Take me out to the ballgame

On Thursday, we got an unexpected invitation to join our friends Jenny, Kyle, and their new daughter Katelynn, at the afternoon Twins game. I hesitated, since, as I've mentioned before, sitting still isn't a particular talent of Zach's. But, the tickets weren't going to be used if we didn't go, so I decided to give it a try, and hope we'd make it through a decent number of innings.

Let me set the stage a little... since Scott is a huge baseball fan, as soon as Zach started to talk, Scott started teaching him his "favorite" Twins players. "Go-go" was the easiest to say, so the nickname for Carlos Gomez (definitely not Scott's favorite) became Zach's immediate response. Not only to the question "who is your favorite Twins player?", but also any time he saw baseball (or football, if we're being honest) on tv, or anything having to do with baseball.

So, imagine when we showed up at the Metrodome. We were on the plaza outside, waiting for our friends, when we first saw a man in a Twins jersey. Zach promptly pointed at him and yelled "go-go!" The same once we got inside - all those players on the field - they were all "go-go". I pointed out Morneau, Span, Punto... some of the other players that Zach can name, but he just wanted to yell go-go. It was pretty funny.

The highlight for Zach was definitely when I took him down near the field before the game started, and was lucky enough to find TC (the Twins' mascot, a bear for some reason I don't understand) right below us. TC waved at Zach for a while, and he was mesmerized. When TC disappeared from sight, Zach said... "again?"

It turned out we made it through 5 innings. The first 3 or so were easy, Zach was very distracted by the singing of the anthem, the beginning of the game, cheering and clapping when everyone else did, and then eating. But once the food was gone and the novelty of the noise and motion wore off, the restlessness started. Up to that point, we'd been fortunate that there wasn't anyone sitting right in front of us. But a couple sat down at some point, and after Zach kicked the man in the back a few times (unintentionally) and then whacked him in the head (intentionally), I decided it was time to call the game.

So that was Zach's 4th baseball game, but his first this year. The last game we took him to was in Baltimore last August, and what a difference a year makes!!

Thanks to Kyle and Jenny for inviting us!

And while I lugged my camera all the way to the game, not only to get some snaps of Zach, but also of Katelynn's first baseball game, I got so distracted I never actually took it out of the bag! Ugh! But, later that night, we went over to Jenny and Kyle's, for our first proper meeting of Katelynn, so I managed to remember to take a few shots...

Adorable Katelynn (almost 4 wks); Zach testing out Katelynn's chair

The Kray family, decked out in their Twins gear!

Zach-isms

Nothing new and exciting to blog about, but I thought I'd tell you a few funny things Zach has been saying lately - he's become quite the chatterbox.

My most immediate favorite he said this morning. Scott had just left for work, and as Zach walked back into the living room, I could hear him saying (to himself): "Daddy... work... bye-bye... hug... kiss... yeah, ok." With these pauses between each word; it was like he was going through what had just happened at the back door with daddy, and deciding it was ok.

His latest obsession is the number nine. He has learned to count to ten (followed by 13 and 16, for some reason), but he loves 9. He'll be talking about something else, and suddenly he'll just yell "nine!!" Other times, he'll be whining about something, or saying no to something, and it will just end up as nine... like "noooo-niiiine!" I have to wonder - is this how engineers think? With just random numbers in their heads?? I certainly don't whine or cry in numbers, he must get that from his dad.

Speaking of whining and crying, there's been more of that than usual at our house - more teeth are making an appearance. One has poked through; I think it's an incisor, but there must be more coming because besides the usual drooling and sticking his fingers in his mouth, he's been quite the moody kid. I'm hoping that's teeth; I thought we'd have another 13 years or so before he got moody!

A weekend in review

I think some of my favorite weekends are the ones that start out unplanned. We had absolutely zero plans for this weekend on Friday afternoon; as I sit here writing this while Scott, Zach and Koskie are out running (yes, it makes me feel lazy), I think it turned out to be a great weekend.

Friday night found us, as it often does, at the Bergums playing pinochle. Just one more example of what a great kid we have; he lets us take him over to Ben and Kirsten's, put him to bed in their crib, wake him up hours later, put him in the car, drive him home, and put him back to bed in his own crib. And he just goes to sleep - in both places!

Saturday Scott and our two boys did their usual trip to the dog park while I got a few more boxes packed. Then I went to a movie with Cindy (review below) - I love afternoon movies, when you come out of the theater and have to blink in response to the sunlight. Saturday night we went over to the Brodd's for dinner, a somewhat impromptu invitation for a yummy meal, despite the rain. Zach and Sylvia were fairly cooperative, so we were able to eat without inhaling our food or taking turns eating, for the most part anyway! We will miss the last-minute invitations to BBQ once we are no longer a 5 minute drive from our friends...

And today, not much. It is, of course, the beginning of the regular NFL season, so you can guess what Scott did most of the day. Don't forget it's still baseball season too... so the poor guy had to flip back and forth, the channels on the tv as well as various windows of the internet, so he could keep track of all his fantasy teams. Fortunately, he can multi-task - he can manage all that, plus doing the laundry and reading or playing catch with Zach, so it works out for all of us. :)

So... a weekend filled with friends and family time - what could be better?

While I don't have a picture to include for this blog, I did want to share a new favorite thing Zach has started doing... when he falls down, he instantly says "okay!" He's reassuring us that he's ok before we can even ask. :)

Movie review: Vicky Christina Barcelona
Knowing that I have a very diverse audience reading this... it's a little tough to review this movie. First of all, it's a Woody Allen, so if you don't like him, skip the rest. Secondly, it's about whatever you would call a love triangle when it involves 4 people instead of 3 (a square??). And those 4 people are 1 man and 3 women. And yes, that means what you think it may mean. It involved people talking about the meaning of love and life, and lots of bohemian artists believing they know more about both of those things than those of us without an artistic bone in our body. So yes, a little pretentious at times, but also a fun story about friendship and relationships. And, like all good movies, a chance to imagine what it would be like to live in a manner totally different from the way you do. So if you choose to see it, just keep an open mind. :)

Cheese!

This is what happens when we pull out the camera and ask Zach to smile. Good for seeing how few teeth he has, but not much of a smile! This is also what happens when he tries to eat with a spoon. We're trying really hard to let him do it himself, so that he won't go to kindergarten unable to eat with a spoon, but it sure isn't easy to watch.

Other exciting news in the Willard household: someone in the family has allergies. Dog allergies. And I don't mean that one of us is allergic to dogs... Koskie has fall allergies of some sort. It happened last year, and I was hoping it was a one-time thing, but nope, a few days ago he started scratching and biting at his feet and legs again. So he's back on antihistamines, and it appears we'll be doing this every year. Only we would have a dog with allergies!

Gotta love long weekends

Not a lot of labor got done at our house this weekend, which is the way it should be!

Saturday we took a mini-road trip out to Cokato, the new site for our annual "celbration" with the gang. I got to experience, for the first time (Scott had been for Aaron's bachelor party, although I'm not sure he remembers much), the beautiful setting of the Brodd family compound - or so I think it should be named. Adam's parents found a gem of a property on Cokato Lake, which is only about 60 miles west of Minneapolis. They have a whole bunch of acres, with a stream running through it, and a wonderful beach on the lake. Their lakefront is perfect for kids - sandy and an extremely gradual descent - we could wade out about 100 yards and still not get our suits wet. And did I mention the jet ski??

So needless to say, we had a great time. The kids had a ball, in the water as well as chasing each other around on dry land. Zach loves bigger kids, so Sidney (4), and Evangeline (2), were the perfect entertainment for him. He also got to play with Stuart, his birthday buddy, and little Kasey (6+ months). Little Sylvia (1.5 mos) missed most of the fun, that girl slept the day away! :)

On the way home, Scott and I were picturing this get-together in a few years, when all the kids are running around - I think it may end up being their favorite party of the year! I'd love to show you some pictures of the fun we had, but believe it or not, I forgot my camera. I was so busy thinking about all the stuff we needed for Zach for the day, the food we were contributing, Oasis Island (which now has a new permanent home on Cokato Lake), etc, that I completely forgot my beloved camera. It was a strange day for me; I kept thinking - ooh, I should get a picture of that... oh, I can't. Fortunately, Adam, Jamie, and Jodi took a bunch of pictures, so hopefully they'll share (although I doubt I'll include the pic Jodi took of me in my swimsuit). The Brodd's blog (see "Brodd Family Fun Time" on the blog list on the left) has already been updated with some great shots.

We'd like to say a big thank-you to Jim and Virginia Brodd for hosting us! We are definitely looking forward to returning to Cokato.

Sunday we experienced the great Minnesota tradition of overeating fried foods on a stick - the state fair. We went with Matt, Jenny, and Kasey; it seemed like Kasey loved her first time at the fair, although it's hard to tell since that baby smiles all the time!!! Once again, no pictures, but Matt and Jenny had their camera and captured moments like Zach "riding" on a tractor, petting a goat, etc. Zach's stomach seems to be holding up pretty well, considering he ate a bizarre combination of foods - cheese curds, a frozen banana dipped in chocolate, corn on the cob, and a bite of a deep-fried snickers bar. Yes, fried candy bars do exist, and yes, they come on a stick. If you want a recommendation, choose the snickers over the peanut butter cups.

Today we did do a little work - fun stuff like mowing the lawn and cleaning the house. But we also got out and did a little preview shopping, for things like patio furniture, a lawn mower, and a dining room set for our new house. Yes - we'll finally have room to have more than 2 adults sit down at a table to eat! Yahoo! We're plugging away at packing, but there's still a lot to be done, and fortunately, a few more weeks to do it.

Since I can't blog without including pics - here are a couple recent ones of Zach. The first are of something I didn't think we'd see this summer - him climbing his playset (we don't know what to call this thing!). I found it on Craigslist earlier this summer, and when I went to check it out discovered it was larger than I had expected. But since it was a good deal, I got it anyway and thought Zach would climb all over it next summer. But here he is - already mastered the climb!

This next pic is from this afternoon, a very cute moment. I got some of it on video... but you know that story, so I also took a picture and hoped it would capture the moment. I think it does!


What you are looking at is Zach's wind-up. He and Scott were playing in the backyard; Scott was jokingly doing a full pitcher's windup when he was throwing a tennis ball. Next thing we knew, Zach was trying to imitate him. Major leagues (American, of course) here he comes!!

Colors

Colors are Zach's newest accomplishment; he can now name most of the primary colors about 85% of the time. He often mixes up red and pink, a tough distinction. :) But his latest adventure in colors was... coloring on the wall. I'm not sure how well you can see it in this picture (he's pointing at the evidence), but trust me, there were some nice green crayon lines drawn all over our yellow kitchen wall, right at Zach level. Apparently he knows how well green and yellow go together...

Good thing we're moving!

Zach also continues to surprise me with how well he remembers people, and makes connections between people and his memories. Today, for example, when I asked if he wanted to go to the mall (rainy day, too much toddler energy), his response was: Grandma? He hasn't forgotten how much Grandma W likes to shop! If you mention our friend Ben, he starts rattling off members of Ben's family, starting with Otto (the dog comes first), then Brady, and then Isak; Kirsten is clearly too hard to say! And after he spent some time last weekend with his cousins Chase and Sophie ("Dase" and "Yo-fee"), he's now asking for them as often as "Man-nee" and "Bin-nee", who he hasn't seen now in week or so. And at random times, he'll just ask "Grandpa?" Grandpa is also a favorite when it comes to playing with his various phone toys - that's who he always wants to call.

With cousins Chase and Sophie

Today at the post office, the woman in line behind us told the guy behind the counter that he should hire Zach, since he had great customer service skills. He was doing his parrot imitation, saying the last thing that either the postal worker or I said. When he realized he had an audience, he was waving and yelling bye-bye as we left. He loves to work the crowd!

Don't get me wrong, while our kid is clearly a genius, it often takes some interpretation to figure out what he's saying. There are a LOT of letters he can't pronounce. So we often do a little repeating game, or pointing, to figure out what he wants. The one thing we can't figure out is something that sounds like "yay-saays". We know when he says it he means "Zach's turn", since it fits the context and he's pointing at himself, but we can't figure out why he's pronouncing it that way. He normally refers to himself as "Yack", and he can say "turn" pretty clearly when it's on it's own. But put them together, and you get Yaysaays. Go figure.

Friends - then and now

Think back to where you were in 1988... for me, that was the year I graduated from 8th grade. Yes, we had an actual graduation ceremony, and we got all dressed up too. I realize it's odd, but when you go to the same school for 8 years, with essentially the same thirty people, it's a big deal when you graduate!

So, to commemorate that joyous occasion, we had a reunion last weekend! Two "old" friends, Carrie and Ann, and I had been in charge of organizing it, and even that process was fun, as it reconnected us with a lot of people we hadn't spoken to in a very long time, and had us digging for old pictures and memorabilia. The reunion itself was pretty simple; we went to the church festival during the day and took a tour of the school, and that night met at a local establishment for dinner and a few cocktails.

Since I realize it's not so interesting to anyone but me and my classmates, I won't bore you with the details. I'll just say I had a great time, remembering what was really a wonderful time period of my life, and creating some new memories. Cheers to old friends!!!

Perhaps you'll enjoy this flashback - the girls basketball team in '88, and us now!

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I also have to reflect on how much we enjoy seeing Zach with our families, since we've recently had the opportunities to spend time with Scott's family in MT, and mine in Milwaukee. It's really amazing to see how quickly he connects with them, especially now that he clearly remembers them from one visit to the next. One of the funnier moments was when Zach woke up Sunday morning in Milwaukee. First I heard his little voice coming from the pack-n-play in the other room saying "mama? mama?" Then he paused, and said "Man-nee?" Another pause, and then, "gram-ma?" Poor kid was running though the possibilities of who might come and get him out of bed, since he'd been sleeping in so many different places the last few weeks. I had to laugh!

But, I do have to say, if we aren't fortunate enough to have our families close by, we couldn't be any luckier than to have the friends we have. Especially lately... here is just a sample of the help we have asked for from our friends:
- Can you watch Zach while we house-hunt?
- Can you watch Koskie while we go to Montana?
- Can you give us a ride to the airport?

And, of course, we all know the biggest favor is coming up in a few weeks - help moving! No one likes to move, themselves or anyone else, since nothing about the process could be considered fun. But the amazing thing is... we didn't even have to ask. Once they heard we bought a new house, our friends asked us when we were moving, and then every single one of them said - I'll be there. Does it get any better than that???