2 years, 14 weeks

So I've got some catching up to do. We've had quite a busy couple weeks that involved Zack seeing just about everyone related to him.

It started out with Grammy Leslie coming down to stay with us on her way both to and from Florida. She had a great time seeing him and he loved the extra attention.


Then we headed up to Connecticut for Rob's Aunt Angie's 75th birthday party, where he saw most of Rob's mom's family--Nonni, Nonno, his aunts, uncles, and cousins, as well as a lot of other extended family. We also seem to have turned a corner in terms of his sleep away from home. He wanted nothing to do with the pack-n-play, so we had him sleep in one of the two double beds in the hotel room, packing pillows all around him. He did great! Though one night Rob looked over and didn't see him, only to find him snuggled up on the floor with his blanket and Bear Bear. We have no idea how he got on the floor, but no harm was done whatever method he used. The weekend was lots of fun and it was great to see everyone.

When we got back, Grandma and Papa were already at our house, ready to take care of Zack all week while daycare was closed. We'd told Zack that they'd be there, but you should have seen his face and exclamation of amazement when he saw first saw them! He had a great time with all of the individual attention he got that week. He helped Papa do all sorts of stuff in the yard (thanks lots for doing all that stuff, Papa!), went on walks, did lots of drawing. Grandma and Papa enjoyed their time, too, though I'm pretty sure they must have gone home and slept for two days straight!


The Friday of that week we left to go to Pennsylvania to go camping with our friends Deb and Shawn and their two girls, Kayla and Haley. This was our annual Unbirthday Weekend, where we celebrate the kids' birthdays all together. What a great weekend! We picked a great campground, had great weather, and had lots of fun. Zack just loves Kayla and Haley, and he had lots of fun with them. We took lots of walks, the kids collected caterpillars as pets, and just relaxed.




While Zack did eat one cupcake, another night he passed up a cupcake in favor of grapes! I'm not sure I've ever heard of a kid doing that before!


He loved their dog, Amber, and still talks about how Amber would give him kisses. He gave her kisses, too, and was really good about petting her.


All of us went to play miniature golf one evening. Thankfully, we were the only ones on the course because it was....well, let's just say that herding cats would have been a more organized activity. The girls sort of got it, but Zack ran and picked up everyone's ball after they hit it. Then as he was going under one of the miniature covered bridges to get a ball, he misjudged, conked his head and fell backwards. He recovered quickly.

We tried it again the next day, and Zack got the idea a bit more. Though he kept heading the wrong direction.

Feeling confident after our trip to Connecticut, we didn't even take the pack-n-play with us. We started talking up sleeping in a Big Boy Bed early the day that we got to the campground. He didn't really take a nap, which helped later in the evening. We went through our routine at bedtime, and though there was a little resistance, he finally decided that he did want to sleep in the Big Boy Bed. I laid down with him until he fell asleep, and then he pretty much slept through the night! By the next night, he was ready to jump in his BBB even before he had his jammies on. He also did great at taking naps. We're thinking that maybe we need to make the most of this momentum and switch him to a BBB at home, too.

He's been talking up a storm, putting several words together to get his point across or to tell us about things that have happened. If he's asking us to do something and we're not quite getting it or are taking too long, he'll take our hand and lead us where he wants, putting our hand on the door knob when he wants to go outside, for example.

And outside is where he loves to be! Digging in the dirt, taking walks around the block, looking at bugs, picking flowers, "mowing" grass with his lawn mower, blowing bubbles. We're going to have a tough time this fall when it starts to get cold and dark! He has his own watering can and is able to use the hose to fill it. The first can-ful will make it onto the plants, but as time goes on, more and more water ends up on Zack. Ah, well. He's happy and he won't melt.


He loves trucks. And cars. And tractors. He's got what seems like a bazillion small vehicles everywhere in the house and he has to be carrying around at least one at all times.

He's also very helpful (except when he's being 2 and contrary). He wouldn't leave the plunger along the other night as we were getting ready for a bath, so I put it outside the bathroom door and closed the door. I'd forgotten about it, but after the bath and getting jammies on, I hear a "Mom, see". He'd put the plunger back where it belongs and wanted me to see.

He started washing the bench the other day, of his own accord. (Note the trucks in his hand.)

A bit of background--our neighbor Ed (married to Cecelia) lost an eye a little while back (this is relevant, really). The other day Zack found a sheet of eye stickers, which he was sticking on the fridge and other places. Cecelia watched him for a few hours and took him over to her house for awhile, where Zack proceeded to put eye stickers on the fridge, where eyes were on some magnets. And on Ed's glasses, right over his missing eye. And Ed has kept it there.