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!

17 months old

Last Friday Zackary turned 17 months old. He continues to grow physically and mentally. He learns new things everyday that amazes us. By chance I tried the above mittens on him thinking, "ya right he'll have those off in a minute." No...they are apart of our morning walk now. He loves them! It's too cute. He is jibber jabbing more trying to figure it out...and I think he's trying to say doggie. He is running and not as upset if he falls as he used to be. There is another tooth coming in (bottom right) which makes it a grand total of 7 teeth now! He gives hugs and kisses all day long and if we are playing hide and seek or chase (his two favorite things right now) he ends the game by running into mommies arms for a hug.

Sometimes it seems like he forgets his toys are there for him to play with. He walks around trying to find new things of ours to get his hands onto. When I remind him that Zackary has toys lets go play with them...a light bulb comes on and he runs to his toys and starts playing. He really understands a lot of what I am saying, except if it's time to clean up. Then he conveniently has absolutely no idea what I am saying. He helps make the bed by bringing me the pillows and then demands to get on the bed to roll around! Music...he loves music. He waits for me to play his morning tunes and evening tunes and he'll stop playing with his toys to turn music on and then start playing again.

He loves to stack this one dinosaur puzzle that he has. If he can't do it right he gets mad and starts throwing everything behind him...which is his new de-stressor. Anytime he gets frustrated he does this. We talked to his pediatrician and she said as long as he's not throwing it at someone on purpose then don't worry. Just don't laugh at it, she said. You just have to make sure you are not sitting behind him. I know he's just getting frustrated and can't verbally talk about it.

Our second visitor of the month was Ben's mom. She stayed with us for 2 weeks and helped us babysit while we were at work. Her and Zackary bonded and they had a good time together. It was really nice having her here with us. We really appreciated all of her help.

Zackary's Eczema is a bit better. I stopped giving him acidic foods for now and withheld wheat from his diet for a week. I think it helped. I am slowly incorporating it again and we will see what happens. He isn't itching at all and really is patient with all the creams we lube him up with several times a day.

Ben and I took Zackary down to the beach yesterday and because it was hot and beautiful out there were kids everywhere. He had fun walking up to them all playing in the sun and watching what they were doing. A 3 year old boy named Lucas befriended us all. He was a very social and interested boy. When his mom came down to check on him she knew all about Zackary because he had went and told her...7 teeth, a year and a half old and his name is Zackary...it was funny.
Zackary has this one yellow shovel that he loves. He just walks all around trying to dig with it but really is just hitting the sand. And the ocean doesn't scare him...he just walks right into it. There were an abnormal amount of shells at our beach which I have never seen before. I enjoyed looking through them to see what I could find. A intact baby sand dollar...and more. It reminded me of our days when Ben and I lived in Monterey.

Persistant Little Bumps...

Well after leaving the doctors office the other day and letting Zackary have his first lolly pop his rash on his nose got way worse spreading to his cheeks and legs. The following day Ben took him to a dermatologist who diagnosed him not only with Eczema but Impetigo. I don't think he has impetigo I don't see it...but the rash definitely isn't normal. We had our carpets cleaned not long ago and cleaned up some mold in the living room that has been there for a very long time so I am concerned the carpet cleaning made it worse. I have been really upset about it. I know it could be worse, I know that it will be ok, but I have tried protecting him, feeding him organically, breastfeeding, and so forth so it's frustrating to have this happen. We are going to hopefully be seeing a better doctor this week...to find out more. I might take out wheat for a week or two and see what happens.
So our first hiccup with many more to come I am sure.