The Routine

We're all settled down at my house. Daddy starts working at his new position tomorrow, and Mommy started her fall semester this week. I've resumed my visits to my Grandma T's house while my parents are both occupied. We're done with trips until November. Perhaps this period of time is what I've heard called the Dog Days of August. I'm in favor of anything having to do with dogs, of course, but no dogs have shown up yet. I'm waiting.

Not too much is new with me. I've developed a hand sign of my own that involves pointing to my palm but no one has correctly interpreted it yet. Sometimes the big people are slow to catch up with me on these things. In eating news, I'm so over broccoli, but I can't get enough baked beans, and raisins are the new mandarin oranges.

A cool development is the rise of my sense of humor. I'm finding many of the things I see out the car window to be quite funny, and I laugh my way through many of my car rides. And this morning, Daddy and I made a little joke together: first, I put an apple slice in my ear, about which we all had a good laugh, and then I held a piece of egg up to my ear and Daddy said, "Hello?" Get it? An egg phone! Good one, huh?

And now it's time for the pictures:

The other afternoon I woke up from my nap with perfect glam/indie rocker hair. Just imagine a microphone where you see the bottle.
Before Uncle Jon left to move to Jacksonville, we bonded over French toast at Nick's.

My parents and I went to the Carnegie West library to load up on some new books, but I couldn't get enough of this thing - anyone know what it's called?

I love me some chocolate chip cookies!!!

My family went to the Rain Forest at the Cleveland Zoo (thanks for the passes, Denise!) and I got a kick out of watching this orangutan(?) shimmy up the ropes.

I got my first try at using crayons (mmmmm, so yummy!) when I wrote my birthday present thank you notes.

I am becoming quite adept at using chopsticks. I mean, I don't actually use them for food delivery, but I find them a great accessory to hand-feeding.

I love making a loop around the living room and kitchen on this scooter my Grandpa gave me for my birthday. And don't I look very suave in the shirt Jim and Marixa gave me?

I'm very interested in drinking from cups without sippy tops. I usually end up soaked, but my skills are improving daily, and I find a good gulp so refreshing.

The other evening I had a good visit with our neighbor Denise while Daddy mowed the yard. We helped him by keeping an eye on the veggie bratwursts on the grill.

I have big holiday weekend party plans, and I'm looking forward to two whole days of both of my parents not having to work or go to school. Hey, you have a good weekend, too!

London Bridge is still standing

As promised, I'm back for an update on my 24 hours in London, but before I forget, let me update you on some of my recent developments:

• I consistently use the ASL sign for "more" now. Since it gets such good results, I also use it for "I'd like some of that, please, even though I haven't yet had any," such as the other evening when I saw Mommy's plate with a few crumbs of leftover birthday cake on it; I pointed to it and signed "more" to indicate I'd like a sweet. How clever am I? When I'm tired, it looks more like the sign for "hurt" but the big people still get it.
• I am this close to taking a step. I cruise like crazy, and when I want to cruise away from the furniture, I pat a big person's knee until they hold my hands and help me walk around. You know, my cousin Bailey walks, and it just looks like something I'd like to do.
• Some new words that are shocking my parents: "bah-lee" (broccoli), "chee-wee" (Cheerios) and "shuss" (shoes). I've also said "beh-dee" (Bailey) several times. There are many other words but none my parents have been clever enough to understand.

*****

On to my travels. First, I've posed a new poll question, related to my future travels, in the sidebar to the left. Next, I've added a new feature - a map of the countries I've visited, also found to the left. The next territory I'll be adding is Puerto Rico, when we go to the island of Vieques in November for my Nonna's big birthday.

So, London. We wanted to get away for a few days before Mommy's fall semester started, and we were going to go to New York but we couldn't find a hotel we'd want to stay in for a price we'd want to pay. We considered some other US cities, and then, just for kicks, my parents took a look at London, where neither of them had been since 2001 (I'd never been, thanks for asking), and lo and behold, they found a great deal at the Hilton Islington and flights coming and going with a zillion empty seats, so a few hours after my party, we headed to the airport. My parents took along my travel carseat, and I enjoyed having a comfy space of my own on the plane. I ate some of the veggie burger my mommy bought in the airport, drank a little milk, had a diaper change, and then I was out for several hours. When I woke up, the flight attendants were serving croissants, which I found most delicious.



After breakfast, I enjoyed perusing the in-flight magazine and my monkeys-jumping-on-the-bed book as well as playing with the new cell phone and car keys I had received for my birthday.


We took the Gatwick Express from the airport to Victoria Station, during which ride I partook of almost all the Cheerios my parents brought on the trip.


From Victoria, it was two quick segments on the Tube and then a short walk to our hotel, where I finally got to get down and crawl a bit before taking a short nap.



After my nap, we walked around the neighborhood, and my parents bought me a cool t-shirt with hippos on it at a little shop called Felix and Lillys. Then we had some Indian food at Gufaa; the chickpeas Mommy gave me made me scream because they were so hot, but I did enjoy the pilau and the naan. After lunch, Mommy and I went to Tesco for some snacks for me (since I had now consumed everything she had packed for me) while Daddy went back to the hotel for our sweaters, and then we met in the little park in the middle of the street.


We had planned to go to the natural history museum, but because of our midday nap and then extended lunch, it was kind of late, so we headed to the Charing Cross Tubestop instead. We hung out in Trafalgar Square, where there were several fountains (much to my delight) and many, many tourists and pigeons.


I thought about calling home but I couldn't reach the buttons.


We walked through St James Park and talked to the ducks in the ponds.



We saw Big Ben and Parliament, but I was more interested in the corn-and-potato sticks that I could dip in a little pot of cheese that Mommy had picked up for me at Tesco. I spread that cheese all around my stroller so I could keep on enjoying it later.


I decided to take a nap, so my parents rolled into a pub (I think it was called Clarence), where Daddy tried the local ale and Mommy got her caffeine fix with a mocha frappe. They also got some big steak fries, which the server called chips; I'm sure I would have enjoyed them greatly but by the time I woke up, the chips were long gone.




We strolled through the Ministry of Defence (I think), where I had a chat with a guard, and then down to Buckingham Palace.





After hitting all those high spots, we took the Tube back to Islington and found a vegetarian dim sum place just down the street from us. By this time, I had pretty much had it; I was so out of sorts I wasn't even interested in the broccoli, if you can imagine such a thing. So we called it a night and headed back to our hotel. I went to sleep to the tunes of one of at least three orchestra concerts playing on the five BBC channels available.




In the morning, we took a taxi back to the airport, and we played a game where Mommy said "Up!" everytime we hit a speedbump and "Down!" when we came off of it. It was some great entertainment, for my money. At the airport, we found a coffeeshop selling a traditional English breakfast (eggs, beans in tomato sauce, toast, potatoes, mushrooms, tomatoes, and sausages) with Quorn vegetarian sausages, so we chowed down on all that yumminess before we had to run to our gate.



On the plane, I did manage to sleep a little, but not nearly as much as I needed. Instead, I ate the crackers and cheese and apples my parents brought along, played with my baby, and read the SkyMall magazine.


All in all, it was a good trip. I mean, I didn't get an audience with the Queen or anything, but for such a short trip, I feel like I covered the bases pretty well.

The Party, Part II

I'm back for another installment of "It's So Great To Be The Birthday Boy!" Starring me, Milo Z! Here are more highlights from the big bash last Sunday:

Grandma T visits with Aunt Barb, Bella and Lilli. While she's distracted, I try to sneak a sip of her coffee.


Oma and Jim contemplate life's mysteries, or something.

Bella and Aunt Terry check out my Granddad's elephant bank.

Uncle Jon explains to me how the present-opening works while Nonna and Ono look on.
The crowd gathers to watch the tearing of paper: Uncle Sean, Maresa, Chris, Uncle Bruno, and Uncle Dan.

Austin, Uncle Alex and Lilli hold down the fort on the other end of the living room.

I received so many cool clothes, such as this groovy cap I'm taking off so I can have a better look at it.


I loved looking at all the pretty cards everyone gave me.

Matt, Sara and Maggie watch from the stairwell.

Aunt Christa with Spencer, who's trying to see what's going on.

Bailey has some experience with this stuff, being seven weeks older than me, so she showed me how it's supposed to be done.


I love books so much, and I was lucky to receive a bunch of new ones (no duplicates!).

Finally, the unwrapping was over and I got to PLAY!


Daddy wonders, "Now, which cup was mine?"


Aunt Jillian, Bailey and Uncle Sean survey the cake carnage.


I was so sad when everyone had to go bye-bye, but a few hours later, I got to go bye-bye, too, on a plane to London - more on that adventure in the next post!