did someone say emergency?

This week we had two emergencies. First, on Easter Sunday instead of celebrating the stone being rolled from the tomb, Ty rolled his own seven millimeter kidney stone, not too shabby as kidney stone sizes go. We spent the evening at the emergency room while Ty writhed around while his little surprise friend traveled out of his kidney, until he got some welcome pain killers in an IV (here's Ty giving the thumbs up after the meds kicked in). Zuzu was a real trooper and made Ty's experience more bearable as some of the ER staff fawned over Zuzu since she's been talked up big time in the ER by her honorary Auntie Katie who works there (here we are waiting with Ty). The stone has yet to be apprehended but we're sure it will be a memorable event for Ty when it does, ahem, appear.

The second emergency was Wednesday morning when our smoke detectors went off. Zuzu sat patiently in her excersaucer while I tried to silence the alarm, which didn't work, so I took out the battery and tried to pull the detector (which was still going off) out of the wall, but it was wired in. Beep! beep! beep! beep! beep! Zuzu's smoke detector was going off too. We finally got them quieted, only to have one go off ten minutes later. And then again. And again. And again. And again, and again, and again. And then again with a new battery in another room. The fire department said to call 911 "just in case". So after calling 911 and explaining that we didn't appear to be in imminent danger, and then the neighbors (so they didn't worry), not one but two fire trucks with sirens pulled up as well as the fire department command van. Sheesh. By then Zuzu was at Tata's so we didn't have her all worked up over the commotion. All was fine and somehow just a weird coincidence of events and a recommendation from the firefighters to replace our smoke alarms.

who took the last square?

Zuzu really likes going to the bathroom -- as in she likes going into the room and exploring. First, it was the cabinet doors under the sink that caught her attention...so much fun to open and close them. Then they came in handy to hold onto while she pulled herself up. Next, she discovered the bathtub and toilet -- more things she could grab and try to stand. Last week she noticed the toilet paper roll and did what most little ones do when they see it: yank, yank, yank and play.

Then she fled the scene.

laundry service

Ahh, I like to help sort through the clean laundry.

I'm sure no one will mind if I throw it on the floor, right?Hmm, let's stick a few surprises in the laundry basket...
like a granola bar.

zuzu plays a video game!

zuzu has really been enjoying her ability to pull herself up and stand. last week, we had paused a DVD we were watching during dinner (a special - and rare - "feel-better" treat for a sick jenn) when zuzu noticed the moving screen saver graphic and took advantage of the opportunity to practice her hand-eye coordination skills.



she cracks us up!

exploration

zuzu's been seeking out many opportunities for learning and discovery lately. here's a recent experiment she conducted with her hands.



notice how she checks to make sure that the coast is clear - and that an upset emma isn't lurking around the corner - before leaving the scene of the cri- uh, er... experiment? i told her that since it's emma's bowls she's playing with, any spare fingers found there are fair game for nibblin'. actually, the more zuzu has been moving around, the more emma seems to recognize who the boss of the house really is.

super daddy

This week Ty won the parenting award for pulling double-duty at home by taking care of Zuzu himself and taking care of me while I was sick – even having Zuzu accompany him at an evening shoot. Today things were a little more back to normal at home and Zuzu finally got to play with both her daddy and her mommy.

This morning after breakfast she discovered the sliding glass doors and the great big window they create (I have a feeling we’ll have fingerprints on the doors for a long time to come). Zuzu also discovered the vent deflector, which will probably never stay in place again.

photo op

Ty came home the other day from picking up groceries and announced he made an appointment for Zuzu’s first studio portrait (given the fact that we take a gazillion pictures of her and we both prefer candids anyway, getting a studio portrait taken seems more like a rite of passage than a hope of getting a good picture – but Ty reassured me we’ll just do it and get it over with and don’t have to buy anything).

I asked Ty where he booked it – thinking I'd recognize the name of a good area photographer – but Ty said he really didn’t know who would be taking it. Hmm, not a good sign. When I wondered where he signed up for this, I didn’t expect to hear the response, “at a stand outside of Hy-Vee” (which translated to: “by the shopping cart corral, my dear. Only it didn’t seem so shady until I came home and started to tell you about it”). But wait, it gets funnier. Guess where the picture will be taken? In the Hy-Vee cafeteria. I hope this fly-by-night operation will put up a backdrop, but if we see even one kernel of creamed corn that flies out of the mouth of a patron eating their lunch while Zuzu gets her picture taken, and it shows up in the picture, I’m asking for a full refund of our ten dollars.

And we’ll post the picture online – of course. Wallet-sized prints, anyone?