our week with zeeke

This week has been mostly about getting Zeeke back into his normal groove after two weeks of vacation. His sleeping is still rough. He's waking up too early and too often. Some nights he needs us to lie down next to his crib while he's falling asleep. We're basically having to sleep train him all over again, so we're all pretty exhausted.

He's also having trouble at school. He's being unruly, not participating, talking back and even hitting his teachers. It's because he going from weeks of unstructured play with his parents to a school day that's more structured day than before because he's in with the older kids now. He told Steve one day that school was making him sad and mad. Fortunately, he's still mostly sweet at home with us, but we're really having to work on getting him back to his happy self.

On the positive side, he's drawing a lot, his constant requests for mostly ornamental band-aids has eased up, and he was really happy to take Froggy the Doggy to show & tell with him. He came home with a painting of Froggy that his teachers had helped him make and was super proud of it.

On Sunday, we visited Jen & Kim at their new house. Zeeke had a great time exploring and playing with William & Jack.

Zeeke had a great time at the beach this week: digging and building and drawing in the sand, sitting at the edge of the water and letting the waves wash over us, walking from jetty to jetty looking for shells.  A nice lady who combed the beach with a metal detector each day gave Zeeke a toy car and a toy alligator she'd found.  On Monday, Zack & Leah came to visit.  They had fun chasing each other around the beach and nearby tennis courts.  On Tuesday, we went to a great storytime at the library and Zeeke enjoyed playing with this board that changed colors from the heat of your hands.  One day, Katy made hot dogs and Zeeke amazed us by eating two whole hot dogs plus mac & cheese and chick peas.  

The downside to vacation was Zeeke's sleeping. For some reason he woke up earlier and earlier every day.  When he woke the house with a scream at 4:37 on Friday, we realized it was time to go home and get him sleep trained again.  We had one more pancake breakfast, one more trip to the beach and then packed up the car while he had his afternoon nap and then tried to beat rush hour traffic back to the city.

Zeeke has been coloring like crazy and telling us what it is he's drawing (including letters, numbers, and Princess Anna from Frozen).  One day, he wouldn't let us leave the playground until Steve took photos of the shapes he'd drawn on the floor.

We took it pretty easy on the weekend, doughnuts on Saturday morning, a couple trips to the playground, and dinner at Steve's parents' Sunday night.  Zeeke was not thrilled about having to share the attention of Steve's family with his new cousin Jackson and frequently found excuses to leave the room whenever the spotlight shifted to the baby.

Conversations with Zeeke:

"Why you singing that song, Daddy?"
"It just got stuck in my head. Has a song ever gotten stuck in your head?"
"I have an A in my head."
"An A? What does it do?"
"It sings A B C D E F G...."

While listening to Mary Lambert sing "I love my butt and I won't shut up" in the song "Secrets," Zeeke cracked up laughing and announced:
"That girl likes her butt!"

Tuesday, we had an appointment with Zeeke's hematologist and his platelet count has increased to 36!  That's up from 4 at diagnosis, so it's like he jumped from 1% of normal to 10%.  It could still potentially go back down again, but for right now we're celebrating (and by celebrating I mean sobbing with relief).  Our next appointment will be in December.

Zeeke had a hard transition coming back to real life after vacation.  There were some sad drop-offs at day care and a couple uncharacteristic complaints about his behavior from teachers.  And just as things got better, we started a second vacation!

Saturday, we got out of the house early and headed off for a week in LBI.  Zeeke was really excited about going to the beach and talked about it the whole way.  We got burgers at the Holiday Snack Bar.  Our rental house, which we're splitting with friends Dave,Katie & Greta, is great and super kid friendly, including a hammock and an impressive selection of toys.  Zeeke's had a great time playing in the beach, particularly in the shade of a wooden ramp that he called "the boardwalk."  There's also a great playground across the street that he's been enjoying playing at.  He and Greta are becoming good friends that always want to know where the other one is.

Zeeke's big word for the past two weeks is "juicy."  Fruits are juicy, colors are juicy, sometimes even people are somehow.  He seems to really like the sound of it.  Speaking of colors, his drawings are progressing nicely.  He's been making a lot of closed shapes and seems to be slowly moving from abstract to representational art.

Zeeke's favorite new "game" is lying down on the ground and declaring, "I'm sleeping.  Don't wake me up!"  He gets pretty upset if we do anything that he considers waking him up, but of course he doesn't respect our wishes when we make the same request of him.

Zeeke has been exploding with questions lately:  
"How's your day?"
"Where we going?"
"Where you go?"
"What you doing?"
"Why you do that?"
He grills us (and anyone else around) with variations on these inquiries throughout the day and is quite content to repeat his questions if he isn't satisfied with our responses.

Tuesday, we drove down to Rehobeth for a beach week with Karen's family.  Zeeke had a great time following around and playing with his cousins Riley & Bella.  He got doted on and spoiled rotten by Grandma Joy.  And he had some good bonding time with Grandpop Bob-Bob, Uncle Mike, Aunt Sarah, Aunt Kathy, and cousins Chris & Lily.  He was a bit scared of the waves after one of them flooded the spot where we were sitting, but Grandma Joy got him through his fears.  He loved digging, playing in the sand, dancing on the boardwalk and all of the trips to get ice cream.

Saturday, we were back in Philly, but exhausted from our travels, so after a trip to the playground (where Zeeke was very proud of his dinosaur drawing), we all relaxed and watched Frozen (for the hundredth time).

Sunday morning, we ran into his classmates Colette and Odin at the playground, which was fun.  After his nap, we went to Liz & Kate's barbecue, where Zeeke ate smoked chicken, danced a special dance for each fruit in his fruit salad, ran around sticking magnetic letters to things and dunked his face in the kiddie pool about fifty times.    

Conversations with Zeeke:
"Read me my favorite book, Daddy."
"Which one is that?"
"Bunnies Jumping On Moon Grass."
"Wait. What's the title?"
"Bunnies Jumping On Moon Grass!"
"Actually, that sounds lovely. I wish we had a copy."

Having finished with his own ice cream, Zeeke moved on to Karen's:
"Zeeke, can I have a taste of my ice cream?"
"No, Mommy!"
"Why not?"
"You had enough, Mommy!"

Zeeke took a tumble at school on Thursday, triggering some of our ITP-related fears.  He was squatting down to draw with sidewalk chalk and someone bumped him from behind.  By chance, Karen was home sick and Steve was working from home, so we were able to act quickly.  When we got the call that his nose was bleeding, Steve freaked and ran over there as fast as he could while Karen packed a bag for the hospital.  When he got to school, Zeeke was calmly reassuring the teachers gathered around him, "I'm ok.  I'm ok."  Poor guy's nose was so swollen and purple, but we got the bleeding under control and our hematologist said that we didn't need to come in.  The three of us cuddled together, watched "Frozen" and tried to keep a bag of frozen peas on his nose.  We were just getting used to his beat up nose, when he woke up Saturday morning with a nasty black eye, as the blood gradually drained out of his swollen nose.  Fortunately, though he looks like a defeated boxer, he remains his sweet, happy, undaunted self.

This week, Zeeke drew his first (that we know of) attempt at a face and it looked pretty good, albeit a little Cubist in its arrangement of facial features.  He pooped in the potty two mornings in a row this week.  He's getting interested in gender again, this time with more accuracy that when he was younger, letting people know "You're a boy!" and "You're a girl!"  He's added a new goodbye sequence to his bedtime routine:  a hug, a kiss, and then a high five (always in that order).

Friday, Karen stayed home with Zeeke.  They had a great play date with Leah & Zack.  Apparently Zack was so taken with Zeeke's helmet that he insisted on wearing his bicycle helmet around the house after they left.

Saturday, we skipped soccer practice and went to the Please Touch Museum instead.  It was a great time until Zeeke landed a jump badly and banged his already sore nose, unraveling us again for a little while. 

Sunday morning, we ran into lots of friends from school and the neighborhood at the playground.  It was such a good time, nobody wanted to leave, but we had to make a quick Target run before getting home for lunch.  After his nap, we headed out to Jersey to visit Zeeke's new first cousin once-removed.  While Karen bonded with the baby, Steve and Uncle Chris took a rambunctious Zeeke to a nearby playground.  We had dinner at Steve's parents and had fun walking around their house and laying in the grass looking at the clouds.

Zeeke's Book of the Week:  No Fits, Nilson! by Zachariah OHora (which he's been making us read approximately twice daily)

Conversations with Zeeke:
"What is that?"
"That's a tree branch I painted on your wall."
"Why you paint it?"
"Because I thought some day you might look at it and it would make you happy."
"Daddy, you an artist!"

Zeeke's really experimenting with ways to delay things this week. Asking for a bath as we're putting him to bed. Asking for more food as we're half way out the door. Asking for books as we're trying to change his clothes. He's testing his ability to control what we do, which is perhaps a nice way of saying: boss us around. We've definitely seen some flickers of the terrible twos. For a couple days he was talking back to his parents and his teachers, saying "No no no noooooo" in a comically drawn-out, sarcastic voice.

Zeeke used the potty three times this week. Thursday morning he decided to try and had a nice poop. That night he peed in the potty and repeated his performance in the morning. Perhaps foolishly we rewarded him each time with his favorite fruit snacks ("Bunnies" as he calls them), because after that he would merely sit on the potty, and having accomplished nothing, declare success and demand his prize. Fortunately he seemed aware of his own subterfuge and didn't press the matter.

Saturday morning Zeeke wasn't much into soccer practice, declaring "I don't like soccer." We get it. At this stage, it's a lot of standing around and waiting and following orders. After soccer, we went to a kids event at a local park and hung out with a lot of nice families. For dinner, we went to Birra where Zeeke flirted with his classmate Sadie. It was such a nice night, we decided to push back bedtime and go to the playground for a while.

Sunday morning, Zeeke & Daddy went to the playground while Mommy got some things down around the house. At lunch Zeeke ate two whole slices of leftover pizza. After his nap, we went to Steve's parents for dinner. He especially liked taking a walk over to the pond near their house to see ducks.   

Zeeke was moved up to the older toddler class this week!  His teachers say he's doing great and he's been happily wearing his helmet just about all day long at school. He's really enjoying learning to spell simple words. One day, when we were walking home from school with his friend Delano, Delano's mom told him to stop and Zeeke called out, "Stop, Delano, S-T-O-P, stop!" 

Zeeke has been very curious about what's going on around him lately.  Several times a day, he'll hear a sound and then ask (in his toddler way) "What's THAT sound make?"  He also frequently points out objects when we're outside and demands to know, "WHO made that?"  It's a lot of fun.  

Saturday morning was a rough soccer practice.  Zeeke was pretty unfocused and spent a lot of time running around the other side of the park. He had fun kicking the soccer ball around with his parents afterwards though.  After his nap, we met up with Addie & Zephyr for a trip to Bartram's Garden.  Zeeke loved exploring all the wetlands and trees and plant life, spotting baby frogs, and playing with Zephyr in the giant, 18th-century stone apple cider press.  When we got home, we went to party thrown by our neighbors Jessie & Lauren.  Zeeke demolished their crudités, happily chomping down on broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots (oh, and cookies and pretzels too!) 

Sunday, we headed out for an early morning trip to the playground then to the Acme.  Karen & Zeeke had a leisurely lunch while Steve popped out for a movie.  After his nap, Leah & Zack came by for a visit.  

Conversations with Zeeke:
"How was your sleep?"
"I was singing Old McDonald and crying."

Zeeke can now spell several simple words (cat, dog, zoo, etc.) upon request as well as recognizing them written down.  And if you spell the name of one of his friends, he can tell you whose name it is.  He 's being amazing about wearing his helmet.  He's really proud of it, happily showing off the stickers, and rarely complains even in hot weather when his hair is drenched with sweat.  

Tuesday morning was Zeeke's first scheduled hematologist appointment.  We got up to the hospital early and took Zeeke to the turtle pond as Kaskey Park.  Zeeke had a great time walking along the water, looking for turtles and then drawing them with chalk.  A nice couple there gave Zeeke pretzels to feed to the turtles.  As we chatted, we learned that they've been living at Children's Hospital for the past month because their teenage son was hit by a train.  Zeeke really enjoyed how every pretzel crumb brought an eruption of koi and turtles to the surface.  

Zeeke was really brave about getting his blood drawn even though there was a kid next to him screaming and crying in terror.  We all went a little stir crazy in the waiting room, but fortunately a gaggle of older girls started building a fort which kept him nicely fascinated for a while.  We liked the two hematologists we're working with and they were pleased with how happy and energetic Zeeke is.  Sadly, his platelet count did not significantly increase (up from 4 to 5), but at least it's moving in the right direction!  The hematologists are still optimistic that his body will fix itself without treatment, but it's likely that we'll be going through this for at least the next six months. Next blood test will be in about a month. 

After his nap, he and Steve went to the playground, a rare treat on a school day. 

Saturday morning we went to the Please Touch Museum for the second of Zack's two second birthday parties.  A fine time was had and Zeeke almost rode the carousel (then decided against it at the last minute).  After she dropped the boys off, Karen hit a clothing swap for some new kid clothes.  After his nap, Zeeke was oddly excited to go to the supermarket.  While there, Zeeke insisted on carrying around a single shiitake mushroom.  Steve wasn't sure if it was meant to be food or a pet, but there was no question of leaving it behind so he bought it.

Sunday, we headed up to Chestnut Hill where Jen & Kim made us brunch.  Zeeke had a great time playing with his buddies Jack & William.  Unfortunately we timed things wrong and messed up his nap time.  Faced with a cranky, under-napped toddler and a ridiculously noisy block party outside our house, we escaped to Jersey to visit Katie, Dave & Greta's new home.   Zeeke had a blast exploring their house and playing in the backyard.   We saw baby rabbits and shucked corn.  They made us a wonderful dinner.   And even with the screaming karaoke portion of the block party well underway, Zeeke was exhausted enough to fall asleep when we got home.

Conversations with Zeeke:
Zeeke & Steve were looking for a lost toy.
"I found it!"
"Oh, my gosh! Where did you find it? I just looked there!"
"I just found it!"
"Did you ever consider working as a private investigator?"
"Yes."

It was a rough week in the House of Zeeke.  Over the weekend, we'd noticed tiny red dots on his earlobes, arms and legs.  By Monday, there were even more and he was covered in bruises.  When things didn't improve on Tuesday, we took him to the pediatrician.  She diagnosed the problem right away and sent us off to the emergency ward at Children's Hospital.  Zeeke kept his good nature through several rounds of prodding and poking, two IVs, blood drawing, freaked out parents, and a lot of waiting.

His condition is called Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP).  In short, his immune system has killed off about 99% of the platelets in his blood.  Doctors don't really know what causes it, but in children it's usually acute.  For now the plan is to do weekly blood tests and hope he recovers on his own.  In the meantime, there's a lot to worry about:  bleeding wounds that won't clot, severe bruising, and head injuries that could cause internal bleeding.  They outfitted him with a soft rubber helmet to wear whenever there's a chance of banging his head.

Fortunately, although his parents are emotional wrecks, Zeeke is the same sweet, happy, rambunctious kid he always is.  The first thing he said when they put the helmet on him was, "I want a bicycle!" and the next morning he woke up singing.  He's been good about wearing the helmet so far.  His teachers at day care make him wear it whenever he goes outside or if there's a chance of rough housing.  Of course, to complicate matters, he's cutting one of his final molars, so each morning there's a little bloody drool on his crib sheet which is unsettling.  His pediatrician has been amazing, calling us every other day to check on him and answer any panicked questions we have for her which has helped navigating the long seven days until next Tuesday's visit with the hematologist.

Saturday morning we went to soccer camp as usual, nervous as heck but confident that with his helmet on he'd be fine.  Afterward we went out and bought a ton of stickers to decorate his helmet, which he loved.  After his nap, we went for a walk to visit Dena and bring her a cake for her birthday.  Dena lent Zeeke a set of powerful magnets that has been amusing him greatly.  After that, we drove up to Olney to have Korean barbecue with friends. Zeeke did a great job at the restaurant and enjoyed trying a lot of new foods.

Sunday, Steve & Zeeke went to the playground while Karen stayed home to tackle some chores.  At the playground, Zeeke played with his classmates Amelie, Odin, and Gabriel.  After finally getting comfortable the past few month with letting Zeeke climb and play freely, Steve's worries turned him back into the helicopter parent following him around every he went.  After his nap, Zeeke obliged his exhausted parents with a leisurely, low-key afternoon and was rewarded with a trip out for gelato. 

Conversations with Zeeke:
Zeeke was looking at an old picture of Karen & Steve when suddenly something urgent occurred to him.
"Where's Zeeke?!?"
"Oh, we hadn't met Zeeke yet."
Zeeke looked at Karen skeptically, thought for a minute, and then pointed to the picture again.
"Zeeke behind that rock."

Zeeke's been a handful this week. One day he came home from school with a note about how he was disobeying the teachers and then laughing at them. At home, he's experimenting with what he can accomplish by telling us "No!" and ordering Karen not to sing. Fortunately there are still lots of times when we get to enjoy the sweet, funny kid we love.

Monday, Karen's mom came to town to help out with Science in the Summer at the library. That night we all four of us went to a lovely dinner at David & Steve's. Zeeke was in heaven exploring their beautiful home and squealing with delight every time he saw their cat Squeek.

Saturday morning was Zeeke's second soccer practice. He did a much better job of participating and listening to the coach this week. After his nap, we went to his classmate Colette's birthday party and he had a fantastic time blowing bubbles, playing with their water table and running around in a pack of kids howling with laughter at a balloon they were chasing.

Sunday morning we headed out to New Jersey for his friend Zack's birthday pool party. Zeeke did great in the pool, swimming a short ways (in his floaty vest) back and forth between us. After a late nap, we were all pretty exhausted, but we forced ourselves out to hit the park and do some grocery shopping. At the playground we hung out with Zeeke's schoolmates Esme, Charlie, and Augie.

Conversations with Zeeke:
"Zeeke, fourteen years ago Mommy and Daddy went on their first date."
"Zeeke too!"
"Zeeke went on Mommy and Daddy's first date?"
"Yes."