Archive for September, 2006

My Niagara Falls Photos

Friday, September 29th, 2006

I’ve received some nice comments on my little elephant photos site, so I’ve decided to whip up a couple of more microsites to feature my photography. Today, I’ll point you over to my Niagara Falls photos I took on my honeymoon in 2004.

I put my best seven (out of 50 or so) up there, including a couple of nice ones with rainbows. Check them out, and let me know what you think!

Holliston MCAS

Wednesday, September 27th, 2006

The early results for 2006 are in. Holliston ranks 63rd out of 337 school districts in 10th-grade English and 31st out of 337 districts in Math. This isn’t a huge difference from last year, so it’s unlikely to affect our home’s value.

Complete Holliston results are up on Boston.com. More MCAS results.

A rough day at the Tabblo offices

Wednesday, September 27th, 2006

Not a normal day for Antonio and friends: Sprinkler explodes in Tabblo’s offices. I feel bad for them; this will disrupt business for days, if not weeks.

But, I must give them huge kudos for having the presence of mind to record what was happening and make it into a Tabblo. Tabblo (the product) helps people tell stories; Tabblo (the team) used it to tell their own.

Best dog-food eating I’ve seen in a while.

Sadie is ten months old

Monday, September 18th, 2006

Sadie has hit double-digits. She has officially been out of her mother longer than she was in. Everyone’s happy about that.

I can often get good pictures when she’s gazing adoringly up at her mother.

Sadie looking at her mother

She’s enjoying her newfound mobility, going from zero to trouble in just a couple of seconds. The first floor holds many forbidden delights — the cat food, the pots and pans, the cord for the lamp, and especially the stairs.

I put her down in the kitchen while I sort the mail, and ….. she’s off!

Sadie crawling away

Her balance has improved markedly, though she still often goes boom. She’s now strong enough to pull herself up to standing.

Sadie pulling herself up

Once she’s up, she’ll see what she can find. Sadly for her, not a lot happens on the second step to upstairs.

Sadie standing

So, it’s time to come back to Daddy.

Sadie crawling towards me

Sadie’s not easily deterred. Sometimes it’s more fun to plow through obstacles that go around them.

Sadie crawling out of her exersaucer

Sadie’s christening our new furniture. Jordan’s Furniture micro-fibered, scotchgarded and saran-wrapped our new family-room set. We’ll see how well it holds up to a determined baby.

She’s cruising along. She’ll get herself up on one side of the couch and walk all the way to the other side, holding on to the couch along the way. She’s not ready to walk on her own yet, but she’s probably only a month or two away.

Sadie on the couch

We’re trying to teach Sadie the joy of reading. I read her a book each night before bed (with Goodnight Moon and the Very Hungry Caterpillar among her favorites). To foster her reading habit, we give her books she can flip through, or, you know, eat.

Sadie and her book

She also likes to emulate us, mimicking what we’re doing. For some reason, she seems to like holding the remote control. So, we gave her the Comcast remote to play with, or, you know, eat.

I can only imagine how happy Comcast will be to get their remote back.

Sadie and her remote

This is Sadie’s first real football season, so we’re teaching her the Patriots rules. When we’re watching the game, we’re watching the game; we’re not crying, we’re not talking about our feelings, we’re watching the game. She’s still working on it.

To help her feel more involved with the action, we’ve taught her how to get in the four-point stance and knock Elmo off the block.

Sadie is ready for football season

Little Miss 97th Percentile can crush all the other little babies. As you can imagine, she’s making lots of friends at daycare. She’s growing so fast, we’ve had to retire some of our gear earlier than we were planning. For instance, she has gotten a little tall for her pack and play.

Sadie is done with the pack and play

She’s eating some real food — applesauce, grapes — and using the sippy cup. Two months from now, she retires the bottle. That should be fun. She’s a little sad that she hasn’t gotten teeth yet. She’s been teething for months, but we have nothing to show for it but massive Orajel bills.

She’s starting to know the boundaries. I’ve said “No” more in the past month than in all my previous 34 years combined. She recognizes the “No” but still tests us every once in a while. She thinks she’s all stealthy. She’s not.

Along with that, she’s starting to have preferences. When she’s not precisely where she wants to be, she’ll fuss. From what I hear, this battle will only last for the next twenty-two years or so.

Alas. She grows fast. Still pretty cute, though.

Sadie

No, really, I’m going to start blogging again soon…

Monday, September 11th, 2006

I’m in launch mode at work, and we’ve got a ton going on outside of work. I will resume writing soon.

Maybe when I should be sleeping.

Maybe only in my dreams.

It’s been a while

Sunday, September 3rd, 2006

We’re still here, believe it or not. We’ve been straight out for the past three weeks, with a massive family-wide illness, a trip to New York and a vacation all bundled in.

Life returns to normal on Tuesday, and I will soon resume regular posting.