Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Mystery photo on iPhone


Mystery photo on iPhone
Originally uploaded by Drumtech
Funny to get these on my phone every once in a while. Who took this one?

Sunday, December 07, 2008

What a morning, again

All of this happened before 10am.
-Zadie knocks her mouth against the piano and almost gets a trip to the ER, but we are able to manage the bleeding.
-Zadie then pees in the toilet with a kid seat for the first time!
-Zoe, not to be outdone then poops in the toilet for the first time!
-Zadie then poops in her first new big-girl pants she got to wear
-Zadie then pees in her second pair of big-girl pants she got to wear
-Zadie, now wearing a diaper again, walks into a wall corner and knocks herself down and cuts her head.

I wonder what is going to happen next!

Friday, October 31, 2008

Cheerleaders


Cheerleaders
Originally uploaded by Drumtech
Coppin' some mile high attitude too.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Group tv watching


Group tv watching
Originally uploaded by Drumtech
Thought their impromptu seating config was worth a photo

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

We've been tagged


We've been tagged
Originally uploaded by Drumtech
I wonder who is responsible for the graffiti on our front door

Monday, August 18, 2008

Zack swims in the deep end!

So I honestly think that after watching all the olympic swimming, it caused Zack to turn a major corner in swimming. Before, he was always wary of the "deep end" of the pool (which is 80% of the pool). He would be happy just playing in the shallow end and never wanted to venture out.

So the other day in the shallow end, Zack says to me that he want to jump into the deep end together. I quickly agree and suggest we swim back to the nearby edge after we do. We do it, and Zack is totally fine doing it all himself. Jen then daringly suggests that we try and jump in and swim to the other side of the pool across the deep end. Zack doesn't hesitate, and so he and I both jump in and swim to the other side! Zack didn't need any help! He did it a few times without even using his hands and just trying dolphin kicks and swim kicks. And he tried a few time with big arms. We couldn't believe it! He even climbed out of the pool all by himself after reaching the edge, so now he's officially waterproofed at 4 1/2!

He then wanted to dive down and touch the bottom and pick up toys at the bottom of the 9 ft pool. So I helped him, even had him hold on to my back like a backpack as we went to the bottom. He's now a super fish!

Zoe talks in sentences

Here's an update that is long overdue.
Around 18 months, Zoe said her first sentence. She picked up a wrapper on the table, gave it to me and said , "This is trash."
It's great to see that she likes identifying things, and also helping! Since then she's been saying many 3-5 word sentences. She knows how to correctly interchange "I" and "you" when repeating sentences she hears, for example if I ask "are you poopy" she will say "yes, i'm poopy". She's very happy about trying to say the whole sentence, and you can see a look of concentration when she tries it.

Zadie has picked up on the baby signing more than Zoe, and Zadie relies more on hand signs to communicate what she wants.

Zoe's become very opinionated when it comes to clothes, so that when I dress her in the morning, I have to present her an option because she often resists what I first try to put on her.

18 Month Update

Ok, so it is nearly 6 months late, but here's the 18 month update for the girls. I had lost the stats and just found them again
Zoe:
Weight: 23#1oz = 25%
Length: 33 3/4 in = 95%

Zadie:
Weight: 22# = 10-25%
Length: 32 in = 50%

I forgot what the tooth count was at the time, but I believe that Zoe still only had 4 teeth, even at 18 months, and all of Zadie's teeth had come in. We've started to see Zoe pull ahead in size, and she's becoming noticeably bigger.
The girls were described to us by their daycare teacher in one word:
Zoe=contemplative
Zadie=spunky

The 2 year update will be coming in a week or two!

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Zack art


Zack art
Originally uploaded by Drumtech

Thursday, August 07, 2008

What a morning!

I had "one of those mornings" today, as a single dad. Jen left for work at 6:45. I had to get 3 kids ready and take 4 kids to school at 8:30.

Well, the short answer is every one is ok, but the family had an epic fail this morning. the only things missing were an injury or runaway dog.

First, Zack. Zack promised that he'd get dressed before his friend and classmate Gregory (and his new puppy) came over at 7am, but somehow that didn't happen. Poop #1 called and Zack was busy with that but made a mess and didn't clean himself well. Gregory was on the way in while I got a crying Zack back to the bathroom to get cleaned and into his bedroom to get dressed.

Then I go visit the girls, and am greeted with Zadie saying "uh-oh". Sure enough there is barf all over her crib and toys and a MED (massively exploded diaper) (which is Poop#2) to the point i couldn't tell the difference between the barf and poop. So she gets cleaned up up while Zack gets dressed and plays with Gregory. Zadie needs an instant bath because she has a mix of stuff all over her. Zoe is wandering around and trying to pull the soiled toys and stuff out of Zadie's crib so I try and quarantine the room and have Zoe wander with the boys while i clean Zadie. Zadie gets washed and dried (and gets upset that I used the doggie towel instead of the bunny towel) and dressed, then I tackle Zoe

Zoe was fine until I changed her (Poop #3) when it was clear she has a diaper rash which put her in a very foul mood. I barely got the diaper on, and she wouldn't let me put any clothes on her and began her Zoe-flop-tantrum. I left her alone in the living room because Zadie had just begun her tantrum. I close the door to the girls room to keep anyone else from going in there until i clean it.

Zack and Gregory had gotten some crackers out of Gregory's lunchbox, and Zadie saw them and wanted them, but she didn't get them and then became very upset. Gregory was nice to give her some to appease her when I asked and end the Zadie tantrum. So it's on to breakfast with a dressed Zadie and naked Zoe. I've run out of milk so I can't feed the kids what they are asking for (cereal) so it's apple juice and cereal bars and muffins for all. Zoe has calmed down a bit so it's off to get dressed again.

Back to Zoe's room I open the door and realize that the dog Tobey was closed inside. Not a problem until I realized that he had been "cleaning" the soiled bed toys and had decided to leave a small present (Poop#4) on the floor nearby. Zoe is calm enough now that she picks out her clothes (a pooh shirt, or should I say "poo" shirt). At this point I put on Sesame Street to enchant the kids while I clean up the house and try not to lose my breakfast. We got off to school and the drop off was fine. Zadie ate well, is in good spirits, no fever, and was totally fine.

By the numbers:
5 people in the house
4 poops (in the house)
3 full-fledged tantrums
2 dogs
and 1 barf episode

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Blah Blah Poopy

That is the new phrase that is sweeping the household. Zack was playing around with those toy cell phones that you can record a bit of your voice on. The last thing he recorded sounded like he said "Blah Blah Poopy", so then the girls played with the toy and when they pressed the button for the replay of the recorded bit, they heard it over and over. So now Zoe's been grabbing other phones and instead of saying "Hello" in her cute voice, she now says "Blah blah poopy!"

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Zoe goes

potty! At 21 months, Zoe has peed in the potty! a full year before Zack had done it. It was quite amusing how it happened too. We still haven't unpacked from our move, and the kids potty was up on a shelf, visible from the dinner table. Zadie saw it and started pointing at it and saying "potty! potty!" so we got it down and allowed her to sit on it, first with pants on, then without. Nothing happened, except for Zoe taking interest in what was going on. So Zoe came over to have her turn at sitting on the potty. We took her diaper off, and she was happy sitting on it for 20-30 seconds at a time and standing up and looking in. She repeated this a few times until we saw that she had peed! It was very shocking for us since we didn't expect interest from the girls this early, but it doesn't surprise us since they, especially Zoe, are very aware of what they do in their diaper and when. Hopefully we won't even need to buy size 5 diapers at this rate.....

Monday, May 26, 2008

Monday, May 12, 2008

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Picture Day Drama

Today is picture day at school, and after struggling with a 20 month old Zoe who suddenly decided she had fashion opinions, I had to get Zack changed into a more appropriate shirt since he dressed himself. He asked me to help him put on his white shoes which he rarely wears, which I did, curiously. Then I said I was going to put on striped colored shirt on him, and he threw a fit saying he didn't want to wear that shirt, he wanted to keep on the tshirt he was wearing. I couldn't understand his strong reaction until he said that his current shirt has white on it, and the shirt I was giving him didn't have any white.
"Why do you need white on your shirt, Zack?"
"Because it is pitcture day and they are taking black and white pictures." he replied.

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Ahh, fudgcicle!

From our friend Harry, who took the pics:



Zack has just dropped his fudgicle and the magnitude of the disaster hasn't quite dawned on him yet.



The waterworks are flowing now while the stunned crowd looks on. Zack got over it very well. Mackenzie shared her colonel crunch with him. Then we rinsed off Zack's so he made out like a bandit.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Daily Snaphot

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Just a little fun with Zoe and Zadie at school.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Leave it to the Beaver?

There is a new mystery scapegoat in Zack's life. It is The Beaver. No one knows where this beaver came from or how he started getting the idea that The Beaver is responsible for misdoings, but one thing is clear: The Beaver is bad. His teachers have no idea where he got this, we have no idea, however among his friends at school, references to The Beaver are sometimes overheard.

Two nights ago Zack got up to go potty around 10pm, I left him alone in the bathroom and then checked up on him since he was taking a while. There was toilet paper all over the floor. I asked Zack what happened and Zack said "The Beaver came in and did this. The Beaver is bad."

Last night while brushing his teeth Zack spilled a cup of water and then told me "The Beaver has a machine that bumps my hand and makes me spill water" It took all my strength not to laugh at all this while I'm trying to understand more about this elusive naughty Beaver.

I'm sure there will be more episodes...

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Monday, February 25, 2008

Zoe helps clean up lunch



After lunch one of Zoe's teachers was cleaning the table and sweeping the floor. After reading books for a while Zoe came over, picked up a plate gave it to her. Next, she picked up an apple. The teacher said said “Throw it away in the trash.” She did and then picked up the spoons and cups from the table and tried to also throw them in the trash can. After the table was cleared she washed the table with water, helped sweep and pushed the cart out of the room.

Friday, February 15, 2008

The effects of sugar

Zack insisted that we make 'chocolate hearts' so Andy went and bought a heart cake mix for kids that we baked and decorated. Of course, Zack had also eaten as much of his Valentine's Day candy as he could get away with, licked a bit of the cake batter and tasted the decorations. So suddenly, Zack says (after eating his piece of his heart cake):

"Mommy, I want to run around the block."

So at 8:30pm last night, if you were in Redwood City, you might have seen Andy, Zack and Tobey running down the sidewalk.