What We've Been Up To!

Sara's blog is one of the blogs I love to read.  Recently Sara wrote a post encouraging people to start blogging or blog more regularly.  It inspired me, so I'm going to try it.  

So let's start with where we've been for a month . . . . sick!!  Zackary started with a fever about the second week of February.  The virus triggered a terrible cough and ultimately involved getting the nebulizer out of the closet to help his breathing.  Of course he passed it on to everyone he loves!!   We're doing better now but February was a very long month!!

Here are a few recent pictures which I think are self explanatory.

Zackary is more independent than ever, I hear "not Mama help" a lot!

He is now 37 1/2 inches tall.  He weighs around 36 lbs..

"This is me's and this is you's" is another favorite phrase, which makes me chuckle everytime.

That's all for now . . . hopefully it won't be a month until I post again!

January Update

We went to the Fox Theater on Friday to see Elmo's Green Thumb - Seasame Street Live!  We both had a great time!  I bought him the Elmo spinner and he loved it!  The lighting is dim in the theater and the spinner lite up, so he had a lot of fun with it while we waited for the show to start.  I was glad it was a positive experience and not overwhelming for him.  Then at intermission they sold Elmo balloons and he looked at me and said "I want one" . . . unfortunately I don't have a picture, but the smile on his face made it worth the money.  All weekend, he's carried the balloon and spinner with him from room to room!!

 

 

A couple weeks ago, we started an indoor Lil' Kickers parent/child class on Saturday mornings.  It's a fun class and he is having a great time. 

 

This is one of his favorite games, to stack the cones and then kick the ball and knock them over.

There is so much more to say about my sweet little guy.  Just a few random thoughts to finish this post:

Today he thanked me for lunch and told me it was yummy (while rubbing his tummy) . . . he had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  It doesn't take much to please him sometimes!

He is going to speech class once a week to work on his annunciation problem and he is making terrific progress after only a month.

He always wants to be a helper, especially in the kitchen.  He can put the detergent tablet in the dishwasher, close the main door, and push the button to start it (with a little instruction on the correct button). He can open the refrigerator on his own now (I knew the day would come eventually).  His is fascinated by pushing the button to turn the light on and off and wants to sing the ABC's because he thinks the crisper numbers are letters!!!  I often hear "I need something" . . . but he usually can't find anything he "needs".

I can't believe how close he is to turning "3"!!!

 

Christmas Memories

We had a wonderful Christmas. This is just a brief summary of our two weeks of fun!

A couple days after Christmas we had a family outing to the Henry Ford Museum to see the Lego Castle Exhibit.

Enjoying the slide with Uncle Brian.

A photo opportunity near the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile. Zackary was a little unsure but cooperated very well.

He received a train table from Inny & Pop-Pop, he was thrilled!! Uncle Brian and Pop-Pop carried it down from upstairs, so when you ask him who gave him the train table, he says "Pop-Pop and Uncle Brian"!!

A look of determination!

Another favorite gift.

He loves books and received several great ones from Grandma Mary and Grandpa Will. I've read "How Many Bugs in a Box?" several times over the past week.

Christmas at our house on Christmas Eve. Santa brought him cars, which he had asked him for. We talked to Santa this year but he wouldn't sit on his lap. I didn't force it because it just wasn't worth the picture!!

Enjoying popcorn with Daddy a few days before Christmas.

Christmas with the Bedell family. Lauren helped Zackary open his gift. He got the fire engine from the Cars movie and he was excited (of course).

Enjoying a candy cane. Obviously he takes after Daddy because Mommy can't stand mint of any kind.

We've had a wonderful time celebrating this year. Each year adds more excitment as we see things through Zackary's eyes. Last night as I carried him into his room to get a bath, I said "you're mommy's cuddlebug" and he said "no, I'm not a bug"!! He makes us a laugh a lot and says so many cute things. We wish everyone a Happy New Year!!

Cousins

We were able to see cousin Luke last weekend (and his mommy and daddy too)!! The boys are only about 6 weeks apart in age (Zackary is older). Luke recently moved from California to North Carolina, so hopefully we'll get to see him more often.

Zackary got a truck that plays "Funky town" and he was dancing!!

Getting a good picture was a bit challenging!!

They share a love for cars and Luke was great about sharing his cars with Zackary.

Halloween (a little late)

Zackary and I went with Inny and Pop Pop to visit Auntie & Uncle Brian in October. We were there the weekend before Halloween, so we went to get pumpkins. Auntie helped me get some great pictures!

Since they live in State College (PA) we had to stop by the Nittany Lion for a picture. I have a lot of pictures with him looking totally annoyed . . . and then a bus went by!! He still loves buses!

Uncle Brian and Auntie were brave and let him fingerpaint his pumpkin . . . he LOVED it! I was a bit nervous getting him from the kitchen to the bathtub, but we made it without paint on the walls.

This was taken just after Zackary was covering Auntie's face with a pillow . . . he had so much fun with both of them.

Zackary was Thomas Who Who for Halloween . . . that's what he calls Thomas the Tank Engine. We went to Inny & Pop Pop's and then to church for trunk or treat. He did pretty well and quickly got the hang of it. Everytime some said "here comes Thomas", he would say "no, I'm Zack".

Daddy did a great job of carving the pumpkin. Zackary wanted nothing to do with cleaning it out . . . that was Mommy's job.

So Much Fun

Zackary loves to color and he is becoming pretty good at it (for a 2 year old). This morning he needed a little help getting all 24 crayons together, but then he had so much fun coloring with them all at one time. He does this at Inny & Pop-Pop's house but I think they only have a box of 8 crayons!! Note: Inny is the name he came up with for my mom about 3 months ago -- we're not sure where it came from but she loves it!!

Cuddling with Daddy!

The flowers looked a lot better until I stopped watering them a few weeks ago! Zackary decided to entertain himself while we carried stuff into the house from camp.

I bought this little statue a long time before I had a little boy . . . and he likes it because it has a doggy.

A Month In Review

So I'm not sure what my deal has been lately, but I haven't been motivated to keep up our blog. It's not that I haven't been taking pictures (I downloaded 175 tonight), it just seems like I never get around to it. Part of the issue is that Zackary takes 2-3 hours naps a lot of days, which pushes his bedtime later. This isn't a bad thing because we get to spend more time with him, but it cuts down on the usual activities I do after he has gone to bed (like updating the blog).

Today we went to a local Petting Farm. There were many different animals but the bunnies were the only ones Zackary would actually "pet". I think their size made them more appealing, plus he got to open up the doors to their cages and reach inside! What more could a two year old ask for.

We also went to the park. We're enjoying this park because it has a play set for 2-5 year old children. Zackary usually tells me to "sit" (on the bench) since he's comfortable playing on his own because everything is the right size for him! Works for me.

I hope to have this blog printed into a book (eventually) because since I'm already almost two years behind with Zack's scrapbook, I want this blog to capture the memories that I know I'll forget. So I took a few pictures of his favorite activity lately. He loves little cars and trucks. To the point where when we were leaving the house on Saturday he packed his basket (with cars) to take them along. It was really hard to convince him to only take four! I had put all the cars in a basket as a way to keep some order to my life. Now he uses it to carry them from the main floor to the family room (in the basement). It's the funniest thing to see him do this ritual. Along with playing with them, he spends a lot of time lining them up (as you'll see below). We don't mess with them when they are arranged like this. The day we had to open the front door and disturb the "parking lot" there was crying involved!

He is such a sweet little boy!

Paul got sick about two weeks ago and just started feeling completely better this weekend.

Zackary and I got sick as well. This was taken last Saturday morning when we were lying around in our pajamas.

A couple weeks ago he was dressed and ready for church in this cute outfit that he got for his birthday. He was fascinated with his reflection in the door, so he kept looking to the side.

The yellow band aid is Curious George and was put there to cover the minor imperfection on his ankle -- not really a boo-boo! Sometimes it is just easier than trying to explain!