Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Zayd...Time Flies When You're Two

Zayd has really just been maturing so quickly, that I feel like I need a monthly update like I used to do when he was in his first year. Yesterday, Zayd turned 28 months and here's what's new:
  • If I leave him alone for three seconds he covers himself in something...
Marker


Lotion
  • He is singing ALL THE TIME. It makes my heart sing. (Because he has made very clear that I am not to sing with him using my actual voice.)
  • He has been wearing big boy underwear for three days now with pretty remarkable success. We seem to only have accidents while sitting in cushy chairs. (An unideal time for it, really.)
  • He is starting to really understand emotions and talk about them: happy, sad, mad, scared, and proud.

  • He is becoming such a boy!

  • He is into more big boy things - like dressing as a pirate for Peter Pan day at the local Twig bookstore. When Miss A was telling us what an awesome day it was going to be, he was "Ooh, wow!"ing all over the place. And he had never heard of a pirate.

Enjoying ice cream. It turns out there were too many kids at Peter Pan day for his sensibilities.
  • His art is starting to look like art and now has a permanent display place in the kitchen!



What hasn't changed:
  • He is still obsessed with books and reads alone in his chair
  • Zayd still squats like a true Desi
  • And has ridiculously skinny limbs
  • He still loves sensory play
Baking soda and lentils, before we added food dye and vinegar!

  • He still loves to snuggle up at bedtime and first thing in the morning

Monday, July 22, 2013

Zayd's First Day of Swim, Year Two!

They (you know who you are!) all said it was a terrible idea. That Zayd would NEVER swim again. That he would NEVER make it through a single class.

And while there was a little bit of this:



Mostly, he was pretty content and interested in what was going on! He did a great job sitting on his spot on the first step IN THE WATER, mind you! He swam from the middle of the pool to the steps three times, retrieved a truck from the bottom of the pool and even swam to the edge and pulled himself out. When he got to me (hiding) in the pool house, that's when he cried. But just for a hot minute!
He tried to say "Cheese" but somehow he has completely lost the ability.

More of his new fake smile:


But then he noticed baby crawling about!

 

For his treat, we got a Mexican Chocolate paleta. Delish!


Here are some of my favorite Zayd quotes from today:
"Mommy, me cry cry cry!"
When talking about getting the truck off the pool floor, "Me go, wheeeee!"
"Me swimming!"
"Mommy so proud! Me proud too."

We all got a little tougher today!

Thursday, July 18, 2013

The evolution of sensory play

When we went away to the beach our rice bin got over run with birds and had to be thrown out. Since then, Zayd has been digging holes in the backyard and filling the "rice" bin with dirt. I can't tell you how dirty everything is. Here are a few photos from last week's dirt play:









To minimize out dirt streaked laundry, today, we trekked out to Home Depot and found the perfect sensory material: white marble chips! He and his dump trucks love them. Now we just have to find a good excavator!

Friday, July 12, 2013

Zahra is SEVEN months old

Zahra is seven months old. Can you believe it!?

Here's what's new:
  • Zahra has definitely porked up at 15.5 pounds! That is approx one pound in one month. She is growing like a newborn. (Not that she particularly grew like a newborn when she was a newborn.) The other day someone told me that she was tall. Maybe, who knows? We don't get measured till nine months.
  • She is crawling like a fiend and even walking along the furniture. Look out world.
  • She is so stinkin' spunky. If she is reaching for a toy and you hand it to her, she gets super frustrated. Apparently Zahra lives by the motto that its all about the journey. That and "I can do it MYSELF, mom!"
  • She is eating solids that she feeds herself. It is kind of strange but at meals Zayd has all of his peculiar proclivities laid out on a plate or a sectioned tin and Zahra eats whatever I am eating. I have learned a lot these last 27 months.
  • She loves to make raspberries with her lips and tongue.
  • She might be signing the word milk to me. Well, she is definitely signing milk (as I have been), but I am not sure if she knows it.
  • Zahra cries when I leave the room. It borders between sweet and impossible.
  • She has become a terrible sleeper. Ah, the joys of the Mammen-babes.


We had such a great day on her seven-month-a-versary. It was one of those days when you feel like you know what you are doing. We accomplished so much:
  • a trip to the doctor
  • a trip to the bakery as a treat
    • during said trip Zayd said please and thank you

    • we got Zayd's haircut AT HIS REQUEST
    • we completed the week's grocery shopping AT ZAYD'S REQUEST
    • naptime
    • we made a cake!
    After all of that, though, I had to order a pizza. I just couldn't clean up the kitchen one more time.

    Breakfast of eggs and puffed wheat. (It takes a while for her to get chipper in the morning.)


    Whereas Zayd wakes up raring to go!


    Today was our first time to explore the tunnel! Zahra loved it. She loved it most when Zayd sat at one end and beckoned her. She cried like a banshee when Zayd came flying through it as she was cautiously navigating her way out.


    Here she is looking at Zaydie. (Look at that belly.)








    At night, Zayd said he wanted to make a cake for Rachel. So, that's what we did. (Rachel is not visiting, and it was not actually Rachel's birthday when we made her the cake during her visit. We play loose with the birthday rules around here.)




    Oh! And we got her ears pierced!