We think we're starting to get a handle on what causes Zeeke's bad behavior. The days when he gets in trouble at school are almost always ones where the normal routine is disrupted by something like a trip or a party The same thing goes for home. The more boring things are, the more content he is. If we throw a little chaos or excitement into the works, he's far more likely to throw a tantrum. It's probably a new manifestation of all the fears he was having at the beginning of the year. The changes in his routine seem create an anxiety that he doesn't know how to express or deal with properly.
The growth spurt we were expecting last week (when he started eating more) has arrived. He grew over half an inch in less than two weeks. It's crazy how big he's getting.
One of his favorite games lately is pretending to transform himself and others into different things and then changing back. "Daddy, I turned into a grandpa bat! And you turned into a baby bat!" Sometimes the game moves along silently in his head, because we'll try to play along, and he'll shake his head and tell us, "Oh, I'm not a bat anymore! I turned back into a boy!" like we were fools not to have noticed.
Thursday, after school, Steve & Zeeke were walking to Purple Flower Mountain with Beth & Esme when we noticed a Halloween party going on outside Tollentine Comunity Center. After watching through the fence for a while we went in and found half of Zeeke's school inside. Zeeke decorated yet another little pumpkin (his fifth!) and tried a few of the treats.
Friday, Zeeke had a great time at his school's Halloween party and parade, but he was misbehaving so he didn't get cake when the other kids did. Amazingly, one of the other children was also Marshall from Paw Patrol (although we think Zeeke's cobbled together costume was cuter than his storebought one).
Saturday, Steve & Zeeke drew a chalk town at the playground and then headed off for a Halloween-themed music class. After his nap, all three of us went out for an early dinner at Punk Burger (where Zeeke got a free shake) and then joined a bunch of his friends for trick-or-treating on 13th Street. Zeeke had a ball, walking around with his friends. Getting candy was fun, but he didn't feel the need to go to every one who was offering it to him. In fact, he's such a stranger to candy that he would often freeze when people handed it to him, studying the foreign object carefully, trying to divine what it was. He was most excited about getting lollypops.
Sunday, all three of us went to the playground in the morning. We continued the chalk town from the day before and played monster tag with Andrew & Lazlo again. After his nap, we went over to Jersey for dinner with Pop Pop & Gigi, where he got still more candy!