our week with zeeke

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Zeeke's fears have eased up a bit.  He no longer fears dark alleys, but he sometimes is terrified of bright street lights and if he gets a good look at one will need us to carry him.  Otherwise, opportunities to carry him are starting to come less frequently.  He loves to run down the street (yelling "Run, run, reindeer!"), stopping only at the corners or if he spots something he wants to pick up or ask us about.  If we pick him up against his will, he yells, "Let me down of here!"

Potty training continues.  He's pretty good at pooping, but can't reliably hold his pee, so we still have to make him try the potty once an hour or risk the consequences.    

Saturday, he was less shy at music class than he's been lately.  Unfortunately, he bumped his head during one of the songs and wanted to go outside for a few minutes to walk it off.  While we were gone, he missed the parachute game, one of his favorite parts, and when class ended and he realized he'd missed it, he got hugely, disproportionately upset in way that Steve wasn't used to.  It seems like he's starting to really realize that there are consequences to the choices he makes and he doesn't like it.

That afternoon, Steve & Zeeke took advantage of the warm weather to go to the playground with Ali & Delano.  As firefighters, the boys had to put out a lot of fires, smash in a lot of windows, and occasionally roll around on the ground. 

That night, Zeeke woke up for three hours in the middle of the night (2-5).  Of course, he woke up on Sunday full of energy, but his parents were dragging pretty badly.  Karen got up with him first, then went back to bed while Steve & Zeeke went out for dougnuts and a Target run.  

That afternoon it was back to the playground, this time for spaceship dance parties with his schoolmate Tristan.  On the way out though we got sidelined by a three year old girl who Zeeke had to flirt with.  They climbed the jungle gym and slid down the twisty slide a dozen times together, happily chatting the whole time, and then swung next to each for a bit on the big kid swings before Steve called it a night.  When they got home, Karen was back from our friend Tara's house with a big batch of Moira's hand-me-down clothes, including a few dresses, which Zeeke had been asking for.  He had a great time, twirling, sashaying, and admiring himself in the mirror.

Conversations with Zeeke:
Walking up the stairs as slowly as he can to delay bedtime:
"Daddy, what's that sound?"
"That's the stairs creaking."
"Do our stairs creak?"
"Yup. Our stairs and our floors creak because our house is really old."
"Oh. Daddy, do you creak?"
"Heh... yup!"

Talking to Zeeke about his dinner options:
"Oh, and there's a piece of fish."
"Can I have it?"
"Of course!"
"What kind of fish it is?"
"Ummm.... tilapia."
"Oh, is it organic?"
"Ummm... Sure!"
"I love organic tilapia!"

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We completed the first month of potty training this week.  It still feels oddly new, but at the same time like it's been going on forever..  We're still averaging at least one accident a day, but most of the time it's going really well.  He's very proud of being a big boy and wants to never wear a diaper again (although we still put him in one for sleeping and long trips).  Unfortunately, while progressing on one front, he always regresses a little on another and this time it's his sleeping.  Karen's been teaching him to deal with his nightmares by chanting, "Go away, scary dream!  You can't hurt me!  My mommy and my daddy will protect me!"

Monday, school closed early out of fear of snow.  Fortunately, Karen's library did the same so she was able to pick him up and have a nice afternoon with him, despite his frustrating refusal to nap.

By Tuesday morning, the snow had actually arrived, and although there wasn't much it shut down the schools and libraries again.  While Steve worked at home, Zeeke and Karen donned their snow gear and headed over to Liz & Kate's house for a fun snowday pancake & waffle party.  After his nap, we had some friends over for a playdate:  Nadine & Zoe and Ali &Delano.  Zeeke loved having his classmates over and was pretty great about sharing his toys and snacks.  The best part was the toddler races.  Zeeke, Zoe, and Delano raced across the living room a hundred times, getting themselves good and worn out, while the adults got to sit back and relax with some bourbon.

Thursday night, he spent three hours in the middle of the night determined not to sleep.  He tried to convince us that is wasn't nighttime.  He tried to convince us that he needed to use the potty.  He tried to convince us to let him sleep without a diaper.  He tried to convince us that he was hungry.  He tried to convince us that he needed to be tucked in again.  It was a tough night.

Saturday, Zeeke warned Steve he was too shy for music class, but once they got there he couldn't resist dancing for everybody and ended up having a great time.  

Sunday, we headed out for a playdate with Kim & the twins.  Zeeke had a blast bouncing with Jack & William and playing with their tablets, then ate all of the sauage off the pizza, and stayed awake for the drive home, then gave us a good nap.

Conversations with Zeeke:
Unprompted bathtime resolutions:
"Daddy, I'm not going to hit anyone. And I'm not going to chew my toenails and fingernails. And I'm not going to drink my bathwater."
"That's great, buddy!"
"And I'm not going to go over there." Zeeke points to the other side of the tub.
"Why not? What's over there?"
"Don't worry, Daddy. I'm not going to go over there."

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Zeeke's new favorite word is "Never!"  We'll point out that it's time for him to try the potty and he'll shout dramatically, "No!  Never!"  It's pretty funny and fortunately he's not as stubborn as his pledge.  We were curious where he picked up the habit and then overheard his teacher Annie saying it with the exact same inflection.  Another verbal quirk is telling us what he wants or doesn't want by whether it's his favorite:  "Ice cream is my favorite" or "Baked Ziti is not my favorite."

Sunday was a very eventful day that got off to a terrible start.  Karen got up with Zeeke and when they got downstairs, she opened the toilet only to find a live rat inside.  Impresively, she had the piece of mind to shut the lid, put something heavy on it, and calmly tell Zeeke that she needed to go and wake up Steve.   Steve verified the situation and added some more weight to the lid, then we bravely fled the house to get doughnuts and shop at Target.

When we got back, Zeeke impressed us by drawing a really great face.  After checking that our visitor was still there, we headed out again, this time to a firefighter-themed birthday party for Zeeke's classmate Delano.  It was a lot of fun and despite the big dose of sugar, we managed to get Zeeke down for a nap when we got back.  While he was asleep, Steve figured out what to do about the rat problem, squirting some bleach into the tank and letting the fumes asphyxiate it. 

When Zeeke woke up, we fled the dead or dying critter and went to Steve's parents house for dinner.  Zeeke loved having everyone's full attention and was a total ham for his doting audience.  While we were there, they broke out a great old set of wooden blocks that Steve and his brothers used to play with when they were kids.  Zeeke liked them so we brought them home.

While Karen read Zeeke bedtime stories upstairs, Steve disposed of the corpse, bringing an end to a very long day.

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Zeeke woke up fever-free Monday, but his parents weren't so lucky.  Karen was in height of the flu and Steve was coming down hard with it.  We had to keep him out of day care until his fever was gone for 24 hours, so we were forced to parent a very energetic toddler when our bodies were failing miserably.  Fortunately, Zeeke doesn't mind if we lean a little heavy on the television in such situations.  

He even discovered a new show called Jr. Yoga which totally revived his old interest in the subject.  Throughout the day, he was unrolling his mat and patiently following along with the yoga moves and saying "Namaste" to us and his teacher.  It was very cute. 

And even though it made things harder, we were determined not to go ease up on the potty training.   Fortunately, our desire to have him out of diapers was stronger than his adversion to change and the process went relatively smoothly.

Tuesday he was back in school, so his parents were able to convalesce in peace, but on Wednesday, Zeeke threw up at school at naptime so Karen had to go pick him up.  A call to our pediatrician confirmed our suspicion that it was likely just a side effect of the lingering cough from the previous week and he was back in school the next day.  

It was a pretty mellow and quarantined weekend what with his parents still recovering from the flu, but fortunately he's happy just having us both around, even when we're not super entertaining.  He's a good kid!

Conversations with Zeeke:
"We should build a monster house, Daddy."
"A monster house? Awesome! Who lives there?"
"Volmont! He's the scariest monster in the whole world."
"Wow!"
"He lives in the house with his friend Monster Claws. Monster Claws is a robot monster."

"He has long fingers and one leg that stomps! And he stomps backwards and sackwards!"

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Potty training has begun!  Zeeke now only wears diapers while sleeping.  When he's awake, it's all underwear all the time.  His teachers are doing a great job on their end and coaching us on ours.  Monday through Friday, he averaged about two accidents a day (one at home, one at school).  When he successfully uses the potty, we give him a piece of candy (usually an M&M) as a reward.

Tuesday, we woke up to snow, which he was thrilled about.  The whole way to school, he was asking if we could build a snowman and go sledding.

Wednesday night, he both pooped and peed in the potty (score!).

Thursday, he pooped in the potty at school for the first time and was rewarded by his teachers with a Santa Claus Pez dispenser.  Pez promptly replaced M&Ms as the candy reward of choice.

Friday morning, he said he didn't want to go to school because he didn't feel well, but he seemed ok so we figured he was just trying to escape the new potty training regime.   The only sign that something was genuinely wrong were his poor cheeks which start getting red and irritated whenever something's attacking his immune system.  

Saturday afternoon, he woke up from his nap with a fever.  It was a very discouraging afternoon and evening for potty training (so many accidents!), partially because of being sick and partially because he was rebelling hard against the training.

Sunday, his fever was up and down, but his spirits were high and we enjoyed how lovey-dovey being sick makes him: constantly wanting to cuddle and telling us often how he loves us.  Even better, the potty training, while still contentious, went better than ever.  He only had one accident, and that was just a couple minutes after a success.  

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Zeeke's becoming very good at talking about his feelings.  He's been open about his fears, of course, but he also talks about when he's feeling sad or angry or happy.  For a while, he stopped sleeping with stuffed animals ("I love Lamby, but I don't need Lamby in my crib.")  He tells us often that he loves us, which is amazing but we also hear a lot of "Can you not do that?" when he's not pleased with our fussing.

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The Christmas obsession continues.   He loves singing carols and opening holiday cards.  He insists on being read "The Night Before Christmas" at least once a day.  He enjoys looking at the Christmas Tree and Karen gets a little weepy showing him the different ornaments and telling them where they came from (especially the ones he made).

He's been wanting to draw with pens a lot lately, often filling almost the entire page with cool designs, and he likes it when Steve uses a crayon to reveal the imprints he made on the pages beneath his drawing.  

He's also settled back into some old habits, like hanging on our arms and letting his legs go rubbery while we're walking and asking contstant questions ("Does everyone have white teeth?",  "What kind of dinosaur is that dragon?").   

Monday, Zeeke started the morning by building his new firehouse puzzle, then Steve brought him to work for his company's office holiday party.  Zeeke had fun coloring with and following around the older kids, surprised his father by eating even more vegetables than sugary treats, and entertained everyone with multiple renditions of the song "Fancy."

The three of us traded some illnesses back and forth for a few days, but were mostly recovered in time for Christmas on Thursday.  Zeeke woke up and was thrilled to get a very noisy firetruck from Santa (as requested).  We drove out to Karen's sister's house for a big Christmas celebration.  Zeeke had a blast with his cousins, although he was a little terrified of their mechanical pony.  We let him skip his nap and by the end of the day were given a good reminder of why that's a bad idea.  On the drive home, he asked the dreaded question, "Can we have an ipad at our house?"  

Friday, Grandpop Bob Bob and Grandma Joy stopped by on their way back to Maryland.  We went out for a nice lunch.  That night, Zeeke woke up with a bad case of night terrors, so he and Steve went downstairs and watched a little television until he was feeling better.  

Saturday, he threw up right before bed.   And then Sunday night, a bad cough kept him (and everyone else) up much of the night.

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Christmas continues to permeate many aspects of his life lately.  When we're walking to school, he loves to run down the block, singing, "Run, run, reindeer!"  When we get home from school, he greedily tears open each new Christmas card.  When we told him people were going to give him presents for Christmas, he looked really touched and said, "That's so sweet!"  

But Christmas has a dark side too:  There's a talking bear in a red Santa suit at his school, that Zeeke fearfully calls "the devil bear" (probably because of its opening and closing mouth).  "Mommy doesn't like that devil bear," he told his teachers somewhat ominously before they were finally forced to hide it away for good.  

His fear of open mouths has also expanded to include alleyways.  He can't resist looking down them and inevitably ends up shaking and clutching at us in terror.  It doesn't matter how innocent the alley looks or how many times he's uneventfully passed it in his life. 

Sometimes when we're all watching TV together, he'll start staring at one of us super intently, bringing his face as close as possible, and ask "What's in your eye?  It's Dora!  Dora is in your eye!"  And then he'll continue watching his show in the reflection in our eyeglasses for a little while, laughing.

His new favorite show is Peter Rabbit and he had voiced aspirations to be Peter's baby sister Cottontail.  "I want to be a little girl," he told us.  "I want to be a rabbit in a yellow dress."  Karen hugged him and said, "Kid, you can be anything you want to be."

Saturday, after a chilly trip to the playground, Steve and Zeeke dismantled a calendar and made a collage out of the pictures.  Zeeke's favorite part was applying the glue.

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Zeeke has discovered profanity, dropping the F-Bomb once at home and at least once at school.  He doesn't really know what he's saying, but he knows he's supposed to shout it.  He told us that he learned the from his teacher and told his teacher that he learned it from us.  Sigh.

Zeeke is still obsessed with Goldilocks and the Three Bears, often insisting on two different versions of it per night.  He always lets us know "that girl is not nice!"  He's started doing that whenever he's watching tv too, letting us know who is nice and more importantly not.  One might assume that this moralizing leads to upright behavior on his part, but in reality, not so much.  When we mention that something he's doing is not nice, he'll usually just insist that it's we who aren't being nice.

He's getting a bit more independent.  He no longer allows us to carry him up or down the stairs and starting this week won't even hold our hands when making the trip.  He's refusing to use the potty, but also complaining about having his diaper changed, so the time has come.  At his teacher's suggestion we're buying some underwear and are going to throw him into the potty training and see what happens.  

Friday night, after dinner, Zeeke threw up a little and seemed to be feeling generally unwell.  

Saturday, Zeeke complained that music class was too loud and insisted on going home after just a couple of songs.  Once outside, he was worried he might get sick again, so he & Steve took it easy until it was time to pick up Mommy from work.  As usual, he had a swell time playing on the computers at the library.

Sunday morning, Zeeke woke up super early and made Karen take him downtairs.  After breakfast Steve & Zeeke went to the playground for a couple hours.  There was lots of sidewalk chalk, slide, tickle chases, helicopter rides, and fence climb as usual, but he also tried the swings (a rarity this year) and a game he called "Hide & Zeeke" (the rules of which Steve is still a little sketchy on).  On the walk home, Zeeke rambled an insane version of "The Night Before Christmas" that included "an owl that would not look away," "a mouse looking at me with the teeth of a dragon," "a greasy octopus," "a dog with a very pink tongue," and "a giant dragon saying 'roar' to himself."  After lunch, he took a long nap and then we went to the grocery store (always an exciting trip for him).  

Conversations with Zeeke:
"Daddy, you have a big belly."
"You used to live in my belly."
"No, Daddy! You used to live inside my belly! With a raccoon!"
"Awww... I miss that raccoon."
"And Mommy lives inside the raccoon! And there's a raccoon in Mommy's belly and its name is Mommy!"

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Fantastic news this week!  At our hematology appointment, we found out Zeeke's platelet count is now 396!  That's up from 4 at diagnosis and the high side of normal.  They want to do another blood test next month to confirm, but it looks like Zeeke might be over his ITP.  

Zeeke is still obsessed with the notion of family (doing things as a family, which groups of people and animals are a family, what roles different family members play, etc.).  He's been using the phrase "every day" a lot the past few weeks, usually to describe things he wants to do more of ("I like to eat strawberries every day") or in some cases to convince us that he's being deprived of something that other people get ("Lettie has peanut butter candy cakes every day").

The fears keep coming.  He likes the Grinch, but is terrified of the Whos down in Whoville.  He gets paralyzed with fear if he so much as looks in the direction of our Salvador Dali biography which has a picture of the artist on the spine (it still evokes a reaction even after we turned it around).  One fear that's been slowly building over the past couple months is drawings of open mouths.  Even when he asks us to draw them, he'll soon frantically scribble over the open mouths to close them.  If he sees one on TV, he hides his face.  

Thursday night, Steve & Zeeke joined several of his classmates at the lighting of the neighborhood Christmas tree.

Friday, Zeeke got a present in the mail from our friend Colleen:  a celebratory stuffed platelet!

Saturday was cold and rainy so it was the perfect time to decorate our Christmas tree.  Zeeke loved and immediately became possessive ("It's not your tree, it's OUR tree.")  After we showed him some ornaments he made last year, he became convinced that he made all of the tree's ornaments, holding them up one by one and asking, "When did I make this?"

Sunday, we went to a Christmas/Anniversary party at David & Steve's.  Zeeke was a little overwhelmed by all the people at first, but soon threw himself into consuming the array of fine foods.  When he got a little antsy, our friend Lindsay took him out for a walk to show him all the Christmas lights.  And a little later, he lobbied for a trip to the park, so we walked around the corner for our first nighttime trip to the playground.