our week with zeeke

Wednesday night, while Zeeke was in the tub, Steve gave him his first haircut. We'd done a little trim once before, but this was the real deal. He golden locks went from Farrah Fawcett to Mia Farrow in just a few snips and he didn't miss them at all. His teachers at school were all thrilled that we finally gave him a haircut.

Friday night, we took a walk around the neighborhood with Paul, Shari and Nate. Zeeke had fun chasing Nate down the block.

Saturday morning was Zeeke's first soccer practice. Zeeke says he had a good time, but his attention was definitely wandering and he spent more time playing with the props than doing what his coach told him. After his nap, we inflated swimming pool for him in the back yard. He had a blast playing in the cool water, especially after he came up with the idea of putting his chair in the water.

Sunday morning, we picked up some doughnuts and headed out to Chestnut Hill for a play date with the twins. He had such a good time that he took a three hour nap when we got home.

Conversations with Zeeke:
"What books do you want to read tonight, Zeeke?"
"I want The Watermelon Seed."
"Hmmmmm... I don't see that one."
"It... a library book."
"Oh."
"I want more library books."

Zeeke is still wild about taking baths, delighting in squirting bath toys and even starting to experiment a little with head dunking. He's also still loving building with his lego duplo set. We've supplemented our original set with plenty of black, brown, orange, and lime green pieces.

Tuesday, Steve turned their basement door into a magnetic chalkboard. Thursday, Zeeke had a half day at school and after his nap the door was finally ready to play with. He & Steve enjoyed covering it with magnetic letters.

Friday morning, Zeeke's classmate Zoe came over for a play date. They had a great time playing with Zeeke's toys and drawing on the chalkboard door. And as we walked them home, we bumped into both their classmate Colette and their teacher Fran. After a nice long nap, we headed out to the playground, where we ran into two more classmates. First, Sadie taught him some new tricks on the swings and then he and Delano chased each other all over, up ladders and down slides. It was very cute the way Zeeke would call out Delano's name as he tried to keep up with him.

Saturday morning, we met up with his friend Zack at the Please Touch Museum. Later in the morning they were joined by Zoe & Delano. After a nap, Karen & Zeeke met up with Amelie at the "sprayground" to cool off.

Sunday morning, we picked up Greta for a playdate/babysitting while her parents packed up their house. That night they took us out to dinner where Zeeke was jubilant over a meal of pizza and doughnuts!

Conversations with Zeeke:
"Daddy's hands dirty."
"Yeah, I got paint on them. Did that ever happen to you?"
"Yes. I washed them."

Karen and Zeeke have been working their way through all of Zeeke's old baby toys, deciding what to keep and what he wants to pass onto his cousin Becca's baby (due later this summer). It's very cute listening to him say, "Give to Becca's baby!" over and over.

Speaking of hand-me-downs, we received a ton of Lego Duplo bricks from Karen's friend Heather and her daughters. Zeeke loves them but is a little frustrated that there aren't more brown and black pieces (his two favorite colors), so Steve started scouring Amazon and Ebay for the desired colors to augment the collection. Each night, they spend have a good session of building towers and treehouses, airplanes and rocket cars.

Tuesday was picture day at school so we spent some time out in the garden the night before practicing smiling for the camera. On the walk home from school that day, Zeeke was happy to demonstrate the smiling/growling animal face he'd made for the camera. Fingers crossed!

Thursday, after school Zeeke spontaneously started telling Steve about his pet dog. It's brown-and-black (of course!), says "Ruff!" (even though he usually says dogs say "Woof"), and is named either Goofy, Hoot, or P'kaht.

Saturday, after an early morning Target run, Zeeke & Steve went to the playground where they ran into his schoolmate Collette. The kids had a blast chasing each other around in the water. After his nap, they drove out to Jersey and picked Karen up from Becca's baby shower. They had a quick visit with Gigi and Uncle Chris, who showed Zeeke the fire engines ("YELLOW fire engines!") in the fire hall where the shower was held. Zeeke loved it. From there, they headed north for his cousin Bella's fourth birthday party. Zeeke had a great time and even got some presents himself (from Grandpop Bob-Bob and Grandma Joy), which Bella helped him play with.

Conversations with Zeeke:
"I looooooove grapes."
"Actually, Zeeke, these are cherries."
"I looooooove cherries."

Friday morning, with a little coaching, Zeeke greeted Steve with "Happy birthday, daddy!" He was also happy to assist in opening cards. That night we celebrated with ice cream cake.

Sunday morning, we headed up to Chestnut Hill. Zeeke had an amazing time running around naked with the twins in their mini-water park. After they wore themselves out, Jen & Kim took us out for a lovely brunch at Chestnut Grill. Unfortunately, Zeeke passed out on the ride home, which meant only a mini-nap at home. When he he woke up, we headed down to FDR Park for a snazzy kids event being run by Karen's friend Heide. Zeeke had a blast making crafts and exploring the new playground. Zeeke made friends with a family who offered him one of their delicious grilled chicken wings, which he loved.  

Conversations with Zeeke:
"Did you play in the water at school today, Zeeke?"
"Yes. I got naked."
"Oh! Did anyone else get naked?"
"Yes. Gabriel."
"Was that fun?"
"Yes!"
"What did your teachers say?"
"Get dressed! Get dressed!"

Zeeke is recognizing more sight words, including: red, zoo, and stop.  The backyard and bath time are still big hits this week. We've even managed to slowly raise the temperature of the water up to germ-fighting range and rinsed the shampoo out of his hair without fits a couple times. Zeeke's going down with a little less fuss this week although he's been experimenting with all sorts of delaying tactics at the first mention of going "upstairs to read books." Suddenly he needs a new drink or "one more bite!" of the food he'd been ignoring for the past hour." He'll even voluntarily start cleaning up his toys if it buys him an extra minute or two downstairs.

Saturday, Steve & Zeeke had a great long morning at the playground where they ran into half of the kids from Zeeke's school and made some new friends as well. After a nap, Zeeke helped Steve cook some red beans and rice and they played out in the backyard until Karen got home from work.

Sunday morning, with a little coaching, Zeeke greeted Steve with "Happy Father's Day, Daddy!" We went to Chhya for pancakes and waffles and ran into our friends Paul, Shari and Nate, then headed out to the playground. After Zeeke's nap, we headed out to New Jersey for dinner's with Steve's family. Zeeke loved his dinner and strawberry shortcake, then covered their patio with chalk drawings and led the adults on hikes through their lawns.

Conversations with Zeeke:
"Zeeke, how many fingers do you have?"
"Many."

Zeeke's new hobby is negotiating for lollipops. He says he should get one any day he doesn't get put in time out at school. We talked him down to one on Friday if he stays out of trouble all week. He wants one every time we leave the house, we talked him down to just when he's in the car seat or the stroller. He found those terms satisfactory, but pushed for a clause that everyone gets a lollipop and that Zeeke gets to trade lollipops with his parents whenever he wants (denied).

On Sunday, we went a birthday party for Will, Zeeke's pal from music class. Zeeke had a sensational time drawing, singing, and (of course) stuffing his face with his favorite food: birthday cake.

Conversations with Zeeke:
"Did anyone get put in time-out today, Zeeke?"
"Gabe. Zeeke."
"Oh no, why did Gabe and Zeeke get put in time-out?"
"Birds!"
"Oh! Did Gabe and Zeeke chase the birds?"
"Yes."
"And what did the birds do when you chased them?"
"Tweet! Tweet! Tweet! Tweet! Tweet! Tweet!"

Saturday, we went to the zoo with Amelie & Jen. Leading up to the trip, we'd asked him what animals he wanted to see at the zoo and he declared, "Worms!" As it turned out, he wasn't all that interested in any of the animals, unless you count the plastic silhouettes of animals with the name of their species on them. He loved those and he had a great time running around with Amelie and cleaning up as much of the loose hay as possible in the petting zoo.

On Sunday, we went to a party at Liz & Kate's. Zeeke had a blast playing in their kiddie pool and playing with chalks and paints. And he even got to see worms!

Conversations with Zeeke:
"What happened at school today, Zeeke?"
"Gabe kiss!"
"Oh, who did Gabe kiss?"
"Zeeke."
"Nice. Did Zeeke kiss anyone?"
"Yes. Zeeke kiss Gabe."

Zeeke had his two year check-up and got a clean bill of health. He's starting to work on his last four molars which has led to some cranky, sleepy nights.

Sunday night we went to dinner at Steve's parents. During dinner Zeeke found it was Steve's brother's birthday and shouted, "Uncle Chris, it your birthday! We gonna have cake!" Fortunately, it turned out to be true or he would have been very disappointed.

He's started telling us when we're funny. "Daddy funny." "Mommy funny." It's pretty cool.

Out of nowhere, he's started hating going to bed. After we put him down and leave the room, he'll cry and plead to be rescued for ten minutes. We're not sure if it's a temporary regression or the beginning of a new phase.

We brought in cupcakes for Zeeke and classmates on his birthday, which he liked very much. His teacher Fran, whom he normally loves, accidentally traumatized him by joking that she was going to eat his cupcake. Days later he was still flashing back to it, getting a steely look in his eyes and saying, "Fran not eat Zeeke's cupcake."

Saturday, we had a little party at the house for his classmates. For days in advance, all he could talk about was how he was going to have cake and balloons. We were a little worried about how he'd do with all the kids playing with his toys, but he had a great time.

Sunday, we met up with Tara, Matt & Moira for dim sum in Chinatown. Zeeke was thrilled when Steve bought him some stretchy bands.