don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing

We took Rachel out for brunch this morning to celebrate her one year anniversary of moving to San Francisco to live with us. Afterward, we stopped by Holly Park for some playtime. As you can see, Cassidy thoroughly enjoyed himself.

He's doing well - still flirting with walking. He'll do it if you hold his hand, or if he's not thinking about it. Otherwise he feels that crawling is a much more efficient way to get from point A to point B. He makes a lot of incredibly cute baby noises that may or may not be words; it's hard to know how much meaning is behind them. His molars have come through and now the canines are on their way in. After this, hopefully the poor guy will get a break from teething for a while, at least until his second-year molars show up.

jellyfish heaven

On Sunday we drove down to Monterey with Cassidy. We got there in the late afternoon and headed out to Asilomar State Park for a walk along the beach. It was Cassidy's first up-close exposure to the ocean, and his mind was appropriately blown.

We spent the next day at the always-great Monterey Bay Aquarium. Incredibly cool seahorses, an awesome reef tank, unearthly jellyfish, sea otters, penguins, and much more. Cassidy liked the touch pool (he got to touch a starfish) and the kids' play area as well. Some of the sense of wonderment was lost on him; he's still a baby, so everything is amazing. More than once Holly and I would be staring at some incredible anemone or sea dragon and notice him with the same amazed gaze checking out an exit sign or someone's earring.

Tuesday morning we took a walk along the shore and checked out the waves, which he found quite cool. Then we headed home; by this point he was pretty wiped out, and so he crashed in that way that only babies can.

heart of gold

So I swear that we didn't arrange Cassidy's food in a heart shape - he did that all on his own.
His new baby skill is learning how to build towers - previously he favored knocking them over. He also joined us yesterday at Kim and Sean's baby shower. Cassidy was quite excited by the balloons, but by lunchtime he was worn out and ready for some shuteye.

born to be wild

and we're back!

Here we can see Cassidy enjoying the new monkey that Holly got him, and doing a little reading and diaper-changing. He's also quite fond of the Sons of Anarchy onesie that Freya and Co. got him. We've decided to wait until he's three to get him a motorcycle, though.

He's doing really well; his molars are coming through (hence the drool) and he's slowly figuring out how to walk. It's tough for him - he's so fast at crawling and so eager to get around that walking seems like a waste of time for him.

colors

Cassidy had a bout of stomach flu last week, which he kindly passed on to the rest of us. (He's better now, as are we.) One side effect of that was a nasty case of diaper rash, which meant that he got to spend some time in his crib "going commando." He had fun repeatedly throwing his stuffed animals over the railing and posing for a set of pictures that will cause him horrible embarrassment in about 15 years.

He also got his first set of crayons. So far he seems influenced by Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning. He also thinks they're quite tasty.

liberty bell(e)

Last week was Rachel's birthday (I think she turned 29), so, to celebrate, we all went out to Liberty Cafe for brunch. Rachel and Holly and I had delicious fattening breakfasts, and Cassidy had some banana and blueberries.

His first molars are starting to come through; he's been pretty chipper about it, but has a lot of drooling and slime in his mouth. Poor little guy - it's tough having little bones push through your gums.

leaving on a jet plane

Part the Third, in which our Hero faces new obstacles and returns home triumphant.

We got to see lots of other friends as well. Jenny and Pete and their boys stopped by for a brief visit, Scott and Hope had a get-together at their place with tons of friends, and Fern had us over for dinner. Everyone wanted to meet Cassidy, and he did his best to give them a taste of his charms.

One unexpected side-effect of the cold, dry weather was that his hair got more poofy and less curly, giving him even more of a crazy-hair look. He managed to make it work for him, though.

After a week of rushing around, seeing everyone, cursing the cold and snow and collecting lots of praise and adoration for our Young Charge, we got on a plane and headed home for San Francisco. We're all tired, but well, and had lots of fun. It's definitely a lot of work traveling with a baby, though - no more packing 10 minutes before we need to leave for the airport!