our week with zeeke

Zeeke's teacher Annie told us he's a genius this week and one of the smartest kids in the school.  (Not the best behaved though!)  He definitely seems smart, but some of that's just because he's so willing and able to communicate everything he does know (or at least thinks he knows).  

We found out this week that his former teacher (and crush) Kiki is getting married (although she insists that Zeeke is "still my man.").  This probably had something to do with why he broke into a rendition of Beyonce's "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)" (complete with dance routine) the next morning.

Zeeke's been really fighting going to sleep.  He has a wide array of delaying tactics ready to whenever it's naptime or bedtime.  Meals that were formerly rejected are now direly needed.  Stuffed animals that have been scattered throughout the house must be collected.  There are desperate cries for one more game, one more puzzle, one drawing, one more show.  "I don't want to leave you guys!" he cries as we take him up.  "I don't want to take my nap!" he howls from the crib.  "You have to wait," he says as we're leaving the room.  "You have to do one more thing!" he says to the closed door.  Despite all this, he's actually been sleeping very well and wakes up happy and refreshed.  

Zeeke's new love is pirates.  This is mostly because his bestie Gabe introduced him to a show called "Jake & the Neverland Pirates."  It's funny because Zeeke didn't even seem to like the show that much at first, but he forced himself to watch it because he had such faith in Gabe's taste.  Now, he loves it though.  It's given us an opportunity to bust out his toy pirate ship that he had lost interest in last year.  And we're fortunate to have a couple hand-me-down skull-and-crossbone sweaters

On Thursday, we went to Karen's Uncle Nick and Aunt Nora's for Thanksgiving.  Zeeke didn't want to dress up in his fancy clothes, so we asked him if he wanted to dress up in pirate clothes instead.  Fortunately he didn't seem to notice they were the same clothes.  His favorite parts were running around with his cousins and eating cookies.  He amazed us by actually sleeping on the drive both ways.

Friday morning, Zeeke drew a startling good picture of a turkey and then we went to Steve's parents for turkey soup and sandwiches.  Zeeke had a great time being the center of attention.  He and Uncle Chris had a very entertaining lovefest, shouting back and forth at each other, "You make me so happy!  No, you make me soooo happy!  No, YOU make ME so happy!" After his nap, Zeeke & Karen had a playdate with Jen & Amelie.

Saturday, Steve & Zeeke went to the Please Touch Museum in the morning.  In the afternoon, they ran into a couple of Zeeke's classmates when they went to pick up Karen at the library.  

Sunday morning, Steve & Zeeke went to the playground.  In the afternoon, we visited Liz & Kate and helped them decorate for Christmas.  

Conversations with Zeeke:
Zeeke: "You're my daddy!"
Steve: "That's right!"
Karen: "And he's my husband."
Zeeke: "No! He's my husband, Mommy! And I'm your husband!"

Zeeke's gotten over some of his recently acquired fears, but has gained a few new ones to replace them, including mustaches, puppets, Santa Claus and Taylor Swift's new song. One song he definitely likes is Iggy Azalea's "Fancy," which he can sing the chorus of quite well.

He's very into families these days, often pointing out two or more characters in a book or tv show and telling us that they are a family, sometimes going further and telling us which one is the mommy and which one is the daddy.  Often these connections are not implied at all by the story, but rather dictated by his own need to organize individuals as such.

Thursday night, Zeeke developed a terrible croup (a loud, harsh cough that sounds like the barking of a seal).  Nobody in the house really got a lot of sleep that night, but after some steam and vapor rub, Karen managed to get him to sleep in her arms.  

Friday, Steve and Zeeke had a sick day.  Not that Zeeke acted sick.  If anything, he had an insane amount of energy (unlike his father).  He claimed a need for bananas and going outside to breathe cold air is good for croup, so they took a walk to the grocery store, where Zeeke insisted that to get better he needed lemonade and doughnuts.  

Saturday, he was acting a bit more sluggish, but he still felt well enough to dress up in his doctor outfit and give checkups to most of his stuffed animals, even the b-list (the ones who don't get to sleep in the crib with him).

Sunday, he refused to nap, screaming "I don't want to take my nap" for 45 minutes, before Steve relented and brought him downstairs.  Zeeke said he wanted to go to the park, but fell asleep in the stroller on the way there, so they sat at one of Birra's outdoor tables where daddy drank a beer until the sounds of the city finally woke him up.   That night, Zeeke woke up just before midnight and didn't want to go back to sleep so he and Steve watched late night lullaby shows on the channel for babies that they used to watch during Zeeke's sleepless first year of life and Zeeke loved it, even requesting it again the next day.

Zeeke's curiosity is getting intense.  Whenever we read books, he has dozens of questions about the characters and their motivations and what else they did that's not in the story.  "Why did she do that?"  "What did she say when the bears came home?"  "What is that person's name?"  "Who is her mommy and daddy?"  He's gotten into rhyming lately as well, telling us when words rhyme or laughing with glee when he discovers one.  Sometime he'll just free associate words he knows that rhyme, although it quickly descends into made-up nonsense words (but at least it's rhyming nonsense).  

After a few weeks of good behavior, he's started getting into a little trouble again, not quite as bad as before and perhaps with a touch more self-awareness.  One day, after being put in time out, he begged his teacher, "Please don't tell my mommy and daddy!"  At home, he's testing limits too, always needing to find out just how serious we are when we tell him not to do something.  Some conversations it seems like we can't utter a single declarative statement without Zeeke echoing back some sort of refutation ("It is not....").

He ate a ton of raw broccoli Monday night.  We've taken a few steps backward with potty training.  He's gone from using it six or seven times a week to hardly ever. But he's mastered zippers, which of course if both good and bad.

After music class Saturday, Steve & Zeeke went to Moira's birthday party.  Zeeke had a great time decorating them both with they myriad of available stickers and sampling all of the goodies.   After the party, we went to lunch with Kim, Jen & the twins.  Zeeke had a blast sitting next to William & Jack and sampling a little of everything on the table.

On Sunday we had a chilly trip to the playground which included lots of running around.  He rebelled against wearing his own hat once we got there, but consented to wearing Daddy's hat.  After that we took a quick trip to the Acme, which Zeeke insisted on walking home from on his own the whole way.  

Conversations with Zeeke:
"Look at that dinosaur, Daddy."
"I think that might be a dragon."
"I don't like dragons."
"Oh, ok. But you like dinosaurs?"
"No. I like Christmas!"
Gabe runs up and asks, "Zeeke, do you like Dora?"
"No, I only like Christmas."

"Goldilocks is not nice, Mommy."
"Why is Goldilocks not nice."
"She ate the bears' porridge and broke their chair."

"What did Goldilocks say when she saw the bears, Mommy?"
"What do you think she said?"
"Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!"

Zeeke is two and a half this week!  And that's not the only milestone.  All the eating he's been doing lately has finally gotten him up to thirty pounds.  You can definitely feel that extra weight when you pick him up, but at three feet tail, he's still a pretty skinny dude.  

All in all, he's been adjusting to Day Light Savings pretty well.  Mornings aren't too bad, but he finds the darkness very strange when we pick him up from daycare.  He's still very interested in all of the autumnal decorations in our neighborhood, pointing out every pumpkin and scarecrow and witch.  He's going to miss them when they're gone.

He did his new Jekyll & Hyde thing again at music class Saturday, spending the first fifteen minutes nervously huddling against Steve, shy as can be, and then suddenly coming completely out of his shell and becoming a chatty, dancing attention hog.  He particularly loved a game he made of running up to the teacher and standing behind her left shoulder, waiting for her to notice him, then bursting into laughter and running back to Steve for a few seconds and then starting again.

When they got back to house, Omi, Karen's mom was there waiting.  She brought him new junk food that his parents don't usually give him, so he was happy as a clam and showed off a variety of his new tricks.  After his nap, we had a visit from Pop Pop & Gigi, Steve's parents.  They brought a bounty of apples, broccoli, sweet potatoes, and cider. That night, Zeeke ate an entire apple, core and all!  All he left in his wake was the stem and a few seeds.

Sunday morning, we went to Chhya for breakfast and then the playground, where Zeeke played with his schoolmate Odin.  After his nap, he went to Karen's library where he was given far too much attention, swelling his ego.  

Conversations with Zeeke:
"It's dark out, Daddy."
"Yeah, it's pretty dark."
"It's very, very, very dark. Somebody needs to turn on the light."
Zeeke stares up at the sky and shouts, "TURN ON THE LIGHT!"

Zeeke is still picking up several new fears a day and the Halloween season isn't helping.  Some of the latest additions:  Frankenstein, Spider-man, a rotten pumpkin on the way to school, the overflow drain on the bathtub, one particularly loud bus, a silly vampire sticker that he himself put on his chair, a friendly student teacher at music class, the button mirror that's hung in his room for half his life, and one of his night lights.  It's a little sad, especially when he's really trembling, but at least he can communicate what's scaring him, and in most cases the situation is easily defused with some hugs and distractions.

Wednesday, Zeeke not only participated in the sports activity at school, but happily led some sort of parade.

Friday, Zeeke had a great time at the Halloween party at school (even though two kids were dressed as Spider-Man), but after getting scared by our first visit from trick-or-treaters decided he'd rather stay home and play Lego than go out, which was fine with us.

At his music class, they sing this song about taking a shower and for each verse they ask the kids to suggest what they should wash. This Saturday, Zeeke ran up and shouted "my junk!" then started singing, "Oh, I love to wash my junk." The teacher laughed, then pretended she didn't hear it.  Fortunately he didn't demonstrate!  Later in the day, Steve & Zeeke went to the library to pick up Karen from work.  While playing on the computers, Zeeke told the girl next to him that he liked her hair.

Sunday, Steve & Zeeke braved the cold and wind to hang out at the playground while Karen did some chores.  Decked out in the swell winter gear he received from Uncle Jay, Aunt Brenda, and cousin Avery last Christmas, Zeeke ignored the elements and insisted on staying for over two hours.  On the walk home, Zeeke gleefully pointed out each and every pumpkin and let him know which ones were jack-o-lanterns and which were just plain pumpkins.

Zeeke added a new food to his repertoire this week: hard-boiled eggs.  We call them "Sadie eggs" in honor of his schoolmate Sadie, as he got curious about them from watching her at lunch.

Steve flew out to San Francisco for work Friday morning, so Karen and Zeeke were on their own.  They both did great and Steve managed to get home just in time to kiss Zeeke goodnight on Sunday.

Friday night, Zeeke announce he wanted to use "the big potty" instead of his little one for the first time. Success was difficult to judge on this occasion but he enjoyed it.  

Saturday, Karen & Zeeke went a Halloween party on Passyunk Ave with Zack & Leah.  They trick-or-treated at the local businesses, made crafts and ate tater tots.  They even ran into Delano, Colette and Sadie from school.

On Sunday, they ran into the Colette and Sadie again, this time at the playground.  Zeeke had a great time playing with them and even got over his aversion to swings long enough to be pushed by his two favorite ladies.

After months of eating very little, Zeeke is suddenly eating giant meals, so we figure a growth spurt is on the way.  He also seems much more ticklish than usual, maybe because his skin is stretching as he grows?  

Zeeke did get at least one time out this week, but he said it was for lying on the floor and crying, which is at least better than hitting and spitting.  Even better, he participated in their weekly sports activity, which he normally refuses.  We think it might have been because the older kids were on a trip that day, so he felt less intimidated.  Judging from the pictures, he had a blast playing with the inflated punch balls.

Saturday, Zeeke had the best time in music class ever.  He was singing, laughing, dancing, and shouting out suggestions when prompted.  After class there was a discussion about sisters and Zeeke asked Steve to make him a sister, so Steve built him one out of Lego.  He named it Riley and was instantly very attached.  Any time Steve went near it afterwards, Zeeke yelled, "Daddy!  Don't tear my sister apart!"  After a trip to the playground, they went to the library to pick up Karen and Zeeke greatly enjoyed playing on the computers.  

Sunday, the weather suddenly turned cold, but we still braved the playground and Zeeke drew a pretty amazing tree.    

Conversations with Zeeke:
"Who's the funniest person at school, Zeeke?"
"Gabriel."
"Oh, yeah, what does Gabriel say that's funny?"
"Poopy on the top!"
(He stares at me like he's waiting for me to laugh.)
"Daddy... POOPY on the TOP!"
(Cracks up laughing.)


"I'm not real, Daddy."
"Oh no, you're not real?"
"No, I'm not real and Gabe's not real."
"Did somebody just imagine you?"
"Yes."
"Who imagined you?"
"Mookie."

Well, Zeeke is still making trouble at school.  Each morning have him repeat the rules:  "No hitting.  No kicking.  No biting.  No spitting.  Just be nice" and he seems sincere in his pledge.  But the temptation to do wrong is strong.  One day after school, Steve asked him if there'd been any timeouts and Zeeke declared, "I got time for hitting.  I got timeout for biting.  I got timeout for spitting.  I'm nice!"  Another day, when his teachers told him he had to stay in the timeout chair, he held the chair to his butt and walked over to where his friends were playing, still clutching the chair to his backside. 

Friday, we arrived at school to find Zeeke's classmates all sitting calmly on the floor reading. Zeeke happily plopped himself down with them and accepted the book kindly handed to him by one of his friends.  If we had just fled the scene without looking back.  Instead, Steve turned and saw Zeeke roll the book up into a tube, stuff it into his mouth and start chewing. Sigh.

Because of schedule changes at the library, Steve now picks Zeeke up from school three nights a week.  An unexpected side effect of that is a new Daddy fixation, somewhat reminiscent of his longstanding Mommy fixation.  It's a nice change for Steve, but Karen's feeling left out some days.  One morning she tried to snuggle with him and he told her, "No, go snuggle with Daddy!"  He's very into where we all sit on the couch together.   We each have assigned seats, which we're not allowed to change unless he decides to improvise and switch us around.  

He's going through a very sensitive phase.  He adores his stuffed lamb, often cradling it in his arms and telling us it's his baby, sometimes even stuffing in into shirt and telling us he's going to have a baby.  One morning, Steve told him about a cat he'd heard crying outside during the night.  Over the new two days, Zeeke asked about the cat a hundred times.  "Is the sad kitty cat all right?"  "Can we looks for the sad kitty cat?"  "Is the sad kitty cat still crying?"  "Can we help the sad kitty cat?"

During our weekend walks, we'd been pointing out all the pumpkins we'd seen.  Steve bought him one, but Zeeke said it was a "Daddy pumpkin" and he wanted a "Zeeke pumpkin."  Fortunately, during another walk, a chatty neighbor noticed Zeeke admiring her pumpkin and insisted we take it.  We'll probably paint them next weekend. 

Saturday, we went to his schoolmate Sofiya's costume birthday party.  He had a blast, playing with all the kids and (of course) eating cake.  Sunday, we went to lunch with Steve's parents.  

Zeeke has discovered fear this week.  Things that wouldn't have bothered him before suddenly strike utter terror in his heart:  a bus driving down the street, a Lego duck, Steve roaring like a lion (at his request), an unfamiliar toy.  One day he told Steve that monsters were going to get him and on another that the wind was going to blow him up into the trees.  It's most likely just a side effect of his rapidly-developing imagination.  Saturday he woke up from his nap telling Steve about an "orange ostrich" that he insisted we're going to see sometime in the future.  He & Steve drew a chalk version of it at the playground and Zeeke was happy to see his dream at least somewhat realized.   

There were more troubles at school early in the week, but things got better as it went on.  His appetite, which has been waning this past month, came back this week.  Bacon continues to be a favorite food.  He's been very attached to his stuffed lamb (usually called "Lamby") and stuffed bunny (sometimes called "Pickles") this week.   It's extremely cute watching him hug them, put them to the bed or read them books.  

Saturday, Steve & Zeeke had a play date with Leah & Zack.  Zeeke especially enjoyed making art with their stencils and water color crayons.  In the afternoon they went to the playground.  

Sunday, we had lunch Matt, Tara & Moira at Chhya, went to the playground, and then visited their new house.  After Zeeke's nap, we went around the corner to Erin, Randy & Kate's house to celebrate Kate's birthday.  Zeeke enjoyed eating treats, drawing, and watching Frozen, which seems to delight him even more every time he sees it.

Zeeke's problems at school continued into this week. We noticed that Zeeke was missing from most of the pictures posted of his class' activities and that when he did appear, it was off in the background sitting at table with a teacher. We were worried so Karen called his teacher. She said he'd told them that he didn't want to do circle time then spit in his hand. They prefer not to force a child to do something they don't want to, so he ended up sitting with the other teacher while she prepped for a craft. They assured us that this phase he's going through is pretty normal and they still enjoy having him there.  They also had a good talk about night terrors.

Fortunately, by the middle of the week he was sleeping better and getting glowing reports from his teachers. On Thursday he even said that school was fun. So with any luck we'll have a great week next week.

At home, Zeeke has been a little sour, a little sweet. He's experimenting with ways of touching other people, including hitting and poking and pinching. Fortunately over the weekend he had wanted to pet Jen & Kim's cat and he & Steve had discussed how you have to touch it very gently. So now when he touches us a little too aggressively, we remind him, “Gentle, like with the kitty” and he tries that instead. He really is a sweet boy. One night before bed, he held up each of his stuffed animals one by one, hugged it and asked, “Is it sooooo cute?”

For the past couple weeks, going to the playground has largely been mostly about drawing with chalk. He's getting so good at drawing good shapes. It's really fun to watch him create.

Saturday was our first music class since Spring. Zeeke was very nervous at first, but was opening up by the end. After that we met up with a local parents group at a new playground.  Zeeke even tried the swings, which he hasn't been into all year.

Sunday, we started the morning with breakfast at Chyya and Zeeke behaved very well except that he ate all the bacon and we had to order more.