I had hoped that we would return from Thanksgiving armed with all of the funny stuff Z did while we were in San Angelo but in all honesty it was a beautiful sweet holiday. Zachary played in a huge pile of leaves and built a gingerbread house and ate lots of green beans. So many great memories made this holiday. We did miss the Strosniders (especially MiMi) but it was warm and wonderful.
He did have a few moments where we looked at him and wondered if he was really only 2 1/2 (actually closer to 3 these days!! YIKES!) For example - when we pulled up to Chad's grandmother's house he said "we are at G-nanny's house!" because he recognized it or on Wednesday when MiMi said Happy Thanksgiving and he looked at her and said "No Mimi. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving."
Z added a new word to the Z speak language - hollilop. Chad and I LOVE this one -- hollilop! We have started using it because we think it is sooo very cute. When we visited MiMi at the bank where she works, someone was passing out lollipops and Zachary asked her for an orange hollilop. We laughed -- great word -- you should say it about five times - it is guaranteed to make you smile.
MiMi and I did giggle at another Z speak incident when he was talking to us about trains and weather. To retell this story via blog will not do it justice at all but I will do my best. Zachary wanted to go play and he told MiMi and me that he would play with the trains and the weather. I said "Weather?" He said "No Mommy - weather." MiMi and I both looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders and MiMi repeated "weather?" Zachary shook his head and said "Weather!" Despite all my expertise in this difficult language and all my translation skills I have acquired over the past year, I was at a complete lost. So I made one more desperate attempt to communicate with my son "Zachary what do you mean weather?" My son now completely frustrated said slow and phonetically "WEA - THER!" So I gave up and said something like Oh OK or oh yea or oh right. Something to convince him that we understood. I actually think he was more frustrated than we were. So he left the dining room to play and I followed him to the end of the hall to the TREASURE chest that held his trains. Context and visual aids are quite enlightening.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Time to call CPS
My sister-in-law had her baby late Monday night -- Congrats to the Strosniders and welcome to the world sweet little Kendall - so last night after work the Martins made their way down town to visit the latest edition to the fam. I came from work and Chad left work picked up Z and we skipped dinner and met up at the hospital.
After sufficiant oooing and ahhhing -- she is beautiful really -- we decided to get some dinner with MiMi and PaPa (Chad's folks) and pick up some dinner for the new parents. So we all (yes that is four adults and one child in a large carseat for those counting at home) squeeze into our SUV that doesn't really feel like an SUV with all of us piled in there. We then began the debate -- where do we eat? There were shouts of Mexican or Vietnamese (HUH?) so MiMi asks Zachary "Where should we eat?" and he responds "McDonalds."
I can't even begin to express the color my face turns at this point. McDonalds? WHAT? We have probably eaten at McDonalds FIVE times in his life -- how does he know McDonalds? My mother-in-law is already a little worried about what I feed my child. I am a lazy lazy mom and use the microwave for a lot of meals - all about frozen veggies (you can buy vegetables fresh?) -- did you know you can buy premade meatloaf? And tend to feed him a lot of PBJ with baby carrots...and you wonder why MiMi has some nutritional concerns for her grandson. So this restaurant choice by my son is shocking to me (again how on earth did he know about McDonalds????) and of all the people to say it in front of -- really Zachary did you have to say that in front of MiMi????
She is very gracious and said "Oh don't worry. He probably knows it from commercials." She then turns to him and says "What would you want from McDonalds?"
Without missing a beat he says "Chicken, fries, and milk."
I believe MiMi has Child Protective Services on speed dial.
After sufficiant oooing and ahhhing -- she is beautiful really -- we decided to get some dinner with MiMi and PaPa (Chad's folks) and pick up some dinner for the new parents. So we all (yes that is four adults and one child in a large carseat for those counting at home) squeeze into our SUV that doesn't really feel like an SUV with all of us piled in there. We then began the debate -- where do we eat? There were shouts of Mexican or Vietnamese (HUH?) so MiMi asks Zachary "Where should we eat?" and he responds "McDonalds."
I can't even begin to express the color my face turns at this point. McDonalds? WHAT? We have probably eaten at McDonalds FIVE times in his life -- how does he know McDonalds? My mother-in-law is already a little worried about what I feed my child. I am a lazy lazy mom and use the microwave for a lot of meals - all about frozen veggies (you can buy vegetables fresh?) -- did you know you can buy premade meatloaf? And tend to feed him a lot of PBJ with baby carrots...and you wonder why MiMi has some nutritional concerns for her grandson. So this restaurant choice by my son is shocking to me (again how on earth did he know about McDonalds????) and of all the people to say it in front of -- really Zachary did you have to say that in front of MiMi????
She is very gracious and said "Oh don't worry. He probably knows it from commercials." She then turns to him and says "What would you want from McDonalds?"
Without missing a beat he says "Chicken, fries, and milk."
I believe MiMi has Child Protective Services on speed dial.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Tummy Troubles
For some reason on the way home from Ms. Carries house yesterday, Zachary said over and over "I need to go to the doctors." I know that Ms. Carrie hasn't been feeling well so maybe she said it and he overheard? I decided to explore this comment. So I asked "Why do you need to go to the doctor? Does your head hurt?"
He said no and that he needed to go to the doctor. So I asked "Does your tummy hurt?" and he responded with a very definite yes -- his tummy hurt.
I continued quizzing him - did his toe hurt? His finger? His ear? I was just wanting to see what he would say. He answered no to all of the above with the exception of his tummy.
He just repeat "I need to go to the doctor - my tummy hurts." I was still not convinced that his tummy truly hurt - it was merely the power of suggestion. So I asked him what would make it feel better and his answer was milk. I told him I didn't think that milk was very good for a hurting tummy.
By this time we had arrived home and he walks in the kitchen looking for his hunkin (z speak) and his candies (z speak again.) I told him that he could not have candy with a hurting tummy. He agreed that it wouldn't be a good idea to eat his Halloween candy when his tummy hurts.
He ran in to his room and called for me. I walk in and his shirt is up and he is rubbing his tummy. I start to wonder if maybe I have misread this whole thing and his tummy really does hurt (BAD MOMMY!) I asked him if I could rub his stomach or hold him or help. He said "I need a wipe."
I am confused at this point and ask him "What?" And he points to his Pamper wet wipes and asks for a wipe please. So I hand him the wipe and he rubs his tummy with it. He throws the "used" wipe in the trash, looks up at me and says "WOW! My tummy feels all better! I need candy please."
He said no and that he needed to go to the doctor. So I asked "Does your tummy hurt?" and he responded with a very definite yes -- his tummy hurt.
I continued quizzing him - did his toe hurt? His finger? His ear? I was just wanting to see what he would say. He answered no to all of the above with the exception of his tummy.
He just repeat "I need to go to the doctor - my tummy hurts." I was still not convinced that his tummy truly hurt - it was merely the power of suggestion. So I asked him what would make it feel better and his answer was milk. I told him I didn't think that milk was very good for a hurting tummy.
By this time we had arrived home and he walks in the kitchen looking for his hunkin (z speak) and his candies (z speak again.) I told him that he could not have candy with a hurting tummy. He agreed that it wouldn't be a good idea to eat his Halloween candy when his tummy hurts.
He ran in to his room and called for me. I walk in and his shirt is up and he is rubbing his tummy. I start to wonder if maybe I have misread this whole thing and his tummy really does hurt (BAD MOMMY!) I asked him if I could rub his stomach or hold him or help. He said "I need a wipe."
I am confused at this point and ask him "What?" And he points to his Pamper wet wipes and asks for a wipe please. So I hand him the wipe and he rubs his tummy with it. He throws the "used" wipe in the trash, looks up at me and says "WOW! My tummy feels all better! I need candy please."
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Where's my baby?
We were in Austin the weekend of October 20 for our friend Jennifer's wedding. She drew a big crowd from our college friends including our son's godparents from New Jersey. Since Jess and Andrew were coming in they brought our godson Baby Lucas. He is such a cute little guy. He was about 8 1/2 months at the wedding. Jess and Andrew were actually both in the wedding again to our benefit because we got to take care of Lucas for most of Saturday.
I do have to say we were quite the comedy trying to manage Z at 2 1/2 yrs and Baby Lucas. I realize there are millions of parents that can balance two or more kids but trying to find a rythm was a bit more difficult than anticipated. However all involved survived and actually we did get a groove going! It was fun to have both boys.
On the way back from the reception to the hotel, I told Chad to be careful driving because we had the two babies in the back. Zachary corrected me.
"No mommy," he said. "Not two babies. One baby and one boy."
Very true.
I do have to say we were quite the comedy trying to manage Z at 2 1/2 yrs and Baby Lucas. I realize there are millions of parents that can balance two or more kids but trying to find a rythm was a bit more difficult than anticipated. However all involved survived and actually we did get a groove going! It was fun to have both boys.
On the way back from the reception to the hotel, I told Chad to be careful driving because we had the two babies in the back. Zachary corrected me.
"No mommy," he said. "Not two babies. One baby and one boy."
Very true.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Z's Grasp of Language
Z has this Winnie-The-Pooh book that he likes to read every night...several times. Sometimes I read it to him, sometimes he reads to me, either way we read about three to five times. Not a truly interesting book unless he reads it -- then he cracks me up! However earlier this week, he broke my heart...unintentionally of course but it happened.
In his How Do You Hop So High book, there is a page where two birds are sitting in a nest and one of them is learning to fly. Once you turn the page the focus of the story is now on something different (not the birds) but you can still see the tree and the nest in the background. Well, Z was "reading" to me and he points to the nest that now only holds one bird and looks to me and says "Where did his mommy go?"
I wasn't sure how to answer and I said something lame I am sure like -- getting food or looking for daddy bird -- I don't remember. His response I remember.
He says pointing again to the little bird sitting by itself in the nest in the back of the picture "That's Zachary bird. He is all alone -- his mommy flew away." Gulp...I know he wasn't necessarily saying anything about me but the guilt - a nice combo of Catholic and Mommy -- filled me. Bleech.
But a funnier thing happened on Tuesday this week so I will share that too.
A little background on the Martin house. I travel quite a bit for my job and our extended family is spread out across the US so my amazing husband had a brilliant idea. He took little magnets and stuck pictues of family and friends on them. He then put a large map up on the fridge and placed our family magnets where ever they may be at the time. For example, Z's godparents live in NJ so Uncle Andrew and Aunt Jessie's magnets are on the east coast. Gramps is in Illinois, MiMi is in San Angleo, Uncle Jamey in Denver, etc. Then when I travel, Z and his dad move my picture magnet where ever I am in the country.
This past Monday I was in Austin for the day and before they left for daycare, Z and Dad moved my picture; however Z decided I was in Iceland not Austin. Anyway on Tuesday night, I was standing in the kitchen (cooking! no really -- a shock I know!!) on the rug in front of the sink. Z and Dad were in there puttering around getting ready for Halloween and Dad noticed that I was still in Iceland so he asked Zachary to "Move Mommy on the Map." Zachary came over to me at the sink and started pushing on me. I asked him what he was doing and he said "Move Mommy Move!" I said "What?" And he said "Move Mommy -- off the mat."
In his How Do You Hop So High book, there is a page where two birds are sitting in a nest and one of them is learning to fly. Once you turn the page the focus of the story is now on something different (not the birds) but you can still see the tree and the nest in the background. Well, Z was "reading" to me and he points to the nest that now only holds one bird and looks to me and says "Where did his mommy go?"
I wasn't sure how to answer and I said something lame I am sure like -- getting food or looking for daddy bird -- I don't remember. His response I remember.
He says pointing again to the little bird sitting by itself in the nest in the back of the picture "That's Zachary bird. He is all alone -- his mommy flew away." Gulp...I know he wasn't necessarily saying anything about me but the guilt - a nice combo of Catholic and Mommy -- filled me. Bleech.
But a funnier thing happened on Tuesday this week so I will share that too.
A little background on the Martin house. I travel quite a bit for my job and our extended family is spread out across the US so my amazing husband had a brilliant idea. He took little magnets and stuck pictues of family and friends on them. He then put a large map up on the fridge and placed our family magnets where ever they may be at the time. For example, Z's godparents live in NJ so Uncle Andrew and Aunt Jessie's magnets are on the east coast. Gramps is in Illinois, MiMi is in San Angleo, Uncle Jamey in Denver, etc. Then when I travel, Z and his dad move my picture magnet where ever I am in the country.
This past Monday I was in Austin for the day and before they left for daycare, Z and Dad moved my picture; however Z decided I was in Iceland not Austin. Anyway on Tuesday night, I was standing in the kitchen (cooking! no really -- a shock I know!!) on the rug in front of the sink. Z and Dad were in there puttering around getting ready for Halloween and Dad noticed that I was still in Iceland so he asked Zachary to "Move Mommy on the Map." Zachary came over to me at the sink and started pushing on me. I asked him what he was doing and he said "Move Mommy Move!" I said "What?" And he said "Move Mommy -- off the mat."
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Snow Poem
During the spring of 2007, after a rare snow was melting, Zachary (2) came up with this poem:
Oh no,
Oh no,
No all gone.
Bye bye no.
translated into english:
Oh (s)now,
Oh (s)now,
(s)now all gone.
Bye bye (s)now
Oh no,
Oh no,
No all gone.
Bye bye no.
translated into english:
Oh (s)now,
Oh (s)now,
(s)now all gone.
Bye bye (s)now
welcome to our history
This blog is set up mainly for us- a place to record interesting moments in our family. So- might not be interesting to anybody else; but at least all the good stories will be recorded!
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