Easter Traditions

Last Easter Zackary was only 8 months old so I was excited that this year we were able to do so much more with him being 18 months! The day before Easter we dyed our Easter eggs. Zackary had a different agenda. He wanted to spill everything, drink all the dyes and eat all the eggs. I have tried to give him egg in the past but he did not like it. This time he took the egg and had fun getting the shell off and then pretty much eating the entire egg until he had shoved so much yolk in his mouth he started to gag. He had gagged and then vomited the week before with me when I gave him some spinach. Watching others vomit has never been an easy thing for me so naturally when he started gagging I got up and ran. But then I heard him crying so I scooped the yolk out of his mouth, made him drink some milk and had to remove him from the situation. It took him a good 2 hours to pull out of his crankiness!

Christmas and Easter by far are my two favorite holidays and sharing both through my child's eyes are now going to make them even more fun and special each year!

I asked Ben what he remembers the most of Easter growing up. His father used to leave a trail of jelly beans that lead him to a basket. Church and a huge Easter egg hunt with all his cousins summed up the day! I remember my mom hiding baskets all over the house and there was always one special basket. They were filled with candy, money, and special stuffed animals or whatever. I remember Easter egg hunts, and my father does this fun Easter egg roll down his steep driveway.
Ben and I wanted to incorporate each of our past memories into our new traditions. We decided a jelly bean trail wouldn't yet be appropriate or leaving candy in the Easter eggs...but we did leave Cheerios in them!

Do you see the hidden egg around the corner. Oh my gosh, Zackary did such a great job finding all the hidden eggs. I hid some harder than others and he found those right away! He had so much fun looking for the eggs and putting them in his basket. Ben had to work and then we were leaving to go to my mom's so Zackary and I did his Easter egg hunt early in the morning. He ate breakfast first and as he was eating he was screaming and pointing to all the eggs he already saw! We made 3 baskets for him and I hid two for him to find early and then Ben hid one when he got home. Zackary loved each basket and had fun going through all the goodies that filled them. I even hid a basket of beer for Ben...obviously harder than the other baskets that I hid for Zackary and Zackary found Ben's basket before his own!


We went to my mom's for her annual Easter egg hunt and dinner. Her front and back lawns are huge and Zackary enjoyed searching for flowers, secret hiding spots and just running from mom and dad! Doesn't he look cute in his Easter outfit!

Here he found a secret hiding spot...

All the eggs were hidden in the backyard on one side of the yard for the two little ones. He filled his basket with about 5 eggs and then he was done. He wanted to eat all the cheerios out of the eggs and dump them out of the basket repeatedly!

This year Easter had a whole new meaning for me. I can't wait to experience it over and over again each year in new ways through his eyes.

Sweet Moments of Play

Zackary loves to have visitors come over especially when they get in the middle of all of his toys and start playing with them. My friend JS came to visit and in the wonderful way that she is introduced Zackary to his toys in new ways. She made him laugh and laugh...it was so adorable. He has cards that have a different animal on each one and she was making new animal sounds and showing him each card in a unique way that he though was great! Thanks girl for playing with my boy. Note to self...ask her to babysit!


My Dad was over one afternoon and he as well gets down on the floor and starts building with Zackary's blocks and just like my friend he makes the new funny noises, and does things that crack Zackary up. It's so much fun to see.

It's been really special for me to watch my family and friends that are such a part of my life start to initiate a new connection/bond with my son.

Me at 18 months

I always say this but I can't believe that Zackary's 18 months old now. He's 28 pounds, 34 inches tall (90% for height) and doing good. He loves loves loves his food. There are only a few things he does not like. Favorites include lima beans, peas, broccoli, zucchini, spaghetti's, avocado, crackers, cheerios, peanut butter, yo baby yogurt, hummus, all fruits except cantaloupe and much more. He gets upset while his meals are being prepared because he does not want to wait. We hold him over with his grains like bread, crackers etc...and it works. In the morning for breakfast he loves to feed himself his yogurt...it's slightly stressful for me but it's fun too.

His new thing is to climb into Bentley's bed and just relax either with a toy or without. It's so funny. He'll walk into our bedroom and I will wonder where he went cause it's so quiet and there he is just sitting in Bentley's bed! To cute. The toy in the picture above we took off his saucer to put batteries in and he loves playing with it now...it's like he has never seen the toy before. Keeps his interest for awhile.

As maybe you can tell we have moved our rooms around. Ben and I moved upstairs and Zackary's new room is our old bedroom. It took him some time to adjust but it's going better now. He was also teething (and apparently still is with 10 teeth total 3 of those molars) and had a cold during the move so we weren't sure what was upsetting him but probably a mixture. He smiles and laughs all the time and has become more silly. We play peek a boo a lot! He helps me take off his shoes, put them away, put his clothes on and brush his hair. He loves going to the park-sand is his new passion. No more swinging...he wants to be down in the sand and he enjoys picking some up in his hand and bringing it to me over and over.

We have been teaching him to brush his teeth for awhile now. We entice him with a Winnie the Pooh toothbrush (he loves Winnie) and he is pretty good at helping us help him with his teeth. He's a good sport for the flossing as well.

He still has a fascination with balls-collecting, throwing, kicking and bouncing. He has formed a bit of stranger anxiety but to be expected. Music is still a big part of his play time and I swear he has become a bit of an Irish dancer.

Dada Time

More books please.

AHHHHHHH

Best Friends Already!

My good friend MM and her son Jackson came to visit us a couple of weekends ago. Jackson is 3 months younger than Zackary and they were so cute together. Jackson definitely tried to interact more with Zackary than the other way around. We took a trip down to the beach in our new red radio flyer...that was precious.

Come visit again soon!

The curls are gone!

I didn't want to cut off the curls but I had to. He was developing some eczema on his neck and I couldn't get rid of it. The second I got his hair cut it was gone. And for that reason I am ok with it. I loved the curls...can't wait to see them again. We went to a local children's hair salon. We had to wait a bit...but it got him used to his surroundings. He sat in my lap when it was time and she cut as fast as she could. We distracted him with cars, tv, anything we could...and all in all he did very well. When we were done and I was able to have a good look at him I realized that my little boy was turning into a little man.

Beach Day

About two weeks ago we headed down to the beach for an afternoon. Zackary had so much fun playing with the sand and all the shells that had washed up on our beach. I can't remember ever seeing so many shells. Most were broken little left overs but still hard to resist the urge to go scrounging around for the still intact perfect shell! Zackary managed to make a friend and they had fun filling the pail with shells and sand.

The past two times Zackary and I have gone down to the beach he can't get enough of the water...running in after every wave goes out. We both end up all wet. This time Dad was with us and he pretty much ignored the water being to enthralled with the shells and kids playing around.

We found this yellow shovel at the park awhile ago and it has become Zackary's favorite tool on ANY outing. So funny!