Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?

Pretty darned well, thank you very kindly! Our efforts to enrich our horrible soil seem to be paying off. We've picked quite a few cherry tomatoes already---Zack is learning when they're ready and when they need another day. We've picked a number of squash already and are waiting for tomatoes, peppers and eggplants.

I learned last year that I have to grow basil in pots to thwart the slugs. That strategy is definitely paying off this year as I've already been able to harvest an armful each of Thai and Genovese basil for the freezer, and after looking last night, I think I could do it again.

The flowers are doing so well, too. Last year I helped our neighbor cut back the (formerly) huge bushes along our fence, leading to far more sunlight for our flowerbeds. What a difference! It feels like things are finally coming together.

Zack loves to help water, pull weeds from the patio, watch the bees and butterflies, and just generally be outside with us. We try to be outside as much as possible, but the gnats have been horrible, the mosquitos are horrible, and the heat has been oppressive. There seems to be a break in the heat this weekend, so it looks like we'll be back out there again!    

Getting inked

He's starting early. We figure he'll have a full arm sleeve by Christmas.

(And Anna, before you faint, it's just temporary.)

He also wanted to show everyone the seahorse that he took to bed tonight. Look really closely in his right hand (and use a little imagination)--it's got its tail wrapped around his finger.

How in the world...

...my baby is this big is beyond me. But he has outgrown his tricycle, so here we are.

He was beyond excited to go get this today. He did really well, though going down (very little) hills was a bit scary. He's getting the hang of the coaster brake, though, and was so thrilled when he realized that he could control more than he thought he could. I expect him to be zooming around in no time. 

Wet

This orange tub? The best $5 we ever spent.

Oh, the obsessions of a 3 year old

He has taken to picking the seeds out of seedless watermelon.

Quote for Friday

This morning as I was putting him in his carseat, he said "I like your beautiful necklace, Mommy."

I'm starting to think he's buttering me up for something. 

Quote of the day

Zack and I were getting ready to head out the door this morning. He had his milk and I had my purse on my shoulder when he turns to me, points to my bag, and says, very seriously, "I like your new bag, Mommy."

Quote of the day

I've lost my voice the past few days. The first day this happened, I picked Zack up from school and he was chattering away in the back seat like he always does. I was doing my best to answer, but not much was coming out. All of a sudden he stopped for a second, then said "Mommy, your mouth not making any noise."

Quote of the Day

"I'm getting frustrated with you, Mommy."

This after about an hour of him fighting going to sleep. I informed him that he wasn't the only one who was frustrated.

Summertime

So Zack faired very well with Grandma and Papa. And to their credit, Grandma and Papa didn't leave the second that Rob and I arrived home! Rob and I went to pick the little guy up at school the day we got back. When we walked in the room, he looked at us for a minute, then asked "Where are Grandma and Papa?" 

We've been busy since then. Zack's school had an end-of-the-year celebration last Friday, with a Mardi Gras theme that included yummy food and pony rides. It was lots of fun!

We spent a lot of time outside this afternoon, with Zack doing a great job of alternately helping us, making "cupcakes" (this involved water, dirt, weeds, and a watering can, with just the right amount of stirring), picking wild strawberries, and otherwise amusing himself.  I suspect that he'll turn a few shades lighter after his bath tonight.

And yes, his shoes are on the wrong feet. He put them on himself and he adamently insisted that they were on the correct feet. Aside from being VERY disconcerting to us when watching him walk, there was no harm done, so it seemed a battle that need not be picked.

I'm on my way to Providence, RI, for a conference as I type. I was telling Zack that I was going on a trip, and I got the requisite "don't go" that I was expecting. I told him that I had to go but I'd miss him. "I'll be sad when you leave, Mommy."  Yikes! That really tugged on those heart strings!

Finally...

It only took us one and a half days, three planes, and an unexpected overnight in Chicago (there are certainly worse cities for an unexpected overnight, to be sure), but we are finally in Santa Fe for our first vacation sans Zack. Grandma and Papa are keeping him busy (or, more likely, the other way around) while we're gone, so we know he is in good hands. By all accounts he is behaving better for them than us, so we can relax.

Though we must admit, we do miss that sweet little face just a smidge. 

Mother's Day, Part 2

A few days prior to Mother's Day, I'd found out that life-sized replicas of the cars from the movie Cars 2 were going to be making an appearance in our very own downtown Silver Spring on Mother's Day. Well, Zack loves the Cars, so I knew we had to go. What I hadn't realized is how staged it would be--we waited in line for 50 minutes, got our picture taken with all the cars, and.....done.

Zack got really upset that he couldn't go up to the cars (that is a pretty big tease), so we told him we'd come back after lunch to say goodbye to them. This seemed to work, and off we went to our fave pizza place, Pacci's. What a treat to be able to sit outside on such a gorgeous day! We had an extra surprise when neighbors walked in soon after we did, so we got to enjoy time with them, too.

All in all, it was a lovely weekend spent with my family--I couldn't have asked for a better gift.

Oh no, not at all.

His hands weren't dirty. No way.

(Yes, we did march into the bathroom immediately after this picture was taken.)

Mother's Day

 

Mother's Day weekend was just lovely. I got to spend a lot of time with my two favorite guys. On Saturday, we went to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. Zack wanted to come home with a goat....

...but settled for an alpaca (see below). He LOVED it. He loved looking at all the sheep, watching the shearing, eating lamb sausage, checking out all the people. He was super gentle petting the sheep and he just loved those little angora goats in the picture above. He had a busy day. But according to him, he wasn't tired. 


Here he is about 2 seconds after that declaration....
 

We went on another adventure on Sunday, but I'll save that for the next post. 

Playing Catch-up

Aside from the news alerts, its been awhile since I've posted about the little guy, so I guess I've got some catching up to do.

Zack and I survived all of Rob's traveling in the month of March, and we even went on an adventure on one Saturday. He and I took the metro downtown (that is excitement in and of itself) and went to the National Galleries of Art. I thought he might like looking at all of the modern paintings and the huge Calder mobile. He did, but (a) it's very difficult to explain the concept of art and it's corollary "do not touch" to a 3 year old, and (b) he kept asking where the fishies were. He wanted to go inside of the Andrew Goldsworthy installation (he has a point, it would be pretty cool), he walked across what I think might have been a piece of art, but I'm not entirely sure (the problem with modern art), and a few statues may or may not have been touched. He loved all the stairs in the East Wing. Then we headed over to the West wing; he loved the light installation in that tunnel, as well as the fountain. The cafe is between the two Wings, and he asked if we could sit down. So we got a treat, rested for a minute, and he decided he liked donuts.
 
Then onto the West Wing. The big hit there was the fountains and the sculpture galleries. I let him throw coins in the fountains, which he got a big kick out of and sent him off looking for more fountains. (Later my brother told me that coins in the fountains are the bains of the conservators existence--oops.) He was interested in all of the sculptures in the sculpture gallery. He paused at one of Diana, who was half nude with a drape across her. He commented that she just took a shower and had a towel wrapped around her. I which I could have gotten a picture of him staring at the statue of Mercury but I wasn't quick enough. He commented that the statue was (very obviously) a boy and he was wearing a hat. Then onto the third and final fountain. After he threw a coin in the fountain, knocked over one of the flower pots around the fountain, and then picked a flower, I decided it was time to go before they kicked us out. But not before he touched one more statue. Sigh. Then it was onto Teaism where, thankfully, there is a koi pond on the lower level (so he got to see his fish). After eating (well, I ate. He looked at the fish), we headed home on the metro. We had a great day, and he's a trooper, as he walked the whole day--no stroller for him anymore.

The weekend of Rob's birthday we made an impromptu trip to see our friends Mark and Judy. Aside from just having a great weekend filled with good food and good friends, on Sunday I went with Judy to see the Barnes Foundation before it moves in July, and Rob, Mark, and Zack went to the Camden Aquarium. Zack was in heaven--he kept talking about all the sea life that he saw. He still talks about it now, months later.

We went to New Jersey again over Easter to visit Anita and David and all the rest of the Malootian family for Easter and Mark's birthday. Zack had a great time playing with his cousins and taking part in his first Easter egg hunt. He did a great job of sleeping in the hotel, sleeping in his "Buzz bed" two out of the three nights, and sleeping soundly at that. He was super sweet and gentle with Dave and Anita's dog, Bourbon.


Rob scheduled a meeting in Princeton for the Monday after Easter, so that he wouldn't have to make the drive again later in the week. Zack and I set off on another adventure in the Princeton while Rob was at his meeting. We saw statues, sat in a chair outside of Design Within Reach and took funny pictures of ourselves and got coffee and a treat. All the while he kept saying that he wanted to be on an adventure, while I responded that we were on an adventure. "No, we're not." So I asked him what he needed for it to be an adventure. "Fishies." Uh oh. I had no idea where we were going to find fish. So we went to a yarn store instead. He was doing a great job in the store while I looked, and then the owner showed him a basket of blocks, which kept him perfectly content. I started talking with someone else in the store and she asked if I needed something els to pass the time--she suggested the Public Library, which had a great kid's section, with toys and fish and.......Wait--did she say fish? She did say fish--she said they had a large saltwater tank. Woo hoo! 

So off Zack and I went to the Princeton Public library---which, holy schmoly, is absolutely gorgeous! And there were fish. As he was looking at the fish, I asked him if we were now on an adventure, and got a resounding "yes." So now I know that all good adventures need to include fish. It was getting close to the time we had to go retrieve Rob, so I told him that we needed to start saying goodbye to the fish.
           "Bye, Nemo. Bye, Dory. I going now. I going to see my Daddy," waving all the while. 

Aside from all our adventures, things are going quite well. Zack is excited that it's warm, so that he can go outside and ride his tricycle and dig for bugs. I think the dirt factor is going to increase exponentially this year. He's grown up so much, physically and cognitively. He's doing really well with counting, and when we tell him that he needs to eat 3 (or 4 or 5) more bites of his dinner, he knows how many that is. His vocabulary is increasing as well, with longer and more complex sentences and thoughts coming out of his mouth. He is very interested in emotions, pointing out what different characters in his books are feeling, telling us that he's mad at us or that he's happy, etc.

And his imaginative play has just taken off. He acts things out with his stuffed animals, he pretends that dinosaurs are coming, and that monsters are busy fixing the holes in the roads (and because they're busy doing that, they are too busy to come to our house). He re-enacts scenes from his day with his animals and his trucks, using his toys and other objects in novel ways. I love listening to him. He's a very good Daddy to his animals, and he wants to show us this by saying "I rub him gentle", "Bear-Bear is cold. I keep him warm" (as he hugs his bear to him), "Bear-Bear has a boo-boo. I kiss it better." Of course, all this happens after he's just scrunched Bear-Bear into a ball and thrown him across the room.

Of course, he is also testing limits in new ways--negotiating, talking back to us, etc. But for the most part he continues to be a sweet little boy who loves to have fun.

Action shot

Quick news report

A longer post will be forthcoming, but Zack had a major accomplishment this weekend--he can now pedal his tricycle all by himself! When he realized that he was moving on his own power, well, the look on his face was just priceless. The concept of looking where he's going rather than to the side, in back of him, up at the birds flying in the sky, etc. still eludes him (thank goodness we got one of those trikes with the long handle on the back!), but I'm assuming that will come eventually. Hopefully sometime before his 16th birthday. At any rate, I can't imagine that it will be long before he's going full speed ahead, like he does with everything else. 

What was that? You wanted pictures of him on his tricycle? Are you kidding? I'm too busy trying to keep him on the sidewalk to take any pictures of him pedaling! You'll have to settle for these instead. 

A rare....

....but brief, sighting of the elusive Husbandus Roberto malootianus. 

 In spite of heroic efforts to tame this rare beast, he was soon off into the wilds again.

It's time...

...to recommence evening walks.

ALERT: This post is full of parental blather about offspring potty training.  Yes, I am becoming that parent. Consider yourself warned.

I haven't really talked about our potty training endeavors lately. Maybe I'm afraid to jinx things, who knows. But after reading the book Diapers Are Not Forever a few weeks ago, he has wanted to be all underwear all the time.

As an aside, if having a child has taught me anything, it's taught me the power of books. 

This was to the point where he pitched a fit one morning before school, so I said to myself that we'll have to take the plunge sometime, and put undies on him. His teachers were so excited for him and he was obviously proud--as indicated by him telling EVERYONE.

Aside #1, little boys in tightie whities might just be the cutest thing ever! 

He didn't make it all the way through the first day, but he's made it through just about every day since then. His teachers are really good about sticking to a schedule, so they're really helping him succeed. He's had a couple accidents once we get home, but I think we've figured that out.

In order to help this all along, Rob and I decided that we'd stick close to home last weekend and really work on getting him trained at home. We planned on taking him to the potty every hour. And had about 4 accidents before noon on Saturday. We just looked at each other, absolutely perplexed. We're intelligent people, Zack had been doing so well at school, what in the world were we doing wrong????? So I googled potty training and read that a lot of people start by taking their kids every 20 minutes or so, and start working up to longer stretches. Ooops. So we regrouped, and decided on every 30 minutes. We also started using a kitchen timer, telling Zack that the buzzer meant that it was potty time. This strategy worked much better---no accidents, and no arguments about going to the potty (since the buzzer was telling him to go, not Mommy or Daddy). A random reinforcement schedule of M&Ms also seems to help.

The big test was the other night when Zack asked to go get pizza for dinner. I said that sounded great, hiding my anxiety about him having an accident at the restaurant. We went to the bathroom when we first got there and then also after we finished eating. He did great! He wanted to be in the stall by himself (OK, I know you're an independent kid, but could we slow down a sec?), gave running commentary about the woman's feet in the next stall (where did I put that shell to crawl into?), and pooped on the potty!!!! I wish I could have recorded his expression when I'd peek in to see how he was doing--just a big grin and shaking his head no, and I'd duck back out. A couple minutes later, I'd peek back in and same thing. Then all of a sudden there was an "I pooped, Mommy!" He was so proud of himself.

So we seem well on the way to having a big boy in our house.

Just ask him. He'll tell you.