Fun Morning

Zack and I had a fun morning today.
After breakfast we read a few books, only bad thing is they are same books over and over again. Oh yeah and he likes to give the endings away before you turn the last page!
Then we played a few computer games, he loves the sesame street website with Ah-mo (Elmo).
He watched a little tv while I was getting our stuff ready then off to the park we went. We had the whole park to ourselves which was great. I got on the teeter-totter with him and bounced him around which he thought was hilarious! We raced down the side by side slide many times. I would not have done this if other people were there. He learned how to hang and swing himself on the bars (to cute). We watched 3 squirrels play in the grass, he tried throwing them some sticks and things he found on the ground but he hasn't mastered the long distance throwing yet. He spent a ton of time watching ants that gathered on some kind of nut shell. He was fascinated with them. I think we were there about an hour and a half before he started getting a bit tired.
In the parking lot I was trying to get the wipes out of his diaper bag he looked at me touched the truck and said "hot". As clear as can be. Now he has a tendency to leave of the end sounds of many words but he made sure to add that T sound to hot.
Then we met Kris and had lunch together. Zack ate all his food and some of my salad. He loves certain green foods (lettuce, pickles, celery) and will tell you green in sign language when he wants some.
As soon as his head hit the pillow for nap time he was out! I don't think I even got to the door before I heard him snoring. LOL

Oh what a day.

It is only 11:30 am and I already want to pull my own hair out.
Last night the DVD player in the living room died. Now this wouldn't be a big problem but when the DVD player in the family room isn't hooked up it spells disaster.
I tried taking the cables off the dead one to put on the other one but they are on there so tight I can't get them off.
And the reason I am going nuts is because I have a child who can not live without his favorite cartoon and must see it 12,000 times a day. Zack has asked for "Max" about 8000 times already today and I still have about 9 hours or so until he goes to bed.
All the toys in the world aren't helping today. He wants nothing but his beloved Max & Ruby cartoons.
I think by the time this day is over I will need a wig to cover the bald spots.

On a different note, David called. He is stuck in traffic on his way to the Obama rally. He is very interested in politics so this will be a good experience for him.

Is it a law?

That all little children must become puddle jumpers?
It has been raining here and windy but I decided to take Zack to the library just to get out of the house. I don't know why little ones are so drawn to puddles but he splashed in every puddle he could find. After a while I just gave up trying to get him to stop and let him do it. He found every puddle there was. Of course his pants, shoes and socks were all wet but he didn't seem to care.

Like father, like son.

Short post today.
Kris comes in the door after work tonight and says hi to Zack and turns to me and says "hey babe".
Clear as can be Zack says "hey babe".
I bust out laughing it was just to funny.

Dada 3, Mama 0

Ok, so here is the deal.
Zacks first word was Dada. Alright a kid has to start somewhere but my goodness it took another 7 months for him to say Mama!
Three weeks ago he said his first two word sentence. He said "Dada home" as Kris walked in the door from work. I was happy but again starting with the Dada is not making Mama feel so great.
Well a few nights ago he said his first three word sentence. I bet you know where this is going...
that's right he said "Dada no home". (He was patiently waiting for Kris to come home). Well I have to say I am happy he is putting things together but darn it. I swear if his first real sentence is about Dada I just may have to trade him in for a new model!

Carousel Festival

The town we live in hosts a Carousel festival every year in the city park. It is something nice to bring a family too that doesn't cost you an arm and a leg.
The park is home to a Dentzel Menagerie Carousel. What I read about the Carousel is this one came from Ohio and was built sometime around 1906-1910. There are only 14 complete Dentzel Carousels in the world. It is hand carved, hand painted, the horse tails are real hair and the animals all have glass eyes. It is quite beautiful.
The park also features a small train that rides on a track. It is fast becoming one of Zacks favorite things to do at that park. Kris and Zack waited in a very long line today so they could take a ride. Kris said Zack had a good time until the crowd started yelling when they went into the tunnel, then poor Zack covered his ears. He still came off wanting more though. I told him I would take him on another day when the lines weren't so long.
I did break my own rule today...
I let Zack eat dessert before dinner. We bought a funnel cake then went and sat on the grass and we ate it. I told Zack this was the only time he could eat dessert before dinner, he looked at me like I was nuts. By the time the funnel cake was gone my once clean child was covered in powdered sugar. I wish I had my camera.
We had a great time and can not wait to go again next year.

Going to the store

After dinner we went to the store. While in the store Kris picked up the guitar for one of those gaming systems they have displayed and tried to play. Yes I said tried, he wasn't very good (sorry dear but it is the truth). As a matter of fact while he was attempting to play Zack walked away from him! I started to giggle over that.
While in the store we let Zack walk around rather then put him in a shopping cart. I swear his hands were going a mile a minute touching every thing on every shelf. If the item had buttons or knobs well that meant he had to touch every one and make sure all the buttons worked. If the items were small enough he felt the need to take them off the shelf and carry them. Please someone tell me that this will stop soon. It is really hard trying to get him out of the store without a fuss because he hasn't touched everything.

Obsessions.

I am obsessed with collecting Zebras. Doesn't matter if they are stuffed animals, painted ceramics, statues, tins with zebras on them. It just doesn't matter I have a whole cabinet full and will continue to collect more.
I swear David is obsessed with basketball shoes/sneakers (or whatever you want to call them). He will say he isn't but I have to disagree. I think everytime I see him he has a new pair of shoes on and they always match his clothes. He sure did not get that from me, I could care less about shoes.
Zack is completely obsessed with the cartoon Max and Ruby. If the tv isn't on he is pointing and yelling Max. If the tv is on and Max and Ruby is not on, he is pointing and yelling Max. Some days it is annoying, ok I will be honest MOST days it is annoying. If Zack could really talk I swear he could recite every episode of that show. I found some Beanie Babies of Max and Ruby on line so I ordered them and they came in yesterday. Before bed time I gave them to him. He clung to them even after he was asleep. I forgot the cut the tags off before giving them to him and now he won't let me.

Quite the helper.

It has been raining steadily all day so we can not go out to play. I decided to make some brownies with Zack and K. this morning. Zack had to help put the egg in the bowl he was so focused. I don't think I have ever seen him that focused on anything before. He also wanted to help with the water so I let him have the measuring cup and to my amazement he took his time and got every last drop in the bowl. He kept sticking his face near the bowl saying UMM.
After the oven timer beeped be came running, boy was he disappointed when I told him he was to wait until after dinner tonight to have one.

Last night he couldn't wait to get outside with Kris and help him with the lawn. We need to reseed the back yard so Kris is working his tail off to do it right. Anytime Kris would pick up a rake, Zack would stop what he is doing and run over to pick up one and help. When Kris would throw his rake down Zack would do the same. It was pretty funny to watch. No matter what Kris did, Zack was sure to follow. The only bad thing is I don't think Kris will ask Zack to help him pick rocks anymore. Zack tends to go for the biggest ones he can find. Well Zack found a big one and was trying to demonstrate his brute strength by throwing it into the bucket only it caught Kris' hand instead and mashed it up against the bucket. Kris is alright now but man I know that had to hurt.

Today started off terrible. I was just having an off day and Zack was in a none listening kind of mood which really wasn't helping anything. He was sent to Time Out several times this morning for doing exactly what I told him not to do. I don't like having to put him in Time Out but sometimes that is the best place for him. After he had his nap, he woke up with a somewhat better attitude.
Zack is amazing me everyday with at least trying to say new words. Last night I let him watch some tv and Diego came on so he started yelling "AH-GO". Tonight he was telling Kris that "Dora" was on tv. I can not tell you how happy I am with his progress in the past few weeks.
Today we read one of his ABC books and to my amazement he was able to point out a few of the letters that I asked him to, he even tried saying the letter.

When bad things happen.

Kris went to the doctor last week they told him he had pink eye.
He has been using the medicine but it has gotten a lot worse. So he goes back today, they give him a prescription for antibiotics. He calls me to let me know he isn't trusting them and he is on his way to the eye doctors office. The eye doctor told him to throw away the medicine the other doctor prescribed and not to bother getting the new script filled. He prescribed something else. Hope this one works.
While at the eye doctors, someone hit his car and 2 others in the parking lot and drove off! Thankfully the road crew who was working right by there and some of the office employees saw it happen and got a plate number for the cops. I don't know yet what damage was done to the car.
When Kris was telling me this on the phone I told him if he went back to work, to let his boss know that I didn't want him back by the machines. I figure he is having so many problems today I don't want to chance anything more happening.

Oh the wonders.

There are some days Zack will eat more than any other child I have ever seen and today was one of those days. I am telling you I fear my grocery bill when he gets older. I think Kris is going to have to get a 3rd job to keep up with him.
For the past few days Zack has been telling me "her". I couldn't figure out what or who he was referring to. Well I figured it out, he is referring to my mother, his grandmother. I have no idea where he picked that up from.
Another baffeling thing he has come up with that I just don't know where he got the idea from is when giving him some "cookies" (vanilla wafers) he asked for milk and indicated he wanted to dunk his cookies. I have not done this and Kris swears he hasn't done it so where does he get it from?

Napping.

Why is it when I finally gets some free time to sleep without anyone else being home, I am wide awake? Kris decided to go into work today for a few hours and took Zack with him. I am thinking Yes, I will sleep the morning away. Not so! I sleep for 15 mintures and woke up in a panic that Zack was upstairs in his crib and crying and screaming because no one came to get him after he woke up for a nap. I couldn't sleep after that.
When Kris and Zack came home, poor Zack looked exhausted. He went right down for a nap with no fuss. Kris must have worn him out. When he woke up from his nap, he was full of energy. Neither of us can keep up with him.

Progress

Zack is progressing very well with new words. We now have a total of 18 words that we (mom and dad) can understand. His favorite word of course is NO. I hear it about 1000 times a day but that is ok with me because he is speaking. His next favorite new word is Help (haap). The minute he realizes he can not get something he yells HAAP. It is so good to hear him speaking.

Something funny happened the other night. Kris was driving and apparently needed to spit so he was clearing his throat, rolled down the window and spit. Zack from the back seat starts trying to mimic daddy and clears his throat the tries to spit. Nothing funnier than watching a 2 year old trying to spit when they don't know how. I was laughing hysterically and all Kris could do was shake his head. Maybe now he will get that Zack is going to mimic everything he sees daddy do.

projects.

Have you ever started a project that had you so frustrated you gave up way to easily?
I bought a bookshelf for Zacks room the other day and attempted to put it together yesterday. Now I have put many of them together in the past and never had a problem. This new one is "No Tools Needed". Instead of screws and nails it is plastic plugs. I gave up trying to put it together when it kept breaking (good thing they put extra plugs in the bag). Last night at 10:30 pm I tried again, finally got it put together. I have no clue how long it will hold up but it is done. Give me the one with the nails and screws and I will have no problem, give me something 'easy' and forget about it!