My mommy

We were in Tahoe for a few days with Grandma and Grandpa Grant and my mom was trying to explain to Zack that she was my mom - or mommy's mom. Zack looked puzzled and said slightly defensively:
"My mommy is my mommy. My mommy is nice. She is my friend."
Let's hope that's still true when he's 16.

I Love...

I was putting Zack to sleep after a fun evening of playing in the backyard and across the street and frolicking on the bed. I tucked him in and said to him "Good night Zack. I love you." He looked at me and replied, "I love....I love...I love pie! Can I have some pie?"
That's what I get for getting my hopes up. :-)

day home with mom

Well, zack has a rash-like thing that turns out is nothing special, but they won't let him into daycare until they're sure it's not contagious. SO - it's a day home with mom. A few highlights:

As I was working on my email, I heard Zack opening Tobey's food container and then take a cup and pour it in Tobey's bowl. So I helped him and explained to him how helpful it was for him to feed Tobey.

Then later I hear something outside and I go out to find Zack with his box of cheddar bunnies and Tobey and his food dish sitting together. Zack says: we're having a snack! I say: like a picnic? he says: yes! Tobey's food in there (pointing to his bowl); zack food in here (pointing to the cheddar bunnies box. I asked: Can mommy have some zack food? Zack says: Mommy's food is inside.

No picnic for me I guess!

Then later, I had a conference call and I went outside to take it. I've asked Zack a couple of times if he was ready for his nap and he seemed reluctant. So I figured he could play a little while longer and then I'd put him down for his nap late after my call. Well, I hung up the phone and the house was strangely quiet. No one in the family room or living room... but there he was asleep in his bed in his room. All by himself! (luckily I had already taken off his shoes!)

A star is born

So today, Daddy asked Zack to help him out making a silly 'commercial' with Daddy's friend Dorian. It was a bit of a struggle getting 4 2-4 year olds plus 1 baby to cooperate although the directions were in general easy as they really just had to pull out all the toys from the shelves of this day care center as fast as possible. Chaos insued (as was hoped for) and even some real tears fell. Taking advantage of the situation, Daddy and Dorian realized that crying might work great for the 'commercial'. So Mommy said, 'zack - can you show us your sad face?' and zack immediately pouted his lower lip out. Then Mommy said, "zack - can you cry' and Zack began to cry in the most authentic manner possible - it helped that he'd been crying just a bit earlier for real - and it was like method acting at it's finest. We laughed at how real it was and then shocked all the rest of the parents in the room by saying, 'Now laugh' which made zack stop immediately and begin to chirp out a silly laugh. Truely - an actor in the making.

Afterwards, Zack said to me, "I'm a star!"

I suppose if Andy and I want to quit our jobs we could always focus on Zack's career...

No more crib

Two weeks ago we got Zack a big-boy bed, which is in fact quite big: it's a bunk bed! We moved it into a new bedroom and tried to transition him to it, but it was too exciting for him and he wouldn't fall asleep. It wasn't until last weekend when my parents were in town that we made the big effort to encourage him to actually sleep (not play) in his new bed. It worked and now the crib is no longer used. We've been a little nervous about him falling out of bed because there are no more railings like the crib had, but we've checked in on his movement and he's kept himself tucked in. Except, one night I checked in on him around 1am, his comforter was mostly on the floor and he was sprawled out in the middle of the bed sleeping on two books, so he must have tried to do reading by the light of his nightlight. The key we found out is to eliminate toys from easy reach in his new room. It's only a matter of time when we will be woken up by him pouncing on our bed once he figures out how to open his door.