Buddies

This was taken about 5 minutes into our trip home from Mark and Judy's.

This weekend

We were busy this weekend. Saturday morning, Zack started a gymnastics class with one of his buddies, Sebastian, from school. While he was a little nervous before it started, it helped that his friends were there (turns out, another of his school classmates was also in the same class). Parents aren't allowed in the room, and we could only see the kids for part of the time, but he seemed to enjoy himself. His perceptions might be slightly tainted by the meltdown he had on the way out when I wouldn't buy him a toy he saw there.

That night, Sebastian, and his mom and sister came over to play and have dinner. After dinner, all the kids got in the tub together, got jammies on, and watched a show before Sebastian et al headed home.

I'm not sure if this is an example of how scattered we moms are, or how we sometimes lose our identity, but it cracked me up regardless. Before dinner, Sebastian and Zack were coloring. Sebastian told his mom that he was making his picture for Erica. Sebastian's mom looks at him and says, "Who's Erica?" I just burst out laughing. Sebastian just pointed to me and said "Her" with a "have you lost it?" tone of voice.

The next morning Zack and Sebastian met for a playdate at Boden's house. (I told you we were busy!) Boden is another classmate and oft-mentioned friend of theirs. The kids all did really well together and I think we managed to call it quits right before everything melted down.

Boden has two sisters, one of whom is 4 months old. I offered to hold her and give her a bottle, to give Boden's mom a break. I was doing this when Zack walked around the corner. His eyes got as big as saucers, and he said, rather apprehensively, "Mommy? Is that MY baby?" He seemed pretty relieved that this was, in fact, really a playdate, and not a baby-acquisition-date.

Finally, Sunday night we went over to our neighbors' house to watch the first half of the Super Bowl. There were a bunch of kids there, so Zack got to play some more. We had chili, and Rob made some really amazing empanadas. Yumm!

And did I take one single picture of all this fun? Why no, I did not.

Pizza and pre-reading

Zack helped Rob make pizza last night. I think he enjoyed it.

Have I talked about how Zack is pre-reading? He's known what a Z looks like for awhile ("Z is for Zachary and Zoe and zebra."). But more recently he's definitely been realizing that these letter things mean something and can tell people important information. So this isn't an actual example, but he'll do something like take the jar of his vitamins, point to the letters, and say "This says 'these are vitamins and I can't take too many or I'll get sick'." When I read to him at night, he askes me which page I'm reading. And of course, he wrote his name the other day. So he's getting the mechanics of it all. Then last night Rob was reading his new Big Back Yard magazine to him. There are several pages that have pictures of pairs of animals--two cheetahs, two rabbits, two turtles--with the name of the animal in a heart next to the picture. We've looked through this numerous times, and he knows all the animals. But last night, Zack pointed to the words in the hearts, used his finger to follow along the letters, and "read" the name of the animal. Pointing to the words isn't something we've done (though we should probably start), so this was all his doing.

The other thing he's been doing that I wasn't expecting at all is that he picks out words that rhyme. At first he didn't really get the concept---"Orange and orange juice rhyme." But now he's getting really good at it. As he was falling asleep last night, I could hear him whispering words under his breath. Then all of a sudden he said (as if it were the most exciting discovery ever), "Mommy! Shirt and hurt rhyme!"

There is a lot going on in that brain of his, that's for sure. He picks up on EVERYTHING and is so very curious. The other night we were reading his magazine, and we ended up talking about what rhinocerouses (rhinoceri?) eat. I told him that he should remind me the next day and we'd look it up. "You'll look it up on your iPad, Mommy?" Uh, yeah, that was exactly what I was going to do. And we did and he was really interested in clicking on all the links and finding out more about them.

And baby rhinos? "Awwwwww! They're so cuuuuuute!" Just in case you were wondering.

Joy

He wrote his own name (cue my heart swelling with joy and pride).

In other news, perhaps some things we say ARE sinking in:

Zack (being very nice to Georgia): Georgia likes me.
Me: Yes, she does.
Zack: You know why she likes me? Because I being nice to her.
Me: EXACTLY!!!

Scene: Zack's bedtime last night. Lights are out, he's tucked in.

Zack: Lie down next to me, Mommy.
Me: Not tonight, sweetie. I'm going to sit here by the door.
Zack: (said infused with tears and drama) But I want you to lie next to me......I don't have anybody to lie next to me.

(insert the sound of my heart being stabbed, with an extra twist just for good measure)

He finally went to sleep. I still feel guilty.

"There is no in appropriate weather, just inappropriate clothing."

I'd prefer the white to be mountain laurels, but I'll take this, too.

Product of his environment

We're raising a true DC kid--he's playing Traffic Jam.

Jammies

It's Pajama Day at school today. This is the best pic I could get,  as he was anti-paparazzi this morning.

I don't envy the teachers today. Something about wearing PJ's to school winds those kids right up!

One more...

...to add to that file that we're going to pull out when he's 14 or so.

Babies

We were all at a baby shower yesterday. I'd been telling Zack that Liza had a baby in her belly, and that we were going to go give her gifts for the baby. He'd even gone shopping with me and had wanted to pick out toys for the baby (which I let him do).

We were getting ready to leave the shower when this conversation occurred.

Z: I want to see the baby.
Me: You mean Liza's baby?
Z: Yes.
Me: Well, she's still in Liza's tummy.
Z: I want to wait for the baby.
Me: (It took a moment for me to process this) You want to wait until the baby comes out?
Z: Yes.
Me: Well, I don't think the baby is going to come out today. They come out when they're ready, and she's not ready yet.
Z: Yes she is (is there anything so confident and optiimistic as a 3-year old?). I want to wait for the baby.

We finally convinced him that there wouldn't be a baby that afternoon, with a little help from Liza asking if Zack would come visit the baby when she was born.

We're in so much trouble

Zack and I went to Target last night. We were looking for granola bars. He saw the chocolate covered ones.

Mommy, I want the chocolate ones.

No, we're going to get the ones we usually get (which contain zero chocolate).

But Mom, they're granola bars, not candy.

(Cue snickering from everyone else in the aisle)

Puzzles

Somewhere along the line he's figured out how to do puzzles. He looks at the picture on the box, looks for the pieces, puts them together. All by himself. It's pretty amazing to watch.

Gingerbread houses

This morning I took my show on the road. I went to Zack’s class and decorated gingerbread houses with them. Zack was so excited to see me come with all the goodies, and his friends were pretty revved up, too. They say quietly on the rug while I set things up and explained how to decorate the houses. Then they took their seats and got to work. The room fell silent except for the occasional “Zachary’s Mommy, do you like mine?”, immediately followed by several others saying “And mine?” “And mine?” “And mine, too?”  It was a lot of fun, and the kids all seemed to have a great time.

Twas the week before Christmas...

It's all about framing

After I picked up Zack last night, we went to CVS. It was pretty clear that things were going to go downhill quickly: "I want to look at the toys." "I don't want to stand in line." "I don't want to eat dinner. I just want cookies." It is the latter that he fixated on while standing in line at the pharmacy, complete with "I don't like when you say No, Mommy. Say Yes. Say it.  SAY IT!"

Somehow we made it out without a major blowup. But it was pretty clear it wasn't going to get any better, especially when we got to the car and, tears in his eyes, said he didn't want to get in the car and go home. We were in front of Starbucks, so I asked him if he wanted to get "coffee," to which he tearily said yes.

We went in, he cheerfully selected a milk and a box of food. /we sat down and he INHALED his food--an egg, cheese, grapes, apple,peanut butter. We had a lovely time.

As we were getting back in the car, I told him that we could go home and get a cookie because he'd been so good.

"But I don't want dinner."

"No, of course not, you ate already."

I wish I could have caught the look on his face--a moment to process what I'd said, followed by a huge grin, a sheepish chuckle, and a damn-how'd-she-do-that? expression.  Absolutely priceless.  

My latest Google search

"How to get crayon out of my dryer"

A Full Couch

Another good day on the trail

 It was a gorgeous weekend here, so Zack and I took advantage of it and went hiking on the trail, but on the other side of the creek. Just to mix it up a little.

This ended up being a good thing, as in the first 5 minutes of our hike we saw a snake. Well, Georgia spotted it first. It was just a harmless brown snake, taking advantage of the Indian Summer.

 Of course, after seeing this snake, Zack wanted to find more snakes. I told him that in the 10 years I'd been walking this trail, I'd never seen a snake before, so I wasn't too sure that we'd see another one and perhaps we should look for other things. He thought for a moment and decided that he'd like to look for "frogs, fish, and sharks." He also claimed to see crocodiles in the creek.

If he was disappointed in not finding any other wildlife, it didn't show. He quite happily played in the water for awhile, fishing digging, and exploring. He's quite a good hiker; this side of the trail is hillier and a bit rockier, but it was no problem for him. He was rather proud of himself for walking on rocks to cross a little rivulet. I love watching him exploring and taking in the world.

And what is it about a pile of leaves that draws kids in like a moth to a flame? With no prompts from us whatsoever, he dove in and must have been running, jumping, and swimming in this pile for a good hour.

So if you're looking for Christmas gift suggestions for him, just box up some leaves and send them our way.

Helper

Note that he isn't doing this in our yard. Oh no. He'd rather go help Cessy.

Milan

Some belated pictures from Rob's and my trip to Milan. We had a lovely time, particularly since we knew that Zack was having a great time with Grandma and Papa back home. I'm pretty sure we missed him far more than he missed us

This first picture is from the Duomo, the third largest cathedral in the world. The irony here is that I wasn't allowed in the first day we tried to visit inside because my shoulders weren't covered---but there are fashion posters hanging on the outside.

This is the outside of the aquarium. We didn't go inside, but the outside is a lovely art deco building with lots of animals all over it.

Rob popping out of a lovely outdoor market.

A view of the Duomo from the new modern art museum. The swirly lines are part of an art installation reflected in the glass.

Halloween

Boo!

A very belated Halloween post. Zack wanted to be a skeleton for Halloween, so Rob went to work while I was away on a business trip. I knew it was going to be a great costume, but I was really blown away when I came home to see this. What you can't see in these pictures is that it also glows in the dark.

Zack really loved his costume and proudly told everyone that his Daddy made it for him.

The pumpkins were done by Rob and by Uncle Geoff, who had mentioned early in October that he thought he'd like to try his hand at jack o'lanterns this year.

Zack LOVED Halloween this year. He was so into the ghosts and monsters and skeletons and pumpkins and witches. He loved trick or treating--he went out with Rob while I manned the homefront. They ended up getting together with neighbors while trick or treating and Zack got a huge kick out of "tricking" me when he rang the doorbell with his two friends.

The face of tolerance

We have totally lucked out with Georgia--she is so very tolerant of Zack and his shenanigans. She's only protested her treatment two or three times. And believe me, it was warranted protest and was done very gently. Regardless of having to put up with this boisterous boy of ours, she's clearly attached to him. She sits for Zack, takes treats ever so gently from him, and sleeps in his bed nearly every night.

What I was surprised at was how Zack is behaving a bit as if he has sibling rivalry with Georgia. Little whacks here, squeezes that are a bit too tight there. Followed by a very gentle hug, kiss, and an "I love you, Georgia" 10 minutes later. And a reminder that we have to take her for a walk/feed her/let her out. This sibling rivalry, combined with other rascally behavior he has been exhibiting lately (more on that in another post), is enough to drive us slightly batty.

At least he's cute.   

And this is the pit.

Why yes, that WAS our backyard and garden. And yes, Dad, they did go through the flagstone walk you just put in (though they pulled up the stones first). And yes, that is as much of our backyard as it looks like--probably more.

And yes, it is raining today, so the workers won't be here and all this will drag on even longer.

Blech. 

There is large construction equipment in our yard.

And also a big pit with an accompanying large pile of dirt.

That is all.

The ever-elusive Christmas Ghost

Hiking

I thought I'd downloaded Halloween pictures, but I seem not to have. Those will be forthcoming. In the meantime, I thought I'd share some pictures of the activity that Zack and I have taken up on the weekends: hiking. We take Georgia over to the Northwest Branch Trail near our house and spend some time outside. This past weekend had the added benefit of being a beautiful autumn day. There's lots to explore for both humans and canines alike. Zack always manages to find the biggest leaves that have fallen, while Georgia is more interested in chipmunks and other dogs. This past weekend had the added benefit of being a beautiful autumn day, and Zack wanted to do some exploring by the water. He didn't manage to fill in the creek, but got a pretty good start on it.

Zack continues to be a cheerful and funny and a joy to be with--when he isn't being possessed by a demon who blatantly ignores his parents, does the exact opposite of what he's been asked, and openly searches for things to get into, break, and harm himself with. In an interesting juxtaposition, he is also becoming increasingly aware that other people have some sort of opinion of him, an opinion that may be different than how he sees himself. This realization has resulted him being much shier in unfamiliar situations and with unfamiliar people. He'll often warm up, but not always. Rob and I find ourselves aching for him in these situations. Despite being a very shy child myself, I have trouble figuring out how to help him negotiate these times when he's unsure. That said, I don't think he's nearly as shy as I ever was, thankfully.

The other interesting consequence of his realization that others have different opinions than him is that he's started....let's say "fabricating reality." I don't want to say he's lying because I'm not sure it's quite as sophisticated as that (though Rob might disagree). So for example, he tried pulling something off the counter the other night and it fell and broke. Now when we ask him about it, he says that it fell off the counter all by itself. Or he'll tell us that he didn't have a vitamin yet when he definitely has had one. Or he'll tell me that Rob said that he could have X, Y, or Z, when I've just heard Rob say the exact opposite. We're not quite sure how to deal with this because when he's questioned about it, it's as if he really believes his version of events.

So long story short, he's still keeping us on our toes.

Heading home

I miss these guys. I'm getting on a plane in a few minutes to head back to them.

Conversation

Scene: Zack is tucked into bed last night, Georgia is curled up at his feet, and I'm lying next to his bed. To truly get the feel for this conversation, you have to know that Zack pronounces Georgia like Zhorzhia.

Zack: What is Georgia eating?
Me: (already half asleep) Nothing, she's just cleaning herself.

Zack sits up to see for himself.

Z: Mommy! She's eating fox!

I bolt upright and sure enough, she's got Zack's stuffed fox between her paws and it's damp. I take it away from her, I say something about how we're going to have to keep an eye on his animals, we lie back down, and all is quiet for a minute.

Until Zack says, very seriously...

"You give Georgia a time out, Mommy? I don't like her eating fox."

A boy and his dog

I think they might be buddies.

Ummmm....

...we're not dog-sitting this one. Meet Georgia. Seeing Zack's reaction when she first took a biscuit from his hand? Priceless. 

Smitten

We've been dogsitting the sweetest dog this week, Sam. Zack might be just a little bit in love.

Quote of the Day

Zack often talks in his sleep and last night was no exception. Sometime very early this morningHe very emphatically said "I love you, Nonno. And then went back to sleep.

Quote of the Day (live version)

Quote of the day

As we were running errands yesterday, Zack came up with this one, out of the blue:
Mama Mia,
Where's my tortilla?
In my tuumm-my.

Mish mash

So this post will be a mish mash. A combination of catching up from our trip to Milan, and some chatter about our boy.

Italy was lovely---the food, the wine, the weather, the gelato, the people. It was great to get away, and it was wonderful for me to finally get to Italy, since Rob talks so highly of it.

We did a lot. We saw a lot of churches (there are a few of those in Italy), including the Duomo, the 4th largest in the world. We went up onto the roof of that church and had a great view of Milan. What is astounding about all of the churches and many of the buildings is all the work, the hand labor, that went into building them. From the stonework inside and out to the painting of the interiors. And it was done so many centuries ago, often before America was even "discovered." Just astounding.

We did some shopping. Milan is all about fashion---from the designer stores, to the women walking around that look like (and might well be) models. We mostly looked, which was fun in and of itself.

We also went to museums and walked around a lot. It was perfect weather for that. We ate lots of good food---proscuitto and other salumi, gelato and granita, bread and olive oil, homemade pastas. Most restaurants are set up to take advantage of the lovely weather, so most of our meals were eaten outside. This also allowed for great people-watching opportunities.

Three of the evenings we were hosted for dinner by the Italian clients that Rob and his colleagues were in Milan to meet. The hospitality! It involved many courses of food, many bottles of wine and prosecco, and many hours. One night we went to the oldest restaurant in Milan, where Rob's client was obviously very well known. I've never had service like we had that night. While the attention was flattering, we Americans were all glad that we only had three nights of this---Italian hospitality takes some getting used to!

But it's also what was so impressive---how friendly and open everyone was. For example, after I was chastised by the elder caretaker of a church for taking pictures, he softened it by telling us about the history of the church, some of its architectural features, and about the important paintings that were in the church. He was obviously very proud of it. And did I mention that he did all this without speaking a speck of English? He really wanted to connect with us and he managed to.

It's funny--Rob and I were very excited to get away and get some time to ourselves, but we really missed our liitle guy! Our babysitters...I mean, Grandma and Papa don't really have to worry about us ever being gone for more than a week. We just miss him too much to go away for longer than that. Luckily, it seemed like we missed him a lot more than he missed us. Papa sent us daily email reports on how things were going, and while Zack would talk about us, he didn't seem to be very bothered that we were gone. By all accounts, he was better for Grandma and Papa than he usually is for us! He had a wonderful time the week we were gone, and I hope the same can be said for Grandma and Papa.

Pictures were taken in Italy, and I will hopefully get a chance to consolidate them this weekend. 

**************************************************************************

Since I see Zack every day (except when we're off galavanting in Italy), I take it for granted how much he's like both Rob and me. I forget that at first glance many people think that he looks more like me. I was reminded of this lately in a conversation with a friend whose son is in Zack's class. Just to keep his similarity to his father fresh in everyone's mind, I need to share with you these pictures that they took last night as Zack was (supposed to be) getting ready for bed.

A continuing conversation

The other day he was climbing into Rob's car. He stopped as he was kneeling backwards in his car seat, looking at the back of the car. I could hear the gears turning. He asked me about the back and then he said,

"My little dog could sit back there.........My BIG dog could sit back there."

And he turned around and sat down with a very satisfied look on his face.

An observation

Zack: "I have to make noise."

A conversation

Zack:  We're going to get a dog soon.
Me: Ohhh? Who told you that?
Zack: I did.

Slacking off

I know, I know, I've been a total slacker about posting. And it won't get better anytime soon since Rob and I are jetting off to Italy next week.

While you're waiting for me to get my act together, enjoy this picture of Zack and his buddy Sebastian, taken last night at our favorite pizza place. It was a lot of fun watching these two imps interact during dinner.

Until later, ciao!