Fall Fun

Now that Fall has really begun, I'm having some fun doing traditional Fall things with Zane. I picked up a small pumpkin at the store and showed him the joy of scooping out a pumpkin. I let him help me hold the knife, which was super exciting. We had a mini-meltdown about the variety of candle to put inside, but now all is well. We'll do another one soon which will last until Halloween.

I got all excited about enjoying simple Halloween crafts with him, and one night right before dinner I thought we'd have fun making ghosts out of tissues. In the past Zane loved a game where we wadded up a sock, so with much fanfare I got out the first tissue and said brightly, "First we wad it up!" And Zane started wailing "No wadding it up! No wadding it up!" He got so freaked out he had the open-mouthed silent scream sob going on for awhile. I was dumbfounded; my super fun derailed! I have no idea why. We finally got over that, started again, and everything was fine. We made three and Zane proudly presented one to Michael. Zane has been really sensitive lately. He'll be completely fine and then have a mini-tantrum about seemingly nothing. Luckily, they're mild and over quickly, but I'm always surprised! I have to admit I have a very hard time not laughing at him. Later we made three really big ghosts out of styrofoam balls and cloth, and those are hanging from our tree in the front yard.

We've continued to go to art class, and last week I actually managed to sustain Zane's attention for awhile. We were supposed to be making beads, but Zane just cut the dough with a plastic knife for 20 minutes while I made beads. At least he sat with me! Then we used paint and paper to make a print from a collage we had made in earlier classes. For some reason that was a hit, too. Zane is really into Thomas the Tank Engine these days, and Michael got him a little model of Toby, his favorite. Zane and I had fun making a train shed for him out of a box (after the weird freak out when I wanted to cut a door ...), and he slapped on gobs and gobs of paint while I drew train tracks and trees around the outside. I'm always happy with a good and useful art experience!

A random note: Zane has been really into puzzles lately. Whenever I get a new one he figures it out on his own in a few tries and does it over and over for a few days. We have a few that are too difficult, but he just gets frustrated with those. I wish there was a puzzle library! I guess since they are only a few dollars used, I'll just have to keep him occupied that way.

This weekend Zane started coming down with a cold. The weather was beautiful, and he didn't seem too bad, so Saturday afternoon we drove 45 minutes out to a farm. I had been feeling a bit guilty because Zane didn't want to go, but as I knew he would, he had a fantastic time. We saw ducks, ponies, sheep, chickens, and turkeys. We got to pet goats, chicks, ducklings, a young bull, and a rabbit that looked just like JoJo. There were fish, mice, and a lizard in cages. A hay tunnel, pit of loose hay to play in, a teepee, and a field of pumpkins rounded out the fun. There was more stuff, but we couldn't get it all in before closing, and we had to visit all of the baby animals twice. Zane was very gentle and calm with the baby animals, I think because of his training with JoJo. We came home with a pumpkin and probably a lot of poop on our shoes.

Today (Sunday) Zane's cold is really much worse. He's got a wet cough, a croaky voice, and not much appetite. He had a really long nap and woke up with a fever. I let him watch a lot of TV, and here he is watching Sesame Street and learning about bubbles and the letter B. He blew bubbles on his own for the first time! I also saw him trying to count along with the show, and that made me proud. What looks like a little mustache in the picture is just his latest set of scabs from doing another face plant on the sidewalk. He loooves to run!

I, too, am getting the cold and really need to get to bed. Enjoy this montage from the last fortnight!