Letters

Zachary has been very into letters. He points out his letter Z, mommy's letter S, Daddy's letter M.

And just now, he pointed to his shirt (which has an exclamation mark at the end) and says "It is a stopping letter!"


Um... Why yes. Yes, it is. How the hell do you know that??

A great cycling treat

It turns out that some of the yummiest ice cream on the planet is made not two blocks from our house.

Fortunately Z thinks it's a ten block bicycle ride to get there and back. This way he gets to burn off some energy before eating the pure sugar. The guy even picked out a bunch of green M'n'Ms to make up for the fact that the only green ice cream these had that day was not pistachio or mint choc chip but an alcoholic one called "grasshopper". Best not cycle drunk toddler.

overall our four day weekend has been great.

well meaning....

Today, Mark tried to teach Zachary that "Rain comes from the water cycle" (as opposed to clouds, which might have been an obvious starting point ;>).

They come home, and Mark goes "Zachary, where does rain come from?"

silence

Mark mouths "Water Cycle"

Zachary grins.

"Rain comes from motorcycles!"

My mom made this

DSC_0191
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

We spent yesterday morning at daycare building a sukkah! It was pretty fun. You should look at the other pictures of all our hard work. Mark did an awesome job documenting. The weather was perfect, a little overcast so it wasn't beating down with sun. The design was pretty snazzy too, and it went up fast. It probably would have been about 30 minutes, but we had to have a few excursions to collect our last few bits.

You can see the kids know *exactly* what to do with it.

eye to eye
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

Operation: Baby Gecko Rescue

Some mornings...

Yesterday, Zachary found an old yarn label of mine that has a pirate flag on it. He grabbed it, and ran in circles through the house at 6:30 in the morning yelling "Up yonder pole!" over and over again. I mean, that earns his keep for at least several months.

This morning we had an adventure when we found what I think was a baby gecko in our shower. There was a gecko rescue and return to nature. I think Mark has pictures which should come later.

And we have couches! Or rather a couch and a loveseat! Or rather a loveseat we've put together and a couch-in-a-box!

But seriously. It is starting to feel like home. Geckos and all.

really he's just enjoying the space in the new house.

kool aid playdough

IMG_4998
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

Serious business. Mark & Zachary made it yesterday morning, and this is Z today, using as many tools as possible to get the job done. And obviously, chocolate soy milk as fuel.

ps - landlords, if you're reading this, the country has been cleaned up. Promise ;)

Frogger

One room done!

IMG_4969
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

That's right, Mr. Z's got his own room. AND IT IS GREEN. Shall miracles never cease? One hopes not. It isn't perfect, we need to figure out some bookshelf action but... It is a start. One room down. Ten thousand to go. More floor available all the time.....

GTT (Gone To Texas)

IMG_4959
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

Here we are, in THE TRUCK, the 26ft banana monster. But guess what? WE MADE IT! HOORAY! We got here saturday night, got all the boxes in sunday morning. Zachary started daycare and he is having a ton of fun. We didn't take many pictures (we figured keeping track of the food and diapers was more important than keeping track of the camera but)... we're here! We're moving in! The box count is dropping. HA. Boxes, I shall conquer you. More pictures, including a few of the (empty) new house on flickr. Give us a few more days and you'll get some real pictures.

We're so happy to be here.

PS - Zachary slept in his own green bedroom last night. It made his life.

And ours.

106F and a new daycare

what a busy day ... today Zachary was the coolest kid at school. He got dropped off in the GIANT yellow 26 ft truck. I even heard another kid say, "wow, he came in a TRUCK"
We introduce ourselves to Ms. Sarah and Ms. Sarah (his new teachers) and left him to play with the rest of the giraffe class. As we passed quickly by the window on the way out, we saw he was already playing contentedly with huge lego blocks.

Let's see if this works - Yesterday...

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From Texarkana

Half and half, Arkansas and Texas... I don't know which we're in, but Mark is voting Arkansas.. it smells like cows...

We're almost there! Ok, almost, six hours.. but we're going to make it tonight. Happy thoughts. A little more breakfast than back in the truck for the last leg.

Everyone is holding up. Even the cats (now in two separate carriers, thanks petsmart outside of bristol, virginia, where the nascar race was conveniently filling all the hotels)...

But, I disgress. Best moment of yesterday. When Zachary took his bouncy ball (acquired at a taco bell) and put his rubber band ring (long story - gas station) around the center and goes "Look Mom! Like saturn!"

Yeah, that's my kid.

In other news? Why is every store made to DESTROY FAMILIES?? Ugh. Gas stations, fast food restaurants, everything. Also, why are there NO playgrounds at rest areas?

Anyway, we've adjusted to the rhythm of the road. See you soon, from Austin!

A Big Send Off From Daycare

Zachary with Mrs. Cecilia, Mr. Danny, Anthony and Samantha

better than in the bath I guess!

I walked into the bathroom. Sarah has the potty balanced on the edge of the bathtub. Zachary is standing ankle deep in water, hips thrust out, peeing. Now he really is a boy.

Low Tech Hi Tech

Nintendo GameBoy
Custom 8-bit 4.19 MHz CPU
8 kB internal RAM
160 × 144 black and white display



Apple iPad
Custom (64bit?) 1 GHz CPU
256MB internal RAM
1024 × 768 color

The video says it all...

Get up, Stand up

It's ten pm, he's still awake but he's sing "get up, stand up" to himself in a drunk half asleep and stuggling to stay awake kind of way.