our week with zeeke

Zeeke's been teaching himself some new skills this week. First he figured out how to slide the wooden stacking discs onto their peg, which required not just good aim, but also carefully keeping them perfectly level while lowering them. Saturday, he decided that he wanted to start walking up the stairs like an adult does, instead of crawling up them. Later that day, he figured it was time to climb to the top of the sliding board. Despite quite a few unintended slips, he was determined, eventually striking on the idea of using the sides as handholds, and pulled himself up to stand triumphantly at the top three times before moving onto his next activity.

But it's not all work. The boy's also happy to ham it up by wearing a bowl of food as a hat and then looking around to make sure everyone sees. He had a couple rough nights of sleep this week. We thought it was from bug bites at first, but it turned out to be tooth number eight!

Monday night, we went to the playground where we gave away Zeeke's push car to a friend with a new baby. Now that he can walk, Zeeke hasn't been as into it, and all of us were going a bit deaf from the clamor it makes. A few days earlier, Zeeke had become fixated on a green triangle someone had drawn on the ground and as soon as we set him down he headed right back to it to study it some more.

Saturday, we had a great play date and lunch with Elspeth & Augie, who was very generous in letting Zeeke play with his toys.  They sent us home with delicious leftovers and great hand-me-downs including a Thomas the Tank Engine hat that Zeeke treasures. 

Sunday, we went to the Please Touch Museum with Moira & Tara & Matt. Like last time, Zeeke surprised us by stacking the crude wooden blocks, which he almost never does at home. After that, we all went to Han Dynasty for a delicious feast. Zeeke was wild about the green beans. Then we all took a nap and ended up being late for dinner at Steve's parents. Zeeke had a great visit with Connor, Uncle Chris, and his grandparents.

Zeeke has begun creating art! This week he drew two masterpieces, crayon on paper. Of course, like all great artists, he does his best work while standing on the paper he's drawing on and tries to eat his crayons when he's not using them. Sometime he walks around and around in circles, stopping briefly to add one or two strokes to his work and then walking off again.

Zeeke has become more and more interested in how things work:  unscrewing and rescrewing lids, putting toys together, and opening and closing containers.  He rarely crawls anymore except when looking for something on the ground and he loves to start out his day by sitting down inside an old diaper box then rocking back and forth. He now spends his entire day in the toddler room at day care and they insist he's adapting marvelously.

Saturday, we drove out to Chestnut Hill and enjoyed a lovely afternoon with Jen & Kim & and the twins. The boys had a great time playing together on the patio.

Sunday morning, we took Zeeke to the playground and ran into several families who use Zeeke's day care. It was fun talking to them and encouraging to hear how confident they all were in the staff there. That afternoon, we went to Zack's second birthday party (that is to say, the second party celebrating his first birthday) and Zeeke once again had a great time. He loved playing with other kids' toys, trying new foods, and finding new adults to flirt with.

At day care, Zeeke still starts his days with the babies, but now spends his afternoons with the older kids. The director raved about how smoothly he's adapting to the transition and said he'll soon be with the older kids full time. We like the idea of him learning more skills from the big kids, but we're going to miss his awesome teacher Berta in the baby room.

Zeeke has really been exploring how things work this week, figuring out how things fit together (like his Lego-style blocks and the letters from his alphabet mat) and how they can be taken apart (like his sippy cup which he emptied over himself at day care one day).

On Wednesday, all three of us played hooky and went to the beach. Jen & Kim and the twins were spending the week in Ocean City, NJ so we joined them, having tacos for lunch, ice cream, rides on the Boardwalk and a great time hanging on the beach. Zeeke enjoyed digging in the sand with borrowed shovels and being dipped into the ocean like a teabag.

Saturday, while at Target, Zeeke saw a bottle of Thomas the Tank Engine bubble bath and immediately heard the tv show's song in his head and started to dance. He loved the bottle so much that we had to buy it for him even though the kid still doesn't take baths (only showers). That night, when the show came on and the theme song started, Zeeke walked into the kitchen and brought back the bottle of bubble bath so that he could dance with it during the theme song.

Also, that evening, the three of us had a nice date night. We had Thai food at Tamarind on South Street. Zeeke wasn't crazy about his Pad Thai noodles, but he thoroughly enjoyed himself after dinner dancing to music on the South Street promenade and meeting a dog named Delancy.

Sunday, we we went to the car show on Passyunk with Zack, Leah & Jason. Zeeke picked out a hand made stuffed fox from the craft fair. We bumped into lots of people we knew and Zeeke showed off his walking skills for everybody. Later on, we went to Aunt Dena's birthday party, where Zeeke had lots of yummy food and a ride on the rocking moose. He enjoyed having the attention of many lady admirers.

Zeeke's weekend fever evolved into a skin rash on his bottom and legs. Steve stayed home with on Monday (Zeeke's first sick day since starting school). His fever was gone but the slowly spreading rash was stressing Karen out, so we took him to the pediatrician, who assured us that it was a virus, no longer contagious, and would be gone in a week or two. He went back to school for the rest of the week and showed signs of being less stressed about being dropped off.

He has become obsessed with the alphabet floor mat in his room. He loves to pop out the holes in the foam rubber letters and numbers, then walk around with one in each hand. Sometimes he even tries to fit them back together.

Saturday, we had a great visit with Steve's parents. Zeeke adored playing with Grandmom's stuffed collie dog. After that we went to Zack's first birthday party. Zeeke had a great time playing with the water table, flirting with the adults, eating burgers, and even went swimming in a pool for the first time.

Two new teeth showed up this week (numbers 6 & 7) and Zeeke had a fever all weekend. He was in fairly good spirits, but mostly just wanted to lay around in our arms and watch television, which was actually a nice change from the frenetic blur he's been since learning to walk.

Prior to the fever, he was really enjoying the Alphabet train that his cousin Bella passed on to him and even happily playing independently with it. His other favorite toy is a wooden stacking toy we picked up for him. He likes to slide the circular blocks off the pole and try to fit them on again.

He's mastered walking around in circles to make himself dizzy. He enjoys taking the comb out of Karen's hand and then pretending to comb his own hair. When they sings "If You're Happy And You Know It" at daycare, he claps his hands, pats his head and sometimes stomps his feet.

After a great weekend together, Zeeke seemed disappointed that we sent him back to day care on Monday. When Karen went to pick him up that night, rushing back to him after her first day back at work, Zeeke refused to look her in the eyes (a punishing move he pulled on Steve when he returned to work as well). Fortunately, he couldn't hold his grudge for long.

Zeeke is now a full-on walker, only crawling when he wants to examine something on the ground. It's amazing how fast his mode of travel has transformed and how quickly it's causing his independence from us to evolve. He's more and more content playing by himself and seems to delight in deciding for himself where he wants to be at any given moment. Surprisingly, now that he's walking he's lost a lot of his interest in going up and down the stairs, often consenting to be carried between floors.

Zeeke is constantly showing us that he understands a lot of what we say. Sometimes he rolls his eyes when we're talking about him. He loves to shake his head no and laugh when we ask him questions. And most impressively, he can now point to his head and toes when requested.

Zeeke's favorite book of the week: Five Little Monkeys by Eileen Christelow. It was while reading this book to him that we learned Zeeke knew the word "head" because whenever one of the monkeys fell out of bed and bumped his head, Zeeke would touch his head and smile.

Wednesday was the fourth of July. We had a great morning at the playground where we met a bunch of great parents who appreciated Zeeke's dance moves. After the park, we went to Lindsay's barbecue for lunch, headed home for a nap, then went out to Kris & Ed's for barbecue for dinner. It was a fun holiday.

Saturday, after what felt like weeks of teething, Zeeke's fifth tooth finally broke through! We made a morning run to Babies R Us, where Zeeke picked out his own toy, an electronic steering wheel and dashboard for his stroller. After that, we went to lunch at Steve's parents in Jersey. That night, Zeeke ate ravioli for the first time and demanded that we start letting him eat whole cherry tomatoes without cutting them up. He's a very careful eater, but we were still both on the edge of our seats as he chewed away at it.

Sunday, we made an early morning jaunt to the playground before the heat got too bad, then spent an hour or two enjoying the free air conditioning at Ikea, where we bought Zeeke a tent. That afternoon, we headed back to Jersey for our niece Bella's third birthday celebration.  

This was Zeeke's first full week of school. His need to have something in each hand at all times, usually a couple of blocks, has intensified this week. Doing so definitely makes him feel more secure and seems to be helping him make the transition. His teachers say he's doing great usually one or another mentions being impressed with either how much he eats or how much he dances each day, neither of which surprise us. We were impressed though when he busted out some of the brand new dance moves that he'd picked up from his dance partner Berta. By the end of the week, we found him happy and chatty when we picked him up which was great.

Most nights, after his dinner, Karen & Zeeke go to the playground where Steve meets them after work. Zeeke is getting a little clumsier at the playground, like he's a little less focused on what he's doing. It's probably just that he has a lot of new things, like social aspects, on his mind. When the weather doesn't allow a trip to the playground, we make do with a quick trip around the neighborhood in his push car to look for dogs. He's been going to sleep at night very easily and with no tears, possibly because his new days are more exhausting, but occasionally wakes up in the middle of the night from a bad dream or teething.

After almost fourteen months, Zeeke and Karen stopped breastfeeding this week, replacing it with snuggling and cow's milk.  Both of them have handled the transition amazingly well.

Zeeke's favorite book of the week: Hooray for Pre-K by Ellen B. Senisi. It's a funny little book about what happens at day care that looks like it was made in the 70s, but Zeeke is obsessed with it. He makes us read it several times a day. Clearly, it's filling a need in his new life.

Saturday, we got out early for shopping at the Italian Market and Acme and then went to the playground where Zeeke fell asleep on Steve's chest for the first time in ages.

Sunday, Steve & Zeeke hung out while Karen had a coffee date with some other local moms, and then she and Zeeke got some quality time while Steve drove out to Jersey for our niece Riley's ballet recital.

Zeeke started day care this week, just Thursday and Friday, but it was a big deal for all of us. Zeeke cried at drop off (as did we all) and then again when we came to pick him up, a sort of emotional release, we think, combining a lot of feelings. Still they say he did great and they post pictures every once in a while so that we can see what he's up to. Zeeke has started to go to to bed without crying some nights, which is lovely.

Zeeke's favorite book of the week:  Jazz Baby by Lisa Wheeler & R. Gregory Christie.

Monday, Karen's mom came to help Karen work on the garden. Zeeke was very unhappy while they worked. Later they had a play date with Erin & Kate where they traded some toys.

Tuesday, at their weekly library visit, Zeeke did really well playing on his own and trying to mingle with the other kids. That night, we all went to Trader Joe's to find new things for Zeeke's lunch.

Wednesday, Karen took Zeeke to Chestnut Hill for one last visit with Jen & the twins before she has to return to work. Zeeke refused to nap with the twins as he has been doing the last 2 weeks. After dinner, they met up with Steve at the park.

Saturday, we had a great trip to the Please Touch Museum with Tara & Moira, then had lunch at Han Dynasty.

Sunday, Lindsay & Dena babysat while we brunched at the Moshulu.

This week, Zeeke officially started walking. On Thursday, he was watching Super Why and he just quietly walked across the room, towards the television, mesmerized by his show. Fortunately Karen was able to capture it on video. After that, he walked a little more each day.

Monday, Zeeke and Karen had a play date with Zack & Leah. They made Father's Day cards, which was Zeeke's first art project.

Tuesday, they went to Santore Library to pick out new books for the week.

Wednesday, they went to the art museum with Mark & Maya for the stroller tour and lunch, then headed off to Chestnut hill to try out a new park with the twins.

Friday, Zeeke & Karen went to visit Zeeke's new day care and get him used to the place. When they got back, Steve's parents took the three of us out to lunch. After that, Zeeke had to get routine blood work and then he & Karen spent a rainy afternoon at a play date with Nate & Sharri.

Saturday, there was a recital (of sorts) for Zeeke's music class. Afterward, Steve and Zeeke hung out in the childrens section of Central Library while Karen toured the rare books department, then we went to lunch at Birra, where Zeeke walked up a storm.

Sunday, we went to brunch at Hawthornes for Father's Day and then spent the morning at the Seger Park playground. That evening, we visited with Jenifer, Eric & Marcel.

Zeeke is getting very responsive to commands: opening and closing things, handing something to a specific person, and, of course, playing his part in the "so big" and "where's Zeeke?" games. He's getting very interested in his tongue, touching it at after eating certain foods or just when he's bored. This week we've introduced him to barbequed chicken and white bean dip. We've been trying to switch him from drinking just water (his favorite) to drinking milk and he's finally getting into it. He is giggling a lot these days, not just at pictures of cats and dogs (but mostly at them). He is still fascinated with watching videos of himself and often acts out what he's doing in the video.  He's still not quite ready to walk, but is clearly thinking about it, judging from some of his experiments and clowning around by using two walkers at once.

Zeeke's favorite book of the week: I Spy on the Farm by Edward Gibbs

Monday was the last day of Zeeke's music class. Of all the teachers, Maureen seemed like she was going to miss him the most. Later that day, Karen & Zeeke bumped into Jacob & his dad at the fountain.

Tuesday, Karen and Zeeke went to the storytime for older kids at Santore Library (just for the singing and dancing parts) and met another Zeeke there! Steve joined them for lunch at the playground.

Wednesday, Karen & Zeeke visited the Twins in Chestnut Hill. They met a great dog and checked out a park Zeeke had never been to before. Zeeke played in a sandbox for the first time!

Thursday, Karen's mom visited and taught Zeeke some sign language.

Friday, he took about eight steps to Karen in the morning. Later, they went to playgroup and met a bunch of new moms and their kids.

Saturday, the three of us hit some flea markets together and picked up a couple old of toys for Zeeke.  

Sunday, we were craving the hand drawn noodles from Dim Sum Garden.  Zeeke probably ate at many noodles as we did.  On the way back, we caught a little of the Pride parade, bought Zeeke a fox puppet that he loved, stopped by the antique store where Karen used to work to visit with the owners, and ran into Miss Lindsay (off duty from the library).