A picture!

This is what we look like, in case you forgot:

This picture is from a couple weeks ago; our pumpking patch outing with the Roses. I probably have better pictures to post, but this was intended to be a test in my on-going quest to figure out why I can't post pictures. So... I can upload pictures from Scott's work computer, but not ours. Now I just have to figure out what the difference is. Simple, right?

Gump around

I forgot to mention Zach's latest accomplishment on my last post - jumping! Or "gumping," as he says it. Yep, both feet leave the ground at the same time. His vertical is nothing to write home about, but he's very proud of himself. So needless to say, we are spending a lot of time jumping around the house; our neighbors probably think we're a bit odd.

An educational weekend

Zach loves Dancing with the Stars. Friends had told me that their kids got a kick out of it, so he watched two dances before he went to bed tonight. After he saw the first one, he said - again! Dance again! Unfortunately, the second dancer was Cloris Leachman...

We are back from our weekend adventures. Zach, my friend Cindy and I drove to Milwaukee Thursday so Zach could spend the weekend with G&G Klicka while Cindy and I jumped on the train to Chicago. The detour through Milwaukee enabled Scott go on Rosie's 4th (3rd?) annual bachelor party. Yes, you read that right.

Before I forget - another big thanks to my parents for making the weekend possible!

The end result is that we all had good weekends. Cindy had never been to Chicago, so in addition to shopping and eating, we did some of the more touristy stuff like the architecture boat tour, the top of the Sears tower, etc. We got to see my friend Amy for brunch too; it was great to catch up with her. But I have to say the highlight was seeing the musical Jersey Boys - if you get the chance - GO!!!

I don't think there's much to tell about Scott's weekend... it was the usual golf and gambling, with more than a few beverages thrown in. 'Nuff said.

As for Zach, I learned on the drive down and once we got to my parents what a ham our son is. He loves to recite his ABCs (he's getting much closer, only forgets a few letters here and there, and sometimes can make it all the way thru), count (he gets to 13 accurately, twenty inaccurately), and sing songs. I knew that. What I didn't know was the lengths he'd go to get all attention on him! We were having a nice dinner with my parents, and if he wasn't the focus, he'd start yelling "hi grandma!!" until we acknowledged him, and then he'd launch into one of his routines, getting louder and louder as he finished. And then he cheers for himself; a nice big "yay", or our new favorite "Zach did it!" His confidence definitely isn't lacking. :)

Holy cow mama!

This morning provided another example of why we need to watch what we say...

I was taking Zach's diaper off, asking him if he'd pooped, and he responded with "yes, pooped. Holy cow!" It took me a minute, since holy sounded more like "hody", but after I figured it out, I asked if that's what he said. His response - "mama, holy cow mama!"

I guess holy cow is better than the alternative!

It's not just me

I'm delighted to report it's not just me! Others are having problems uploading images to their blogs too. I finally got an error that was helpful (as opposed to "internet explorer cannot display this page"), so I was able to find others with similar errors out on the blogger user group forum. That's the good news. The not so good news is that they haven't fixed it yet - but I should be happy they are working on it. I guess that's as much as you can ask for when using a free service.

In Zach news, I've noticed lately that he's definitely confused when it comes to pronouns - particularly "me" vs "you". He has been saying "snuggle you?" and "carry you" - and he clearly does not mean he wants to carry one of us. But it was really obvious the other day when we were playing our new game - he runs from the kitchen into the living room and crashes into me as I sit on the floor - he kept saying "knock me!". You try explaining to a toddler how personal pronouns work - it isn't easy!

I also may have found the cable that I need to download video - yahoo. Haven't had a chance to try it out yet, but maybe once this issue with uploading photos is fixed, I'll be able to do video too! With all the chattering Zach is doing these days, we need to get it on video. Especially him "reading" his books and singing, which he does all the time these days.

A month in pictures

Since I still haven't found the solution to my photo uploading problem, I'm trying something else. Below is a link to a snapfish album, that contains pictures from all the events I already mentioned - the visit from Mary and Kelly, our playdates at the sculpture garden and Kenwood Park, "truck day", and pumpkin adventures in Cokato. Hope you enjoy them!

http://www2.snapfish.com/share/p=829181224334062411/l=430619542/g=86576253/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

We also just unpacked the video camera; we need to capture Zach's latest talent - singing. And trust me, I use the term "singing" loosely. For some reason, one of Zach's favorite songs is Do Re Me. I sang it to him the first time in the car when he was crabby and I was drawing a blank on a good kids' song. And a few days later, I realized he was singing it himself. Here's how his version goes:

"doh...deer...fee deer...ray...sun...me...name m'self...fa...run...so...bread...la...so...tea...bread...back doh-oh-oh-oh!"

He also loves Twinkle Twinkle, pronounced "Tinkle Tinkle", and the Itsy Bitsy Spider. Ring around the Rosie is a favorite game, although he refuses to actually fall down most of the time.

As I feared, we also really need to be careful what we say these days. The other day I was stuck behind someone who was merging onto the highway at 40 mph (despite a very long, downhill on-ramp - UGH!). In my irritation, I said "hit the gas, lady!", and seconds later, a little voice from the backseat said "gas lady!". And it wasn't so much what he said, but how he said it - he had my tone perfectly. Yikes.

Hobber Dobber

That's right, curling season has begun. The Willard rink started the year off with a win on Friday night. It's a nice change to curl on Fridays instead of Sundays... no need to rush home since it's not a school night. We curled with Jamie and Adam this week (we have a 5 person team, so our team will rotate weekly between the three guys - Rosie is the other guy), so we were fortunate to have Jamie's mom and her husband volunteer to not only babysit Sylvia, but Zach as well. Thank you again Charleen and Mike! It was a fun night - good to have some adults-only time.

Saturday was all about the kids. We started off our morning at "truck day" in Woodbury - sure wish I could post the pictures. There were all sorts of trucks parked at the library here, everything from fire trucks to a UPS truck to a school bus, and the kids got to climb around and in them. Zach is all about driving lately, so he got a pretty big kick out of sitting in those seats, turning the wheel. It was hilarious to walk towards the parking lots and hear constant horn honking. :)

Saturday afternoon we headed out to Cokato Lake, back to the Brodd Family Compound, for pumpkin carving with our friends. We stopped at a pumpkin patch along the way, and Zach was delighted to find a cow nearby. He walked up to the fence, stopped, and said "big!" I always forget how big cows really are too! The cow cooperated by mooing, and Zach's eyes got huge. We eventually got his attention back to the pumpkins, and picked one out, although once we got to the Brodd's, he wasn't the least bit interested in carving it. However, our friend Kirsten cleverly brought along some golf tees and a toy hammer, so he did have fun pounding the "nails" into the pumpkin. In addition to the pumpkin fun, Zach played a lot of football with the other kids and some of the dads too, we feasted on chili and all sorts of yummy snacks and desserts, and hung out by the bonfire (it gets dark so early these days!). It was oddly warm for this time of year, so it was good to be outside. A good day with our friends and their kids, wish I could show you the pictures. Sigh.

Mysterious disappearances and shocks

I forgot to mention two other things on my last post...

We closed on our Mpls house last week, and unlike the closing on this house, it was anything but smooth. We could call the story "the mysterious case of the disappearing closer"; the buyers' title guy called an hour before the closing with a "family emergency". I put the term in quotes because not only did he never identify this emergency, he also was completely out of contact for 2 days. With today's technology - how is that even possible? Anyway, so without the mountains of paperwork to be signed, let alone the check for us, the closing didn't quite happen that day. But it did get done a couple days later, so fortunately we are no longer the owners of two houses. Whew.

And the other thing - some of you have asked how Zach adapted to the new house. The answer is - very well! No major hiccups at all, he seems to love it here, particularly his new room. Koskie, on the hand, is a different case. The first few days he was one nervous dog, following us everywhere, worrying that he was going to get left behind or something. He's kind of a nervous dog anyway, so we weren't very surprised by that. Then he seemed to adjust... until we used the invisible fencing. Sigh.

As I think I mentioned before, we were thrilled to find the house already had IF installed, as it saved us the time and effort to do it ourselves. The previous owners left behind the collar, so we were all set. Except, that typically when IF is installed, little flags are put up around the perimeter of the yard, and someone comes out and does some training with your dog. Well, we took a few shortcuts and just tried to train him ourselves, and then came the inevitable day that he got shocked. Now the poor dog won't go in the backyard. The question "Koskie, want to go outside?", which used to elicit a lot of excitement and Koskie right by the door, now results in Koskie running upstairs and hiding, if he isn't already up there anyway. His favorite hiding spots are in my closet or behind the glider in Zach's room, in case you were wondering.

So, needless to say, now we need to go out and get the flags and train this dog properly, so he no longer thinks the backyard is a terror. The adventures continue!

Latest adventures

Still picture-free - sorry. Haven't had enough time to do more than basic trouble-shooting, so you're stuck with just words for now.

We had our neighborhood block party Saturday night, and it confirmed what we already knew - we live in a great neighborhood. It was a good way to meet neighbors we hadn't met, although it was pretty overwhelming. Too many new faces, especially when you factor in all the kids. I think Scott is already looking forward to next year, since he missed the golf outing prior to the party. Sounds like the guys had a good time... one of the gentlemen went home to "sleep" after the golf, even when some of the others went to try to get him up. :) We also found out that there's a neighborhood softball team, another chance for Scott to hang out with these guys next summer.

Zach, probably needless to say, had a great time. He was constantly surrounded by kids who wanted to entertain him. He got a bit overwhelmed at times, so he'd come and find one of us. But by the end of the night (well, the end of his night anyway), he was nodding off in his chair.

Friday night was an open house for our new night of curling in the mixed (2 guys, 2 girls) league. It's hard to believe curling starts next week already... we're looking forward to it, but at the same time curling means that it's winter - certainly not looking forward to that.

Lots of Zach updates - our little chatterbox has been saying all sorts of goofy things. I'll save most for my next blog, which hopefully will include some pictures, but some of my favorites are things that he says from his crib as he's waiting for us to go get him:

• Mommy... Koskie... down... carry... yeah, ok!
• Snuggle!! (he's into snuggling these days... I think a symptom of several new teeth making an appearance at the same time)

Oh, and one other funny thing I saw the other day as I was driving down the street towards our house... a little boy (8-ish) hanging from a street sign. Do you know how high a street sign is???

Suddenly a little boy

Still can't get pictures to post, and I have no idea why. Sigh.

Tonight I found myself looking at Zach and being amazed at how we suddenly are the parents of a little boy. And as silly as it sounds, it really does feel sudden. Besides that his legs look longer, and his face a little less chubby, it's that I find myself having conversations with my son! His vocabulary has not only expanded at an exponential rate, but he's actually initiating discussions, not just responding to questions. And he's starting to sing, at least sort of... the usual row, row, row your boat, itsy-bitsy spider, Old McDonald (he does a mean "EIEIO"), and of course, the Sesame Street theme song. He doesn't quite have the melodies down, so it's amusing, but he's trying!

A little less amusing (although sometimes I have to turn away so he doesn't see me laugh) is how he is responding to discipline. He has started another hitting phase (yippee), so I find myself often saying "we do not hit". I say it nice and slowly so he gets it and understands the importance, and typically about 30 seconds later my little parrot says - "NO... do... NOT... hit." Can drive me crazy - he understands, but he does it anyway!!!