Dylan smiles

In contrast to Ava, who smiled within hours of birth (and has barely stopped since), Dylan took about three weeks to bust a gummy smile on us. Now, at 11 weeks, he's a smiling machine!

Sent from my Nokia phone

Amnesia day at the park

Seattle is in the midst of some unseasonably warm spring-like weather. It's the kind of day that makes Seattleites forget the weeks and weeks of gray, wet dreariness we've endured.
That sound you hear is my head buzzing from the effort not to explode with giddiness in this sun. Ava and Dylan are pretty stoked too.

Daddy - son bonding

We're at West Seattle's Cactus restaurant - one of our favorite spots. I like that it's kid-friendly, meaning that they automatically bring our toddler water in a lidded cup w/a straw and a coloring page w/crayons.

Conversely, I can always tell when a server at other eateries are not used to kids because they fill a tall, unstable water glass right next to the edge of the table and in easy tipping range of Ava. Sigh.

Just realized it's Valentine's Day. We don't partake, preferring to express our feelings at other random times during the year. As @babdbanana said on Twitter: Valentine's Day is simply a Hallmark tax on the married." Exactly, and since St. Valentine isn't doing audits, we'll pass.

I'm with Ava & a sleeping Dylan at a mall play area, AKA germaphobe hell. Shudder to think what this place looks like under a microscope. Ah well: builds immunities, right?

Ballard Locks visit

The whole family headed out for "an adventure" today at the Ballard Locks. Everything, even trips to Home Depot for mundane items, sounds more exciting to Ava when described as "an adventure."

Not being up on my fish life cycles, I didn't realize they're not spawning and thus not moving through the locks this time of year. Somehow I've grown up here and not keyed in to this fact, even though it makes perfect sense. I'm just used to fish and seafood being a year-round thing here. Maybe in the grocery store but not in the wild.

Dylan was his usual mellow self and Ava enjoyed the trip, although she was a bit freaked out (as were Jason and I) by the narrow, slippery walkway over the rushing water from Lake Washington mixing with water from the Sound, which is visible in the picture.

We'll be back in the summer and fall when there are actual fish visible in the fish ladder.