Dr. Evil and Mini-me

Okay then, we will hold the world ransom for... One...
Hundred... BILLION... DOLLARS!

Happy Halloween!

Nick went trick-or-treating. He was a monkey (for the Russians he can also be Cheburashka, if one ignores the tail). Kostadis went as a Canadian.

This is kind of embarrassing, people!

Here's all the candy he got. He will receive it in
re-processed form.

At the park

Baby gym

Pumpin' plastic at the Little Gym.

Swingin'

Nick on the swing at the local park. He found it quite
acceptable.

This is why we call her Snurfocity

Make sure you have the volume on.

Taking a break in the shade from playing BALL at the park today. The wagging tail means "I acknowledge that you are there and I will be with you in just a moment, just let me catch my breath."

The pack

This kid spends entirely too much time around dogs.

Farmers Market

Let's see how many California stereotypes I can hit at once:
1. Going to the Farmers Market to get local, organically-grown produce and free-range chicken
2. Wearing fleece (I am also wearing hiking boots and wool socks but you can't see them)
3. "Life is good" hat
4. Wearing baby in a front pack baby carrier made of organic cotton
5. Baby wearing a hand-knit hat

Pajama day

The boys hung out at home while Polly and I were at the dog show.
Apparently they stayed in their pajamas all day, and only got dressed
when I called saying we were coming home. I assume they also spend
quality time belching, farting, and watching sports on TV.

Del Valle Kennel Club Agility

Polly and I made our triumphant return to the agility ring today (We made our less-than-triumphant return to training at Jumpin' Java Agility two months ago. After a five month break it was ugly. We are better now).

We had one more leg left in Jumpers and Standard to get our titles. I am happy to report that Polly did wonderfully and we got a third place in Novice B Standard (out of 17 dogs). She had one table runout (huh? Polly? what was that? since when do you jump off the table?) and one off-course to investigate a tunnel after said table runout. In Jumpers, we had a clean run and a second place (out of 15 dogs).  Continuing our tradition of doing great when nobody is filming us I don't have any videos of our runs.

Now we are moving into Open. We are nowhere near ready, in fact I predict we will be ready to show at about the time Nick will be learning to walk. So we'll have a little competition, what will happen first: we get all three of our Open titles or Nick takes three steps. It's on!

Polly with her placement and title ribbons.
She is now Marstad Power Play RA NA NAJ NF CGC

Wakey-Wakey

Nick's bootup sequence is quite long and involved. Must be running Windows Vista. He also core-dumps often. Definitely Windows.

Booting...

Checking memory...

Completed. Press any key when ready!

Rolling, rolling, rolling

Nick finally figured out how to flip himself from his tummy onto his back. He is very happy about this new development, since he thinks tummy time is baby abuse, and until now used to yell after a few minutes for me to turn him over.



Now he says "Tummy time? Just try to make me!"

Daily Squeak: Baby's first nerdy t-shirt

Yup, we are raising a geek. Thank you Auntie Karen for Nick's prime number t-shirt.

Good job, Nicholas, five IS a prime number!

Daily Squeak: Aaa-chew!

Mid-sneeze.

Daily Squeak: New hat

The thing that sucks about being a baby is that when mom knits
you a silly-looking hat, you have to wear it.

Mom, I am not sure this looks good on me...

No, really, I kinda hate it.

TAKE IT OFF NOW!!!!!

I do not believe Nick was objecting to the hat itself, as much as to the fact that I was taking pictures of him instead of putting him for a much-needed nap. Maybe if he slept for longer than half an hour during the previous nap, he would have liked the hat better.

Daily Squeak: Big boy chair

No food allowed yet, but we are practicing. Plus toys are good to eat too.

Daily Squeak: Concentration

You think they are related?

Daily Squeak: Half-roll

Nick is trying to figure out how to roll over. Today he spent a good hour doing this:

Daily Squeak: Washed and folded

Well, how else do you expect me to move a baby and a load of
laundry from one place to another?

Daily Squeak: Big boy stroller

First time in the NTS2 without the baby seat. He seems perplexed.

Daily Squeak: Mad magazine

Kostadis and Nick reading non-baby-appropriate comics.

Four months old!

Sophie the Giraffe

Sophie is a rubber squeaky toy I got for Nick to help his potentially itchy gums. Maybe he is teething, maybe he isn't, but stuffing toys in his mouth and gumming furiously has been his favorite activity lately. Polly still doesn't understand how it is possible that a squeaky toy is not hers.

Note to grandparents and other worry-prone people: The dog did not touch, lick, or poke the baby. The interaction has been closely supervised. Yes, it looks like she is RIGHT ON TOP OF HIM, but she isn't. It's ok.

Oh Sophie, how much I love thee.

My itchy gums feel so much better...

after chewing on your nose.

Hey, little dude, what do you have there?

Can I have it?

Oh, darn! She said Leave it.

Did you want this? It's mine and it's very very good.
And you can't have it. Because you are a dog.

Nom. Nom. Nom. Soooo good!

Can I just have a little taste? Please? 

Sigh. Life sucks when you are a dog.

Daily Squeak: Fall

And then a leaf landed on his face and he tried to eat it. After that
we went inside.

Daily Squeak: Patrick

Patrick was bought many years ago at FAO Schwartz in San Francisco.
Makes for a good baby couch and nicely matches Nick's outfit.
And yes, there is a dog picture on his shirt.

Daily Squeak: Da boys!

No girls allowed. 

Daily Squeak: Another book picture

Daily Squeak: More humiliation

As long as we are posting humiliating pictures of the baby, here's he is on the changing table.

Bath!

All parents post pictures of their kids nekkid in the bathtub. We are quite overdue for Squeak's. Today he figured out that splashing with his hands and feet is fun, so we took pictures and videos. Note the crazy facial expressions and flying water. In 15 years, he'll be really mad at us about this. We tried to mostly preserve modesty.

Check out the water splashing out of the tub on the left.

Hands are tasty. Wet hands are even better.

This facial expression is usually accompanied by maniacal
laughter and squealing.

Um, the kid has a bit of a beer belly going on.

Ooooh, this is ever so exciting! Please admire my multitude of chins.

And here's a video of the process.

Daily Squeak: Friday night at Squeak's

We are all sleeping it off now.