Skins dinner time

This post has been redacted on the grounds of decency.

Two more funny passover stories

1) We got home a little late (11ish?) and Z had only just fallen asleep on the walk home from the subway station. He was tired enough that Mark wriggled him out of clothes into jammies and into bed.

At 3am we were awoken by Z sitting bolt up in bed and saying "Fish book??"

And now I die laughing. We read him a book with fishes (thanks, gigi evelyn) every night before bed.

And at 3am, Zachary realized we hadn't read it. Oh my life.

2) When he woke up tuesday morning? Instead of going to daycare, he wanted to go to Kenny's house. He did a lot of re-enacting. It was awesome.

Passover at the Burch House

the "happy family" pic
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

We will miss this *so* much. We've gone every year we've been in new york (and present, unlike last year) and it has been so fantastic. My friend Ken Burch has shared his family (he grew up in chelsea).

Also, Z won the passover gift lotto. That's right, he didn't know passover was a gifting holiday either. At this rate, all the kids at day care are going to want to convert. "You got a robot? And a blinking duck?? AND A CAR?? We're in..."

This is Kenny with his girlfriend Kyoung-Yim, who we met for the first time.

You can tell how much Z likes them both :)

Dyeing Passover Eggs

passover eggs #6
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

Yeah, you got a problem with that? *grin*

I mean come on. GLITTER EGG DYEING CUPS.

Please. Tell me you could have passed that up. With a colorless crayon (aka - wax stick) to make designs!

Evening update

He has now run through the house yelling "BIPED! BIPED! BIPEEEEEEEEEEEEHEHEHEHEHEHEHED!"


Context: Mark tried to get him to go to the bath by tackling him every time he crawled by, hollering "Quadrapeds are SLOW." and only letting him go by when he was walking/running.

Double update: Mark just walked by carrying Z under the arms and saying "Now you're a noped"... so this might not have been a successful bath strategy....

Dinner in the Collins House

Zachary is in an explosively conversational time, to a variety of humourous effects.

Also, there appears to be a lot of excitable yelling. I expect this phase to end by the time he graduates college.

Our dinner went something like this "Mine mine mine mine, bread, pizza mine, No dipping no dipping no mommy daddy no dipping nodippiEEEEHHHHHHHHH..... "

Then mark pours more oil and vinegar onto the plate we're using to dip bread. And tries to make a smiley face, because he does that with Z's honey & yogurt. Except there are some obvious issues to any of you who have ever experienced these four substances.

Mark yells, "Damn, hydrophobic effect!" as the vinegar smooshes into an indistinguisable blob. "Zachary, can you say hydrophobic?"

"AAAHHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

Hm, close?

"HYDROPHOBIC!"

got it in two.

annnnnnd... "No dipipng mommy mommy mine bread..."

*headdeskheaddeskheaddesk*

Upside, we've named his piggy bank "Trevor, The treif tzedakah pig"

All in all a productive weekend.

New Shoes, Redux

For those of you who actually wanted to *see* the shoes...

Playing

New Shoes

Can you tell he likes them?

He does.

They're keens. Zappos is awesome - we ordered four pair, he tried them all on and walked around in them and told me if they felt "Good" or "Bad".

Win!

He's sleeping with them under his pillow, the place of great favor.

Outside our building...

Zachary has mastered this. Sometimes, he does a little spin and does it backwards.
This week has been incredibly lovely. We went to the park today and every child in a ten mile radius was there. wow.

We opened the windows and told zachary when we moved to texas we could open the windows all the time.

Soon he's going to think Texas is made of cupcakes...

A Train

A Train
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

The Difference in weather

this was two weekends ago, digging out a snow drift half the size of a car



this was 7 days later, the neck breaking stare is because he was fascinated by a squirrel that no suprise disappeared up the tree as soon as he charged over.

I can't wait for puberty...

Because at least then the shrieking will be more basso than mosquito.....

High Chair

Yeah, Zachary still sits in his high chair. Although I use that word loosely...

Happy, Birthday, GRANMA!

Oh yeah.
PS - I apologize for the dirty face.
PPS - I have no idea why he starts poking himself in the eyes in the middle. No idea. He obviously thinks its hysterical.



HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRANDMA LINDA!

I don't know what about this I find so funny, but I think it rests on something about how he says GRANDMA. The emphasis is just.. so.. Yeah. Also, he's actually trying to sing happy birthday. In case you can't tell.

rolling tired

"make it rain" cover by Zebulon

Zachary's pockets

The contents of Zachary's pockets are extremely informative as to his current state. So I thought I'd provide you with a list of recent items, to help you understand.

1) A car. Or two.

2) A nut. He found it on the ground near a car where someone was doing repairs on said car. He will tell you the story about it when he finds the nut in his pocket. He knows what it is. A nut.

3) A bouncy super ball.

4) An imaginary bouncy super ball. More appropriate to inside games.

5) Food. Cheerios. Cheddar bunnies. Pieces of bagel. Pretzels. Definitely carb heavy. In other words, Backup Fuel.

6) Your nose. Sometimes he steals it and forgets to give it back.

7) A jumping dog. The jumping dog first made an appearance at the dinner table, standing on the back of Z's high chair. He has since been kenneled during dinner, but often escapes at other humourous times. One has to always be alert for the jumping dog.

pen tip hands

Cupcake Sugarfest

Valentines Cupcake extravaganza
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

We made valentines cupcakes, Zachary likes sprinkles more than really anything else.

Making it rain

Zachary has been terribly grown up lately. He helps to feed the cats by carrying their food to their shelf, and putting it down. He helped make stir fry for dinner earlier this week by pouring in veg and stirring it all up together. He even pushed the buttons for the microwave tonight to heat up his dinner. Mad skillz.

But my favorite?

That Mark has taught him how to switch between the shower and the bath faucet. How do I know?

That would be my toddler yelling "Make it rain, make it rain!" like a strung out stripper on a saturday night as he runs naked through our house.

Yup.

I'm hoping they don't watch a lot of rap videos at day care. Otherwise this could go badly.

(ps - this link is not for the old, young, or infirm. But you've probably found that out the hard way by now. ;>)

A present for mum

A present for mum
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

RAH!

"Daddy Daddy Daddy!"

Went away briefly and came back to slightly scared, slightly excited sounds from Z. Turned around and picked up the camera prior to the rescue. And showed him how to get backdown if he got stuck again. He also played balance on the sideboard, both feet like a tightrope walker and then hands up, hold and down, maybe for a second, such a monkey-acrobat.

Oh and his new bike was on top of a garbage bag on the street, we picked it up less than a hundred feet from home. The tires are now pumped and it seems in full working order. He went to sleep repeating "bike", and grinning from ear to ear.

1500 miles away

There is nothing like being a zillion miles away to appreciate what you have at home.

Although what I have right here is delicious vietnamese food and some hot chocolate.

What I miss already is a crazy toddler who is adamant about wearing his infant sunglasses and rainboots to day care on a sunny day. And his orange and yellow pjs to sleep. And is in two days has gone to being ok with us just checking on him a bit - falling asleep in 20 minutes, instead of two hours. Amazing. We're all sort of settling in post growth spurt and figuring out all his new tricks. He's counting, more clearly all the time. He's oscillating wildly between monsters and no monsters. One day he runs through the house chasing out the monsters by turning on the lights and giggling and growling. The next day he doesn't want to read "where the wild things are" ("NO MONSTERS"). Yes sir. We're trying hard to make clear boundaries as he figures out what he wants, needs, loves, and hates.

Its a giant adventure.

Did I mention he either travels at light speed run or bunny hop?

Those are the only travel settings right now.

Or walking backwards waving his arms. That's only for special occasions. ;)

Adorable

He is of course calling child protective services to ask why I'm taking photo's and not helping him call Zimbabwe.

Also tonight he opened his chest of drawers, picked out his PJs and then put on the T-shirt part all by himself (after my go on you can do it on your own, while I get your bed ready). He is just growing up really fast.

the best odds

Zachary has thrown up seven times this afternoon, six of which were on Sarah. Being the center of a toddler's universe is awesome.

Note to the Grands. He is now fast asleep and seems to be ok.

dino chopsticks

a present from the awesome auntie debbie

giles on the potty

Debbie & Mike, We miss you!

shiney new umbrella 3
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

And thanks for the umbrella.
Its held off the rain for *days* now.

Although probably won't forever.

Anyway, it was absolutely fantastic to have D&M here in New York for a WHOLE MONTH. It is really the longest time we've all been in one place, and it was fantastic. All of us had fun, and Zachary had a fantastic time getting all that Auntie & Uncle play time.

Also, Zachary would like a pair of sumatran tigers for his half-birthday. Please. I think our building has the adequate square footage. ;)

Magic pour Toddler

The car goes into the hat, and disappears, but only if Z didn't spot Mort removing it. Is the hat empty? Or is the car back again? YES WONDER of WONDERs, it is!

phototoddler journalist in training

So here is the complimentary photo slideshow to "a toddler eye view" from a few days ago.

cowboy bootz

a toddler eye view

Zachary got hold of the camera and this is a brief glimpse of the attention monkey; playing with us and the camera; then a diaper change; an elevator ride; the mailroom; playing with Charley, the lobby, a brief glimpse of cars and rain and then home.

mechanic

A series of videos wil be up over the next few days.

Honey - with a little challah

makes for a very happy (sugar high) toddler

Ice flows on the hudson

Streching

After a few days of craziness, we realized he's hit another growth spurt, and with an against the wall check he may have grown about a 1/4" in a month! So we stretched his legs out like an Olympian warming up before an event, and he seemed much happier. You could tell it helped 'cos he stopped tiptoeing around the apartment like a little dancer onpoint.

Debbie and Mike - Do it all over again

And Z got to play with his new toys (thank you Great Aunt Marilyn) after sleeping in the backpack for half the party, much to the amusement of the guest. Particularly since I got up anddanced with the family without him waking up.

Dino Robe

As you can see Z loves his dinosaur bathrobe. Once on the power of the dino takes hold and he runs around roaring for few minutes until he can no longer take the excitement and must shed the dino skin to calm down.

Attention

Z has been enjoying books for a while now. But now his attention span has improved noticeably so he can sit (here with Grandpa) for three or four full books before getting up to run around again. Another book favorite is the mash-up, two books at once, alternating one page at a time, can make for some strange but interesting stories.

A long Stroll

primed
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

to the lighthouse, through the slush to throw stones in the hudson. Z had a great time. Including diving face first into a pile of snow.

Debbie Donkey ride

The 1st round of visiting

the newly weds, Debbie and Mike, with our excited little monkey


DMZ
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

Swinging

can you say pandemonium

thank you grandma jackie

"rocking rocking"

Chanukah Tzedakah

We have some chanukah pictures to upload, and stories to tell (involving water taxis, humourous catastrophes, and more wingy zachary).

But right now I just want to direct people to the right side of the page. This year we're giving a set amount of money each night to a different non-profit organization. There are a lot of different ways to decide where to give - but we figured this year the slightly arbitrary "Toddler-Based Selection" wasn't such a bad method. I mean, we do some vetting of course ;) It isn't a huge amount of money, but is an important addition to our holiday while stories play on the radio about people going into debt to have "the right kind of holiday". Even Zachary, who hasn't had an expectations of giant piles of gifts, asks for "More presents! Open!"... and no doubt my first response is "I should get him more stuff!"... but then I realize there might be some different lessons we'd like him to learn.


Happy Chanukah to everyone! Humourous pictures to follow.

now we can leave them home alone, right?

Look at that chin on the table. Stretching to see his favourite part of the Shabbat B'yachad (kids) service.

Best part of bedtime tonight

Its a close call between: "Square cookie please!" (he is currently hooked on saltines, and learned at daycare to call crackers cookies. Which is fine with us, because its easy to be like... oooooh... I guess you can have another cookie.... when its a saltine. we call that win/win parenting ;>)

or

the fact that he played the later part of bedtime playing "catch the imaginary circle ball". He bounced them off the wall. He caught them. He shared them. He put them in Mark's pocket to keep safe before bed.

Jokes

We were sitting finishing up dinner at the table. Mark, for reasons that still are not clear, pretended to close his eyes and fall asleep. Zachary leaned in close to see what was going on... and Mark opened his eyes and went "Boo!". Zachary jumped a mile high and splashed some water on the table, I jumped, much laughter ensued. We explained to Zachary it was a joke! "Joke! Joke.. Joke!" There was some reenacting.

Then Mark pretended to close his eyes again.

And as he opened his eyes to speak normally, commonly known as the "psych out", Zachary threw his water all over Mark, cracked up, and yelled "JOKE!"

hahahahahahahahahahaha.

yup.

Best Interview Since Oprah/Palin

We think you'll agree.....

Banana + Bike = Happy Boy

Banana Bike Boy
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

His two favorite things, both starting with B. He's eating us out of house & banana. The trip to the grocery store with the shopping cart a few pictures ago? To go get bananas.

Oh, also he appears to think this is a jungle gym, not a bike. So he doesn't realize his favorite things start with the same letters. ;)

supermarket sweep

Z has the right idea. I was about to pop him into the seat on the shopping cart/trolly when a little girl rolled up with a kids size version. Z was sold. He wheeled it all around the store (only needing some supervision) putting in the shopping. Also he can run much faster when he's holding onto a wheeled stabilizer, zooom!

The Family Together

This is one of a series of the three of us on our laptops. Sarah was writing an email, I was working on an abstract and Z wanted to be in the middle with "my one". He was fascinated by Sarah's 160 words a minute typing, so he played alphababy very gentle tapping the keys and naming the shapes.

Thanksgiving fun

Pre-thanksgiving, we went to see the balloons, Z thought they were very exciting. The next day we watched the Macys parade on the TV which he also thought was great. He danced to several marching bands, YoGabbaGabba and the rockettes.

Oh and the Dino-topiary was roar-tastic.

Stalling bedtime

has become a regular occurrence in Zachary's routine. But sometimes it's so funny and cute that we just go with it. This is a classic bathtime stall, he knows if he doesn't get out of the bath I can't dry him off, get him into his PJs and ready for his bedtime book, milk and bunnies. But winging the balls around the bathtub has become a favourite hobby, he calls it circles.




and the answer was...

The Sweetest Thing

(Great) Auntie Marilyn gave Zachary this book "Before I go to sleep". It is sweet, and we've been using it as part of his bedtime routine. The child in the book has a (very tiny) adventure (in his mind) as s/he drifts off to sleep. Near the end, it says something like "We're almost home now". And tonight, Zachary looks up with a grin and says "Daddy, home. Mommy, home."

Sometimes he just swallows up my heart.

playground fun

Zachary (and many other toddler's) favorite loop.

My favorite new vocabulary words

Chocolate and kiloparsec, for obvious reasons.

Turns out if both parents are chocolate fiends, your children might be too. What's funny is the look of michevious pleasure he gets when he says it. Like he knows exactly how deliciously naughty and fantastic chocolate is.

And kiloparsec was important because it was a point of clarification in a book of his. It makes the unfortunate blunder of saying that the sun is at the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way. Which isn't true at all. Sag A* is at the center of our galaxy (also a supermassive black hole). And although the sun is in the *disk* of the galaxy, it is 8 kiloparsecs (about half way) between the center and the edge of the milky way. The sun is at the center of the solar system. Our solar system. Named because of.. you know... the SUN at the center of it....

I mean geesh. Was that so confusing? ;)

Gold shoes go with everything

the shoes complete the outfit
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

I was in the kitchen cooking and wearing my apron. Z & Mark got home from the park and Zachary immediately requested his apron. He wandered to the mirror in our bedroom to preen over his lovely self and noticed my shoes sitting behind him. Well obviously that's what was missing.

Strongbad + the Exploding Pound

Pre-swimming lunch consisted of Z requesting Strongbad's techno on repeat. This is a genetic flaw he's inherited from Mark and we will not speak of it again.

That, and practicing his exploding pound.

If we ever move to the suburbs, we're going to have a lot of explaining to do.

Blog That. Right now

I walk in to go to bed. Zachary is, like he always is, rotated 90 degrees to normal and half off the bed.

And then I realize.

He's aligning north / south.

Maybe we should just rotate the bed.

Maybe he's magnetic.

You have to watch them both....

or at least part of them.

So here is what Z is watching: my old friend David P. juggling


(this is an audition video. Those of you in the know might recognize the UCSC performance space).

And Z, inspired.

I mean, until he remembers the animal train.

For Aunt Debbie & Uncle Mike

Also so you can see the chaos that is our home. This is from a few weeks ago (october 3rd to be precise). More to follow.

Two is such a surprising age

Last night I came home tired. More tired than I expected to be. And hungry. This is always an error because lets be honest - I wish my wife came home early and had dinner ready and waiting when I got home. But she doesn't. SLACKER. Ha. Instead we're all home tumbly tired at the same time and trying to hold it together just long enough to get fed or feed or whatever. My point is we're clearly *all* on best behavior. He was being 2 and I was being 32 and I guess my point is we were obviously CHARMING. charming charming charming. And tired.

And then you know what? We redeemed ourselves. I told Zachary no books at dinner (who has to tell a 2 year old no books at dinner? I feel like such a shrew) so I asked him about his day instead. We had a lovely chat about it, and I definitely understood at least part of it. There was gesturing. Some pasta might have been lost. Then we read "Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now!"... twice. The second time as I flipped to the title page he pointed at "Now" and said "Now!"

And I blinked.

And he grinned.

And I was like "Ok, we're not going to talk about that because seriously. I can not handle the thought of you reading right now. You were only born yesterday and I suck at integrals. Slow it down mister."

Really he's mostly loving to echo words and cracks himself up when he tries to use them. He is a VORACIOUS book-listener which is pretty fun. We're trying to diversify. We're raiding the paperbook shelf (those are the big kid books, versus the board books) for increasing complexity. And humour. And generally having fun.

Because parachuting is a profession...

and you never know when you might have to jump...

Nothing to report...

Sure, we promise to upload some stuff soon. Honest to goodness.

Zachary begged to go swimming today, after seeing folks in swimwear headed down to the pool. A little funny, because the last round with the pool left us thinking he was a bit ... nonplussed about the whole swim adventure. Not this time. Mark (working well above his pay grade) carried Zachary on his back while he swam laps. There was frolicking. They also have some floating kickboards, so Zachary employed one for its designed use (kicking) and floating. His vocabulary has been busy (Pterydactyl, anyone?). He's well in charge of his environment, and knows clearly what he wants. Except, you know, when he's lying on the floor losing his crap and thrashing about violently. Par for the toddler course. Oh right! And he reenacted the kickboard antics with the cookie cooling rack in the kitchen (sans cookies - sad, because cookies are delicious. Happy, because that would have been a giant freaking mess.)

I'm applying for jobs. Fall is coming. Squash type breads and pies are being made. Dark is coming early. All the same but different.

halloween dry ice fun #1

halloween dry ice fun #1
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

Thanks Sage!

DSC_0193
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

With the football shirt and the 2 empty pitchers he's looking like a frat boy in training. To be fair really he was learning to hear the sea, like with shells but not.

A few short stories.

First: Tonight Zachary said challah. And took Sarah by the hand as she walked through the door to the oven. Where are freshly baked challah was sitting cooling on the top. He then turned on the oven light to indicate where it had been.

Second: Cecelia, was so proud. Jay started daycare last week, he's another addition to the two year old boy posse she's collecting. He was crying and crying, and Z walks up to him and says "Daddies working" pause "come back" and this fixed it. Jay has not cried since, because his dad is working but he will be coming back to pick him up. Zachary two year old to two year old talk did the trick.

Third: Leaving daycare yesterday. Zachary one hand clutching crackers and the other cradling a sippy cup. We got to the front steps and as I went to put my hand out to help him down, he just poof stepped no hand rail, no parental units hand. And continued all the way t the street. Now we're in for real trouble.

Four: Everyone at daycare thought that dry ice in hot water was the coolest halloween trick EVER.

Because I'm so stressed out my eyes are bulging....

Since we've gotten back from California, Zachary has developed the charming habit of early morning waking. At first it was between 1:30am-2:00am (unacceptable, and very funny). Its drifted towards 6:15am (still unacceptable, especially since it often ends in NO MORE SLEEP, but better than 1:30am). After screaming his discontent that he's awake (I hear that...) he wanders through the house, explains to us that its dark (Yes. Because all the other children ARE ASLEEP), asks to use the potty, reads books, goes to have his first breakfast/last snack/some idiotic meal involving string cheese and bunny graham crackers. If we are *VERY* lucky he goes back to sleep. Less lucky? Mark sleeps on the couch while Z dumps every single toy he owns onto the floor. Sorry downstairs neighbors.

Reading back through that, it doesn't sound cute. Not at all. But it is. I promise.

Weaning (which is apparently going without him even being that bothered) is going incredibly well. It turns out I'm happy to parent, as long as I don't feel irreplaceable. I've never been so glad to not be special in my entire life. Ah, it turns out I could only hand over control to biology for so long. He seems none the worse for wear, and I am much cheerier.

In other words, we've incorporated a bedtime snack in hopes of keeping him asleep longer. A glass of milk and "bunnies" (the above bunny graham crackers). If we forget, he points into his mouth and says "Bunnies! Milk!" and then sits on the floor and uses the cadbury's roses tin as his snack table.

See? Silly cute.

some pictures are up

IMG_0214
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

it's late but there are some funny daycare stories to come.

champion of sleep

We made it back to New York, yay! And Zachary, slept almost the whole way. He fell asleep in my arms as I carried him home from dinner at Lillian's restaurant . We transferred him smoothly into the car, and from the car to the wheels at the airport, without the slightest break in his snoring. Even the TSA crazy rules "no you'll have to take the sleeping baby out of the seat and bring him through the detector with no shoes", nor carrying him out onto the tarmac and up the steps onto the plane, nor take off could wake this very tired boy. He woke up briefly as we deplaned, and picked up our luggage. He bounced around in the cab "ta-xi, ta-xi" for roughly a minute before passing out for the whole ride home, and into our apartment where we left him for another few hours.



stil asleep
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

and then we got trapped on the C train....

But first? First we went to simchat torah, which was incredible fun. There was dancing. And coffee cake. And apple juice. (You might guess who was in particular impressed by the last two. Oh, you're right. It was Mark..) Did I mention the dancing? With this intense but wonderful klezmer-ish band and pretty pure chaos. Fun was had, all our legs are tired. We schlepped home. And when the C train pulled into our station (it terminates there - The doors opened. We wrestled our screaming toddler into his stroller. And as our front stroller wheels approached the doors ... they closed. Huh. That's unusual. I mean, they close eventually. But we're talking like less than a minute after getting into the station. Ok, there was wrestling, but we really weren't dawdling. A nice lady on the outside of the train gestured wildly for them to open them. The train jerked forward. Hm. More wild gesturing. An official looking man wandered over. More hand waving. Another small lurch of the train. I idly entertained yanking the emergency break. I wondered how far we'd get before someone cared. We had snacks. I was pretty sure the train just turned around and pulled back into the station on the other track. Pretty sure. Definitely at least 60% confident. Hm. Eventually they got a door open for us.

We're flying to California tomorrow for Debbie's wedding! We're even a little packed, although certainly nothing like *really* packed. Blogging might be sparse, but EVERYONE WILL BE IN CALIFORNIA. And Zachary is turning 2. Holy heck.

DIY

DSC_0011
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

Today, I put our bed frame back together. And Zachary helped. he was really interested in my tool box, and digging through all the sharp point things; screws, nails, tacks, etc. So I gave him the 5 of the 6 screws, I was using, telling him "hold on tight to these, and let me have them when I ask". He took a few steps back from the work area, and a few more as I started drilling the screw into the planks. A sensible boy, to move away from the loud and unknown. Then I stopped, looked up and over he toddled, holding the next one I needed with an outstretched arm. And so it went on, until the bed was made. Then Zachary promptly climbed up onto the mattress and did a victory lap or three.

melon

it turns out is not just food, its a complete experience...

Z helping throw out the crappy furniture

Z helping throw out the crappy furniture
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

a long day I guess

Zachary says "cuh"

that's right he just got a whole new consonant. Suddenly, book, duck and quack are words he can manage. And he just said the names of several animals in his "where's spot?" book. We haven't even read it before. He just knows what a monkey (or crocodile or penguin) look like. Last week on the bus to the pick up the CSA he pointed to a little girl (maybe 5 or 6) and said "monkey". She was carrying a cuddly toy monkey, and it turn out a mini toy cat. Which she shared with him, as he bounced on his seat saying "cat, cat" and "meow". Again, all parentally unprompted. He is really engaging with the world, and starting to figure things out by himself, its so great to watch.

Zachary and his pink chalk

Much like Harold Zachary drew where ever he went, you could trace his path across the rocks from the pink. A great find, the pink chalk, we left it at the playground for other kids to play with.

smelling flowers

Nanny Nikki

Zachary had a great time this weekend. We took a trip to south Jersey, for Jen and Brendan's wedding, and Nikki was kind enough to volunteer as nanny for the duration. He really is getting to be a better car passenger since he hardly fussed at all. And he seemed to do really well with Nikki while we were off at the wedding.
They spent about an hour switching the hotel room's a/c on and then pretending to get blown across the room. They watched a little football, had some pizza, and then he passed out while watching a cartoon.
On sunday, we stopped by a flea market. Now, as it happens, Zachary has recently been interested in both coinage and his pockets. And he happened to be carrying 50 cents in his pocket when he came across a battered up matchbox police vehicle he could not live without. He later learned from NIkki, on the long drive home, it was called a "po po car" (slang for police, from california).

Farran's 2nd Birthday

very naught boys
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

Was a week or 2 ago, and they had a party for him at daycare. This is the naughty boys, up to mischief, dancing on the table.

Toddler Triathalon

Last night we were getting settled in for the evening and idly chasing Zachary towards the bath when he scampered with intent up the couch. We watched to see what sort of michief was in the works. Its never worth a pre-bath tantrum unless danger is imminent. Zachary carefully moved several couch cushions until he found what he was looking for - the cat flicker. Ah. And started to wave it wildly in the air.
Ok. That's fine. As long as nobody loses an eye.

We managed to lure him to the safety of the hallway where he proceeded to chase Mark & I back and forth for as long as it took to tire him out. And then he got his soccer ball. And kicked that up and down the hall until he literally collapsed. He actually had quite good aim with the cat flicker, managing to smack several hallway decorative features (like the fire alarm. Hmm....).

Although he crawled into bed with us at 4am, he slept through till 7:30am pretty well.

We might be on to something here.

He is also cutting his two year old molars. There seems to be less shrieking than the last teeth. This morning leaving the house was cataclysmic though, so its hard to say. He is much more clear about what is uncomfortable, so I guess we'll be grateful for that.

Oh! And he didn't nurse before bed. He asked for a snack, then gathered up his animals and headed to bed. By himself.

He might go to college alone after all.

Nana Daddy Uh oh

"Mark? Did Zachary eat a banana but drop part of it somewhere?"
*awkward pause*

"Yes? He dropped it crossing the street so we couldn't go back. How did you know?"

-----------------
(flashback four minutes)
-----------------


Mark & Zachary got home yesterday from picking up CSA veg. It was a toddler meltdown. He was obviously hungry, and past the point of caring. I scooped him up from the hallway as he lost it at top volume and by the time we were half way in the house the chorus of "Baba!" demands were coming fast & furious between the sniffles. "Don't you want some dinner?" *sobsobsob* "BABA!" "Fine. You can nurse for 1 minute before you have some dinner" *snifflesniffle*

So we sat on the couch to calm down. And I'm asking what he wants for dinner, and what he ate at daycare, and other miscellaneous food related babble to encourage him to move on to dinner. And he looks up and goes "Nana!" and points to his mouth.

Now, we're trying hard to encourage Zachary to "use his words". Because he has them. Really he does. But frankly he communicates pretty well without full sentences. So we've been trying to encourage him to string things together, and trying to respond quite as quickly even though we generally get the gist of what he's going for. But its a tricky balance. Because being 2 is frustrating enough.

"Ah! You want a banana?"
*headshake no*

"Did you eat a banana?"

"Yes!"

"Yum. At daycare?"

*headshake no* (which is funny, because he is QUITE able to say no)

"Daddy!"

"Ah, Daddy gave you a banana?"

*headshake yes*

"Uh oh!!" *wild hand motioning off to one side*

*puzzled look on mommy's face*

"It fell down? Did part of it fall down?"

*vigorous nod*

"Nana daddy uh oh!!!"

-----
(flash forward)
-----

Zachary got to stay up tonight to see Sarah arrive home. We were both happy to see her. He got to tell her all about our adventures this weekend, haha, including his first deep fried oreo, at the festival of San Gennaro (another Ray and Mort Street Fair). Which we happened across as we passed through little Italy on Saturday.
Today we played at 1st street park on the lower eastside. He watched some older kids serving imaginary pizza and ice cream. Then later on, I was leaning on the "counter" watching him and he came over and served me. I asked if it was pizza or ice cream, and was told "both" :-) Then he had some, and I must of finished 'cos we both had seconds, thirds and maybe even forths. Good thing imaginary food is so low in calories.

On the subway home (he is such a good boy riding the trains now) we bumped into Rob (Pearl's dad). We chatted and as we got off the A train at 168th st, Z took my hand and then Robs, and climbed All the stairs to the street and sang to himself as we walked ALL the way to Haven Ave. He was adorable with his happy groove, just singing and walking, walking and singing.

Tonight he went to sleep clutching his new ball. A half size, football from the Marseille team l'OM.

the preflash made him pull a face and let go of the ball. I'm such a mean Dad, must never forget the rule "Don't wake the sleeping baby".

Zachary likes climbing into boxes. You seen the pictures, and now here is a movie from a little while back. He loved the packing peanuts too. Tonight he pretty much unpacked the fresh direct order, by himself. He just kept going back to the box, and bringing me the next item to put away. But once emptied, the box was his. He stood in it, he sat, he lay down, he closed it, he opened it, he even found the divider and used it as a seat belt.

hyped up and ready for bed?

On labor day, I took Z to the little red lighthouse. We ran around on the grass, watched some tennis, chased some dogs, threw stones in a rock pool and then into the hudson. We read "the little red lighthouse and the great gray bridge, don't worry I wasn't the only dorky parent doing it. We saw our apartment building, from the outside, and lots of cars as we crossed under and over the various roads and hughways to get to the park. All this, and the 2 new teeth (FINALLY) has lead to a uber chipper and excitable young boy.



This little trip, came about because Zachary suddenly likes story books. Up until now he has been into "moo, baa, la" or "abc" books. But last night, we read him the aforementioned book. And he sat on the couch captivated.


He also got up to some naughtiness with Sarah, in the morning, while I was working. They went out for a walk and coming back into the lobby he threw the ball towards the front desk. But Mum instincts kicked in, and rather than follow the flight of the ball, she saw him out of the corner of her eye, turn 180 and dash back towards the doors, the street, and of course the cars. She caught up with him before he got to far but he really is getting both speedy and tricksey.

Dinner Party

We had Nikki and Ryan over for dinner last week. It must be the soothing scotts accent because while Sarah and I were chatting to Nikki in the Kitchen. Z got a book, climbed up on the couch next to Ryan and sungled up to read with him. How adorable is that!

Morning Madness

Ok, it wasn't mad at all. Funny, though.

I leave tonight for France for a few days. Lots to do, was mostly lying in bed trying not to get up this morning. I've been trying to discourage Z from coming to bed at crazy hours with us - his teething+sick got intense a few days back (one, possibly two of those eye teeth [i-teeth as in incisors?] - finally through! Thank heavens)... Now that I think he's suffering less, we've been trying to keep him in his own bed. But at about 6:20am he comes and begs to nurse. I say no, he throws a bit of a fit and gets over it (yay) but of course... then he's up. Mark manages to distract him with a cheese stick (which he brings back to bed). Still not convinced that he's interested, Zachary pops off our bed with the cheesestick and marches purposefully out of the bedroom. Mark and I wait quietly... he is capable of entertaining himself, right? Our house isn't too dangerous.... but it is too quiet in the living room. He's probably eaten one of the cats or started a fire or something. Mark goes to check, giggles, and motions me to get up. Zachary has ensconced himself on the couch, pulled a quilt over his lap, and his patting this giant anthology of children's stories.

"BOOK!"

"Do you want to read a story?"

(vigorous nodding. Giant book pulled onto lap. vigorous patting of couch indicating parental sitting)

Right. Got it. I guess its morning now. :)

can you pull the ring out
Originally uploaded by m0nk3yphd

Happy thursday!

Thanks mom. You totally cursed me with the swine flu. Just thought you should know. ;)

Ok, maybe not the swine flu. But a fever, a bit, and a sore throat. Oy. Toddler = all sorts of illnesses. Not Z. He might have been a little under the weather this weekend, but he's chipper and sound asleep (perhaps not at the same time) now. Mark is off at Brookhaven doing wonderful science, and I'm holding down the fort.

The start of our week was pretty funny. Zachary had fun at the wedding. He was a little fussy, but we just wrote it off to dragging him around and trying to convince him to sit through a wedding.


Tuesday broke and he... screamed. No joke. It was awesome. Morning isn't usually traumatic. He actually cried in his stroller as we headed to daycare. Like the sky was falling. Humourously, he stopped crying long enough to say hello to everyone in our lobby. Red faced, tears dripping everywhere. Big smile on his face. Till we walked out the door then right back to the screaming. *sigh* Could someone mail us shirts that say "We aren't actually torturing him right at this very moment"..? That would help, thanks.

Wednesday morning was pretty much like a comedy sketch. He asked Mark for an umbrella as we were getting ready to leave. Then he asked for his baseball cap. He pulled the cap on low over his eyes, shook open the umbrella.... and started to walk. He was actually quite clever about it. He used the umbrella like cat whiskers and bounced against the walls. He managed to stay upright. He shuffled into the elevator, which was of course full of people. I had a lovely conversation with a woman wearing her baby girl. It went something like this : "Oh, she's so cute! How old is she?" "Thanks! Eleven months! How old is your..." "Umbrella? He's almost two."

We got downstairs and Zachary ran like a cannonball all the way till he got to the desk. He said hallo to Felicia, and then as we reached the first set of doors he stopped. He carefully raised his hand up so he could hold the edge of the umbrella and Mark's hand at the same time. And then proceeded onward.

I'm proud to say at no time did I pee in my pants laughing.

Eventually the umbrella got put away, because really, it does impede street navigation when only 3 feet off the ground. Sort of like one of those mushroom thingies in pinball. Except its moving.

He might be crazy, but at least he's entertaining.