Scarface

The big news this week is getting Zane's stitches out and bandages off. It turned out to be complicated. We went in on Monday morning to have the stitches removed, but when the top three stitches came out the wound started opening up again. He quickly got the top taped up, and the bottom stitches were left in. On Thursday morning the rest of the stitches came out and he was taped up again for just a few days until the tape came off. We were pretty disappointed by all of this because we worry that the top of the wound will not have healed so nicely as it could have and the bottom of the wound might get the railroad look of stitches being left in too long. In the end, it looks like the wound is pretty evenly healed, so all will be well. For the next 8 weeks I'll be rubbing in some scar stuff four times a day. It will take years to fade and never go away completely. It's just part of the New Zane!

The weather in Seattle has really been depressing lately. Cold and rainy every blinkin' day. Wednesday we took another trip to the aquarium as Zane can never have enough of the fish. It turned out to be spring break this week, so it was full of kids. Zane actually likes that. He spends a lot of time peering at kids and silently playing with/near them. We burned off a lot of energy and got to see the otters and fur seals vigorously swimming. The river otters were awake for the first time ever, but for some reason Zane didn't want to see them. Thursday afternoon we were home after the doctor appointment and actually got some good half-sunshine time outside with Zane's bicycle and in the sandbox. Saturday was cold but not raining, so I bundled us up and we got on my bike (Big Bikecycle) and headed out to a park for some walking, airplane and boat spotting, and dog watching. We came home pretty chilled and I gave Zane his first hot (lukewarm) chocolate. He decided it was "gone" when the marshmallows were gone.

Zane is still having a growth spurt, and his brain has ramped up, too. This week we noticed he is really beginning to nail down his colors. We have a color coded shape sorter he hasn't used for a while, and Michael got it out today. Zane was a wiz at it all of a sudden. He has also started to understand counting and has correctly identified "two" of a few things without any prompting.
Today I showed him a picture of three apples and asked him how many -- I've never asked anything remotely like this, it was just an experiment. He pointed to each apple and said "One. One. One." I can't say he was wrong!

He's also been shouting in his dreams lately. One night I heard "Dolphin!", and another night he said "Airplane!" over and over until Michael said "Shhhh -- night night!" I don't think Zane was awake for either shout.

We've been battling a cold this weekend, and Zane has been tired and cranky but not at his worst. I need to sleep, though, as I feel like I'm fighting it off. Night night, sleep tight, snug as a bug in a rug, and sweet sweet dreams!