Oh, the words you will speak!

Zac and I have started having conversations, like real conversations with reasoning and requests.  Our talk this morning went like this:

Zac: "Mommy?  Mooooowk?"
Me: "Sure, sweetie, I'll get you some milk."

(I had him a cup, fresh from the fridge.  He tastes is, shakes the cup, and holds it out to me.)

Zac: "No.  Cooooooo-wd"
Me: "Would you like it to be warmer?"
Zac: "YEAH! WAAAAAAHM-ER-ER!"

(I take the milk into the kitchen to pop it into the microwave for a few seconds.)

Zac: "Mommy?"
Me: "Yes, Zac?"
Zac: "NOT haaaaawt, Mommy.  NOT HAAAAAWT."

I couldn't help but laugh.  How is possible he's learned cold, warmer-er and hot?  And that he has a preference that he can express about the temperature of his milk?  He amazes me every day!

New words

Z's vocabulary is growing leaps and bounds, and not just in swear words!
Some new words he added this weekend:
* goooookie (cookie, which was actually a cupcake)
* iced tea
* nyat-meeeee-an (batman)
* duper- meeeee-an (superman. He also threw his arms up in the air and grinned from ear to ear while I played the movie theme song to him, as he sat on his toilet and we read a book about superman)
* Ning nong! Ning nong! (Ding dong! Ding dong!)
* "I is reading!" - it got quiet, we asked what he was doing.
* "another booowk mama!"

* we worked hard at singing twinkle twinkle little star. It went a little like this "tinkle tinkle yeeetle tar. What. Are."
Mama! Where tars?!?"
* this morning he was 'I pooped mama' and sitting on his toilet. He heard daddy vacuuming, and he popped up, wearing Thomas the train socks and his shirt and chased his daddy down, bare -assed. "Wanna heeeeeeewp cweeeeean!" (Want to help clean)

Something very important I forgot To add! Zac now says his own name! Thackie. Today he was wearing a super Grover shirt, with super Grovers body and his head sticking out. He deemed himself "THUPER THACKIE" we all applauded


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad. Fueled by coffee.

Pushing 2

It's been a while since I last checked in.  I could pretend that it's just that my son keeps me so busy, but there's been a free-floating spirit of ennui coursing through my life, which makes it hard to sit down and concentrate.

It's hard to believe there was a time where I worried that Zac didn't talk enough, or that I would beg him to say "Mommy" instead of "Daddy" all the time.  I think he broke a world record for the number of times one person can say "mommy" in a 60 second time frame.  After the 932 reiteration of "MOMMY?" I said "Jeez, Zac, WHAT?!?!" (I was on the phone while he was doing this, of course)

He smiled sweetly and said "HI!" Yep.  That's an almost 2 year old for ya.

He got to spend a fair amount of time with Papa & Granny (My dad & his wife) this summer, and the attraction between Zac and his Papa was almost palpable.  Upon first re-meeting, Zac walked up to his Papa, reached for his hand, and said "Hewwo Papa!" They spent some time reading stories, playing cars, and walking around, holding hands and talking about things.  Zac became very aware that they were a matched set - there is no Granny without Papa, and vice versa.  He also named their RV "Harvey" and likes to check random RV's to see if Papa is inside.  The old ones are back in Arizona for the winter, and they are already missed. 

 

Zac and I also spent a few nights on the Olympic Peninsula with Ahhhhh-neee (Auntie Jennifer) Nom (Uncle Tom).  They had rented a house on the water that was absolutely gorgeous.  Zac enjoyed the boats, seeing wa-wa everywhere, and at one point he exclaimed "Oh My GAWD.  The Tweeees!" (trees). Fwwwwwwy-innnnn kiiiiiiiii-yites! on the beach was a huge hit. 

Fwwwwwwwwwy-innnnnn kiiiiiii-yites! with Nom

He parrots everything I say.  EVERYTHING I SAY.  I've heard him admonishing other drivers from the back seat ("Beep beep, atttttth-hoooooo!") and he met me telling him he could not have Ma-Means (Jelly Beans) for breakfast with a scrunched up face and "Puck you, Mama" (yeah, I'm not gonna translate that one.)

He's sleeping in his own room 100% of the time - we had a sitter over a few months ago and rather jokingly suggested she feel free to get Zac to sleep in his crib.  He went right to sleep for her, and has been sleeping there ever since.  Naps and bedtime have one of three possible outcomes: Really easy, One check in, and fucking awful.  There is not a lot of middle ground with my little man.

Yay! Potty!

He's very interested in the potty.  He likes to tell us to poop, and he likes to undress his doll and sit her on the potty so she can poop.  Last night, he told me he had to go, so I got him undressed.  He peed on the floor NEXT to the potty, yelled "uh-oh!" covered it with a book, and ran away.  It's a start!  My previous experience with cats has not really prepared me for this, I know if a cat was peeing next to his litter box, it would be his way of saying "I'm not particularly happy with you."  For Z, I think he just didn't QUITE make it in time.  I'm pretty content to let this go on his own schedule, with no real pressure about potty training.

He has a fine fashion sense, which is to say he wears what I buy for him without too much of a fuss. He's figured out that he gets fawned over A LOT when he's wearing a hat, so he will keep a hat on.  And while he likes his own hats quite a bit, there's nothing quite like getting his hands on one of my hats, or Daddy's hats. If ever you see him wearing a baseball cap backwards, it's not because I put it on him that way, he has his own sense of style, and he will not be limited by what Mama and Daddy say is "right".  Backwards caps are COOL, you guys!

 

Wearing Mommy's Hat (and Tigger slippers), an Animal hoodie (complete with mohawk), and Mr. I-Do-It baseball cap.

 

It's been an amazing almost two years, a frustrating almost two years, a happy almost two years, the most exhausting experience I've ever had, and more joy than I thought my heart was capable of.

I showed this picture to my primary care doctor.  He said "kids can't fake that happy look."

Is that your final answer?

Zachary still doesn't talk as much as I'd like, or as much as I think he should.  I remind myself that I don't actually know the correct amount that he "should" be talking, and when we saw his pediatrician at the 18 month visit, the doctor said his 12 words are absolutely within normal range, so I try not to worry.

In the last week or two, it seems we've had a few words added to the vocabulary.  I sometimes think we assign meaning to sounds he makes repetitively and they aren't really words, but he uses them consistently and contextually, so I'm going to say the B sounds: Ba (bottle), Bee (JB, his bear), Bay-bee (Baby), boo (boots/shoes), burr (bird), are words to him.

He's been asking "was dat?" for months, but he's recently added a new question "Ahh we dere?" (are we there?). He repeats it non-stop while riding in the backseat of the car, as if I gave birth to Bart Simpson.

very stylish, in one of my socks, with a straw fedora, 

and preparing to roll some lint

We spend some time most days looking at pictures of family.  We name all the people on the fridge, and all the people on the dining room wall, mostly with us telling him who they are, then asking "Where's Papa?", "Where's Grandma?", "Where's Auntie Jennifer?", etc.  We were playing this game the other day when he pointed at a picture of Mark and said "Daaaah-eeeee!"  Mark asked him "Where's Mama?"  Zac leaned his head against my shoulder and said "Wight dere."

He love listening to music, and tries to sing along with me, particularly on sustained notes.  He can come close to matching pitches, and he loves songs with sound effects.  A recent favorite is The Beatles "Hey Bulldog", he loves to throw his head back and howl like a dog along with the sounds at the end.

We've been spending a fair amount of time at the zoo, as we renewed our family membership.  It's great because there's plenty of room for him to run, and not really a lot of trouble he can get into.  He likes to watch the penguins, and to visit the sloth bears.  We actually made it past the sloth bears to the meerkats and komodo dragons on the last trip.  He was underwhelmed by the lizards on rocks, but seemed to think the meerkats were fascinating. 

He seems to really like all the pretty flowers blooming, and he asks me over and over "Was Dat?" when we go on walks.  I answer to the best of my knowledge: Tulips, Daffodils, Iris', Dandelions, and I make up what I don't know.  Sometimes I quiz him when we see a flower a second time.  I'll ask "ZAC! What's that?"  He sometimes answers "Ummmmmmmmmm, Fah-wer", which always amuses me.

He's been very intent on learning to blow on dandelions, no unblown dandelion is safe from his hands. 

For Mother's Day, Zac brought me a pack of 12 paper towels and a card he made.  He also took a 4 hour nap, which was a pretty awesome present in itself.

One of his teachers today said "Wow, he's really left all vestiges of babyhood behind, he is a full-on toddler now."  I said "That's not exactly a compliment, is it?" She laughed and said "no, not exactly."  He is showing every sign of a strong-willed only child, pushing boundaries and learning limits.  It's fascinating and insanely frustrating at the same time.