Nathan and the walk-by (video) shooting....

The sound of contentment...

Gingerbread houses at the Grove Park Inn

Mom took us to the Grove Park Inn to see the fantastic Ginger bread houses that contestants from all over the country send in to compete for the coveted "ginger bread house contest winner" title.

In all seriousness, the houses were remarkable (and the smell was delicious!) but I can't imagine anyone taking so much time to create one of these ephemeral creations!

Nathan's first petting zoo

No visit to Asheville should be considered complete without a visit to the Asheville Nature Center.

We were recently introduced to the center by my Mom, so we brought Nathan there to visit the petting zoo and see all the animals.

Nathan really enjoyed the goats, but spent most of his time screaming "moo" (total coincidence) to the very large and hairy cow (no one was allowed into his pen -- I guess his hair made it hard for him to see and he stepped on people?)

Nathan also screamed "caa caa" for most of the visit as well. Which was fitting, as there was plenty of that around.

We took a walk to the "bear" area (which was right next to the deer area and separated by only a chain link fence -- must have freaked the deer out for the first few months) where Nathan got very excited by the big furry beasts. I wish we had snapped a photo of his look of excitement (Alex saw it, I did not as Nathan was riding on my shoulders at the time!)

Nathan eats, acts, then exits stage left...

Thanksgiving with Debbie and Betsy

A Thanksgiving so nice -- we ate it twice!

6We visited my mom in Asheville, NC (we flew Delta -- our new favorite!) for Thanksgiving this year.

In order to make sure we had an opportunity to eat tooooo much (and to have time to thoroughly enjoy each other's company both at the table, and in the kitchen) we celebrated Thanksgiving "en famille" on its proper day, Thursday, and then again with my Aunt Debbie, and Aunt Betsy at Debbie's house.

What we lack in pictures we made up for in videos...which will be rolled out as time permits... Suffice to say that we had a fantastic time seeing everyone, and ate more than our share of turkey!

Nathan... and the case of the excess energy before nap time

Nathan loves the bath...

Walking at the Shakespeare Garden

This weekend was low-key. After a rainy Saturday used to catch-up on sleep, we ventured out on Sunday for a walk in the park.

Nathan practiced walking with Sam and enjoyed the beauty of the Shakespeare Garden in Golden Gate Park.

Nathan at the BMC Halloween Party

Nathan traveled all the way to Sunnyvale to show off his cool costume and was so happy to finally meet Alex S.

Alex hung out with Brian, while Nathan preferred Suzanne...

The Halloween Party

Monica, Bill, and Sophia invited us all over to their home for a halloween potluck. The kids and the parents all had a great time, and Maggie (the dog) managed to get out alive!

Nathan aime le fromage...

This weekend we were pretty busy... and Nathan tried lots of new things. Of particular note, and making his French parents extremely proud, is that Nathan ate some cheese!

It wasn't French cheese... but it certainly wasn't "American cheese" either!

He ate some fairly pungeant "Edam," and said "ummmm mmmm mmmm" the whole way through.

Way to go, Nathan!

Swinnnnnnnng, part deux

After snapping our photo of Nathan in complete terror on the swing last week, we showed it to our Nanny, Ana. She was surprised, saying that during the week she took him to the swings and he had loved them.


It turns out that she didn't actually push him in the swing... she just sat him down and let him gently rock back and forth. Whereas when I put him in the swing I gave him a big push and voila... a terrified baby appeared (Oh, Dad!!)

Yesterday we went back to he park to make amends. We started really slow and built up quite a bit, and Nathan had a swingin' good time!

Le premier tour de manège (the first merry-go-round)

Yesterday in the park Nathan had his first merry-go-round ride. He seemed to enjoy it, but I think he'll appreciate it more as he gets older.

Nathan a dit "non"

Nathan has been able to communicate with us for some time now.

Let's recap:

• "I'm tired" = long, ear-splitting scream
• "I'm wet" = long, ear-splitting scream
• "I'm hungry" = long, ear-splitting scream
• "I'm not hungry anymore" = long, ear-splitting scream + turning his head/grabbing the spoon and making a mess everywhere -- at least he doesn't spit food back out (yet)
• "I'm happy" = long, blissfully sweet silence (or even sweeter, laughter!)

His vocabulary has really picked up in the past few weeks...

Last week when Alex was getting ready to take Nathan out of the bath, Nathan began shaking his head violently from side-to-side, clearly telling us that he did not want to get out of the bath. There was some long, ear-splitting screaming which accompanied the gesture to hammer the point home.

More recently he has begun to accompany the side-to-side head shaking with the words "no na na no non no na no non nu nu nu" (or the like). Clearly wanting to imitate the sounds that we make when we say no.

If I can get a video of it I'll post it for you to see... non non non non non!

Nathan and Sam are published!

My photographer friend, Aurélie, had an article published about her work in the French quarterly magazine Paroles de Mamans in the september-october-november 2007 edition featuring Dads. There are two photos of Nathan and Sam taken by her last May on page 3 (photos 3 and 7, left to right and top to bottom).

Nathan and Alex in the Park

I took my camera to the park today to help prepare for an upcoming Paparazzo shoot. What better subject matter than Nathan and Alex!

Swinnnnnng!

Nathan is a real trooper and is willing to try just about anything.

But Alex and I think he might not be 100% on-board with the whole "swing" thing.

He's comin right at me!

Nathan the King. And quite a climber, too!

First ear infection (otite)

After a more than cranky Sunday, the doctor's visit on Monday confirmed that Nathan was not doing well because he had the start of an ear infection in the right ear -- from a cold gone bad, not from water getting in his ears like some people think.

The symptoms are not easy to recognize but we found that he was not sleeping as well as usual, he had a mild increase in temperature and a sad little face. Also, when having him in our arms, he would rest his head on our shoulder instead of trying to climb.

We started the antibiotics right away. He loves the pink goo and says: "humm" when he sees the spoon full of medicine coming his way.

8 more days of pink goo...

Oooh lez'animaux

As we were "persona non-grata" at our house today during the open house, we went to the San Francisco Zoo.

We thought the layout of the zoo was fantastic, and saw a few of the animals but most of them had already decided that they wanted dinner or a nap and were not available for viewing. We will definitely go back again, this time a little earlier.

Nathan didn't seem to mind, as he was just as interested in the people cleaning the cages or the wooden barriers separating us from the "wild" animals.

9 mois 9 kg

For his 9-month check, Nathan insisted that he weigh himself... by himself.

The stats came up to be: 9 months, 20 lbs and 29.5 inches (75 cm).

Sam the Frenchie

After a generous amount of paperwork, a letter of motivation, an interview in French, and a one-year waiting period... I received my French Citizenship!

We were all really shocked at how easy, relatively speaking, it was to get citizenship. As Robert said, "there is not a long line of clients."

The whole troupe went along with me to pick up my paperwork. There was no champaign or baloons (quelle tristesse!), only a print-out of the declaration des droits de l'homme and the Marseillaise (which I don't think I'll learn... it's a little scary). Robert and Linda invited us to lunch at our favorite international airport restaurant, "FireWood," before Robert boarded his plane to return to my "other mother country."

Vive la France, vive la republique!

Breaking the Fast with the Hartogs

The Hartogs invited us over the their house for Yom Kippur to break the fast with them. They had a beautiful table, and their house was filled with friends and family who gathered to join in the festivities.

After fasting all day, we ate our fill and drank in the wine and conversation. We had a wonderful time, and are looking forward to spending many more holidays with the Hartogs!