Choo Choo Train

Zach's latest obsession is trains. He loves Thomas and anything else train related. He will happily follow Brooke around the house choo-chooing and dancing along. I lit upon a good idea a few months ago and took him to ride Trax which is the Utah light-rail system.

Even though Trax looks nothing like Thomas, Zach loves it. There is a Trax stop right by the Children's Museum so Zach's favorite activity is to take Trax to the Children's Museum (Thanks to his Grandma Marsh for the membership) and play for a few hours and take Trax home.

Did I mention that he has developed a weird habit of putting on a few variations of his over-the-top smile and staring at people on Trax until they notice the weird kid staring at them with a creepy smile!

Happy Halloween!

Here is Fireman Zach!
Zach wore his costume all morning to preschool on Thursday and for Trunk-or-Treating on Halloween! He was a very handsome firefighter!

Zachary loved helping carve the pumpkin.
As long as he didn't have to touch the "yucky stuff" inside!

Web Cam

Zach loves our new web cam. He shows off all of his jumping and spitting skills for it. He also likes to take everything out of the pantry so the web cam can check it out.

Happy 70th Anniversary!

Last Saturday was my grandparents' 70th wedding anniversary!
Congratulations! We love you!

Preschool

Here is Zach on his first day of preschool! He loves it!
When I come to pick him up he refuses to leave.
The first day of class his teacher had to explain that it's okay
to leave because he can come back next week.

He's 3!

Now that he's 3, Zach can:

Blow out his own candles!

Eat his own cake!

And, help himself to more!

Happy 3rd Birthday Zach!

Can't figure him out!

So Zach's latest favorite thing to do? Still spelling, but now he's added counting. We still haven't spent any time teaching him either of these, I think he's just picked it up from some of his toys, but he loves to sing the alphabet song and to count to ten, not bad for still being 2! Now if only we can figure out why he can spell and count, but can't say much else!

You may need to turn the volume up, the sound isn't that great.

Also, note his attire of choice: the pajamas that Mom made him, he probably spends a solid 20 hours in his pj's on a good day. He refuses to take them off unless forced!

Dentist

        Zach had his first dentists visit today. He went to a special pediatric dentist who had a really cool office. After refusing to watch a movie or read a book in the waiting room, Zach was at least willing to go back into the office with the dental assistant. Zach was really good as the dental assistant helped him brush and floss. The dentists chair was really cool with a TV built into the ceiling so you could lay back and watch a movie. Zach had no interest at all! After marking his territory by spitting on the dentists equipment, Zach condescended to let the dentist poke around in his mouth. 

      The report was good: no spots or stains and tons of room. The dentist said he could tell that Zach had Daddy's teeth, never sucked his thumbs and would probably never need braces! (in fairness, Mommy has good teeth too, she just sucked her thumbs and messed them up!) We didn't get any pictures at the office, but here's Zach back at home showing off his clean teeth with his new Eeyore toothbrush and his doggy balloon that he got from the dentist.

Introducing The Next Bobby Flay!

What is this???

Yes, my two-year-old is kneading dough!

His Grandma came to visit last week and made her homemade pizza for us. Zach watched her prepare one pizza crust and then insisted on doing the second one!

This morning he created this concoction for breakfast
(he didn't really eat it, but he had fun making it).


For those of you who would like to make this at home, here is his recipe:

Zach's Breakfast:

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup banana flavored bee-shaped crackers

Stir thoroughly until combined and mushy.

Happy Easter!

Here was the Easter haul at our house . . . thanks to contributions from several Easter Bunnies!

Zach were straight for the Cadbury Robin Eggs. He then moved on to coloring with markers. And then being naughty with the markers.

Here was the Easter egg hunt haul at Grandma & Grandpa's house!
There were Elmo juice boxes, plastic eggs filled with candy, Sesame Street and Little Einstein figurines, games, books
. . . you name it!

His favorite? Goldfish crackers.

Random Zachary

We recently got a new additional to our entertainment center.  It adds a serious amount of volume to the system but unfortunately because of its odd shape, it can't be stacked on top of other components.

Zach and Mommy went shopping a while ago at Old Navy and got some stuff for Zach and some for Mom. When they got home and were showing off their haul, Zach decided he wanted to wear everything they had just bought. Here he is in about 5 layers of his shirts and sweaters and Mommy's new pink shirt. If only he had been wearing his heels.......

This image has never been shot in the wild before: this is a sleepy Zach actually admitting to being sleepy by laying down in the front room with his denim blanket Great-Grandma Marsh made for him!

Zinhosa

        Zach's back in to soccer these past few weeks so I've been teaching him some new tricks. Last time we worked on heading the ball and he's a natural: he takes it on the right part of his head, bends his knees and drives the ball. 

      With his rediscovered interest, I ran him through BrazilName to find his nickname in case he ever becomes a Brazilian soccer star. His result? I give you, Zinhosa:

Mattress Maniac

I know that most parents start to worry when their kid is suddenly very quiet. For the most part, when Zach is suddenly quiet, he is just really into whatever game he is playing. Not today.

I put Zach down for his nap and he was noisy at first, as always. Then he finally quieted down. I was hopeful that he was asleep. When I went to the door I could hear him quietly singing. It was so cute I peeked in the door and saw this...

That is/was his crib mattress. I don't know how he did it, but that's Zach for you! I was so shocked that I wasn't even mad. I finally explained that it was naughty and had him help me clean up. Zach apparently knew that what he had done was pretty bad and that he had better be on his best behavior. He brought me a can of the vegetable soup I always try to get him to eat. He climbed right into his booster seat and ate the whole can without complaint!

Zach Spelling and Other Tricks

       Here are some of Zach's favorite tricks. In the last 2-3 weeks he has developed an interest in letters. He loves his letter puzzle, singing the alphabet song, and watching 'Word World'. Today he picked up a random bottle from under the sink and decided he wanted to spell the name. This is his first attempt followed by a few of his other favorite tricks.

       His speech is still a working in progress, it's almost a year and a half since he started his speech therapy, but at this rate he's going to be reading before he's talking!

There is hope!

There are times when I wonder what we have unleased on the world! Zach can be very naughty when he wants to be and I know I couldn't deal with him around the clock like his Mom does. There are however, times when he thinks no one is looking, that you can peek into his soul and see what a sweet kid he is. He has his little buddies, old ducky, new ducky, old froggy, new froggy and Elmo, and he takes such good care of them, there has to be a good kid in there somewhere!

He always makes sure they are comfy and can watch him play.

On cold days, he makes sure they are nice and warm.

And sometimes, when he is tired or bored, he just needs a kiss from his best buddy, Elmo!

A Very Zachary Christmas!

     Zach had a great Christmas this year. He still hasn't figured out the skill we were most hoping for: anticipation, but he has a handle on opening presents and realizing it's new stuff for him.

     We started out Christmas morning at home where Zach got to open his stocking. He was excited to find MatchBox cars as he had been resorting to forcing kids at church to let him play with theirs!

     On a side note, you can see the t-shirt he has to wear over his pajamas so he doesn't strip and pee all over his room overnight.

    After his stocking he pulled the blanket back on his new kitchen set that Grandpa and Grandma Z. got for him. We spent about 4 man hours on Christmas Eve putting it together and of course it took Zach about 2 'little man' hours to break the first piece off!

     We then moved on to Grandpa and Grandma Z's house for the bulk of his present opening activities. Zach was clearly excited to get new stuff, here he is opening one of his new puzzles.

     He got lots of new books and a massive bean bag from Mom and Dad. He absolutely refuses to sleep in his bed, the floor is apparently much more comfortable, so the bean bag is our last ditch effort to at least get him to sleep on something soft to sooth his aching back after a hard days work. So far, it's a success, but it does make one more thing to wash when he manages to get his clothes off and pee on everything! (Notice the overalls, another anti-strip and pee device!)

   Zach got a cool 3-D viewer and some slides of his favorite Disney shoes, Little Einsteins and My Friends Tigger and Pooh. It took him a while to let us put it up to his eyes but he was quite fascinated once he got a good look.

    One of his absolute favorite presents is from his Grandpa Barlow in England. Zach got an 'Elmo Live!' which he loves. Elmo talks and dances and tells jokes. Zach feels a lot of responsibility as he thinks that his Elmo is the real one. He gets very distraught when Elmo falls over as he doesn't want to be the kid that puts Elmo in the hospital and deprives all the other kids of Elmo!

    Zach had a really great Christmas and wants to say 'Thank you!' to all his family and friends that made his Christmas so great!