2 years, 8 weeks

A quick recap of Easter: We all had a great time. We had a lovely dinner for Mark's 85th birthday. Thankfully, Anna had the foresight to reserve a room just for us, so all the cousins could run around between courses and not get in anyone's way. I'm pretty sure that Zack was running the entire duration of the party! He had a great time with his cousins--this picture pretty much sums it up:

While he did not sleep the first night we were there (and in fact we had to go on a 1 am drive to calm him down), he definitely slept the 2nd night! He was tuckered out after all that running. Oh, and did I mention that he didn't take a nap? At all? Energizer bunny, that boy. We also had a lovely Easter dinner courtesy of David and Anita. Yummmm........

Last weekend we finally got to meet the daughter of my dear friend, Kristen. She and CJ visited and we threw a Meet the Baby party to reunite with her DC peeps. It was so wonderful to see Kristen and meet her little one. Zack wasn't quite sure what to do with a baby in the house. He's fine with older kids that he can play with, but a baby seems to be a slightly different story. He was very interested in her and needed to know where she was at all times. He'd do things like give her toys, then take them away from her. At one point when I was holding her, he came up and rolled around so his head was in her lap, and he just lay there as she poked around his face...

...and slobbered on his nose.

All in all, I think he handled it pretty well. And he still talks about "the baby."

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At the top of our stairs is a set of folding doors that open to our furnace, hot water heater, and a bit of storage. Zack decided he needed to be in there the other night, a decision that I didn't quite agree with. I removed him from the closet and closed the doors. He looked at me, gears turning, and then indicated to me that I should either go into his room or into my bedroom. I knew what he was up to, but complied. Sure enough, as soon as I was out of sight, he'd opened the closet doors and was right back in there!

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I made a coconut cake last weekend. Zack helped me make the frosting. He watched me use the mixer to mix it. He stuck his finger in the bowl to make sure it tasted just right. And when my back was turned, he helped to pour the can of evaporated milk all over the counter.

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He's continuing to develop and grow. He's using more words together at a time, and talks about things that have happened in the past. Watching him pretend is lots of fun--he holds a sock to his nose and he's an elephant; he puts the head of his penguin humidifier on his head and he's a penguin; he pretends he's sleeping. He's started to "read" the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear with us as we read it. He'll sit and talk himself through books all by himself. He likes to pick out his own socks in the morning. He rarely walks anywhere, but prefers to gallop, run, or elephant walk. He's taken to pulling a stool over to the counter as we're getting dinner ready so that he can help. He can now open the refrigerator, pull out the drawer, and get a piece of cheese for himself (I'm not sure this is a good thing, but an accomplishment nonetheless). I'm sure the gods will curse me for saying this, but he's been sleeping really well, too--going down without a fuss and sleeping through the night.

We've been loving the warmer weather and the longer days. We spend about 30-45 minutes outside each evening before dinner. He likes to pick pick flowers, dig in the dirt, and visit our neighbor, Cecelia. He has recently become fascinated with bugs and has no qualms about picking them up (though I suspect that the bugs aren't nearly as qualm-free). I'm rather certain that all those images of Dennis the Menace's mother picking odd things out of Dennis' pockets are going to become the story of our lives soon enough. I've already picked some rocks out of the washer. Luckily, he hasn't become as excited about his pockets as he has about bugs.

At least not yet.