Preschool Open House

Last night we had an open house at Zach's preschool.  It was great to go there and check out his classroom, let him show us all around, and get to know his teachers a little more.  Zach was very excited as we got there, and he wanted to show us right away where he hangs up his coat every day.  Then he took us into his room, and his teachers had a map of things for Zach to show us.  We got to see some cool projects Zach has done at school, the job chart, Zach's cubby, and more.  Zach of course found a book about firefighters while we were there and wanted me to read it.  It was a little longer than I realized at first, so I had to skip over some parts.  I don't know what I'll do when Zach starts reading and catches on to those little tricks.  Not that I do that often, but sometimes he picks books that are just so long and boring.  Anyway, here's a picture of Zach with his leaf creature that he created.

And here is Zach in the telephone booth.  I love all the dramatic play stuff that they have at his preschool.  It's neat to hear that he got to "work" at McDonald's, be a vet, etc.  

I've been happy with Zach being at this preschool since he first started because it's been very obvious how happy he is there.  Going to the open house only confirmed all of those feelings.  Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Gray, Zach's teachers, are wonderful, and they had nice things to say about Zach.  We were a little worried that he might be Mr. Talkative at school, since he seems to talk nonstop at home, but Mrs. Gray said that when it's time to be quiet, Zach is.  She said that they look forward to Zach getting there every day because he always has a story to tell (imagine that), and that his stories usually involve helping somebody and they end with, "It's really hard."  We've heard that a lot.  Usually he randomly throws in a, "Well, it's really hard, ya know."  I'm sure some of you can hear him saying this in your heads.  Anyway, it was good to hear that he's doing ok and that he has friends there.  It's so hard to get information from him, and when he does tell us stuff, sometimes it's hard to tell what's real and what he's made up.

On a different note, we decided to switch to cloth napkins in an effort to be more green.  Since making the switch a few days ago, I have served my 3 year-old pasta with marinara sauce, tomato soup (twice- we had leftovers), and chicken with a raspberry-pomegranate glaze, among other things.  Could I have picked food any more likely to stain new, white napkins?  I don't think so.

Finally, we're looking at car seats because we're getting ready to switch Drew over from his infant seat to a convertible car seat.  I'm looking at a few different Britax models, which is not what we have for Zach.  If anybody has any advice or has a seat they love, I'd love to hear your opinions!  We've been happy with Zach's seat, but I think the Britax may be more comfortable, and they get great ratings/reviews.  We'll probably move Zach's current seat to Mike's car and get both boys new seats for the minivan since we don't currently have anything other than a base for the infant seat in Mike's car.  It's nice to be able to put at least one of the boys in Mike's car in case we're not all doing the same thing sometimes.  So again, if anyone reading this has any advice or opinions on car seats, I'm happy to hear them.  Thanks.

Finally, one last Zach quote that I don't think I've posted here before.  This happened a couple of weeks ago.  We were at the grocery store, and Zach, who always tries to talk to the people bagging our groceries, said to the guy, "That Maggie gives me a headache!"  The guy was a good sport and asked Zach about Maggie, saying something like, "Maggie's not your sister, is she?"  And Zach told him that she is our dog.  It was just one of those funny, slightly embarrassing moments where you feel like you should explain to a total stranger how your kid just likes to talk for the sake of talking.

More Randomness

-This morning I was thinking more about what I wrote yesterday regarding Drew's favorite toys being dog toys.  About that time I took one of Drew's toys out of Maggie's mouth for about the 5th time in 10 minutes, and I thought to myself, "Drew loves the dogs' toys and the dogs, or Maggie at least, love his toys.  What is up with that?"  I keep taking his toys away from Maggie, and eventually they're all crusty with dog slobber, so I throw them away.  I suppose, then, that I shouldn't worry about Drew playing with dog toys, since they probably have less slobber than his own toys, right?

-Zach said to me while I was making lunch today, "Mom, I told Drew I was sorry."  I said, "Oh, that's nice.  Why did you tell him that?"  Zach said, "Because I was sitting on him."  At least he was sorry about it, I guess.

-We have officially gotten our first holiday card, and it's not even the middle of November yet.  Ridiculous!  We got a card from the people through whom we used to get our private health insurance, so it's not like it was a very personal card, but still.  They must not have much going on right now.  I also heard that there's a radio station around here that's playing Christmas music already.  I love Christmas music, but I really think it should only be played from Thanksgiving Day through New Year's Day.  Starting right after Halloween seems a bit excessive to me.

It suddenly got very cold here, so yesterday when we took the dogs for a walk, we had to get the boys bundled up in their new winter coats and hats.  Poor Drew kept trying to move from sitting to crawling, and with his big coat on would basically just do a face-plant on the ground.  

Here's another failed attempt at a Christmas card photo.

Here's Foudy just loving Zach up.

A Few Random Thoughts...

-Why is it that Drew's favorite toys are the dogs' toys and toys that say, "Not intended for children under 3" written on them?  It's like he has radar for these things.  I'll think I've sufficiently removed the dogs' disgusting tennis balls, squeaky toys, etc., and then I'll run to the bathroom and come back to find Drew happily sucking on one.  Gross.  He also really loves Zach's plastic food that goes with his kitchen.  Yesterday when we went to church, I made sure to pack a piece of plastic bread and plastic cheese, and they kept Drew very entertained throughout most of the sermon.  

-I'm so glad that we got leather furniture a while ago.  The massive amounts of spit-up that sometimes come out of Drew's mouth are much easier to clean off the leather than they would be on the cloth couches we used to have.  When do babies stop spitting up, anyway?  Zach never really spit up at all, so I keep wondering when this will end.  I've also made a mental note to really clean the leather furniture and get the carpets cleaned once the spitting up has ended.

-Zach really is his mother's child.  I put him down for his nap at his normal time today- about 2 o'clock.  I came down and turned on his monitor, and he was quiet.  Around 2:25 I heard walking around up in his room, though, so I went up to check on him.  He was back in bed when I got up there, but he was awake.  I asked what was going on, and he told me he had to get up to go into the bathroom to get his chapstick so he could have it right there with him in case he needed it.  I own about 10 chaptsticks- one for each purse, the car, my soccer bag, and about every room in the house.  I wouldn't want to be caught without my chapstick, and apparently, now, neither would my son!  His aunts will be so proud!

-I have on this show The Doctors right now, and they're talking about all the new drugs teenagers these days are doing, such as smoking salvia, snorting vodka and other alcohol (ouch!), taking lots of prescription drugs, etc.  Yikes!  Can I just keep my kids toddlers forever?

A Couple of Things Zach Said Recently

Thursday morning Zach came into my bathroom while I was drying my hair.  "Good morning!" I said.  Zach said, "Good morning.  Mom, let's make muffins for breakfast.  When I was in my bed God told me we should have muffins for breakfast."  I said, "Oh, really- God told you that?"  And Zach said, "Yep."  That was all the convincing I needed.

Today we got home from running some errands, and we were walking down the hall and I noticed some stuff on the wall next to the bathroom. I said, "What is all this stuff on the wall?!"  Zach came over and said, "It's not boogers!"  Mike and I had to laugh.  If you've read earlier posts, you may remember that Zach got in trouble once or twice for putting boogers on the wall, so he was very quick to point out this time that these were not boogers.  He was right, thankfully.  I think it was just dirt or something from one of the dogs.  The boogers comment just cracked us up.  

And, no post is really complete without a few pictures.  I was trying to get a good Christmas card photo with the dogs and the boys, which is next to impossible.  Whenever you stage a picture with our dogs, they look all big-eyed and uncomfortable, and Maggie always looks like she's just waiting for you to give her the ok to get up and move.  These attempts just didn't quite work out.

I've also been trying to get a good picture of Drew for our Christmas card.  I already have one of Zach that I want to use, but it's been more difficult getting a good one of Drew.  Here are a few cute ones that didn't make the cut.

8 Months Old

Today Drew is 8 months old. I can hardly believe that in four short months he'll be a year old already.  He's babbling more and more, and getting his whole body involved at times.  He sleeps from 7 p.m. until between 6 & 7 a.m., and he now naps twice a day for about an hour to an hour and a half each time.  I can't believe we've come that far with sleeping.  Thank goodness!  Drew is already getting better at crawling, even after just a few days. He is now eating 3 solid meals a day of baby food. He really loves fruit, especially bananas. Sometimes we have to trick him into eating veggies by putting them on the spoon with bananas or another fruit. He isn't eating table food yet, but he is very interested in whatever we eat and watches very intently. He loves Gerber Puffs- at least the sweet potato kind, which is all he's tried. He has gotten much better at picking them up and getting them into his mouth. However, we have to ration them and only give him one at a time because otherwise he just keeps stuffing them into his mouth before he swallows them. Rationing them doesn't even always work, as I found out yesterday. Zach, Drew, and I were out at a park to enjoy one of our last really nice days. We played for a while and then had a picnic lunch. After Drew finished his baby food, I was giving him Puffs, one at a time, while Zach and I finished eating. It seemed fine. Zach then went to play a little more before heading home, and Drew remained in the stroller. We were walking to our car about 10 minutes later and Drew started coughing- I figured he had inhaled his own spit or something. Zach stepped around to the front of his stroller and said, "Spit UP!" So I looked, and Drew had not really spit up- he had completely puked all over himself and his stroller. Thank goodness I had an extra outfit with me! Poor kid. It was gross.

So here's Drew getting his 8 month picture taken.  He was very happy this afternoon.

Here's his close-up.  Too bad it's a little blurry.  Again, very happy, which was nice.

And Zach wanted to be in one picture.  I had to wake him up right before taking these pictures, so he's still in his pajama shorts.  

Zach and Drew got their flu shots today. I gave Zach the choice between the nasal mist and the shot, and he wanted the shot. He does not like things up his nose! So we got to the doctor's office and Zach was being really brave about it, but he wanted Drew to go first. The nurse wanted to do Zach's first since she figured Drew would cry more, but she was fine with doing Zach first when we asked. So, we laid Drew down on the table, and I picked Zach up so he could help distract Drew. I could not believe it, but Drew did not shed a tear. He must have been too interested in watching Zach. He kind of lost his smile for a second, but that was as much of a reaction as we got. Next it was Zach's turn, and he decided to sit on my lap while the nurse did the shot. She did it and he got tears in his eyes and whimpered some. The nurse said she "really got him," whatever that means. She said sometimes you just get a spot and it creates a bruise and hurts more, and that's what she thought she did. As Zach was sort of crying I said, "It's ok, buddy, you're tough, right?" And Zach said, through his tears, "Yeah...kind of..." It was sweet. He felt better once he picked out 5 stickers and got his 2 cookies, of course.

I have not mentioned any political stuff on my blog because I get very conflicted about it all. I did vote for Obama, and I am happy he won, but I know plenty of people who were McCain supporters who had very strong arguments for their side. The thing I think is so cool, though, is that I am a witness to and a participant in this moment in history, when our country has elected an African-American president. If only we'd elected an African-American female president, then we could really say the barriers had all been broken down, but I'll settle for this. Obama has some big obstacles ahead of him, and a lot of promises to keep, and I hope he doesn't let us down.

This is Drew after I told him that our next president will be Barack Obama.

Ok, really, he was just doing that whole babbling thing where he uses his whole body to convey his message.  Shortly after this he was trying to grab the 8 month sign and he fell face-forward off the rocking chair.  I was right there and kind of broke his fall with my hand, and thankfully, he was unfazed by the whole thing.

Mobility!

After a month or more of trying, Drew finally got the crawling thing figured out. He's been getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth for a long time now, but until today he's only been able to go backwards. He has done pretty well getting around by pivoting and rolling, but he would always eventually get frustrated and end up on his tummy and flailing his arms and legs. This afternoon, however, after his nap, he got up on all fours and finally moved his knees, one at a time, and got to moving forward. He was enticed by Harold the Helicopter, once of Zach's toys. By this evening when Mike got home, he could move four or five steps forward. It's so cute to watch him because he looks like he's trying really hard and focusing very intently. Zach said this evening, "We're gonna have to get out the gate now!" I had just been thinking the same thing, which was kind of funny.

Halloween Fun & Some Other Stuff

Let's see, I think this is going to be a random post, and I'm not sure where to start.  While Mike was out of town for his class last week, Zach and I carved a couple of pumpkins.  Zach wanted to use his Halloween placemat as our "map" (that's what he called it).  It has a bunch of different jack-o-lanterns on it, and Zach chose the one that he wanted his pumpkin to look like.  He enjoyed scooping out the seeds.  Later we washed the seeds and baked them, and they are so yummy.  Zach and I carved 2 pumpkins together, and then later I carved the other two.  I think we did a pretty good job, if I do say so myself!

Here are the final products.  I'm most proud of the Hawkeye pumpkin- I did a much better job carving a tigerhawk than I generally do just drawing one!

Later that day Zach spilled a little milk.  It hit the floor and he said, "Oh, it looks like a boy in a bathtub!"  I looked at it and thought that was a creative assessment.  I could see why he thought it looked like that, and it made me think of the children's book It Looked Like Spilt Milk.  

Thursday night was trick-or-treat night here, so we got the boys all dressed up and ready to go. 

Friday was Halloween, and the weather was absolutely gorgeous, so the boys and I took the dogs for a walk and stopped to watch the construction on the street one block over.  They're paving now, which is a good sign that that road might be open before long.  When we got back from the walk we played outside.  I blew bubbles for Foudy, and Drew thought that was so funny.  Here he is enjoying the bubbles.

That night Mike and Zach took further advantage of the nice weather and went out to Living History Farms for their Halloween fun.  Zach got to do some more trick-or-treating there, they roasted marshmallows, and rode on the hayride pulled by two big quarter horses.  They had a lot of fun.  Unfortunately, the line for the horses moved very slowly, so they ran out of time at the end to see the firetruck and talk to the firemen.  Zach's own words regarding this were, "I cried a lot, but then I was ok."  He was so excited to tell me about everything when they got home.  I asked if he roasted a marshmallow, and he said yes.  I said, "I can see it on your face," as he had a ring of sticky marshmallow residue all around his mouth.  He wiped a little bit of it onto his finger, held his finger out, and said, "Yeah, you wanna taste it?  It was really good."  Only a 3 year-old would scrape his marshmallow residue off his face for his mom to taste.  Gross, but sweet.  

Here's Zach with a weird smile next to a giant pumpkin at Living History Farms.  

Last night I had a bachelorette party for my friend Katrina.  Katrina went to Wartburg with me.  Three of our other college girlfriends were at the party, too.  It's been a long, long time since I've "gone out," so this was a fun treat.  It was definitely interesting watching the people out at the bars the night after Halloween.  I  felt like one of the oldest people out there, and also the most conservatively dressed.  The costumes that most of the young women were wearing were shocking.  They barely covered those girls' butts.  Zach did tell me before I left the house, "Mom, you look so stylish!"  I didn't realize he knew the word stylish, but Mike swore he didn't tell Zach to say that.  Anyway, we had a fun time, didn't drink too much, but also didn't get enough sleep.  It was so fun to be with my college girlfriends again.  It felt like the old days!

Here are Sandy, Britt, Katrina, Kristi, and me.

Since I stayed downtown with the girls, Mike and Zach decided to have a sleepover in Mom & Dad's bed.  It sounds like it went ok, though Mike said Zach had a hard time settling down to go to sleep at first and again at 2 a.m. after he got up to go potty.  He was too distracted by having someone else in the bed, as well as having Maggie on the bed.  Mike told Zach how Foudy usually sleeps on the dog pillow in the corner and how Maggie sleeps at the foot of the bed.  Zach said, "I never knew where you guys slept!"  At one point Mike woke up with feet in his face, and realized that Zach had turned himself a full 90 degrees and was lying sideways on the bed.  Though it sounds like they had a lot of fun, I've already decided that sleepovers can be a special Zach and Dad thing.  I'll pass on that one.

Today we had beautiful weather again, so after Drew's morning nap we packed up a lunch and the whole family, dogs and all, walked/pedaled (Zach rode his bike) over to a park for some playtime and a picnic. It seemed like the first time in a while that we just did something fun as a whole family, and it was so nice. Things have been so busy lately, so this really felt like slowing down and just having fun, quality time together. What a perfect end to a fun weekend.