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November 2010
November 20, 2010
I apologize for not posting in so long a time. It's been a crazy, stressful month. In addition to Zane's party and school stuff and similar activities, I've been sick all this time. The kids have been sick for several weeks. My hard drive crashed and is still in the shop. And my online backup service (Mozy.com) failed to back up all my most important files, resulting in both family photo loss and the loss of vitally important business files. Ugh!
Zane enjoyed his birthday party much more this year than last. At first, he wasn't sure about all the guests (just family), and he didn't think he liked the whole present thing. Then I began opening his first package. Inside was a toy tractor from his sister. He gave a high pitched squeal and his hands began to shake. From them on, he was excited about his gifts - although I never could get him to try opening any. He would begin to reach for one as if he was going to open it, then stick his thumb in his mouth and back away. Every time one of the presents was something with wheels, he squealed with delight.
Zane at his second birthday party, playing with the Matchbox cars we gave him.
My train cake was a bit of a disappointment to me. (I used poor instructions.) But Zane recognized the M&M decorations, and was enthused!
Eating his cake.
He also enjoyed eating cake for the first time. On his first birthday, he wanted nothing to do with the cake. And at the birthday parties we've been to since then, he was always napping or too tired to eat by the time the cake was cut. But for his second birthday, he ate a nice big chunk.
Halloween came next. Anastasia wanted to be a pirate, and I bought Zane a cute little train engineer costume (which he also wore to his train-themed birthday party). But I couldn't get Zane to wear the cap or red kerchief, so it was sort of hard to tell what his costume was. We only stopped at grandma's house and grandma's neighbor/tenant's house, but Zane really didn't like trick-or-treating, anyway. That is, until he realized his sister got chocolate by knocking on the door. Then he was all over it :)
Other stuff:
* I took Zane to the dentist office when Anastasia had her last appointment. She actually enjoys going to the dentist and she was proud to show him how it's done. He was both apprehensive and fascinated. He carefully watched as his sister had her teeth cleaned, opening his mouth wide, as if he were practicing. He also rode the dentist chair up and down a few times.
* We rarely go to restaurants and we've never taken the kids to one in the evening. But a few weeks ago, as a special treat, we went to a nice - but family friendly - restaurant. Anastasia loves going to restaurants, and she'd been asking to go to this one for quite some time. (It has a beautiful exterior, so I think this was the main attraction for her.) Its a Mexican restaurant, so they served chips and dip as an appetizer. Turned out, this was all Zane would eat. (We realized the next day he was sick, so this probably accounts for his poor appetite.) In the meantime, Anastasia was saying (at the top of her voice), "I love this place!" When we left the restaurant, several passers-by giggled as the Miss exclaimed: "This is best night ever!" Before we went back into our house, we took a good look at the stars. The Miss is rarely outside after dark, and often there are too many clouds for her to see the stars. She was fascinated.
* A friend gave me two potty-related picture books for boys. A few weeks ago, I removed them from storage and put them with Zane's books. The very same day, Zane came toting them over for me to read. However, once the little boy in the first book starting using the potty, Zane shook his head, said "UH-uh," and threw the book down. He knows propaganda when he sees it.
The kids examining a lady bug. Zane will sit for a half hour at a time watching spiders and other insects.
* In an effort to at least get Zane interested in using the potty, my hubby asked Zane if he wanted a new matchbox car. (His favorite toy ever.) Zane nodded his head yes. Hubby said, "If you'll try using the potty, Zane, I'll buy you a new car." We could see Zane carefully weighing this in his mind, then he hesitated before he said, "UH-uh" (i.e., "No."). Still, he keeps looking at the potty chair in the bathroom, approaching it, then backing off saying, "UH-uh."
* Zane appreciated the decorating I did for his birthday party. He pointed to the balloons and said, "Bubbles!"
* We recently got a new (to us) couch. Unfortunately, we had to bring it inside when Zane was napping. When he awoke, he stopped short upon entering the living room He cried and began sucking his thumb. It took several days before he would sit on the couch.
* I'm proud to say that for at least 6 months, Zane routinely says "thank you." Now if Anastasia could just learn to say "please."
* Anastasia is doing pretty well in school, despite her continued fatigue due to poor sleeping. When asked what her favorite part of school is, she says "snack time." If pressed for another answer, she says, "doing crafts." However, one of her other favorite parts of school is beginning the day with all the students, from Kindergarten through grade 12. They all go into a single room and have a class on developing good character. Sometimes they also recite phonograms together. Since phonograms are still new to most of the Kindergarteners, the older kids say the phonograms first and the Kindergarteners echo them. But each time the older kids giggle because there's my little Anastasia (the smallest girl in the class), jumping up and down, enthusiastically shouting her phonograms louder than anyone else.
* The other day, Anastasia said, "Mommy, I have a secret to tell you." She whispered in my ear: "I love you more than a peanut." She was serious, but it made me laugh so hard, it's now become a standard saying in our household.
* Zane's daily vocabulary is still somewhat small. He still won't tell me he's hungry, or poopy, or thirsty - anything practical. But he does repeat words constantly, and his new thing is to point to something and say, "Look! Look!"
* I pulled out Zane's footed blanket sleeper a few days ago. He was positively delighted with it, laughing and pointing at his feet. This made Anastasia wistful. "I remember when I had footed sleepers," she said. (We stopped using them when she learned to use the potty because I didn't want her having accidents because she couldn't get out of her jammies.) Anastasia needed some new PJs, anyway, so I surprised her with a pair of footed sleepers. The first night she wore them, she got out of bed to use the bathroom while my hubby and I were still up. Suddenly, she ran into the family room and shouted, "I couldn't get my PJs back on, but I just tried and tried again. And it worked!"
* A few days ago, Anastasia's school held a colonial-theme party. Costumes were encouraged. After looking at cheap costumes online, I decided to sew something. (I actually really wanted to make us matching costumes, but the fabric store didn't have enough of the fabric I wanted to use.) Anastasia was truly appreciative of my efforts. This was her first costume party, her first school event, and the first time she had curlers put in her hair :) The party itself was quite an event for her, too. We ate colonial food, did colonial crafts, and listened to a Native American man tell traditional stories and sing traditional songs.
* Anastasia and I have been reading Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie and she's enjoying learning about the "olden days." At one point in the story, Ma talks about mailing a letter, and Anastasia said, quite seriously, "Did they just have to let the letter travel on the wind?" She was shocked to learn there was postal delivery in those days :)
Left: Anastasia, exhausted after school. Right: Zane's first time playing in a leaf pile.
November 27, 2010
Earlier this week, Zane experienced his first snow. He liked the look of it through the window, but when we bundled up and got outside, he cried. Then he wouldn't walk in it. After about an hour, he'd walk in it, but he had no interest in playing in it. Poor Anastasia; she was so excited to show him all the fun stuff to do with snow, and she was disappointed (and amazed!) by his disinterest.
We had a nice Thanksgiving with my in-laws. Zane spent most of the time playing alone with a collection of Matchbox cars and trucks that stays at Grandma and Grandpa's house, and Anastasia is always thrilled to get time with her cousins. I wasn't feeling great, and I couldn't shake a feeling of being cold, but I didn't think too much of it, since I've been sick. But the next morning, I woke with a fever hovering between 102 and 103. Finally got myself to the doc (on hubby's insistence) and got scolded for not coming sooner. The doctor says I have a "raging sinus infection" that will be hard to get rid of. The good news is, after starting heavy duty antibiotics, my fever hasn't reappeared. I'm still far from 100% though.