Lately

We have been pretty busy lately. My sis and her kids were visiting, and Z loves it when they come, even though it means sharing his toys! Cousin A just turned 2, and he really seems to like it too, because every time Z is around he says Z's name over and over again! They played so well together. They shared their cars, played outside, and just generally were happy to be in the presence of one another.

Exhibit A, Z and his cousin A in the bath

 Other Cousin A with Jido

Spreading the love

 Again

Z's response to the questions, where's Z?

 

 Z impersonating Jido

 My fav pic of me and my sister's first borns :)

P.S. Please excuse some of the blurriness, I am still learning ;)

Long Story Short

Back in May, I decided that my hair was probably getting long enough that I could donate it and still have relatively long hair. I had done this once before, 10 years ago (almost exactly, which makes me feel super old)! I did Locks of Love then, 10 inches, and my hair was short, and my hair was not cute short.

This time, I was more patient and calculating and I decided to donate the required 8 inches to Pantene Beautiful Lengths. I had my reasons for switching to the Pantene program, besides that their length requirement was less. Anyway, Saturday before last was the big day, and I am so happy I did it. Maybe 10 years from now (or maybe sooner), I'll do it again (if I'm not totally grey by then!).

Who Needs a Pool?

The heat has been oppressive lately, in fact so oppressive with so little rain that our grass has been dying a rather slow and painful death, so we finally bit the bullet and got our sprinklers fixed so we could run them again. The perk, now Z can run around in the poor man's swimming pool! What fun!

I just noticed that the following items when combined could transform Z into Super Z or The Z Lantern (yeah, I know that was a bad one).

The Cape

The Mask

Evolution

This blog started out as a way for me to chronicle the events in our lives, namely pregnancy and our new life as a family of 3. When Z was born, it became an outlet for me to express my joys and my frustrations as a new mom. As Z has gotten older, I have reverted back to sharing our fun times, and typically leaving out our frustrations or trying times. It doesn't mean we don't have them, it just means that the pleasantries are outshining those frustrations. So, for your reading pleasure and as an homage to what the blog used to be, here is a mommy gripe:

We have a pretty steady routine with Z, wake up, go to school, come home, go to bed (with a few things mixed in). Hubs drops Z off, and I do the pick up, which ranges anywhere between 4:30 and 5:59 (they close at 6). You would think the pick up would be the good time, but you would be wrong. Many days Z is in a mood. He's hungry, thirsty, tired, etc., which translates to whining, sometimes the whole way home. Many days Mommy is in a mood, exhausted from her long day, annoyed by traffic, etc., which translates to silence. Yes people, I sometimes drive silently while my little sweetness whines in the back seat. In my defense, what can I do? Snap my fingers and get home? Go back there and put on a show for entertainment? Sing songs and make faces? (Okay, I can do that, and admittedly when the mood is right, I have been known to do that.) Sometimes I think he just needs to get it out of his system, and I require just a few more minutes of quiet.

So, there is my mommy moment, take it or leave it. Now onto the good stuff. Z still loves to read books, sing, and dance. He's gotten more and more into TV lately too, namely Blue's Clues, Dora the Explorer, and Sesame Street. He loves to count and go through the alphabet. The counting sounds something like this,

"wa, tooo, weee, hoor, fi, ick, seb-dy, ay, ny, deh... Yaaaaay!" 

He helps me sing the alphabet song by chiming in on the L, P, S, X, Y, Z and "Meeeeee." It's the most fun ever! Okay, that makes me sound like a freak, but I do get joy from these new skills. 

This weekend we went to Cheesecake Factory, where I took the following pics. With MM's mom's advice, I started the 31 Days to a Better Photo Series, which so far I am loving! My first lesson was about shutter speed, which I played with when I took these photos.

We went to Barnes and Noble for a little bit after we ate, and Z played with the trains. He absolutely loved it.

Z has been doing really well at school lately. A lot of his friends have moved up to the next classroom, which concerned me a bit that he hadn't moved up, but the teacher reassured me that he was next and it was really only because of his birthday not because he wasn't ready. She also told me that he sees his old friends at "recess" and they always meet up, hug or shake hands, and talk to each other. I really like hearing stories about how Z interacts at school. It's like a whole other side to his life that I don't get to see.

I have no idea what direction this blog will end up taking. For now, I'm just gonna let Z lead the way, and we'll all follow.

What's New?

What's new in the Gax house these days? We have just been trying to get back into our routines since coming home from Houston. It's great to leave, but it takes a while to adjust once you get back (another sign that we are getting old older). Z has been having some sleep issues, namely waking up in the middle of the night, playing for a while before falling asleep at night, and taking shorter naps. He has also been acting a little aggressive lately, throwing things and hitting people (I think the two are related, and have no doubt Dr. Weissbluth would agree). I am hoping things will return to normal soon enough.

He is learning new words everyday, which I am both enjoying and am thankful for. This morning, he was eating his "wa-fuu" and I asked him if it was yummy, and he replied "mummy!" He can identify about 70% of his 100 First Words book, and makes the sounds for car ("beep beep"), train ("too too"), airplane, and boat (which I can't really spell out) in addition to all of his animal sounds. He recognizes about 90% of the alphabet and in his own way can (almost) count to 10! He still isn't stringing words together. Like he'll say "hi" and "mama," but when we ask him to say "hi mama," we get a blank stare. In the pool last weekend he started saying "cooo" (cool) and "weeee."

My new favorite word: "O-kay" except in this context:
Me: Z! Timeout!
Z:...O-kay (grins)

We have been reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom to Z for months now. He has taken a hiatus from it but has rediscovered it recently. Last night I was reading and hubs was sitting with us, and when I got to "the whole alphabet up the..." Z yelled "Ohhh Nooo!" which is the next line in the book. So, now "Ohhh noo!" is part of his vocabulary as well.

His eating has improved tremendously since the cheese binge that was our Houston trip. I usually let him go to the fridge and pick out what he wants, but last week he said no to everything, so I closed the fridge, picked him up, put him in the highchair, and put what I wanted him to eat in front of him. In his crying rage, he tried to hand it all back to me one by one, then all of a sudden, he put a piece (it was chicken or something) in his mouth, then proceeded to eat whatever I gave him (they were all Z approved items, so nothing crazy here). But, it felt like a battle of wits that I won! Since then, it seems like he's trying almost anything we give him regardless of color, consistency, or texture (a lot of it doesn't pass, but at least he tries). That's big for Z, and here's proof. He's attempting to try a grape tomato.

All of this has taught me to try and chill when it comes to his eating. He'll come around when he's ready, and until then I'll keep offering different stuff.

Keeping cool with a popsicle, but Z would actually rather have "ice," which he requests by name quite often.

It has been stifling around this place, so we have been trying to hit the pool as much as possible. Right now, it has been limited to the pool at the condo where I used to live and my parents still have a condo, but soon, I'm hoping we'll hit the Y (if anyone else would like company in their pool of choice, we are willing and able).

These pics are all taken with my new 50mm lens (which I know nothing about, but heard it was great and am giving it a 'shot' (haha)).

 These pictures are of Z counting and pointing out the letters and numbers on the side of the pool

 

Love this picture

Z is so lucky to have 2 sets of grandparents that love and spoil him so much! We're spoiled too though, because it's usually a nice break for us when they're around!