Long Time Gone

Reid and his friend Owen share a joke as they get ready to take to the streets in the 2006 Halloween Parade extravaganza.

Sorry about how long it took to get us back on track here at Rizkerson LTD. We had technical difficulties and mission-critical extra-curricular activities for which we really didn't have time. That led to neglect in repairing/upgrading the precious piece of machinery that makes Rizkerson.com possible, the family's home computer.

All that has been remedied now, and I'm pleased to say that we are back in the picture-taking business with abandon. And what's that big blob on the left? Those are Sania's first two teeth. We're working on getting a better shot, but I seem to recall it wasn't exactly a cakewalk with Reid, either.

Here's something else entirely. Sania's level of mobility is reaching epic proportion. She is essentially crawling, though the normal one-leg other-leg business is often interrupted with confused leg-shimmying, as if even Sania's legs can't believe she has already mastered some forms of locomotion. I was in the process of documenting some of Sania's crawl-esque behavior when I had to check on dinner. Upon my return, lo and behold, Sania had followed the primordial yen of all Rizk children. She hid her head in a box.

We proceeded to play a great game which I call "Sania's in a box." The awesome thing is I just say "Sania's in a box" and Sania laughs hysterically. Then I seem to disappear from view and then surprisingly reappear. (Any resemblance of "Sania's in a box" to "Peek-a-boo" is coincidental.) The laughter is so gratifying, I'm barely able to stop playing to snap some pictures of Sania in the box.

Now many of you recall the halcyon days of Reid's head in various things -- trash cans, canvas bags, multiple shirts, mud -- and the big guy still gets into a little head-in-the-thing action now and again. But we can't be sure, just because Reid is a known practitioner of the head-hiding, that Sania learned it from him. I mean, he hasn't done it in a while.

Oh. There he is right down there with his head in something just the other day. Well. I guess that's how she learned it.

Anyhow, it appears that this blog somehow missed Halloween. We're really sorry about that. Like I said above, the computer was broken, and we have these two little kids, and one thing led to another and boom, December was right around the corner. Like tomorrow.

But there is so much to report. Sania has graduated from the humorous leg-dragging belly-crawl (like the flesh-less Terminator in the first movie) to the quasi-coordinated all-fours crawl that her brother never bothered mastering (he's a short-cutter). But it's not as if she's taking her eyes off the big mobility prize. She loves to stand, loves to have assisted walk-time, just can't get enough of that two-legged stuff. She will pull herself up on the couch, chair, box of legos, your legs, baby-gates, and everything else. She has mastered all kinds of two-leg-one-hand tripod moves, flopping more gracefully each time from an all-fours position to sitting on her bottom. But the maneuver still takes her by surprise. And the slight torso-twisting landing leaves her looking in a different direction than she expected. The expression of confusion, surprise and delight as she finds herself in a new spot in our little house is priceless.

Reid is doing great in his school. That shot above includes one of Reid's friends, Owen. Owen was Dr. Owen for Halloween. Reid was, predictably, Buzz Lightyear. The surging popularity in our home of non-Toy Story superheroes was a threat to Mr. Lightyear's dominance, but the impressive wingspan was enough to restore the costume's luster and -- at least until Halloween 2007 -- lock in Buzz Lightyear's popularity.

Halloween was warm and still. We went over to our old neighborhood to patrol the wide sidewalks and gather sugary loot. At the beginning, Reid needed a little prompting to say trick or treat and thank you. But as the candy started flowing, he got more and more into it, often closing the deal with a killer "To Infinity and Beyond!" though, admittedly, it sounded more like "To fitty...with barn!"

Sania's Halloween costume was a sheep. It was warm out, though, as I mentioned and her trick-or-treating activities were limited to hanging out in some friend's houses and breastfeeding while Reid and I hit the townhouse circuit hoovering up Snicker bars (for me) and pretzels (for Reid). Before we made it out to the big city, we suited up Sania and took some kitchen-floor shots with the big smile. Pure gold.

Funny story: Sania long ago transitioned from the tiny in-sink wash-basin bath to sharing a bathtub with Reid, though usually sitting in this little device that assisted in her not drowning. But sometimes bathing with Reid is too much of a chore (he gets a little wound up, haha) and we give her a bath down here in the other bathroom. For some reason, K thought it would be pretty easy to just bathe her in the sink, sans little blue wash basin.

Sania had other plans. She thrashed and splashed and sang and laughed and played and sloshed tons of water out of the sink. K was able to catch some shots of her in action, but was less well-equipped to actually plunge into the heart of the waterspout and wash the baby.

Sorry about the long span between postings. I hope this mega-download of pictures and writing helps make up for it. We'll be better now that we've invested in some capacity-building.