Fall Adventures

When you're a not-quite-two year old every little excursion can be a big adventure! It is wonderful to see all these mundane activities as exciting through Zach's eyes. Our fall is plodding along at a leisurely pace-that's not to say that each day isn't a scramble to get meals made, laundry done, diapers changed and little boys to bed but it is more that the flow of the routine is somehow leisurely. Here are a few October highlights...

We took a trip to Rhode Island to visit Steve's family a few weeks ago. I hardly saw Zach the whole time we were there because he was off playing with his older cousins. He enjoyed being entertained by them and especially enjoyed sharing their snacks (Steve found him eating brown sugar by the spoonful from a bowl his cousins had finished with--ugh!). While there, Grand-D titled the facial expression Zach makes when he is trying not to smile as his "Cosby look". It is a rather amusing look as he cuts his eyes up at you and turns his lips into an "O" with a smirk just visible in the corners of his cheeks and eyes. Really much more enjoyable to see than to read about I promise.

Last week a visit to a pumpkin patch (really a pumpkin stand but 'patch' sounds more exciting) introduced another word to Zach's vocabulary..."pum-kin". We all enjoyed wandering through the rows of pumpkins and mums on a day that finally felt like fall. Steve and I both really miss New England's fall-nothing else can compare. We mostly try to pretend that it's fall here by surrounding ourselves with fall activities-although I have noticed some fall foliage recently so perhaps there's hope.

And today we took a trip to see Daddy at work. The weather had promised to be terrible so I thought it would be fun to explore the big gym and catch a few glimpses of Steve working. It was the perfect set up for Zach--the gym had huge safe spaces for Zach to be able to run unchecked and plenty of kid equipment to play with. There were even a few other kids around that Zach chased as they played sports. Steve has been looking forward to Zach participating in the 3 year old sport programs next winter and today for the first time I got a glimpse of how much fun that will be!

What's this?

About two weeks ago while Zach was looking at a book he pointed to a picture, said "wat-zis?" and then proceeded to answer his own question. He flipped through the entire book pointing, asking and answering at each picture. Steve and I have no idea what prompted this new question (it is not an expression that we have used with him) but it has quickly become a central part of our day. Zach walks around pointing at things saying, "wat-zis, wat-zis" and then waits just long enough to see if you attempt a response before he points to something different. Mostly he seems to just be enjoying asking the question and watching me fumble for an answer, but occasionally he seems to genuinely want to know. For example, at dinner recently as Zach was finishing a bowl of spaghetti he looked at me, pointed to his bowl and said, "wat-zis?". I gave him the word and sign-- the quizzical expression left his face and he finished eating, apparently satisfied. I'm sure there is a lot of learning going on in his little mind with all these questions I'm just not sure if he is increasing his vocabulary or learning how powerful he is as his mother jumps through yet another hoop!