Halfway There

We're noting the halfway mark to Zane's 1st birthday!

We love how his personality has blossomed. He has a new grin and it makes my heart melt. He is momma's boy. The boy really does love food and is eating like a champ. He's about 16.5 pounds. Hair is starting to grow. He's awake for way longer periods and seems to be making two naps work well. We had a couple nights in the last month where he slept from 11 or 12 to 4 or 5 in the morning. I'm hoping those were signs that he's working his way back to longer periods of sleep. We're thankful, though, that after nursing in the night, he does goes right back down. When he's impatient, he hollars and carries on. :) When he's happy and excited, he bounces his body and legs at rapid speeds. He's sitting up for little periods of time. He likes to play on the floor a lot. His time in the highchair is action packed. He wants to climb out of his infant bathtub.  His grip is pretty mighty. He chews on most everything. He gets his arms tucked in between the slats of the crib. He's been pulling the bumper off and trying to pull the sheet off his bed for several weeks now. He gets his body tangled in his toys, moving and wiggling his body all over the place. He moves his body by pulling and kicking his legs while on his back.

Zane was moving so much during our little picture session and he seemed to enjoy the texture of the rug so much that it was difficult to get a "perfect" picture.

And I was trying to be sneaky and take pictures of Zane while Vanessa played computer games. She couldn't handle the suspense though, and as soon as she entered the room she begged to take pictures with him. Next thing I knew, she was naked and right there in the middle of it all. There were tons of cute photos of the two of them, but I'll only share a few . . .

Zane grew tired of his sister trying to reclaim the attention. Being only half her size, made it hard to defend his moment.

Little Doer

So what do they do while Mommy works in the evenings? Vanessa likes to perform. Her daddy is teaching her well.

(Daddy -- her practice is making perfect -- her execution of "Goodnight Columbus!" this morning was very smooth and so very natural. You'd be so very proud. By the way -- where are the real drumsticks? :)

And just who doesn't like to watch a baby playing?

Zany Zoo

Zane is learning to love the zoo too!

Before entering last week, Vanessa's boots were the hot attraction.

Look how far I've come in a year, Mom!

But once inside, the aquarium became the hot attraction. For relatively young and sensitive eyes, it is perfect for tracking and engaging.

And with a curious face like this, we're sure to visit many, many more times this year!

Principle

Vanessa LOVES puzzles and games. Her patience when working a puzzle is remarkable.

Setting up a game is very exciting. Spinning, picking cards from a deck, rolling dice, taking turns, and moving our pawns can be really fun too, even if we don't win. We hope for Vanessa to learn early the ins and outs of winning and losing. So we don't break rules and cheat to allow her to win. She's able to anticipate the result of moves and the possibility of winning or losing midway through a game. She's only wanted to quit once or twice to keep from losing. Here's a moment back in January when she didn't win. It was hard to accept but we cheered up when we learned we'd get another chance.

        

You can't win them all is hard to swallow when you're highly competitive . . . and three. Vanessa is learning to congratulate the winner -- Good job! Good move! That's it -- way to go! Thanks, Vanessa, I also need to be reminded that you can't win them all, and you'll benefit from experiencing both sides.

Park & Ride

Zane tried the swings at the park for his first time last week. I think he likes it! What do you think?!

Lil Bro and Big Sis enjoyed swinging together!

And it was another day full of learning through play. Anytime we go to this park, Vanessa loves to spin the wheel and think of words that begin with the letter she lands on. She came up with lots of words for W: wheel, walrus, why, wink, wobble, Wednesday, winter, etc.

Zane learned a little about the food chain. . . . I'm not sure I liked how this pig was eying him . . . we told Mr. Pig that Zane will be trying ham for his first time this week. Zane loves turkey and becomes quite aggressive when grabbing spoonfuls of it. So Mr. Pig, beware!

We're so very thankful for the recent tastes of warmer weather!

Suck on This

Really, Mom? I'm working here.

Who needs toys when I have toes!

*Vanessa playing with her toes.

Extra Help

With Vanessa washing dishes . . .

. . . and Zane disposing of the junk mail . . .

 . . . there's not much left to do! (Vanessa, you just hold your horses -- no time for cleaning when you're supposed to be playing! She's a great helper, though.)

Standing Corrected

I have a number of random ramblings almost ready to be posted -- some might still get posted but others will likely be forgotten. There are so many things I want to remember forever by noting them here on the blog (cause I keep a running document to use as a sort of appendix to her baby/scrap book and soon will do the same for Zane) but I have to accept that I can't keep up with it all and that by not noting doesn't mean we won't remember. (I really do believe that, friends. I just haven't figured out the root of why I obsess over making notes everywhere. :)

Yesterday I was thinking how Vanessa spent months introducing people to others. I loved how she would run into any place filled with people and shout greetings and introductions: "Hi! My name is Vanessa and this is my mother!" It even carried over a little after Zane's arrival: "And this is my little brother Zane!" And let's not forget how she would introduce people who already knew each other (loved it!): "Daddy! This is my friend, Mommy." I think the reason it popped into my thinking yesterday was because I noticed that she hardly does it anymore -- she now introduces herself to new friends and moves on quickly to play. I miss it already and wish we had captured a few of the many occasions on video. Maybe we did . . . ?

So here's a post that I started in early January that was based on things that began last October. :) Can you believe it's March?! I'm happy that it is.

Even though we would discourage her to do so, Vanessa could say I told you so. Her Daddy and I need to apologize for trying to correct her naming of a dinosaur. To be honest, my knowledge of specific types of dinosaurs is limited to common ones like the T-Rex or brontosaurus (thanks to the Flintstones -- which I would love for a cable channel to air again!)

At Christmas Vanessa was indulged with lots of dino play figures. One specific play dino she names as euoplocephalus, something Dino Dan has taught her. Her Daddy and I both have corrected her, telling her it's called a stegosaurus. Most often she just looks at us like we're crazy and moves on with whatever she's doing. But as Vanessa and I were flipping through her DK Dino book at the beginning of January, she turned to a specific page and pointed at a picture and asked "Mommy, what is this?" I almost said it looked like a stegosaurus until I saw it labeled in big bold letters as Euoplocephalus. (Ask Vanessa how to pronounce it, although she's not really on this specific dino kick any longer.) The two are VERY similar. They both fall in the Armored Tanks family. We've decided we have to look at the snout and tail to know for sure.

The reality that I no longer have more basic knowledge than her has set in . . .

And as a sweet addition to this dino post, it's fun to hear Vanessa use dino names. Here she's searching for one while trying to make a high wire. (This video is from the end of October.)

Happy Birthday, Celia & Tuck!!

Happy Birthday, Luke!