Cheerios, raspberries, mushrooms, and latkes

While I am in the process of mightily avoiding an impending deadline I thought I would add blog-writing to my list of diversions. Besides, I wouldn't want to fall behind on my "schedule" of bi-monthly entries. Sorry loyal readers. Currently I am blaming this on my lack of laptop (Dell Inspiron, RIP, May 2006) since I can't use the desktop computer in our living room without being assaulted by an 18-month-old.

But enough of my griping. Zander's latest exploits include:

Yesterday - choking twice in two minutes on dry cheerios that he was snacking on because he was eating them too fast. This kid LOVES honey nut cheerios (which have no nuts in them, didya know?).

Two days ago - Matt and I went on a date to see the Ragbirds, a fabulous band out of Ypsilanti - infectious global groove, they call themselves, with emphasis on the infectious). G'ma Terry and Cousin Tessie kept Zander company while we were gone. I'm told Zander spent a significant chunk of time sticking crayons in his ears. He sticks everything in his ears. If we tell him to take his fingers out of his ears, he sticks them in his nose so we just leave well enough alone.

Three days ago - While cuddling (which is more like being walked all over by a 23# gorilla) in the morning, Zander rested his head on my bare belly and I thought "Ah, how sweet, a rare moment of stillness that is almost like real cuddling" and then he gave me a raspberry. Blphlppptt!! Matt and I laughed until we cried and Zander refused to give a repeat performance the following morning no matter how much his father encouraged him with fully illustrated examples.

In general...
Zander eats mushrooms. I don't get it since he's developing picky kid eating habits but whenever I make soup, he picks out the mushrooms -- and eats them.

He ate turkey and roasted root vegetables and parsnip-carrot latkes at Thanksgiving. He ate a lot. Really got into the spirit of feasting, one could say.

He has, just in the past week, developed an extraordinary attachment to a fluffy dog that was given to him by his G'pa Linc and G'ma Marilyn on the day he came home from the hospital. The dog's name is Puppy and may become Zander's lovie since he doesn't yet have one (his choice). For those taking notes for gifts for OTHER kids - I think one of the winning points is that it has this coat that is soft and silky, kind of like fun-fur yarn. I guess it's the next best thing to actually capturing one of our cats (a daily pursuit of Zander the mighty hunter).

Tonight Zander insisted on going outside at 7pm - by bringing me his shoes and the nearest coat, Matt's. So I took him out - it's still really warm - and we spent 15 minutes staring at the psychadelic blinking red and green sculptural Christmas tree in our neighbor's garden. I'm glad I can't see this thing from my front window.

No, don't ask me about pictures. I have them. But I am either too lazy or too busy to share them right now. We're on thrice-borrowed time at the moment. Patience, grasshopper.

Hair

As in, cut.



I cut Zander's forelock, his bangs, on Monday evening. I've been meaning to do it for weeks. This hair, as seen in previous posts, was long enough to poke him in the eyes and often did so. Much as I am loathe to cut my baby's hair, this was a mercy hair-cutting.

But still. I hate it. I miss my baby. Now he looks like a big boy! It's heart-wrenching, really. (On the video we took of this event, you can hear me saying "omigod! omigod!" over and over) Maybe you think I am being dramatic but obviously you are either too far from the baby years yourself or else you are cold-blooded like Matt who thinks Zander looks "good" and "clean cut." Sob!

For what it's worth, I think Zander appreciates the clipping. Even if he did wiggle through the whole thing and grabbed the scissors from my hand at the end and try to poke out his eyes (he was trying cut his hair himself, I think). But our goal was achieved - he doesn't rub at his eyes so much (unless tired).

In other photo journalistic moments, Zander gorged himself on chocolate cookies with orange filling and had something to say about it (notice that this is BH, Before Haircut):




Sitting at the computer, "working" (let's all admire the gorgeous blanket from Andy and Paul that keeps me warm while I write my NaNoWriMo trash novel):



Oh and in case you were wondering, the rest of his hair is intact. In fact, Edith proved that it was long enough to braid! Although too curly to stay in its braid.

November already?

We must not love our son at all. We never have time to write on the blog. Zander is definitely down to only one nap per day, about 2 hours. I think I need to go back to my union and make a complaint. Two hours is not enough to do all the things I can't do while he's awake, including anything involving a computer.

I discovered a great thing about the library yesterday - the kids computers. They're old and virtually indestructible with some basic games and storytelling programs. The benches are really sturdy so they will not tip over while a toddler clambers up onto the seat and wiggles into position. Zander had a great time visiting the computers, listening on the headphones, typing, and moving the mouse. Because he's not allowed to do that at home. So much the worse for us that the computer is located in the living room. Should have built that addition after all, eh.

We have lots of Zander stories and I'm only going to be able to remember half of them. Let's start with Halloween since I know there are people out there anxious to see the pix. Zander went as Zanderman! the superhero. Daddy made his costume.





Zander helped hand out candy (he was the greeter) and then we went out around the neighborhood with his friends Lily the fairy princess and Jack the ferocious leopard.

In other news, Zander is drinking from a regular cup now. The sippy cup has not yet gone the way of the dodo but Zander is often determined to be as big a boy as he can. Unfortunately, like all foods, liquids are as much fun to play with as they are to consume. Here's photographic evidence:

(the meek)

(and the wild - that's how much they loved your watermelon, Grandma Carol)

Oh and there was this other day when Zander rubbed chicken noodle soup in his hair. It was lunchtime and I was reading and didn't realize what he was up to until it was beyond too late. I tried rubbing his head down with a wet dishcloth but that didn't really work.....

(that hair was STIFF!)

The best, I have saved for last. There's no picture for this story but trust me, it's good. Yesterday morning, I was in the bathroom and Zander and Cujo came in - not unusual - and Zander shut the door - also not unusual. The cat, feeling a little vulnerable (have I mentioned how Zander luvs Cujo and tries to hug him all the time?), jumped up on top of some drawers to try and be inconspicious and/or out of reach. For the record, he was only 18 inches off the ground, definitely not out of reach. Zander sees the cat and shouts, "Get down! Bad cat!" I bust a gut laughing. Zander is told to "get down" a lot, so much so that he climbs on things and then tells himself to get down, looking to one of us adult-types for confirmation. Anyway, this outburst is also definitive proof that the kid is using sentences - it's just a matter of being able to understand him.