Halloween Pics!

I know I need to post more often. I really do. I always seem to think there are more important things to do...or things that can be done quicker. And the longer I wait, the longer the post becomes with more and more pictures...and then the task becomes daunting. And then I make excuses about not wanting to only work on it for 10 minutes as I won't get very far :). So I'm sitting down for Z's entire nap to work on this. I'll probably only get halfway :).

Zach is just cruising lately. He very rarely crawls. Hasn't much for the last week, at least. The only times I can remember seeing him crawl are when he wants to go under my legs when my feet are on the coffee table. He likes obstacle courses, I guess. But he's just a bookin' it. Most times when you ask him to come he doesn't - he thinks you are chasing after him. He likes that game, although we'll have to come up with a system so he comes when he needs to.

He's a talkin' fool lately, too. He may not be able to completely say words, but he really tries to copy sounds. It really is amazing how smart he is, and how much we understand him. I'd like to think that I understand him better than other people with their kids, but that's probably not true. But he is one smart cookie. He knows several pieces of clothing, several body parts, and lots of household objects. One of his favorites lately are the bowls. He loves to try and say that word. He has a hard time putting together two different sounds, so more complex words usually come out as a single sound twice. I've been trying to teach him how to say diaper, but it usually just comes out "baba," though he can say the two sounds by themselves. Jason came up with the analogy of learning to play guitar. You may be able to use different chords, but changing between them is a little more complicated; it's just easier to strum twice. But we try to be really attentive as to what he calls things so we can communicate with him. He loves to point at things, so if he keeps saying something and I don't understand, I'll pick him up and ask him to point. Kind of like the hot/cold game :). It's kind of funny how his brain groups different objects - oranges aren't really a food or an orange, they're balls (that he likes to throw :)). We had friends over for halloween and he kept calling the lollipop a balloon. And I guess it really does look like the pretend ones inside of his blocks. He was going through the pantry today and called the bag of coconut "papa," which is usually pasta or potatoes, so I'm not sure what he associated that with. Although if you pick him up and he sees his box of pasta, he'll point and call it "papa." I try to do my best and encourage him talking, even if he doesn't get the word exactly right. We understand what he means. Today was the first day I know of that he could say (at least in his language) all of the foods we ate for lunch - squash, pasta, and beans. He would say one and point to it and we'd change to that food. It's also fun to watch him try to say hippo or tofu - you can really tell he's concentrating on getting the sounds right. And even if he doesn't, he seems to always match the pitch that I make with it - it's crazy :).

Zachary is also eating a heap of food. He's just officially finished nursing (yea!) and man, has his food intake gone up! This past month we spent about 60 bucks on his food. Good thing the grains are cheap :). He just eats a lot. He eats really well, though (still). We just started tomatoes, and while he doesn't seem to fancy them very much, he'll eat some of them. Doesn't hurt when his chaser is bananas :). He loves those. He loves pretty much all of the fruits I've given him. And he loves beans! We've only had pinto beans (we have some black beans in the pantry to try), but he just loves them. He'll say the "bee" sound and get all excited. And he downs a LOT of milk. He'll drink a half gallon in little over a week. Sometimes when I'm holding him and open the fridge, he'll see his milk, point and either say "b" for bite or whine a little. He just loves it. We usually only have it at meal times so he can still get some water down. But given the option, he will almost always choose milk. And I don't think he likes cheese much anymore. Don't know why. He does like to play with it, but maybe he's just kind of sick of it. But he loves banana pancakes! I've gotten him into the bad habit of begging for food when we're eating :(. It's super cute, though :). Sometimes we can share our food with him, other times we can't. But if it's bread or pancakes, he gets SO excited. He'll actually dance back and forth saying "b" over and over and over again. Sometimes loudly. Okay, a lot of times loudly :). So we had to train him to ask proper. He'll use the "b" sound a lot during the day, but if he wants a bite he has to say it once and quietly. Sometimes he'll get all excited and start yelling it, but if you tell him to ask nicely he'll almost whisper "b." Lately I'll just ignore him until he says it right - and he's done really well today. He's pretty smart. So we're trying to reinforce the good behavior there.

Z really does love bread, though. And after reading the ingredients in a package of bread, I decided I was going to make his bread. So when we officially began bread as a new food, I made two loaves. Super simple recipe from Betty Crocker. It's good!! It's got like 5 ingredients, and doesn't have eggs (which isn't a big deal, but makes it less messy). The bread won't keep for very long, but that's alright as we go through it pretty quick. We've got almost a full loaf of store-bought bread on the counter that we'll probably end up tossing. I'm made three batches of bread already, and I don't think we'll go back to the store stuff. Z doesn't need corn syrup in his bread, and neither do we. But it really does taste much better. Especially with grilled cheese sandwiches (which are great with some chicken in them). And it's a great finger food for Zach. Sometimes I'll sprinkle a little shredded cheese on there and melt it in the microwave. It's so tasty! If he sees me eating it he'll always hit me up for some. My next step is to buy some whole grain flour as that is really much better for you. We're just so used to the white stuff, that's what we've always used. But if you're going to eat it, you might as well pack in as many nutrients as possible.

One more milestone for Zachary lately has been understanding what going "poo" is. I'm excited, because the sooner he understands this the sooner we can stop changing diapers! He doesn't always tell you when he's going poo, but the majority of the time he'll say "poo" before he does it. Or if I recognize what's going on, I'll ask him if he's going poo so he can learn to associate the two. From my understanding, it's a big step to know that you're going to the bathroom. I'm excited that he's catching on, though. He's one smart cookie! And speaking of cookies, I had the greatest idea today (that I'm sure plenty of people have thought of). Zachary was pointing at his triangle pieces that go in his sorter and I started explaining shapes - then I realized when he's older we can learn shapes by cutting out cookies! I always loved using cookie cutters with sugar cookies (and I still get to at my Gram's house at Christmas!), so I thought that would be a fun way to learn. And tasty, too!

So I'll get to the pics now. Of course, since it's been a while, there's plenty. I really need to post more often...

For Z's birthday we got a $3 off coupon for anything (well, almost) at Toys 'R Us. So we went there to look around. They usually have diapers the cheapest, if on sale. So we wandered around looking for something cheap to use the coupon on. Sure enough, Z spotted some balls. He just loves balls. But we found this cute soccer one that wasn't super expensive. He was so excited about it! He held it the entire time, and got bummed out when he had to hand it over to the cashier (even though he got it right back). After we paid for our stuff, we had to wait for a minute or two for them to get him a balloon (apparently for your first birthday you get a balloon and a paper crown like they used to give away at Burger King). He was super excited about the balloon, but while we were waiting tried to bounce the ball around. Which would have worked fine, but it was still in its packaging! So it didn't bounce very well :).

But anyway, it's his new favorite ball. And one of his favorite toys. He loves to bounce it and find new things to put it in. I showed him how to put it in his little bowls, so he'll do that every now and then. Or anything else it'll fit in/on.

This day it rolled under the table and he had to get it. While he can't say help, he'll use the "h" sound if he needs help (or a version of "stuck"). He got out by himself, though.
Here's a close-up. He's a cutie!

As of late Z likes to smash his face between things like this. I think it's because I'll do it when he's in his crib. We'll usually play for a few minutes after he gets his bath. I'll pop up and down playing peek-a-boo and peek through the slats from different places. He gets a kick out of it. He'll try to scramble away, but then he realizes that he's stuck in his crib. It's cute.

As Jason would say, "That's my boy!"

Zachary still loves to snuggle with his blankets. And he's still fine playing in his bedroom by himself for a while. It's really nice :). Just today he was in there for about a half hour by himself. He'll read his books, play with his blocks, or try and take his clothes out of drawers (though he's only allowed in one of them). One day I walked in to find him like this :).

He's got two blankets like this - this green one and a yellow one. They seem to be his favorites. He likes to stand on his head like this and look through his legs. He's just a goon :).

He'll also walk around with his blanket on him like a cape.

Here's a couple pictures of Z wearing J's sunglasses. One might make the argument that they are too expensive to be placed on the face of a toddler, but he doesn't usually try to grab them (despite Jason holding Z's hands here). He just usually thinks it's pretty funny, just like when he puts on J's hats. Speaking of, the other day Z was hauling his hat around, which he usually doesn't try to put on his head. Maybe that was just because he couldn't quite get it before. But the other day he was getting really upset that he couldn't get it to stay on his head, and once I helped him he calmed down and went on his way. It was kind of funny. Now he can get it on his head by himself, though it might be a little crooked.

This was with one of our phones at the grocery store. It's now Jason's background for his cell phone :).
Z loves to "help" with the laundry. Before he would just help pull clothes out of the hamper. Now he likes to place things back once I've sorted them. He loves to find socks, too. I think he gets excited that we know that he knows what they are. But I always have to check to see what he's put back :). He can also help put things in the washer. He'll grab a sock or two, or a shirt and toss it in when I tell him to. It probably makes him feel grownup. And then he just LOVES to pull all the clothes off the couch when I take them out of the dryer. He'll haul off socks, bibs, and especially things with strings. He just loves Jason's shorts with the strings. He'll throw the string over his shoulder and drag them around. He's tried that with my sweater, though it's too heavy and gets left behind :). But anyway, he also loves hangers. And the last time I did laundry he wanted to hand me hangers. So I'll ask for a hanger and he'll hand me one to use. It's fun.

He also loves this table. Garage sale, two bucks. It had been in the closet as I hadn't made the time and effort to clean it off. But one nice day we went outside and got a bucket full of sudsy water. Zach loved playing with the bubbles, and I don't quite know how he didn't come away soaked. But now his legos have a place to go, and he'll play with them on a regular basis.

Leave it to Jason to find something new and different to do. Zach got a book in the mail for his birthday recently. Jason put the packaging on his head, then of course Z wanted to do it. Then Jason proceeded to chase him around the house. He's a super cute, mostly happy boy.

We got out his bouncer for some friends of ours to borrow, and man that brought back memories! I usually tie memories to music and songs, and once that noise came on Jason and I both started to recollect on our many memories with Z in the bouncer. He used to practically live in that thing! He loved it! We were curious what he would do with it now that he's older, but he still seemed to love it. He kept dancing back and forth to the music, trying to grab the moving monkey. And he really loved the waterfall. But he's a wee bit too big for it now :). We put him in it and he was low-ridin! And he wasn't quite sure what to do.

And you'll notice the gloom outside...I think this was one of the days that it just rained...and rained, and rained. It totally sucked. Everyone was like "We're in a drought, we're in a drought!" and then we get slammed with almost 7 " in two days. Not exaggerating. So I don't think we're too dry for the year anymore, overall.

Zach helping with the laundry...sometimes he gets stuck and needs help getting out :).

He's so cute walking around with his blanket like this. It's like he's trying to fly.
I really like this picture. He looks so happy. Although it seems as of late he hasn't been :(. He's been waking up in the night screaming (we think he might be getting some more teeth), so we drug him up. A little tylenol before bed really makes the difference, and that adds weight to the teething theory. He's also going through a separation anxiety stage and freaks out when I leave. It's really no fun. The other day I took him with me to my PT appointment, and he wouldn't even play with toys while I was up on the table. It was a real drag. But he's cute in this pic :).

This outfit is marked 3-6 months, and while the sleeves are just a tad too short, the pants fit him perfectly! All his other pants are 12 months and super long - we have to roll them up several times. So I decided to hit some second hand stores and see if I could find some things for him. I also needed some long and short sleeved onsies. I'm all about layering, and that way, too, you can use your short sleeved shirts. I haven't had a chance to go check out some garage sales, so I went to Good Will (one nice one and then the nastiest one I've ever been to) and a kids' store. I totally scored! I only found two shirts at Good Will, but found 5 or 6 long sleeved onsies and a super cute pair of pants at the kids' store, all for 16 bucks! There were two other pairs of pants that were cute and would have fit him, but they were Ralph Lauren and 10 bucks a piece. So I'll have to go back and see what I can find as product moves. Clothing sizes are crazy, though, because I picked up a brand new Old Navy long sleeved onsie that was 6-12 months (with a snowman on front) as well as an 18-24 month one. Best I can tell, they are the same size - and they are the same brand! I'm just bewildered...

I had to get some broccoli out of the freezer for dinner, and Zach wanted to carry it around. He understands that the bags open, but hasn't yet figured out how to get it open if it's closed. Thankfully :). He understands, though, that things that come out of the freezer are cold, so he'll point and say "coo."

Sometimes Zach doesn't like to be hanging out on the floor while I'm in the kitchen. Realistically, I wouldn't like it either. Everything that's happening he can't see! So while I was making bread I let him help. And like Jason says, help has a very loose definition. But Z got a kick out of it. We have a fatty bag of flour that I pull out for big jobs (we have a small canister on the counter, too). I put it on the floor and scooped out what I needed, then rolled the bag back up. Z had seen me do it, so he hauled off and came back with one of his measuring spoons. Then he tried to get the spoon in the bag to scoop some out! He's such a smart little guy. So for the yeast and the rest of the flour, I helped him scoop it out. We've done that a few times since, as well. He loves it. And I try to be an equal opportunity hand user. I've found that since I'm right handed, I'll favor one hand of his (depending if he's facing me or not). So I try to use both of his equally. We still think he might turn out left-handed, but we'll see.

So here's Z "helping" mix in the flour.

And again. I like this picture - "hee yah!" Amazingly enough the bread wasn't too tough :).

This one's just cute. It looks like he's looking in the bowl, but in fact I think he got some flour between him and the bowl (which he loves to say, by the way) and was peering down at it.

Doug, Nicole, Rebekkah and Micah came to visit us again. They really wanted to go to the Slugger Museum, so on Saturday we made a stop. We took the tour again, and got more bats at the end of it (when you pay for the tour, you're really just paying for the "free" bat at the end). So now we have six of them, which I came up with only one good use for - hitting pinatas. But Zach, for now, likes to cart them around. Here he is in the gift shop.

We also took a trip to the Zoo! I was so excited to go to the Halloween Party there. Kids dress up and walk around the loop, stopping at "stations" to get candy. It's free for zoo members, and even Doug, Nicole, Rebekkah and Micah got in free! I was pretty disappointed in the candy haul, but it wasn't such a big deal since we're older. But if I was younger I would have been bummed. I used to be one of those people that thought it stupid for parents to take their kids trick or treating when the kid wasn't even old enough to eat candy. Rest assured, Z didn't eat any. We did :). But in our defense, we didn't go to the zoo for the candy - it was just a bonus. I was really excited for Z to dress up and see all the other kids. And sure enough, he really seemed to enjoy it. There weren't a whole lot of adults in costumes (even the people handing out candy!), but there were a heap of kids.

This isn't the best picture of me with Z, but it'll do.

Z was so cute! At the beginning, all he wanted to do was walk. And he was carrying his pumpkin bag in his hand. He was cruising! He didn't even want me to hold his hand, but I had to as we were going downhill and the crowd ("moo!") would sometimes come to a halt. But lots of people kept commenting on how cute he was :).

Here's Z picking up leaves. He just loves them. It was just after this that he realized there was stuff in his bag - he fell forward while walking and some stuff came tumbling out. From that point on he just wanted to play with what was in there :). And then after a while the bag got too heavy for him to carry - a can of pop doesn't help the weight to child ratio :).

I like this picture. He's just cute :). We only saw one other kid with the same costume, surprisingly enough (we did buy it at wally-world, after all).

Before we left the zoo we took some pics. Good thing I kept clicking! The first few with Jason weren't that good as Jason really looked like he wanted to be elsewhere, but here he's actually smiling. Rebekkah and Micah were doing all they could to get Z to smile, but somehow it didn't work. Which is surprising, because Z just absolutely adores Micah. I don't think Micah minds it too much, either :). He'll jump around or play peek-a-boo and Zach will just laugh. It was funny, too, because on Saturday morning after Z woke up all our guests at 5:30, he realized he had an audience. Something made him laugh in a goofy manner, which made all the rest of us laugh. He loved it! He kept laughing and looking around at everyone, as if to say, "You guys like that? I got plenty more of it!" It was hilarious.

I know, it's super similar to the last, but it makes me smile as J has a genuine smile.

And I just like this one, too :). I forget what Z was saying here.

This is the best one we got of all three of us. I think Z was done with pictures at this point :).

Here's a pic with Rebekkah and Micah.

While our friends were here, we also tried to hit the Jim Beam distillery. They have a "tour" there that they wanted to see. So we ventured forth on Sunday afternoon. Yeah, unbeknownst to us, they can't sell or let people taste the alcohol on Sundays. Not noted on the website, of course. And the "tour" is a video and being told to walk around the grounds, which consists of a path and nice grass (seriously, it was nice, especially since our summer was dry). So it pretty much sucked. But then we came home and J and I had some pie. Rebekkah and I made the double layer pumpkin pie recipe I have. I love it, it's so tasty. I love to make things.

Z got a card for Halloween, and he just loved it. It has a picture of a mouse, I think, with a pumpkin. Z thinks the animal is a cat, which is understandable. But he just loves to point and say pumpkin! Jason was playing with him in the morning (I think that day he let me sleep in :)) and Z kept saying "pum." As the story goes, J kept telling him that he didn't see a pumpkin. I later showed him the card and he understood :). So here's Z reading his card (we don't need to tell him it was upside down).

I just like this picture, too. He's a cute boy (if you didn't get that already :)).

That's all for pics! On another note, we finally were able to go to another doctor for Zach's routine appointment. I just can't be picky anymore, especially since we don't plan to be here for much longer. And I don't plan on going there very often. But Z did need to stay on his immunization schedule, and I was curious how much he weighed. With a wet diaper on (this place apparently doesn't make us take them off - I just have to have low expectations) he was only 18 pounds 14 ounces. He's just a little guy! And he's just a shade over 28" tall. That was pretty much at 13 months, not 12, too. But they didn't give me much flak for his size, which is nice. I've had that in the past. This doctor is hardcore on the immunizations, though, so I wasn't getting out of there without giving Z a flu shot. So he had to get three that day :(. I'm not sure where I stand on the whole shot/autism thing - I just don't know much about it. What I do know (is that he was set to leave the base...no, that's not right :)) is that he's been pretty cranky since then. Which could just be a correlation. The day before he didn't get an afternoon nap, and then the day of his morning nap was late and therefore he wouldn't take an afternoon nap. Our Wild Oats had a liquidation sale as they have now closed, so I thought Z and I would head over there. Those nutters are crazy!! :) The store was supposed to have opened at 8, but I heard rumor that people were walking out of the store with purchased goods then. It was just packed. Way crazy. And it took us forever to go through the check out line. And we didn't need that much stuff. So it really ended up not being worth it, and had I known I wouldn't have gone. But I didn't, so I did :). The dude in front of me spent 358 bucks, and I spent a whopping 8. Most people had heaps of crap, and spent a lot. It was nuts. But I got some peanut butter, and if you haven't tried the natural/organic peanut butter, you totally should! The difference is amazing. You'll have to stir the crap out of it when you open it because it's much thinner and not homogeneous in nature, but it's wonderful. I don't think we'll go back to the old stuff unless we have to (the good stuff isn't cheap).

But anyway, after the no afternoon naps and the shots, he started waking at 5 in the morning. And when you have company, that doesn't fly so well. Not that they minded much, but you feel so self-conscious about it! On Sunday that weekend, Z got up around 6 (well, that's what time we got him out of bed), so after breakfast he and I headed out to the store. Nobody was there, so we spent some time looking at toys. And then Z smacked his head really hard on the shelving :(. He was playing with some balls and slipped. It was a bummer, and the mark was pretty dark (but not a Dark Mark). I was afraid people were thinking I beat my child or something, but I guess if they have kids they'd understand. So anyway, he finally got an afternoon nap (we weren't sure if he was trying to drop to one nap) and that made it better, if only for a few days. Now he's waking up again. It sucks. He also can get pretty whiny. So we're going to increase his food intake to see if maybe that's part of the problem. If not, we'll just blame it on teething :). But the doc did say that at 15 months the whole separation anxiety thing peaks.

Another random thing that happened - Jason almost always gets Z out of bed in the morning while I prepare his breakfast, but one day J had to leave early for work so I had to attend to Z. When I opened the door he said "dada" as if expecting him, but then stopped short as he saw me. It was kind of funny. He's also taken to saying "mama" or "dada" after he wakes up from naps, as if to beckon us. He really does adore J though, and gets all excited when he comes home from work. Then J will chase him around for a while, or I'll hold him while J chases us. Z will kick and squeal. It's cute.

Okay, I'm done!! And it only took me a week!! Though I still have a few pics to post from this week....oh well. I'm off to make some more cookies!! If you don't already, you should totally freeze cookies. Just spoon them onto a cookie sheet, freeze them for about an hour, then put them in a freezer bag. Then anytime you want warm cookies, pull a few out and bake them. It's wonderful, and much better for those of us with no self-control when it comes to ooey-gooey chocolatey goodness!