Brace Yourself

Elliot and Evan GO NUTS! from Weirhaus on Vimeo.

Mr Mom

Now that someone else is getting their diapers changed around here, Elliot has become very interested in the mechanics of parenting. Here's a quick guide:

Be prepared for heavy lifting.

Multi-tasking is encouraged.

Mom always makes it look so effortless.

Then there's the whole feeding aspect. Kind of a blind alley for Elliot.

Subject requires constant entertaining.

Explaining one of the more difficult passages of "Come Here, Cleo"

Advanced parenting exercise: mastering the Ergo carrier.

Parenting is no joke.

(BY THE WAY, I went all crazy and posted two blog entries tonight. Be sure to scroll down a few inches for a recap of Maisie's early summer.)

Maisie's Fourth Month: June to July 2010

Already tired of the rain? Wondering what happened to the Shortest Summer Ever? Well this flashback to June might help.. or it might make it worse, dunno. Anyway, let's check in on miss Maisie shall we?

Maisie has always been comfortable setting her own pace.

Steeeeaaaak....

To be fair, she drools just as much for books, shoes and fingers.

Going along with it.

Meeting new friends is exhausting (sling time with Jada and baby Leora).

Godmother time.

Flashback Week: Maisie Sleeps Through her First Wedding

For our fourth entry this week (that's right, count em up! ) Blog Marathon 2o1o is taking a quick look back to Sharon and Maisie's Memorial Day weekend trip to San Francisco for Tamara and Phil's wedding.

While Portland lay submerged under record rainfall, paddling helplessly as a Mosquito Army plotted invasion, San Francisco was sunny and gloriously warm,

...perfect weather for weddings and chubby baby legs.

Maisie with Marc, her host for the weekend (ed: no photos with her Uncle Grant?!)

Oh driver, take us to the wedding!

.

She slept through the salad, and all subsequent courses.

She slept through the toasts and the speeches.

She slept through the dancing.

Flashback Week: Elliot's Second Birthday

Blog Marathon 2010 is humming along, making a u-turn back to April 30 for Elliot's birthday.


How old are you today, Elliot?
"Doo!"



I: Loot

Elliot's birthday fun began with a visit from Uncle Grant...


...who gave Elliot an iPhone!



Just kidding, but there were puzzles and trowels...


.. and books and vintage tractors.






II: Danger - A Trip to the Children's Museum


It's interesting: Elliot had a really great time at the Children's Museum, but looking back at the photos three months later, everything seems off (I wanted to add "like a portal into a dark and tragic future," but that sounded a bit much).


Out of context:
Hypothetical Future: training for a lifetime of manual labor.


Keep digging, Weir.

Hypothetical Future: Hey Weir, those crates aren't going to drive themselves to Wichita. Have another benny.


Hypothetical Future: trapped in another terrible M. Night Shyamalan movie.


Will they ever let me leave the treehouse?


Hypothetical Present: Can brooding teen angst set in at two?





III: And then the room started spinning


Later in the afternoon we met up with some of Elliot's friends for frozen yogurt at Swirl.


Elliot hangs with the modern art crowd.



Everything was swell until someone told Elliot he could eat the waffle cone.



That's when birthday madness set in.



By the time Aunt Gretta dragged him out of Swirl, he was ready to call it a day.


IV: A Portent

But he still had one more present to open.


Elliot was feeling the pressure. How much would he have to practice? Did he have the patience to stick with it? What would his friends say? Would he really have to listen to Jethro Tull?


Thinking further ahead, how was he going to find time to record a followup to his band's critically acclaimed third album when his groundbreaking cancer research was finally beginning to yield results?

Trust me, I've watched the wheels turning in this kid's head. I'm pretty sure that's how it's going to happen.

Flashback Week Continues: Maisie's Third Month

I really wasn't kidding yesterday when I said that I'd be posting several catch-up collections while in LA. Here's a quick look back at Maisie's third month, from mid-May to mid-June.


Daughters of the Soapbox Derby (click here for some context)
L-R: Liz (Charlie's younger sister); Maisie; Lydia (Evan's younger sister)




May is for neck exercises.



Elliot lets Maisie in on the finer points of having one's nails trimmed.


Maisie's not amused.


Our little bear cubs.




Maisie and Julie (pre-Amelia)


Dressing up for a wedding (Mom made those shoes, by the way)



This is pretty much how every photo shoot went for a while:

We'd get Maisie set up for the photo, she'd give us a nice smile,


and then Elliot would dive into the frame.


Chilling on the couch with mom..




A boy and his cooing burrito.


Okay, now what?




The sun returns!


Hi, I'm three months old!