our week with zeeke

Zeeke woke up with a fever Tuesday morning and it got higher as the day progressed. On Wednesday, he was in good spirits throughout the day but when late afternoon came around, Steve discovered his fever had returned. The next day, the same thing happened, but that did not prevent Karen & Zeeke from dropping in to see Santa at Zeeke's day care. Zeeke bopped along to the Christmas music and he was so happy to see all of his friends and teachers again. The one person he was not happy to see was the guest of honor! When placed on Santa’s knee, he let out a wail & reached for Karen, signaling that the visit was over!

Zeeke started the week off with the word "airplane" when he saw one in a picture book. Later he added "flying" and started making his toys fly. His interest in aviation is probably linked to Karen using the old "here comes the airplane" trick to get him to eat. Some of his favorite books this week were about colors. At one point, he pointed to Karen’s blue shirt and said "blue" and then pointed to his blue PJs and said "blue."

Zeeke's favorite book of the week: Pete the Cat: Wheels On The Bus by James Dean

On Friday, we all went to Steve’s holiday party at work. Zeeke sampled some food and enjoyed kicking a ball around the long hallway, then he hung out with the big kids, coloring with crayons and experimenting with highlighters.

On Saturday, we went to South Street to do some last minute Christmas shopping and eat some Middle Eastern food. Zeeke’s appetite has been almost non-existent since getting sick, so we were hoping to coax him to eat by getting him some tasty french fires.

On Sunday, we went to Steve’s parent’s house to celebrate an early Christmas. Zeeke had a great time seeing his cousins, opening presents and chomping on corn chips. Zeeke had a blast at one point getting everyone at the table to do perform the same song and dance move, pointing and glaring at anyone who dared to resist. Once he had everyone going, he had even more fun by ordering us to "Stop!" and then gleefully yelling "Go!" once he was ready to make us move again. Zeeke was too excited from all the activity to take his regular nap, but thankfully took a cat nap on the car ride home. Then he had a “play date” with Lindsay while Steve & Karen went out for a rare night out on the town with visiting friends.

Zeeke has been a little love bug lately. He loves to snuggle up with both Karen and Steve and will give out kisses when requested. His sense of humor is really growing. His laughter has become more robust, especially when we swing him around or blow raspberries. He continues to sleep past 7:00pm, is eating up a storm and looks taller every day. This week he's been demanding the same books over and over again before bed.

While Steve was unpacking groceries, Zeeke saw a pickle jar and cried out "Pickle!" in delight. We were amazed since the only time he's had a pickle was at Thanksgiving. He had a lot of fun eating it. Zeeke has also started linking words together, requesting a "yellow apple" at the grocery store, pointing out a "purple circle" or demanding "green peas" (he likes them frozen when he's teething). He said his first three syllable word this week when he went over to the table, said “umbrella” and then brought the umbrella to Karen.

Another word Zeeke surprised us with this week was "pizza," so on Friday we met up with Dena at Birra to partake of their happy hour pizza special. Afterward, we all had a lovely walk along Passyunk Avenue, taking in the Christmas lights. Zeeke amazed us by happily riding in his stroller, which is very unusual for him.

Zeeke's favorite book of the week: Mouse Shapes by Ellen Walsh

Saturday was Zeeke’s last music class for this semester. After his nap, we took a stroll in the falling snow to a craft fair a few blocks away. Zeeke actually looked up at the snow and smiled, a dramatic turn from his prior negative experiences with it. At the craft fair, he grabbed a cute handmade bird stuffed animal and promptly wiped his nose on it. Sold!

Sunday we had brunch and a play date with Sharri, Paul & Nate. The boys had a blast dancing and playing with Nate’s awesome toys and the grown-ups even got to spend some time talking to each other! After his nap, Zeeke & Karen scooted off to the library to check out some new books.

Zeeke has been going through a physical and mental growth spurt.  He looks taller every time he wakes up and is busting out new words every day. It's really interesting trying to figure out where he learned them, because it sometimes seems like he's just plucking them out of thin air.  But the best thing about these growth spurts has been his sleeping.  After some some fairly grueling months, he's begun sleeping through the night again and even sleeping late.  The 7:30 wake-ups sometimes leave us a little more rushed in the morning, but they're heaven compared to hearing his wailing cry at 5:00 am.  During the weekends, he's even expanding the duration of his afternoon naps.

Zeeke loves to be dizzy.  If no one else wants to spin him around, he'll do it himself, usually until he falls down.  It's a crucial element in all of his dancing.  He also likes to circle things.  If we have his mattress pulled out to change the sheets, he'll run around it dozens of times howling with laughter.  And he's invented a new game, a sort of two-player Duck-Duck-Goose..  While Karen is sitting on the floor, Zeeke will circle around and around her waiting for her to grab him.  After she's caught him a few time, he'll switch directions to try and throw her off.  But if she misses him too many time, he won't wait to be caught and will instead just throw himself down into her lap.

Zeeke's favorite book of the week: Colors by Sara Anderson

Zeeke has been really enjoying puzzle toys this week.  Whenever he completes one of the parts, we clap & say “yay."  He loves the praise so much that he can't help but join in and clap for himself.  Saturday, Liz taught him to throw his hands up in the air when he says "Yay."  He's very into shapes this week.  He's always loved circles--"KIR-KULL!"--but he totally surprised us by busting out the word "oval."  We're still working on the pointier shapes, but he's digging any book about them.

Zeeke's favorite book of the week: My Turn to Learn Numbers by Natalie Marshall

On Tuesday, his day care held an amazing Thanksgiving feast for the children.  Zeeke’s favorite part was the cranberry sauce.

Thursday, we went to Thanksgiving with Steve's family.  Zeeke had a great time with his cousins Avery, Becca, and Connor.  He had more cranberry sauce and Avery persuaded him to try a pickle which he loved.

Saturday, after music class, Steve & Zeeke visited Karen at the library.  He always has a great time there, especially enjoying the kids computer games.  After his nap, we went to Liz & Kate’s tree-trimming party.  He made lots of new friends and showed off his knowledge of letters.

Sunday, we went for a walk to buy a loaf of bread, but Zeeke was having such a good time walking that we kept going.  He walked almost the whole way to the playground (over half a mile) on his own two feet.  We sang the whole way and he stopped at one point to peer into the windows of his favorite restaurant Birra.  After his nap, we drove up to Chestnut Hill for a play date and dinner with the Jen, Kim & the twins.  The boys had fun exploring a hidden playground they'd discovered in their neighborhood.

Zeeke can now count to ten! It's pretty incredible how fast he's picked it up. He's also suddenly manifested the ability to identify pictures of farm animals and can even tell us what sounds they make. Of course, he still loves his letters too and is only struggling with a few of them now.

When he finishes what he's eating, he says "all done," which is either his signal that he wants us to give him more or that he's done eating. Other new words this week are "taxi," "comb," and the one that every parent loves to hear, "no."  Another new thing with him is that when we go into his room in the morning, he won't let us take him out of the crib until he's handed us each and every stuffed animal and blanket to be taken out first.

Zeeke's favorite book of the week: Wild Animals of America ABC by Hope Ryden

Saturday, Zeeke wowed Steve with his psychic abilities. While they were driving to music class, Zeeke was in the back of the car in his backward-facing seat happily babbling to himself when he suddenly shouted "Kitty cat!" and then a split-second later a cat ran in front of the car! When they got back from music class, Jen, Kim & the twins were arriving at the house for a play date! After playing for a while, we all went to lunch at Birra, where the boys all did a great job. The waitress even brought them out raw pizza dough to play with. After a nice long nap, the three of us went to Clark Park where our friend Stephanie was having a s'more party. Zeeke had fun running through the leaves.

Sunday, we headed to West Philly again for a play date with Abby and Moira (and of course their parents). A fun time was had by all and then we joined Matt, Tara & Moira for lunch at Han Dynasty, where Zeeke got to eat lots of noodles and green beans.

Zeeke's love of the alphabet continues and we amazingly lucked into a hand-me-down set of Leap Frog talking alphabet magnets which have kept him very busy. He solidly knows about 75% of his alphabet and is now showing an interest in numbers as well, which lets us add some counting books to his bedtime reading. Zeeke has started telling us whenever he finds something hot ("Hoooottt....HOT!"), whether it's the radiator, the shower or his supper. Speaking of supper, while we were grocery shopping this weekend, Zeeke demanded that we buy him this non-descript bag of frozen ravioli. Steve was skeptical that he'd actually eat them, but Karen trusted and it turns out that the kid knew what he wanted! He'd finish one plate of raviolis and immediately starting signing the word for "more."

Zeeke's favorite book of the week: Numbers by Sara Anderson

Saturday was music class and a trip to the library. Sunday was an afternoon at the playground where we ran into Sharri & Nate..

Our favorite little guy is now one-and-a-half years old this week!

Unfortunately, Monday morning Zeeke woke up with a fever. He was fever free by Wednesday morning, but it was so sad to see him not his usual self. He became even clingier with Karen than usual and insisted on napping in her arms like when he was a baby. Fortunately, Grandmom & Pop Pop (Steve's parents) were able to come for a visit on Monday. Before they even knocked out the door, Zeeke saw them out of the window and started saying "Pop Pop." Zeeke enjoyed playing with them so much, he actually forgot about Karen long enough for her to sneak away and do some chores.

On the third day of being home and after a visit to the pediatrician, Zeeke & Karen made a special trip to Target to buy some magnetic alphabet letters. Zeeke was so happy with the purchase that he fell asleep on the way home clutching the still wrapped box in his hands. Before long, the letters were being displayed everywhere, including the fridge, the radiator, his easel.

On Thursday we knew Zeeke was ready to go back to school when we told him where we were headed and he shouted, "Go, go, go, go!" as he walked over to get his hat and coat.

One of his new games in the mornings is to swing open the bathroom door while Steve is in the shower, shout "Hi!" and then dash away, laughing gleefully.

Zeeke's favorite book of the week: ABC Kids by Basher

Saturday, after music class and a nap, Steve & Zeeke headed out to New Jersey for a double birthday party at Stephen, Amy, Vivi, and Little Stephen's house. Zeeke had a great time following around a group of much older girls and trying to insinuate himself into their games. Everything they did was fascinating to him and whenever they laughed, he'd throw his head back and laugh right along. Later, his mania for letters compelled him to tear down the Happy Birthday sign letter by letter, so that he could hold them up and tell people which letter was which.

Sunday, after trips to the park and grocery store, we went to Karen's library to stock up on books. Zeeke had fun playing with our friend John there and was thrilled to find fun alphabet games on the kids computers.

Zeeke was a lime green dinosaur for Halloween. We had doubts that he would stay in the costume for more than a few minutes, but actually liked it (Thank you, Jen & Kim!). First, he wore it to day care for their costume party, where amazingly one of his friends was wearing the same exact costume. Leah & Jason brought Zack in his Winnie the Pooh costume and Sharri brought Nate in his blue monster costume. We all hung out on the stoop, dishing out candy and then walked around the immediate neighborhood for a little trick-or-treating.

Zeeke now has two hooks in the foyer for his hats and coats. We’ve started having him hang things up on his own. He got a Halloween card from Omi (Karen's mom) this week. He really likes getting things in the mail. The card had a ghost on it and Karen taught Zeeke to say "Boo!"

On Saturday we went over to Liz & Kate's for dinner. Zeeke had a ball, following around their three cats, laughing in delight and calling out, "A cat! A cat!" and "Hi, cat!" Herding cats was hungry work, though, so it was fortunate that Kate had grilled and smoked a variety meats and Zeeke tried it all. He wasn't shy one bit about stealing as much of the meat from Steve & Karen's plates as he could eat.

On Sunday, we went to Maryland for an early Thanksgiving at Karen's dad's house.  Zeeke got to spend some great quality time with Grandpa Bob Bob & Grandma Joy. It was a beautiful fall day and we got to spend a lot of the afternoon playing outside.

Zeeke is madly in love with letters. He points out every sign we see and makes us tell him what the letters are. At bedtime, he demands alphabet books and as soon as we get from A to Z, he makes us read them over again. He studies them with such determination but also laughs with glee when he sees them.

He's also gotten very fond of sticky things, having way too much with post-it notes, blue painters tape and stickers. He gets so frustrated when they lose their stickiness. Fortunately, that never happens with his gear magnets. He loves almost all of the music we do now, especially when all three of us get up to dance together to Prince or Janelle Monae or Daft Punk.

On Friday, Karen's mom came to visit. Karen & Zeeke took her out to dinner at Birra with our friends David & Steve, then back to their house for dessert. Zeeke squealed with delight, following their cat around and saying, "Cat! Cat!"

Saturday, we took Zeeke to the Passyunk Fall Festival where we saw lots of the neighborhood kids in costume and someone gave him a little pumpkin. We met up with Leah, Heather & Zack, then went to the park and hit a little flea market where Zeeke insisted we buy him an old Rubik's Cube.

Sunday, we met up with Jen, Kim & the twins at Morris Arboretum for an autumn photoshoot. After many great photos and videos were captured, we all went to dinner at Iron Hill Brewery. Zeeke tried the meatloaf, but much preferred the French fries that came with it.