Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Parental Discipline Failure

So I've failed at my first real test of bad behavior. My excuse is that it was just so funny. I had taken a box of crayons out to show zack for the first time how to draw and color. We spent some time playing with the crayons, holding them, tasting them, placing them in different places before we really understood how they could mark on the large pad of paper I had. Well, he only drew a very small amount on the paper, i think because it was on the ground and not as easy to draw on as something that was vertical, like, umm...the wall for example. Zack walked over to the wall with a crayon and quickly marked the wall before I could stop him. I then said"no" because he shouldn't do that, but I was happy to see that he finally knew what a crayon could do. Except, he then giggled at the attention and went back to trying to mark the wall and saying "no". I again said "no", watched him giggle and I started laughing. I couldn't keep a straight face. He would walk to the hutch and try the same thing, and I would say no and start laughing because his reaction was so funny. I knew I was failing miserably but I couldn't stop laughing. Jen finally arrived to put an end to Zack's behavior because I was completely ineffective. And now, Zack thinks "no" is a game that gets him physical attention.
I've got more parenting work to do..... :-)

Sunday, March 20, 2005

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

museum trip at 14 months

We went to a great fantastic museum today, The Children's Discovery Museum and we had a blast. Zack walked all over exploring various exhibits and his favorite were the large tannis ball machine that had tennis balls rolling down all sort of different ramps, chutes, and tubes. The was also a fantastic hand on water exhibit that was very cool for both of us to play with. Zack quickly saw the objective of some of the hands-on tasks and enjoyed doing them over and over. I've got a great video of him playing with an air vent and a rubber ball that I'll try an upload in the next day or so. He is very independent and will explore on his own. However when we are at home and a guest comes over, he will back into me or my legs, showing some signs of shyness or caution.

Zack also has a habit of doing something new on the day he turns another month older. Today he turned 14 months, and has started running. He will burst into a run briefly for about 10-12 steps and go back to a walk while he figures it out. At first I thought he was falling and trying to catch himself, but i guess he planned it!

Other fun things I've noticed: He now will grab the remote and point it at the TV and stereo equipment and start pressing buttons, because he sees what we do with it. Also, he knocked on the door of a neighbor when he approached it. I didn't think he's seen me knock on doors so I don't know how he learned that one...

Wednesday, March 09, 2005

Amazing Vocabulary

Well I've been truly amazed at his vocabulary today. It's easy to think that a baby's vocab is limited to what they can say, but they know much more than they normally express.

Here is how our great evening went:
After we got in our PJ's we played in the living room some more. I found some bubbles and blew them to his enjoyment. After a few times of hearing me say "bubble" he started to say it and associate it with the bubbles. We wrestled around on the floor and chased each other around the room, then started to calm down as bedtime was approaching. I then said "time for bed. bedtime" and zack looked at me, took a toy into his hand and started walking to his room and stopped at the crib pointing at it. I put him in, gave him a pacifier, and opened up one of his books to read. While Zack can't say many things, he can identify things. So on a page in the book that had many items, I asked "Where's the ball?" and he correctly pointed to the ball. I said "Where's the cookie?" and again another correct point. I asked "Where's the blanket?" and he grabbed his blanket rather than point to the blanket in the book. I then asked "Where the pajamas?" and he tugged at his shirt rather than point to the PJ's in the book. I was shocked since I didn't think he knew some of those words. I asked "Where's Bob the Bear?" and he grabbed the right stuffed animal. I asked "Where's Pooh Bear?" and again grabbed the right object in his crib.
After this I turned out the light, said goodnight, and closed the door and he went right to sleep.

I doubt evenings are always going to be this easy, especially as he gets into his twos. But 13 months is a fantastic time and age. Zack is so happy and excited about everything, he says new things each day and continues to amaze me. Each month gets better and better, and if Zack isn't careful, he'll end up with many brothers and sisters.... :-)

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Monday, March 07, 2005

Vacation Update

Wow, what a week! Zack just returned from Cancun where he had his first (and probably not last) spring break experience. Here are some highights:

-Learning how to imitate a fish and a horse. His animal sound vocabulary now also includes: lion, tiger, duck, bird, cow, dog, squirrel. The funniest moment came one morning when we were still in bed and he was awake in his crib and went through his entire inventory of animal sounds unprompted. Now that's a real morning zoo.

-our room had steps inside from the kitchen to the living room, so it was time to finally really learn how to go down stairs on his own. His grandparents made it their mission to make sure he learned it and he sure did. He even backed down the 20 steps of the back of the resort by himself

-he saw the sand and the ocean for the first time, but seemed unimpressed. If he had to put his hands in the sand to stand up he would try and use his palms and have his fingers avoid touching the sand. He loved the kiddie pools though and if he could, he would spend the whole day in them.

-he's talking even more now saying "hi" and "bye bye" to many people, and the best highlight was when Zack boarded an elevator with two bikini-clad buxom spring breakers. Zack looked at the two women and exclaimed loudly, "WOW"!