Cupcake Monster

Kian and his first taste of cake at his best friend Raylin's first birthday party. Now he thinks he's got a new favorite food -- Annie says the kid went nuts. Yeah, whats new.

"Gimmie now", he says!
Actually, he either said "da-da" or "nga-nga".

The Birthday Cupcakes.

The only thing better than a birthday present is a friend with a birthday present.


Last day of skiing '09!

(Kian and Daddy pictured here on April 5th)

Caged Monkey Sings

Home Alone

This weekend I drove down to Portland for a stage race that ended up being canceled, so the Veloce squad put on its own epic weekend of 4-big days of riding culminating in yesterdays 92-mile race near Olympia. Annie and Kian soldiered on at home without me. Here are some vault pics from the previous weekend of playing in the sun.

Wompa Wompa Goes the Weasel

Ketchup

All dressed up with nowhere to go!

One Friday night a couple of weeks ago we went out to one of our neighboring neighborhoods' community center for an evening of free Latin sounds. Its a very cool space that is sponsored by a local independent bookseller: there is a bandstand surrounded by some good local food vendors and so you can eat sushi and Mexican or swill beers or machiatos with kids of all ages. A very cool, organic scene, and an awesome resource for parents who want/need to turn there kids loose for awhile. Kian had to watch on because crawling isn't tolerated well out on the dance floor according to kid protocol, but the way he is going it won't be long before he is out there spinning circles along with all the other rug rats in the energy whirlwind.

Gimme Some Cute

Tuggin on a hunk of jerky.

Kian's first time in the pool!

Totally nonplussed.

Here Comes Trouble

It's Official!

Kian is now, officially, a little terror. Yep, he can crawl. And I don't mean crawl like I meant it before: back then he sort of scooted and it was almost more work for him than the effort, so he still preferred rolling. No, now he crawls with conviction and is always on a mission. The house is currently under going extensive baby proofing as a result, but still, his new found mobility coupled with his strong sense of curiosity is helping him to "get into things".

I've got video and it showcases a sampling of his logic: he could have crawled thisaway or thataway, but instead he B-lined for the stack of plastic water-bottles and you can guess the rest. Anything brightly colored and shiny he loves... he's like his daddy in that regard. The brighter and the shinier the better. It can't be too bright nor shiny.

Hip!

Hip!

Hurray!

Kian isn't quite sure what to make of all this, but eventually he settled right in and unfortunately now demands the kind of loving attention that he got from his cousins Sofie and Sarah and Aunt Norma. Thanks to these guys Annie and I got to see Merle Haggard at the Paramount. Annie won the tickets from KBCS... actually, we both won the tickets: she made the phone call and I answered the trivia question: where was Merle born? D'uh. Great show, thanks Norma!

Then this weekend we hit the slopes for the first time since the weekend of New Years. We took a chill pill and let gravity do the work this time instead of nordic skiing. Guess we are fair weather skiers as it was a primo spring weekend.

Fun Hog

In The Moment

It's been eight months today since Kians' birth and looking back over this blog and some of the early posts I'm amazed at how quickly its all transpired - how Kians' growth has snuck up on me. He has almost quadrupled in size and he is displaying all those characteristics of development that an 8-month old baby is supposed to exhibit, yet I hardly ever felt it coming. That's the way that life goes by: slowly, each day comes just like the others, then whammo, you notice that things aren't really the same. Early on I decided that I should keep a journal of my thoughts and feelings because I knew that the experience of being a part of Kians' life and his development would be a life changing experience, but my efforts were never fully launched. Whenever I felt something worthy of recording I was usually so absorbed in the moment with my son that I couldn't put it aside in order to preserve it. Often, to capture the moment is to lose it. I am beginning to learn that the best way to record such a moment is to forget about finding it again, but fully live it, deeply, and know that it will return to you again because it’s now fixed within the muscle memory of your consciousness. Unfortunately though, I never put the pen to paper when I was later able to, and now I only have a continuum of photos that links me to those powerful feelings that I experienced at the time. Let that be a lesson to me.

In Cold Blood

I missed it: he ate his first meat yesterday, a hunk of jerky. It was supposed to satiate his teething aches but he made too quick a work of it. Apparently his inner-monster came out, and this monster is no longer a little vegan. I think this all started when his keen little incisors drew first blood on my finger last week. Look out, he's tasted flesh.

Now today I get word that he had his first pancakes and I'm appalled that this was all done without me in attendance. Will he ever forgive me that I wasn't there for these auspicious moments? I'm destined to be another dead-beat dad that skips all the big moments: the big games, the talent shows and glee club performances, graduation. As long as I'm there for his first ride without training wheels, his first crit victory, his first tour de france stage win I'm sure that all will be forgiven.

I would post those pics that illustrate Kian's other, darker side, but I don't want to frighten any of you, so I'll give the people what they want: cute!