A Week of Welcome (and Unwelcome) Surprises...

• It was great to see Patty Boots earlier this week when she dropped by unexpectedly on a visit from Birmingham, UK

And here's a little Luca fix. As A will surely point out next week, Luca has just recently figured out how to clap (actually, he shakes his hands back and forth and they occasionally come into contact with each other, but we think his intent is clear). I tried to capture this new trick on camera the other day and witnessed an unexpected, and frankly quite offensive, reaction to my guitar playing. Slow-mo for dramatic, monstrous effect...

Road Warriors

For T's final spring break as a grad student, we opted to reprise last year's trip to California. Of course, there was one small-but-mighty change: the little bump that we brought along in 2008 is now a nearly 9-month-old Luca!

The week was action packed, and though our trips to California are never long enough we certainly did our best to get a lot into this one. We started with a visit to the Mazzoccos in San Jose, then headed to San Francisco for a lunch visit with Bette and Jason and some quality time with Luca's friend AJM and her parents. Then it was back to San Jose before driving down to Newport Beach for quiet, family time and to San Diego to visit with PopPop & Herta. Luca was an excellent travel companion, whether observing the view from the backseat of our rental PT Cruiser, or sitting in our laps on the plane.



T brought a new hobby home with him, thanks to a tip from Jason. He's hooked on Google SketchUp and spent most of Saturday with a measuring tape and his laptop in hand. The result is this handy model of our front rooms which we are using to dream up new furniture configurations and paint colors. Next project for the junior architect: the back yard.

Great Grandma Rhoda

Last Saturday my Grams passed away. She lived a long, fascinating life and leaves a big hole behind. I'll miss our phone chats and her funny voicemails.



Unfortunately, Luca never had the opportunity to meet his great-grandma Rhoda, but luckily she was such a character that we have many stories to tell him in the coming years. I hope that he inherits some of her determination and longevity. He very nearly shared her birthday, and had he been born one day later and as a girl, there's no way she would have let us off the hook. He would have had to be named Rhoda.

Our Double Life

Months before Luca saw daylight, we signed him up for daycare. We were delighted with ourselves for being so decisive, and felt even better about getting in line when we found out that the first spot wouldn't open until February. Signing up baby-to-be was a piece of cake.

The only conundrum was what do to in the meantime? Since T is in school and my employers were game, we decided to split childcare. We envisioned me having Luca in the morning, and T having him in the afternoon. Reality has required a more fluid approach and a lot more baby time in my office, but it's worked well enough that when the spot opened in February we took a pass.

Since I started back to work, Luca has strolled the halls of Carlson and has attended more meetings than I can count. As it turns out, having a baby is a real icebreaker, especially a vocal one like Luca. He looks around a table and squawks at whoever talked last. And around the office, he's earned the nickname "Baby Prozac." Now he's just got to get on the payroll...

Luca at 8 Months

At 8 months, Luca is a chatty, content little bundle. He hasn't yet produced any recognizable words but he laughs and babbles all day long. That seems to be where all his energy is going because so far, he has shown little inclination toward self-propelled movement. Even intensive training in T's crawling boot camp hasn't gotten any results.

Though he occasionally exhibits some stranger danger, Luca is a friendly baby and just this week learned to wave "hello." He particularly likes other kids, whether in photos or in real life. As a matter of fact, photo birth announcements and Valentine's Day cards now double as his favorite toy/snack.

He also still eats like a champ, and has graduated to finger foods. Granted, only one of every ten cereal puffs ends up in his mouth...but he'll get the hang of it eventually.