Overboard

This morning Zander tried something new.

I had a deadline yesterday and stayed up quite late. Zander started calling for us to come get him around 7am and I wanted another half hour of sleep so I lay very still and ignored him. (Matt was also doing an excellent impersonation of a person asleep. Snort.)

After a while, it gets really quiet in Zander's room and maybe I even drifted off for a few minutes. Then I heard it.

The pitter patter of little feet.

"Mommy!"

Zander liberated himself from his crib.

I woke Matt up to tell him the news and we lay there half-sensible while Zander did his victory dance across our prone bodies. Aloud, I hoped that one of us had left the crib-rail down and that this wasn't what it appeared to be. (For the record, although Zander is very adept at climbing in and out of bed with the rail down, he's always waited for one of us to come get him first thing in the morning - even when the rail has been accidentally left down overnight.)

We have now entered a new era. I will retaliate with further potty training efforts!

Eventually I dragged myself into Zander's room to survey the escape route. The rail was indeed up. He had emptied everything from his bed, which he does when he really REALLY wants out. The glider was also at hand but then his room is so small, it's always been within his reach. Whether or not it played a part in this story, I will not know for some time I suspect.

Lest you think this is a moaning kind of story, let me add that yesterday afternoon, at naptime, Zander climbed INTO his bed (rail down) when he was ready to go to sleep. He's such a good boy.

And in other Zander news - because it's anybody's guess when my next post will be! - Zander has started going to daycare parttime, two mornings a week, so I can work more. The first two days he LOVED it and couldn't get out of the car fast enough. This morning he dug his heels in at the door to his room. He wouldn't acknowledge me when I tried 300 times to say goodbye to him which is no skin off my back but I know that means he probably had a little meltdown 10 minutes later when he looked around and I was gone. Not a victim, buddy, you're a volunteer!

Zander turned two years old earlier this week. He got lots of books and videos and some toys. He enjoys them all - thank you, everyone, for sharing Zander's birthday with us. Sadly, Zander came down with hand, foot, and mouth virus on the day of his birthday. Nothing serious - it's a typical daycare kind of thing - but he ran a fever for a few days and threw up once.

Happy (belated) birthday, Zander!

(from 5/16/07)

At breakfast

He loves cereal.... especially Cheerios.

Three . . . Three . . . Three . . . WAKE UP!

We're still here.

Zander's almost two now and full of funny things to say. Above is one example - which he has modified this morning to "Four . . . eight . . . WAKE UP!" because four is his favorite number of the moment. He can also say his ABCs up through F and then he kinda jumps around.

He still loves Puppy - he's making Puppy say "arf" and jump on our bed right now.

His hair is really long but we're all too lazy to get it cut. For a while I didn't want it cut but now it's poking him in the eyes.

He's starting parttime daycare in a few days which is a relief all around. I need time to work as free time becomes increasingly scarce. He still naps but I usually collapse - sometimes nap - while he's sleeping because, who know, two-year-olds are exhausting work. Daycare will also be a relief for Zander because he's very social and will be so happy to have kids to play with more frequently.

He can climb in and out of his crib when the rail is down. And he's interested in the potty but so far he just sits on it long enough to earn the privilege of flushing. He complains that his diapers hurt so I tell him to start using the potty instead. He's still absorbing that one.

Speaking of "hurts" - Zander is often afflicted with "hurts" or things - random things! - are "hot" or he needs "help." Yep, he's a sympathy mooch.

Zander loves books. I recently read him "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" from this large and beautiful treasury of stories that Aaron & Paula gave Zander. He thinks "bears" and "porridge" are pretty interesting. I'm also, for the first time, letting him play with the fairy tale treasury. I was worried he'd hurt it but he's been pretty good with his books. Many mornings he half unloads one of my bookshelves and flips through the books. It doesn't seem to matter which book because he doesn't show a preference for books with pictures. I think he just likes to practice reading.

If we've seen you recently, you've probably heard about Zander's four food groups: pizza (anything flat, like quesadillas and frittata); cereal or soup (spaghettios fall here); pasta (red or white and doesn't matter what's mixed in cause he'll pick it out); chicken (any meat but he LOVES chicken). Zander also loves blueberries (which includes strawberries and grapes) and cookies and trail mix. We've recently turned him on to cocoa wheats which I plan to call porridge next time we have it. Last night at dinner he was mowing on broccoli and saying YUM so you are all my witnesses that Zander likes broccoli!

There's tons more to tell but now it's time for breakfast.