Mama's taking us to the zoo tomorrow

She actually took us yesterday but I don't know any songs about "az anyam took me to the zoo yesterday."


We went with my buddy Christopher and his anya Cathy Neni. As much as I enjoy walking around now, at the zoo I prefer to be pushed. It's a big zoo.

I really enjoy looking at all the different animals. Everyone once in a while as a special treat I actually get to grab the fence that is keeping the animal locked up. The zoo keepers call this lamb Eunice, I call her Seder.

At the end of a nice, long trip to the zoo in the humid, Connecticut sun, I enjoy getting to drink out of a viztartaly with a real opening. Not one of those stupid sippy cups with a tiny hole. Drinking can be a lot of work with those sippy cups. Especially when I'm worn out from being pushed around the zoo all day.

What weekends are made for

My weeks are pretty long. Between going to playgroups and learning to walk and eating, I get tired. That is why on the weekends I enjoy just kicking back and reading a newspaper in my diaper.

http://picasaweb.google.com/MatthewStrada/Export/photo#5092715071384438050

Despite what az anyam says, az apam does not sit around in my pelenkak reading the newspaper.

Evenings, nothing more than evenings

As you saw yesterday, every evening I take a bath after dinner. I sometimes get a little messy during dinner (and lunch and breakfast and snack). The easiest way for az anyam and az apam to get me clean is to toss me in the bath and let me soak.


I really enjoy playing in the bath. Pouring water is a great national pasttime in Tuvalu I'm trying to popularise in this country. I pick up water in one toy and dump it into another. I also have books for the bath. It's nice to kick back and relax in the tub with a good book.

The best part of my bath is at the end when I climb out of the bathtub and az anyam or az apam wraps me up in a big towel and picks me up.

Skills to learn checklist

Eating on my own - check.

Falling asleep on my own - check.

Drinking on my own - check.

Crawling - crawling? HA. I am walking. Check.

Clapping to a beat - check.

Climbing stairs - check.

Descending stairs - check.

Brushing my teeth....in process.

I'll be putting together an action plan to work on this developmental need. The plan will contain several SMART intermediate steps laid out on a Gantt chart. Having performed a root cause analysis and throwing it onto a Fishbone, I've identified the potential Failure Modes and have action plans for every contingency.

http://picasaweb.google.com/MatthewStrada/Export/photo#5091477339119142130

How do I walk? Let me count the ways.

Could I? Would I
with a ball?
Could I? Would I
into the hall?
http://picasaweb.google.com/MatthewStrada/Export/photo#5091096006152799394

Will I walk
with a remote?
Of course I will,
crawling is a joke.
http://picasaweb.google.com/MatthewStrada/Export/photo#5091097118549329074

Az apam is mean,
sometimes I think.
He makes me walk,
walk to drink.
http://picasaweb.google.com/MatthewStrada/Export/photo#5091097771384358082

Walking, it seems,
is OK fun.
The fun will really start
when I learn to RUN!!!!

What I really like about Summertime

I like playing with my water table. I like wearing shorts or just a diaper. I like that it is sunny and warm out. Girls in sundresses.



But what I enjoy most is the foods of summer - fresh fruits and veggies, hamburgers in ketchup, watermelon, popsicles from Aunt Shirley. The best part of all these foods is that they don't require utensils. I've been using utensils, but it is such a bother that I much prefer to just stuff the food into my mouth using the utensils God gave me - my hands:
http://picasaweb.google.com/MatthewStrada/Export/photo#5090726346907567218

C G G Ab G | R B C R

Remember this picture of me?


It's from a really long time ago, like two weeks. I had hair then. Since then I got in a fight with a lawnmover....and lost. Actually, I am quite the challenge for any barber. I don't really like to sit still. Especially if someone is hovering over me with a pair of scissors. The solution for a szuleim? Clippers.

I can't tell if it's more Demi Moore or Prisonbreak?

Either way I still have more hair than az apam.

Ain't nothing like a good book

I travel a lot in cars. For a while it drove me bunkers, but on my first birthday az anyam and az apam finally turned the carseat around to face front. That made it interesting for a while, but I still get bored every once in a while. Fortunately, I'm advanced for my age (as behooves the future world commander) and have started reading.



I now spend much of the downtime in the car reading some of my favorites - Anna Karenina, The Fountainhead, Five Silly Monkeys, The Catcher in the Rye, etc.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Monica.Strada/WalkingAndHairCut/photo#5088692491464719858

Of course, then there is the method of passing time I learned from Uncle Peti Bacsi.

When I grow up....

When I grow up, I not only want to rule the world, I also want to be like my cousins. They are pretty cool. I spent a lot of time during this last trip in Cleveland being like them and living up to their level of coolness.

They play really well together, so I played with them:

They know how to travel, so I copied their use of pack anim...I mean parents:

They take after their oldest uncle's great fashion sense, so I dressed the same as them:

What I really wanted to do was to move like them. These kids have some moves.

http://picasaweb.google.com/MatthewStrada/Export/photo#5088873672522145618

I wasn't able to perfect these moves while in Cleveland, but now that I'm home I'm doing pretty well.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Monica.Strada/WalkingAndHairCut/photo#5088690953866427810

Truffles

I miss hanging out with my cousins. We had a great time playing together. They are like older versions of me, except I like spicy food.

We played really well together. I think it was mostly because none of us could sit still for long at all. I would play with Sandor for 10 seconds and then I would play with Sari for 20 and then they would play together while I played alone and then the three of us would play together for 8 seconds.

http://picasaweb.google.com/MatthewStrada/Export/photo#5088132739123978050

It's a much more action-packed way to play.

Today's post has absolutely nothing to do with truffles, I just thought it was a good title.

Practice makes perfect

I've been practicing my walking a lot. Taking a few steps here and there. I've been careful to do it in baby steps. Not too much at once.

Az anyam and az apam call me lazy when I decide I'd rather crawl than walk. I consider it more of my being deliberate. Walking is like cold water, you need to ease into it.

http://picasaweb.google.com/MatthewStrada/Export/photo#5087763006864301858

This video is from over a week ago, my walking has improved since. Baby steps.

Can't you people take a hint

I'm a man with needs. I get hungry. When I get hungry I want food. When I want food I give signals. I found a subtle hint to get the attention of az anyam and az apam - whining. I started off with more subtle techniques like sitting in front of the fridge:

Sometimes I have to take matters into my own hands and make my own dinner:

http://picasaweb.google.com/MatthewStrada/Export/photo#5086648385541578498

I have learned that cooking works a lot better when there is actually food in the bowl.

Just one more night

I had a great time the last few days frolicking around in Cleveland with my cousins and Keresztmama. These are some big kids. Sandor and Sari are pretty big too, n.b. Sari, not Sarika.

We got to play inside and outside.

We had quite the birthday celebration and got some wicked cool toys, so we spent time playing with those.

It was such a good time that I didn't want it to end. So last night when we were supposed to fly home, I talked to a friend with some strings he could pull. He got my flight back canceled so I got to play with them for one more evening.

Getting my picture taken is as right as rain

The one benefit of living under the constant shadow of az apam's camera flash is when I have my picture professionally taken, I'm not overwhelmed by the experience. Although I must admit I find the entire process a bit odd.



First I'm giving weird props and told to act natural.


Then I'm given books and told to look at the camera.

The only saving grace is that I am soooooooooo cute, it just overwhelms the situation and wicked awesome pictures come shining through.

One thing better than food

Is food with friends. I am currently hanging with my cousins in Cleveland at Nagymama's house. My cousins and I celebrate birthdays within about a month of each other, so Nagymama knew we were coming so she baked a cake, baked a cake, baked a cake. Of course we helped.


It was a Cookie Monster Cake which was az apam's favorite when he was Sarika's age.

Not only was it yummy, it was decorative.

It was also good to make cool disguises.

I used the cake to paint my face like Tammy Faye Baker.

And I thought toys were boring

For a while I haven't been as much into toys as I've been into boxes and stuff I shouldn't be into, outlets, extension cords, pollonium-210, laptops, etc.

http://picasaweb.google.com/MatthewStrada/Export/photo#5085048783289049794

But then I got the mad-coolest contraption ever. Some may call it a toy, I call it a work of art.

Naked baby at the end of this posting

Sometimes when we have dinner I get a wee bit messy. Lately I've eaten a lot of meals with tomato sauce. I get really messy with tomato sauce. It's wicked fun.




http://picasaweb.google.com/MatthewStrada/Export/photo#5084067241527992994

Because of this messiness I take a bath after dinner every night. I haven't really taken to bathing in a pool yet, but I do enjoy the tub.

We're all naked under our clothes, or our kacsa torulkozok.

Cooking, yes indeed, I'm cooking

I really enjoy helping az anyam with her cooking. She makes all sorts of yummy things for me, so it's the least I can do. I am basically her sous chef. I will find a nice place to work on the floor out of her way sometimes, but usually in her way.

The key to being a good chef is having the right tools. Fortunately, I have a lot of tools at my disposal, but sometimes the right utensil is hidden and you've gotta go find it. Whether it's going to be a noisy effort or if it means crawling into the cupboards to get it, I'm willing to go that extra mile.

What the world needs now is entropy, sweet entropy.

Some say that sarcasm is the lowest form of humor. To them I say, "You are sooooooooo smart and sophisticated. Let me wallow in my low form of humor."



Unfortunately, my sarcasm is sometimes too subtle and nuanced, so I will spell it out. Today's blog posting title was sarcastic. Order is only good when I make it so. Chaos is what makes the world go round. Without disorder, we wouldn't have any fun making things orderly again.



Yesterday was a discombobulation day and I contributed in my own special way.






http://picasaweb.google.com/MatthewStrada/Export/photo#5082944351996081954

Today comes the real trick of getting the water back into the water table.

Busy, busy, busy

Being a one year old used to be simple. Back when Nagypapa was one year old, if you didn't get eaten by a T-Rex you were happy. If you were lucky, you got a few rocks to play with. If you were really lucky, you even got some igneous rocks.

Nowadays it's a lot more tiring and complex. We have things like buildings and balls and cars and electricity and all sorts of things that a youngster needs to absorb and understand.

The past few days I've been working on my dribbling skills, both with a ball and drinking.

I've been running. A lot. Around and around and around the first floor laughing and screaming at the top of my lungs.

I love to dance and sing. I'll get a song in my head and just start moving my hips and singing. I get stared at and pointed at sometimes, but az apam says I'll get used to it.

You're probably saying to yourself, "Self, why doesn't Mate just relax and not stress about that stuff? He's only making his life more difficult by putting pressure on himself to do all these activities." The answer is that when at the end of the day I get to sit down with a bowl of blueberries and some crackers, I feel content and happy that I've had a productive day.