NSJ

Mary and Laurie are in town visiting this weekend. Saturday we headed down to Big Basin National Park to hug some Redwoods and let Sumo hunt in the woods.

and a sleeping pug…

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I can never get enough of that laugh.

Leave the boys home alone and things are bound to get out of control.

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Niko, Sumo, and I headed up to San Francisco yesterday. It is amazing the infrastructure that comes with a baby and a dog. It isn’t that it necessarily takes that much longer to put together, but it is a crap load of stuff.

Going to the city before Niko & Sumo

• Shower
• Grab jacket
• Find keys
• Get in the car
• Leave for the city

Going to the city with Niko and Sumo

• Find bouncy seat (where the heck did I leave it?), put Niko in the bouncy seat, bring it into bathroom, shower while making funny noises to entertain the boy
• Fill bottles with formula
• Pack a change of cloths (just in case)
• Grab a bunch of diapers
• Throw in a few toys
• Find Sumo’s leash
• Go back and grab pajamas for Niko in case we stay late
• Remember that Niko eats baby food now — go find peas and carrots
• Get a coat and hat for Niko
• Pack Sumo’s dinner
• Grab some treats for Sumo
• Find my jacket
• Get the baby bjorn for walking
• Collect a couple back-up pacifiers
• Gather all of it together, hook the dog (on leash) to my belt, grab the boy
• Walk out door looking like a circus clown juggling way to many things while Sumo runs in circles around us, wrapping the leash around my legs
• Get halfway to the car and realize I forgot the keys
• Wonder if it is illegal to put the boy in the car and then go get the keys in the house
• Decide not to chance it
• Stumble back into the house, find the keys
• Realize I can’t lock the door AND hold everything
• Wonder if I could just leave the door unlocked
• Decide not to chance it
• Put everything down on the porch, lock door
• Realize Sumo has escaped and is running down the sidewalk after a walker
• Chase down Sumo
• Get the boy into the car seat and Sumo into car
• Leave for the city

And all of that is with a pre-packed diaper bag.

We made it regardless and had a great day despite the fact that we watched the Michigan basketball team squander a lead to #1 Ohio State. In the evening we hung out with JJ and Sam at their house. Niko went to bed in their guest room while we had adult dinner.

Niko has to wear socks on his hands for our morning walk because I can’t find his gloves.

Jul headed out to Cape Cod on Friday morning for a weekend with her friends, so it is a all boys here in Mountain View. About seven minutes before Jul left for her flight, Sumo threw up all over the bed. I didn’t have time to wash him before work, so he wandered around Google smelling like throw-up. When people would ask, I’d just tell them, “Jul is out of town,” and they would nod in an understanding way. I’m not sure how to feel about that.

While Sumo and I were stinking up the office, Niko went to Google day care where he got to go on an afternoon buggy ride. He was in total melt down when I picked him up at the end of the day so maybe he isn’t into buggy rides. We stayed up way past his bedtime (because Mom isn’t here) watching bad TV. I taught him about the amazing world of infomercials and 80’s sitcoms. We also spent some time making fun of Fox News. I tried to teach him the irony of “fair and balanced” but given he doesn’t know what the actual words mean, I’m not sure I can expect him to appreciate irony yet.

What is amazing to me is no matter how late I keep him up, he always wakes up at the same time in the morning (5:15). I think this kid has the “most likely to not need an alarm clock” category locked up for his high school yearbook.

In honor of Mom being gone, Niko, Sumo, and I are wearing the same clothes Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Boys will be boys.

I needed to do some work out of Google’s Boulder office (to maximize in-person time with Mandy before her maturity maternity leave), so Jul, Niko, Sumo, and I headed out to Colorado last week. This was Niko’s fourth plane ride and the way out was a breeze. Mark and Mandy, ever gracious hosts, let the Johnston clan invade their house. Nicholas got to test drive the new nursery and support infrastructure for the soon to arrive Sladden baby girl.

They have a pretty sweet “stroller system” which I’m hoping Niko didn’t get used to. I think it actually had an espresso maker in one of the compartments. The nursery looks amazing and her bouncy chair and swing were Niko approved.

Nicholas now has enough back and hand strength to ride on my shoulders. He seems to think of my hair more as handlebars and less as “what little is left.” Fortunately his laughter more than makes up for the acceleration of premature balding.

If Nicholas had a label it would read, “baby boy, sleeping optional.” He continues to have no interest in shut-eye. We have a thousand book recommendations from parents, all of whose children “were sleeping through the night at three months.” I’m pretty sure they are just repressing that time period. I think Darwin makes us forget so we continue to have children. How else would we have survived as a species this long? On the bight side he smiles a lot, which makes sleep deprivation tolerable.

Niko (or Nic, as I call him when he is in trouble) was a total pill on the plane ride home. He wouldn’t sit still for even ten seconds. To top it off, about ten minutes from landing he decided to poop. Not any ordinary poop, but a gigantic super horrible smelly poop. We were in row five and I was worried about people as far back as row 20. I didn’t see anyway the passengers would survive the landing and taxi with the smell. So when the flight attendant took her last pass down the aisle, in an effort to save fellow passenger’s lives, I jumped up and ran to the bathroom in the front. (I imagine I looked like I was charging the cockpit, which in retrospect probably wasn’t all that smart.) I locked the bathroom right as I realized there was no changing table. Yep, that is right, no changing table. Picture an airplane bathroom. OK, now picture it with no changing table. Now imagine you are in a descent pattern into San Jose. Now recall the most horrible thing you have ever smelled. Then picture the most energetic five month old you know. Now put all that together.

You get the picture.

I ended up putting the seat down and changing him, with his sweater wrapped around his head to protect against any bumping. He seemed to think this was the most fun thing we had done all day. I remember at one point looking in the mirror, hands covered in poop, shirt covered in dog hair from carrying Sumo through security, Niko laughing, glasses fogged from the effort, and thinking, “I couldn’t make this shit up if I tried.”

More photos of Boulder.

Niko is right at that age where he fits perfectly in my lap. So we chat a lot, with him in my lap, and neither of us having any idea what the other is saying.

More laptime photos.

I am ready to officially declare that Niko is ticklish.