The use of tools

Last week I picked up Jory at daycare, and he was using a wrench to bang on a xylophone. It was a plastic wrench and a wooden xylophone, granted, but I was still impressed that he's learning to use objects in tandem - the use of tools.

Banging is basically the extent of his progress to date - including banging his toys against my face, which I don't especially appreciate as an improvement in his motor skills. You can see a little example of his progress in this video.

But we know that eventually our boy will be unlocking doors, painting pictures, and using his hands and feet in sophisticated ways, like his daddy does here:

We're going to the zoo, how about you?

Jory and Daddy went to the Palo Alto Zoo on Tuesday. On the plus side, the zoo is close, the exhibits are well maintained, and Jory got up close with the animals. However, it's not exactly huge. We saw the raccoons, bobcats, turtles, geese, rabbits, rats, and ferrets. And then we were done.

Jory got to pet a ferret (and yes, I washed his hands afterwards!)

The raccoons come right up to the glass, so I got this photo where it looks like Jory's hand is petting the raccoon:

In this photo, Jory is looking at the bobcat sitting in the shade:

Family dress-up

Jory got to spend an evening at a friend's house while KC and I went out for a date, so we all dressed up and took some pictures!

We need to learn to take the family photos before Jory has a chance to slobber all over himself!

Hand coordination

Check out the video - we're still working on that motor coordination!

Peas, please!

Two weeks ago the food of the week was peas. A friend asked whether I was buying the peas from the farmer's market and shelling them. My answer? A most emphatic no - frozen peas are good enough for our little gourmand. Actually, he doesn't really even like the peas, so I have to mix them with apples. I'm sneaking in fewer apples every week, hoping to trick him into liking his peas.

This week we decided to go Indian - and Jory does indeed like mangoes.

However, the thing he wants most in his mouth is mommy's iPhone ....

On the town

Jory's starting to get really worked up if we do something without him. Eating is especially problematic, because he gets enraged if we eat a meal and he's left out.

Last week we went to a bar to watch hockey, so of course Jory had to have something in the bar too:

 

The ground was littered with carrot sticks when we left. It was a bit embarrassing. 

Surface

Daddy just got a new gadget for work called the Microsoft Surface. It's basically a desk with a 40-inch display as the tabletop embedded with thousands of sensors that enables the desk to "see" what's going on above it.

I'm pretty sure my first application of the Surface was unique: there's a pre-loaded program that responds to motion on the table by acting like it's the surface of a pool of water. Jory enjoyed splashing around...

Note that the desk has a fast response when Jory's drool falls on it.