Summer Fun, Part One: Zachary :o)

Summer has come & gone (at least according to the school calendars.)  We have had quite the busy summer!!  The boys have both gone through growth spurts and they are getting smarter and cuter every day!!  Here's what we've been up to:

 Zachary vacationing on a river boat

Zachary
Zachary turned one last month (we actually got that post in) and has really been enjoying his toddlerhood!  At his one year doctor visit, he weighed in at 23lbs, 8oz (75th percentile) and measured 31.25 inches tall (90th percentile).  Nick is convinced that Zachary plays like a 2 year old.  His attention span is much greater than Nicholas's was at one year of age.  Zachary will sit in front of a toy and just play and play away!!  He amazes us as he plays with Nicholas's Bat Cave.  He'll take the Batman or Robin figure, place it somewhere in the cave and proceed to bounce it around the cave and babble.  (Zachary doesn't know it's a 3 years + toy!)  It's also so fun to watch him roll cars down his new car ramp, smile proudly, and clap when the car reaches the bottom.  Musical toys are also a Zachary favorite!!  The second any music starts playing, Zachary will start bouncing and swaying.  If he's really getting in the groove, he'll wave his arms around, clap, or spin in circles.  Nicholas is always dancing, too, and it is comical watching them dance together.

 Dancing off the photo!

Zachary loves making Twinkle signs with his hands while singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and I was so impressed when he started making the same motions to the ABC song while giving me a strange look!!!  (If you haven't noticed, those songs and Baa, Baa Black Sheep are all sung to the very same tune.  Zachary noticed.)  If You're Happy And You Know It is another crowd favorite.  Zachary will clap, try to stomp, and throw his hands up to shout hurray as instructed.  He's such a fun, active boy!!!  :o)

 What are you doing to Mickey?!?!  

Zachary celebrated his 1st birthday at Chuck E. Cheese with family.

 A few days later, he returned for another Chuck E. Cheese birthday party with friends!

 Zachary has embraced big boy foods with arms wide open!  The boy loves to eat and he sure can put it away!  Nicholas is forced to retreat to "the big boy table" to prevent Zachary from getting into his raisins or other choking hazard foods.  Zachary takes up his post next to Nicholas's chair on his tip toes with an arm stretching over the table as far as it can to try to grab a piece of the forbidden dried fruit.  Then, messy Nicholas will ultimately drop a piece of food onto the floor and Woosh!!!  Zachary is on top of it, shoving it into his mouth before anyone can stop him!  He'll smile triumphantly as he happily chews on his prize and continues to crawl under and around the table in hopes of finding another tasty snack.  (I promise we do feed him regularly!)  Zachary's current favorite foods are grapes, bread, cheese, and birthday cake!

Can I get a bite of that?

As far as milestones go, Zachary does say a few words.  His very first real, meaningful word was "duck".  He loves his ducks!  He very frequently says "That!" as he points to whatever he wants at the moment.  "Cat", "Dog", "Daddy", "Mama", "Brother", "Grape", "Sandwich", "Cheese", "Cake", "Puff", "No", "Don't", and "Fish" are some of his more common words.  (Some are more clearly spoken than others.)  My favorite expression is "Uh Oh!"  Zachary will drop food, toys, or anything he gets his hands on just to look back up at you with a surprised expression and say, "Uh Oh!"  If he drops something on accident, then he'll look up at you frantically while saying, "Uh Oh! Uh Oh! Uh Oh! Uh Oh!!!"

 Brothers...just wanna eat cake!!!

Zachary officially started walking just before 11 months of age on June 11.  He's much more confident with his walking now and has even started running a bit!!  Zachary is the proud owner of 6 incisor teeth (4 on top, 2 on bottom) and they sure do leave a mark when he bites!!  And Zachary is quite the biter.  Nicholas didn't start trying to bite other kids until a kid bit him at Little Gym when he was 20 months old or so.  I suppose Nicholas passed on his skills to Zachary because the second Zachary gets frustrated, his mouth opens and searches for a place to land.  Ouch.  We're working on this issue.  :o/

Zachary loves to read The World Around Me!

Zachary went to the allergy doctor the first week in August to see if we could pinpoint possible causes of his eczema.  Sure enough!  The poor boy is currently allergic to 3 of the 4 foods that were tested.  He's allergic to milk, eggs, and peanuts.  Soy is apparently safe.  The doctor was very concerned and gave us a prescription for an Epi-Pen in the event that Zachary has a severe reaction to one of the foods.  I'm not too concerned as it seems that Zachary's allergy manifests itself only through skin rashes or eczema.  But, we've got the Epi-Pens should that ever prove incorrect!  Poor Zachary!! 

1-milk, 2-egg, 3-soy, 4-peanuts, 5-negative control, 6-positive control

Now for fun stories!!!  On June 4th, Zachary had his very first kiss!  Nicholas was playing with his friend, Troy, in the Chick-Fil-A playscape while Zachary and Troy's sister, Addison, played out by the benches.  Zachary was sitting on my lap when Addison walked over, climbed on the bench, and sat down next to us.  She pointed up at Zachary and smiled.  Zachary excitedly smiled back and leaned over.  Then, they kissed on the lips.  I started laughing as Zachary pulled back with a huge grin and began clapping.  Addison was smiling, too.  Then, they did it again!  But this time, Zachary's mouth was wide open!  After more smiling and clapping, they did it again!!  I finally got Addison's mom's attention as they proceeded to repeat the routine a few more times before they grew bored.  She enjoyed the show, but promised to tell Addison's dad about the event so they could watch out for Zachary in the future!  :o)  What a ladies' man!

Then, a few weeks ago at the neighborhood pool, Zachary and I were saying goodbye to some friends so that we could retreat into the shade somewhere.  Zachary smiled and waved goodbye nicely to one lady, but then demanded that I put him down.  I placed him on the ground and he ran over to the lady, gave her a hug around her legs, then returned to me with his arms out to be picked up again.  I thought that this was the cutest thing ever!!  :o)

Ugh...and then there's the story about the trash cans!  Zachary loves to throw things away.  Luckily, we've found all the toys in the trash before they were actually thrown out, but what a pain!!  I witnessed the actual trashing of the toys once.  (On the other occasions, Nicholas has been the tattler.)  Zachary grabbed Nicholas's mini Buzz and Woody toys, walked over to the laundry room trash can, placed the toys in the trash can, waved goodbye, and walked away.  I was thankful that the trash can contained only dryer lint when one minute later, Zachary returned to the trash can, stuck his arm in, and retrieved the toys.  (I promise I was going to get them out eventually!)

Train!!!  Woo, woo!!!

Well, there you have it!  Zachary's summer in a nutshell...but not a peanut shell because that could end poorly.  :oP

Coming soon...Summer Fun, Part Two:  Nicholas  :oP