more crying). Finally he gave up the fight, and hopefully this afternoon’s nap will go a little smoother. I think replacing his rancid, dirty “Leo” with a clean one threw him off his game, too, but I worry his mouth’ll rot out if he keeps sucking on something that smells like a hamper full of dirty socks!
We’re here in Las Vegas with Finny to meet up with some far-flung friends. There’s a big tradeshow this week that John is attending, as is his friend Adolfo-from-Argentina. Adolfo’s wife Romina, and cute-as-can-be son Bruno are here, so we decided to come as a threesome as well. We last saw Adolfo and Romina when Finn was only a few months old, and Romina was pregnant with Bruno. We’re all so excited to see each other again, and to see how our boys are growing up.
We arrived Monday afternoon and will stay through this afternoon. Bruno’s already a strapping 7-month old! Romina and I stick out like sore thumbs amongst the overly tanned, processed, and botoxed females in Vegas. We’ve got our diaper bags, strollers, and little containers of kid snacks :-). We’re looking forward to sharing photos of our poolside adventure and more as soon as Adolfo can upload them.
Finno is exploring language like mad. He’s recently learned to say “Toot toot!” when hearing a train in the distance; he beeps along with trucks backing up; and he offers a commanding impression of Harley Davidsons rumbling by.
Now he’s trying to move into three-syllabled territory. Current projects:
Ah, you probably thought that this blog was the definitive source of Finn-related info online, right? So did I, until Margot turned up the illuminating Finnegan Facts site. Did you know, for instance, that:
What a busy little man he is. 🙂 The legal gene may have skipped a generation, but Finny seems determined to restore the family tradition. (I think his cheeks will go really well with the powdered wig.)
We know Finn has been teething like mad lately, and the big ol’ molar bumps under his gums are hard to miss. This morning while we were playing, I got a look into Finny’s upside-down, wide-open maw, and saw that he’s got 2 new molars emerging–one on either side of his upper jaw. You can just see the white pointy parts above the gums.
Whew–no wonder he was having trouble napping, and eating, and was just generally fussy there for awhile. Those chompers are BIG! The ones on his lower jaw are getting ready to make their move, and I expect we’ll be seeing them pretty soon. I’m sure Finn will be thrilled to be able to grind down tortilla chips and other crunchy stuff just like Mom and Dad!
Q. What’s a pretty tremendous way to start the day?
A. Feeling, for the first time, “El Segundo” kick!
Thanks to Finn’s baby monitor noisily trying to intercept moon transmissions or solar flares or something, Margot and I found ourselves awake before 5am today. Turns out we weren’t the only ones awake: “The Little Bitty Guy is really partying down there,” reported Margot. And sure enough, our friend met dad’s hand with a few solid jolts! Way to go, lad. We’re looking forward to meeting you. 🙂
Honestly we think our little guy is a very easy baby, all things considered, but when I saw this license plate holder at work, I had to laugh. Here’s a larger image.
