2 years 19 weeks

Hi.

Zack and Rob were jamming last weekend.

It wore him out.


Sunday after lunch Zack was busy doing something or other, so I decided to get out the roll of brown paper and start working on a pattern for a skirt that I wanted to make. I settled down on the floor and started to draw. After awhile he found me, and seemed to think it it was pretty cool to draw on this roll of paper stretched out on the floor. I saw this as an opportunity, and moved the paper into the office where I was going to start cutting out fabric. He kept bugging me to have some pens (that's what Mommy and Daddy use, so why shouldn't he?), but pens lead to a lot more laundry and cleaning when placed in his hands. I suddenly remembered that we had a package of colored pencils, so I searched for those, and lo and behold! They were considered just as cool as I hoped they would be! He hunkered down on the floor and started drawing, and I settled in next to him and started cutting. As you can see, he takes his work very seriously. In addition to drawing, he discovered that when the paper was on the rug, he could poke his pencil through the paper to make holes. He continues to think this is a pretty cool activity and last night we all sat on the floor and drew. It was a lot of fun!



We went for a walk after dinner. Which means a run for Zack. Unfortunately it also meant a crash and scrape for him, as well. He got a really good, bloody scrape on his knee. This meant that he had to be carried home (It's rather difficult to carry a sweaty little boy on a hot and humid evening--he just starts slipping right out of your arms!), and then there were tears in the shower when we cleaned it because it stung. He wasn't sure about the whole band aid concept, so I put one on Bear Bear first, to show him how much it helped make the boo-boo feel better. That worked pretty well, but Mommy still needed to get a band-aid after that, too. Just for good measure. I also thought that it might help in the future if he had band-aids that he picked out himself. So yesterday I let him pick and Curious George was the winner. Of course, now we're on a roll, and Bear Bear needed 2 more band-aids once we got home.

He was drawing at his table the other night while I was getting dinner ready. He came into the kitchen to show me this drawing, telling me without any prompts that it was "Papa, Mama, and Baby." This is the first time that he's identified what he's drawn, and I suspect it was inspired by his recent interest in the book The Three Bears. It's hanging on the fridge now.


I am very happy to very quietly and non-celebratorily tell you that he has been going to bed much more easily the past few nights. A baby sitter even got him to sleep with minimal fuss on Saturday! After getting advice from some other people, we tried just telling him that he can go to sleep by himself, that he's been doing a great job sleeping in his BBB, tucking him in, then leaving. The first night Rob had to go back in and put him back in bed, but since then he's been doing great! Now if we could only do something about the 6 am wake up time.....

So it looks like we may be in the market for a new couch. Rob has been having Zack watch a video downstairs in the morning while he takes a quick shower. Zack seems to have gotten bored with the videos we have because yesterday morning he decided he needed more excitement. So he climbed up on the chair (like this). Normally he pulls out a rubber spatula or something like that. Yesterday he pulled out the (new! full!) bottle of balsamic vinegar. The bottle that we put a pour top on to make it easier to pour. The bottle that is now empty because its contents are now on our carpet and couch. At least we have carpet tiles, so that part was easy to clean. The couch? Not so much. It's in the frame, in the cushions, and our living room smells like salad.

Good thing he's cute.