the eric update - day 300: moving day! and where's the cat.

the big day for moving out of this sold house finally arrived and as they've done many times before a motley crue of family members showed up to help move our belongings. each time we move, they swear they're not going to help the next time, but they inevitably give in and lend a helping hand. many, many thanks to everyone who helped make the moving relatively quick and painless.

odin took all the disruption in stride and managed to get a couple of power naps while the rest of us trudged up and down three flights of stairs.

here he's enjoying a last swing in the empty house, watching his toes, blissfully unaware of all the adventures ahead as we really finally get down to the business of moving on.

mauja is also dealing with all the changes quite well and doesn't seem particularly overwrought now that cadence is gone.

but perhaps that's because he's preoccupied with grammy pam's cat.

malamutes are fantastic family dogs, as long as you always remember that they have a "highly developed" prey drive, that's almost impossible to extinguish.

and while i'd like to think that they'll make friends over the next month, history doesn't give me much hope.

the eric update - day 299: goodbye cadence. or then there was one (dog).

no matter how many times we reassure ourselves that it was the right thing to do. that it's selfish to keep her given our imminent move from this sold house. that we know we can't manage the logistics of travelling with over two hundred pounds of canine companions and a wee one in tow; it's still an impossibly difficult decision to make. if your a "dog person", giving up a dog is tantamount to losing a member of the family. and today we lost a truly beloved member of ours. but in the end, no matter how heart breaking it was to do, it was the right decision.

sometimes i think animals teach us more about loss than loving.

she can't possibly be going to a better home, which was what finally helped us make the decision. her new owner "delivered" her when she was born and quite likely loves berners as much as we do. indeed, she also happens to care for cadence's mom and half-sister. so, in a sense, she's returning to her family.

i'm sure that after a few lazy afternoons playing with her sibling and mamma in her new spacious yard, she might even forget the special moments that she shared with us and odin.

i know we won't.

goodbye cadence.

as much as we'll miss cadence, mauja will miss her more.

alaskan malamutes are pack dogs. even moreso than other breeds, malamutes are very sensitive to sudden disruptions in the pack hierarchy. after we had to put his previous buddy "to sleep" due to severe epilepsy, mauja was so distraught that he'd howl and moan so loudly that neighbors a half a block away would complain that he was frightening their children. a vet told us that he was simply doing the the only thing he could do - call out very loudly in the hope that his lost friend would hear him and return to the pack.

now that she's gone, he's pacing and nervous and certainly knows that it's odd that miss cadence isn't nearby. we'll work hard to help him make the transition to a life without her; hopefully it works, because there's nothing quite so sorrowful as a very vocal, sad malamute.

the eric update - day 298: an anachronism, unearthed.

unearthed from our continuing archealogical expedition in preparation for moving out of this sold house is this curious anachronism - the photo storage box! if you look close, you'll see that the label proudly proclaims, "STORES AND PROTECTS OVER 1000 PHOTOS".

occasionally over the years, before Going Digital, we'd promise ourselves that Real Soon we'd sort through our endless packages of developed photos from the local drug store and organize, collate and categorize them meticulously so that whenever we found the time, we could wistfully walk down memory lane.

as you can see, the box remains unopened, encased in plastic wrap, silently mocking our grand organizational goals.

someday, maybe i'll sort through the prints, scan them in and, uh. right.

the eric update - day 297: the toothbrush teether ( not by ronco ).

inspired perhaps a bit by the sensorial explorer concept that advocates giving infants "real" objects to play with and realizing that it's never too early to start teaching the benefits of good oral hygiene, we decided to give odin a toothbrush to play with.

it's become one of his favorite toys. it's the perfect size for his little hands and while the bristled end is nice to tickle the gums, the soft rubber end is even better for soothing teething soreness.

and as a sneeky side benefit, he gets familiarized with something that he'll hopefully learn to use properly when the proper time comes.

day 296: odin coming to a magazine stand near you! ( probably).

well, it's been in the works for quite some time, delayed for one reason or another, but it looks like you'll probably be seeing odin's adventures in a magazine stand near you sooner rather than later. or maybe that's later rather than sooner given how print publication deadlines work.

i can't release the name of national magazine and it's always possible that they won't end up running the story, but the paperwork is almost signed!

odin is still chewing on the contract. literally. but i think he's going to give me the greenlight.

relatedly, if someone wants to float me a hefty advance for a book, i'm sure i could convince odin that it'd be a savvy move. ( joking. sort of. )

the eric update - day 295: the family that procrastinates together.

who has time for reading when there's all manner of loose ends to be tied in the final days before we finally move out of this sold house?!

jeez. some people will find any excuse to keep from helping to pack boxes. and well, if they're going to read such an appropriately named book, well somebody had to do the photographing, right?

the family that procrastinates together, stays together :-)

the eric update - day 294: hello, grandaddy nikon! and first steps with the grandparents.

grandpa and grandma snowdeal visited today and we were surprised to see that after hinting that he might give in to the urge, eric the second finally did get his own shiny, new nikon d70! i imagine the day might come when all three of us are out together on a photographic adventure, each with our separate cameras, capturing the world with our own unique styles.

until that day, grandpa is just giving odin further proof that some people really do come with a camera lens attached to their head.

grandma snowdeal has odin in fits of laughter as they share a special moment, captured quite capably by grandpa eric.

perhaps if he's feeling generous he'll share it with the world [ update: that was fast! ].

the eric update - day 293: what to do when it snows in spring?

sigh. after a few weeks of enjoying unseasonably warm weather, we're faced with the prospect the return of unseasonably chilly weather, complete with winter storm warnings and the threat of snow accumulation. ack! hope still springs eternal.

so, while we were stuck indoors with The Recoverer, it seemed as good a time as any to test out his previously neglected capri stroller. while the jogging stroller serves it's appointed purpose, it's a bit of tank and not particularly easy to cart around for quick trips here and there, hence the need for a lighter weight stroller. but in our previous testing, odin has been too small to be safely restrained in the five point harness. but no more! instead of flopping around and slipping between the straps, not-so-little odin enjoyed popping wheelies with pops back-and-forth around the house.

i guess these are the things you do when it snows in spring.

and yes, it's official. odin's favoritest solid food seems to be bananas delivered via his mesh feeder. in fact, he seems to like it so much that he prefers it over all other solids.

i never realized just how far and wide one can smear bananas when one is excited about popping wheelies with pops.

the eric update - day 292: moving on.

things are quickly winding down at this sold house and it's nearly impossible to fathom all the changes that have occured since we moved into the house almost exactly a year ago as an experiment, of sorts, that we euphamistically called snowdeal show ®. as all the memories run together, it's hard not to collapse them into the feeling that the house has served perfectly as a physical manifestation of the demarcation of before and after.

but so it seems in our lives that the only constant is change and today we ( well mostly kris, as i watched odin and the dogs ) helped diane, gina, ruby and evelyn move out and into their new home.

perhaps odin is a little surprised to find out that his aunties and cousins really won't be quite so near anymore.

and what of us? we'll be moving on at the end of next week. i'll divulge that we'll be staying with family in grand rapids for the month of may so that odin has plenty of time to recover from surgery and see his doctor's for what we hope are his last couple of follow-up appointments. after that, assuming we get a clean bill of health for odin, we plan on doing some travelling.

i'm sure there will be many more tales of odin's adventures yet to be told.

the eric update - day 291: climbing on cadence. or the time i couldn't choose my favorite photo.

while odin is still recovering from surgery , we can tell he's feeling a little better because he's not sleeping all day long and he has much more energy and ambition to explore his surroundings ( although you might note that he's still in a state of undress because he's continuing to run a low grade fever ).

he's still not crawling, but he loves to pull himself up onto things, which in this case, happens to be cadence.

i love this series of pictures, as much for the looks on cadence's face as for odin's antics. here, she is undoubtably saying, "I AM NOT DOING ANYTHING WRONG! am i?"

of course, mauja is off to the right of the frame doing his best to let cadence and me know that he's not sure this is very appropriate behavior what with cadence being one rung lower on the pack hierarchy than himself and therefore and he really is the more suitable choice for a playtime playmate with odin.

sometimes mauja can't always get his way.

the eric update - day 290: putting the "rest" in The Three R's.

wowza. odin is really putting the "rest" in the The Three R's. he was up for a few hours in the morning and then he was down for a nap that was so long that i'm not even sure it's considered a nap anymore. then after a few hours, it was time for time for bed.

the old adage that sleep begets sleep would seem to be all the more true when it involves recovering from surgery. one might be tempted to think that he'd have a tought time going to bed after sleeping almost all day, but he's zonked for the night. whoohoo!

his low grade fever is mostly gone too.

in this picture he's wiping the sleepies from his eyes after The Longest Nap.

the postcard project camera contest! win odin's nikon n50!

for some reason, while lightening the load, i didn't sell my old nikon n50 and i'm too lazy to try and get $50 for it on ebay.

it's a great entry level slr and i have thought maybe that i'd keep it around so that the apprentice could have an old school camera. but instead, i've decided that you can send him a postcard for the postcard project and let odin know why you think you'd be a worthy owner of his camera.

the most creative answer - as judged by myself - will win the camera ( bonus points will be awarded for creative answers on creative postcards ). all entries must be postmarked by may 31st, 2005. the contest is only for an n50 body - lenses are not included.

send entries to:

the postcard project camera contest
c/o eric c snowdeal iv
p.o. box 1514
grand rapids, mi 49501-1514

obviously, you'll want to include your name and address on the postcard, so i know where to send the camera if you win.

i have no idea if anyone will be interested in this, so if you're the only one who sends a postcard, you'll have a pretty good chance of winning it :-)

the eric update - day 289: The Three R's.

no, not relief, recovery and reform - that's something completely different.

after his latest ( and hopefully last ) surgery odin is getting lots of rest, relaxation and recovery. and meds mixed with milk in a bottle.

he likes showing off his rather impressive skills at feeding himself. you can almost see him saying with his eyes, "keep your hands off my bottle pops, i can do this all by myself - thank you very much anyways."

well the the three r's must be working some sort of magic because after many vain attempts to get him interested in solids, he finally decided that, yes, a hunk of banana in his mesh feeder was quite delicious.

he savored every last bit. well, almost every last bit. the bits that weren't savored were smeared from head to toe.

you'll notice he's in a state of undress. in addition to being unseasonably warm today ( 80 degrees fahrenheit/ 27 degrees celcius ), he's also running a low grade fever ( 99-100 degrees fahrenheit ) and has let us know that today is a clothing optional day.

although not a concern at this point, the fever doesn't seem to succumb to the medicinal powers of tylenol with codeine and if it persists for another day, then it could become a cause for concern. but for now, we're not going to get too worked up about it.

day 288: The Littlest Fighter (somewhat) Merrily Fights Onward.

despite appearences, odin is feeling a bit cranky today.

we went on an planned field trip to the hospital ( ugh. a 5:30 a.m. admit ) and while he's healthier than ever, he'll probably spend the next few days resting and relaxing after what was hopefully his last surgical intervention.

perhaps uncharacteristically, i'm not going to delve into the minute details of the surgery and simply ask that everyone wish odin a speedy recovery.

after 288 days, i think he's earned the right to a little privacy, don't you?

the eric update - day 287: not a day at the beach. or underprepared for spontaneity.

"let's go to the beach!"

going to grand haven on a sunny and warm sunday afternoon in april seemed like the perfect idea. although it was a little late in the day ( well, 3 p.m. is late in the day when The Four Bees start at 6 p.m. ), it wasn't too far of a drive and odin probably wouldn't have fun more than an hour or two anyway.

so, in a fit of spontaneity, we drove to the beach.

we discovered our first mistake was not bringing any cash with us. as it happens, the park does charge for parking, even though it's so early in the season. so we had to find parking on the street, away from beach, which means we're already wasting precious funtime minutes.

once we parked and put odin in the stroller, we discovered mistake number two - not remembering and preparing for the lake effect. it felt five or ten degrees cooler at the beach, which was just a bit too cool for odin's barefeet and short sleeves. odin's bag was definately not packed with cool weather in mind, as we didn't have socks or a spare set of pants. not even a blanket!

but it wasn't like it was frigidly cold, so we decided to take a short stroll, find a bathroom and see how things played out.

after walking for 5 minutes, we discovered mistake number 3 - assuming that the facilities would be open and operable so early in the season. a stranger thought that there might be one some distance away, but they couldn't remember for sure. as we set out to find a restroom, odin began to let us know that he wasn't really pleased with our decision making, just as it was becoming apparent to both kris and i that not finding a bathroom was not really an option. i guess, in a certain sense, you could say the pressure was building to find a bathroom - fast - before things quickly went from bad to worse. as we approached where we thought the bathroom should be which looked suspiciously vacant of patrons in need of relief, our eyes both focused on a small building nearby with a long queue.

i'm fairly sure that at that moment we both realized that our first trip to the beach was actually going to consist of walking back and forth across an asphalt parking lot and standing in line for what was likely going to be a Very Unpleasant Experience.

predictably, while standing in line, odin let us know that he no longer understood why we weren't doing our job as parents by keeping him warm; by the time we were each finished with the Very Unpleasant Experience ( each person who exited the single stall left with a similar grimaced expression on their face ) it was clear that it was time to call it a day and head home. of course, at this point odin was so thoroughly flummoxed with the situation that the ride home was less than pleasant.

certainly this is a tale that any parent could tell; but it's still a little suprising to find yourself in the middle of a tailspin, underprepared for the effects of your own spontaneity, wondering when it will happen again and if you'll get lucky enough to remain so relatively unscathed when it does.

the eric update - day 286: Lightening the Load.

in anticipation of moving out of this sold house at the end of the month, we somewhat hesitantly decided to have a yardsale today. by hesitantly, i mean that typically when want to rid ourselves of the detritus that accumulates in the nooks and crannies of our closets and basements we normally just call goodwill or the salvation army and rid ourselves of it quickly and painlessly. i mean, who wants our junk?

apparently lots of people want our junk. from lamps that don't work to half-used containers of plumber's putty to gallons of paint, used toilet plungers, broken ceramic tile, wobbly fans, countless jars with and without lids and endless amounts of other items that one "collects" over the years.

one person's junk really is another person's treasure.

perhaps the most astonishing fact is that we even have anything to sell. we're ritualistic minimalists. anti-savers. the bane of pack rats. we're constantly looking for things to give away and yet we're always amazed at how the cruft collects, seemingly reproducing in the dark, dank corners of your home.

there were a few items that were difficult to part with, including the canoe. but it was priced "to move" and move it did. it was sold before the sale had officially even started.

o.k. i'll admit it. books usually always manage to slip through our cruft cleansing. but not this time.

amusingly, for most of the sale, it didn't look like anyone wanted our wares and we decided that it probably wasn't the right kind of market for something like ego and archetype or orality and literacy.

but then, in the waning last hour of the sale a lone buyer swooped in and cleaned us out of most of the inventory.

if there's ever a version of trivial pursuit for our lives, it will note that i could not part with A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake for reasons that aren't really clear even clear to me; nor could i say goodbye to my copy of Gödel, Escher, Bach, which holds the record for the book i've owned for the longest period of time ( over 15 years ), yet never finished. but it's a sentimental favorite because it's also the book that has spawned 1000 intellectual investigations that have, quite literally, helped shape who i am today.

books are funny like that.

later after Lightening the Load, it was off to grammy pam's house to celebrate her birthday.

we were tired since we were forced to awake at an the insane hour of 5:00 a.m. to prepare to Lighten the Load ( because everybody knows that The Professionals will always arrive hours before the announced start of the sale ).

luckily odin and his cousin - formerly known as wheeler but now known as evelyn - were able to occupy themselves, at least temporarily, with an old, very used shoe.

yet more evidence that "real" toys are overrated.

we really did Lighten the Load today by selling our 1997 toyota camry to a family member while at grammy pams. we really are fully unencumbered now!

we've had the camry for 8 years and logged almost 150,000 miles with it and can quite confidently claim that it is an amazing marvel of reliability.

but we don't need two cars at this point in our lives and we're happy to see her go to new owners who will take good care of her.

the eric update - day 285: what's in odin's bag?

we're a little late to the party with the "what' s in your bag" meme, but hey - better late than never, right? his diaper bag is really a timbuk2 euro tote. it makes a great carrier for all things infant and when he outgrows the need for a diaper bag, we can use it to carry our stuff around and not look like we're, well, carrying a used diaper bag. there's a wrist rattle attached to the strap of the bag for on demand distraction. of course, since it's a diaper bag it needs a few backup diapers - which in our case are tushies ( we've never had problems with leaking tushies, contrary to some of the negative reviews ). sealed in the mini bag is the supersized paci ( which he almost never uses, preferring instead his own fingers as you can see ), a bulb syringe, saline ( for use with the bulb syringe in Emergency Booger Removal ) and a small container of purell.

we alway stock a few small toys, and today we have a couple of haba wooden toys. we don't have any agenda against plastic toys, but having a few high quality wooden toys can be A Good Thing. of course, odin couldn't care less about them, wooden or not, and would prefer to play with a clean diaper.

a hat. one cannot leave home without a stylish hat. and a change of cloths, a burp cloth and wipes.

and because you never know when the opportunity for reading might present itself, it's always nice to travel with a few good books such as the runaway bunny and the little prince.

the postcard project: chicago, illinois.

uncle matt and auntie deb's dog malbec sent this postcard from chicago.

malbec's thoughtful like that!

[ see the postcard project slideshow. ]

the eric update - day 284: bag balm - it's not just for cows.

it's a little hard to tell from this photo, but odin has developed quite a case of chapped cheeks. the effect is particularly pronounced after sleeping; we suspect that he's producing large amounts of drool which is a by product of teething and that's irritating his skin. he exacerbates the irritation by rolling over on his stomach while he's sleeping, scooting all over his bed and rubbing his already irritated skin against the sheets.

originally created to help sooth irritated udders ( udder=bag ), generations of vermonters have been soothing their own non-bovine skin with the salve. so far, a bit bag balm applied liberally appears to be keeping things relatively under control. i guess it's fair to say that it works as well or perhaps a little better than any of the other remedies we've tried ( and we've tried almost everything that's easily available ), but it's not a cure by any means.

it anyone has any suggestions for what's worked for them we'd be mighty obliged.

oh, and if it's not apparent, odin is trying to figure out how to take the lid off the can of bag balm.

the eric update - day 283: enjoying a very special piece of art.

on the day that odin was born, some friends of the family took care of ruby so that gina and diane could come to the hospital. ruby knew that kris was sick and that she and odin would be the the hospital for a long time so she decided to make him a very special piece of art to help cheer him up.

the artwork was hung next to his radiant warming bed when he was only two or three days old and hung near his bed for the entirety of his 96 days in the intensive care unit.

we had the piece professionally mounted and framed so he could enjoy it for years to come, and today odin had a chance to see it for the first time in while since being taken to the framing gallery.

clearly he's quite happy to have it back!

the eric update: day 282: sidewalk chalkin'!

o.k. so odin didn't really scrawl his name in the concrete with sidewalk chalk, but he did watch kris very, very closely as she did, as if he were trying to figure out how to categorize this new experience.

after she was finished perhaps he decided that a bit of tactile investigation would perhaps aid in figuring out why we were sitting around pointing at scribbling exclaiming, "see, it's your name O-D-I-N!"

sure, it's not quite as artistic as his aunt's sidewalk chalkin', but it's a start :-)

and yes, that's a new hat.

the postcard project: san francisco, california.

it's yet another postcard from johanna and adam! this one puts them in the super elite fourfer group. if you can believe it, i think i have a few more left from them in the pile.

obviously this one is from san francisco.

[ see the postcard project slideshow. ]

the eric update - day 281: testing out the munchkin fresh food feeder and The Amazing Distractor! or a pinwheel.

there's still no sign that odin is anywhere close to eating solids. given his great weight gains we're not too concerned about getting him to eat before he's ready, but we thought it might be nice for him to slowly get accustomed to different flavors and a few people have suggested that we try a "fresh food feeder".

basically you put a bit of food inside the mesh bag which allows the infant to chomp her gums on the morsel, enjoying the flavor without any choking risk.

today we tried a slice of apple and we weren't quite sure if he was entirely pleased with the flavor. certainly, it was apparent that he thought it was quite different than the usual fare.

after discovering that odin wasn't too keen on staying in the stroller when we go out for a run, we thought we might try the oldest trick in the parenting bag of tricks.

distraction.

early tests indicate that, at least on a windy day, the humble pinwheel can, in fact, provide at least two miles of distraction!

only time will tell if it's amazing powers withstand the drudgery of longer runs.

the eric update - day 280: a slow sunday. in pictures.

somedays, hopefully a picture is worth a thousand words. so, rather than write six thousand words, i'll leave you with a handful of pictures of odin's two hundredth and eightieth day; he played in the park for the first time, rode a toy horse for the first time, felt the grass between his toes for the first time and hung out with his cousin. not bad for a slow sunday!

you can click on each picture to see a larger version with a description.

the eric update - day 279: running with pops. and tapas!

i finally figured out to get the jogging stroller to stop swerving to the left, so i decided to take odin on a three mile run down the long and not-so-winding road.

but alas, it appears that odin has a two mile limit and let me know that he'd really enjoy it if i carried him the last mile. i was somewhat amused to watch people watch me run/walk the last mile, picking him up and carrying him for a bit every quarter mile or so.

maybe i was imagining it, but i thought i could sense an immediate bonding with parents who were running or rollerblading by thinking, "ah yes. been there. done that."

but maybe taking the time to stop and walk wasn't so bad, because if we hadn't i probably wouldn't have decided to take a little detour to a nearby farmhouse so that odin could get his very first look at a mare and her foal.

the foal was cute because at first it was cautiously hiding behind its mother who was eyeing us warily. but slowly, the foal stepped out to give us a good look. i thought it might even walk right up and give us a nuzzle, but we weren't to be so lucky.

i couldn't figure out a good way to get odin in the shot with the horses, but trust me, he's just out of the frame in my left arm making funny noises as he perhaps tries to figure out what these new dogs don't look like any others.

uncle matt and auntie deb were back in town after a 10 week vacation in the south pacific. of course, they've been keeping up with odin's adventures via the wonders of the world wide web, but that didn't really prepare them for how much he's changed since they've been gone. even with all the photos, we tend to forget just how quickly he's growing and getting to be a big boy, but they assured us that it was almost as if we'd exchanged him for a newer, even cuter version.

to celebrate their arrival, we took them out to a local tapas bistro. if you're ever in grand rapids, go to san chez - you won't be sorry.

oh, and i have no idea what he's looking at. maybe the waitress?

the eric update - day 278: stopping to smell the forsythia.

blooming forsythia one of the earliest signs that spring has begun in earnest here in michigan. so, of course, on an afternoon walk we couldn't pass up the opportunity to let odin have his very first chance to stop and smell the forsythia.

after a few moments of gentle observation, the end result was pretty much the same as when we let him play with the cut flowers.

the eric update - day 277: lounging on his Big Boy Bed.

very recently odin has been having a little difficulty staying asleep in his crib and the cause seems to be his newly acquired ability to scoot himself around while he's sleeping. sooner or later we'll hear a very characteristic "hey, something's wrong here!" cry and discover that he's rolled himself into an uncomfortable corner of the crib; other times it looks like he's trying really hard to roll himself out of the crib, only to get himself worked into a frenzy when he can't. sometimes if we reposition him in the crib he'll fall back asleep, but more often than not, after a few hours, he's back to his mobile antics.

i guess we should be relieved that the crib is preventing him from falling to the floor, but we decided to experiment with putting him in a Big Boy Bed ( previously known as The Guest Bed ), which is in the nursery to see if having a larger surface area might help him to stay asleep longer. to prevent him from hurting himself we removed the box spring and put the mattress directly on the floor and surrounded the bed with a rolled up blankets, so if he were to roll off the bed he wouldn't hurt himself.

we've tested the new sleep setup during naps and, well, the results are astounding. he sleeps and sleeps and sleeps, rolling and scooting from one end of the bed to the other for two and three hours at a time.

i'm not sure if it's immediately a long term solution, since we're still a little wary of him rolling off the bed in the middle of the night, but he sure seems to enjoy his Big Boy Bed and i think we'll probably transition him permanently out the crib sooner rather than later.

today, after a particularly long nap, he decided that it would be big fun to read in bed. such a Big Boy in his Big Boy Bed!

the concept of having infants sleep in beds instead of cribs is advocated in "montessori from the start" book that we've been reading, but i think we tend to agree with some of the reviews of the book. aspects of the book is seems logical, but other recommendations just don't pass the "smell" test - such as not reading fantasy books because they're not grounded in the "real world".

so, as with most parenting books, we take what makes sense for us and ignore 98% of the cruft :-)

the postcard project: freiburg germany.

well, i guess you can tell how far behind i am, since i'm just now adding the postcard that misscaro ( and here ) sent ( with other gifts! ) from freiburg, germany way back in january.

someday i'll bet that odin will enjoy the postcard even more than the orange, crinkley book.

[ see the postcard project slideshow. ]

the eric update - day 276: socializing with mauja.

in the past, at times when we needed a free hand or two we might have put odin in his swing or play yard, but lately he's let us know that he's happier to be out and about, much closer to the action. this morning, while i was making breakfast rather than put him in his swing and force him to watch me from a distance, kris suggested that we set him in the middle of the kitchen and give him a basket filled with a few choice toys and let him feel a like he's a little more part of the routine.

it worked wonders! instead of fussing in the swing after 5 minutes, he was quite happy to watch me whirl around the kitchen in between episodes of chatting merrily with mauja about - well - i'm not quite sure what, but both of them seemed interested in the conversation.