Happy 1st Mommy's Day!

Mother's Day was as it should be, time spent with mom, and such was Kian's day -- but the same as it is just about every day. Unfortunately, I couldn't be hanging out with and worshiping my own mother but I could the mother of our child. We made a great day of it and Annie approved too.

The three of us spent the waking hours playing in bed, then I hit the kitchen and made up a somewhat gourmet concoction but as usual did a fair bit of improvising. I made a batch of what I am calling Eggs Chinookian -- the local tribal name says it all as the salmon instead of ham gives it a northwest flair. However pigs still played a pivotal role in the recipe as I just wasn't able to poach an egg the regular way, so I settled for "poaching" the eggs in about half an inch of fresh bacon grease, grubbin. The Hollandaise thickened right up and needless to say it was a rich and rewarding meal. Kian had oatmeal, sorry dude.






Then we hit the bikes... ha ha, I get my way even on Mothers Day! We drove out to Krebby and Jen's place in Redmond loaded with bikes and chariot so that I could return the car I'd borrowed the day before, and we rode home from there via the Sammamish River and Birke-Gilman Trails. Awesome day minus all the trail traffic, but its what you would expect on a sunny day in the NW. Hit a farmers market on the way home for a coffee and pastry, and picked up 2-dozen raw oysters on the rocks for our BBQ in Blackistan later that afternoon.

Yes, dinner with the Blacks in Ballard at their amazing trestled villa and a fun evening of nice drinks and strong conversation.

Thanks for everything, Mommy, you're awesome!

Bouncing Baby Boy

Kian Kong!

Happy 9th-month birthday, little buddy!

One warm day last week Kian ripped off his shirt
and mounted the fan. I was tempted to join him up there.

Happy de Mayo

Guppy man!

Just talking today with a friend about baby crashes, spills and thrills, and I recounted a few stories of Kian taking a licking but keeping on ticking. One day last week I was in the side bedroom while Kian was up on the bed -- its safe now because he seems to be aware of the consequences of falling and so its a sort of baby prison with a moat all around -- but then I thought I heard the sound of a thump and a whimper. I stuck my head out to check and Kian was crawling at me full bore with a huge grin on his face. The little kamikaze.

Resiliency on display here -- as well as the usual homely mishaps going on behind the scenes.

Fish Tacos y Tres Peliculas

Showing the boy around the male landscape and
breaking the stereotypes: we do windows too.

All Giggly in his Easter suit.


Whacking the Weasel.


"Cruising": A Few Moments After this Video He took His First Aided Steps. Uh oh.

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!