zeebob

This blog is dedictated to our son, Zander.

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Sniff, sniff

My baby is starting to give up his morning nap, I do believe. Shed a sympathy tear for me. He's been waking up after an hour or less when often in the past he's gone for 2-3 hrs. He does do an afternoon nap, though, so not all sanity is lost. But it does mean that I am trying to type, be witty, and entertain a 12mo old at the same time.

I just realized how tall Zander is, relatively speaking. He was just standing next to the couch, which comes up to his waist. I would have sworn yesterday that it came up to his armpits. I think I saw him growing last night when I checked on him before going to bed myself. You think I'm exaggerating but some of you have also experienced this phenomenon and are nodding and smiling. Yesss...



GTerry yesterday accused me of pushing Zander's belly button at night to make his hair grow. Hah! If only. But he does have the cutest little curls at the nape of his neck that are multiplying all the time. I'm pretty sure he's got my hair - slightly reddish right now and the curls, yep, just check out my toddler pictures. He's got a strong stamp of the daddy in his features though. A good mix, we still think.



Zander had a great time with his Grandma Carol this weekend while Matt and I went canoeing. He played with his special camp grandma toys, played outside, and generally was a very good boy.

Breaking news! Just now, in Zander's attempt to get my attention/annoy me/entertain himself, he worked at peeling off the paper I have taped over the power button on the computer. One of the pieces of tape was pretty ragged so I had to peel it off and put on a new piece. In less than three minutes Zander scraped and lifted the top corner of the new piece of tape and neatly peeled it down and off the paper and computer. Genius, sneaky little boy. I'm punishing him with cartoons on the teley so I can finish typing! Please don't report me to the parent police. ;)



Lastly, it's official, Zander is no longer nursing. He had his last suckle on Thursday morning, skipped his afternoon draught, and pushed me away Friday morning. He hasn't looked back. As people will tell you, it's a bit sad but I think it's a little less sad for Z and I. For one, I'm still mom and he may not be nursing but he sure is clinging to me lots (he's sitting on my lap watching tv). For two, I've had some lingering health problems that may sort themselves out now that my body will stop making all those pregnant/post-partum hormones. For three, lets not forget the hell that was nursing for Zander's first three weeks of life. Breastfeeding may be important - and I will do it again when we have another kid - but it was not the most significant way Zander and I connected.


(Photos are from Zander's birthday party. Nakedness, toys, balloons, and cake - what more could a boy want? "Let 'em eat cake!")

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Ballerino

Are words necessary?







Zander - you can be anything and anyone you want to be! But for the gods sakes, please stop spilling food all over yourself. The laundry doesn't wash itself, kid.

PS - Thank you Cousin Tessa for having the idea and for loaning Zander your tutu. You and Zander can hash this out when he gets older.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Uh oh!

Zander's new word, as of Saturday, is "uh-oh". He's still figuring out what is the right context but it's a lot of fun to watch him work very hard at correctly forming the syllables. He also likes to spend large chunks of the day just blowing air out his lips (kind of like a raspberry, only not pinch-lipped). If there's a term for it, it's escaping me right now.

He had a great time with my ball-winder last week:
Just wait until he figures out how to tangle yarn with it!

He also had his first spaghetti dinner last week. No big deal. Matt wasn't even there and I didn't realize this was his first dinner of pasta AND sauce until it was more than half over. As you can see.
Next time we'll strip him down for the full effect. Naked babies are good canvases for their own art de pasta!

There are some even better pictures out there of Zander's recent adventures. I am currently in negotiations to receive copies of these photos. The pictures of which I speak are true blackmail material. The kind of thing, as Matt put it, Zander will find a destroy when he is a teenager. But the beauty of digital is the ease with which we can duplicate. Bwahahaha!

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Technical bulletin #302

We've heard from many people that there's trouble accessing various webpages on our server. There was ANOTHER migration just last week because we moved to an external host rather than housing the hardware ourselves. I guess some links may have changed or something. Maybe everything's fine now. This here blog is not affected because it's hosted by Blogger, not on our server space.

Zander's webpage (also on the sidebar)
Zander's photo gallery (fixed AGAIN on the sidebar)

Probably after this month we're going to move back to a family-centric photo gallery rather than just Zander all the time. Watch this space.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

One

Well kid, you made it.

On Sunday Zander turned one year old. His birthday coincided with Mother's Day this year, a phenomenon that will not reoccur until he turns 12 years old. My math-minded pal Patty calculated this (she didn't look at 12 years worth of calendars like I would have). Patty's very smart. Her smartness has not been affected by her four month old baby boy. I cannot boast such an accomplishment.



We had a small party for the boy, mostly family. We tried out a book exchange instead of presents. Results were mixed. Due to my poor invitation design, some people didn't even know there was a book exchange. Some people chose not to participate. But in the end I think all the kids went home with a book and that's what really counts. Zander received a few gifts - a couple toys (all with batteries - damn! but also off switches - yey!), some books, a car seat, and some cash for college.



What's up with the plastic bin? Only Zander knows.

Great gift idea: my mom, on advice from her co-workers with young children, got Zander this baby cell phone made by Parents. (Okay, the description at that website is a little overblown. There are not "lots" of songs. There are two buttons that play brief bursts of music. Also, I think it costs more like $8 if you find it at a physical store.) It looks a lot more like a real phone than other baby toys . . . which means Zander LOVES it. So does my six year old niece. Geeterry, you should have bought TWO.

Yesterday's big adventure? Because how do you top turning one year old? How to not feel like one year and one day old is such a let down? You call 911. Yep. Zander and I were at my neighbor's house and she let him play with her phone. About an hour later, I was home in my living room, Zander was upstairs asleep, and I heard the police at her door saying "We received a 911 call from this address." Crap. So she and I apologized and got glared at a bit and the little criminal woke up later none-the-wiser.

Lastly - Zander had his 12 month check up yesterday as well. He weighed in at 18# 12oz. and was 28.75 inches tall. He's still solidly on the 5th and 20th percentiles, respectively. He got stabilated three times - preventive medicine, y'know. The pediatric nurse was very impressed with his strong walking skills and language skills. He says mama, dada, baba, hi, and even said Tessa on Friday night. Apparently that's a lot for a one year old. Go, Zee!

May the next year be even more fun!

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Milk

It's not exactly earth shattering news - only so much of that we can all take, eh? - but I gave Zander his first taste of cow juice today. It's less than two weeks to his first birthday and I doubt this is going to replace nursing anyway, so the timing is fine. Just a couple ounces to see how he digests it - and if he would drink it but this is Zander we're talking about. He'll eat just about anything.

For all you complainers out there, here's a picture:
(taken 4/19/06)

He spends a lot of time opening and closing doors.
(taken 4/5/06)

He doesn't sleep as much as he used to. But after we got home from Boston I stopped responding to his 2 am requests for a nightcap and now we are back to the 5-6am milk truck. Small favors.

Yesterday morning he made a dash for the stairs but then realized Matt was standing right by the door, about to leave for work. He backed down the stairs (which is huge in itself), ran over to Matt, and threw his arms around his leg. He might have even said "da-da" (which he can say, that's not new). It was clear Zander didn't want Matt to leave. Although he can wave we have yet to see him wave goodbye to his father in the morning. He just stands at the door and watches him walk down that long sidewalk to the car.

Not much else to report. He's a very busy boy. He's cheerful. Strong-willed. Likes to say "mamamamamamama" in a whiney voice when he's not getting what he wants. Or "dadada" if I am disciplining him. He's all charm.