Trick or Treat!!

WOW! I have never been so proud of my little man. He really did put up with a lot this week and Halloween, and Mommy's excitement! The week started on Thursday at Gymboree class. They all dressed up and played in their costume. About halfway through class, Zachary's hat came off. As you can see by the picture, so did best friend Colts hat - Spider Man showed his identity!!
On Friday, I was able to convince Zachary's friend Colts mom to join us at the Baltimore Zoo for the ZooBoo. Kinda a funny story. We decided to walk to the main part of the zoo instead of taking the tram. We walked the entire zoo and saw NO activities for the kids. Finally, I had to ask someone. Turned out, all the activities were next to the tram stop - no wonder we missed it!! So, as we left the main zoo, we took the kids into the ZooBoo. Zachary was a little hesitant about walking up and saying trick or treat for the first time - however, when the first person put 6 lolly pops into his bucket - his mouth was huge, and he began to walk up to anyone (whether they were giving out candy or not) and said trick or treat!

They had all kinds of activities for the kids. Games, a hay maze, face painting, moon bounces, pumpkin picking, and of course, trick or treating. After all that fun - we sat down for lunch, the boys wanted to sit next to each other - too cute!Tonight - trick or treating. I was so proud of Zachary! He walked up to all the doors by himself, said trick or treat, thank you, and good-bye! They only thing that distracted him - dogs! He had to pet and kiss everyone that came to the door!I was amazed at how much candy he got (and a balloon animal) for just hitting 10 or so houses! Good thing he cant eat some of it - made sure we picked out our favorite too - hehe. After we finished trick or treating, we hung out, out front, with our other neighbors handing out candy. Zachary ran around, had some sugar and enjoyed saying hi to all of the kids. I truly was amazed at how well he took to this holiday. He understood exactly what to do and how to do it. Poor thing though, when I went to put his costume on tonight, he ran into the kitchen yelling no! Think he was sick of it??

Halloween

Day 1 of our Halloween excitement has commenced!! This year is so much fun, because although Zachary does not understand the concept of why he is dressing up, he still loves to show off his costume. Today we went to gymboree class, and all the kids were dressed in their costume. We had a picture, played and hung around on the parachute. Zachary, of course, sat next to best friend Colt!
Tomorrow we are going to the ZooBoo, and I am SO excited! All the keepers will be giving out candy, there will be fun events and so much for Zachary to do. Hopefully Mindy and Colt will be able to join us, otherwise Jason is going to come. I have to get some cat ears or something!! Then after the ZooBoo, we will take a nap and then going trick or treating at the Hunt Valley Ave. Saturday is cousin Matthews birthday party and a hayride at Nana and Papas, and Sunday is HALLOWEEN!
Zachary has been practicing saying trick or treat, and is getting pretty good at it! I hope to have the video camera fixed by Sunday.
Promise to post pics after we have finished all the festivities, and maybe even a short movie! Until then -
BOO!

Pumpkin Carving

Today I finally convinced Jason to carve the pumpkins. He would not let this occur any earlier because he was set on them lasting as long as they could. To be honest - I just wanted the seeds so I could roast them - YUM!!

I was so excited this year to let Zachary get all the gunk out - less for me to do!

Unfortunately for me, he did not like to put his hands in there! I should have known better. I have cleaned his hands repeatedly since he was born. I sit at his highchair with him and wipe him off as soon as he gets dirty. He loves to wash his hands and put on lotion. Any time he gets dirty, he comes running to me with his hands out to be cleaned.

Well, as he stuck his hands into the gunk filled pumpkin, he pulled it out, made a face, said 'eewwww', looked at me and gave me his hand.

So as you can tell by his pictures, he was more interested in looking into the pumpkin and poking at it with the poker, then helping to clean them out.

I was so excited when I saw the ad on nickelodeon for pumpkin patterns. I went right on and printed out one of swipper. For those of you who don't know who swipper is - he is the 'sneaky' fox on Dora the Explorer, Zachary's favorite show. As soon as we lit them up for him - he looked right at mine and knew what it was - I was happy!

Hopefully next year we will get him a little more involved with the creative process!

The joys of motherhood

Last night I did nothing out of the ordinary. Every night, before I got to bed, I always go into Zachary's room to make sure he is sleeping well and that the temperature is perfect for him. Well, last night when I went into his room at 11:15pm, he was wide awake, standing in his crib. He smiled when I walked in, grabbed his blanket and held out his arms. What was I supposed to do? Of course I picked him up. I cuddled him for a bit and he pointed at the door. I put him down and asked him what he wanted. So he ran to my room and patted the bed. What could it hurt? We climbed into bed and turned on Thomas the Train. He sat for a minute, then, he held his blanket tight, and laid down on my chest, eventually putting both arms around me. My heart melted. I wanted nothing more than to freeze that moment in time.
Zachary has never spent the night in our bed, and as much as I wanted to let him do it last night, after around 3o min, I put him to bed. He held me so tight, and cried the second we walked into his room.
Those are the nights I am going to treasure. The ones where everything seems perfect, and nothing can harm you. The one where the one person who you love more than anything, and would do anything for, finds comfort just being with you.

Webers

Webers Farm has to be the best (inexpensive) place to take kids when it comes time for fall. There is so much fun stuff to do there! Zachary learned how to say pumpkin almost perfectly last month when he saw a picture of one - so seeing all these pumkins in one place was so exciting for him!

And, as always, getting him to leave the slide area was tough! If you can't tell by my face - it was pretty fast!

They had a tunnel for him, corn maze, lots of animals, tractor ride, hay ride, slides and a HUGE pumpkin area. Always trying to pick them up, however never really successful!

Don't worry, Jason didnt get lost - however he found it to be a little tight!!

To be honest, we had so much fun there, I think I have convinced dad (papa) to go again with us tomorrow!

Seperation Anxiety?

Bedtime = hell
This is not even an exaggeration either. About 2 weeks ago, Zachary decided that bedtime was the devil. It breaks my heart so bad when bed time comes along. We take him upstairs, and brush his teeth, then as soon as we are done - he knows. The hysterical crying begins and the screams. And I'm not talking about regular screams, I'm talking about screams like the child is being attacked! I feel like we have tried everything too. We try our best to calm him down before, but it never happens. We have tried moving his bed time, changing our routine, watching TV in mommy and daddy's bed before - everything - nothing is working. After I have left the room, the horrific cries continue for about 20min. I hate it. It has gotten to the point that I am ready to call the doctor to get some suggestions from him.
My friends have been great, giving me their input on possible ideas. The unfortunate part? We have pretty much tried all of their ideas, except for the book recommendations. Guess that is next.
I really am stuck - I have no idea what to do next. He used to be so good at bed time - then, all of a sudden, this started.
It is only bedtime though - nap time is good. He does his normal cries for the 'I'm not tired' routine, but falls to sleep pretty fast. I always knew that bedtime would be hard, but I just don't know how to handle this. I hate hearing my child cry for me.
I am starting to think that he is having separation issues. He has woken up a couple times in the middle of the night, can't console himself, and we have to go in there. He squeezes so hard, you have trouble breathing! But recently, leaving him at daycare. When I pick him up, he doesn't want to leave, but when i try to leave in the morning, hysterics! Not so much for Jason, maybe because he is more accustomed to daddy's schedule of coming and going, and expects me to be there more often, I don't know. We talk about what we are going to do that day in the car, so he is prepared, we get to daycare and he is fine - then I say goodbye. I think all my clothes are stretched out from him pulling on me. Sara assures me he is done about 2 min after I leave - he is distracted and having a great time with the other kids. He has fun there.
I thought the idea of separation anxiety happened earlier than this, not when they are almost 2. I know it will soon pass, but until then, my heart breaks, and I hate to hear my little angel be so upset.

Absolute Amazment

The greatest thing about being a mom, is noticing everyday that this little person in your life is learning and doing something new around every corner. Whether it be a new word, a new sound or interacting with a video - everyday Jason and I are so excited to tell each other what Zachary has done that day. Where to begin?

I think the most fun thing that he does, is interact with his favorite shows now. He LOVES Diego and anything with Elmo. He watches them and always does what he is told. Because of Diego, he says anaconda (conda), can speak some spanish (we were not going to push this) and claps and makes sounds when he is told. He always tells me what is on the screen, and learned how to give 'raspberries' because Elmo asked him for his help. No, TV is not a babysitter, but it has become an amazing learning tool that I am not ashamed of!

Next comes the reason why he is definitely his mothers son! Zachary is really into organization. I find it amazing that he likes to take all of his trucks, and line them up perfectly in a row. And don't even think about moving one! He throws his trash away, puts his clothes (and his daddy's!) in the hamper. And now he has learned to put some toys away before bed and all of his bath toys away before he gets out.

I find it amazing how the little brain works. Lots of things are going on in there, and I always look forward to the next day to see what new thing he has to say or do!

Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down. . .

I am really starting to get sick and tired of it raining on my days off!! I have so many fall fun activities planned for Zachary, and of course, they all have to do with being outside! So, needless to say, we have been very uneventful lately. The one fun thing that I have done? Switched over all of Zachary's clothes the other day. That was a good thing too since it has not been out of the 50's in the last two days! It was like Christmas. All of these clothes were either purchased last year when stores were having their big winter sale, or they were handed down to us from some wonderful friends! It was a little funny though, when I noticed all we had for the winter were 1 pair of jeans, 10 pairs of sweatpants, and around 50 shirts! Had to shop in the rain yesterday to fill in the gaps.
Otherwise, things have been pretty uneventful. We keep busy playing with Zachary's cars (which he is in LOVE with) and fighting his urge to go outside and play or go to the park. O those wonderful temper tantrums!