My Papa

A few weeks back my Papa was in town visiting his other multitude of grandchildren and great-grandchildren who live in Houston and my sweet Aunt Vickie brought him on by to see us. He was formerly known as Big Papa since my dad is Papa Wayne and Zach couldn't say it all. Now they are both just Papa. And everyone seems fine with that.

Zach is wearing the Easter shirt his Granny Marsh made for him and the bunny ears he made at school. The only way we could get him to smile and stop stone-facing the camera was to say "cheese pizza!" which you can totally tell he is at the end of saying in this photo.

A Glimpse into my Future

Have you seen this child? Becuase he looks about 8 and I want to know what he has done with my 2 year old....

Of course I don't think that 8 year olds get great joy out of sitting in a big box breaking up the sytrofoam.  With accompanying rules about how he is to only break the styrofoam (and thereby leak toxic chemicals) INSIDE the box. I might freak out if there are little bits of styrofoam around my house. The trucks, balls, sunglasses I can take for now - unrecyclable materials, absolutely not.

We are still new at this

This past Sunday, Alex, Zach and I headed over to the train station at the zoo for Dinosaur Train day. We were all looking for something to do and when I mentioned I had spotted the event on my new go-to-Houston kids blog Alex almost shoved me into the bathroom to put in my contacts and get ready.

There were about 50,000 people there but we did not care. Zach got to dig for a mini-dino, which meant that he touched it with the tip of his finger, I scraped off the sand and Alex picked up the dino and shook out the sand before our precious would dain to touch it. Zach also got to get stamps on his hand and to color a dino fan. We were done with the Dinosaur Train day in 10 minutes. That is how we roll. We were not rushing him at all, that is just how fast our child is done with activities. And we refused to wait in the line for face painting.

Alex told Zach we would then walk to where we could get in the water. I looked eskance and we had this convo:
Me: "There is a wading pool here?"
Him: "Yes, on the steps of the reflecting pool"
Me: "Ummmmm I am pretty sure that is not for wading." (I am such a buzz-kill)
Him: "Sure it is, I did it last time. There were a bunch of people doing it."

So off we hiked to the steps of the reflecting pool. About halfway down we realized we are idiots and did not bring the stroller. It is back at the train station and Zach is on Alex's shoulders. How have we not learned in 2+ years of parenting?? We get to the steps and Alex and Zach get in and walk back and forth, stomping and splashing, throwing mini-dino and having a grand time. I walk over to offer juice and this convo happens:

Me: "You are really not supposed to be in here." (again, total buzz-kill)
Him: "Why? There are no signs."
Me - as I point to a sign: "That sign says no wading or swimming and I would like to note that there are only dads in here."
Him: "Would it help to point out that we were the first in here and no one was in until we got in?"
Me: "Negative. I will be sitting over here in the shade pretending not to know you when the park police arrive."

Then, of course, the inevitable happens. Zach falls down on the slippery rocks and is hysterical. And wet. So we start to make the loooooong walk back. A tired and hungry 2 year old, an 8 months pregnant woman and a man with a bad back. Just for reference, here is a map of our issue:

Alex carries him on his shoulders for a while but that is killing his back and technically, TECHNICALLY, Zachary can walk so we put him down. Again, total and complete hysterics. He cannot calm down. We try stopping and hugging, we try leaving him and running. Nothing is working. Finally when we make it back to the big pond I am at my wits end and leave my family to go get the stroller and come back. The second he is in the stroller he is fine. Stops crying, drinks his juice and just looks beat.

We decide to head to the car as it is noon and he needs to eat. What we forgot is that we told him he could see the seals. Again, we should totally know bettter. As we get to the car he says "Seals, Mommy? I see the seals?" I explain that all his crying took so long that we have to go home at eat lunch, we can't see the seals.

We are about 5 minutes from home and he says "I calm, Mommy. I ready to see the seals. I no cry anymore." I wanted. to. die. If it had just been me I would have turned that car around, parked illegally and ran my baby into the zoo to see the seals. It still breaks my heart thinking about it. But calmer heads (aka Alex) prevailed and we proceeded home.

But I did tell Zach that I would take him the next day after work. That is the best thing about working part time - if you screw up on Sunday you can make it up on Monday! And that morning he told me, "Mommy, I no cry at the zoo." And Mommy will not forget your stroller, my sweet boy.

Mothers Day

My Mother's Day weekend was very nice and relaxing. Alex really came through for me this year via my gift and time spent. All I requested was a card and some "quality family time" on Saturday without really specifying what that meant. That usually means disaster in our house. But no, he got up with Zach (to go get my card and gift), I went to yoga and then met them up at the Mad Potter to paint pottery. Alex thought us "doing arts and crafts" together would be good "quality family time" for me. I loved it!

Sunday we went to Ouise's table (where we have been for the past 3 mother's days) with Liv, Vince, Dave and Tami. Oh and a weird concrete dog that the hostess put in a chair next to Zach. Apparently he really liked it when it was by the front door so she brought it to sit with us. It was super weird. But Zachary loved it.



Head Cracking

Easter morning before our own hunt we went to our friend's Scott, Jen and Tyler's house so Tyler and Zach could hunt "together". The hunt was pretty standard: both boys going different directions, stepping on and over eggs, various fits about wanting to open the eggs THIS SECOND, etc. But at the end sweet Grandpa Bruce let the boys crack confetti eggs on his head. For a very long time. I obviously found it hi-larious and had to shriek like a hyena in response. Many, many apologies for that.

Teacher Gifts

I can't believe the school year is almost over. It seems to have snuck up on me again this year. I guess becuase since he is in year round school I don't really think about having a hard "end". But starting in 2 weeks he moves up into his next room.

And that means that I needed teacher gifts for his current teachers. I found a link (that I had saved for a year) for a customized soap pump and loved it.

I knew I had to make these for his teachers and decided that my friend Sonia needed them as well. I found a way to transfer the PDF file to a word doc and added silhouettes that looked like our kiddos.

They turned out so perfectly!! Alex's initial response did not really convey the enthusiasm I needed...so he had to try about 3 more times to sound excited about soap. But once I told him they cost $2 each he got much, much more excited.

Older and Wiser

Similar to last year, Zachary had a bunch of practice egg hunting to get him ready for the big day. I am pretty sure he was not convinced that the other 4 times he hunted eggs were any better than the finale.

Of course Easter morning did come with gifts of candy, a trip to Church (with "everyone AND Jesus", he kept saying) and a lawn mower that blows bubbles. I am not sure why he looks highly put-out in these pictures, it could have just been one of his off days. You know how mini-dictators are.

The Walls (plus Great-Grandma Rowena) were there for all the fun and thank heavens. I was highly uncomfortable so Liv ushered me off for a nap as soon as lunch was done. Then she and Rowena did all our laundry while Vince and Alex entertained Zach. I might have started crying when I woke up...it was glorious!