Six months (and three days) old. Anyone feeling like a birthday party?

Hi. Maya's half-year birthday came last Thursday. It was a busy day, preceded by an urgent Wednesday, and a busy weekend. Hence, our commemoration three days late.

Her stats from her six month check-up with Dr. Rosa say she is now 26.5" tall and 16lbs, 4 oz (80th and 60th percentiles, respectively).

Dr. Rosa wanted to see some more weight on her, so we've now added some rice cereal to her diet. She was skeptical at first, then ravenous for it later. Today, I sense ambivalence. Hopefully she'll get excited about it later, though, because last night she clipped off 8.5 hours of continuous sleep, making it a very easy night for the sitters who came so that Amy and I could go see the Capitol Steps at the BCPA last night.

Maya would like to send the wishes she earned blowing out her 1/2 birthday candle to her Grandpa Aalberts' good health. Nana Aalberts called on Wednesday morning with the news Grandpa had had some chest pains at 1:00 that morning, which led them to the hospital and the discovery that Grandpa is in the need of a quadruple bypass in six weeks. Owen and I drove up on Wednesday afternoon, arriving shortly after Grandpa's angioplasty procedure. It was good to see him. He was a bit groggy and fairly uncomfortable, but in high spirits ... and happy to see his good friend Owen.

Grandpa is now home resting. And he's doing well.

Do send him your good thoughts over the next couple of months, though.

Owen and I drove back yet Wednesday night for a busy day on Thursday. Thursday night was the first show in the BCPA's Underground series, where we're using the ballroom in our building to create a club-style atmosphere and bring in more contemporary artists. I'm booking the shows. Our first artist was Ruthie Foster, an incredible talent who really set the stage for what this new series hopes to deliver. Give a listen to her music by clicking here to go to her MySpace page. You'll love it.

Last, but not least. Owen got into the birthday act by receiving the only significant gift of the week: A NEW BICYCLE!

O has long grown out the tricycle he was riding, and seemed to be coveting his good friend Phillip's bike, a very cool two wheeler with training wheels. Amy and I talked and decided it was time for him to graduate to this new kind of vehicle, so I went out and found one yesterday while he was napping.

When he got up, I ran downstairs and got the bike into position. I missed getting it on film, but this was his reaction when he turned to corner and saw the new bike: He opened his eyes really wide, put down his juice, and said "Wow. Wee!"

We had a great time riding yesterday (you can see how fast he was from the get-go) ...

... and today he rode it with us on our walk to the fire station.