November: Zach's one-on-one times

Here are some Zachary one-on-one times that have been captured:

1. Zachary reading with mommy....in Zachy's bed (of course for the paci). BTW, we are reading a book that was a present from An Doy (Aunt Joy), the Pixar Cars book, or "red car book" as Zach calls it.

2. Zach "nice Wy-baby", where he was being gentle to Wyatt. Zach loves to be in his bed, and asks to all the time, not because it is comfy or he is so tired, but so he can get his dreadful pacifier.

3. Zach "pay khaki" (play like kitty), where he wanted to lie down like Dexter, in the sun.

4. Zachary with DaU. Both sporting new ear cuffs - though Zach uses his to warm his cheeks. Zach's hand is sporting his recent anti-camera movement. He thinks he is famous and we are the paparazzi I guess. Nut.

Nov. 13: Wyatt loves NY, NY

Start spreading the news....I'm leaving today....New York, New York.

So this is a cute little onsie given to us by a couple we were friends with in Duesseldorf. They lived in Manhattan before moving to Germany, and this was their son, Stanton's shirt. He is about 3 months older than Wyatt.

I love how big Wyatt's belly looks in this shirt. Hard to believe he's only 25th %tile for weight. I think he's catching up though.

The other two pictures are just of our happy boy.

November: Books, Books, Books!

Art and I both really love to read. Our desire is to pass that love onto our boys. It appears to have worked with Zach so far. He loves to look at all his books. We have recently joined the library, and have been "accepted" to the library's 2-yr-old story time. We were 'wait listed' due to the large number of "applicants". (I am enjoying talking about storytime as though it is university). Zachary is really enjoying that as well. So here are some pictures of Zach enjoying his books, and even a few of Wyatt getting into the action. While cooking dinner one night this week, I asked Zach to please read some to Wyatt to help mommy out. He even showed him the pictures! So cute, my heart swelled! Of course Wyatt loves any and all attention from Zach, so he was ok w/ the reading for the 20 minutes or so that Zach did it.

Wyatt loves Dexter Too!

Zachary has long been infatuated by Dexter - much to Dex's chagrin. Now Wyatt has discovered the lure of the cat. Anytime Dexter comes by, Wyatt is thrilled and does his very best to try and grab his tail. He also grabs handfuls of hair and pulls. Dexter, to his credit, has never swiped or bitten Wyatt, which in itself is a miracle. Poor Dexy, first he gets chased by Zach at every opportunity, gets "Khaki" screamed in his face by Zacy, and even reprimanded by Zach (which we don't allow btw) when he is on the table, but now he has to be careful to give a wide berth to Wyatt as well. For a bad cat, he is pretty good.
We have a video of this day where Wyatt rolls over on his belly to get Dexter and grabs a serious amount of tail. Needless to say, Dexter left.

Misc My boys

Just a few misc pics of my boys.

One of Zach's new "tv watching chair". The boy never ever gets to watch tv. So one night we asked him if he'd like to watch a part of a video and he got so excited. He ran to the playroom and dragged/carried his yellow chair [check out the August 2006 archive blog post, on the left side of the page, for the first time Zachary sat in this chair after we bought it] through the house and into the living room and plopped himself down in it, ready for some good tv viewing.

One where I put Zach and Wyatt (both awake) into our bed and went to take a shower. After coming back, this is what I see. Zach WAS laughing and making Wyatt laugh, but Zach currently has some issue with the camera. He says "no pictures" as though he's famous and we're the paparazzi.

A great one of Art and Wyatt.

One with Art and the boys, all wearing red, as requested by Zachary. And yes, Art's shirt DOES say "Mr. Right". Not at all embarrassing for him to wear that when we meet our pediatrician for the first time. :)

I guess at some point I'll need to get my picture taken so people don't forget what I look like. :)

Trick-or-Treat welcomes Poppi

We were very excited about Halloween this year. One, because Zach would get to go trick-or-treating when he actually knows what is going on. He didn't get to go last year b/c we were in Spain. The year before he was 5 months old and had no clue of course. Now the "has no clue" portion was experienced by Wyatt. The other reason we were very excited about Halloween was that Poppi was coming. Zach had a countdown for a week - "Poppi coming Zachy's house X day". We heard it a LOT. Unfortunately, he often got confused by the fact that Poppi was coming later (for Thanksgiving) with Grandma (though Zach won't stop calling her MeeMaw, so I guess MeeMa she is), Joanna "An JuiceNana", and Joy "An Doy". As we were driving to the airport I asked Zach "who are we going to get at the airport? - his reply "AN JUICENANA" then a pause "Poppi". [This must be inserted: Zach wore his Superman costume to the airport - much like his Oom Karl did when he was 3 or 4 years old to pick up his Oma.] Once at the airport though, it was all about "Where Poppi?". I have to say I was a bit nervous about their reunion. Zach is generally pretty shy around people until he gets comfortable, and he really does not like for people to touch/hold/etc right off the bat. I had nothing to worry about though, b/c once we found Poppi, Zach took off running down the moving sidewalk, Superman cape flapping, yelling "Poppi, Poppi" and ran right into his arms. It was wonderful for me to see; I can't imagine how great it must have been for Poppi. Well, I do know that he liked it so much that we had Zach do it again w/ Poppi filming. :)

After a fun time playing at the airport, we hopped back into the Fit ("mom red car") to head back to Evanston. Uggh. Traffic was terrible. It took us over an hour to get home, and the airport is only 17 miles from our house. So we got home at 7pm, ate the quickest dinner we could and got the kids dressed to go trick-or-treating. What a bust. By that time it was about 7:30 or so, and pretty much every house was done. We went to the first house and rang the doorbell. The guy came out and let Zach choose some candy, then some more candy. As we left, Zach said "Dat FUN". I was so psyched. Then it was over. 3 more tries and it was evident that Halloween in Evanston closes shop early. Poor Zachy. However, we knew we would have another chance the next night when we went to our standard Saturday night restaurant. Zach again wore his costume, and they gave him WAY too much candy. He loved it though.

Any disappointment Zachary may have had on Friday night was more than made up for on Saturday during a trip to Target. In previous trips to Target, somehow Zach got it in his head that Poppi would buy things for him, we would walk down the cars aisle for Zach and he would repeat over and over, mantra-style, "Poppi get dat". So on this Saturday, Poppi did indeed "get dat". Zach got to pick out any cars he wanted and Poppi got it for him. It was a shopping spree like no other. Zach's favorite was a very large Lightning McQueen (from the movie Cars) car. Zach got tired of us looking around at stuff - IN THE TOY AISLE - and kept pleading to go home "Saschy go home pay boo car". Several cars and trains later, we did go home and Zach did get to play with blue car. He was quite disappointed that we would not allow him to take it to bed w/ him for his nap. I told him that it was too big, and he would put the car on his bed and say "It fits". So cute.

Sunday started off bizarrely (is that a word?). We attended church that is held in a movie theater. The church rents a few theaters for their morning service. Now granted, this was the most comfortable church service ever attended (stadium seating), it was still odd to drop Wyatt off in theater 12 for nursery, Zach off in theater 10 for 2s Sunday School, and attend service in theater 4. Then, coming out of the service was also strange, b/c you get hit with the smell of popcorn and people queuing up (my European influence) for movies. So odd. Then, glorious afternoon, Poppi kept the boys while Art and I went out to lunch and then to a coffee shop. So so so so great to get out with just the 2 of us! The evening was topped off by having the exquisite Carmen's Chicago-style pizza for dinner. So gooooooood.

Monday was rough. We were up at 6am and out of the house by 6:30am. Zach woke up surprisingly well - generally he is very very grumpy when awoken early. But I rubbed his back and asked "do you want to go to the airport with Poppi?" and he was up in a flash. Art was a gracious husband and stayed home AGAIN (he did on Friday evening as well) with Wyatt. Zach and I took Poppi. He got there with plenty of time to spare and we were able to play cars for a bit before he went to security. On the way home Zach said "I miss Poppi", then was quiet for a bit before saying, with excitement "Poppi coming". So he gets the concept that Poppi left, but will be coming back.

It was a wonderful weekend visit! Thanks for coming Poppi. And sadly, no, the shopping spree did not cure Zachary's mantra-like "Poppi get dat" and "Poppi get Sachy dat". He said it about a large SUV limo parked outside our weekly restaurant. Sigh.

Ah yes, the pics. Zach as Superman, Wyatt as a puppy (but his hood isn't on). Costumes compliments of Nana. Zachary t-or-ting. Wyatt T-r-Ting. Zachary reading his favorite book to Poppi. Zachary getting his favorite book read to him by Poppi.

Oh yes, we cut Zach's hair. It is very short. We hate it. He looks so old. About 2 minutes after we cut it (which is a huge ordeal in itself), Art said "let's never cut his hair again", meaning it's so much cuter long and shaggy. Oh well.