2013
45 posts
January 2013
- 06<p>A Boy and his Feet</p> <p>ZBL has mastered his happy baby pose and loves grabbing his feet and investigating what socks or shoes he has on. He’ll also try (sometimes successfully) to grab his socks and pull them off. Of course, immediately after they are off, he stuffs them in his mouth :-). Classic 6 month old and yet so new and fun to watch.</p>
- 06<div class="caption"> <p>(A bit behind in posting this as he’s now 1 week shy of being 7 months old – d'oh!)</p> <p>It’s been a busy month for ZBL. His main focus has been perfecting sitting up and he’s probably 80% now, only tipping over now and again. We still aren’t confident enough to leave him sitting and move away to another space without using the boppy or pillows to catch him if he tips. sitting in the boppy chair and figuring out how to get back up to a seated position when he partially tips over</p> <p>He can also sit up and grab a toy and has gotten more and more stable doing this as the month progressed. At first, he was pretty wobbly as he would reach out but by the end of the month, his stability increased.</p> <p>Favorite past time: pouncing! Be warned! If your hand or knee or shirt or collar or finger or foot or anything is any where near his mouth, it’s fair game! He will pounce on you — grabbing at any hand or arm or finger that is within arms reach and shoving it into his mouth — yum! This resulted in many laughs from Nan over Thanksgiving.</p> <p>Other favorite past time: jumping in the johnny jump up. John figured out this one. Unfortunately our new house has door frames that go to the ceiling on the main floor, plus the door frames are too tall for a johnny jump up, so ZBL does his jumping upstairs or in the basement. He’s cool with it though — can bounce for 20-30 mins. Loves, loves, loves it.</p> <p>remembering how to love riding in the car after Thanksgiving hiatus: Thanksgiving meant a week off of the regular routine of driving SPL to school in the morning, picking him up in the PM, and shuttling him to activities. Even after just one week, our fearless hero lost some of his resilience w/r/t the car and being in it for more than 10 mins. Over Thanksgiving we just hung out at home with the cousins which was just ZBL’s speed.</p> <p>Who are these people? Over Thanksgiving we had extended family staying with us and ZBL loved it. He loves people it seems and when they went home, he seemed to be wondering where everyone went. </p> <p>Z both loves to be a part of things/is social and he is ok playing by himself. But when he transitions from playing by himself to wanting company, you will definitely know.</p> <p><br/>Smiley kid: Z smiles easily and frequently and flirtatiously. It’s charming all the kids in SPL’s class as well as the moms and dad :-).</p> <p><br/>More hair — did I mention that his hair came in! Brown with highlights of gold like his dad and big bro. </p> <p>grabbing your face — his favorite new game. If he’s sitting on your lap — watch out! Lips and noses are favorite targets.</p> <p>More peaceful in the car — he has adjusted to the daily car rides and has found his Zen happy place (most of the time). Now we are working on nighttime driving — Z doesn’t like that but has had some more practice with days being shorter.</p> <p>Also, his stats: 21 lbs 7 oz (95%ile), 27 ¼ inches tall (75%ile) and 46.6 cm head circumference (off the charts!).</p> <p>Looking forward to what the next month has in store!</p> </div>
- 11<p>Funny similarity</p> <p>We will see how long this lasts for Z, it just started 6 weeks or so ago, but I (little girl pictured on the right in black & white) sucked my 2 left fingers until I was 9. Thankfully I didn’t have to wear braces.</p> <p>Also, Z has flipped his hand over – try it! It’s not easy to do this and suck your fingers.</p>
- 13<p>ZBL had a wonderful first Christmas. He loved listening to the music playing through the Sonos speakers. Santa brought him some bath toys, an alien outfit and hat, and some socks plus a workbench and a firetruck. Most of all he loved having his dad and SPL home all the time to play with. We could see a lot of development in just a short timeframe (same was true for SPL during his first Christmas). </p> <p>Z loved the lights on the tree and playing with the stuffed Santa. We didn’t find his elf hat until after the holidays were over but that didn’t stop us from taking photos (it was in SPL’s old toy bin that we just opened).</p> <p>How fortunate we are to have Z in our family and get to experience all the firsts again. Merry, merry, merry Christmas!!!</p>
- 14He’s on the move! ZBL started scooching on Christmas Eve and has been work
- 14On all 4s!
- 24<p>Hard to believe we’ve had ZBL in our family for 7 months! He had another developmentally momentous month due in part to being home for 2 weeks with his big bro and dad — lots of tummy time and stimulation :-)</p> <p>Mannerisms — my friend Daesman will appreciate that Z is developing some funny mannerisms (she called me Miss Mannerisms in college :-) — one funny one is looking over his shoulder to see if you’re still there. Another one is flapping and then quickly pulling his hands together in front of his face and putting part of a hand in his mouth. A third funny one is saying “ahem” to get attention.</p> <p>One of his big focal points this month has been learning to go to sleep on his own. We had to transition him from sleeping in his elevated bouncy seat to just sleeping on his back in his crib, which wasn’t an easy process. The first weekend of winter break, we started “cold turkey” by removing the seat for all sleeping and then realized it was too much for Z: he wasn’t sleeping for naps or at night (30-45 min naps and waking at 2:00 am and then again at 5:00 am – yawn!). So we backtracked a bit and gave him his seat for nighttime again. Over the course of the 2 weeks, he made great progress and even had 1 night when he slept in his crib without the seat from 8 pm until 6 am – huzzah! But it was only 1 night. The others weren’t horrible though: 8 pm until 5 am mostly. Some 4:30 am and some 5:30 am. But he would go back to sleep after waking and eating @ 4:30 or 5:30. Until, he stopped. And decided that 4:30 or 5:30 was a good time to start playing. Uncool to say the least. But he made great strides and we are proud of him – not easy to make so many transitions in 2 short weeks. The other big developmental milestone that he accomplished after graduating from sleeping in his bouncy seat was rolling over from back to front (12/29/12). I’d forgotten how much better this milestone makes life: sleeping on his stomach is so much more peaceful and long lasting (hence the 10 hour sleep night :-).</p> <p>Over the course of the month, it was fun to watch Z try reaching for the harder to reach elements of his exersaucer. It took a bunch of tries and concentration, but he finally was able to figure out how to hold the swinging object with one hand and then pin it with the other. Coordination achievement unlocked! </p> <p>Just like his brother, Z figured out quickly that he can see the TV reflection in the windows of our living room. Sneaky little guy. This month he added arching his back so he can see the TV to his strategies.</p> <p>Foods: Butternut squash was not a big fave at first but he learned to like it after gagging his way through the first 3 days of it.</p> <p>Sucking 2 or 3 of his fingers with regularity – usually it’s his left hand but sometimes it’s his right. It often is a sign that he’s sleepy too. </p> <p>Less talk more focus on physical: since he has been focusing on rolling over, scooting and getting up on all 4s, he hasn’t been as talkative as in previous months. I miss his chatter but know it will come back after he gets through this physical series of milestones.</p> <p>Funny finding: Z found his ears! Not sure when exactly this happened but he definitely knows they are there now. And has the scratches to prove it :-(</p> <p>Best change in his overall appearance: Can see his neck now!</p> <p>funniest mannerism: Eating zippers. The boy loves zippers. Thankfully both John and I regularly wear half-zip fleece so Z has many opportunities to figure out how they work. The funny thing is that he too has a half-zip and doesn’t seem to be able to see the zipper on his own sweater. Too close I guess.</p> <p><br/>Windburn look showed up between ½-1/7 and I was thinking he might be getting his first tooth but so far nothin’.</p> <p><br/>And the 2 most most life changing milestones accomplished: Scooting on Christmas Eve 2012 & a lot on John’s birthday (1/9/13). And pushing up to all 4s on 1/9/13— Time to babyproof!<br/><br/></p>
- 24funny video of SPL and ZBL taken yesterday (1/23/13) while S was home sick with
March 2013
- 12<p>[Note: tomorrow is actually ZBL’s 9 month anniversary so I am a bit late on this, to say the least — d’oh!)</p> <p>ZBL loves playing the “Where is Sam” game. When we ask him, Z will reach for Sam (not 100% but getting there)</p> <p>Object permanence — ZBL definitely has this milestone. He’s been dropping things off his exersaucer and looking for them. Also off his high chair. Here comes the food dropping phase of life! Not my fave. Wish we had a dog :-)</p> <p>Feeding himself puffs — or as I call them, baby crack. These bits of cereal that melt in the mouth have been a great transitional food for Z as he had more of a gag reflex than SPL did. It’s been amazing to watch his proficiency increase from missing his mouth 50+% to almost 100% accuracy.</p> <p>Intentional scoot — Like I said above, the kid is on the move! He’s gone from just moving to intentional moving which is a big shift. Still not crawling but he can get places.</p> <p>Takes off hat — glad winter’s almost over as Z doesn’t like wearing a hat. Not sure what we are going to do about the sun. Note to self: need to figure this out.</p> <p>Sucking fingers = tired — it’s nice to have such an obvious “tell” when he’s tired. SPL didn’t have one.</p> <p>Speaking of tired – it’s been a tiring month of waking up early. :-(. As early as 4:30 am but as “late” as 5:30 am – the problem is, he won’t go back to sleep! And we have to drive S to school @ 7:45 am so Z’s nap, which should be @ 7:30 or 8:00, gets pushed off until 8:15 or 8:30. Thankfully we have a carpool 2 (sometimes even 4 :-) times a week and John drives 1X/week so those days Z, gets to keep closer to his own schedule :-).</p> <p>Forever fidgeting w/.his fingers: textures, cloth, sounds, drawstrings — Z loves textures, cloth fabrics, sounds of toys, wood, the couch — you name it! </p> <p>Call and response with SPL and me — Z will make a sound and SPL and I will imitate it. Z understands it to some degree and then repeats with a different sound. SPL loves this!</p> <p>Beginning to give kisses — it’s only to me so I’m not sure if it “counts” or not but more than a few times this month I said “give me kisses” when his face was near mine and he leaned over, opened his mouth and planted one on my cheek! Oh, and then he licked me for good measure. And then we both burst into giggles.</p> <p>Exploding fist bump — guess who taught him this one??? Of course — John/Daddy. John will stick out his hand and say in a funny voice “Exploding fist bump!” and Z will reach out his hand and as he gets close to J’s hand, J explodes his fist and makes a funny noise. Z loves it!</p> <p>Shakes head side to side as game & giggles: This is awesome (until it has meaning of course ;-). Love this game. He loves it too.</p> <p>Pouncing on SPL’s knee or leg: this is a game Z and S have come up with. Z pounces on S’s knee with an open mouth. </p> <p>9 months here we come!</p>
- 12Tooth!
- 13crawling!
- 14Video of Z crawling from 3.13.13
- 26<p class="p1">What a fun month! ZBL is making his move towards being an independent toddler and we saw a lot of the precursor steps this month (note to self: need more photos of John and Z. We didn’t have as many this month :-()</p> <p class="p1">Wanting to pull up – he’s started to grap things that are just a bit taller than he is and hold on and then use his mouth as a 3rd hand. </p> <p class="p1">Tilts head to side as a game – se the picture in the collage above. He’ll tilt his head and then if you mimic him, he’ll giggle and then switch sides.</p> <p class="p1">“Yao Yao toe” – This is one of the first phrases he understands and responds to and it’s in Mandarin :-). It means shake your head and he loves it! Plus it gets endless laughs from his mom and big bro so that is an incentive too.</p> <p class="p1">Exploding fist bump – John thought of this one. He lowers his arm with a fist at the end and says in a dramatic way “exploding fist bump!” and Z reaches out his hand to touch his dad’s hand, it suddenly “explodes” and John makes a cool sound. SPL has added his own twist and drama to it (as big bros love to do). He says “splodin’ fist bump!!!” and adds a big hop as he throws down his arm with a fist out stretched to Z. Z loves it and laughs!</p> <p class="p1">First cold – not fun. gunky eyes, stuffy nose. Disrupted sleep: early wake times, waking at 12:30 am and then 4:30 am :-0 (yawn!). It’s a tribute to SPL’s self-control that ZBL didn’t get sick earlier. :-)</p> <p class="p1">Pulls off hat - this doesn’t bode well for summer and our desire to spend more time poolside. </p> <p class="p1">Bends over backward – if you are holding Z in your arms, he will lean over your arms to do a backbend. He cracks himself up with this. Loves to do it right before naptime.</p> <p class="p1">Gives kisses to Sam & dad too sometimes – He more reliably gives me kisses (see photo above taken by SPL) and now has branched out to kissing S and John :-).</p> <p class="p1">Loves the iPad & the baby in the iPad – he loves seeing himself in the mirror or iPad and will reach out to touch the face he sees. He also does this when we are doing Facetime video chats with grandparents and great-grandparents :-)</p> <p class="p1">Trying to push up from all 4s to seated – he hasn’t quite mastered this key skill but it’s coming fast. He’s a determined little guy for sure. </p> <p class="p1">The other key is trying to go from seated to all 4s w/o clocking himself as he often flops down and bumps his head – d'oh!</p> <p class="p1">Wants to control the spoon when you are feeding him – we usually let him feed himself but foods like yoghurt still require a spoon. Z is not deterred. He grabs the spoon out of your hand and puts it into his mouth. If you are feeding him yoghurt, bring 3 spoons: 2 for him and 1 for you :-)</p> <p class="p1">Less gagging – this is a big relief for me, not so much for Z, as I am the one who is most “nervous Nelly” when Z eats. John and SPL are the Zen brothers. Yin to my yang.</p> <p class="p1">New foods: cheerios, scrambled and hard boiled eggs </p> <p class="p1">More independent – you can see this from all the description above – he is his own dude and it’s definitely showing itself in many interesting ways :-)</p> <p class="p1">Bring it 10 months – we are ready!</p>
- 26Development-a-palooza: 10 days of extreme contact development
May 2013
- 11<div class="post_title">10 months old: Teeth and Movement!</div> <div class="post_title"></div> <div class="post_title">{Since Sunday is his 11th month anniversary, I figured I needed to write 10 – :-}</div> <p>In the span of 1 short month, ZBL has exploded with movement and teeth! At the month’s end, he now has 4 teeth: the 1st one came in mid-March. The 2nd one was actually above the 1st one on his upper jaw (I realized this while we were playing. I heard this strange noise that sounded like teeth grinding. And then I realized it was coming from Z and that meant he had not 1, but 2 teeth!). Then 3 and 4 quickly followed. He still wants to put other people’s fingers in his mouth now though so be careful! Those teeth are sharp!</p> <p>Movement: he went from sitting up and scooting to crawling slowing on all 4s to moving with purpose and intentionality. It’s been fun to watch! With this added mobility and opening up of the world, we added gates to our house so Z now is contained in the TV room and kitchen. We also have a play yard in that space that keeps him contained when need-be. Mostly though he’s out exploring: crawling to the couch and pulling up, noticing that someone forgot to put away the TV remote and cruising over to check it out; pretending he’s Spiderman and pulling himself up on glass windows or walls (no handles). At first he took awhile to cruise around the play yard but by the month’s end, he was proficient and could make it around half of the kitchen! </p> <p>He definitely enjoys his freedom but with that comes big changes for me and his dad. During the week, there is less time to “get things done” as Z requires a lot more attention and me being at his side as he discovers and explores his new abilities. But I know this too soon shall pass and all the “to dos” can wait (or at least most of them :-). It’s amazing to watch as literally each day we can see the changes: the confidence increase, the motor coordination improve, the stability increase. Awe. Some.</p>
- 11<p>First Plane Trip March 28, 2012!</p> <p>ZBL took his first plane trip from to Austin on Thursday March 28. John had to work unfortunately, but SPL had spring break so we took off for the week (plus we were having work done on our house so that was also a motivator – it was going to be LOUD :-/). All in all, the flight went well. I ended up buying Z a seat so we could have the entire row on the outbound flight (the return was a small commuter plane that was 2X2). And since I booked his seat after I got SPL’s and mine, I had to talk to a human to get the transaction taken care of . Turns out that was a mistake! I ended up with assigned seats together for SPL and me and ZBL seated a few rows in front! Whuck!?!??! United is <strong>*the worst* </strong>– not even worth getting the cheaper fare. But eventually we did get the seats straightened out (same thing happened on the return flight and good karma was on our side. Turns out the seat across the aisle from us that we wanted was occupied by a gentleman with some mental disabilities. I took the opportunity to tell SPL a story about how my Uncle Donny, who had Downs Syndrome, used to fly home to Atlanta to visit my grandmother for the summer and holidays. And this lovely man happily swapped seats with us. Thank you to him!</p> <p>As you can see from the above photos, there were many phases of this trip. The first was curiosity. I had just buckled ZBL into his seat and turned around to talk to SPL for a minute & when I turned back around (maybe a minute had passed, tops) Z had the seat belt unbuckled. Now with my sieve-for-a brain I thought, maybe I didn’t secure the belt? So I did it again and found out that no, Z figured out how to unbuckle the seatbelt lickety split! Glad the 5 point harness for his carseat is more complicated!</p> <p>The second phase was friendly flirtiness. He looked around the cabin and found people who would wave with him. They were pleasantly surprised by this cute baby who was playing with them and it passed the time for ZBL as well :-)</p> <p>The third phase was tired so that brought with it the fussiness. On the outbound trip Z did great on take off and only fussed a bit as it was nap time. He quickly went to sleep and slept for 1.5 hours of the flight. Awesome. </p> <p>The return was a bit bumpier as he didn’t want to nap for longer than 40 mins but we were headed home so I figured, we’ll work it all out when we get back to our house. Thankfully he maintained a good mood despite getting less sleep than he needed. </p>
June 2013
- 01<p>Fun Times with Grandpa in Texas</p> <p>We had a fun spring break in Texas with Grandma and Grandpa in April (still catching up on Z’s blog). Z had a great time listening to grandpa read an actual newspaper (whoa!), watching him make homemade bread, and sitting in his lap in his big rocking chair.</p> <p>ZBL did great sleeping in a new place in his “special bed” (baby bjorn port-a-crib) and even took some 2.5 hour naps!???! We didn’t do much visiting this trip as we were only in town for 3.5 days – not long</p>
- 01<p>Fun times with Grandma</p> <p>Visiting Grandma was also super fun. She played blocks with Z and read books to him. She showed him his mom’s old Easter basket and got him his first stuffed lamb. SPL showed Z how to hunt for hidden Easter eggs and we went to church on Easter Sunday to listen to grandma sing – and Z responded appropriately during the children’s part of the service (he loves call and response :-).</p> <p>Though no photos were taken, we met Uncle Short, a long time friend of Grandma and Grandpa who was about to become a grandpa himself for the first time.</p>
- 01<p>Grandpa always lines up his shoes by the stairs so I thought it was funny to add Z’s shoes :-)</p>
- 01<p>Family photos</p>
- 01<p>Meeting Amy</p> <p>We got to hang out with my dear friend from high school, Amy Schiflett Irby while we were in TX. She came over, played Yatzee with SPL, and happily went with us to my favorite restaurant for TexMex, Alamo Cafe. She has a son who’s 14 now so she also enjoyed hanging with little boys again and remembering days gone by. Wish we could’ve visited longer!</p>
- 08<p>We also got to spend 3 days in Austin with Dave, Sue, Nan, GCL and EAL. Z had fun watching all the big kids do their thing: trampoline, dress up, Nerf guns. And Z showed them how he can now get around, not only crawling but pulling up and cruising. Z even helped Uncle Dave sort through his “junk” box – what a helper! </p>
- 12<p>11 months old on May 12 – Z loves being able to explore the kitchen and is especially into the knobs on the stove. Luckily they can be pulled off. He also loves unpacking all the plastic dishes and tupperware (SPL didn’t have access to the kitchen at this age as we’d configured the gates differently in the Sunnyvale house, so this is a new experience for us).</p> <p>His language recognition has accelerated this month and he is recognizing and being able to find his ball and bus with good accuracy. He loves playing with the black soccer ball and will hoard it for himself and get mad if his brother takes it from him. He has a funny little bounce seated position that he does when he is trying to hold onto the ball – too funny! He also will forget he’s standing when holding ball and sometimes tumbles.<br/><br/>Not my favorite development but it does make SPL laugh – Z is now blowing bubbles w/ spit.<br/><br/>Z definitely is asserting himself and his desires more and more and this was most notable with the development of him pointing at objects. <br/><br/>New foods: cheese, peaches, grapes watermelon. the boy *loves* cheese. And when I say love, I mean he has a special giggle when he sees it coming his way. It is hi.lar.ious.</p> <p>Z loves figuring out how things work: gates, cabinets (which ones open/don’t), drawers. He quickly figured out which drawers in the kitchen were “his” and now just beelines for them. We never had the kitchen accessible to SPL at this age so it is new terrain for us. I’m glad we decided to configure the gates this way as the drawers provide endless sources of exploration (and ouchies too! fingers getting caught has been a difficult learning for both of us :-().</p> <p><br/>Z is vocalizing a lot more this month. He has a few “words” that are close to saying bye bye, da da, and mama. He understands no now too and it is often accompanied by his lower lip getting extended. He will often shake his head and pout when told no.</p> <p>Z has also developed his own dance. When the music starts, he will rock side to side if he’s sitting down. Very cute.</p> <p><br/>And as you can see from the first photo above, he’s really interested in the stove knobs. Thankfully ours are removable as it’s a gas stove.</p> <p>Hard to believe he’s almost a year old (and it’s actually his birthday as I type this as I am running about 1 month behind on these posts even though the descriptions and details are correct).</p> <p></p> <p><br/><br/></p>
- 15<p>Happy 1st Birthday ZBL!</p> <p><br/>We celebrated Z’s birthday with a party on Sunday June 9th and then again with his cousins coming over for a visit. Here he is having his birthday breakfast: hard boiled egg white.</p>
- 15<p>Happy Birthday Z!</p> <p>We had a fun time with the cakes. Z loves Cheerios so we decorated the little Cheerio shaped cakes with them (used a mini-angel food cake pan to bake the O shape). Z recognized them immediately and actually didn’t eat much cake as a result. John noticed that after Z had eaten some amount of the Cheerios, he screwed up his face as if to say “wow, this sugar stuff is potent!" And so it begins. </p> <p>And he didn’t pinch out the candle! But I did hold his arms just a wee bit, especially as he reached for the flame (just as John and I were blowing it out).</p>
- 15<p>Birthday Party Fun</p> <p>We invited some of our friends over to celebrate with Z (from the bottom up): Diego Rodrigues and Helen Yeni-Komshian (neighbors and long-time friends – bottom photo), EVR and Z playing with his toys, Aunt Liz and MWG, MR and SR (4th from the bottom), Erin and NGS (middle photo in row of 3 photos), Helen MR and SR, and cousin KAR holding ZBL @ the top (not pictured but also attending were Mike Schroepfer, Aunt Beth, Uncle Scott, and ACR).</p> <p>It was a lovely day and we also were celebrating the new trellis and patio that we had built during the month of May. </p> <p><br/>Happy 1st birthday Z!</p>
July 2013
August 2013
- 29June 23 -- first steps!
- 2913 months old!
- 31June 23, 2013: Just wanted to capture ZBL’s crawling before he says goodb
- 31June 30, 2013: ZBL’s original version of peekaboo!
- 31June 30, 2013: Brothers being brothers!
- 31July 6, 2013: Learning to walk
- 31Evolution of a Walker (video above was July 10, 2013) June 23 – ZBL took h
- 31July 8, 2013: Funny serendipitous moment: we had a full grocery bag on the floor
- 31July 15 – SPL and ZBL playing one of their favorite games: SPL sneaking up
- 31July 17: ZBL eats sushi for the first time (avocado roll, not raw fish :-)
October 2013
- 12<p>After taking a year off from going to Disneyland last year, we decided to head back for some more fun this summer. Most importantly, we wanted to share the experience with ZBL! I wasn’t totally sure how it would go with him napping 2X/day and with the southern CA heat, but it all worked out. Z napped and didn’t get sunburned, nor did the rest of us. His first experience was the barbershop musicians on Main Street. It was fun to see everything through his eyes and remember how magical Disney is (we haven’t been there with a baby before :-). </p> <p>His first ride was Jungle Cruise (shortest line as we arrived in the afternoon which means ridiculous lines in August!). We had a character breakfast this year for the first time too: with the woodland creatures. Z loved Koda bear and Meeko the raccoon from Pocahontas, giving him the loving “bite on the nose” greeting of affection (that Z gives to all of his stuffed animals :-). </p> <p>Photos above: watching the musicians on Main Street when we 1st arrived; obligatory family photo in front of the Mickey Mouse flowers :-); ZBK biting Meeko’s nose (racoon); Kathy and Z at the new Cars exhibition; Z upside down!; Z’s first ride at Disney: Jungle Cruise; SPL, Koda Bear, and Z; Z, John and SPL riding the Disney train; and Z and John on the Jungle Cruise.</p>
- 12<p>ZBL loved the parades and just being with the family. He rode a bunch of rides including the carousel & the Bug’s Life Train in CA Adventure, and the train, Dumbo, and It’s a Small World in Fantasy Land. The only bummer was we didn’t spend any time in Toontown because it was *way too crowded.* Magic mornings and “baby switch passes” were the keys to this year. We got in each morning at 7:30 am and would ride as many rides as we could before 10 am, when we’d grab breakfast. Baby switch passes allowed us to take turns watching ZBL while the other parent rode w/ SPL – and then swap off. So SPL got to ride twice and only had to stand in line once – hooray for baby brothers! Switch passes also don’t expire like the Fast Passes (we learned that the hard way! D'oh!). </p> <p>Once again, we had an awesome time – looking forward to next year and seeing what rides Z will be tall enough for :-)</p> <p>Photos above: (top row) Z and his mom watching the parade; family photo with Goofy; SPL and Z hangin’ with Dale at the Critter Character Breakfast. (2nd row) Smiles on the plane ride home; Z and Dale; Z watching the parade from his favorite spot: dad’s shoulders. (3rd row) brushing up on airplane safety on the plane ride home; riding the carousel with mom; dinner @ the Blue Bayou resturant: Z was losing patience and the (mom of 4) waitress gave us a cup with a glowing Tinker Bell inside. Awesome.</p>
- 13ZBL’s first time to ride a carousel: Disneyland August 7, 2013
- 13August 7, 2013: Hotel @ Disneyland: Practicing his walking and discovering himse
- 13August 9, 2013: Home again after Disney and now he’s choosing to walk inst
- 2814 months old!