Zeeke turned six this week! He had a party at school, then came home and opened a bounty of Yokai Watch toys.
Conversations with Zeeke:
"Did you put something in your hair today?" "No. Why?" "Your hair feels really weird. Are you sure you didn't put anything in it?" "Well, I did put glue in my hair."
Steve: "Zeeke, you got crumbs all over the floor." Zoe: "And I got crumbs all over my chair!" Steve: "You two are an m-e-s-s." Zoe: "Whaaat?" Zeeke: "Monsters. He called us monsters." Steve: "No. I said mess! M-e-s-s!" Zeeke: "Too late to take it back, Daddy."
In the interest of getting these blog posts out, we're going to be focusing on photographs and things Zeeke has said for the foreseeable future.
Conversations with Zeeke:
"Victory tastes like candy and failing is a piece of cake."
Walking through the Italian Market: "What is that?" "That's ground lamb and next to it is ox tail." "Daddy, do the hunters give the animal a choice if it wants to be food?" "Well, these animals were probably raised on a farm, not hunted, but no, the animals don't get a choice." "Not fair..."
Hiking:
"Daddy, are we lost?"
"No, eventually this trail will take us back to Forbidden Drive."
"When?"
"I'm not sure, bud."
"That means we're lost."
Tuesday, Karen treated Zeeke to a donut for having a good day at school.
Saturday, Steve & Zeeke went to the Kite Festival at Penn Treaty Park. Zeeke once again won a cool trophy for his kite design. Unfortunately, he let go of the string about ten seconds after they got it into the air and it ended up trapped in a tree. But at least there was ice cream and a new playground.
Sunday was Karen's birthday. While Steve stayed home to make a carrot cake, Karen & Zeeke went to the Wagner Free Institute of Science, where they saw lots of cool exhibits and did fun science experiments. When they were done, they got burgers from Shake Shack.
Zeeke had a very hard week. On Monday, we found out the new couch we'd ordered was coming. Steve & Karen told him that there would be no eating or jumping on the new couch. This was bad enough, but to make matters worse, he hadn't realized they would be getting rid of the old one. Just the thought of losing the faithful old couch he'd spent so much of his life on sent him into a state of deep melancholy.
On Tuesday, the delivery men brought in the new one and took the old one out to the curb. Fortunately, his friend Zoe came over for a play date which made the transition a little easier. Plus he got to show her his magic trick with the new coffee table.
But the couch wasn't out of their lives yet. The next day, the garbage collectors refused to take it, so it sat in front of the house for another week. Every time Zeeke left the house or returned home, he ran to his old couch, awkwardly exposed out on the sidewalk, and sat down in it
As the days went on, the couch collected trash, bad smells and even graffiti, but Zeeke persisted in his visits until one day he suddenly became as exasperated by its lingering presence as his parents. He was finally ready to be rid of it. (Fortunately, Karen arranged to have it picked up on the following trash day.)
Conversations with Zeeke:
"Oh, no, Daddy, there's a giant spider behind us!" "What's his name?" "He has no name and he kills anyone who tries to give him one." "Harsh." "Oh, no! Everyone in the city tried to name him and now they're all dead!" "Whaaaaat?" "Oh, no! Now everybody in the city and in North America is dead!" "That's terrible!" "Oh, no! Now everybody on the Earth is dead! I better use my double heat beam on him." "Wait, you could have stopped him before he killed everyone on Earth? Why didn't you do that earlier?" "It's my legendary attack. I only use it if it's a super big deal." "A giant spider killing everyone on the Earth isn't a super big deal?" "It is a super big deal, Daddy. That's why I'm using my legendary attack." "Ok." "Oh, no! Now it killed everybody in the universe!" "Great...." "Oh, no! Now it's killing everybody in the second universe." "There's more than one universe?" "There are millions of universes, Daddy." "Is there a universe we can escape to?" "It would be very dangerous for you to leave our universe, Daddy."
On Saturday, after art class, Zeeke went to his pal Zoe's birthday party. Since he'd heard it was a drop-off party, he ordered Steve to leave immediately. He had a blast making cupcakes and playing with his friends. When Steve came back to pick him up, Zeeke was under the couch.
Sunday, Karen & Zeeke went to Ikea with Jen & Amelie. When they got home Zeeke asked Steve, "Daddy, tell me what to write in this book!" so Steve dictated an e.e. cummings poem to him.
Wednesday, Zeeke's pal Zoe came over for a play date after school.
Friday, we went to Dena's Passover Seder at Jen & Kim's house. Zeeke did a great job reciting his part of the Haggadah and all the kids did a great job keeping their hungry selves entertained while they waited for the part where they got to eat.
Saturday morning, Steve & Zeeke went to the egg hunt at the local rec center. He got to hunt for eggs and woof down candy with his best pals and see some neighborhood friends he hasn't seen for a while. After the egg hunt, Omi (Karen's mom) arrived. Zeeke bouncing with excitement with each quarter she pulled from behind his ears. He had a good time showing her all the great artwork he's been making at Fleisher. The four of us met up with David & Steve for brunch at On Point Bistro. .
Sunday morning, Karen & Zeeke went to the Barnes with the Murphy family. When they got home, it was off to Steve's parents for Easter dinner. Zeeke got a great Easter basket full of candy. He hunted for eggs with his cousin Jackson and then the two of them took advantage of the early Spring weather to run around and play outside.
Conversations with Zeeke:
"Daddy, carry me upstairs. I'm too tired." "No way. Get moving." "Daddy, if you carry me upstairs, I'll give you a quarter." "Ok."
Zeeke making up the rules for a new game:
"Pop its bubble and it will give you its ghost mouth. And if you run out of bones, you can't do any more ghost fights. Or you can use your ghost mouth to buy some bones."
Wednesday, we had yet another snow day, so Tim, Lettie & Winnie came over for a play date. There were quite a few lightsaber duels and they made several short films about tragic animals (see below).
Friday, on the walk to school, Zeeke and his friend told Steve about the Candy Girls, the Money Girls, and the Mean Boys in their kindergarten class. The Candy Girls will steal your candy. The Money Girls will steal your money. And the Mean Boys will push you down in the schoolyard. According to Zeeke's friend (who by her own admission is an ex-Money Girl), there's even one or two kids that manage to be all three and "You don't want them at your birthday party." It's clearly not as bad as it sounds though, because when they bumped into one of the kids they spoke of fearing so much, the three of them skipped off happily through the schoolyard together hand-in-hand.
Saturday, Steve & Zeeke took his pal Zoe with them to a local Egg Hunt. After a very long wait in line, it turned out that the egg hunt had been cancelled and the organizers had fled, but the kids were good sports about it. They still got a little candy, met the Easter Bunny, made a craft, and got to tell Easter jokes over the PA system (see below).
Sunday, Steve & Zeeke headed to the Wissahickon for a Family Nature Hike. Unfortunately they got there a little late and the group had relocated due to construction. So they hiked alone in the snow, smore-less, and got a little lost trying to find their way back to the car. When they got home, Karen invited Jenn & Amelie over for a play date.
Keeping track of Zeeke's good days and bad days is really paying off. His behavior at school has improved dramatically. We're also bribing him for good days (with Yokai medals for his Yokai Watch), but he's learning to control his impulses and make better decisions.
Saturday was Zeeke's last art class of the semester. His teacher said he's been really impressed by Zeeke's focus and enthusiasm. We'll have a few weeks until the next class, which will be Mixed Media.
On Sunday, Karen & Zeeke went to the main branch of the Free Library to see a production of The Fisherman and His Wife. It was a great show and then he got some computer time.
Wednesday was a snow day, so Tim, Lettie & Winnie came over for a play date.
Saturday, while walking home from art class, Steve & Zeeke ran into Maripatt, Dudley, Sadie & Lulu at Purple Flower Mountain. Zeeke ran around, climbing trees with Sadie and visited a snowman.
Sunday, Karen & Zeeke went to Ikea with Jenn & Amelie. They had a ball in the play room and doing activity books. There was even someone there making balloon animals. Zeeke loved his balloon snake and brought it with him when we went to New Jersey for dinner with Pop-Pop & Gigi.
Conversations with Zeeke:
"That baby was as fat as a chicken on a carousel!"
