Our unaware superstar

When Julian was 10 months old, my colleagues on the LeapFrog Baby brand team asked me to bring him to a photo shoot since the other babies, actual models, were crying.

He was in a terrific mood and different photos from the shoot ended up on three LeapFrog products, plus some internal sales materials. The products are finally on the shelf, so if you are a collector of all things Julian, go order yourself a Learn & Groove Alphabet Drum.

He can sign it for you when he learns to control a Sharpie a little better.

In the eye of the beholder... or Sunset Magazine

A long time ago, when Julian was a little baby, I responded to a post on the Berkeley Parents Network. The editor of Sunset Magazine's Great Baby Rooms book was looking for gender neutral nurseries to photograph for the next edition of the book.

Guess what? We made the cut.

There are two photos from J-dog's room in the book, which came out one year later. I am particularly proud of the first one because I planned and painted the stripes on his wall myself, and bought the monkey clock just before the photo shoot because it didn't seem quite finished. Who knew that "monkey clock" would become one of the first terms Julian recognized?


The upper right photo on the above page is from our house. The others are not.

I cannot find the book on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. It seems they only carry a previous edition. It is available at Allbookstores.net.


The lower right photo in the page above is from Julian's room.

(Paxton's room is also featured. But I am too lazy to deal with photos for sharing it with you.)

Subtitles required

If you're up for a foreign film, watch this video of Julian performing one of his favorite numbers.

Dressing my dude

Girl clothes are always cute. Boy clothes? You have to try a little harder.

I just discovered Jeeto (pictured here) and had to share. Here are some of my other favorite resources:

Tutti Bella | Little Boy Chic | Black Wagon

And, I must say, the current "School of Rock" collection at Old Navy is awesome. Julian was rocking his new "Rushmore" jacket this morning.

Mom-to-Mom Tutoring

Yesterday I had the thrill of watching my friend Sarah learn a critical parenting technique: Underdog.

If you don't know, Underdog is when you push a child on a swing and then duck under the child and run underneath the swing. The child squeals and asks for more. If you live in Berkeley, your child might even throw in a Baby Sign for "more". We have no idea how a less-than-two-year-old even knows to ask for Underdog treatment, but Sarah's daughter, Gabriella, was definitely asking.

Sarah turned to the crowd and begged for help. Rachael stepped up and showed her what to do. She literally held Sarah's hands in the correct placement and physically moved her through the motion. It was like watching a dad teach his child how to ski on the mountain. Rachael was a masterful tutor. Sarah practiced her new skill with ease and comfort.

I felt like a witnessed an important event, this transfer of knowledge. Is this what the village is for? Underdog?

Julian & Paxton

It's nice that they are so comfortable with each other...

Snip snip snip

Julian had his first professional haircut at Snippety Crickets this week.

Click here to see the results.

Here comes trouble

I made this

The person who runs Nest Studio, which is a children's art lesson studio in Australia, makes these cute little stuffed guys. She did the Internet a favor and shared a pattern on her web site. It took me about two hours total to finish.

Here's a link to the pattern.

If you read this site then you probably know me. I think it would be superfun if you made one of these guys, too and then we could trade. Let me know if you're in.

Mexican Vacation... The Videos

We stayed in a huge house with Doug and Sharon for 5 nights. The first video is Julian talking and being silly. The second is a tour of the house.