Boys and Girls of Summer

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

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

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

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!