Julia Pequlia

It's Wintertime!

2012-01-18T13:47:00.000-08:00

It was a little strange reading all of the books at Christmas time with snow in them since we live in such a snow-free area. Today we finally got snow in Ballard! Zane was outside saying, "It's wintertime!" There has been snow in various places since Saturday, but today (Wednesday) is finally our day. Luckily it wasn't my weekend to work, and with the MLK holiday in there I haven't had to be anywhere. Tomorrow we go back to daycare and work, and the snow is suppose to have turned to rain. We'll see.

The snow was still coming down and blowing sideways, but I was afraid if we waited until later it might turn to rain. I bundled Zane up in lots of pants and socks and shirts, found his winter boots from last year (which still barely fit), and bundled us up. Zane was very excited to get pulled around in the sled and was almost bouncing off the walls. We spent about 45 minutes outside with me pulling Zane around up and down the sidewalks. For some reason he kept chanting "Miles and miles and miles..." as I trudged along. I accidentally dumped him out of the sled a few times which was not well received, but otherwise he seemed totally fine. I finally had to make him come inside to get warm. He kept saying "One more time", and threw a squirm fit when I made him come in.

But then we got to have the snow day reward of hot Ovaltine milk and warmed up brownies! I threw all of our wet stuff in the dryer in case we went out again, and we had a wonderful snack while watching the birds at the suet feeder on the porch. After our long break Zane decided to stay in and watch a new kids nature video instead of going back out. I was pretty pleased with that as I was still cold! After nap time it will be getting dark already, but we have a date to go next door and play with a grandmotherly neighbor. As long as the commute is good tomorrow, I'll be well pleased with our wintery break!

Now I can look forward to spring (maybe). I few days ago we picked up a broken branch from a tulip tree, and thought I'd bring it in to see what it would do. During a sun break yesterday it looked particularly lovely in a stark way.

Zane has had a growth spurt during the last couple of weeks. Some shirts are starting to be too short in the arms, but his pants look about the same, so I think he bulked up a little more than he grew up. Maybe that will happen next week. His paper diapers are all of a sudden too small, too, so I got the next size up. His everyday gDiapers still rock, though! Those are the best.

I keep hoping for toilet training in our future. Zane likes his new ladder potty, but lately when I put him on it he complains that the seat is cold. Our bathroom is often very cold as we have no ventilation and keep the windows in the master bedroom/bathroom open for several hours a day. I can't blame him for clamping up when I bribe him onto the potty! I guess spring weather will be better for this. Meanwhile, I can dream!

Happiness and New Year

2012-01-05T21:15:00.000-08:00

Sorry I'm a little late with this fortnight's post. Just procrastination.

We had a really wonderful Christmas. We made a batch of candy cane sugar cookies and had fun sprinkling them liberally with colored sugar, silver sprinkles, and candy eyes. Zane had an awesome sense of eye placement and sugar layering. My favorite cookie was a heart shaped one we left out for Santa on Christmas eve. He got to experience the electric mixer for the first time, and that was a big hit. No licking the bowl these days, though, since salmonella is a possibility. I had a bit of trouble with the chaos and absolute mess, but I think I hid it well enough for Zane to miss!

I wasn't sure how to introduce Santa, as I felt uncomfortable initiating the lie, but checking Christmas books out of the library ended up taking care of that. Zane learned about Santa, and when Michael asked him if he'd like to go see Santa, Zane said yes. I hadn't planned on "doing Santa" as I thought he would be too young to be interested, but since he said he was interested, out we went. I took Zane to the mall on a Tuesday morning the week before Christmas, so there were no lines of kids or shopping chaos. He was somewhat interested in Santa, and we did some pass bys, but Zane couldn't actually look at Santa close up let alone sit in his lap. He did keep asking to go back and look, though! Luckily, I didn't have my heart set on any cute photos, I just wanted Zane to have a Santa experience. I think Zane had more fun looking at knives in Excalibur and cute erasers in the Japanese store. We enjoyed the mall and had pizza in the Food Court which was just as exciting for Zane as anything.

As Christmas approached and Michael and I wrapped presents one evening, we realized to our horror that Zane was going to be spoiled beyond belief. It was so easy to get a little present here and there, and then hide them away. Oops!

On Christmas day we set up the camera and Zane came upstairs. He was very subdued! He didn't shriek or jump around, he just smiled and enjoyed his loot. The video is a little too dark to post. By the time naptime came around, the presents were so exciting, and there was so much sugar in his system that he had a complete naptime fail. First time ever without a nap all day! I learned my lesson to not leave any toys out on the floor of his room at nap or bedtime, and he went to bed with visions of trains dancing in his head. I think the highlights for him were his tool bench, his Thomas trains, and his four pack of chapstick. He kept saying "My own chapstick!"

To get ready for new Christmas toys I had finally moved my computer upstairs and set up a table for Zane and moved some of his toys into his room. Now he has his very own room! I still need to move the big bookcases and my desk out of there, but it's coming along. Zane seems really pleased to have his "new" room. It actually looks pretty big when you look at it with just him in there! So now we have transition to toddler bed in his own room and gotten rid of the crib. We transitioned to a booster chair at the table and gave away his high chair. We've also mostly ended any nursing by switching to storytelling before bed and nap times. Zane loves the stories of a boy named Zane who finds magic colored keys which run nearby heavy equipment. He's even begun telling stories back to us.

His brain has been making some new connections, and all of a sudden the questions have begun. What's that? Why? Why? He keeps asking why until I just can't explain things anymore. At least How hasn't cropped up yet.

I'm not sure if Christmas has been the problem, but Zane has had a bad case of the re-curring whineys. He's been waking up somewhat erratically and often too early in the morning; when I ask him why, he says he wants to play with his toys! The new room and the new toys are cool, but a little too exciting. Then he is tired and easily breaks down or gets manic. He's been especially cranky about food. I had to give myself a timeout one evening when he refused to eat, and I wanted to throttle him. I resolved to thereafter provide food and he could eat it or starve. I broke my resolve a bit in that I will still spoon food into him if he's receptive, but no more elaborate efforts to distract him in order to feed him, and if he refuses to eat, I just stop and enjoy my own food. This has so far not resulted in Zane taking more responsibility for eating, so some crankiness is no doubt from being hungry. I got a new clock for him which simply says whether or not it is time to get up. Zane seems to have understood this right away, and I think it is helping him know if it is the dark of night or the dark of a Seattle winter morning when he wakes up. I'm hoping better times are on the horizon. Now that we are heading back to our regular schedule, I think things will get better.

Zane has been sad to take down the Christmas decorations, but I'm looking forward to a little bit of "normal" life!

Christmas Is Coming!

2011-12-17T14:39:00.000-08:00

Christmas is coming, and the excitement is ramping up! A few times Zane has said, "Christmas is coming!" with excitement, but I think he's really just parroting someone at daycare since he doesn't really know what's coming.

We borrowed a neighbor's wagon a few weeks ago and walked to the produce stand to buy some garlands and wreaths. I put those up outside with some lights. About a week later Zane helped me put lights up in the living room and we hung our stockings. Zane was excited to find a little box filled with extra lights, so I let him replace a burned out twinkle bulb. I have white lights, but Zane found a blue one for the replacement. Now we can look at the lights and know exactly which one Zane put in! We also experimented with the flashing lights mode, but I told Zane that Daddy and I wouldn't like it. Zane said he did, and he also told me that JoJo liked them flashing. Zane and JoJo got out-voted.

We've been reading Christmas books, so Zane has an idea about of Christmas trees, Santa, and stockings. When we put the stockings up I explained that Santa would put presents and snacks in them. Zane got concerned and declared that he did not want snacks in his stocking. Before we hung them up he had tried to wear his stocking and JoJo's, so I think the idea of putting food in his socks was off-putting. He has now come to the agreement that chocolate is allowed in his stocking.

This past Tuesday we again borrowed the neighbor's wagon and trucked to the produce store to get our tree. We picked out a nice little 4 foot tree and got it wrapped up skinny for the ride home. The tree man gave Zane a candy cane to eat. I had brought a pillow and a blanket, and Zane was quite comfy all tucked into the wagon with the little tree. I tried to get a Christmas-card-worthy picture, but it just didn't happen. Wednesday morning we had a very fun time putting ornaments on the tree. JoJo got very excited by the tree and ran circles around it and jumped for joy. I'm not sure if she just loves the tree or perhaps there is lingering Bijou smell on the skirt. JoJo has been having afternoon naps under the tree. There's lots of space there as there is no way we can put any presents out before Christmas this year.

Zane has doing a great job of being a big boy. There have been absolutely no requests for the crib, and I really need to get rid of the thing somehow (drop-sided cribs are banned, so I may have to toss it). I'm looking forward to moving my computer out of Zane's room and into the "master" bedroom so that I can have nap-time access again. Zane loves that the room is now mostly his, and he asks to go downstairs a lot. We had just one week of Zane sleeping until 7 or 7:30, and now he's back to his regular 6:30. Must have been a growth spurt, probably in his brain. There has been a marked increase in whining as well as questions. "What is that?" "Where is it?" "Why did you say Whew?" I love the questions, but I could do without the whining. I try not to let him get by with it, but I can't always take the time. He also has accepted that he is ready to part with his highchair. The highchair is convenient, but Zane only wants to sit in a booster chair these days and so the highchair just takes up space. I have a very deserving taker for it, so it is going to a good home.

The Cooking Show

2011-12-03T17:10:00.001-08:00

My Mom has been here for almost 3 weeks and left early this morning to return to Maine. We sure miss her already! Zane was very lucky to have a lot of time with her during the visit. They did several baking and cooking projects, and Zane started to enjoy looking through the cookbook. One day when he and I were looking through a Natural History magazine article about bugs people eat, Zane said he wanted to try some. I said I didn't know how to cook them. Zane said I needed the cookbook and came back with the Joy of Cooking! There were no bug recipes in there, though, unless you count lobsters and the like.

I enjoyed the luxury of having someone else make food and clean up! It was also nice to have someone else share our meals, as Michael is usually on a different schedule. I am very uninspired when it comes to food, so I am particularly anxious about this aspect of parenting. Zane generally ate better for Grandma than for me, and I think this is partly due to better food and partly due to knowing he can yank my chain a bit.

We worked a lot on booster seat and table skills (i.e., sitting still and actually eating) and saw a lot of improvement. Most amazingly, one night we had out chop sticks and Zane wanted to try them. I showed him how, and within one minute he had twice successfully maneuvered eggs into his mouth! His grip was all wrong, but he did it with one hand! Later on Grandma showed him how to use a fork to help with cutting, and he caught right on to that, too. Earlier in the same week he suddenly began to use scissors with one hand when before he had been using two. Some major new coordination synapses are firing now! I know some other developmental stuff happened, too, that I can't remember ...

Back to baking. For Thanksgiving we went to my father-in-law's house, and Michael's sister and niece did most of the cooking. Super delicious! We were in charge of pies as usual, and this year Zane helped Grandma make an apple pie. On another day they made pretzels and he really got into the kneading and did a great job of painting them all with eggs. The final project was oatmeal cookies, and I think those were my favorites.

Now that Christmas is coming, I hope to do some cooking projects with Zane. At the very least, sugar cookies with colored sugar sprinkles. Maybe also some gingerbread people, and maybe some sort of bundt cake for Christmas Day. We also need to do pancakes one of these days just because those are so easy. Maybe those for Christmas, too!

Christmas should be really fun for us this year. Tomorrow Zane and I are borrowing a neighbor's wagon and going to the local produce stand to buy some wreaths and garland. We'll go back in another week or so to buy a little tree. I think I need to go through all of the decorations sometime during naptime so that I only show Zane the ones he can put on the tree. No use showing him the pretty, sparkly glass ones and then saying "no."

We've had a number of fun adventures lately. Zane and my Mom and I took a bus to Seattle Center, hopped on the monorail to Westlake, looked around there for a while, rode the carousel, monorail back, then looked at the mini-train exhibit in the Centerhouse, and then back home for lunch. I had hoped to also throw in a carriage ride, but the horses turned out to not be around until the afternoon. All of this cost us about $10 for all of us! Zane and Grandma went on their own on the bus to the aquarium and Pike Place Market one day, all for just a few dollars including lunch. Today Michael and Zane and I went to the Greenwood firehouse's grand opening. The line to sit in the truck was too long, but we still got to see it up close, and we got cookies and a hat!

Zane had a checkup at the end of November, and while he is still on the small size, he continues to be healthy, so we don't have to go back until he is 3. His head is in the 90th percentile, though! Past visits have been very stressful, so this time I prepared with reading about doctors and getting Zane a doctor kit. Zane claimed he was no longer scared, but on the actual day, sigh, it seemed to have no effect. Oh well.

I can think of nothing more! Enjoy a video of pretzel making. When I get photos from Mom's camera, I may post some more.

Domesticity and a Little Crunch

2011-11-15T21:46:00.000-08:00

For some reason I have a whole bunch of pictures of Zane being domestic this week. I think it is the gloomy weather keeping us inside. Above we have Zane hosting a tea party using parts from Grandma Gibson's golden samovar; guests include two monsters and the Rabbit of Caerbannog (partially hidden).

He likes to use the "blue soap" in the kitchen. I figure it's a great way to keep things like the floor clean (although his tray gets washed after).

We've also been getting domestic with some garden chores. The leaves are coming down and Zane has actually been a help with raking and sweeping. He needs to come to grips with the untidiness of nature, though. One windy day he ran a far distance up the sidewalk shouting "No! No!" while chasing individual leaves that were blowing away. We planted a bunch of crocus and snowdrop bulbs in a part of the lawn that stays pretty short late in the spring. Even though we read a book on bulbs, I'm sure Zane has no idea what we were doing. The digging was fun, though! I hope he remembers in the spring so I can remind him that he helped with the flowers.

Since Halloween Zane has asked to go Trick-or-Treating several times. That sure was a big hit of a holiday! We're still working our way through his chocolate bag, so that helps keep it in mind. I'm really looking forward to how much he'll enjoy Christmas this year.

I finally caught sight of Zane's first two-year molar. He says it doesn't hurt, and in fact informed me that he doesn't want new molars. I let him know they come anyway, and then he can eat more stuff! I am finally sure that he really has been doing some growing lately. I've had to put away some pants and un-hem others. I recently raided a stash of donated clothes and was able to pull out more pants that now fit him, although that means a new round of hemming. Zane has a checkup on Monday, and we've been reading books on doctor visits to try to make this one go better than the last several. For some reason Zane is scared of being measured, although I'm not sure why. Maybe if Grandma comes, too, it will help.

My Mom will be here tomorrow night! Yay! I can't wait for Zane and her to re-meet, and I can't wait to visit with her myself.

Today on the way to swimming Zane and I were rear-ended at a stop light. It was quite a jolt, but the damage to the car is extremely minimal. Zane and I seem to be fine. Mostly it's a pain in the butt for me in terms of documentation and claims and getting my car checked out. Just this morning I was telling Zane about car crashes because of an article in the newspaper. And then about 20 seconds before our accident he asked to stand up to see something and I was explaining to him why we need to sit tight in our seats with our seat belts. And then BAM! Very startling. Zane was not scared, but did seem a little bit wide-eyed about it all. We talked about it and how the man was not bad, it was just an accident, and when you make a mistake what is most important is what you do afterwards. He said he wanted to go home instead of swimming, but we went ahead anyway and had a wonderful time. Hopefully I don't wake up sore tomorrow.

I will leave you all with the wonders of modern science. A vacuum cleaner a toddler can use! Now Zane can start earning an allowance.

Halloween!

2011-11-01T21:59:00.001-07:00

This year was our first trick-or-treating Halloween, and it was a blast! Zane loves his bumble bee costume and had already worn it to daycare and to the library for a special story time. We've been looking at the neighborhood's decorations for weeks now, and I had been promising Zane that on Halloween night we could go and look at them all up close. I was so afraid he would refuse to go at the last minute and I would be disappointed, but he took to it like a duck to water! We went from house to house all around the block at a trot. Zane loved all of the decorations and was not freaked out by any scary things. He especially like the mechanical things and spent a long time looking at them from all angles and checking out the backs to see how they worked. He took only gentle prompting to say Trick or Treat and then Thank You at each house. I'm so proud of him! After each door he said, "Next house!," and pulled me along. The houses on one side of the street have pretty steep stairs, but he chugged up and down them all doggedly. When we finally got back home he said he wanted to go around again! It was really fun, and because there are so many kids in the neighborhood the sidewalks and doorways were full of people we know. It was like a nice small town holiday.

When we got home we did the traditional evaluation of the loot. I let Zane have one lollipop and some candy corn. He had been going like gangbusters outside, but suddenly crashed and just lay on the kitchen floor eating his candy corn. He didn't actually fall asleep, but I've never seen him lie on the floor like that without a fever. I think climbing all those stairs took their toll! He rallied, though, and didn't fall asleep until later than usual. The candy bag is hanging from a plant hook near the ceiling for doling out one piece per evening. Michael said it looks like I hung it high to protect it from bears. It's the only place I could put it where Zane could still see it but not get into it.

For some reason this evening Zane kept saying he was scared and needed a hug, but he couldn't say what he was scared of. I think he was figuring out what the word meant. He probably heard it a lot in the last week. We had also been talking this morning about getting measured at the doctor, and he said he was scared of that, which is true. We have another weight check at the end of the month, so I think it's time to start practicing being weighed and measured and time for some books from the library on doctors, too.

Tonight, though, he was very brave in saying he wanted to sleep in his own little bed for night time! He's been having naps there for a couple of months now, but I haven't tried nights yet. My plan is to wait until after my Mom's visit over Thanksgiving, since she will be staying in the room which will be Zane's. He almost managed to fall asleep in his little bed in his own room, but in the end asked to go back upstairs to his crib where he fell asleep in just a few minutes. It was totally his idea to try it, so I'm very pleased with him. After Thanksgiving I'll try to make the room more his, and then work on getting him to sleep there for good.

We finished our series of art classes, and in the end we got some nice stuff to keep. I didn't sign up for the next series as Zane just wasn't that into it. So we've got some extra time. This morning we went swimming, and tomorrow we'll head over to the zoo.

Last week we cat sat for some neighbors. They invited us to play with all the toys they have for their grandchildren. While we were there I came across a jump rope and showed Zane what it was for. He thought it was great and tried to do it. It was pretty funny, so I got him his own and he did a nice repeat performance for the camera.

I believe that's it! Next up will be my Mom's visit in the middle of the month, then Thanksgiving! I think I'll try to get in some baking with Zane.

Fall Fun

2011-10-16T21:11:00.000-07:00

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!

Same Ol' Same 'Ol

2011-10-02T21:24:00.000-07:00

Life has lately been moving along sedately with no new amazements or terrible tragedies. Pretty comfy, really! We've made some more trips out to the aquarium, science center, zoo, and local parks. I'm trying to get us outside a lot before the rain starts.

We started art classes at the local community center. I had visions of sitting with Zane in a delightfully chaotic craft room while we gleefully slapped around paint or clay together. Instead we are in a room where we really can't make much of a mess, and Zane gets antsy the minute he sees that we are in the classroom (where we took "dance" last year). All he wants to do is leave to go to the playroom he knows is next door. The class is an hour of difficulty with some fleeting art pleasures. I don't want to force him to sit and do art, but I don't want to allow him to just play with Legos while he's there, either. I have to do a lot of re-direction to get him back on task. It's pretty tiring, but I'm going to stick out the series and hope it gets easier.

Fall has really begun now, and we are back to long sleeve shirts, footie PJs, and fuzzy socks. Soon the flannel sheets come out. I always enjoy the beginning of Fall since a change is always nice, but I know I'll be sick of it in a couple of months. This year Zane is more interested in the world, though, so it may all be interesting. We've been reading books on planting tulips, Halloween, and pumpkins. We put up a few decorations and bought one small pumpkin. I'm hoping to get us out to a farm before those close up for the season.

Enjoy your Fall, and may you have a few more warm, sunny days!

Staycation

2011-09-15T21:03:00.000-07:00

Zane and I have had a really lovely fortnight; perfect for the end of summer! It started out a little rough in that Zane had several days of a high fever (up to 105), most likely from a booster shot. He didn't seem too miserable, but we stayed home from work and daycare a bit. I went back to work for one day, and then it was time for our staycation! Daycare was closed through Monday the 12th, and I actually was away from work from Saturday the 3rd until today when I went back (to a ton of e-mail). After the fever was finally out of Zane's system we went on many adventures. Swimming twice, to the zoo twice (once just with Michael), to the zip line park several times (where we finally did the zip line from the top), bicycling, on the bus to the Pacific Science Center, and on the bus to the Seattle Children's Museum. Taking the bus itself is a wonderful adventure; our neighbor Gavin has snagged us several times with his camera, and we lucked out to have him on our bus for our second adventure. And for this whole week and a half of adventures, we had beautiful temperatures in the 80s!

I got to have a taste of the stay at home parent life. Because I was home each day, I was able to finally make some progress on projects during Zane's naps. I got the back porch pressure washed, sanded, and re-stained and painted. I put up some blackout curtains in Zane's future room downstairs so that he could start using his big boy bed. For 5 days in a row he easily had really long naps down there in the "new bed." My plan is to let him have naps there for about a month and then try to get him to sleep there at night. Once he successfully transitions, I can move my computer and desk out of there and make it more his room. I think I'll get him a Zane sized table and chairs for art projects and the like.

Zane and is working on new skills, such as sitting at the table in a booster chair instead of in a high chair. We've started using one at restaurants, so I thought I'd try it at home, too. He's still a bit messy with food like yogurt, so a full transition is a ways a way. He has also taken a few steps down stairs without holding on to anything. I think he needs to actually get a little longer in his legs before that becomes much easier. Language continues to really get more fluid. It's fun to have him explain complex things to us now, and tell us stories about things that have happened. I can now ask about his day at daycare and get an answer!

One thing that was hard about being home all day was not relying too much on videos when I needed to cook dinner or some such thing. I was able to get him interested in a few new things to stave off too many videos. He really loved the button box, and he experimented a lot with running different buttons through his ball tower maze thingy and then poking at the buttons with a moai swizzle stick.

I think all of these skills are taking some brain power, because his naps and nighttime sleeping have been really good lately. I keep expecting him to grow, but so far I'm not seeing it. I think Zane's body believes in punctuated equilibrium rather than slow change.

I'll leave you with a few more great pictures from our neighbor Gavin. Enjoy the last days of summer and the crisp descent into fall!

Summer Fun!

2011-08-30T13:00:00.000-07:00

Well, we've finally had a bit of summer here! Zane's actually been wearing shorts and sleeping without footie PJs every night. Michael and I have finally pushed back the comforter for a few nights. One hot day Zane had fun cooling us off with the hose.

We also had the pool out one day, but I'm not sure if we'll manage that again. I hope so! It's sad to think of Fall coming after such a mean Spring and Summer.

Zane and I have been trying to get in our outside fun while the weather lasts. On one zoo outing we made a special stop to feed the giraffes; I loved it so much I wanted to get right back in line and do it again! We definitely need to go back for more another day. It's too bad the elephant feeding time is right during nap time; I guess we need to save that fun for another year. We went to Carkeek Park one day and spent an hour on the beach and an hour in the playground. We played with other kids, held crabs, stomped in the creek outflow, fed a scruffy crow, made sandcastles, watched trains go by, and slid through the belly of an enormous salmon over and over again. Zane's water shoes got pretty gross in the creek, and since they were really too small anyway, I tossed them. His new blue water shoes are his current favorite shoes to wear anywhere.

We just went to Zane's two year check up, and he is still a pipsqueak at 23 pounds and just under 34 inches. But still, I think Zane has been growing lately, and I need to replace more of his shoes. I've been looking at the consignment store with no luck, and I just need to grit my teeth and pay for new ones. I noticed some of his pants are starting to get a bit short, so I'll need to let the hems down; still plenty of life left in them! We think Zane may also be working on his two year molars as he's got his hands in his mouth a lot and is drooling more than usual. I can't feel any teeth yet, but they could be on the move. I've been explaining tooth growth to Zane, showing him mine, and asking if his mouth hurts, but he doesn't seem to understand what I'm talking about.

Another exciting new development for me is Zane's new bed! He hasn't actually slept in it yet, but he really likes it and we pretend to sleep in it. The bed is in a downstairs room, so my goal is to get him used to it and eventually in his own room. Maybe we'd all sleep better then! We'll work on having naps there first. I guess I need to get some heavy drapes to make it nice and dark.

Zane is starting to understand stories now. I've actually been able to have him sit still for me while I read a book instead of just talking about the pictures. This morning he sat all the way through Miss Rumphius! I soooo love to sit snuggled up with Zane reading books in the morning. I can't wait for more real stories. He has also started to tell stories, so I guess his brain is figuring out event sequences. One day he and I went to see a fire truck and ambulance up the street, and when we got back he excitedly (sorta) told Michael all about it. A boy in his daycare moved away, and one evening he told me that Allen moved away -- in a rocket ship (complete with sound effects)!

Zane's latest physical project is learning to jump. I'm kind of excited about that one, although I'm not sure why! He hasn't actually caught air yet (except when he "jumps" off something high), but he's working on it and will get there soon!

Zane 2.0

2011-08-15T07:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, Zane!

Just like last year, I've spent a lot of time thinking about the days leading up to Zane's birth and what I was doing at the time. In looking back over the last year of posts it's fun to see what Zane has accomplished. This is what I predicted on his first birthday: "This next year will bring walking and talking and tantrums." Well that was accurate! Here are some accomplishments throughout the year: He started his second year at 18 lbs 12 oz, 29.5", began trips to the zoo, first non-name word "up", mid-Sept walking on own and "no", moved to one nap, second trip to Maine in December, started watching videos, in February began imaginative play, learned sense of self, learned colors, in April got his SCAR, began yelling in his sleep, in May terrible twos begin, fine motor control, lots of climbing, understanding pronouns, first pair of underwear, and beginning to learn shapes and counting.

And what do I look forward to next year? Well, I image he'll get pretty fluent with language and easier to understand, learn shapes and counting, jump, walk up and down stairs without hands, and generally get stronger and more nimble. What do I dream of? Potty training and sleeping in his own room!

Sunday we celebrated Zane's birthday a day early since we needed to go to daycare and work on Monday. One of our 3 year old neighbors, Josie, came over with her Mom. We had cake, but Zane wouldn't really eat any (he had it at dinner). Then we did presents, and that was a big success! Zane got an enormous cement mixer, a ball and hammer toy, little fire trucks, a yellow balance bike, and a new cup. There are some more presents from relatives that we saved for Monday. We started the day off with a bike ride to the Ballard Farmers' Market where we ate blueberries and pizza and listened to music. We finished the day off with a trip to the zoo! All in all a great day.

Monday we opened presents from G'amma and Aunt Vicki and got an amazing selection of books! We went to our last monthly baby support group, too! And then cupcakes to daycare for everyone to help Zane celebrate.

On a different note, Zane's latest obsession has been construction and building. Michael has been working on fixing our fence and Zane was inspired. He's always been interested in construction trucks, but now he loves to hammer, measure, mark up the fence with chalk, and carry a level around. I found a book with cardboard tool shapes that you can take out and use, and Zane immediately fell in love with the saw. He now has his own mini measuring tape and gets to use a tack hammer under supervision.

Here's to another great year of fun with Zane!

Fun With Grandma

2011-07-31T13:29:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful July we've had with Grandma visiting! After the hubbub of camping and being sick died down, I went back to work for the weekend. Zane and Mom and Michael had a great time at the Aquarium where the octopus was actually out moving around with all of her suckers on display against the window! Sunday before I went to work we went out to breakfast and the Farmer's Market, which is always a good time. Zane and I dropped Mom off in Mukilteo for a Kayak trip. Then we were back to our regular routine at home. We had a wonderful morning at the beach one day, and super fun time swimming at the Mountlake Terrace pool on another afternoon. Zane got in some quality time with JoJo; he quietly played with cards while she relaxed nearby (a rarity).

The next weekend we had a surprise visitor: Brady down from Alaska with a broken arm! He was on his way home to get it fixed up. He joined Mom and I with Sabina to go see the last Harry Potter movie; it was a great finale! Then an afternoon BBQ at Sabina's house which is always a lot of fun. Sunday afternoon Michael and Zane went to the zoo while I dropped Mom off in Everett for a sleepover with a friend.

Tuesday we played hooky from Story Time and instead took Zane for his first mall adventure! Mom was getting a make-up consultation, and Zane was completely entranced by all of the colorful stuff on display. He's really interested in my own eye shadow, and seeing thousands of different colors of make-up just about blew his little mind. He wanted it all. Zane and I headed off into Nordstrom's and Macy's up and down many exciting escalators, and Zane picked out his very first underwear! He was pretty excited. I tried to steer him to Thomas the Tank Engine, but he insisted on Spider Man, which is interesting since he doesn't know anything about either! I thought he'd like the trains. But no, he insisted "I buy that". When we were done he said thank you to the cashier and I think made her day. We went back and forth between the escalators and the cosmetics department (watching the lady put make up on Mom) until Mom was done, and all and all it was a great outing.

Our trip made an impression on Zane. A few days later Zane had a soft thing in his hands and asked me to take off my glasses. He said he had eye shadow and very carefully rubbed it on my eyelids and cheeks. I said "How do I look?" and he said "Pretty!" He also has loved his wonderwear and has been wearing it with nothing or on top of his diapers. We're nowhere near potty training, but it's fun to start making baby steps!

Wednesday we tried swimming again and it was fun, but not as awesome as last time. Zane always loves his bath, though!

Saturday was a nice relaxing day of going to the gym, out for walks, and gardening. Zane got a little too relaxed while watching the Jungle Book. Michael says he's practicing for his teenaged slacker years.

This weekend Michael and I thought we ought to get a date night in before my Mom leaves on Tuesday. Saturday night we went out for dinner and had a hotel room reserved downtown in Seattle. We didn't realize that the big Seafair Torchlight parade was happening that night! We actually had a great view from our hotel room, and while it was kind of interesting for a bit, it just reinforced our opinion that it's not worth the big deal most people make of it. It was so nice to have some adult time. Zane and Mom did great at home for their overnight, although Zane was a little confused when he woke up. We were home in time for me to put Zane down for his nap.

While I always think our life is pretty interesting, there really isn't that much to write about every week. From now on I'm going to try to get a blog post in twice a month. Hopefully it will work!

Cold, Cold, Cold

2011-07-19T15:00:00.000-07:00

We're here! We're alive! I've just been busy with camping, working, and recovering from one sickness after another. With Mom's help I think I am finally emerging back to life.

On July 3rd Zane, Mom, and I packed up and headed to Fort Worden to camp for a week during the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes. I've always had beautiful trips over, but this day turned cloudy and rainy as we headed onto the ferry. Even though we couldn't see very far across the water, Zane was really happy with all of the cars on the boat, watching the water and birds, and (for some reason) the staircases. My cunning plan was to have him fall asleep for the rest of the trip, but for some reason he didn't. He ended up with only a 25 minute nap early in the day, and for a boy who usually sleeps 2-3 hours in the middle of the day, that is not much.

The weather cleared by the time we arrived and we had an easy time unpacking and setting up the tent in a nice dry site. I had been telling Zane that camping was like being in a Big Backyard for a week, and he immediately took to it. Gravel! Dirt! Hammers! Tent spikes! People with dogs! Bicycles everywhere! Sleeping bags! All sorts of wonderful things here and there in the campsite that he could touch and play with! Music wafting around! Kids playing! After a really exciting day he had no trouble at all going to sleep in a tent for the first time.

I know it can be cold at night and sometimes in the day, so we brought long layers and hats and blankets as well as summer clothes. Summer clothes! Hah! No summer in the Northwest this year. Although most of the days had sunshine in them, we spent almost the entire time being cold, cold, cold. Cold at night, cold in the morning, cold in the day. Even when the sun was shining it was cold! We lived in our fleeces and luxuriated in sun beams. Zane and I also started out the trip with colds (and a sore throat for me), but I thought we'd had them long enough that they would fade soon. Oh no. We were sick the entire time, and even shared the cold with Mom. Runny noses and hacking coughs.

But you know what? We had a great time anyway! Mom and I love being outside, and it seems Zane does, too. When you're camping, who cares if you wear the same warm clothes every day? Who cares if your outer jacket gets disgustingly filthy?

The first morning I took Zane for a bike ride to check out the camp, and take care of some business at the camp office. When we were done Zane saw the ocean sparkling at us not far away and said "Water! I see it." So we made an impromptu visit to the beautiful sand beach by the Fort Worden Marine Science Center. Zane loved exploring the dunes and the driftwood, and I found a lost library card glittering at me from the sand (treasure!). We went to the water's edge and Zane experimented with poking it with a stick, and then got his shoes a little wet. I figured that was OK, but he didn't seem to like it and backed away. OK, I thought, he'll stay away from the water. Ha. The next thing I know he ran straight into the water! He was wearing "work" boots, thick cords, and a fleece since it was cold. He was now soaked up to his knees. And then he tripped. And fell face down into the water. He came up sputtering fast and I ran straight in and lifted him out by his armpits and put him on the sand. He started crying and held his arms up to me "Mama, hug!" I hate to say it but I actually hesitated since he was completely soaked and covered in sand! Oh well ... I got him comforted and then we had to get back on the bike all cold and wet and get ourselves to the campsite. It only took about 5 minutes to get back, and then Mom helped gather our shower things and clean clothes. I cleaned him off and warmed him up in the shower and then handed him off to her while I took care of myself. When I was done they were warming up in a spot of sun. Our first adventure all before 9am on the first day!

Zane found a bunch of things he loved doing. There was a wide gravel driveway and he spent a lot of his time digging and dumping gravel with his dump truck and bulldozer. We salvaged a couple of boards from the woodpile and made ramps with them on a picnic table. He would drive his trucks up and down them, draw on them with chalk, and practice walking on them holding our hands (and sometimes without!). Drawing with crayons and pens on the various paper he found was always a hit. There were a lot of other kids in the campground and he loved to watch them and sometimes play near them with chalk or balls or other toys. We would walk around and watch musicians play. Go for bike rides and walks. Meet dogs. The highlight was several visits by garbage trucks on two different days; he kept wanting to look at the pictures we took!

On Tuesday we headed up the hill behind the fort to try to find the tunnels we had heard so much about. We had a great walk and saw some old gun batteries and potential tunnels. Zane monopolized the flashlight so it was kind of hard to see in the dark places! We had a fire that night for cooking. Zane had seen pictures of fires but had never experienced one. His first comment was "It makes sound!" I had never thought of that! Another toddler staying with us said pretty much the same thing when he saw it, too. Having kids around really opens your eyes (and ears) to stuff you've learned to ignore or just take for granted.

On Wednesday we went on a hike through the woods and ended up at a big freshly mown meadow. On the trail we taught Zane what roots were, although at first he was convinced they were poop. We saw many wonderful bugs and plants. I taught Zane how to kick back in the grass and chew a grass stem while we watched a horse graze in the distance. He asked me to sit down and went off to sit by himself for a while, and as he looked around he said "Big Backyard. Big Backyard." I had a hard time convincing him that we needed to get back to the campsite for lunch and a nap. Mom went off to hear an awesome concert during the nap and I stayed behind to wait for ...

After the nap was a big surprise: Daddy! Michael came to visit us for a while and they enjoyed the sunshine on the only warm day of the week. We headed down to the beach where Zane previously got soaked. We got some great views of sea-life in the marine museum and had a nice time hanging out in the sand. When we were trying to leave Zane became enamored of a group of young teenaged girls lounging in the sun. He kept edging closer and staring at them until I finally whisked him away.

That evening our campsite held the annual Silly Hat Cocktail party. Zane wouldn't wear a hat, but I gave him a choice of outfits and he was pretty excited to wear an Indian wraparound shirt handed down from his Maine cousins. He had a wonderful time imperiously directing me through the crowd so he could examine all of the hats; I think his favorite was a flying pig hat which had flapping wings. Zane got to run around in a street with kids and he got to take a whack at a birthday piñata. He got to eat cheese puffs and chips and brownies, so I think he would call the evening a success.

After another cold night freezing in our tent we woke to a rainy Thursday. I was tired of oatmeal. We were tired of being sick. We were kind of tired of the campsite. We took a trip into the big city of Port Townsend and had ourselves a nice warm and dry breakfast at the Bayview restaurant. We had a great view of the ferry and the drizzly water, and Zane liked the fish decorations inside. After an afternoon in the tent thoroughly reading all 5 of Zane's books, we headed back to Port Townsend to spend some quality time in the library. I always try to visit one on vacation! Zane spent most of his time playing with some great trucks: "I making concrete!", but we did get a little bit of book and puppet time in, plus some computer time for me and Mom.

Friday was pretty nice, but we were getting ready to go home. I took Zane on a long bike ride back up the hill behind the fort and we rode in and out of lanes of gun batteries and beautiful roads and lawns. We met up with Mom who had walked up earlier. We finished up the morning with a free kids' concert, but Zane pooped out of that pretty early and we went to a nap. Finally, Friday evening was the concert I was waiting for! An outdoor Cajun dance at 6pm, so it was early enough for Zane to enjoy. He loved the opening honky tonk band. We stood right at the front of the stage and he goggled at all of the instruments and men playing them. Unfortunately, he pooped out before the Cajun band started, but he still had a wonderful time. A really good end to a week of being out side and listening to music! I haven't really mentioned the music much, but at Fiddle Tunes it is everywhere outside just about all of the time.

Saturday morning we gratefully struck camp and headed home. Just like on the trip over Zane managed only a 20 minute nap or so in the car and was mighty tired all day. We were very happy to get home and be warm and clean. Zane's jacket was so dirty I had to wash it twice even though we'd washed it halfway through the week. His legs were covered in bruises and scratches and he had some shallow splinters in his hands. All-in-all the badges of a good time!

As with other trips we've taken in the past, the change of pace seemed to really boost his brain. His language got more fluent and I think he is physically a bit more agile.

Sunday there was no time to rest, we had to head out to the Ballard Seafood Fest! Michael loves the salmon they cook there every year. We had a pretty nice walk down and enjoyed being in WARM sunshine! Zane ate some pirogi, spit out a samosa, and helped me eat a chocolate ice cream. He got an awesome bubble gun which is sadly (but not surprisingly) already broken. We saw big trucks, a big fish, and lots and lots of kids.

Zane then got to spend some quality time with his Grandma as Michael and I were struck down with an energy sapping stomach flu. As I write this I realize that maybe we got it at the Seafood fest! By some miracle Zane and Mom didn't get it. I also had various versions of a cold, sore throat, and a burbly cough along with the nausea and headache. Yay! I think I've been sick continuously for about 5 weeks. Having Mom around has really given me a break, though, and (fingers crossed) I am finally getting well.

Monday we dropped Mom off in Mukilteo for a 4 day kayaking trip, so we will be missing her for a while. Here are a couple of videos of fun with Grandma!

Boys and Girls of Summer

2011-06-25T21:49:00.000-07:00

We've had a pretty nice week with a number of really nice days. The first day of summer was actually a super beautiful day. We all went down to the beach for the morning and had a great time. As we walked towards the water we noticed several people with Styrofoam coolers; they were taking big crabs out of them and tossing them into the water. We walked up and watched and from what they were saying gathered that they were Buddhists doing an act of kindness on a day that was considered extra powerful for such acts. The kindness would come back to them manyfold. Zane was fascinated and even touched the back of one that a lady held for him. Later when Michael and I held out tiny crabs we found, he refused to touch them and kept telling us to put them back. It always seems like we have to leave the beach too soon. One of these days I need to get my act together and get down there early enough to stay for several hours before nap time.

Later in the week, on the way to daycare, Zane had a bunny in his lap (not Bob), and he pointed out its tail. We had a conversation like this:

J: Does JoJo have a tail?
Z: Yeah!
J: Daddy doesn't have a tail, and Mommy doesn't have a tail, and Zane doesn't have a tail. No tails!
Z: Pesis!
J: Yes, you have a penis! But that's not a tail, it's different. Daddy has a penis. Zane and Daddy have a penis, but Mommy doesn't have a penis.
Z: Glasses!
J: Yes, Mommy doesn't have a penis, but she does have glasses!
Z: Boobs.
J: Zane and Daddy have a penis, and Mommy has glasses and boobs. That's right!

We seem to have come to another big leap in language. It's not so much that he has a bunch more words, but that his sentences have become a little longer and more complex. One really noticeable thing that he's been working on this week is his/hers he/she him/her. He's been experimenting with them, so I've been using them a lot more, too.

I also was super impressed with him this week on fine motor control. We got a theme kit from the library that had big beads to string, and after I showed him how once he managed to do it himself after just a minute or two!

A had to work this weekend, and on Saturday morning Zane and Michael went to the zoo. They got the super bonus of seeing an elephant pee and poop an enormous quantity of stuff. You just can't beat that. Sunday I put Zane on my bike and we went to a small park overlooking the sound. Zane loves to look at the boats from there. Afterwards we got Michael and went out to brunch and to the Farmers' Market. We saw our neighbor Gavin who took this really nice photo:I don't have a lot of photos of Zane and me, so I'm especially pleased with it.

Mom/Grandma is coming! Only a few more days -- I can't wait. She'll be here for all of July, and we will almost immediately take off for a week of car-camping at Fiddle Tunes. We're leaving on Sunday, so I may not be able to get another blog post in for a while.

Crushing

2011-06-19T21:13:00.000-07:00

Zane and Michael and I have been fighting some crud all week. Michael got the best of it and I the worst, while Zane muddled through and ended up with some pink eye. The cold and congestion part were mild, but it ended up going for my throat and I could hardly speak at all for two days; I'm still a little creaky. The tiredness is what is so crushing, though. I think I'm better and another wave of tiredness and a flareup of an earache or sore throat or some nausea comes back. A co-worker had it and said she felt tired for a month.

While being so tired, we've watched a lot of TV. I sat with Zane and we watched his first movie, The Jungle Book. He seemed to really like it! I'm not sure that he followed the story line at all, but I think he just liked the animals and the music. I've also started showing him some dancing from So You Think You Can Dance. He's been talking about "Hippop" dancing since then, so I think he liked it! He asked to see some of the dances over and over.

Although he likes music and asks for me to sing at night, he's been a bit sensitive about it in the daytime and asks me to turn his CDs off at mealtimes. Yesterday I was singing to him while we played and he gently placed his hand on my face and said, "Mama, music off." He did it again tonight during bathtime, tonight although this time he just said, "Mama, singing off." I can't blame him, though, because I was singing John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt.

Zane's been pretty good this week. Today we went out to lunch for Father's Day with Michael's Dad and Stephanie and Kyrin. Zane was an absolute golden child and even ate his food. He didn't fall asleep on the way home and then went right to sleep for his nap. I was all ready for a difficult time and caught a break!

We've really been enjoying some of his funny words as he learns to talk. He still calls books "cooks"; his penis is a "pesis", a hummingbird is a "honey bird" and a washcloth is a "wafflaff." That last one is our favorite. He's pretty much got his colors nailed down so I've decided to start working on shapes.

Zane really likes the concept of CRUSHING and gets excited about garbage trucks or other machines doing it. A favorite activity at mealtimes lately is using garlic presses to crush cereal and crackers. Whatever keeps him seated and eating is fine by me! One night he was crushing something after his bath, and I said "Don't crush your nuts!" Much to our amazement, he then very animatedly did just that and said "I crush my pesis!" Agggh! I asked didn't that hurt, and he said no.

Boys are weird!

Peace At Last

2011-06-12T20:51:00.000-07:00

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.

The Joy of Trucks

2011-06-06T18:45:00.001-07:00

Well, this week has been a lot like last week, although maybe a little better. Zane is still having difficulty going to sleep, and he wakes up about 10 times a night, often with a little shriek. I'm still quite tired.

He remains pretty temperamental, but we're making progress. Today I only needed to say I was about to count to three for him to start moving along, and I didn't have to actually count! Yesterday he actually gave himself a timeout three times -- after doing something that elicited a loud noise from me, he ran into the bedroom and sat down quietly. When I went in to get him he had calmed down and was nice again. I think he's recognizing his anger. I've been trying to teach him the words angry and mad so that he can help to understand and talk about what he's feeling. If he throws something in anger it goes away for a while, and I'm pretty sure he's stopped himself a few times.

The weather has been awful in Seattle this spring, and we finally had temps in the 70s Friday and all weekend. So of course it was my weekend to work! I was really heartbroken about that. Saturday Zane and Michael went to the aquarium in the morning and spent some time in the backyard in the afternoon. After work I got Zane and we went to a cookout at Sabina's house. He had a lot of fun playing in their yard with a swing set and slide, cool lava gravel, and an excellent dirt pile. He loved the enormous bubbles Maya and Alina blew. He was too busy to eat much, but we had fun.

Sunday I didn't have to go to work until 1pm, so in the morning Zane and I had time for an adventure. We went to Touch-A-Truck! It was awesome. A local group set it up as a free event with donations recommended. All sorts of fabulous trucks were shined up and ready for touching: garbage truck, dump truck, two tanker trucks, two enormous cranes, a small bobcat digger and a small bobcat bulldozer, a semi truck cab, an ambulance, and an ice cream truck. When we made a donation Zane got a yellow toy hard hat to wear. His favorite was the garbage truck, even though he sees several of those on our street every Tuesday. He said he wanted to drive the crane and to have one. I told him our driveway wasn't quite big enough.

There were tons of kids there, and the lines to get into the trucks were too long for a toddler to manage. When we got back to my car I let Zane play in the front seat and beep my horn for a while, so he could get his driving urges out.

I had to go to work again today in the afternoon, but the morning was free with no plans! Zane had a nice unstructured morning in our front yard and back yard, watching people mow their lawns, sweeping, poking things with sticks, looking at a ladybug, collecting rocks, and swinging.

And playing with trucks. Always playing with trucks!

Artistic Temperament

2011-05-31T20:52:00.000-07:00

This has been a very difficult and trying week, hence the almost too-late-to-bother post. Michael has also been helping me move to a new computer, so I haven't had the easy access to my computer I'm used to (although soon it will be better than ever!). I'll make this post very abbreviated.

For the last week and a half Zane has been very terribly-twoey. I'd heard it tends to happen before they are two, and boy is it happening now. He is having great difficulty going to sleep, and he is also screaming and crying in his sleep and waking up a lot needing Mama. In the day he is very demanding, rude, violent, and insistent on doing things his way. We are having some time outs, a lot of counting to three before I declare Mama will take over, a lot of wrestling to make diaper changes, getting dressed, and getting into the car seat happen. This is not my favorite phase! I hope it is a quick one. Tonight for the first time in a while he has gone right to sleep without asking for kisses, hugs, this pillow, a different pillow, one blanket or the other, no blanket, no pillow, too hot, sun coming in the window bothers him ... He was just exhausted since nap time went so poorly!

I've been trying to wear him out with excitement, but that doesn't seem to be working. We've had story times, visits with Grandpa, visits with cousins and family, trips to the park with its big sandbox, bicycle rides to the beach with much sand playing, Folklife festival (twice), a new set of paint brushes just for Zane (and "painting" with water), swimming, and a playdate with Uma. Here we have the aftermath of the playdate.

I must say I am pretty exhausted by the emotional effort. Plus the fact that whatever is going on in Zane's brain is making his sleep very disturbed which means I get crappy sleep, too. Grouchy sleepy Mama does not have the patience she needs to get through this. And so I really should not be making this blog post longer. I will relax with wine, a cookie, and a bear documentary.

Nice Days

2011-05-22T21:01:00.000-07:00

I can't really think of many earth shattering things that have happened this week, it just feels like it's been a pleasant one. We've had a couple of nice days here and there, and the rest were pretty OK (weather-wise). Compared to what we've had, that's stellar. I've been getting Zane out in his sandbox, and to the park, on strolls with him on his bike, and out front with neighborhood kids. On a couple of days we've even managed bare feet. Today Zane kept being anxious that they were dirty, though, so I set up a foot bath in a plant dish. I try to tell him that being dirty outside is really OK, and even fun, but he likes to be clean. Oh, well.

We made a breakthrough in manners in that he finally said please, unprompted, in a sentence. Unfortunately, he said "More cookies, please." I had already said no many times and didn't want to give in. He said "More apples, please" later, and I got to give him those. Mostly he is still imperious, though. "Mama, up! Mama, walk! Over there!" "Mama, sit! Right there!" "Daddy, move!"

Zane's highlight of the week was probably a box that came with 6 new pairs of socks. Three pairs of space socks and three pairs of construction truck socks. Michael tried to take them away and Zane got seriously upset. He threw his body on them and tried stuffing them up his shirt. I guess I got that purchase just right! How many more years do I get where gifts of socks are loved?

City Fun

2011-05-15T21:01:00.000-07:00

This week we ended up having a lot of fun outings. Friday I had a day off, and I had planned to take Zane swimming. A couple of nights before his current cold went into his chest and we had a miserable night of coughing, so we went to the Zoo instead. It was the first warm-ish sunny day for us at the zoo, and it was really fun to wander around. The petting zoo was open for the season so we spent a lot of time there as it was new to us. Zane looooved using the (dry) water pump and driving the tractor. We got to pet some sheep and goats. He was so taken by the goat poop scattered around that he was still talking about it as he drifted off to sleep that night.

We finished off our visit with a short turn manipulating an animatronic dinosaur with buttons, a run on a lawn, and a ride on the carousel.

I thought he would be totally pooped, but he was so jazzed he had a hard time going to sleep at nap time.

I worked this weekend so on Saturday morning as I left for work Zane and Michael were heading off to the aquarium for another fun morning there! They had the usual fun of watching the sea lions eat and generally romping around. Sunday morning we all went out for breakfast and in the afternoon Zane helped Michael and Mike lift weights. Zane lifted 2.5 pounds. On Friday he had a small stick and was imitating Michael's Bo staff antics in the backyard, so maybe he's ready to be signed up for a gym membership.

I've also been exercising his brain, and here he is working on his Maine relatives! These days he can get most people except Aaron and Colleen.

Training

2011-05-08T20:54:00.000-07:00

I've been talking to Zane about potties and toilets and what's in his diaper from very early on. Just in the last couple of months he's come to really enjoy reading the potty story books. This week he started to spend some time sitting on his potty with clothes on, sometimes to read. Today he peed on a small rug when he was in between diapers, something that he hasn't done for many months; I think his bladder control is getting better. He seemed a little upset about it, so we spent some time on the potty again. Later I asked him if he wanted to sit on it without any pants on, and for the first time he said yes! He wanted his potty doll Xavier to join him for solidarity. It didn't last long, and there were no results, but I feel like we're at the very beginning of the toilet training journey.

Speaking of training, Zane is also getting ready to earn some allowance:

Earlier in the week Zane had a few nights and naps where he had great difficulty falling asleep, which is unusual for him these days. I'm assuming he was just having a brainsplosion. He's back to normal now.

For excitement I took Zane swimming which we haven't done for a while. He had a blast! We have to go more often, even though it's kind of a pain to do. Friday we went to a Cajun jam after daycare and before going home. It was at a cafe so we could have our dinner there. Zane had a great time looking at instruments and exploring a new place, but he did not like me dancing or playing the triangle. Party pooper.

Happy Mother's day everyone!

Spring Fever

2011-05-01T20:25:00.000-07:00

Nice warm weather is finally here, and we have been enjoying it a lot. Zane and I spent most of this weekend outside! I got a yard work done, we ran, walked, and played with sand. We've been meeting up with the neighbors, too. Saturday and Sunday evenings we heard kids playing across the street and Zane insisted we go see; we ended up spending some time in their back yard, which was nice. Sunday we started off by going to Shilshole Marina to see a former co-worker off on her foray into the cruising life with her boyfriend. They have a 32' boat and they plan to cruise the Pacific after spending some summer time in Alaska. Zane loved exploring their boat, seeing all the other boats, a ship cat, a school of small fish, seagulls swimming, and a train. Then we went out to breakfast with Daddy, to the Farmers' market, and home to crash hard for a nap. This afternoon we hung out in the yard, with the neighbors, and literally ran halfway around the block. Good legs on that boy!

Earlier in the week I had Zane in a pair of Michael's pants from when he was little, and some red converse sneakers. I thought he looked especially cute and took a bunch of photos and some video. Zane obliged by getting into the tough guy persona.

One of Zane's favorite things to do these days is to hang out in the front seat of our cars and push buttons and levers. I have to make sure he hasn't turned on the lights when we're finished. When I get back into the car the next day the windshield wipers usually start swishing away and the blinkers go off. Monday night when I was at work a neighbor happened by when Zane was coming home from daycare with Michael, and he got some nice pictures of Zane enjoying booping the car buttons.
I leave you with some video of Zane enjoying the spring sunshine.

And a bonus bun!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T21:19:00.001-07:00

This was Zane's first Easter that he could have fun with. It took a bit of prompting, but he "found" some eggs. At first he was much more interested in playing with his new garbage truck. Later on we played with them some more, hiding eggs within eggs or other things in the eggs and finding them again.

Brady came for a short visit on the first nice day of the year. Zane and I had the day off since daycare was closed, so we got to have a lot of fabulous outdoor time. We played with sand, ran on the sidewalk, went for a long walk with Brady and then a bike ride to the beach. At the beach we threw stones in the water, touched puppies, saw ducks and sail surfers and a train. With the nice weather we're starting to reconnect with our neighbors, too, which is nice. Zane had fun with his Uncle Brady.

This week Zane got a fabulous new garbage truck, bringing his garbage truck collection to three. He has so many trucks I decided to even things out a bit with two dolls. One is an anatomically correct little boy who comes with a potty; it's funny that he has genitals and an anus, but no nipples. I also got a girl doll with zippers and buttons and snaps and the like for dressing practice.

The cut continues to heal nicely and seems to be getting shallower. These days I'm rubbing four different unguents on Zane for various ailments: Maderma on the cut for less of a scar, hydrocortisol on the hands for a tenacious itchy rash, athlete's foot creme on the back of his knees for a different tenacious rash I suspect to be a yeast infection like the one he had in his crotch a while back, and diaper cream to keep the jock itch from coming back. Sometimes I get the tubes mixed up, but it hasn't killed him yet.

Here's an Easter blast from the past.

Gapes

2011-04-17T20:57:00.000-07:00

This morning Zane had a snack and an episode of Mighty Machines while I had my shower. He's been on a grapes kick ("gapes"), and here he is enjoying them while holding a bear and sitting in his own chair. Especially cute, I thought!

Not much to report this week, which is really nice! No falls, no colds, no teething pain (although he is still popping his fangs out). The cut is healing really nicely. Oh, there is one thing! He has finally learned to say "yes". I think he's known "no" for about 6 months, so it's about time.

Today we went out to breakfast and to the Ballard Farmers' Market. I think the last time we went may have been a month ago. Zane remembered the honey stand and went right in for a sample. Then, when we were watching some musicians, he demanded "Mama, wallet." I gave him a dollar and he trotted over and gave them a donation. I was pretty impressed that he remembered we had done that before!

Michael has saved an episode of Saturday Night Live where Katy Perry sings. For some reason Zane is absolutely mesmerized by it. It's kind of funny to watch him.

Scarface

2011-04-10T20:46:00.000-07:00

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!

FrankenBaby

2011-04-03T21:39:00.000-07:00

Short story: 6 stitches in the forehead, scar likely.

On Wednesday Grandpa was visiting and Michael was up in the living room, too. There was tickle play, and Zane was running away laughing, and he tripped and fell, whacking his forehead on the projecting corner of a wall by the stairs. He screamed, which didn’t surprise us since it sounded like a loud whack. I held him for a few seconds and then decided I’d better look to make sure he hadn’t hit his eyes or nose. I saw blood! I started to wipe it and there was a big deep vertical gash in his head! Aaaaaaaah! We ran to the bathroom and I wiped some blood but it was bleeding pretty fast. We hopped into my car with Michael driving and me in the back with Zane strapped into his car seat. I wasn’t sure at first if his head was cracked, but after a few minutes it was pretty clear that just his skin was split, but it was very deep and scary looking. After just a few minutes Zane stopped crying and started talking about the trucks he saw. The bleeding stopped actively gushing, too.

We got to the local Ballard Swedish emergency room, and by then he was only whimpering a little. He noticed a horse sculpture and said “horse” and whinnied, which charmed the receptionist. We ended up being there for three hours. He got some topical anesthetic on a pad which had to sit on the wound for a while to work its magic. Eventually when they were ready to stitch, he got another anesthetic up his nose which put him into a loopy stupor. He got wrapped up like a burrito, and then stitched up while I sat by him. He was so loopy he actually smiled at the women working on him. It took about 45 min for the stupor-stuff to wear off enough for us to go home. He was still quite silly for a while.

He gets stitches out Monday morning. Because it is a vertical gash the scar is more likely to be visible. It is about 1.5 inches long and sort of right of center over his eye. They said he could go to daycare, so the next day it was back to normal! We just have to disinfect and bandage and watch for infection.

Phew. We’re just very glad he’s OK and seems to be completely fine about it. Such a trooper! Several people have pointed out to me that he will have a Harry Potter scar, and it will be very distinguished, maybe even sexy. Tonight (Sunday) when I took the bandage off the skin all of a sudden looked really stitched together at the surface. The healing seems to be very even, and I really think that in a few years it could fade to a pretty thin scar. Fingers crossed!

Other stuff happened this week - Tuesday storytime was canceled so Zane and I went to the zoo instead. We spent time in the nice warm tropical house where the toucans were a favorite. We had our first carousel ride, and then picked up a monkey in the gift shop on the way home. Monkey has now become part of Zane's entourage. Zane had a fever Saturday and when he got up he camped out in the big chair for a while with Kitty and Foof on the left and Monkey and Bob on the right. They are all required for bedtime these days.

Later on in the week Zane got a digger (aka an excavator) from Daddy. When will the warmth and sunshine come back so we can dig sand? Meanwhile, I bought some polished rocks for playing with construction equipment in the kitchen. The rocks are easier to clean up than the orzo I was using earlier!

Fun In the Sun

2011-03-27T21:25:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is my birthday, so I get this week's front page photo. Mom asked if I had a photo of myself in the sandbox from Texas, and here it is! This is from May 1969, so I would have been 14 months old and Aaron almost 3. I had a wonderful time celebrating my birthday today with Michael and Zane!

We had a pretty fun week! The weather has been quite nice a few times, and twice Zane got extended sand box time. He loooooves the sand. He likes to talk about it afterward, mime the pouring motion, and say "Sssssss" like the sound sand makes when it pours. He didn't get the idea to get in the box, but he has been having a wonderful time distributing it all over the back yard. His bulldozer broke, so I bought another one, but Michael fixed the first one, so now he can have a permanent sandbox bulldozer . I've been enjoying the sand box because I can work in the yard while he plays!

Zane keeps amazing us with his vocabulary and the speed at which he's getting more. This week he learned the concept of fixing, and asks Mama to "Fik it." If I say I can't, he decides Daddy will fik it. In one book, sheep wreck a Jeep, and on the last page is a picture of the wreck. For some reason Zane always say "Man. Fik it." When he gets older we'll work on the definition of "man"!

Friday I needed to take Zane in to the doctor to see about a rash on his hands. The rash is most likely just eczema from dry skin, so we're just lubing up. The good news is that Zane gained 2 lbs 2 oz and a half an inch in the last 5 weeks, so we got to cancel our next weight check up appointment. No more check ups or shots until 2 years! Zane is going through an almost visible growth spurt with his hair and nails growing quickly, too. Many clothes are all of a sudden not fitting! Before when he went through a growth spurt he got skinny and then gained weight after he stopped getting taller, but this time he's got fat cheeks, too. Cutie pie!

Brain growing, getting taller, getting fatter, and also new teeth! His first canine tooth has started to poke through. I hope that since these are pointy it will be an easier event than the molars.

Today we all went to the Seattle Children's Museum and had a great time! I think Zane's favorite thing was the mini Metro bus. He loves to see the buses on the road, and this one he got to get in and out of! We spent a lot of time in the construction room where Michael helped some bigger kids build some walls; Zane walked around industriously moving things around. We finished up with the art room, and Zane got to paint for the first time! He watched the girl next to him for cues on how to do it. Next time we go I think I'll hit the art room first, and then we can take a painting home with us after it has dried while we visit the rest of the museum.

Here's Zane creating his masterpiece. At first he got worried because he got a tiny dab of paint on the easel, but later he was more free spirited.

One, Two, Three

2011-03-20T21:00:00.000-07:00

Wednesday morning Zane woke up limp and sad. He had a mild fever and was somehow feeling lousy. He spent quite a bit of time in our recliner quietly watching TV, reading, and drinking juice. I put his sunglasses on him to cheer him up, but it didn't really work. I held him for a one hour nursing nap in the late morning, and when he woke up he seemed to be better. He ate a banana, his first food for the day, and by noon was back to his old self. In fact, for the rest of the afternoon he seemed to have more energy than ever! Who knows what that was. I'm glad it was short!

In general he's been doing really well with eating and sleeping and seems to be growing.

We have an evening game Michael calls Bean Toss, where Zane gets thrown onto pillows on the bed. We usually count 1-2-3 and toss. One night he said "pillows" and started piling them up himself and said "onetwothree!" I was pretty impressed. Then he said "Onetwo ... three!" and threw himself face down on the pillows. Funny kid! I figure if he knows those words I'll try to give him more examples of what one and two and three are.

We discovered he learned to say "sorry," which was a surprise. I'm glad he learns manners at daycare!

We're starting to have nice weather here off and on, which is a relief. Spring is a little messy which turns out to be a little difficult for Zane. He likes things to be in their proper places. Several times when Michael was combing JoJo (who is going through a major shed), Zane said "Uh oh!" and industriously gathered up her hair and stuck it back on her head. On a walk he was interested in the cherry blossoms on the ground, and when I showed him where they came from he wanted to put them back on the trees. If only he was as neat with his toys at home! He loves to drag his booster chair into the kitchen to take things out of the silverware drawer, and he hardly ever tries to put the stuff back.

We just had a really fabulous weekend. Saturday was sunny and warm. Zane and I puttered around outside in the morning with his bicycle and some neighbors. Then after his morning snack I got out my bike, and he seemed to remember it! He was excited and wanted to get into the seat. He really enjoyed helping me put air in the tires. We went down into town and I renewed my gym membership -- I'm really looking forward to making and stretching some muscles again! Then we played in a park for awhile, biked home, had a nice lunch and then naptime. In the afternoon all three of us went to the locks and watched boats come and go, geese fly and waddle, water pour over the damn, and lots of people, dogs, and kids. There were no fish in the ladder, and Zane said no fish like "No? Fish!" several times.

Sunday was supposed to be even better, but it turned out to be windy and cold. We went out for lunch and Zane ate an enormous amount of food. Then we went to the farmers' market and saw a couple of great bands. One was a small oompah-jazz brass band which Zane really loved. I had gotten a sand box all ready for Zane thinking Sunday would be warm, but unfortunately it was just too cold. I didn't show it to him, so he'll be surprised and excited when we have our next good day. I can't wait!

A Sense of Self

2011-03-13T19:00:00.000-07:00

This week Zane has really showed us that he has a sense of self. Twice when I've asked him if he wants to do something himself he has said "self." He will also now point to himself if we ask him where Zane is, or who is that baby in the picture. He's been saying Zane now for awhile, but we weren't really sure he understood that was himself. Along with this sense of self have come tantrums; I read that this is a common connection. He knows what he wants and how he wants things to be and recognizes that he does or does not have a choice in how things happen. This can lead to emotional meltdowns over the silliest things (or at least they seem minor to us).

He's also been starting to want to do things for himself, like trying to put on clothes, zip a zipper, or brush his teeth. I think sometimes the wanting to do something and not quite being able to yet has led to some of the meltdowns. Otherwise, it's fun to help him learn to pull up his pants, carry things, use tongs, zip zippers and snap snaps. He loves to do what we do, so lately I've been having him "help" me cook a bit. Here he practices his skills.

It seems that he is starting to recognize colors, too. On one walk he said "Daddy" for all of the black or blue cars we passed, and "Mama" for the red cars.

Lots of drooling, fingers in the mouth, and a little bit of biting seem to be telling us that more teeth are on the way. The fangs are next! With this round of teeth Zane has been able to tell me a few times that his mouth hurts, rather than having it be a total guessing game.

I've worked a lot this week, and on Saturday Zane got to go to the Aquarium with Daddy. This time they saw several animals being fed, which was new and fun. And a train went by again when they were coming from the car! Thanks Pa Jim for the family membership -- it's really been wonderful!

Word Scoop

2011-03-08T14:21:00.000-08:00

We've had another kind of unpleasant week in the grip of cold and flu season. This time I got to share the cold with Zane, and he and I stayed home from work for two days, and still felt pretty crappy after that. Oh well, that's just the way it is.

It's still pretty cold most of the time, so I dug out some old orzo and let Zane play with it on the kitchen floor. It makes a mess, but isn't quite as bad as our water pouring experiments of earlier in the week.

Zane has really been exploding with words lately. I can't keep up with them anymore. He's constantly parroting us and adding more and more to his vocabulary. Some words are a little difficult, though; chocolate shake comes out more like "jock itch shake". It's amazing to see his brain developing so fast it is almost visible.

Nasty colds aside, we did have some fun this week. Tuesday we went to story time which we haven't been to in months. Saturday we went to a reptile show and Zane got to touch a tortoise, a snake, and an alligator. That afternoon was sort of sunny and warm, so we took our first walk in a long time; we had a lot of fun picking up pebbles and poking them into storm drains and other holes. Sunday we took another trip to the aquarium.

Daddy surprised Zane with a new garbage truck. Zane was super excited about it.

That's all for now!

Boys Who Wear Glasses

2011-02-27T20:32:00.000-08:00

Zane has been enjoying wearing my glasses lately. He doesn't seem to be bothered by looking through the lenses, which I think is odd. He has fine eyesight, though, as we know he can see little things from far away.

Last Sunday night Zane got feverish and had a cough again. I think now it was just a little relapse of his old sickness, as it's now all gone. We've been having some weird behavior this week, so I think he's having some neural rewiring and maybe a growth spurt. Zane is generally really good about going to sleep (and lately staying asleep), but this week he had two days of great difficulty in going to sleep. He was also extra clingy and toddlery, and has had several sudden shrieking crying fits over what seems like nothing. One day I had to hold him down and wrestle him into a diaper and clean clothes so we could get to daycare and work (late). I am not liking this. I hope it is a pretty short phase. Luckily he's his normal cheerful self in between.

The weather in Seattle has been cold and snowy, and we didn't get out and do much. Today, though, Zane and I went to a family contradance where we just watched the musicians, and Zane had fun exploring. Also, his favorite dump truck was breaking down, so Daddy went out and got two new ones, which had Zane squealing and clapping and being very impatient for them to be washed so he could use them.

Ahh, the small pleasures of life. Such as soap.

I Want That!

2011-02-21T14:50:00.000-08:00

I worked this weekend, and then there was sickness drama Sunday evening, and no-nap drama today, thus the late post.

This morning I was trying to teach Zane how to play with Play-Doh. Here his is learning about its stickiness. Mostly I made the Play-Doh into "rocks", and Zane spent a lot of time dumping them in and out of his dump truck.

This past week Zane has slowly been getting better. He's had a number of days with champion 3-4 hour naps and then 10-11 hour nights of sleeping without once waking up! Unfortunately, Michael has gotten really sick which is bad for him, and bad for me as his snoring is monumental. Someday I'll sleep again, I keep telling myself.

Tuesday we had Zane's 18 month checkup, and it was not a fun visit. Zane was still extra-sensitive to life from being sick, and he writhed and screamed anytime anyone came near him. His weight and height seem to be the same as they were 3 months ago, so we need to go back in a couple of months for a weight check. Zane had been under the weather and not eating well for several weeks, so I'm not surprised. Earlier in the year he had no size change for three months, then had a period of sleeping really well followed by a growth spurt, so I'll bet some growing is coming soon. Other than a bit of a fungus in his frontal diaper area, Zane is doing well and didn't even need any shots! He's getting athlete's foot cream on his nuts now, and that should hopefully clear up soon. He'd been yanking on them and telling me they hurt.

Wednesday afternoon we went to the aquarium for another fish visit. Last time when we saw the octopus, it wasn't moving and I don't think Zane knew it was alive. This time it moved, and he was mesmerized. Then he declared "I want that!" I think this qualifies as his first sentence. We came home with an encyclopedia of ocean life which had nice pictures in it, and a slinky.

We were having fun with Zane, saying "I want that" to his body parts:

Zane eventually pointed to his own ear and said "I want that," and then tried to pull it off.

I'm off to try to get some cold weather yard cleanup in!

Sick and Stunned

2011-02-13T20:40:00.001-08:00

Poor Zane has been really sick this week. The cough and mild fever of the preceding weeks came back with a vengeance on Monday. We skipped swimming on Tuesday, dance class on Wednesday, and Zane stayed home from daycare on Thursday and Friday. His cough was awful, a fever would come and go up to 104, his chest was congested, nose was running, he had diarrhea, and he was just generally miserable. He hardly ate or drank. Other times that he's been sick he's been tired or snotty but generally cheerful, but this time you could tell he felt awful. Nights he spent coughing, whimpering in his sleep, and having nightmares. Days he was tired and wheezy. One night he threw up a bunch of mucous which had been dripping down from his sinuses. After that, he just sat in my lap with his arms around my neck sobbing "Mama." I took him in to the doctor to make sure he didn't have anything too bad, but he just needed rest. We watched a lot of videos on buses, garbage trucks, dump trucks, and fish. A neighbor lent us a 30 minute road construction video which has been a favorite.

Today, Sunday, he seems to be finally on the upswing. He had enough energy that this morning we drove out to a park to walk in the trees. Zane has been very keen on saying "don't" lately, and every time a person approached us on the trail he held his arm out in a stop signal, and said "Don't!". I explained to him that it was OK, the trails were for everyone. Luckily, everyone thought he was being cute and waving, so they all waved and said hi. We also saw a dog take a really long pee on the trail right next to us, and that made Zane laugh and laugh. The outing was good for both of us as we were a bit stir crazy. When we got home Zane crashed for a three hour nap, and the photo above is of him still trying to come out of his stupor.

Here is evidence of Zane's TV stupor this week:

Superbowl Edition

2011-02-06T20:46:00.001-08:00

Zane demonstrates the proper way to watch the Superbowl. He really only watched a little, mostly the half-time show. He liked the dancing and tried to do some, but his dancing ended up being running around in a circle and flinging himself to the floor. It was pretty entertaining.

This week we had a great time at swimming and a clingy time at dance class. Zane's favorite part of dance class is the music, though, and he loves to grab the shakers and make sound. This week he learned to say "music", and now he is even asking for it when it's not on. Here Zane practices his DJ skills:

Saturday we had an 18 month developmental testing session with Marni at Parent Trust. Really it was just an excuse to visit with Marni, since I have no worries or questions about Zane's development. He is of course, doing fine. He is beginning to do imaginative play, and while we were there he dutifully fed a bottle to several baby dolls, and later shared some of his snacks and an empty cup with some bears. At home I sometimes have his bunny Bob do play, and Zane always thinks that is funny and has Bob do more stuff. This morning he gave Bob and Kitty a whole pile of crayons while we were drawing, and later he was sharing a book with them.

Zane seems to be starting another little virus of some sort, so we stayed inside all of today, which is pretty rare. I almost always plan some sort of outing, even if it is a trip to the grocery store or a walk around the block. It's hard to entertain a toddler all day long inside! We managed it, though. Lots of books, crayons, and videos of buses, dump trucks, and garbage trucks.

After Bath Boys

2011-02-01T14:05:00.000-08:00

I worked all weekend -- sorry for the late post! Actually, not much happened this week that I was itching to post. Last Monday night Zane started a minor to middlin' bit of congestion and cough and maybe a low fever. We stayed home from cold swimming lessons on Tuesday and had kind of a subdued time at dance class on Wednesday. I got a touch of it, too. There's been some major crud going around Seattle, and the library has been full of coughing sneezing people. We'll be lucky if that's all we get.

Zane has been continuing to say new words just about everyday. He's also been having a hard time going to sleep at night, and I wonder if the two are connected? He's not upset, just rolling around his crib, scratching at the bars, and mumbling to himself. I sometimes have to resettle him several times before he sleeps, and last night when I was at work Michael had to resort to the vibrating bouncy chair. I'm thinking maybe all of his new language synapses give him a lot to think about when he goes to bed.

Here's a fun collection of videos of Zane and Daddy goofing around after bathtime. The "thumper" Zane talks about in the beginning is the massager that he really likes, and "hot" is the heater.

Sins of the Mother

2011-01-23T13:36:00.000-08:00

Ohhh, how attractive TV is! I generally disapprove of TV for kids, and I agree with the recommendation of no/limited screen time for children under two. But it is so wonderful to have your child blissfully and quietly engaged while you try to get something done! Zane loves to watch YouTube videos of fish and garbage trucks, so we've brought them up on our upstairs TV/PC. I'll let Zane watch about 20 minutes of garbage trucks while I clean up the kitchen, and boy does he love it! So do I. I can see how people routinely plop their kids in front of the TV. Zane asks for "TeeTee! Gabboo!" You can see he has his own remote control and comfy chair, just like Mama and Daddy. At least the YouTube videos are not full of rapidly changing scenes and commercials, so I don't think I've totally brain damaged Zane.

We've had a pretty nice weekend. Saturday Zane and I went to the Zoo in the morning. We did some warm indoor exhibits. Highlights were the meerkats jumping, getting to feed the birds in the Australian aviary, poison dart frogs, Komodo dragons, and the kids' Zoomazium play room. I've never been to the zoo on a weekend, and the Zoomazium was, well, a zoo. When we got home we looked at our new reptiles and amphibian book and remembered the turtles and frogs we saw. I pointed out the Komodo dragon, and Zane said "Moto!" Today, Sunday, we took the bus for a very short ride to the Ballard farmers' market. Zane loves to see the bus, so it was fun to go on the bus instead of walking. This way we got to spend more time at the market. We ate mini donuts and honey, bought honey and a CD, and watched some great music. Zane even shuffled his feet a bit while we watched a lady buck dancing. Now he's tired out and napping!

I belatedly stuck together some Christmas videos. Enjoy!

Mr. BeanJangles

2011-01-16T20:34:00.000-08:00

This week has been so pleasant and normal. Separation anxiety and sleep are returning to normal. Sigh.

Zane and I started dance lessons on Monday! I tried to get him to wear the snazzy vest above, but he kept pulling it off. Maybe another time. The class had lots of activities with songs and stories, and as the teacher predicted, Zane mostly stared and didn't participate. She says she will often see a big change after just a few classes once the kids have soaked up a bit of the idea of movement to music. This Sunday evening we went to a family contra dance. I mostly wanted Zane to see live music, but once he warmed up to the place he enjoyed exploring, interacting with other kids, watching music, and even letting me hold him for a bit of dancing. Every time the musicians stopped he'd wave his arms and say "more!" When we got home he went to the CD player, and I'm pretty sure he was trying to say music -- "misi". We worked on how to turn it on by himself, which I may come to regret.

Words are really starting to explode out of Zane. This week alone we've heard (or heard something close to): crotch, milk, soup, soap, Cheerios, more, steam, music, cracker, and Zane. He's even starting little sentences such as "More boob" and "I pooped." He will now tell me right away when he's pooped and sometimes even go to get diapers! The other day he told me before he pooped, which is nice progress on the way to toilet training.

The obsession with fish continues. There is a National Geographic article on them that he loves, so he is joining the family tradition of reading while eating.

We started swimming lessons two weeks ago, and Zane seems to like them. The pool is a little cold, though, and he gets pretty cold by the end. Hopefully that won't sour him on the experience. The lessons are pretty basic, and I think the games and activities are things I can easily continue on my own. After this short string of lessons is done, I hope I can get it together to go back up to the warm Mountlake Pool which is literally made for kids.

The weather has been pretty yucky, but the last several days have been warmish and clear to drizzly. A good day in Seattle during the winter. We've all managed to get outside a bit and get fresh air. A neighbor just gave us a little tricycle that Zane has instantly fallen in love with. His little legs dangle off the seat and don't really reach the pedals yet, but it comes with a parental push bar to keep things rolling for now. We hope it's a nice enough day to go out again tomorrow!

Home Sweet Home

2011-01-11T15:00:00.000-08:00

Boy are we glad to be home! There's nothing like your own comfy chair.

Before we left for Maine, Zane had a pretty excellent Christmas. He got very excited about his presents and grasped the concept of unwrapping quite quickly. I think his favorite presents are his very own chair with his name on it, a standup piano keyboard, a remote control, some monsters, and a garbage truck ("Gabboo").

At Grandpa Milt's house he got to play cars with his cousins, and he got a cool car from Grandpa and an electric guitar from his Aunt/Uncle/cousins.

On Christmas morning we were off to Maine. The trip to Maine went pretty well, although Zane only slept for one hour of the trip. He had a fun time watching planes take off, but mostly I think he liked to see all of the airport service trucks zipping around. He made the sign language sign for fan when we got into the small plane with propellers. Smart kid!

We started our visit in Maine in Harpswell with my Dad, Becky, and Brady. Zane was pretty ecstatic to be in a house with THREE cats! We had a little blizzard while we there, and it was cold and blowy so we didn't get to go out and play in the falling snow. Zane learned the word snow. We did take a drive out to Cook's Lobsterhouse during the storm, and while we were there only two other groups were in the restaurant. Zane spent a lot of time wandering around with a chaperone. He got to see his first big fully decorated and lighted tree there, and he also had his first french fries. Brady brought my Grandma Henderson up to the house, and we all had a quiet visit with football on the TV.

It was a little wearing to be in a non-baby-proofed house. It's amazing how much I take our safe house for granted! I had to follow Zane around and make sure he didn't fall down the basement stairs, or go up to the second floor and fall down those stairs. Pens, scissors, cleansers ... And we had to keep the telephones and cats safe from Zane.

Tuesday we headed out to Camden, and Zane got to re-meet his cousins Ian (9) and Julian (5). He really had fun with them. Ian was especially good and patient with Zane. My brother's house was pretty fun for Zane, but from my point of view, a mega death-trap. The two resident cats, Manuel and Polly, are a little shier than my Dad's cats, and Manuel can be downright vicious. There is a red-hot woodstove in the middle of the house surrounded by a sharp and trippable brick hearth, and fronted by a slippable and trippable carpet. Stairs to go up and fall down. Cleansers. Tiny Bionicles parts everywhere. Mousetraps! I was exhausted. I didn't want to keep Zane cooped up and constantly say No No No, so I followed him around and put my body between him and danger. He had a blast.

The Christmas tree here was decorated with many outdoorsy things. Zane is still very excited about fish, so he was happy to see lots of fish ornaments. There were also many boat ornaments, and boat toys for the bath, so Zane learned the word boat. After learning the word he came into our room, spied some wooden duck decoys, and said "Da Boot!" He was sure they were boats, and we decided that was OK.

It was finally time for Zane to have a Maine snow experience, so on a beautiful and relatively warm sunny day, we went to the Camden Snow Bowl. We got the sled, stuffed Zane into his snowpants and boots, and went to have fun! Whee. Zane would not crack a smile. He seemed pretty stunned, like he couldn't understand why we were torturing him with layers of clothes and freezing air. We finally gave up and went into the lodge to eat, and he perked right up and had a grand ol' time. I have a feeling that when we go on our next vacation to Hawaii he will be happier.

Zane also got to spend time with his Grandma! Grandma is an early morning person, so I got to catch up on some sleep while Zane ate healthy breakfasts with his Grandma. One day I was in bed for 10 hours, the next for 12. I can't wait for July when she will be with us for a whole month! And not just for the sleep.

My friends Ann and Jon came to Camden to visit, and gave Zane a super-stylin' embroidered vest. I think maybe Zane will wear it for his dance class starting on Wednesday. My aunt Vicki came to visit, too, and we had quite a full house of guests. It was pretty relaxing, because Zane was napping! We also had a quick visit with my Grandma Robarts and Aunt Connie.

At this point we were pretty exhausted with keeping Zane alive, and really looking forward to going home. Back to Harpswell, which we decided was actually quite safe compared to my brother's house. A nice lunch out with my Dad, Becky, Grandma Henderson and Aunt Vicki and we were off to the airport! Yay!

Well. If only it were so simple. The weather issues of earlier in the week were all gone, but for some reason Newark Airport was all backed up in air traffic, so our plane from Portland got in late before our flight, and so our flight departed very late. I spent much time with Zane in the Portland airport running back and forth and making friends with other little kids. Zane was great in the terminal, but on the plane he ended up screeching and crying for most of the 1+ hour flight. He fell asleep right before we got to Newark. By the time we got to Newark, air traffic was still backed up, so our plane hung around in the air for 10 extra minutes before landing. Then they couldn't find anyone to drive the skybridge to the plane. Finally we got off and trotted trotted trotted to our connecting flight -- and missed it by 5 minutes. @#%%@!

After a really long wait at customer service, we were able to get a flight for Monday morning (a day and a half later), so we had to stay in a Newark hotel for 2 nights. During deplaning, running to miss our flight, wading through customer services, getting our bags, and getting on and off trains and elevators Zane slept soundly in his car seat on wheels. He woke up just before we got the shuttle to the hotel. The shuttle was completely packed with people standing in the door well and loud music coming from the driver's area. This was just a sign of things to come!

We were put up in the lovely Newark Ramada Plaza Hotel. As you can tell from these reviews, it pretty much sucked. And Continental only paid for one night of such luxury, so we had to shell out for some of it. This is odd -- I just went to look at my Facebook account where I had mentioned staying in a yucky hotel, and the post is gone! I don't think I even mentioned the name of the hotel! Creepy. I've been edited. The hotel was in some sort of weird freeway interchange and freight yard dead end, so you couldn't walk anywhere. Not that you'd want to what with the State Prison next door. There were no diapers in the hotel store, so Michael had to take a taxi to get some to tide us over. The towels were very thin and small, and they wouldn't seem to let you have more than one wash cloth at a time. Unvacuumed floors. We asked for a crib several times and didn't get one. The lobby was stained and filthy. At the restaurant we had to ask for a high chair three times before they gave us one. At least the shower was hot with nice water pressure, and we didn't seem to encounter bedbugs.

The restaurant was pretty good, though, and we managed to pass the time walking around the hotel over and over again. Zane and I played with hinged door stops over and over in an empty dining room, and Zane finally began to learn the concept of up and down. Because of the Ramada, he learned some vocabulary! Zane napped and slept pretty well in a bed surrounded by pillows so he wouldn't fall off.

Zane had really had it with travel, and he began biting us frequently. I decided not to deal with it too harshly until we got home, since I figured he was just out of sorts. He also started sitting in his travel seat and saying "home", which was sad.

When it came time to leave, we were almost late to the airport because the shuttle was too full and then didn't come back to pick us up for 30 minutes, but eventually we made it home. We stood in the living room and jumped up and down!

We've had some transition time with sleep schedules disrupted, and Zane has been very clingy and has more separation anxiety than usual. After his very first time out, the biting subsided, too. Mostly we're back to normal now.

On Wednesday our friends Jeff and Claudia visited with their son Finn, who is one month older than Zane. Zane was a bit of a pill about his toys -- he didn't want Finn to have any. Luckily, Finn didn't care.

And now, hopefully life will go on. No more travel adventures for a while!

Molarity

2010-12-19T21:30:00.000-08:00

Poor Zane is getting even more teeth. His first lower molars are burbling up, so he's now working on four molars and two incisors all at once. Luckily the two incisors are through and about halfway up. The molars seem to be taking forever, though. The good news is that Zane is not otherwise sick, and he's a tough cookie, so we just have some crankiness but not much more.

As a result of the teething, I think, Zane has been constantly asking for "boob" (I swear to you that for months I tried to teach him to say "nurse" or make the sign for it -- when I finally said it was a "boob" he immediately picked up on it). It's pretty cute when he goes into the bedroom and starts dragging the Boppy to the living room chair. My milk production has slowed to a literal trickle, so I don't think he's getting much out of it other than comfort. I hope he's not just asking to nurse a lot because he's not getting enough -- that makes me kind of sad. Pumping at work has almost become an exercise in futility; I realize I'm going to have to give it up soon. I guess Zane can just nurse in the morning and evening when I'm home with him. I think that's pretty normal for second year nursing, but it's a little hard for me to let go of something that was so crucial for his well-being for so long.

This week I signed Zane up for swimming lessons and dance lessons that will both start in the first week of January. The "dance" class is really just a movement class, and I think Zane and I will have a lot of fun: "Parents/caregivers and children explore the joy of dance together through fun warm-ups, games, folk dances, music, instruments, and other exciting props." Both lessons are just a few blocks from home, which is one of the benefits of living here in the metropolis!

Next weekend we will be on our way to Maine, so there is a good chance there will be no posts for a while. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

WHO's Healthy

2010-12-12T20:57:00.001-08:00

This week we saw a pediatrician who said Zane is just fine the way he is and is not too skinny. He compared Zane's weights to the World Health Organization's charts, and on those charts breastfed babies don't look too skinny. The pediatrician said Zane looks very healthy and is just "expressing his genome." Zane ate pizza to celebrate.

For some mysterious reason Zane has been waking up at 5 or 5:30 this week. I wish I knew why. I thought it was a random bad morning, but so far it has been 4 days in a row, so I've been going to bed at 9:30.

Going to bed and sleeping in general are good, though. Here at bedtime Zane tells Daddy all about elephants. Zane loves to sit in a chair to look at books, so we created one on the bed out of a boppy and some pillows, and he settled right in.

Well, it's after 9pm and my coach is about to turn into a pumpkin, so I had better get going. Here is a last photo of Zane practicing to run the universe.

Fishy Kissy Tissue Boy

2010-12-05T16:45:00.000-08:00

Last week I mentioned that Zane has perfected his kiss. This week he's been kissing everything. I saw him pull out his finger puppets and kiss each one. He kisses us in the morning and after he bites us to make amends. He kisses us instead of biting, which is better. His daycare mom Marie said he was sitting at a table with the only younger baby, Allen, and Zane leaned over and gave him a kiss. What a sweet boy!

I brought a book home from the library called There are cats in this book, and Zane's favorite part is the two page spread filled with fish. I was pointing out all the fish and saying "Fish fish fish fish," and so he learned the word ("sish")and the concept of fish-ness. He can now pick out pictures of fish in books and other places. Monday I took him to Swanson's Nursery to see their holiday camel, donkey, and reindeer, but Zane got most excited about the koi pond that is always there. Those are some big sish! We've been back to see them two more times.

After the previous weeks' sicknesses, Zane has become an expert nose wiper. Left to himself he will pull out tissue after tissue, or many many Boogie Wipes, and delicately wipe his nose once before tossing the tissue and going for another.

After finally getting over his sicknesses, Zane has been a champion eater and napper this week. At the same time, all sort of his clothes have become suddenly too short. He can now just barely reach the doorknobs, although luckily he can't do anything with them yet. I'm pretty sure he's gone through a growth spurt! Monday morning we have an appointment to see a pediatrician about Zane's slow weight gain, and I'm very interested to see how big he is now, just 3 weeks after his last visit. Maybe we'll get a nice big number and be sent on our way!

A Rash of Teeth

2010-11-28T19:20:00.000-08:00

We've had a cold week -- I thought Zane looked pretty cute in his toasty sweater, flannel lined jeans, and wool socks.

Zane continued to have a rough time earlier this week. After having a fever all last weekend, he acquired an itchy rash all over AND started erupting four teeth! Two of them are his upper first molars and so are very big and painful. The other two are his second lower incisors. In a week or two he should have a new smile! The rash went away in a couple of days, and by Thanksgiving he was happy again. Just teething is OK after all the other stuff!

This week brought real stick-on-the-ground now. We tested out Zane's snowsuit and boots. It was a bit of overkill for our snow, but I wanted to know if they fit well before we go to Maine. Good thing I did, because his snow suit is really too small. I thought Zane would have fun in the snow, but he was so miserable health-wise that he did not like it at all. Maybe next time.

Because of all the snow I put out trays of seeds for the poor little birdies. I put one on the back porch which is right next to a big window where Zane sits and has his meals. We have had lots of squirrel and bird visitors, and as a result, a frequent cat visitor. Zane has been really, really excited about this! After he got over being sick, he's been eating more because he stays in his chair to watch the animals.

Zane has had some nice developments this week. He is now giving very nice kisses; not slimy open mouthed ones, but sweet little smacks. I've even heard him say "kiss." He can now ask for help ("hup") when he needs it; it's fun to have him ask for what he needs. His word for book is now "cook," and once in the middle of the night when he couldn't sleep he asked me for a "cook", which I thought was pretty funny. This apple did not fall far from his trees!

Twice this week Zane has "hupped" me do a bit of cooking. For Thanksgiving I mixed up a bean casserole, and on Friday I made banana bread. You heard right. I squished up bananas. The things I will do for love. Michael says it is very good, and Zane has eaten some, too. For the cooking I let Zane tip in some ingredients, and I had him standing on a step stool next to me. I think climbing up and down the little ladder was more fun for him than cooking.

Michael bought Zane his own little laptop-esque toy, and right now Zane can use the music feature. Too bad the music bits are so short, 'cause he was starting to get a little cha-cha going:

Poor Baby

2010-11-21T20:12:00.000-08:00

Zane has been sick all week. In the picture above he was feeling pretty good and being silly with Mom's slippers and PJs. Last Sunday night he started coming down with a cold. Monday we went to the doctor for his 15 month checkup, and Zane got 4 shots, including a flu booster. I didn't do a good job of holding his hands, and he grabbed the needle after the first shot; he didn't hurt his hand, but he put a big scratch in his leg. By Monday night he was limp, feverish, snotty, and his legs were sore, scratched, and bruised. I took a sick day Tuesday to be home with him, and Wednesday I don't work any way. Those two days he was kind of low key, but not feverish anymore. Meanwhile, I got the cold. Thursday and Friday we managed to get off to daycare and work, but neither of us were doing well after being up all night with Zane's coughing. I left work early on Friday to try to get home and rest at a decent hour. Zane's daycare Mom mentioned he had been feverish again on Thursday.

Friday night Zane and I had really nice sleep with only two brief wake ups and a nice sleep in. I thought we'd be OK! But no, Zane has been feverish all day Saturday and Sunday, and Saturday night was crap sleep again with Zane coughing and whimpering and crying. He's also not eating well, which is pretty stressful, since he's already too skinny. Thank goodness I still nurse him, and we did lots of that this weekend.

The only ray of sunshine in all of this is that Zane has been so limp that he nestles into our laps and sits with us for quite a long time. Our little zippy boy hasn't done that since he was just months old and unable to move. Michael and I watched a lot of TV with him. Zane and I watched 3 PBS shows on dogs, crows, and elephants. He loved it and responded to the animals with barks and caws and hoots. He even repeated a few words he heard that he knows, like "hot" and "up". I figure the sin of TV with a baby is not so bad when he's sick and I make it an interactive activity.

The doctor visit revealed that in the last 2.5 months he's only gained about 13 ounces and a half an inch. His weight percentile compared to other babies went down again. Rather than go ahead with blood draws which are painful, we are first being referred to a pediatrician to see if he thinks the tests are necessary. Our doctor is a little puzzled since Zane is so clearly an otherwise very healthy active bright baby. Probably he's just built like me, eats like me (not much), fed healthy food, and is very active.

Zane got to see his first snow today. We had some beautiful fluffy flurries. Unfortunately, he was too sick to do more than a quick step out onto the porch. We have a snowsuit and boots, though, for when we go to Maine over Christmas! I'm hoping to get some good snow play time in.

A New Verb!

2010-11-14T13:11:00.000-08:00

Monkey boy reminds you to floss. The only photo I took this week!

Zane has many many noun words, but for a long time his only verb has been "up" (and maybe "out"; I'm not sure if that is a verb or noun for him). I keep asking him, "When are you going to get another verb?" Well, he has one now, and boy does he use it a lot! I'm already kind of tired of it.

"I want! I want! I want!" Actually, what he says is something like "Iant" or "aunt" (not pronounced ant), while madly opening and shutting his outstretched hand. It has largely replaced his point. Things like this that we haven't worked on show up all of a sudden, and I think they come from daycare. Like calling a phone "call" instead of "phone", or saying "No, don't!" Hmm, now that I think of it, "don't" is a verb, too!

Saturday night I got to be a big girl and go out to see a play with Sabina. We saw "Dancing at Lughnasa," and it was really wonderful. I was out way past my bedtime, but I never once looked at my watch. Michael and Zane had a nice evening together, and Zane even went to sleep in his crib without Mama! Bravo to them both!

We had fun earlier in the week when Michael brought out the "thumper" for his sore back. Zane was instantly smitten. The video is a bit long, but has a lot of silly bits.

Standard Time Zane

2010-11-08T16:00:00.000-08:00

Zane is still anxious about Mama going anywhere, but he is starting to relax his grip just a bit. Last Monday we went to our monthly toddler group, and Zane uncharacteristically sat on my lap for about 20 minutes before he would mix with the baby mosh pit. This weekend Daddy was away at a cousin's wedding, and Zane's cousin Kyrin babysat while I worked. Zane cried when I left, but was otherwise cheerful. He asked a bit for Daddy, and wondered where he'd gone! We both got home Sunday night after Zane was asleep, but then he woke up a lot, I think to check on us.

Sleep continues to be mostly really good! I've been slowly moving his bedtime over the last month, so the change back to Standard Time seems to have gone well.

He started to use the words "cup" and "hat" this week. He also started to use "ow" for himself when he falls or hurts himself. For the first time he started to point to the right things when I say "Where is ..." That's pretty fun -- I feel like two way communication is really starting.

Our neighbor let us know she is pregnant, so now there will be about 20 kids on our block not including teenagers! It's like a neighborhood from the 1950s! I don't see how we can afford to move soon, so it will be nice for Zane that we live in a place with so many other kids.

Here's some pre-bath time fun!

Tiger By the Tail

2010-10-31T21:46:00.001-07:00

Happy Halloween!

Last year Zane didn't dress up, we just handed out candy at the door. This year Zane got to dress up in his tiger costume for daycare and also for some downtown Ballard fun on Halloween. Zane was not too keen on the hood, but otherwise he liked his costume. Actually, he loved it more when it was off and he could snuggle with it.

The downtown Ballard businesses hand out candy from 3-5 on Halloween evening. It was quite a crowded place! We didn't get candy, but it was fun to people watch. Zane seemed to enjoy the inside of a shoe store more than anything! He got to sit at a table just his size and play with a purple dinosaur while I bought him some toasty socks.

Zane's separation anxiety seems to be continuing. It's not quite so bad as last week, but I still can't go downstairs without tears sprouting from his eyes. He has gone through several minor illnesses (or different symptoms of the same bug -- fever, dry cough, diarrhea), so that may have left him feeling vulnerable.

The good news is that he's been a champion sleeper lately! I feel really rested, and when he's not crying for "Ma!", he's generally super chipper, too.

He's also developed a small fear of the vacuum cleaner and mowers. He used to be really interested in them, but now he gets anxious and wants to be picked up. Is this all just a sign that his imagination is developing?

Zane has a little monkey backpack/harness that we've been getting used to. The monkey is really just a glorified leash. I figure he might come in handy for the airport when we travel to Maine. He actually seemed to enjoy having it on! Lucky us.

Mama Mama Mama

2010-10-25T13:53:00.000-07:00

Mr. Personality here has been very clingy this weekend. He has been a little barnacle saying Mama Mama Mama almost constantly. I think we have a combination of separation anxiety and maybe also fighting a bug. Saturday night I was feeling quite tired and had a scratchy throat. Zane went to bed early, but woke up many times throughout the night crying for Mama, until I finally brought him into bed. I think he was having bad dreams. We slept in until 8am (!!!) and then rushed out to a breakfast date. Our friend Maya came over to be a Mother's Helper so I could get stuff done, but Zane was so convinced I was going to leave him it was actually more work than if I had been alone. It was exhausting. He finally had his nap, and ending up having a 3 hour one, which is twice as long as usual. By bedtime he was his usual perky crazy self, so I think he may have beaten off the bug (as have I).

This week was fairly mundane. Monday, flu shot for Zane (with a booster needed in a month) plus a shopping trip to get toasty PJs for the fall. Wednesday, story time, which he actually participated in a bit for the first time. And of course our weekly Grandpa visit!

Saturday I put Zane in a snazzy outfit and did a fashion photo-shoot to submit him for the Gap casting call. What a great model! I especially like his version of Blue Steel, over there on the left. An easy and inexpensive way to enter a modeling competition. Not much chance to win, but you never know! It would be a nice way to sock away more college money. Then we went to Children's Hospital for a free car seat check. It turns out I should have had the seat installed with the seat belt rather than the latch in my particular car. Other than that, we were pretty good. I got some very useful tips on getting the seat in nice and tight, which makes me feel good. And although Children's Hospital was a very nice place, I hope to never, ever need to go there again.

Well, Zane has been illness-free for almost 3 months now, so here's hoping we've beaten the latest bug!

How YOU Doin'?

2010-10-16T20:59:00.000-07:00

A busy work week, and not much to report that I can think of. I had to rush to take some photos so I'd have something to post!

Zane seems to be getting quite tall. Here are some things he's managed to reach (which are now farther out of reach): A large sharp knife, a pointy meat thermometer, a cheese grater, my birth control pills, finger paints. He can now reach the stove knobs, and I think we will most likely just take them off rather than invest in a fancy kid-shield (new word of the week is "hot"). He has also developed an obsession with Tolkein and Vonnegut and keeps dragging those books out of the bookshelf. I started to read one to him, but he didn't seem quite ready. Slacker.

On Monday Zane earned another plastic dinosaur (stegosaurus!) by going to the UW iLabs and participating in a behavioral study on imitation and learning. He was supposed to look at pictures in a book and figure out what to do with a gizmo from the pictures. He became very impatient with the pictures (which were boring), but still figured out some gizmos, especially one which involved pushing a button which is something he loves to do. His impatience with the pictures is apparently right on the money for 14 month olds.

I think that's all for this week!

Computer Boy

2010-10-11T13:44:00.001-07:00

These late blog posts are beginning to be a habit! I'll try to get the next one in on the weekend, but I'm working so you never know ...

This week my brother Brady and his girlfriend Erica are in town on their way back from Alaska. Brady brought out his laptop and Zane was mesmerized. So many buttons! So much computer-ish-ness! Zane loves all computers and buttons, so he was in heaven.

The past couple of weeks Zane has been trying out a face I call Stink Eye. He bunches up his brows, lowers his face, and looks out of the tops of his eyes while making a sour lip face. It is one mean scowl. We're not quite sure if he knows what it means or if he's just trying it out. It's pretty hilarious. He's been doing it at strangers and when we say no, or when he falls, so I think he realizes it's some sort of bad-thing face. In this video of Zane trouble-shooting Brady's computer, you can sort of see it briefly in the middle after he falls a bit.

Sunday we went into Ballard for the Sustainable Ballard festival, which this year was scaled way back to a small group of tents. Zane thought the hula hoops were pretty awesome. This shot was followed soon after by Zane attempting to get the two hoops behind him, which pulled down the folding chairs, which knocked over the bike. Pretty spectacular, but with no injuries. We also saw chickens, ducks, Morris dancers, and coolest of all, a little boy with a fire truck.

Last Monday we went to a toddler Q & A session at Birth & Beyond which was informative for me and fun for Zane as always. Now that he can walk around, massive mosh pits of kids are just that much more fun.

We got tickets to go to Maine for Christmas! This trip should be a breeze since Michael is traveling with us this time. I can't wait! Zane really loves to look at airplanes in the sky, so going to the airport should be very fun this time.

Mr. Sandman

2010-10-05T08:03:00.000-07:00

Oh, dear. I was going to do this post Monday night, but then our internet connection was spotty and I couldn't. Better late than never!

Monday I took Zane to a nearby park. We've been there before, but this was the first time he could trot around by himself and decide what to do. After standing still for a survey, we went to the slides for a short time and then to the swings. From the swings Zane spied The Sandbox! Wow. Full of trucks. He had an awesome time and got thoroughly filthy. We also had our first time on the little zip line, and Zane said "Wheee!"

Zane has been wanting to be a big boy, and he is requesting to sit on the regular chairs instead of his high chair. I got out a booster seat I bought long ago, and Zane was mightily pleased.

Another big boy change is that Zane is starting to move to one nap a day. At home he naps at 11:ish for about 1.5 hours. It's a little early and a little short, but I've still been keeping him up instead of letting him have a nap at 4:30 or 5 which is what he wants. Instead he's going to sleep at 7 or 7:30, which I like a lot! Today when I dropped him off at daycare I found out that when he's there he routinely stays up until 1 or 1:30 before taking a nap! I guess it's pretty exciting there. Meanwhile, during this transition we're weathering some mighty tired and cranky times.

He's picking up a few more words here and there. Ball, boob, crow. He's almost got vase and shell from looking at stuff in our hallway. He has figured out how to get past the toilet paper guard to get a little toilet paper, but at least he can't spin off the whole roll. Pretty soon he'll be figuring out the toilet lock and the baby gate.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something wonderful and cute! I want to get this post out, though, so I will end for today with some music to enjoy.

Daddy's Boy

2010-09-27T13:03:00.000-07:00

All of our stuff that had been carefully secured in locking Tupperware is no longer secure. Zane figured out how to get in, and by the look on his face it seems he clearly had the idea that maybe he wasn't supposed to be getting in.

Not such a big enormous language jump this week, but we're having fun with what he's got. Now we're starting to understand him a bit when he mumbles to himself. Friday night after I put him in his crib I lay on my bed to keep him company in the room while he fell asleep. I heard: "Mumble mumble. DAH-dee! Heh heh heh. ... ... Uh-oh, Bob. ... mumble mumble." I worked this weekend, and Saturday while I was away Michael said he heard Zane say "Ma-Ma" a couple times in the midst of mumbling to himself. Then, after spending the day with Michael and Kyrin, Saturday night after I put Zane to bed he just kept saying "Dah-dee" over and over with a few giggles thrown in. In the middle of the night I heard him wake up and say "Uh-oh" and go back to sleep. Then, Sunday morning when he woke up, he was right back to "Dah-dee, dah-dee, dah-dee!" He's started to say "dah-dee" when he sees JoJo or me, too, so we think that right now "dah-dee" might mean fun things in general. I guess "Ma-ma" just means having your butt and nose wiped and getting hugs.

At meal times I try to give Zane a little something to work on with a spoon or fork while I'm also popping stuff into his mouth. He's doing pretty well!

Monkey See, Monkey Do

2010-09-15T12:55:00.000-07:00

In addition to Zane becoming quite the budding talker and communicator, he really likes to imitate things he sees us doing. He will now hold the phone up to his head, scrub the back of his head with a brush ('til it's red), try to squeegee the tub (but only make things wetter, not dryer), try to put diaper cream on my arm, brush my teeth, poke the dirt with garden tools, throw toilet paper (and one other thing) into the toilet, and sometimes successfully use a spoon and a fork but mostly just stir food up with them. He's very observant! His maturity is also making him crankier than usual since he has wants and desires and is starting to communicate but can't really do much of it. Plus, he often wants stuff I won't give him.

Monday we went swimming with Uma and her mom Olivia. We were mostly free swimming, but the kids got in their little water saucers so Olivia could watch them both while I took photos. This is the only shot I could get with Zane not chewing on the toy boat; he has a fish shaped ring on his head purely for decoration. The swimming was very fun, but that night while in the bath he accidentally turned on the shower and was not at all amused by the water.

Later that day I figured out that he was saying "appoo" (apple) to mean food in general, or maybe fruit; he also will now go to his high chair when he is hungry, which is helpful to know. Then he said "bee" really loudly while we were looking at some, and I hadn't even said it yet that day, so he wasn't just parroting! He has also unfortunately begun to say "no", but I don't think he really understands what it means yet.

Tuesday morning Zane woke up early and could not go back to sleep and was trying to get me up. Finally at about 5:30am he said loudly, "Up-up-UP!" Cute in retrospect. Also cute in retrospect is when he peed on the floor, and about a minute after I exclaimed about it he was talking to himself and I heard "Go pee." Just a mimic at this point, not a sentence I imagine!

Wednesday I made the useful discovery that if I take Zane in the stroller to a construction area, he gets so amazed I can cut his nails; this is pretty hard these days so that is a major discovery. Language-wise, he's started to answer "What's that?" with the name of an object. I'm not sure if he gets the question or is just saying what he sees ... He also began naming brooms with a kind of raspberry b "bbboo" which is different than plain "boo" for balloon.

Today we went out for a quick walk in the rain which was pretty exciting.

Finally, this morning during a yummy snack of grapes I figured out he was making the sign for "more!" I thought he had for some reason begun clapping during meals this week, but I just figured out he really has been saying "more." Yay! All of this communication, especially around food, is very exciting. This week has been a big one for language!

Oh, and one last thing. Did you know I am saving a paper copy of this blog, all nicely color printed and in sheet protectors, for posterity? Like a weekly baby book. So keep those comments coming, because those get in there, too!

Walk the Walk, Talk the Talk

2010-09-12T11:10:00.001-07:00

Zane has had a pretty exciting week full of adventures. Monday morning we biked down to Golden Gardens beach and park. It was a nice long bike ride, and when we got to the park we got to see dogs and kids and ducks. Zane also got to have his first experience of walking in and feeling sand. Unfortunately it was cold and blustery, so we didn't stay very long.

Wednesday we got out some crayons and tried to do drawing, but Zane was not that interested. He made a few marks, but mostly he wanted to figure out how the crayons came out of the box and how they fit back in and how they tasted. The result was some very purple teeth!

Later that afternoon we went to the zoo for a short visit, which is extra easy now that I have a membership. The zoo is nearby so we can just drive over for a short walk. Zane loved the penguins and the big cats most of all. At a bear exhibit he spent more time looking at a man with long red hair and a bushy red beard than at the sleepy boring bear.

Saturday we went to two parties! Such a social whirl we live in. Zane's friend Uma turned one, and we went to her party and met up with two other babies Zane knows from story times. Zane helped with the birthday gifts and of course refused to eat any cake or any food for that matter. He did have his first orange juice and his first drinking straw experience, both of which were very good. That evening we went to a neighborhood party to say goodbye to some long-time neighbors who are moving out. There are a bazillion little boys on our block, and most of them were there. Zane loved it, and I felt bad making him leave early, but I knew he really needed to get to bed. He was tired but had a very hard time going to sleep, I think due to all the excitement in the day.

This past week has seen a big improvement in walking and talking. Zane had been saying a few words but not always in the right context. All of a sudden he seems to be using them correctly more often than not. He definitely says Momma, Daddy, JoJo, and up. He says boo for balloon. I'm pretty sure he also says car. One day I was changing his diaper, and he was looking intently at it. He's been paying attention to what I do with them these days, especially while the contents are getting flushed. I said, "Zane! Oh, you pooped!" Zane said, "Poo." I got excited and said, "Yes! Poop in your diaper!" Zane said, "Diapah." I was floored. He never said those sounds before, so I don't think it was random. He hasn't repeated the performance, but it shows how much he is paying attention these days.

Zane is also surely a toddler now. He can walk quite a ways on his own and no longer needs sticks or hands, although he still likes them. Saturday I scored a $2 mini scooter that converts to a stroller/walker, and he loves it. Two short videos of his prowess!

And finally, we leave you with a little bit of dancing and singing to the B52s.

Healthy Chub

2010-09-06T13:25:00.000-07:00

Can you believe we took no photos last week? Here's a first bubble bath from the week before. He wasn't too impressed since he couldn't see his toys very well.

Zane had his one year checkup on Tuesday, and he continues to gain some healthy chub. He gained 14 ounces over the past month and is now 18 lbs 12 ounces and 29.5" tall. He got his weight percentile up to 2.74. It's nice to know he's going in the right direction so that when we have days that he doesn't eat very well, I don't worry so much. He got three vaccinations at his checkup and coupled with a crappy cough he's been off his feed. Unfortunately, since he's nursing less he also has been dehydrated a bit, so we need to develop some water and cow-milk drinking habits. It should help keep his poops from looking like little pebbles in his pants.

Walking is progressing steadily. It seems like I hear from some people that their kids just took off walking one day. Zane seems to be more of a steady improver while he works hard on a skill. Every day he takes more steps in row before plopping on his butt. So far no major wipe-outs while walking. However, he did keel over twice while just sitting down and got his first bloody lip as a result.

Another area where Zane is slowly crossing over into learning is talking. He definitely understands some words, but we can't yet say for sure that he can say words. He has some words that he uses a lot, but not always in the right context, so does that count? He says Momma, Daddy, JoJo (we think), and lately Up! "Up" is said with a very pronounced final "p" and seems to be an all purpose verb rather than really meaning up. If he wants to do something or for us to help him do something he says "uP!"

Right now Zane takes two naps a day, but I think he may be starting the move to one. On Friday he took one enormous three hour nap from 10:30-1:30 and then stayed up until bedtime. In fact, he seemed incredibly well rested and was pretty zippy all afternoon. I wasn't ready for such a long nap and didn't use my time as well as I could have. It will be nice to have Zane take one long nap once that develops. The morning nap gets in the way of some adventures I'd like to do with him, and storytime is currently at 11:30 when he is often sleeping.

Stick Walker

2010-08-29T21:30:00.001-07:00

Now that rainy and cold weather has begun to come, I had to buy Zane his first real outside shoes. Not too many more days or weeks of walking in bare feet! We like to practice walking outside on the flat sidewalk. Zane loves to carry sticks and a broom, so we've co-opted them to save our backs when helping him walk.

Earlier in the week Zane and I had our first trip together to the zoo. It was near nap time and we couldn't stay too long, but the best thing was the jaguar. What a BIG exciting cat! It was also fun to see other bunnies at the petting zoo. The petting zoo wasn't open at the time we were there; next time I hope we have better luck.

Not much else to report! Enjoy these wonderful pictures from Maine I just received from Ann and Jon. Thanks guys!

He Walks Among Us

2010-08-23T21:00:00.000-07:00

Zane is walking! Not very far, but he can do it on his own. The video above shows just a step, but the farthest so far was 8 steps Saturday night. He was trying to get to his bunny Bob who was in my lap getting blow-dried after his spa date, and Zane forgot he couldn't walk yet, so he did it! All this week Zane has been working on standing and going up and down, and now that he's pretty good at that, he decided to just go right into walking! He's even doing it in the bath tub. I'm amazed at the fast progression. By the end of next week I bet he'll be pretty good at it.

On Wednesday we went to the UW brain lab to participate in a study. Zane got to play with toys, and occasionally a lady would blind fold herself and see if Zane knew whether or not she could see. Instead of acting as though he thought she could see the toys she was looking at (with a blindfold on), Zane would point to the blindfold as if to say "Um, you might want to take that off."

Monday we go to another developmental screening, and we get to help them test out some new questionnaires for social development.

Two weeks ago we went swimming again, which Zane hadn't done since he was just learning to crawl. He had a blast and I need to try to squeeze that in more often. There aren't any story times for a while in September, so maybe we'll take that time and go to the pool.

Our next adventure is a trip to the zoo tomorrow morning with some other moms and kids. I haven't been for a long time, but Zane has with his daycare! This will be our first time together. I can't wait to see what he thinks of seeing rabbits that aren't JoJo.

Here's our cutie-pie in Maine with Grandma.

Happy Birthday, Zane!

2010-08-15T21:04:00.000-07:00

We made it! We made it! Zane turns one year old today. We had a really nice BBQ out back with friends and family. It was a lot less organized than we would have liked, but it's hard to get with it and also take care of the Birthday Boy. Oh well. There is no cake picture as he was completely uninterested in his cupcake. So I ate it. And then in the evening I offered him another, but he was again uninterested. So I ate it. The sacrifices of a mother.

I've been thinking a lot lately about last year at this time. When labor started, what I was doing, and how Zane finally came into the world 49 hours later! We've been watching old videos and marveling at how wobbly and un-able he was (Michael says "pathetic"). Zane sure has changed a lot in the last year, but he's not done yet! Still a lot of growing and changing to go. This next year will bring walking and talking and tantrums.

Here he is when we brought our little elf home and the eleven months following.

He slowly changed each month. I think he really achieved his Zane-ness at around 4 or 5 months. Before that he was much more of an infant and didn't look so much like himself.

I may put up more pictures from his birthday later, but I'm plum tuckered out!

Zane Walker, Ballard Ranger

2010-08-08T21:24:00.000-07:00

Zane is really working on walking this week! He needs to hold onto both of my hands, so I don't think solo walking is super imminent, but it is definitely on the horizon. When we are outside I think Zane recognizes the value of walking as a way to not bang up his knees. He really seems to enjoy it. At storytime on Wednesday he forgot to hold on and took one step by himself, and then later at daycare he did that again but crashed and burned. We'll get there!

Today we went to ReclinerLand in Lynnwood, which turned out to be very exciting for Zane. Miles of soft furniture and carpets. We got a new chair to replace the rocker/glider I used for Zane's first year. He doesn't need so much rocking and effort to get to sleep these days, and we wanted something soft that everyone could enjoy. It'll be delivered Friday or Saturday and I can't wait! I've also ordered something to organize Zane's toys and I received a new bookshelf for his books. Now they're all accessible to pull out at any time!

Tuesday I managed to finish getting a baby bike seat (Thanks, Sabina!) installed onto my bicycle, and we went out for a ride on Tuesday and Wednesday. It was fun! The first day Zane said "Ahhhhh" for a while and seemed to be playing with his bumpy voice. When we got going fast down a hill he put his hands and feet on my back. A backseat driver putting on the brakes! Wednesday we took an early morning jaunt to a park overlooking Puget Sound (now also the Salish Sea) and had a nice time talking to some people and exploring. This morning we went to the Locks and saw many dogs, joggers, and rushing water but not many fish. Once I get my bike legs back (I haven't been biking for about a year and a half), we can go to Golden Gardens. Zane looks like a little boy, not a baby, in his big bike helmet.

Eating and sleep have been wonderful! For most nights in the past week he has slept 9-11 hours straight. Zane has become a pea-fanatic and now I give them to him as an appetizer while I'm preparing his meal. It helps cut down on last minute Oh-god-I'm-hungry whines. I've started trying foods that he disliked in the past with some success. Lentils with ham got urped up, though. I'm not sure if it was yucky or a thick texture thing. I'm adding ground chicken to meals, too, so he's getting more protein. Today he had tiny star pasta and had stars stuck to his lips after dinner.

On our way to the post office on Monday I picked up a sorter toy at a yard sale. The little shapes are rattly, which is fun. I showed Zane how to put the toys in, and when I point to the right hole he can manipulate them the right way and push them in. He seems to think that's pretty cool. On his own he doesn't quite get the idea of the right shape and color for the right hole, but this toy might help that light bulb go in. These are also a nice size to practice throwing!

This week's mischief has been learning to open the toilet lid and fish around. A toilet lid lock is in our future, but hopefully not a complicated one so I don't pee my pants trying to get into the toilet.

Wednesday was our last baby story time at Shoreline! Shoreline's story times are on break until September, so we are going to start going to a young toddler story time at Ballard during the same time. We can bike to the library!

Graduating to the next level of story time is one of many almost-birthday changes. I've been thinking a lot in the last couple of weeks about what I was doing last year at this time. Last day of work. Mom comes to visit. Big and pregnant during a heat wave. No idea what's coming!

Mr. Engineer

2010-08-07T11:30:00.001-07:00

Michael helped to engineer Zane, but of course he has an older baby, too.

People are always asking me about how Michael's software MoI is doing, and what the heck is it anyway? Here is a nice big 5 part series all about it.

A Stand Up Guy

2010-08-01T16:56:00.000-07:00

More pictures from Maine! A couple of professional portraits, some at the lake, and some with Zane outside and inside the L. L. Bean aquarium.

Zane continues to get a bunch of new skills. I wonder if his improved nutrition is helping these come out? He now loves to play with lids: he takes them off, he puts them on (correctly!). He is also beginning to precariously let go with both hands while standing. Friday morning he stood for 3 seconds, standing tall and straight! This week he learned how to let go of a toy and hand it to me. The first time he did this he laughed and laughed! We had to do it over and over, and he still thinks it's pretty good fun. Sort of related is that he will also feed me some of his food (as long as he isn't eating bananas).

Poor Zane got pretty sick earlier in the week. He had a high fever, excessive drooling, runny nose, and no appetite from Saturday night through midnight Sunday. Monday the fever and snot were gone but the drooling and lack of appetite continued along with severe unhappiness. He may have had a sore throat. Only a bath would make him happy, so we had some extras. It was sad to see our happy boy feeling so poorly. The only plus is that he was so limp and tired JoJo felt confident to hang out near him. Wednesday afternoon he broke out into a little bit of a rash, so it may have been Roseola.

Tuesday he was better and eating again, which was good because we had a weight check coming up! Wednesday Zane went to see Dr. Globerman, and he is officially chubbier! At the last visit Zane had only gained 6oz in 6 weeks and had dropped to 1.35% for weight for babies his age. This time he had gained 13oz in 4 weeks and is up to 1.99%! Yay! We are really making progress now, which is a relief to me.

Sleep has been totally awesome! I've been trying to get Zane to bed consistently earlier, and we've been shooting for 8pm, and getting there at about 8:15pm. Tuesday night we got to bed late but slept until 9am! That has never happened! Wed, Thu, and Fri nights he slept about 11 hours with just 2 wake up breaks! I'm feeling really refreshed and hopeful that this is a new trend. Many many people tell me that if I can get him in bed by 7:30 he will most likely still sleep until 7:30am. This would be wonderful because I would have more time to get chores done in the evenings, and maybe even a little down time.

We are just back from a Sunday stroll, and Zane now has his first bike helmet so he can go for rides on a seat on the back of Mommy's bike. Hopefully we can go tomorrow!

A Wicked Good Time

2010-07-25T17:15:00.000-07:00

Helloooooo everyone from Maine! It was wonderful visiting with you all, and we miss you already.

We had a wonderful time in Maine. Zane was an excellent traveler, weathered the time change, and slept and napped pretty well considering all the changes. It was hot hot hot, though, and a few cranky times were due to that and not being able to sleep well in the heat. A few times we went to the library to play and cool off. We're glad to be back in cool Seattle.

Zane's brain seemed to get really stimulated by the travel, as he started doing a bunch of new things. First, at Pa Jim's he learned to climb down stairs by navigating the two steps from dining room to living room; then he applied that to other steps and even a couch! Later on he climbed up onto the rim of Grandma's bathtub, which was a little precarious. He's really into climbing now, and tried to climb out of his high chair and crib last night. Saturday morning I put him in his exersaucer for my shower, and when I got out he was standing by the tub. Little Houdini!

Zane has really begun to babble in a way that clearly sounds like language. There were enough times that he "coincidentally" said what sounded like a word right after we said it, that I think he is beginning to copy words. He also clearly knows some words, such as "cat". Cats were a big highlight of the trip: 2 at Pa Jim's, 1 at Grandma's, and 2 at his cousins' house. One day Zane was crying after waking up from a nap, and nothing would console him until I said "Do you want to go find a cat?" He immediately stopped crying and got a big smile on his face. He's definitely got Henderson/Robarts blood in him.

With all the new sights to see, Zane also developed his point while in Maine. Now he points to lots of things, and I'm trying to name everything he points to. The power of pointing is also the power to say what you want; Zane also points to things he can't have, and then fusses when I don't give them to him. I will not give in! I will not cultivate a whiner!

Uncle Aaron asked if Zane could stand on his own yet, and I said no. Aaron then gave Zane a try, and got him to stand in sumo stance for a few seconds! Aunt Colleen and cousin Ian also got him to repeat the performance. When Zane stood, we all said "Yay" and clapped, and Zane even clapped a bit! Zane won't do it for me, though; he gets rubbery legs around Mom. But, today he was fussing for me to pick him up and let go of his support to reach for me -- he accidentally stood for a second! Now that Zane is home he's also walking a bit if I hold his hands while he is facing me. If he faces away he gets rubbery legs again.

We also had many wonderful firsts: Swimming in a lake (which was awesome!), crickets, fire flies, real ducks, the moon and stars (it's been too light in Seattle), Maine blueberries, bug bites, cat scratches and band-aids. On the first night in Maine I took Zane out after dark; we heard crickets, smelled the ocean, and saw fireflies, stars and the moon. Zane said "Aahhh!"
This was also Zane's first time to meet most of my family and friends Ann and Jon! Above Zane reads with Grandma and cousin JuJu. To the right he meets his Great-Grandma Robarts! Oh yeah, and two more teeth up top!

I also had a restful time. While we were in Camden my Mom took Zane in the mornings when he woke up, and I got to sleep an hour or so extra. Just four days of that and I really felt refreshed! Mom and Zane got quality time, and I got rest. Everyone wins! When Zane had naps I didn't have all my chores waiting for me at home, so I actually got a lot of reading done. My book is languishing again, but I'll get back to it soon ...

I feel like so much happened in Maine I could write a book! When I get more pictures from other people I'll post more.

Meanwhile, before we left for Maine, we had some adventures and experiences. We had another developmental assessment which was fun as usual. Zane is zooming along and ahead of his benchmarks on all stuff except Communication. I need to work with him more on language games like nursery rhymes and finger plays. I think his week in Maine gave him a bump up, though. We go again at the end of August.

We went to a visit with the nutritionist to explore Zane's skinniness. The upshot is that he seems to be grazing and nursing a lot and so is not interested in eating. The grazing and mini-nursing is just enough to take the edge off his hunger so he can go play, but not enough to give him the calories he needs. To make him eat more, I need to feed him less often. I've been working on that plan since then, and Zane is eating more solids (and pooping more). He's also nursing less, so my milk production is dropping. That's a little scary for me, but I'll adjust. It will be nice if he only nurses in the am and pm so I can stop pumping at work. Meanwhile, maybe I can go to just pumping once at work during the day.

We also had a day trip to Fiddle Tunes, which was awesome. The day was beautiful and we were accompanied by Bee. Zane missed the ferry rides due to sleeping, but he had a great time listening to music, playing in the grass, and dancing with Laurie.

Then, the day before our Maine trip, we took a break to go to the Ballard Seafood Fest. Zane got to play in the water park at the Ballard Commons. He was more mesmerized by the other kids than the water, but I think he still enjoyed it. It will be super fun when he can walk on his own.

And that's the roundup! This week we have an appointment with a speech therapist to somehow check Zane's eating, and then we have a regular checkup. Let's cross our fingers for some chubbiness!

Oh, and Zane has a fever today that started last night. :(

Bean Pole

2010-07-04T20:15:00.000-07:00

Mom, is this how we get to Maine? Are you going to mail me? Nope, but we are going to fly out next Sunday! I'm nervous about how it will go but looking forward to the adventure. I may not get a blog post in next week if I'm too busy before we go, and I may not get them in while I'm away, either.

We had another checkup on Thursday, and Zane is now 2'5" and 17lbs 1oz. He only gained 6 ounces over 6 weeks, and he has now dropped to 1% in his weight for length. So the doc says we need to have tests done, but after consulting with a pediatrician, he says no. The pediatrician said that if Zane had a metabolic problem we would have seen more problems by now. His lack of adequate weight gain is just classic for not getting enough calories. Gack! I'm starving my baby! But he won't eat! At least I'm not stunting his growth, since he's a bit taller than average. We have an appointment with a nutritionist on Tuesday, and I'm hoping to get a lot of help. Then at the end of the month we have an appointment with a speech therapist (!) who will watch Zane eat and nurse and thus deliver some sort of wisdom. A co-worker with a wife who is a speech therapist says they do a swallow analysis of some sort.

I've been trying extra hard to get some high calorie foods like avocado in him, and after I did he has had several nights of sleeping really well. It seems that our accelerating sleep problems may well be firmly linked to Zane simply not getting enough calories and being hungry. Today I failed to get much food in him (I tried!), and he also nursed less than usual due to holiday distractions, so we'll see if we have another bad night.

Despite being starved by his mom, Zane continues to thrive and get into all sorts of stuff. Dumpster diving in the recycling bin is his favorite. We no longer put cans in there. Pulling off toilet paper and eating it is also a joy. Zane has started to move his feet a bit while standing (cruising), so he's starting to figure out the whole walking thing. He prefers to hold onto things rather than to let me hold him in walking position. We'll get there someday!

Monday we have another one of the free and fun developmental assessments. Wednesday we take a day trip to visit our friends up at Fiddle Tunes. Saturday is the Ballard Seafood Fest. Sunday we fly out to Maine! Yikes!

Funny Face

2010-06-27T15:04:00.000-07:00

Zane has started making a couple of faces that we're a little unsure about. They seem to be a united pair, as he usually does them both in a short space of time. The one on the right is like an open faced "Gee this is exciting" face which he could do as his first smile, but I'm not sure why it has been resurrected now. The one on the left began to appear when Zane realized we were (or might be) unhappy with something he did. I think the face on the right is Zane saying "This is OK, right?" and the one on the left is "Why did you yell OW really loudly? Is that bad?" Sometimes he makes the face even when we don't disapprove, as if to say "Was that wrong?" I guess he's got some new brain connections about right and wrong. He'll also sometimes pause before doing something and look at me to see if I'm going to stop him.

Zane has learned to go up on tip-toe, and now can reach all sorts of things that were formerly 1.5 inches too high. It's a surprisingly large amount of things. We're going to have to make another round of moving things and adding latches to higher drawers (like the one above, which he is not supposed to be getting into). He owns one drawer and one cupboard in the kitchen, but that is never enough.

Sleep has been a little better, but eating has gone down the toilet. At one point I was getting him to eat smooshed food three times a day, or at least his breakfast. Now he refuses everything I offer him on a spoon. He wants to have the spoon, which just creates a big mess. I think he will only eat what he can pick up and put in his mouth himself. Dinner last night was about 3 skinned peas. Tonight was actually fairly successful with several bites of cheese, a few crackers, and some tastes of jello. I plan to breastfeed for two years, but I was hoping it would begin to be supplemental at this point. I guess not.

Wednesday Zane and I walked down to the Ballard Locks. We saw squirrels and boats and seagulls and booming waterfalls and fish swimming up the ladder. It was pretty exciting. Actually, the water roaring over the dam was the most interesting to Zane since he is such a hydrophile. He wanted to get very close, but I didn't want him wiggling out of my arms and going ker-sploosh. That would have been bad.

It's only 8:11, but Zane is in bed and I'm heading there, too, hoping to rack up 8 cumulative hours of sleep .... Yawn.

Toothy Bean

2010-06-21T20:42:00.001-07:00

I tried to get a good photo of Zane's new teeth, but he really wanted to get the camera, so it's a bit fuzzy.

Zane got sick *again*. Last Monday he came down with his first fever, and he was at 101-103 for about 30 hours. It then morphed into a cold with a yucky cough. Michael got the cold, too, but I've escaped this time.

I had just embarked on a new sleep plan (The No Cry Sleep Solution), but I wasn't able to follow it religiously because of Zane being sick. I brought Zane into bed a lot since he was plenty miserable and needed comforting. By the end of the week, though, I've either made a breakthrough or he's just done with a fussy phase. I'm now just wrapping him in a blankie instead of swaddling him, which I wanted to get away from. For the last several days I've been able to lay him down in a warmed up bed and he often turns over and goes to sleep. If not, I use a mini cry-it-out routine that is also working. I leave him in the crib, and I go lie on the bed. He'll carry on and cry, but eventually lie down and sleep. I stumbled upon this one night when I was so tired of trying to make him sleep that I just took a mental break and put him down in the crib while I lay on the bed. After about 10 minutes of screaming he fell asleep. Last night it was just 5 minutes of medium crying and mumbling to his bunny Bob (see Bob at my shower). He threatened to throw Bob over the side, but then in the gloom of the room I saw Bob quietly slip back into the crib. Zane decided he didn't want to sacrifice Bob just for his anger. This mini-cry method seems to be good because I'm not leaving him alone and he can see me, so he's not scared.

I'm still not having much luck getting Zane to eat consistently, but here's a video of Zane feeding himself a banana for the first time.

Well, Zane's in bed and sleep-time's a wastin'. Have a great week!

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

2010-06-15T11:22:00.001-07:00

Well, we've had to say goodbye to Sebastian bun. Michael really worked with the buns to get them to bond. Sometimes they would groom each other and be nice, and then they would fight. We kept hoping there would be a breakthrough. Well, there was -- a breakthrough into JoJo! A really bad fight erupted last Tuesday night which ended with JoJo in the emergency room for stitches. Michael had to sit and wait in the same room where we helped Bijou die.

We really liked Sebastian, but it is now clear they won't bond. Maybe sometime we'll try again with another less dominant rabbit, but meanwhile JoJo just needs to recuperate and join us upstairs again. I've missed her while she's been all penned up downstairs with Sebastian.

Fruity Bean

2010-06-13T16:29:00.000-07:00

Zane has been making good use of his new teeth to bite into yummy fruits. Sunday we walked to the farmers' market, and I gave Zane fruit to hold on the way back since it keeps him entertained. He's done that before without molesting it. This time he went to work with his new teeth, producing this little work of art that looks like a mouse got to it. Yesterday I gave him a nectarine to try, and that went over pretty well, too. I was impressed with his one-handed fruit eating skill.

Zane has also unfortunately been exercising his teeth on me. He always used to gum me and that was just fine. Then he got the bottom two teeth, and they were a little sharp, but not too bad. Well, holy guacamole, now that he's got a matching set up top he's biting the bejeezus out of me. See exhibit A of my left arm. Three areas are quite bruised and there are some raised welts you can't see in the picture. Starting today I will no longer stand for it. I say "Ow!" really loudly (that part is easy), and then I put him down and walk out of the room for 30 seconds or a minute (that part is hard). He seems to be getting the picture pretty quickly. Not only does it hurt, but I don't want him to be a social outcast with the toddlers.

Monday we went in for our latest developmental testing, and Zane scored above average in fine motor, problem solving, and social skills, and average for communication. I'm supposed to work on simple word games with him. The idea is to get him to begin to copy sounds I make, not just make them randomly. He certainly talks a lot, but as far as I know he doesn't copy me. He wants to do all of his own talking. Tuesday he began sticking his tongue out at me when I waggled mine at him, so that's a start.

Wednesday our friends Uma and Olivia came to play. Uma is one month younger than Zane, and we know her from a support group and from library story time. Mostly they played near each other and not together, but that's what I understand babies do. It's called parallel play.

Zane's top two teeth are both finally through, and his cold is gone, so we expected to have some good sleep. Sigh. Now something else is going on which mystifies me. I can go through the going to sleep routine for night or naps, and he relaxes and falls asleep, or almost asleep. As soon as I try to put him in the crib he wakes up, and starts crying and writhing. I pick him up to lull him back to sleep and he bucks and writhes and cries and screams, all with his eyes closed! This happens in the middle of his naps, too, and I used to be able to shush him easily for another sleep cycle, but not anymore. He's so clearly very tired, but doesn't want to be asleep. I can't tell if he's hurting, or afraid to be alone, or afraid to sleep, or what. I don't want to give in and always hold him for naps or bring him to bed for sleep. I hope this is just a weird phase and not something actually wrong with him.

I'm working on Elizabeth Pantley's No Cry Sleep solution book, so I hope to work on our nighttime sleep and get it better under control. I'm so tired I'm getting very cranky, and I worry I'll get sick, too. Her no cry nap solution really cleaned up Zane's naps, so I hope the night sleep will follow. I did a sleep log last night, and although he was in bed from 9pm to almost 7am, he really only got eight and a half hours of sleep. This is pretty normal for Zane, but not enough for babies his age who should be getting 11-12. At least he's getting his nap quota now.

Well, right now he's had an almost 2 hour nap, but we had about 15 minutes of bucking and crying in the middle of it. I wish I knew what was wrong ... Hopefully tonight will go well. Every night I hope.

Monday morning. Phew, a pretty good night. Zane asleep at 8:30 and me at 9:30. Up for nursing at 12:30 and 4:30 for only 15 minutes each. He started to fuss after the 4:30 nursing, so I just brought him into bed so I could sleep, and we slept until 6:45! Yay! We both feel pretty good today.

Hoser

2010-06-05T20:53:00.000-07:00

Zane did end up getting a yucky cold. That plus cutting his fourth tooth made for last week's nasty (non) sleeping. I ended up staying home from work for one day and getting him much better. He's got a burbly cough and a little snot, and now so do Michael and I. Naps are *much* better, though. Today was the champion of nap days with three long naps (totaling over 4 hours!) and early to bed. A sleep book I've been reading has convinced me to try to get Zane in bed earlier than his usual 9:30 or 10. I have noticed that he actually seems to sleep longer the earlier he goes to bed, so this might just work. Today I did our routine one hour earlier, and he was in bed at 8:30! And now I have time to blog.

We've been having a pretty sad wet Spring, but a few warm days have cropped up. Last Monday we got some surprise sunshine, and Zane and I headed to the backyard with Michael and the buns. I turned a hose on just a bit and Zane had a great time playing with it and getting muddy. This was really his first chance to get dirty outside like a kid should. The picture on the right shows the aftermath.

On Monday I also finally put up a swing for Zane that I got from a neighbor down the street whose boy is now too big for it. I've had it lying around for over a month, and of course it only took about 5 minutes to put it up. Oh well, we really haven't had nice weather to use it before now. I think we'll still go to playgrounds to swing because that's an adventure.

Today was another warm day. I've been looking forward to hot weather so that Zane can get outside for some naked baby time in a pool. He loves water and bath time so much I figured this would be super fun for him. This morning we went out and got an inflatable pool and some sunblock. I was so excited to try it out! But, it ended up being a bit of a bust. The water was cold, and Zane has only experienced nice warm bathwater. He whined and didn't want to be in it, even though I only filled the pool with an inch of water here and there (the ground is lumpy, so it just made puddles in the pool). I guess next time I need to wait for a hot day and put water in the pool ahead of time so that the sun can warm it up.

Today during Zane's nice long afternoon nap I did some kitchen cleaning. There were some pretty yucky areas around the bottom of some appliances. It was fine for us, but Zane puts his fingers in everything and it needed to be cleaned. I got the bottom of the 'frige cleaned off for our new science alphabet magnets! I'm very excited about them. Not the best for actually learning the alphabet (we'll get the classic ones for those), but really cool for the geek factor. I haven't figured out what each letter represents. E.g., J has jade and Jupiter on it, and E has evolution, electricity, Einstein and Earth, but Z is zeros and what, bacon? Hmmm.

Grumps

2010-05-30T16:29:00.000-07:00

I'm very grumpy with Mr. Bean for not napping well today, and I don't feel very charitable, but I'll try to still tell you how cute he is. He's got yummy borscht all over his face in the picture above. Earlier in the week I was bemoaning the fact that he wouldn't put actual food in his mouth, but he had eagerly chewed on the following: stuffing and upholstery from a cat-shredded chair, hair, hay, lint, and a piece of a dried up cactus leaf. Finally at the end of this week he has been chewing on his teething biscuits, crackers, cheerios, and a few peas.

Zane has gotten very good at getting into cabinets and drawers, especially the ones with deadly chemicals or sharp objects in them. This weekend I managed to close off the three worst cupboards in the kitchen and make him his own cupboard of harmless stuff to play with. Big safe magnets are now at the bottom of the 'frige. The kitchen garbage has been lidded, and the finger-pinchy fireplace doors have been locked. Zane has learned to whine when he is thwarted, and this is now happening when he tries to open these very enticing cupboards. Hopefully his new wire maze toy will occupy his mind.

For months I have been looking forward to going to Folklife with Zane. He enjoys music and dancing at home, and the two times I have taken him to a live event he really loved it. I even bought him special noise-canceling headphones to protect his tender little ears. Huh. So much for what *I* want. I'm a Mom now and don't get to do what *I* want. Do you sense bitterness? It is there.

Yesterday Zane started off a little grumpy and snuffly, and did not nap well. After a super-abbreviated afternoon nap, I decided just to go to Folkife with him and hopefully we could have a fun brief visit and come home for a nap. I put him in his snazzy Hawaiian shirt for his first Zydeco dance. Zane perked right up when we went out and his first bus ride was a hit. He let out an exclamation when we passed over the Ballard bridge and looked at all the fishing boats down below. We'll have to go have a closer look at those. We got to Folklife, walked through the crowds, and found Laurie who wanted to dance with him. The Zydeco band hadn't started yet so we went to get an elephant ear. This whole time Zane was looking and absorbing. All of a sudden he burst into tears! He was just so tired, and it was all too much. He cried when Laurie tried to hold him, so I just stood outside where the music wasn't too loud (I forgot the headphones), and danced with Zane. He was quiet and blank faced and tired. I watched the music for an hour, and he eventually fell asleep. I took the bus home and figured we would try again tomorrow.

Today he woke up tired and clingy, and I think he might be fighting a cold. He had a really good 90 minute nap this morning so I felt encouraged, but that was it. Whine and cling and yawn all morning and afternoon. From 1:30-3:00 I worked on putting him to sleep, and he would fall asleep and wake up immediately over and over again. But he really needed to sleep and couldn't function as an awake baby. It exhausted and depressed me. Finally I gave up and lay on the floor of the bedroom and had a good bawl. And Zane laughed at me! Diabolical! Actually, he thought I was laughing, too, so I'm glad he didn't know I was bummed.

Michael came home and took Zane, and I have been hiding downstairs ever since. Apparently Zane has been sleeping for about 45 minutes now. I feel some catharsis, so I think it is safe for me to go upstairs and have tea.

And you know what? He is still really cute.

Little Scientist

2010-05-23T15:00:00.000-07:00

It occurred to me this week that being a baby is like being a scientist. Zane is constantly probing and testing and experimenting with his world. It's a good thing he can't handle chemicals yet. Now that it is springtime in Seattle he's been having fun exploring sunbeams and shadows.

Food is mostly experimented with and used as a textural art project and not eaten; here Zane explores the yamness of his yam through all senses but taste. He is also exploring the boundaries of the house, and he discovered the pet door to our front porch. He was pretty proud of himself. I've locked the door for now, but once I can clean off the porch I think I'll let him back out when he wants to. It's is a very small porch with high solid walls, so it should be a nice safe place for him to play while I'm getting ready for work or whatever.

This week more teeth are coming in! The two top incisors are cutting through, and they are causing Zane a lot of discomfort. Last night we were up for about an hour and a half in the middle of the night with a sad Zane. I took him into bed to try to console him. He took the opportunity to launch a 3am attack on Daddy's beard. In a week or two I should be able to get cute pictures of a new smile.

Speaking of mouths ... I've been trying to make most of Zane's baby food, and there are some really delicious vegetable combinations out there I never would have thought of, but I highly recommend to people of all ages. Try them, try them, you will see!
Sweet potatoes with orange juice
Butternut squash with pears
Lentil and vegetable soup with sweet potoes, apples, and garam masala.
With delicious food like this (plus the World Baby Foods jars), I don't mind when Zane won't finish his food, because I gladly finish it off.

Monday Zane and I went in for his 9 month checkup. Everything looked wonderful, except Zane has dropped again in his weight percentile. He is now at 3.14% (Pi!). It's not so much that he's skinny compared to other babies, it's that he is getting skinnier and skinnier. At least on paper. He's not roly-poly, but he does have fat creases on his wrists (e.g.). He doesn't have ribs showing, he's full of beans, and he's hitting all of his developmental milestones (we also went to another free child development assessment). So, he's probably perfectly fine and just takes after his mom string-bean-wise, but the doc is still keeping an eye on him. We go back in six weeks, and if he hasn't fattened up we will have blood and poop tests done. I don't know what they would be looking for, and I didn't ask because I don't want to start doing research and get all paranoid.

Zane's still loooooves the bath and water so much that he goes crawl-trotting to the bathroom whenever he hears the water turn on. Now that he can stand he can peek in at Michael having a shower. Zane gets his head wet, but he doesn't care!

Monday I took Zane to his first parade. Ballard is a big Scandanavian neighborhood, and every year there is a big parade on the seventeenth of May in celebration of the Norwegian Constitution. I stuffed Zane into our backpack and trucked on down to the starting line just a few blocks from our house. We only stayed for about 30 minutes, but he seemed to like it. Lots to see and many people to watch! It was a good backpack test run for doing the same thing at Folklife next weekend.

Tuesday's excitement was that he slept all night. Ahh. Unfortunately the long days of sunlight are interfering with Zane's sleep, even though we have the windows blacked out in the bedroom. He's only sleeping about 8 hours at night and then having long naps in the day. Babies are supposed to sleep much longer at night.

Wednesday we took a backpack walk to a new park and had another picnic and fun on the playground. I'm sorry I forgot again that I can't turn the camera. Please tilt your head to the left and click play. Have a fun week!

Hatshepsut!

2010-05-16T16:28:00.000-07:00

Monday afternoon Zane sneezed and I said "Hatshepsut!" Zane thought it was so funny, he laughed and laughed at it all day.

The next morning I said it again while he was still asleep and he laughed in his sleep. Über cute.

Wednesday we went for another free developmental test. Zane is right on target. They're really a lot of fun, and I learn a lot about games I can play with Zane to help him hit his upcoming milestones. We were invited back, and I think I'll keep going even though we don't have any concerns.

Saturday was a perfect day (other than getting up at 6am). Zane turned nine months old! Zane had a 2 hour nap in the morning. Then we went for a walk to a nearby park and explored a jungle gym. Zane seemed to like the slide, and he tried to climb part of the structure. We had a picnic in the grass. I was eating an apple, and Zane wanted to try it. He managed to bite off a little bit with his two tiny teeth, but mostly he sucked off some juice. We went home examining plants all the way, and then visited with the rabbits in the yard. Zane had a 1.5 hour nap wherein I got tons of stuff done. Zane and Daddy went for a walk in the stroller and felt rocks and pinecones and rosemary and many other things while I went to the store. I came back with a bunch of boxes and made the coffee table safe for little fingers:Now we can keep our remotes, game controllers, PC bits, candy, and books away from Zane, but still have them handy. The beautiful bubble wrap keeps Zane's head somewhat protected.

We had another family session with the buns in the back yard, and Zane had fun persecuting JoJo:

A late night nap followed with a fun bath and some silly playtime ended a really perfect day. Unfortunately, today Zane woke up too early again, and he and I have been cranky and out of sorts all day. Oh well. Zane is out with Daddy again while I blog. I also had to go get some cupboard locks since Zane has started to get into them.

Fingers

2010-05-08T22:13:00.000-07:00

The spring weather of six weeks ago has finally returned. Today Zane and I went for a long walk to get groceries. On the way back we stopped at the Boys and Girls Club to watch a baseball game, and we played on our first jungle gym. Zane and I went down the twisty slide together, and I slid Zane down a small straight slide by himself. We definitely need to go back to another play set soon. Then we got to spend time in the back yard on the grass. Zane is still a little weirded out by the grass, but he warmed up to it considerably today.

This week Zane has begun to refine his pinching grip, and as a result is starting to be a bit of a better eater. He can pick up Cheerios and put them in his mouth, and he now uses his teeth to bite on crackers. The crackers and Cheerios usually come out after sitting in his mouth for a while, though. I put some almond butter on a boring rice cracker, and he liked it much better. I put some of my milk in a shot glass and he practiced washing the cracker down with some milk from a cup. He liked that a lot! I have a feeling that the more he can feed himself, the better he'll do with eating.

He can now wave, too. Marie at daycare said all the kids can do this, so I think they work on it there. It's very cute! He holds his right hand up, palm flat out like he's saying "stop", and then he folds his fingers up and down. So far he does it randomly, not yet in the right context.

This week he's been having nice two hour naps right in the middle of the day. Ahhhh. I can get stuff done! Amazing. He seems much happier, too.

I finally got all my plans worked out for a summer trip to Maine! Traveling with Zane for the first time will be a bit of an adventure, but we have to do it some time!

Love is Hard

2010-05-08T21:58:00.000-07:00

JoJo and Sebastian came home last weekend, but their love had not blossomed. We had them for about 4 days, and in that time they never warmed up and in fact began fighting. We had to put up a dividing wall which probably made the problem worse, but we didn't want them hurting each other. They went back to bunny love camp (Rabbit Meadows) where we hoped Sandi would work her bunny bonding magic.

I'm not sure what Sandi did, but JoJo and Sebastian (or Bun and Mr. Bun) are back home and being very nice to each other. They're not lovey dovey, but they are cordial. JoJo even licked Sebastian's head for a bit. They are no longer divided. We hope they will become friends and then they will be allowed to reclaim the house as their own together.

Snot and Bumps

2010-05-03T17:04:00.000-07:00

Zane did end up having another nasty cold, this time with extra thick yucky snot that he covered me with every day. On the first two days he woke up in the mornings with his nostrils sealed shut and the sheets all crusty with snot. I stayed home with him from work for an extra day and was able to give him four good days of TLC and rest. He still drains nasty stuff a few times a day, but he feels much better now. One day I held him for a very long nap (he rests better that way), and Michael captured some dream smiles. He woke up for a moment and then went right back to sleep when he saw me, and with a sigh settled back to dreaming.

He's still a bit snotty, but feeling much better. He's been doing lots of exploring now that he can stand and climb over things. He got part of a WiiMote and tried to plug it into himself. In general he's been falling less when crawling or standing, but now he's trying more adventurous climbing escapades. He's also standing holding on with one hand and will occasionally fall. Here he is testing the limits of his gym.

Don't worry, he was fine! He also likes to climb into his bouncy chair now and bounce away on it. This has lead to some bumps and tears, but he keeps at it!

Today we went to a baby group session for 6-9 month old babies. Next week we'll crash the 9-12 month old session, since Zane will be almost 9 months old, and the groups meet only once per month. It's fun being one of the oldest in the group as Zane looks very mature and capable compared to some others. All but one baby have more hair, though.

Sleep has been really quite wonderful lately. Today he slept all night, and I woke up after 7 hours unable to go back to sleep because I'm just not used to it! Someday I'll get my sleep back.

Bunny Love

2010-04-25T19:05:00.001-07:00

Today we took JoJo to Rabbit Meadows to meet her betrothed, Sebastian. Sandi of Rabbit Meadows will do the bonding process over the next few days or a week, and we should be able to pick up a bonded pair.

As I told Michael, it's a gamble, but we could double our bunny!

Standing Ovation

2010-04-25T09:02:00.002-07:00

Well. Last Sunday we went to visit Zane's buddy Finn, and Finn showed off how he could now stand. The next morning, Zane did it, too! It's not the first time he's learned a new skill after watching other babies do it. He's very observant. Here he is at bath time, where he kept escaping to go check out his bath, which he loves. You can see his standing skills.

This week Zane's Uncle Brady came by for a visit. You can see that Zane says Uncle Brady is #1! When Brady came by last year at this time, Zane was still a bun in the oven!

Zane's increased mobility means he's getting into more and more stuff. Like swords! Is there a way to baby-proof a bucket of swords? And today he almost tipped over our mammoth tusk. Clearly, we will need to be changing our lifestyle a bit.

Monday we did not end up having a checkup after all. I thought we were supposed to go every two months, but the Dr's office called and said really we weren't supposed to come until Zane is 9 months old. So, I measured him myself, and he is about 27" tall and 17.5 pounds. Now that Zane is standing he can be "tall" instead of "long."

Monday we did go to free development test done by the Parent Trust of Washington. It was very fun! Zane got to play with toys, and I answered questions about his behavior. Zane is doing very well, as I thought! I was given a few things to concentrate on to make sure he hit some milestones, and we are going back in 3 weeks for another screening. Really the only things he doesn't do yet for the 7-9 month old category are picking little things up with pointer finger and thumb, standing, and banging toys together. Well, now he's standing! And I showed him how to make godawful noises banging things together, and he does that with glee. I've been giving him Cheerios to practice picking up.

His buddy Finn came by again on Saturday and modeled feeding himself which Zane hasn't been a fan of. Now Zane picks up crackers and puts them in his mouth, but most of it comes back out again. Someday he will feed himself!

Sleep has finally gotten way better with just one quick waking at night. Except last night when he seemed to start to fight a new cold, hopefully a short one. He seems better already today!

Today we were on an outing and Zane got to have an al fresco diaper change and nursing session. It was lovely!

Eight Months Old!

2010-04-15T10:39:00.000-07:00

On the fifteenth Zane was eight months old! This coming Monday we have a check up to see how he's growing. Even if he's still a skinny Bean, he's definitely happy, curious, and physically fit. I also signed up for free developmental testing through the State of Washington and we'll be doing that on Monday as well. The idea is to make sure that any delays are caught and worked on early. I fully expect to find out that Zane is a superstar, and it will be nice to know for sure that we don't just have parent blindness about a trouble spot.

On Monday we went swimming again and ran into Diego and his mom who we know from story time. I noticed a big difference in Zane -- now that he's crawling, he seems to have taken that skill right to the water! When he saw something he wanted to get to, his arms and legs would mill around in the water in a kind of proto-dog paddle (puppy paddle?). I don't think it really propelled him (I was holding him), but it's a great start! One of these days we'll have to sign up for actual swimming lessons.

Wednesday he managed to get himself into a sitting position for the first time. He seemed pretty pleased with himself. I think babies usually do this before crawling, but Zane is such a mover and a shaker that he doesn't have much use for sitting. I think he got that from his fidgety, twitchy, zippy Mom.

We've been having trouble sleeping lately, and Zane has been acting like his mouth really hurts him. I end up letting him sleep in our bed just to get some sleep, and I hope he doesn't come to expect it. I'm not sure where his next teeth might be coming in. Some sources say the upper incisors are next, some say the next two bottom teeth. Maybe it is his upper teeth since those are really big and he seems to be in a lot of discomfort. Poor pumpkin.

Marauder

2010-04-12T10:00:00.000-07:00

No news is good news! I can't think of anything major to report this week. Zane continues to zip around faster and faster on his hands and knees, and he's started pulling himself up to a kneeling position, too. This kid wants to stand and run!

Zane proofing the house is difficult, as he can dismantle most efforts. I tried putting corner protectors on the coffee table, but they actually create a hazard. Zane sees them, crawls over, yanks them off to chew on, and then he is hanging out right by a sharp little corner. I've put some of his foam letter squares around the coffee table for now, but it won't last.

Zane has also started to create a mental map in his head of the house. He knows to crawl around the coffee table to get to JoJo's stuff or to follow me to the bathroom. He knows how to get to me in the kitchen so he can hang on my leg and look up at me with puppy eyes. He's getting really good at clutching and hanging on to me now. I've been calling him my little monkey.

Our latest fun discovery is that blowing raspberries in Zane's armpits and knee pits is very funny. Maybe it tickles!
He's getting used to eating more and more, which is useful since he doesn't seem to like to take a bottle on the weekends that I work. He will nosh on yummy food, though. At least when I get home he'll be only thirsty, not hungry, too.

Cheerio!

Vomitorium

2010-04-05T18:02:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I can't get to JoJo anymore? Fine, then. I'll just try to pull your computer down onto my head.

Zane is really crawling well now, with no belly flops and only the rare stumble. He isn't quite speedy yet, but he's got it down. I've got a better barrier on the stairs now that has a gate in it for easy access. No more stepping over a gate and hoping not to fall down the stairs.

This week's drama involved buckets of vomit. His first! How cute! In an older post, you may remember I fed him some yogurt with strawberries in it. That was bad (strawberries are not recommended in the first year), so I shared my other flavors with him until I read the label and found out they had honey in them, another no-no. So I made a big label-reading effort and found some fruit yogurts sweetened only with fruit juice. He really liked the first one and ate a lot, but ended up having two bouts of massive spewing. The first one in my bathroom, and the second one in a complete stranger's house while we were buying a used baby gate. Luckily it was on a hard surface, and as parents they completely understood. Poor Zane got worn out and a little dehydrated, but by the next day he was fine. I'm not totally sure it was an allergic reaction, but he didn't have a fever so I don't think it was a bug. I'll wait a week and try a few spoonfuls of another flavor and see what happens.

Today we went to a baby group (Q&A for moms) and it was so fun to see the babies crawling all over each other now that they are bigger. It was kind of like a pile of really cute maggots writhing around on the floor.

Zane has slept through the night again for several nights, so I'm hopeful that will continue. Even when he does get up, it's not for long. I feel a lot better! I've also been getting alarmingly thin, and I've been bulking up on nuts and whole milk and protein bars, and that makes me feel better, too. I hear that babies' growth slows down around now, and I won't need to be using so many calories each day to produce milk. We'll see!

Mischief

2010-03-29T14:20:00.000-07:00

Zane is now becoming an early expert in mischief. By last Wednesday, three weeks after getting up on his hands and knees, he is officially crawling. He still falls and is slow, but he gets where he wants to go. His pursuit of JoJo is now relentless. We've got some fencing now to keep her safe and to keep Zane out of the litter box.

Monday we went swimming again and had another fun time. I'd like to try to go every other week, but the whole locker room routine is a bit daunting. It's especially hard at the end to get us both washed clean of chlorine and dressed. I think if I can recruit more moms, we can get our babies cleaned off and then watch each other's kids while we clean ourselves off.

Not quite earth shaking, but Zane had his first splinter this week. I think he got it from the coffee table. The pointier parts of the coffee table really need to get wrapped in bubble wrap soon, as he is starting to bang his head on stuff.

While it is currently hailing, Wednesday was beautiful.
We got to lounge around outside for a while while Grandpa visited. Since Zane loves to play in water, I put some water in a bowl for him and he had a great time getting wet. I can't wait until it's warm enough for naked baby time in a wading pool!

Zane goes through phases where he practices a sound over and over, usually something pretty grating. The last couple of weeks his favorite thing is to make his whole body rigid, stick his arms down to the sides with his wrists bent, and say "Errrrr!" He does it when he's very excited. We captured a little bit of that here:

Part of Zane's brain development is object permanence and realizing that people can be gone. Even though he's been going to daycare for two months now, he's started crying a bit when I drop him off. He is also looking for toys when he drops them, and looking down a hallway or at a door when we leave the room. He still remains pretty cheerful, though! Earlier in the week he was teething, got a splinter, and hadn't pooped in four days. He whined a bit, but I cut him some slack because it's hard to be a baby when your mouth hurts, you're constipated, you get wood shoved under your fingernails, your parents then squeeze that fingernail, and then you think your Mom is abandoning you.

And finally, here is Zane really "getting into" his study of the letter R. I'm not sure how he got his legs through the R's negative space, but he did!

Surprise!

2010-03-29T13:57:00.000-07:00

Oh, did you want a tissue? Too bad, I'm sleeping here.

The Diarrhea Diaries

2010-03-21T17:06:00.000-07:00

Zane had his first diarrhea this week. Oh how cute! Um, nope, yuck. First, he had it twice all over his daycare Mom on Tuesday night. I thought it was just a symptom of teething as I had heard it could be. Wednesday I had some diarrhea in the morning but felt otherwise fine. Zane was a little fussy, but I again thought it was his teeth. We happily went to Story Time at the library, but he seemed a little subdued and clingy. Then when we were marching around and doing a dance at Story Time I had to stop and rest. On the way home my skin began to hurt and it became clear that Zane actually had a bug he had passed on to me. By the afternoon I was exhausted, feverish, and my guts hurt. Thursday Zane and I stayed home. Friday I felt mostly better and Zane seemed fine so I went to work, but I had to pick up Zane early as his daycare Mom was sick, too (she even went to her doctor). That evening he had more diarrhea all over me. Then Saturday I had to stay home again, and now Sunday I'm back at work. I really think I'm better now! It's been hard to tell how sick Zane was because he's generally cheerful and any fussiness can be attributed to teething. His appetite was always fine (mine wasn't), and I don't think he ever had a fever, so I think he was much better off than the adults he infected.

One of Zane's teeth finished breaking through and can be felt, and the other is on its way. I got my first nip de nip from Zane, the first of many more, I'm sure! His sleep continues to improve, and we even had one night where he slept right through the whole night again. That was, of course, while I was sick and couldn't sleep, so I didn't get to enjoy it.

I think he's getting more interested in food. A few times he's wanted what I'm eating, and we shared food. The first time he got oatmeal with blueberries and apple chunks in it. I squished the blueberries and ate the skins, and he got purple oatmeal. Yum! I found the apple chunks unchanged in his diaper the next day, which was kind of funny. Yesterday I shared my fruity yoghurt with him, and then belatedly realized *OOPS* it was strawberry yoghurt. Babies aren't supposed to have strawberries until they are one year old (the baby, not the strawberry), since strawberries are a common allergen. Well, Zane survived! I wonder if this means I now know strawberries are OK, or should I still hold off? I'm going to ask at my baby group the next time I go. He sure likes them!

Zane has continued to work on his crawling, and he's almost there! He can get on his knees and lunge forward onto his belly, and then repeat the process. Michael says it is like watching a sea lion gallumph along. I've also seen him drag his knees forward together while staying upright on his arms. He's started moving his hands and knees a bit, too, like in this video where he does his favorite thing, lunging after JoJo:

His little brain keeps expanding, too. I've gotten out some texture books he was only kind of into in the past, and now he likes to spend more time feeling all the stuff and looking at the pictures. I can't wait until he'll sit still for a story!

Today Kyrin came to babysit for four hours while Michael was on Zane duty. This will be a good deal, because Kyrin will get driving practice, money, cute baby time, and some quiet time. Zane will get a dedicated playmate and get to know his cousin. Michael gets some work time but will still have plenty of Daddy time.

That's all for today. If we're feeling chipper tomorrow, I think we'll try another go at swimming.

Happy Spring!

Seven Months

2010-03-15T22:56:00.000-07:00

Zane is seven months old! I'm staying up late to do this post, so it will be a quick one.

I tried to weigh Zane on our bathroom scale, but it says he's stayed the same at 15 pounds, so I'm going to ignore that. His mobility is increasing fast, hence the addition of a baby gate to the top of our stairs. He has learned how to get on his hands and knees and then lunge forward to get where he wants to go. He's done it several times, and a few times in a row, so it doesn't seem to be a fluke of just falling in the right direction.

Last week on Monday we went to the Mountlake Pool for our first swimming adventure. They have many little pools set up for families and kids. We went in the Lazy River, which is shallow, rubber bottomed, and has a current. I thought we might stay in for 20 or 30 minutes, but after an hour I decided we should really get out. Zane would have kept on going! He really loves his bath (cries when we get out), so I guess he is a real water baby. The pool had balls floating in the water, and cool little floating exersaucer things for the babies to float in. Zane and I met up with two of his baby pals and their moms. We'll definitely go again. Maybe we can get Michael to come and take pictures.

The big news this week for Zane is teeth! Sunday morning I saw what looked like a little crack in his gums (lower incisors), and he's been very sad and cranky since then. Zane is such a happy baby, so I know his constant crying and neediness means he's really hurting. Poor baby! Nothing I do seems to help except for to hold him. Oh, and chewing on my chin is good. Needless to say, I'm not getting much done in life, and that is why I'm staying up late to post! I sure hope the teeth cut through quickly and don't prolong his misery.

Must sleep! Oh yeah, and sleep is slowly improving as the snot situation slowly improves. Good night!

Farewell Bijou

2010-03-15T22:36:00.001-07:00

Our dear sweet Bijou died on Saturday morning.

Her diabetes had been uncontrollable, but she had been coping pretty well with it. However, Thursday she seemed extra tired, and I gave her extra snuggles that night thinking her end was near. That evening at about 10:30 she began having seizures, and Michael rushed her to the kitty ER. Her blood sugar had completely crashed and it appeared she was having hypoglycemic seizures. At this point we thought that this might be a good sign that we were closing in on the right dose of insulin for her and that we just needed to give her less.

However, treatment could not bring up her blood sugar, and throughout the night and Friday it became clear that something else was going on. The vets believe it was most likely a brain or pituitary tumor that was interfering with her body's ability to regulate hormones. This would explain why we were never able to regulate her diabetes; the diabetes was a symptom of something else. Friday evening Michael and I and Zane went to spend some time with her.

For a while late Friday night she rallied a bit, and we were thinking it might instead be a pancreatic tumor called an insulinoma, which could be removed once she stabilized. However, by Saturday morning she was having seizure after seizure, and it was clear her brain was involved. We knew it was time to let her go. Michael and Zane and I went, and we spent about 45 minutes with her in a private room, just holding her, helping her through seizures, washing her, and loving her. She died peacefully in my arms. Zane was fantastic through the whole experience, being very quiet and entertaining himself.

We took her home, washed her and dried her, and laid her out in state in the living room. We tried to get JoJo to say goodbye, but she wouldn't come out from behind the couch. It was very therapeutic for us to clean her body and make her ready for burial. We let her be in sunbeams for the last time.

We buried her in the back yard next to the lilac, in a shady spot she often would sleep in during hot summer days. It's comforting to look out there and know she is there.

We are very sad, and many small things around the house continually remind us of her. However, we know she had a wonderful life, and we did everything we could to treat her illness. When it was time to go, we let her. Zane has been a ray of sunshine during this sad time. Saturday night he got extra clowny at night. I think he was bored with the somber mood and ready to be happy again!

Requiescat in Pace, Bijou. We love you.

All of her blog posts are here.

Butts Up!

2010-03-07T14:57:00.000-08:00

The big news this week is that Zane has learned to get himself up on his hands and knees! It was very sudden. I've been trying to put him in that position for a while now, but he always pancaked out onto his belly immediately. Wednesday I saw him go from his belly to a kind of upright Prayer Pose and start rocking. By Friday he was getting himself up on all fours for brief periods, and this weekend he's doing it constantly and holding it for about a minute. As you can see from the photo above, he is very pleased with himself. Michael and I have started discussing strategies for getting our stuff out of reach when he goes mobile. Here is video evidence:

Zane's cough is slowly getting better, and his nose snot is gone. His sleep is also slowly getting better, but with his new-found muscles he's escaping from his swaddle at night and waking himself up with his arms flailing. I tried one night with out the swaddle and that was not a good night. My baby group nurse Anne Keppler says that when babies learn new skills they practice them in their sleep and get restless, so maybe that's what's going on. In order to encourage night-long fasting, I'm just holding him in bed until he goes to sleep, and then putting him back in the crib.

Earlier in the week I got Zane to start practicing on the banjo:

Tomorrow we go swimming!

Stripes Edition

2010-02-28T09:12:00.001-08:00

We're muddling along this week with no big news. Zane still has his cold, and although he still has a cough the snot is drying up. We're still waking up twice each night, and I'm still tired. Two nights last week I accumulated 8 hours of sleep, though, so I feel a bit better.

Oh wait! He had his 6 month appointment! His regular doc was out sick, but we saw a nice Physician's Assistant. Zane flirted with her and got a good bill of health. He's 15 pounds and still 26.5", so he's not longer but is thickening up a bit. He got 4 more vaccinations and doesn't need to get any more for another 6 months. I think I'll take him in for flu shots in a couple of weeks though.

Feeding is kind of iffy. He doesn't seem to like anything but straight up bananas. I've managed to get him to eat a little of: peas, sweet potato, papaya, and rice cereal. For a while he wasn't even eating the banana, but last night he ate a lot. I was hoping that meant he would sleep better, but instead he just had a major poop blowout in the middle of the night.

Monday we're going to a baby group class, and I'm going to ask about sleeping and eating strategies.

I'm at work again this weekend, and when I came home Saturday night Zane was looking especially cute while he napped. He ended up having a 2 hour nap! Why don't I get the benefit of 2 hour naps?! Maybe he just loves his mommy so much he doesn't want to sleep. Yeah, (yawn) that's it.