Interim

I know I need to put up pictures from Christmas, but I'll do this post of our life between Thanksgiving and Christmas first. That way they are smaller and I might actually get to finish this in the next week!

It's always a drag to come home from a vacation with family. We usually end up pretty lonely and not content with this place. But we manage through. It's nice, though, to be back in a baby-proofed house! I can let Z run around and not have to keep my eye on him all of the time (literally).

Z's naps have been pretty sporadic. I think he's trying to go to one nap, so sometimes he'll take just one and sometimes he'll take two. It's pretty random - just the other day he had a 2 hour morning nap and went down for an hour in the afternoon, but the very next day he only had one nap of an hour. He's been sleeping in more since our trips, though. Which is nice for us. Jason doesn't have to be to work (a 4 minute commute) until 8:30. So if Z doesn't wake us, we can actually sleep in a bit! But I think his body is just changing and doesn't know when and how long and how many naps he needs. His morning nap can start anywhere from 9 to 10:30! It's just when he gets really tired.

He's also on the verge of getting more teeth - they must be as close to coming out without actually protruding as possible. He's always got fingers stuck in his mouth. The other day I noticed one of his fingers was red and swollen from him chewing on it. Poor little guy. This morning he was pretty feisty so J gave him some Tylenol. It can't be a very pleasant experience. He usually doesn't put anything else in his mouth.

And we officially have a potty!!! I'm super excited. I think Z's little bottom is a little small for it, but we're trying to get him comfortable with it. At first I tried it with his diaper off and he was super scared and wouldn't stay on it. It might not feel good if he doesn't fit it right, and I'm sure he gets a little cold. So since then we've just been trying to set him on the potty with his clothes on so he can get comfortable with the concept. And he's done really well. I don't think he's actually done anything while sitting on it, but if he tells us poo we'll go sit down for a little while. I usually have to give him a balloon to keep him occupied, so that might help or hinder. What I need to do is put him on there at regular intervals so it's not just a rush when he tells us poo. We kind of had a backstep when we went to PA without it, so we need to get back into sitting on the potty.

Anyway, I came in to find Zachary playing in his crib after his nap. Sometimes he just likes to lay there and snuggle with his blanket after you come to get him. Which is a marked difference from a while ago - he couldn't wait to get out of there! But this time he had somehow managed to get his top shirt half off. It made for a cute picture, and he leaned against the crib for me. Then he realized what I was doing and wanted to see the picture of the "baby" on the camera! Most of the time when I take pictures of him he hauls over to see the pictures, so I only have limited time to grab a couple good shots. But I like this picture - it's one of my recent favorites.

Z loves our Christmas tree!! Right after we came back from Cali we started setting it up. A little Christmas tree therapy. We always have a heap of lights (or so I thought until I saw our friends' tree - they probably use up more energy than the White House!), so Zachary had a good time looking at them. It took us a week before we put up some ornaments. We did it in stages. We didn't do any decorating with Zachary. He learned from the beginning that he couldn't touch the tree. We figured that was a good rule as some of the ornaments aren't really kid friendly. He's done really well with the rule! He's such a good little boy, and hasn't had many problems at all with touching the tree. Here he is with his balloon - the kid LOVES balloons!!

Sometimes Z will just lay on his toys. Not sure why, as it can't be that comfortable. But here he is playing with some. We've had to recently sort through his toys and pull out the ones that get the least attention. He got a serious haul for Christmas, and has way too many toys right now. And there's no reason I should clean them all up, so some of them will go in the closet. Not that he minds. He's got enough to play with.

Sitting in the box. I know I've got another picture of him doing this, but I just think he's cute.

I love to wrap presents. Love it! Though I'll admit I'm not the best. We got some presents from my aunt and she actually folded over the edge and made the seam at one of the corners. Now that's top notch stuff!! But it's a fun game for me, and I let Z help. So what does he do? Stick his hands in the rolls, of course! We've since used up some of the paper and had some spare rolls, so I let him play with them.

Here's a few pictures of him "helping" me wrap presents. He loves bows. And ribbon. He'll pull it out if you're not watching him. But at first he thought the rolls of paper were the best.

Then he decided it was a lot of fun to put the rolls of ribbon through the tubes of ribbon. I think I showed him how to do it and he couldn't get enough. He'd try to cram as many in there as he could before they'd fall out the other end. Kept him pretty occupied!

He's just a cute little boy. He's growing up so much!

Zach also loves pens. There's not a lot of things he doesn't like, actually (shocking, I know :)). He's very careful with the pen, however, and doesn't get to play with it often. He hauled off with one and put it in the treehouse. The windows were open and it was sunny so the lighting was a little funky.

Ah, presents from the relatives. It's so nice to get stuff in the mail! We got lots of presents from family. I know we've already thanked you, but thanks again! It's nice to be cared about. And we must be a lot if people pay heaps of money for shipping! That crap ain't cheap! But anyway, one of the boxes had a heap of the popcorn packing stuff. So what does Zach do? Make a mess, of course!! But I let him because to him I'm sure it was total fun. There are so many times with him that I just have to chill - and realize that he takes a long time to do things (though not intentionally) and will make messes. That's just the way kids learn. Adults are just so used to the world working the way they want it to and living in the fast lane to like to slow down. At least it seems to me.

Him pulling the pieces out...

And the pieces everywhere. He did help me clean up, though. He does it slowly, but will pick stuff up and put in in bags or boxes if you really encourage him. And get super excited about it.

After we got back from Thanksgiving, all Z wanted to do was look at pictures of Paul on the computer (and camera). So I thought to help him remember his family and not have to bug us all the time to see pictures of them, I'd make him a book with some good pictures from the trip. It took a long time to do, and isn't perfect of course, but it's pretty cool. It needs some touch-ups now that he's thrown it around a bit, but it was the prototype as well as the finished product, so I can't complain too much. Next time I might do a few things different. But he loves it! I spent about 10 hours on it, Jason and I guessed. I would work on it while J played Red Alert on the computer.

This is the only shot of him with the front cover. It took me a couple tries to get the writing the way I wanted it (and spaced okay while still fitting on the paper).

Here he is flipping through the book...

Can anyone guess what picture he's looking at here, and what he is saying?? You guessed it - Paul. He's pretty smart - he'll look at pictures and notice not only the people, but the drinks, the balls, the bowls, the green beans, the books, lots of things. He's so smart!

This is my favorite picture of him with his book. Each picture has different edging. And I have several different colors for background - I tried to have them correspond with something in the picture. I fake laminated it with packing tape (we thought it was too thick to be laminated), did edges with tape (so it wouldn't fall apart and be waterproof), and attached it to the binding with tape. That way, too, when I need to do any touch ups or additions, it will be relatively easy. But I think it's pretty cool, and something to brag about.

Z loves to be stuck in the hamper. He loves to do laundry, too! I'm sure I've mentioned, but he'll get all excited when I start the washer and will grab some clothes to dump in. I'll pick him up and we'll repeat as necessary. He just loves it. Then he'll play with the hamper.

Jason's work had a Christmas party, so we were able to go to that. David and Blair came over with their baby Sadie Beth and put Z to sleep for us. The party started at 6, and Z still goes down at 7, so they didn't have to actually watch him a whole lot. He cried when we left, but they said he did a really great job going to sleep. It was funny, because the look he gave them was like "you're doing the right thing, but you're not the right people..." They took him for his bedtime walk before putting him down. I was a little concerned, only because we don't leave him with people often, but I think the fact that they had a baby helped sooth the initial meltdown as we left.

We finally managed to put up the train! Zach's not allowed to touch it, either, but he just loves it. He'll ask us to turn it on and watch it go round and round. Then he'll walk off, but we still can't turn it off! If we do he'll come back all distraught that it isn't running. He's pretty cute about it.

Here's J and Z watching the train.

And again. The lighting was weird (don't think I had the overhead light on for this picture), but it's still cute. He'll point at it and say train.

What's better than one tube on your hand? Two, of course!! He managed to do this all by himself. We have to watch him so he doesn't run into something and break his arm, but he's usually pretty good about it. Only once or twice has he been stuck and needed help.

We've had some pretty screwy weather. No snow yet (just flurries), but it seems like the weather doesn't know if it should be warm or cold. Not that I mind - three weeks ago we had a day that hit 72 and was sunny! It was awesome. So Z and I took a trip out to the zoo. We just hung out. It's nice because we've been there enough so we've seen everything...so when we go we aren't (well, me, mainly) rushing trying to see everything. The week after that it was in the 60's, I think, so we went again. We just hung out by the giraffes. They think one of them is set to have a baby any day now, so I didn't know if we would see a little guy running around. But not yet. We also went through the Wallaroo Walkabout, and the little guys were actually up and moving. In the summer it's so hot so they just lay in the shade. But we got within several feet of some, and Z liked it when they bounced. As we were walking by the giraffes to leave, the lions started roaring, which scared Z even though we weren't really close to them. The other time we went they started making noise while we were in front of them. It is a little freaky, so I can understand why he could be afraid. But we also got to pet the giraffe. They have a feeding station where you can feed and pet them during certain times of the day. We did it in the summer and Z loved it, but not this time. He wouldn't even try to touch it! It was funny.

Anyway, here's Z with his zoo hat. It's his only baseball cap (gotta have one for sunny days) and he'll wear it when he chooses. Most of the time he'll put it so low on his face, or just smash it up against his face. I don't know why, but he thinks it's funny. I was actually able to grab an okay shot.
One random note - Z is so smart! I'm sure lots of parents think that of their kids, so I'll give you some examples :). We have a magnet on our fridge that came with the yellow pages, an ad of some sort. Since I don't really care about it, it's become the one Z plays with if he chooses. It has a picture of a lady on the phone (the old school kind, not a cell phone). I was in the kitchen a couple weeks ago when Z was playing with it. He starts saying hello with his hand against his ear - he saw the phone and knew what it was! It was pretty fun. We also have a Christmas tin that came with popcorn. It's got lots of stuff on it, like people in front of a house playing with a fire. Behind them is a train - and Z knew what it was! It's really not that easy to pick out, so I was surprised.

That's all for now. I'll try and upload the Christmas pictures soon. Happy New Year!