ZachySleep&Smile

I have probably talked about this way too much already, but it's ridiculous to me. How well Zachy goes to sleep now, that is. After a year of barely getting any sleep, I have the right to perserverate, don't I?

The thing is, he's so darn cute at bedtime I can't stand it.

With Zachy, bedtime goes something like this...

If it's a bath night, he and Mackenzie take their baths. And then Dad get his jammies on and I get Mackenzie's on. It's a race. Mackenzie and I always win. We have to.

Then Zachy wobble walks through the house, with his big Zachy smile saying Tee, Tee. He's ready to brush his teeth. His readiness, makes Mackenzie more agreeable to whole teeth brushing thing too. Thank you, Zachy.

Next, I tell him it's time to go to bed. He waves and says Bye Bye to Mackenzie and Dad. Sometimes he tries to hug and kiss her, just because he knows she will scream. And he'll laugh.

He walks to his room with his big Zachy smile. Last night he rode his car to his room. And then out of the room. And then back in.

Onto the bed. Usually with a bottle hanging out of his mouth. We sing songs. We used to read books, but then he started to grab them and shove them down the side of the bed, look at me with a clueless concerned expression on his face, and say Where go? Where go. But, it's been awhile, so maybe we should try books again.

Back to the song singing. We sing You Are My Sunshine and our special Good Night Zachy song. Several times each. Now I can't begin to explain how cute he looks in the dimly light room: His bald head swaying from side to side, bottle hanging out of his mouth, big Zachy smile on his face, singing along a word here and there. It's unreal. And just way too adorable for words.

I'm so happy right now just thinking about it all.

After some songs I say Okay Zachy. It's time for bed now.

He gets off the bed, with his big Zachy smile, and wobble walks over to this crib.

I then say Zachy you know you need to give me your bottle.

So he does, with his big Zachy smile.

We hug.

And kiss.

I put him in the crib.

He grabs his Gunky and says, with his big Zachy smile, GUNKY!

He picks up his blanket, hands it to me and, you guessed it - with his big Zachy smile, says On!

He lays down, butt in the air, snuggled up with Gunky, I put the blanket on.

I love you sweet Zachy. Good night.

2GoodTuesday3.29.11

We had a really good day yesterday. It was beautiful out, and should be even nicer as the week continues. We got some sunshine, Zach took a nice nap, Mackenzie played nicely by herself for a little bit, and Mommy never felt like I was totally struggling to keep up.

This week's 2Good things have both already been referenced, but they really were awesome.

1. Zachy saying Mommy and not just Momma. Something so sweet about hearing your child call you Mommy.
2. Mackenzie and I stumbling upon a circus. The look on her face as she clapped along with vigorous excitement. Simply delightful.
3. Here's a third: This week they have had a few times where they have played well together: taking turns pushing one another on the racing car, making 'paddy cakes' in the sandbox, and collecting rocks in the creek.

M.CircusSnakes&Musings

Okay, now it's Mackenzie's turn. First and foremost, if she knew right now she was 'second,' I'd be in some trouble. She really is into: First, Second, Winning, Fair, Fault, and Blame. Serious stuff for a three year old.

So, Mackenzie and I had a little adventure this weekend. We really didn't know what we were doing. No game plan. But she's a trooper and just up for getting out. We ventured to town. I needed a haircut. It happened. We did a little basics shopping at Walmart and then decided to head to the mall for the play area.  And what did we find? A mini circus. Next show in twenty minutes. Why not? So we did. She had cotton candy. For the first time. And loved it. She brought home a souvenir coloring book. She clapped vigorously for the juggling guy. As far as the lady on the long rope, she said, That looks not safe. I not going to do that. Phew! I can sleep easy now. At intermission she decided she'd had enough, so we left. It's her adventure, right? We went into the mall. Tried to take pictures in a booth but all the booths were broken, darn it! She rode the car ride. We played in Barnes and Noble. She pretended to be a 'Circus Leader' on their little story time 'stage.' Then her sugar high wore off and it was quickly and clearly time to head home. She had french fries in the car. And chocolate milk (Apparently it was a junk food adventure more than anything).

Mackenzie had a bad dream the other night. It really freaked her out. All of the sudden she woke up and scooted to the side of the bed and screamed. She told me a snake licked her. She made me check under the blanket, which she would not put back on. She didn't want to go back to sleep. She really got scared. Her talk about the next day, however, was pretty cute. It went something like this:

It was big and huge. It lickded me. Let's look for it more. I think I heard it. Maybe that was Rufus. It licked my arm. Right here (pointing). Let me tell you some more truths about snakes, baby snakes you can hold, but not big snakes. Momma snakes are in big holes and baby snakes in small holes. You better keep an eye on me so the snake don't lickded me again. Can we check again?

She talked about it most of the day. And then again this morning. At some point it clearly became more of a 'thing' than an actual fear. For now anyway. Until the next bad dream, poor thing!

Some of Mackenzie's favorite things right now are:

• Her friend Saige at school. She identifies everything with Saige. Me and Saige like purple. Me and Saige....
• Performing songs and dances. The other day she did an edgy, punk rock like version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
• She's obsessed with her birthday. Which is in August. Five months away. The day we went on our Adventure, I asked her where she wanted to go and she said, of course, To my Birthday.
• Her imaginary friends.
• Cars. She still loves playing cars. And probably will for quite sometime.
• And playing babies. And playing baby, where she's the baby.
• Practicing her letters and shapes and coloring.
• Books right now: Purplicious and Knuffle Bunny.
• Competing with Zachy, for everything. Making sure she has more of everything or is first or second, or whatever is 'better.' Today Zachy started to put rocks in his bucket, so she made sure she got more and bigger ones.

Things I find cute. Like with Zach, it's the little things. Such as:

• She has been working on different letters and shapes. The other day she made a triangle and said Look Momma! I made a triangle. I worked hard.
• Her facial expressions and hand gestures.
• Her use of language.
• Her thought process.
• Seeing her interact with people.
• When she takes pride in being a big sister.
• Of course, when she tells me she loves me.

Lastly, how about a few totmusings?

• When we were driving, Mackenzie saw a balloon and said, Oh, when  Zacher sees those, he's going to want one!
• Taunting Zachy before naptime. Good night, Zacher. Sorry you have to nap. Big sister doesn't have to. Just you. Sorry. Big sister is going to have a treat.
• Commenting on Zachy: Look at Zachy. He's a crazy dude.
• I didn't toot on your leg, I tooted on my hand!
• After getting mad at me: You're not a perfect Mommy! (Glad we got that figured out.)
• Commenting on my mothering abilities yet again, another day we got in the car and had to arrange all her stuff. She said Wow Momma. You did much better than yesterday. Good job!
• And my personal recent favorite: After getting mad at Zachy for something, she said, Zachy, you a dirty diaper! Such a little lady.

That's a little bit of Mackenzie right now. Just like with Zachy, I love that girl. And, as always, she's as sassy as she is sweet. And loving. Incredibly so.

Over the weekend, she had been outside and came in to surprise me with 'flowers.' She said

 I saw flowers and thought to myself I pick you some flowers and some for me too. This one is for me and this ones are for you. 

What'sNewWithTheZ

I thought I had a system organized for having all the cute things my two favorite little people do and say at my fingerprints when I was ready to post them, but every time Mackenzie notices that I have a notebook, she takes it over and scribbles on each page. One by one. And then puts it someplace I can't find it. So, I went through twitter and facebook to see what I wrote on them, in hopes of triggering some recent happenings.

Today, I think I will start with Zachy.

First things first. Just about an hour and a half ago, I think he threw his first temper tantrum. It was heartbreaking, really. He wanted a bottle, but it was lunchtime. He cried for about thirty minutes. And got mad at me. And then wanted me. And then got mad at me again. Finally he got distracted by pounding the balls into the thing where they roll down. Good way for him to get his frustration out. He ended up eating a super lunch. He even had some salad. That's right. With ranch.  Speaking of Zachy and eating the other day something happened, which I'm not too sure exactly how I feel about. I tried to feed him grilled cheese, then cottage cheese, then some beans, and then some smoothie. He wouldn't eat any of it. Not until he mixed together the cottage cheese, smoothie and the beans and used them as a dip for the grilled cheese. I guess whatever works, right?

Oh, and he had his eighteen month well child check last Friday (at nineteen months old) and is weighing in at 22.2 pounds and above the 10%. Yay. But, I was never worried.  I always knew he was healthy. He's just a small baby.

As always, Zachy is all personality. He is learning to stand up for himself. He has the whole Mine thing down pat. The other day he was playing with some bugs that snap together and Mackenzie came up and tried to take them. He got made and then tried to scoop up all six or seven of them so she could not have them. I was amazed at the thought process and his determination. But he knew he had them first and he had no intention of sharing.

That said, he does like to pester her sometimes. Oftentimes. Really it's a back and forth. She wants what he has and he wants what she has. And he likes to get a reaction out of her. And, since she's three, that isn't too hard to do. They do have their moments where they play well, which is always a treat to watch. But, since he has started standing up to her, and does so increasingly more frequently, I anticipate more and more battles ahead.

His communication skills develop more and more all the time. I think he understands just about everything you say. Today Mackenzie and I were discussing going on a walk and next thing you know he's trying to climb into the stroller. If it's bath or bedtime, he'll start playing chase and trying to avoid the inevitable by being really, really cute. He is learning bits and pieces of songs. I have mentioned that he will sing the word Happy during 'You Are My Sunshine.' And now when we get to the part where it says You'll never know, dear, how much I love you....he will say Wuv you. Ahhhh. When we leave the house Mackenzie and I will say Let's G-O go! And Zachy will chime with Go, go, go!  Speaking of 'going,' he likes to GO! Whenever, wherever. Today he called me Mommy for the first time. I have to admit, it was kind-of sweet hearing him say Mommy instead of Momma.

Some of Zach's favorite things right now are:

• Brooms.
• Vacuums.
• Hoses.
• His Gunky, of course.
• Blocks.
• Balloons. (If he sees Balloons and we're driving, he'll yell out 'Balloon!')
• Shoes.
• He has a first favorite TV show (not sure if this is something to be excited about or not). It's Little Bill. He loves Little Bill. He hears the music and looks at the TV and says, with a big smile, LiBi.
• Being sung to and dancing. (Last night I was saying something about dancing and next thing you know he broke out in dance. Precious.)
• Snuggling before bed (my favorite, too!).

The thing about Zach is, he's just cute. What makes him cute? The little things. Such as:

• When he hands me something and says Elp (Often shoes, which he wants me to put on. So he can go somewhere. Or so he thinks).
• When he responds to things I ask him to do, like talking about changing his diaper and he walks to his room. And then wiggles around the changing table, but that's another issue.
• When he does something and just starts clapping and cheering for himself.
• When he just starts clapping and cheering for someone else (Like me. When I sing to him. Even though I can't. Sing that is.).
• When he waves and says Bye Bye to everyone before bed. With a big Zachy smile on his face.
• When he learns a new word or expression and then uses it every chance he gets. Like today he learned Wow! Happy as he is, he had lots of opportunity to use it!

And so on and so on and so on. That's just a little bit of you right now, Zachy. You're just cute and sweet and amazing. No way around it. And I love you. As you know. Like crazy.

WeekendWithGrammieDayTwo

 In lieu of 'FotoFriday,' I am posting Day 2 of our fun weekend with Grammie over Spring Break. It still counts, therefore, as a FotoFriday, I'm just not giving it a FotoFriday title.

Day Two of our most fun weekend, Dad was there. We got up, had breakfast and headed to the zoo. This was the biggest zoo we've been to yet! Obviously much bigger than our 'local' animal sanctuary and even bigger than the special zoo we frequent on a fairly regular basis. We even got to see some Koalas that were on loan from San Diego.  Despite taking a tram ride around the zoo, I must admit, we didn't see too many animals. It was almost too big for little ones. But we had a most wonderful time anyway.

 We decided to rent a tricked ride for the little ones.

Shaded and everything.

What would a trip to the zoo be without a petting zoo?

Fearless little guy, as always.

And what would a zoo be without a play area?

This zoo had plenty.

Here 'we' are in a Little People inspired play area.

Just like home.

Mommy and M.

 And Zachy and Mommy.

I think he wants to get back to playing.

 He loved this place.

This would be a perfect picture, except for the kid's butt in the background.

Grammie and M taking a break, watching ducks go by and talking.

On the porch of the most excellent treehouse.

A wonderland for creative toddler minds!

Three or was it four Merry Go Round rides?

I want to cry when I see her on Merry Go Rounds.

She looks so happy and so sweet.

Simple.

I hope she never stops.

Zachy did not nap the whole time there.

He's a trooper.

He found water.

And he liked it.

The Boys..

Pizza for dinner that night.

And Max and Ruby on the DVD player.

Followed by Bambi with Grammie.

Zachy's favorite thing to do at the hotel:

Unload and reload the refrigerator.

Lastly, before bed,

A Balloon Partay!

Woot-woot!

After the kids went to bed, Dad headed home so he could take care of the animals and get some 'work' done. 

A couple of 'cute' things from the day:

• At the zoo, while on the tram, the conductor referenced Monkeys and a half asleep Zachy perked up and shouted out Gunky!
• Back at the hotel, while walking through the courtyard, Mackenzie was singing very loudly Twinkle Twinkle Christmas star... People laughed. And smiled.

And so concludes Day Two.  Thank You, Grammie! Day Three, coming soon.

Survival&Sugar

Consistent with gender differences and sibling order, Zachy has fewer words he says than I seem recall Mackenzie having at this age. He communicates just fine, but his vocabulary is a little smaller. That said, there are six, count 'em six, words that come to mind, which he has definitely learned before her.

They are:

No!

Mine!

Cookies.

Juice.

Ice cream.

(and)

Chocolate.

Yep. For Zachy, sibling number two, it's all about Survival and Sugar!

OCDgirl&Helperboy

Mackenzie is OCD. I'm sure of it. Here's the evidence:

• She has a thing with doors. They have to be closed. If she wakes up in the middle of the night and the door is open, she either gets up or wakes me up to close it. It's serious.
• If we're outside, she even has to have the slider closed to the inside. This, I don't get.
• She used to have have all the blinds down as well, but I have finally gotten her permission to pull up the blinds. Hopefully, by summer we'll be able to open a door to the outside here and there.
• If she's eating and Zachy burps, she screams and throws away her food because she believes he 'burpded' on it.
• If her clothing gets the tiniest bit wet, she won't wear it and screams while she takes it off.
• If my hands are wet and they touch her, it's all over.

Zachy is a natural helper. Here's the evidence:

• This morning I told him it was time for breakfast and he started to put plates on the table.
• After he ate, he threw his leftover food in the trash.
• Before we went to the library, he put away Mackenzie's cars.
• He loves brooms.
• And vacuums.
• And wiping up things.
• He tries to wash Mackenzie in the bath. But this conflicts with her OCD, so it's a problem.

Fortunately and unfortunately, I'm sure they'll both outgrow 'it.'