Twenty-Two Months

Dear Zachary,

The theme of these last few months has been inconsistency; your "schedule" kept changing as we dealt with the AP exam prep rush, the end of the school year, teacher in-service, packing and moving to the new campus, weddings, going on vacation to Seattle, and then finally settling into summer vacation. And just as we're getting the hang of being together alldayeveryday, things are going to change again when school starts up in a couple of weeks. Still, you've been remarkably flexible, all things considered, and generally you're amiable to schedule changes. As long as you've got snacks and toys, you're pretty good. I do see some clouds on the horizon though ("Crebain from Dunland!") in your tiny meltdowns over not getting your way. It remains to be seen whether we will somehow miraculously escape the epic toddler tantrums I've been warned about.

You were such a trooper at the two weddings we went to this summer!
There are still two more to go to this year, so we'll see how things go. 

In the meantime, I'm going to try my hardest to enjoy this time where you're 1) pretty good at understanding what I say and following directions, but 2) not verbal enough to express opinions about my decisions, and 3) not old enough to stage a full-blown protest. You're learning new things every day and constantly surprising me with what you're capable of, so things are pretty fun. I almost feel bad about having to go back to school!

love,

Mommy

I'm pretty sure you would feel just fine about going back to school though...more things to climb on!

Some snippets about you from the last three months:

Language Skills: I was starting to be worried about your not talking more, but in the last two weeks you've been picking up 1-3 new words a day. I'm glad I was patient and trusted you to have your own pace of development, because it is so fun to see you decide on your word(s) of the day! It is slightly less fun to have to talk to you about that thing all day, but the plus side of waiting and waiting and waiting to hear you talk more is that I'm more willing to discuss cows a hundred times in a morning? Some of the most recent additions to your vocabulary are yeah (because when you yell "Mama!" all day, I always respond with "yeah?"), which is fun because now you can finally answer questions in the affirmative, cow (helpful because your previous word for cow, "mmmm," was easy to mishear), lion (I told you we were going to the zoo and you decided that that was impetus enough; besides, how else would you be able to ask fifty times on the way to the zoo if there would be lions?), sit (which unfortunately sounds a lot like "shit"), done (you yell it so triumphantly when you decide you're done with dinner), and wow (you draw this one out so that you sound like you're extra impressed). Besides picking up new words, you are also better at using your signs to communicate when you want something. Before, I would guess at what you wanted and prompt you to make the sign, but now you'll spontaneously sign "eat" or "water" or "noodles" to make your requests known. Friends of older toddlers warn me that when you have sentences, I'll long for the preverbal days, but right now I'm just excited to see two-way communication!

You are such a ham! You had way too much fun smooshing your face against the office window (and licking it) at the new building for a delighted (and slightly horrified) audience. 

Motor Skills: It turns out that you just needed to play with some toddler friends in order to be inspired to climb playground structures. Cassidy has been great for getting you to try new things, and now you're a pro at climbing the playground structures and going down slides by yourself. You are also almost jumping (sometimes you just jerk your body in random directions and surprise yourself by lifting off), capable of climbing stairs while standing instead of crawling (this was motivated by the need to climb stairs while holding toys and snacks), and dextrous enough to actually put your Duplos together without help.

You did not want to climb onto this turtle yourself. I had to lift you onto it and you were dubious.

Intellectual Skills: You know SO MANY animals. Wait, scratch that, you know so many African savanna animals. You don't much care for the rainforest, temperate climes, or Arctic tundra, but boy do you know your lions, giraffes, zebras, cheetahs, leopards, gazelles, wildebeest, meerkats, rhinos, hippos, and warthogs! Barnyard animals are also a big hit, and throw in a couple of random other animals like wolves ("ah-oo"), dinosaurs ("dino"), and dragons ("dobby"). Shapes and colors are still beyond you, but you know that the number six comes after five. You take great delight in sorting and lining up your cars and animal models (and you know when one is missing). Just in the last few weeks, you've suddenly figured out imaginary play, so now your cow/pig/sheep/horse/giraffe friends must pretend to drink water, eat snacks, and take naps. You've decided that Daddy's calculator is a good substitute for a phone, so you'll ask calculator-Siri for cat pictures and then talk to imaginary people and hang up after saying "bye bye!" But best of all, you're starting to really make connections between what you read and the real world. When your balloon popped, you wanted to read Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs over and over again to help you process this traumatic situation. You love looking at the baby hippo in the car seat in One Two Three (five works well for a ride in the car, as long as the car ride isn't too far)!

You still love Sandra Boynton and all the Costco books with real animal pictures, but a surprising favorite "story" is what I call Bebbers Went to the Zoo. It's your favorite story when we come back from a zoo: we trace our route along the zoo map and talk about the animals we saw. After Seattle, we told the story so many times that the map fell apart and had to be (secretly) recycled. 

Social Skills: We've finally given you more opportunities to play with kids more or less your age! Between playdates with Cassidy, hanging out with JJ during Bible study, and zoo trips with Wes, plus random other hang outs, you're beginning to recognize and have fun playing with other kids. So far (knock on wood) you seem open to sharing snacks and toys, and if things get taken from you you're pretty chill and can move on to another toy. There are some things you're fiercely possessive of, though -- one time Mommy gave your dino cup to Cassidy and you just. Could. Not. Handle. It. Meltdown ensued and long story short, I had to find a different cup for Cassidy. You've also gotten better at waving hi in greeting (usually only when prompted, but you will do so spontaneously to babies at the zoo/library/park) and high-fiving/fist-bumping for goodbye. Your hugs are sweet and usually happily given, but kisses (i.e. pressing your face into the other person's cheek, but without the smack sound -- which you're totally capable of doing -- and then in a very French manner, doing the same on the other cheek) are saved for a select few. You are also very good at petting animals gently and holding out a fist for smelling first, and one time you happily fed a dozen cheddar rockets to a random florist dog.

I love love love that Cassidy lives close enough to be your more-or-less regular playmate.
You're not as much a fan of Gus, though, since you get jealous of Mommy's attention. 

Current Favorites: 

• Little Baby Bum videos, especially Wheels on the Bus. Thank goodness there are ten versions, all different, or else I would go crazy. 
• Having an audience while you eat. An assortment of animals or vehicles provides moral support while Mommy and Daddy try to convince you to eat meat. 
• Noodles/pasta, berries, cherries, watermelon, peaches, cheese, raisins, and Trader Joe's honey whole wheat pretzel sticks. Still not a fan of meat (you will tolerate shrimp) or most green veg (peas and green beans are acceptable, occasionally broccoli or zucchini).
• Zoos/animals. We've been making good use of our Oakland zoo membership and going at least once a week, much to your delight. We even went to the Seattle and SF zoos, but those were less delightful because of the lack of elephants. Your favorite things to see are still the African savanna animals and petting zoo animals, but there are surprisingly few places that feature all your favorites in one place. 

 

The Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle let you get pretty close to the lion...statue, that is. 

I'm still impressed that you recognized these as giraffe ears and horns!
You loved these photo op backgrounds at the SF Zoo.

• Speed and excitement. Things like being tossed into the air, riding in the grocery cart when we push you really fast across the parking lot, and running up and down the hallway while Mommy, Daddy, and Walnut chase you. We are all shocked, frankly, that Walnut cooperates with this game. 
• Lining things up. On the windowsill, on tables, on the couch, on the magnet board, anywhere where you can take a visual inventory of all your animals and vehicles. 
• Escalators and elevators. Your favorite favorite thing in Seattle was riding the three flights of escalators at our hotel, and if we had let you I'm pretty sure your second favorite would have been pressing all the buttons in the elevator. 

The beginning of this obsession started with the moving sidewalk at the airport.

• Pressing buttons that result in a form of water being dispensed. You love sneaking into the kitchen and pressing the water dispenser on the fridge and getting cold water all over yourself. When we were staying in Seattle you loved running down the hall to get ice from the ice machine. 

I'm sure eating the ice afterward wasn't too shabby either if that face is anything to go by!