jamba baby

jamba baby
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

shakey shakey egg

watch out for the toddler takedown, a few seconds from the end. Farran vs Zachary, but to be fair Z was hording about 5 eggs.

Out and About

I took Z in the stroller for the first time in many many moons this weekend. He had a whale of a time. Pointing at dogs, "DA, DA, DAAAAAAH!", oh he's trying to say dog. Pointing at people, "DA, DA, DAAAAAAH!", or not. And pointing at pigeons, "DA, DA, DAAAAAAH!", just because the flying rats seem to be exciting. Then we got the park, he ran off in the opposite direction from the slides, swings and other fun things, to pigeon herd......




...... but in the end the screeching kids drew him in.

The new toy kitchen

There are some pictures up on flickr taken at daycare (by the wonderful Cecelia). Here is Z standing at their new fancy toy kitchen and looking like trouble. Because well he is, last week he came home and went straight for the knobs on the stove. UHOH. And we talked about the (real) stove not being a toy. This week he figured out opening the oven door. UHOH and I repeat this is not a toy.


at the play sink
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

the next ....

... pick your favourite modern painter.

concentration

funny face
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

why is he pulling such a face, you ask, maybe because he was collapsing from all the hard playing (see other pics) and needed to eat and drink a little. So his little cheeks are stuffed with pretzels, the snack cup is getting attacked with both hands, and he is watching some kids kiccking a football back and forth. It requires concentration.

shake that thang

His mp3 shaker arrived today. Like a little salt shaker, but for music.

missing you mama

yoghubread
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

A.T.B. pt 2 the sideways shuffle

he was getting a bit tired when I took this but I love that he's not phased by the bigger kids running by.

wandering off

He chased a number of balloons that went by attached to kids or parents. At least he did try to check in and see if I was around, eventually. And in fact the guy with the 2 balloons sits camera right, and Z went all the way over to pet the balloons again, such determination.

A.T.B. = All Terrain Baby

We had a freak 70F weekend, so this is Z enjoying CP. Now we're back in the 40's :-(

Wheeeee

just a fun clip and one of several to enterain you through out the week. It's the little girls mother laughing at Z going down all on his own.

lessons learned

This was going to be about poo and pee, maybe it still will be. Ultimately the lesson learned was toddlers shouldn't run through the apartment naked. But first tonight lesson, Zachary was being a little flingy and cracking himself up at every opportunity. Walking back and forth between sarah and I carrying a glass of water was funny, shaking it wildly in the middle of the room was hilarious. Then came side shuffles and spinning, getting closer and closer to the corner of the hard black tabletop, the bane of Z's toddling, and many head bumps. So in one voice Sarah and I say " be careful, watch your head". And Zachary stops looks at the table just inches from his noggin and slowly learns forward to touch his forehead against the edge. Then he looks up, and burst out giggling.

Ok, so Sarah has been a little busy this week prepping the spectrograph for departure to CA this morning. So Zachary has had me for dinner, bath and bedtime. Single parents, how do they do it! After dinner, I run the bath and let him run around getting a little air time. Earlier in the week this resulted in a pee hat trick. The first time was funny, the second time was annoying, and the third time was just ridiculous. once on the wood floor, once on the rug and then again on the floor, but by the cat boxes so I feel like he got the idea.

as told to sarah, to correct for fatigue:
We ordered a few shirts etc. from Old Navy, because Mr. Collins the younger has been growing. The box came, and was a nice skinny rectangular box. Zachary decided obviously he needed to carry it to the living room. Besides, the box from the day before was *also* for him, ergo boxes are always for him, and the living room is where playing happens. Fine. But actually it is quite an awkwardish box. And so he had it on its edge and realized he could push it. Mark pushed back to offer resistance so Z could slide it to the living room, but it wasn't meant to be. The box tipped over and Zachary fell over on top of it. As he landed on the box, he burst into tears. Which is weird, for him, because he's getting pretty good at tipping over, and usually barely notices. It was the end of a long day, he was a little fussy, but it was baffling. And then he started doing weird backward downward facing dog shuffle. And then he stood up, looked at his hand, and screamed. Because he had poo on his hand. Which he had used to try to wipe the poo off his foot. Which he had stepped in after having a poo-incident when he fell over on the box. The poor dear was poo-traumatized. And did a whole dislodge the poo dance before Mark rescued him.
Mark did indeed quickly rescue him with hardly any panic, laughing, or frustration (all of which would have been perfectly reasonable responses). Nope. Just scooped him to the bath for a quick contain and clean. Besides the fact that it was hysterically funny when told to me late last night, its also interesting that Z KNEW it was gross. It was gross, it shouldn't be on his feet, it most CERTAINLY shouldn't be on his hand. Which is different, because in the past when he threw his foot in poo during a diaper change or whatever he's been indifferent. But now? Now he *knows* things.
Pretty cool. Even if our house apparently needs to be bleached. Oh wait, or diapers just need to be used.
Let me tell you, it makes a girl feel confident about leaving for two weeks ;) Oh, i know, they'll have fun without me. As long as y'all send them diapers. Or a mop.

all sort of newness

Last week we mentioned Zachary's backward walking. A new talent he employs at random intervals while playing. Every once in a while he doesn't even fall over. Well Backwards is sooooo old hat, the new in thing, is the sideways shuffle. It looks a little ridiculous, but there is less falling over.

Also today a surprise package arrived for Master Z. He loves opening up boxes, and I could hardly refuse since this one was address to him. Once he'd dug out all the packaging we found a wonderful new sweater, made by grandma, and the latest pj library book. He sat down quietly and started to flip the pages, so I sneaked out to get the camera.



And this picture reminded me that we now have a beautiful oak stool. Discovered on Etsy, purchased via ebay. He loves it. Now he can stand at the sink, while we try to wash his hands. Or try brush his teeth, or try ....