Monday, July 2, 2012

Zach's turn!

If someone asked me to describe Zach, I think the first word I'd choose is "social."  He is perfectly capable of entertaining himself, but I can't stress how much he'd rather not.  He's never happier than when he hears friends are coming over, and we'd have a playdate with one of his friends every single day if it was up to him.  And, as I learned, it doesn't take much for Zach to make a new BFF...

I picked him up one afternoon from a short (2.5 hour) "camp".  He was quite excited to tell me that a boy from his t-ball team was there too.  As we walked to the car, he was disappointed he hadn't been able to say goodbye.  Spotting the boy across the parking lot with his dad, I told him to just yell.  So he did - "Good-bye Andy Jackson*!!" - at the top of his lungs.  The boy and his dad turned around, and I heard Andy yell something back, but couldn't make out the words.  Fast forward a couple of hours to the boys' t-ball game, and Andy's father is laughingly telling me what his son had yelled back to Zach:  "good-bye what's your name!!"  And the next week, after relating that he and Andy were going to another afternoon camp together, he rejoiced that he got to see Andy 7 times that month!  He actually counted.  :)

We rarely drive anywhere without Zach asking me how long it'll take to get there, how much longer the drive will be (even if it's places we go to ALL THE TIME!).  One day he asked me how much longer until we got to Costco; my answer was 5 minutes.  Scott and I were chatting away in the front seat a few minutes later, when Zach asked me to turn the music down.  I didn't do so quickly enough, apparently, for then he yelled - "turn it down! I'm counting!!!"  Mmm-hmm, he was counting to 300 to see if my estimate of 5 minutes was correct, and the radio was interfering with his concentration.


Zach got the game Sorry from the Easter Bunny.  And from Easter Day until late April/early May when the weather got nice, I would estimate we played Sorry an average of 4.3 times per day.  When our boy is into something, he is really into it!  Which reminds me, in case you're wondering, yes - he does still play with cars.

Zach's newest obsession:  Star Wars.  For some reason he and Scott agreed that one night Zach would get to stay up until midnight.  Scott negotiated that to a more vague "you can stay up late," and one Saturday night they did exactly that, while watching A New Hope (Episode IV, AKA the original Star Wars.)  Zach made it until 10:45, falling asleep with only 10 minutes left in the movie - perhaps the most exciting 10 minutes.  :)  They have since watched The Empire Strikes Back, and Zach is loving it.  He pulled out the Star Wars figures his grandparents gave him years ago, and is setting up fights all over the house.  That, by the way, is why he likes the movie - the fighting.  His exact words were "Mom, I like Star Wars because I like fighting, and there's lots of fighting in that movie!"  What every mom wants to hear.

Zach loves wearing baseball caps, and has a random assortment, including a  fantastic Badger hat and a Montana State one too.  One day he was choosing which hat to wear and he turned to me and said it was a good thing he had those hats, so he'd have something to remember his dad and me by.

On one lovely spring day, Scott and Zach were practicing their golf shots in the yard.  Scott said he was going to change clubs; Zach responded that he was too, he was going to use his sandwich, his iron sandwich.  (For the non-golfers out there, he meant "sand wedge.")  We chuckled.


After hearing our friend Vincent tell us how much he loves over-hard eggs, particularly the crispy edges, Zach decided to give them a try.  His verdict: it takes like plastic!

Our oldest son has definitely inherited the Willard/Norman math brain.  He is constantly asking us basic math problems, and solving them on his own.  And funnily enough, many of these conversations take place in the car.  One example:

Zach:  Mom, I can tell you what 58+58 is if you give me a minute.  (Note - this was out of nowhere. Completely)
Me:  Okay.  (long pause)
Zach:  I just need to know what 8+8 is, and then add 100.
Me: You tell me what 8+8 is.
Zach: (thinking)  The same as 12+4!
Me:  Yes - what's that?  (pause)
Zach:  116!!!

Of course, I had to ask why/how he got to 12+4 (you know, you gotta show your work!).  His answer:  it's hard to explain.

*Not his real name, to protect the privacy of the innocent.  But it's equally generic.  :)

1 comment:

Sarah, Brien, Aiden and Ava said...

Wow! He is really growing up! He looks so much older this summer! Awesome update, Zach! Keep up the good work!