Peace At Last

I'm probably dooming myself by saying this, but things have been a lot better with Zane by the end of this week. Today he immediately went to sleep for his nap and woke refreshed. At night he asked to nurse and then to go to bed! No cajoling or telling him what was coming next. He was asleep by 8:15 instead of mumbling to himself or making demands until 9pm. There are still mini-tantrums about this and that, but I'm beginning to learn how to deal with them, and maybe so is he! Sometimes I even benefit from a tantrum. Tonight he threw his dinner cookies, after I warned him not to, and they went away -- right into my mouth! Yum.

Tuesday Zane and I had a visit to the doctor to check on more rashes, this time behind his knees. It is eczema, like on his hands. Zane just seems to have really dry skin, as he has needed various lotions here and there since he was born. On the bright side, maybe he won't have terrible acne as a teen! Zane was extremely upset about being at the doctors (and writhing and screaming), but we managed to get a rough estimate of his weight and height: about 34 or 34.5 inches tall and about 23.5 pounds. Those didn't get measured on his official charts, so I'm not sure about how he compares to other kids. A lot of his pants have gotten too short lately, so I know he's doing well.

This weekend has been pretty nice, but we've been fighting a bit of a cold here, and Saturday I was really struck low. Rather than trying to multi-task I just kicked back and chaperoned Zane's play, and that was actually kind of nice. Today I feel better but not awesome, so we did much of the same. This morning we all went out to brunch and on the way back to the car we stopped at the spray park and Zane got good and wet. I think the fun helped him fall asleep nicely for his nap. This afternoon we had lots of relaxed time talking with neighbors in the front and playing in the backyard with sand and trucks and the hose. In this picture he applies blue chalk to his belly like a Pictish warrior applying woad before a battle. I showed Zane the "jet" setting on the hose, and the little stinker purposely nailed me several times. Michael took Zane for a walk while I got some vacuuming done, then a nice dinner, bath, and early bed time. I can tell you the lack of bed time stress has made me feel pretty good today. I hope this is a sign of a return to more civilized behavior.