Need vs go away

A quick documentation of things Zach has been saying lately that I don't want to forget...

I love these - "Can I need you?" or "Let me need you". He says one of these when he wants us to pick him up and/or snuggle him. Soooo cute.

Not so fond of this one - "go away". I think he got it from a book we've been reading lately -The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle. I don't recommend it, not just because I think that's where Zach picked up "go away" (even though it's only mentioned once!), but because it's about a ladybug who wants to fight every animal he comes across - not exactly a message we want to convey. Anyway... we're hoping this one doesn't last long, since it's not nice to hear your two-year old tell you to go away. I thought we had at least a few more years before we heard that sentiment!

We had a nice Valentine's weekend here... Scott and I had "date night" on Friday - a yummy dinner followed by a win at curling, followed by some drinks with a fun group at the club. Saturday was more of a family valentine's day, including an outing to the pool at the Y. We ended the day with our favorite sub sandwiches and a very romantic movie - Iron Man!

More cake

I love this picture of Zach. This is a kid who really loves cake... can you tell? His buddy Clark turned two last week, and it's Evan's turn tomorrow, so they had a joint birthday party - more cake for Zach! The little babies who used to just lay on the floor next to each other in our ECFE class are now all two, talking, running around and climbing things - it's amazing.

Last week the temperature finally ventured high enough that we could play outside in the snow, for the first time at our house (it has been sooo cold here). Zach was pretty excited to put on his snowpants and boots, although I wasn't impressed with what a process that is. When we got outside he had no idea to what to do, and didn't like walking in the snow in his boots. So I ended up pulling him around the yard on the sled, which he loved... for a while. Then he wanted to go inside and take his boots off, so we weren't out there for too long. So needless to say, I was quite surprised when he asked to go outside and play in the snow the next day!

I had hoped to post some pictures of Zach and Scott at the pool at the Y; we lugged the camera there last weekend only to discover you're not allowed to take pictures in the pool. Not too surprising, I guess. I especially wanted to get shots of the two of them going down the two-story, twisty water slide - Zach loves it. I think his dad's love of swimming is wearing off on Zach; he could stay in the pool all day. He's gotten pretty brave jumping off the side, putting his face in the water, etc. It'll be interesting to see if this love of swimming carries over into the summer, when we're outside in water that isn't 86 degrees!

Our bottomless pit

Hopefully it's a growth spurt, otherwise our grocery bills are about to skyrocket. The last few days Zach has been putting away food like he's getting ready to hibernate! I had to laugh at today's lunch, which started out with his normal-size lunch: macaroni & cheese (or "macanoni" as he calls it), green beans, some grapes and part of a pear. The great thing about this eating spurt is that we don't have to encourage him to eat his vegetables like we usually do - if it's on the plate, it goes down the hatch.

So sure enough, he efficiently put away his lunch, and then requested a "Zach-sized" (mini) muffin. After he had two of those, I cut him off, so he asked for Cheerios. Two large handfuls of cheerios later, he requested... broccoli with dip, aka ranch dressing. He then proceeded to ask for seconds and thirds. By the time he was done, the broccoli that I had just made was gone - and I was planning to use it for at least two meals. I am trusting what I've been told/have read - that unlike adults, toddlers only eat until they're full. Otherwise we are going to have one large kid soon!

In other Willard family news, Scott has been the opposite of a bottomless pit. He was struck down pretty hard with the flu - official influenza. He must have slept at least fourteen hours a day, and did little else other than lay on the couch and drink water and gatorade for three days. He's back at work today, feeling better. I'm just thankful that apparently Zach and I got the right flu shots - hooray!

The pics below are from last weekend, when our friends were over with their daughter Kasey. Zach and Kasey are funny to watch, since Kasey has reached the age where she's very curious about Zach, and he kind of treats her like a big brother. Very cute...

Also

Zach's been full of some funny stuff lately...

My favorite - his use of the word "also." He uses it appropriately, but it is just so funny to hear such a formal-sounding word coming out of a tiny person with a high voice. One example: today on our way home I said we were going to go home to see Daddy, and he responded "Koskie also." Hee hee!

He also cracked me up a little today when he was splashing around in the tub. All of a sudden he looked up at me and said "it's nice and cozy in here." I have no idea where that came from, but I guess the water was the right temperature.

We had adventures in finger-painting for the first time last week... some of you lucky readers will be receiving a very special valentine from Zach. He wasn't too thrilled to get his hands all messy; I wonder where he gets that from???

(an example of his "smile")

2 year photo attempt

I really, really miss the days that I could just make a goofy noise and Zach would look at the camera and smile. These days he not only won't smile, he doesn't want to even look at the camera. Or, if he does smile, it looks like he's baring his fangs with his eyes are squeezed shut - not his best look.

Despite all of that, Scott and I took Zach to Central Park here in Woodbury, which is an indoor park - live plants and trees, waterfalls, and a huge wall of windows. It's very nice actually, and a great spot for taking pictures. I thought perhaps we'd get one or two decent pictures to use as his official 2 year-old photos, rather than dragging him to yet another portrait studio.

As you'll see below, the outing wasn't a grand success. While these aren't bad, I'm still on a mission for a good smile aimed at the camera. Perhaps by the time he turns three...

Birthday party #2

Yes, we went a little overboard with the birthday celebrations this year. But that's what happens when your birthday falls mid-week and your grandparents live out of town!

Zach opened his gifts from us and our friends the Neudecks on his actual birthday, and it seemed like he was starting to understand the concept of presents. That became much more obvious when my parents arrived the next day with more gifts - he was more than ready to tear into them. But first he'd say "what do you think is in here?"

Two of his favorite gifts are shown here - the new train set from G&G Klicka, and the custom Sesame Street book from the Neudecks. We got great video of him looking at the book, and literally oohing and aahing each time he turned the page. But, of course, I still can't get video off the camera (I'm working on it again!), so I can't share that with you.

On Saturday we had some more friends over to celebrate again, and with all the kids running around it was hilarious chaos. Zach particularly enjoyed when everyone sang happy birthday; when we finished he yelled "hooray - I did it!" And as you saw in the previous post, he then enthusiastically dug into his cake. He now says things like "ooh, cake. I love cake!" As you can see below, he's not the only one!

Some of Zach's friends are quite old enough to enjoy cake yet, but I think they had a good time anyway!

Birthday party #1

I have some serious catching-up to do, so I'll try to go chronologically.

On Zach's actual birthday, we had some of his good buddies over for a playdate and cake. These are pals he's known since he was about three months old, and it's been really fun to watch the kids grow together. We're finally starting to see some actual interaction between the kids, rather than the typical "parallel play."

Given their history together, it seemed entirely appropriate for these friends to celebrate Zach's second birthday. We look forward to celebrating many birthdays together in the future!

(pictured clockwise - Zach, Clark, Maggie, and Evan)