ScrumpyDaddy

Well…I am finally getting back to blogging. Took about a month hiatus. Not that I really wanted to, but it has been crazy busy with traveling and daily life. Zach is now 11 months old. I missed his 10 month post so I am going to integrate everything he has done on the past 2 months in this post.

That’s right people. I can crawl now. I still go back and forth between crawling on my hands and knees and doing the army crawl, but I am getting better and better each day. I really started to crawl on my hands and knees in a more consistent manner about 2 days ago. Mom and dad are so proud.

I am also starting to try to pull myself up to standing. I can get on my knees by myself and if someone stands me up I can stay standing holding on to something. I will keep trying. Can’t move into the toddler classroom until I can walk.

Zach can also sit up on his own. He can go from the laying down or crawling position to the sitting position and then back again. He has really grown in the last 2 months.

Food…I love it. I am eating mostly finger food now, with only 4 bottles a day.

Zach started on the hot lunch program at daycare on June 1st when he turned 11 months. So far he has been doing great. He gets the same food as Abby just cut up real small and smaller portions. He has eaten everything they said except he had a hard time chewing the turkey. Guess he needs more than the 5 teeth he now has. He has 2 lower teeth and 3 upper teeth. Right now his favorite foods are yogurt, puffs, bitter biscuits, and freeze dried yogurt drops. He will eat just about anything you put in front of him. Also, things you do not. Tonight he tried to eat a creepy crawly bug. Daddy got it out of his mouth before he actually ate it. If he sees a speck of anything on the floor he picks it up and in the mouth it goes. He also loves to try and eat the grass outside.

About a month ago now we switched Zach from pumped milk to formula. He also is no longer nursing. It has been a nice change. He is no longer getting up during the night to feed. He will generally sleep from about 8pm – 6am with taking 2 naps during the day. He definitely sleeps better at home on the weekends for his naps then he does at school.

Zach also said his first word. “Dat” Zach likes to point at things and say, “Dat”. He gets very excited when we tell him the answer. He also says mama and dada. He loves to babble too. He personality is starting to show as well. He is a very happy boy. Whenever you walk in the room he gets a big smile. He also knows what he wants. If you tried to give him something he doesn’t want he pushes it away or throws it on the floor.

Lastly, Zach loves to play games. When we ask Zach, “How big is Zach?”, he will put his arms up and get a big smile. “So big!” If he wants to play sometimes he will start it by lifting his hands up until we say, “So big!” He also likes to play a game we used to do with Abby too. We will set up a block tower and Zach will crawl over and knock it down. Then we will go to the other side of the room and build another one. Once he sees us building it he is on his way over to knock it down. Better work fast to build the tower.

I can’t wait! Next month I turn 1!

It has been so beautiful here that we took out the outside toys including the badminton rackets. I tried to show Abby how to use them with the birdies, but she does not quite have the coordination yet to play very well. Instead Abby decided to play with the rackets in her own way. “I’m a butterfly.” She then proceeded to request both Mommy and Daddy be butterflies with her at times. So creative, now look at her fly.

Zach is now 9 months old. He is 23 lbs. 12 oz. He has not had his well baby visit yet so I am not sure how long he is yet. He was sick again with an ear infection, which is why I know his weight. That’s right folks another ear infection. Of course the talk of tubes in the ears came up. I am hoping spring will help him and he will not get another infection for a long while. I don’t want him to have tubes and all the issues (baths and pools) that go along with that.

Zach is now on a daily breathing treatment of a steroid called Pulmicort. He does it twice a day every day. This is to help him to not get so sick all the time and when he does get sick to help him breath better and not wheeze. There is talk about him possibly having asthma, but he is too young to test. We actually found out that this treatment for children under 3 can help prevent asthma in later years. We are hoping all goes well and it does.

Zach is not only rolling around every where but he is trying to crawl. He gets up on his hand and knees and rocks, but has not move forward yet up on his hands and knees. He has started the army crawl. He pushes with his toes and pulls with his arms. He also can go from a sitting position onto his stomach in a controlled manner. He doesn’t just flop over anymore. He is trying to get back up in a sitting position, but can only get half way. Keep trying buddy.

Zach is also eating more solid foods. He typically has something solid with each bottle at daycare, fruit, yogurt, or rice cereal and then he has dinner with us. He loves eating finger foods now like puffs and bread stuff. He especially likes waffles and pancakes.

Zach can now waive hi and bye. He even does it to the tv when it is on with a movie for Abby. This morning he waived to a Gummie Bear, Tubby Gummie. He can also clap open handed as well. We are also starting, “How big is Zach, so big.” He sometimes will lift his arms for this and other times just smile and laugh at it.

Lastly, Zach has 2 bottom teeth and one tooth coming in on the top. He will probably have both top teeth by the end of this month. His gums are very swollen and at times it seems to bother him. We have been giving him cold teethers from the fridge and he seems to like that. I love the teeth, but at times I missing the toothless baby smile.

Yesterday we took Abby to her first movie in the movie theater. It was quite a hectic at times disappointing experience for Mom and Dad, but the best time for Abby. It is amazing how as adults how we have these expectations for ourselves and events and children just see the fun and joy.

Let me tell you the story from Abby’s perspective first:

Abby was so excited all day. We had told her the night before what the plan was for the day so she was prepared. We didn’t tell her what movie we were going to see yet. In the morning we had breakfast, played barbies, drew a little bit, and went outside for a while. We then had lunch early and went down for an early nap. At first I was nervous she was not going to fall asleep, but she did. I got her up around 2pm and asked her if she was ready to go see her movie. Her eyes lit up and she immediately got up from her nap. We went potty and then off to the movie. By this time we had told her what movie we were going to see, “How To Train Your Dragon.” She said, “I like that one.”
http://www.howtotrainyourdragon.com/

Then we were on our way. The entire way she kept asking if we were there and questions about everything she saw on the way. You could definitely tell she was excited. I went in first to get the tickets and the popcorn so that Abby didn’t have to stand in line. Dave and Abby parked the car and then met me inside. I had packed some snacks from home for Abby (fruit snacks, drink box, goldfish, etc). I wasn’t sure if Abby liked popcorn. The previews had already started by the time we got in there, but we were able to find 3 seats together. Abby was on the edge of her seat for about the first half an hour of the movie. She was totally engaged in the movie. She didn’t talk at all at first. Eventually that changed and we had to remind her to whisper and not talk. She watched the whole thing without wanting to get up and even wanted to stay for the credits. She of course then wanted to go watch another one and we said we didn’t pay for another one. Her response was can we pay to watch another one tomorrow. After the movie on the way to dinner we asked her how she liked the movie. She said she liked the blue dragon (the main dragon, toothless). She then began to play with it and wanted her to be the blue dragon, Daddy to be Hiccup, and Mommy to be Astrid. Based on that I knew she liked the movie. That is what she does with her favorite traditional Disney movies (The Little Mermaid). I had asked Abby what she wanted for dinner (the was her day) and she wanted Tacos. We eventually ended up at the mall food court and got Abby Taco Bell. Lastly, we went to pick up Zach at Grandma’s house and Abby told Grandma all about the movie. She had a great day!

Now the Day from Mommy and Daddy’s perspective:

We were late! We didn’t even leave the house for the movie until 2:25 and the movie was at 2:50. We had to drop Zach off at Grandma’s while Abby finished her nap and Dave didn’t leave to do that until 1:40 and it takes 15-20 minutes to get to Grandma’s house. So on the way, Dave and I were frustrated that we were late and were worried about seating and Abby not getting the full experience of the movie theater and entering the movie. So, to help move things along in case there were lines Dave dropped me off at the door and I ran inside to get tickets and popcorn. By the way there were no lines for either tickets or popcorn. We had arrived at the theater at 2:56. We got into the theater and at first there was nowhere to sit. We were standing on the stairs looking around like what do we do. There were only seats of 2 because of the way other people had positioned themselves. I finally got up the courage to ask a gentleman if he would mind moving over one so we had 3 seats together. He seemed annoyed, but moved over. The movie part was great and we hadn’t missed anything but a few previews.

After the movie I asked Abby what she wanted for dinner and she said a taco. A taco, of course a taco, where would I be able to get one of those down at the Waterfront. There is no Mexican place there so Dave and I started to discuss where we could go. We wanted to take Abby to a nice dinner for just the 3 of us. Dave and I didn’t want fast food from Taco Bell, so we finally decided on Amigos (a place in the Galleria Mall). We started to head over there, which was about a half an hour from the Waterfront. Along the way, Abby kept asking for a snack and I got more and more frustrated because it was getting late for dinner and I could tell she was hungry. We finally got to the Galleria mall and went inside and you won’t believe it…Amigos was closed. I am not sure when it closed, but oh the frustration. Now we were no where near another Mexican place and the only Taco Bell around was at South Hills Village Mall. With no other choice and wanting to get Abby what she wanted for dinner we headed over to the other mall to eat at the food court. Abby loved it and ate all of her taco. I had not so good experience. My meal was very lacking this time and all I wanted to do was scream.

I felt like a failure and like the day had been ruined with all the lateness and running around trying to find tacos. Abby totally saw it differently and since it was her day all that mattered was her.

Hopefully next time it will be a better experience for ALL of us.