A Journal of Urban Living

Simon is working hard on an essential baby skill: sucking his thumb.

all thumbs

But it’s such hard work — his thumb won’t flex, it’s too small but his whole fist is too big, the other hand gets in the way… So sometimes he just gives up and takes a nap.

plumping up nicely

Not the city.  The county.

We were hoping to feed him these squash as he starts solid food.  With a typical baby-sized serving it should take twelve years to get through them.

He patronizes food trucks.

Honorary Aunt Sasa took this photo at the weekly Highland Park Food Truck Fest.

After a successful dim sum excursion with his grandmother we took Simon out for Sushi with his Aunt Sasa.

If these books are to be believed I see a deli in our future.

Then on Thursday night we took Simon to his first wine tasting.  I called ahead and asked if we could bring the whole family.

Me: Hi, I was wondering about the tasting.  My kid is twenty-two…….days old.  Can I bring him?
K&L guy: <laughs> sure.

When we got there however we heard a different story.  Poor Simon wasn’t allowed in the tasting area as that would have been a violation of the local liquor laws, having a kid in the tasting room and all.  So we left him in the tequila isle.  Much more family friendly.

But I'm twenty-two

Babies love tequila

And then, the highlight of Simon’s evening, some fancy changing after we left the store.

Another first - offsite diaper change

Yes, 3+ weeks is a long time without a proper bath. Simon didn’t seem to mind, as long as his diaper was fresh and clean. Eventually though we needed an excuse to trot out his red crab bath towel. After some initial fussing, he seemed to enjoy bathing.

Uncle Gabe was the photographer. Somehow he didn’t get wet.

We decided on an outing to the Atwater Market yesterday.  (We can’t grow everything.  Our corn and watermelons need more time, our raspberries are done for the season and our chickens aren’t quite plucked and dressed.)   Simon spent the morning asleep in the stroller, or so we thought.  It was only after getting him back into his car seat that we realized he was shopping under protest:

Fighting the power, since 2011

Simon: WHAAAHHHAAAAHHH!

Peter retrieves the screaming babe from the other room.

Raquel: Uh-oh, what’s wrong with him now?

Peter: He’s a baby. In the long run, he’ll be fine.

Simon is peeling all over, especially on his hands and feet. It’s sorta gross but it gives me something to do while nursing.

feet

hands

On the way to Simon’s two-week pediatrician visit we had a slight delay getting out of the neighborhood.  Hazelwood, as well as some adjacent streets, were blocked off.

Fortunately we were able to get out so we could learn that Simon had eclipsed his targeted weight gain.  As of today he should have recovered to 7 lbs 4 oz but he was all the way to 7 lbs 9 oz!  Oh, and the police got their guys.

Every morning Simon and I let the chickens out and watch them traipse around and listen to them squawk.  We usually don’t get so H5N1-close to them but he needed a little calming and nothing is calming like hens.