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.