Lesson Learning

All of a sudden, I realized that we can really teach Zayd things. I mean, I have been teaching him all along, but with the recent language EXPLOSION (honey is a new word from the weekend), you realize how easy it is to teach Zayd something new. Words are the easiest, songs are pretty simple too. Some things, such as holding your fingers to show 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 require dexterity he just doesn't have (1,4,5 are good to go!) but that will probably pop up just like the words did. And other things are going to take time. We worked on sharing this weekend. We went to the store with the specific purpose of buying cookies (and the week's groceries) so that we could share some with our friends. The cookie buying was exhilarating for Zayd especially since they had samples and he got to taste two kinds and pick his favorite. The sharing maybe ended in tears. But he did successfully offer a half-eaten chocolate snicker-doodle to the toddler visiting across the street. So some things, even things that a month a go Zayd was often recognized for!, will take some time.

This weekend we also worked on gratitude. In this amazing neighborhood of ours, we have received a prepared dinner 3-4 nights a week since Zahra was born. (Often with a dessert!) The neighbors pop over, deliver a meal and meet the babe. It is wonderful. And requires a lot of thank you notes!

One special neighbor also offered a bag FULL of wooden cars for Zayd to enjoy since her kiddoes had outgrown them. I thought he would LIKE them but I had NO IDEA. We now have to take these cars everywhere with us in our Elmo backpack. The night he got them, we had to push bedtime back at least thirty minutes before we could separate him from his car sorting mission. Here he is the night they arrived on our doorstep:

The amount of time he spends on independent play has skyrocketed with the arrival of these cars. And it couldn't have come at a better time! (According to Zahra...)

To express our sincere gratitude, Zayd and I worked together on a thank you card this weekend for the nice neighbors and included a sheet of Batman stickers.

Then we just had to deliver it, unscathed!

I love this lentil and can't believe how he has grown. I'm so happy to have a record of Zayd's first thank you note.