Those three little words

I'm doing a terrible job of updating our blog chronologically, but there are things Zach said lately I don't want to forget so I'm going with those first!

The best... we drove home from my parents' in Milwaukee (ok, Menomonee Falls) on Saturday night, intentionally leaving an hour before Zach's bedtime so he'd sleep the bulk of the drive. It took him a while to fall asleep (that's a whole 'nother story), and he woke up when we got home since our goofy dog started barking at the mailbox when we pulled up to get the mail. I carried him into the house, and he was clearly ready for his own bed, since he mumbled "night night?" As I laid him down in his crib, I said my usual "good night, buddy, I love you, sleep tight." And he said... I love you mama, and rolled over and went right back to sleep. He's said a casual "love you" in response to us saying it to him, but I'd never heard him say it like that before! What a Christmas present! And today, when we dropped Scott off at work, he said it to him too. Perhaps my favorite milestone of all. :)

My other story occurred today, when Zach got up from his nap crying and clearly not ready to wake up yet. We snuggled in his rocking chair and he zonked right out, sleeping for quite a while. When he started making these low moaning-type sounds, I thought he was just waking up kind of hard, until I listened closer and heard the words "mama" and "doctor." And then - clear as day - he said "no more monkeys jumping on the bed!" He opened his eyes, looked at me, and said "is that how it goes mama?" It took me a while to stop laughing to be able to respond! For those of you who don't have to read childrens' books or sing childrens' songs over and over - those lines are from the book/song "Five little monkeys jumping on the bed," which was the second-to-last book we had read before Zach took his nap. Perhaps he was dreaming about those monkeys falling off the bed and bonking their heads...

Since I have millions of pictures to share - here's one of Zach on Christmas Eve, playing with the piano he got from G&G Klicka. He's quite the pianist - he bangs on the keys as he's singing one of his favorite songs - lately Jingle Bells.

Purple... pride?!?!???

It pains me to post these pictures, it really does. The boy should be dressed in green, not purple! But, the outfit was a gift from our friends the Herrmanns, and we did get together with friends to watch the Vikings game. And these kids are just way too cute...

Sylvia (5 mos) and Zach (23 mos)


Sylvia, Zach, and Kasey (10 mos)

As much as he loves Sylvia and Kasey, Zach was not thrilled to pose for these pictures. When all of the cameras stopped flashing, he immediately said "all done?" He scooted away so fast Sylvia fell over sideways... oops!

(I have so much to catch up on, this post is already out of order! This is from before we left for Milwaukee. And still more to come!)

Winter wonderland

We drove down to Milwaukee on Tuesday afternoon, to spend Christmas with the Klicka family. The drive was uneventful, other than the fact that our ears were ringing a little from listening to Zach talk non-stop. We are very thankful for our portable dvd player and Elmo dvds - they make the 5 hour trip bearable!

Apparently someone wanted to make sure Zach had a white Christmas... Milwaukee had already gotten 40+ inches of snow this month, and the great big white flakes started falling again on Christmas Eve and just kept going all day. Since it was relatively warm (compared to Minneapolis anyway!), we took Zach out to have his first real experience playing in the snow.

I think, in the end, it took us longer to get Zach into his many layers than he actually played outside. He isn't thrilled to wear mittens, let alone wet mittens! So after a few snowballs and a little ride on the sled, he headed back inside to play with grandpa's trains.

More to come - we've got lots of pictures to share!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Just like Daddy

Today was "just like Daddy" day at our house... first, Zach decided to shave. "Look mama, Zach shaving just like daddy!"

Next he found a belt in my closet, wrapped it around his waist and headed for the stairs, declaring "You going to work, see ya later!" (he still mixes up "you" and "I") I had no idea he knew what a belt was, but I guess he pays more attention than I thought when Scott heads off in the morning!

PS... check out the new teeth in the second picture - he's finally getting more teeth!

Zach update

Perhaps it's obvious, but in case it isn't, I'll point out that we created this blog not only to keep our distant friends and family up on our adventures, but also as sort of a "baby book" (toddler book?) for Zach. So bear with me while I document a few things about Zach for posterity...

Zach is still obsessed with anything involving letters and numbers. He can say the entire alphabet (he left out either M or N for a long time!), and while he gets lost between 14 and 18, can count up into the 30s. He continues to seek out letters everywhere he goes, and since Scott has been teaching him to "spell" with his toy letters in the tub, he wants to know what everything spells. The other day he was reading the letters etched on the toilet handle (who knew there was a word there?), G-E-R-B-E-R, and then he said "spells cat!" And he was so proud of himself. It was hilarious. He also rearranges the magnetic numbers on the fridge regularly and then asks me what it spells.

Most of our Zach adventures continue to revolve around the things he says. He's up to 7 and 8 word sentences, usually pointing something out to one of us, or narrating what's happening, ie "mama, girl said thank you!" That's a favorite of mine, when he refers to someone he doesn't know as "girl" or "guy" - kind of embarrassing, since they can usually hear him loud and clear. He's gotten to the point that he is trying so hard to communicate that he has to slow down, you can literally see him struggling to get the words out. So much to say.

He also loves to look at blogs - including our own. He constantly requests to watch the two old videos of him that we have on our blog, and now Ava singing Jingle Bells is a big favorite. Zach has always loved looking at pictures of people he knows, as well as talking about who "goes" with who. For example, we ask who "goes with" Aunt Mandy, and he'll list his cousins Bryn and Maryn. What cracks us up is what he says when we ask him who goes with Uncle Andy... instead of saying his cousins Chase and Sophie, he says Uncle Mick! He's always done that, connected his two uncles, who I think have only met once, at our wedding. But according to Zach, they go together! :)

Books continue to be the most popular toy in our house, although he's always thrilled to play any kind of ball, or with his little people animals. He's got way too many of our books memorized, and often randomly quotes them - lately "zoom boom rockets shoot by", from his book Jamberry. I have no idea why he says it, but we hear it regularly.

Zach is also learning a lot of new songs, especially lately. A favorite is Old McDonald, or as Zach says it, "Ol Dee Donald". He often gets hung up in the same spot - moo moo here, moo moo here, over and over again. He now loves Take Me Out to the Ball Game, although we have to interrupt as he's counting the strikes, or he just keeps counting past three and forgets the rest of the song.

Whew. I think that's enough for now!

Ho ho ho!

We had a trauma-free Santa visit! Whoo hoo!!

We have to give credit to the jolly 'ol elf himself - he was a great santa! Rather than plopping Zach down on the bearded stranger's lap, we let him walk up at his own pace, and show his "cowabungadee" (his new nickname for his comfort toy/blanket) to Santa. We had decided a picture of Zach standing near Santa's knee was good enough for us, especially after we saw the trauma of the little boy in front of us in line - that kid might be scarred for life. So anyway, after admiring Zach's cow, Santa plunked himself right down on the floor next to Zach! And he had a great deep "ho ho ho" and a real beard - perhaps this was the real guy...

Wicked bed head

Think you wake up with bad hair? Check this out!

I had been planning to take Zach in for a haircut today anyway, and after trying to comb this rats nest out, I made an appointment fast! Now he looks about a year older...

Our brown-eyed boy

I realized I forgot to mention in my last post what the girls do while the guys are drinking themselves silly at the 12 Beers of Xmas. In the past, Liz, the hostess with the absolute mostest, has organized a tasting of the 12 truffles of Xmas at a local coffee/dessert shop after a dinner outing. And that is harder than you might think, even though we divided the truffles up! Liz mixed things up this year; the plan was for a long, relaxing dinner at a very nice restaurant. When we arrived we found special menus indicating that our first course was dessert! I admit it threw me for a minute, but I managed to recover and happily ate my s'mores ice cream before my meal. I recommend you implement the dessert-first plan at least once in your life!

So a big thanks to Liz and Zac for another great party - we're already looking forward to next year!

It's fun to play...

at the YMCA!! We trekked through the snow to the Y this afternoon, for some family swim time. Zach has been lukewarm about swimming in the past, whether in little wading pools or big pools with me or Grandma Cookie. He approached the water cautiously again today, but 45 minutes later he was jumping off the edge into Scott's arms! Progress! I think it helps that the water is 91 degrees.

We had a fun weekend - a win at curling Friday night and the annual 12 Beers of Xmas at the Owens' house on Saturday. What is the 12 Beers of Xmas, you ask? Well, it started out as a college tradition for our friend Zac, and has evolved into 24 guys getting together to drink 12 different beers (and not light beers, I assure you). And while it's not a race, there is a prize for the first one done with all 12 beers. You do not want to know how quickly the first guy got done, or what most of the guys look like around 11 pm (the party starts at 4). I think Scott has learned over the years, so he set a nice pace for himself.

Perhaps the best part of the weekend? Zach was kind enough to sleep until 8 AM this morning! Big thank-you to Jenny Rose for watching him for us, and for whatever she put in his milk to make him sleep that late.

The pizza man

As I may have mentioned before, one of the things Zach inherited from both his parents is a deep love of pizza. So I had to laugh this morning when he looked in the mirror, saw the new scrape below his left eye, and said "Zach has pizza on face."

Yesterday when I told Zach the plan to go to Macy's with his friends, he responded "good idea mama!" It's nice to get some positive feedback. :)

While we haven't gotten the snow that the Klickas have gotten in Milwaukee, it's darn cold here. So we're practicing wearing our mittens! If you see Zach, please tell him how awesome he looks when he wears his mittens.

The letter Z

We joined the YMCA this week (we need to fight off the winter blues somehow). As I was putting his shoes on, I told Zach we were going to go to the Y to go swimming. He paused for a moment, and then looked at me and said "Zach go to letter Z!" I love the way his mind works!

We went to the Christmas display at the downtown Macy's yesterday with some friends, which is becoming an annual tradition. This year's theme was "a day in the life of an elf", complete with elves making toys, gathering Santa's mail, etc. Zach seemed to like the animals decorating the tree the best - a polar bear with a penguin on his head, a dancing pig, and Zach's favorite animal -a donkey! I lugged my camera all the way down there, only to discover the battery was dead. Our friends took some pictures, so hopefully they'll share so I can share them with you.