Here are some pictures of our daycare Halloween party. Thanks to Melissa for sending them to me – I dropped my camera so I didn’t get any pictures. My new camera (exact same kind, Canon S60) is en route!

This weekend, Alex came over to play. I’m really glad we live close because the boys play well together. They’re both 1 year olds (Zach is 5 months older) and neither of them rough house… yet. Rumor has it that Alex will be moving up to Zach’s daycare class soon – yea! We had John and Kathy over for dinner and games (I lost terribly, but in my defense I was reading a magazine at the same time.) And today Dana treated me to lunch  in Old Folsom. Overall, a nice relaxing weekend.

Hello – a busy weekend for us! On Saturday, we went to Sherry and Oliver’s baby shower. They’re going to have a baby boy in December. Zach’s naptime was noon, so he started getting fussy around 1pm. Actually lots of babies got fussy. It’s great to have mom friends because they totally understand that skipping naps can make even well behaved kids little monsters! Oliver was patiently naming a bunch of animals off boxes, as Zachary pointed to them – I think he’ll be an excellent dad. Congratulations Sherry and Oliver!

Next up, was Peter’s 32rd birthday party. Talk about awesome food! Peter is a my foodie friend – we both love food … he’s the expert, I just eat it.  He had delicious Filipino food catered. It was so good, I didn’t have room for dessert … so I packed it to go! Happy Birthday Peter! On Sunday, my friend Melissa organized a group outing to Silver Bend pumpkin patch. 

We went on train rides, hay rides, and tractor rides. Hannah even went on a pony ride! Zachary LOVED playing in the barley. We had a BBQ lunch, and Zachary ate all the beans from my chili.

A whole bunch of new words for Zachary this week. He now says … bed, hot, cup, bath. sit, and two (for any number.) He understands a bunch more of words than he can verbalize, which is typical for his age. My favorite new one is “huh-mah” for hippo. And get this, get this. When he pointed to a picture of a peanut and James said “Peanut”, Zachary pointed to his crotch.

Last weekend we went to Six Flags, courtesy of work. Our company paid for tickets, parking, and a BBQ. Yea for free stuff! (Hmm…considering the hours put in at work, was it really free?) It was good autumn weather. At 18 months, Zachary is still more into community park type activities (slides, throwing balls, running around and climbing) than theme park rides though. He was scared on the roller coaster (buried his head in my sweatshirt!)

My sister joined us. She was very patient in pointing out all the animals in the park. Zachary’s favorite were … fish! Afterwards, my sister and I hit the outlets while James took Zachary home. The next day we hit another outlet mall. Didn’t buy anything except a pair of BRepublic black pants for $16.99.

Oh – and Zachary’s new stats. 31.25 inches tall (20%) and 22 lbs 6oz (5-10%). Still very small! In a way, I’m glad. Some of the kids in his daycare look like little boys and girls, but Zachary still has a baby look to him. (Of course, as an adult I don’t want him to be short and scrawny or baby faced!)

Zachary said his first 2 syllable word today … “carrot.” What the heck? We don’t even eat vegetables at our house! It just so happened we made a frozen bag of veggies and there were some baby carrots. CARROT?! James and I were shocked. The other 2 syllable word, which I don’t think counts is “choo-choo” for train. It’s more of a sound than a word. Ugh. Still no “mama” or “dada.” Oh – and yesterday he wore a hole through his horse Robeez and threw a huge fit. Cried himself to sleep. What is his obsession with shoes?!

This weekend Sophie and Eddie came to visit. We went to a pumpkin farm. It was hot and dry. Hay was blowing in the wind (causing everyone’s allergies to act up.) It was crowded and the smell of the petting zoo was noticable. We spent over an hour getting there because of bad traffic, which required a detour. We did end up getting pumpkins, although Zachary was more interested in rocks and pumpkins stems. At the end, we all agreed there must have been an easier way … the local Safeway.

I’ve included a picture of Zachary’s room. The walls are very bare. I’m looking for some dark wood frames with red matting … and I’ll be hanging up some of his abstract art. That’s the idea at least – we’ll see when I find time. On Monday, I was sick. I was holding some tissues in my hand and fell asleep on the rug. When I woke up, Zachary was standing over me with a large book. I was no longer grasping tissues, but a cardboard Madagascar lion (see pic 2). It was so bizarre. I cannot understand his logic.

Friday is Zachary’s 18 month appointment. No shots. I wonder if he’ll still be underweight – I hope not! He’s been eating better. He does not like bland toddler food, but prefers curry rice and spicy beans (dug out of burritos.) He also likes … chicken skin. I tried to get him to get the skin and meat together … but with some fancy tongue maneuvering, the meat part always comes out! Like most Asians I know, he finds white meat to be too dry and tasteless.

This Friday, we went to his daycare’s 10th anniversary party – dinner and music. Later that evening, Zach’s Graeber Grandparents came to visit. Zachary loves guests – he loves showing off and getting all the attention! His most impressive trick, this visit, was to wipe up spilled milk and throw the dirty tissue in the trash can under the sink.

Saturday, I went out to lunch with my friend Sherry – and afterwards helped her pick out some stuff for her registry at Babiesrus. Zachary was horrible during the trip and eventually just cried/screamed himself to sleep in his stroller.

Today (Sunday), we had some friends over for lunch. Uyen’s boyfriend took a look at Zach’s train table and immediately guess (correctly!) that it was from Pottery Barn Kids. I was impressed. Before I had Zachary, I thought  I’d get all children furniture and decor cheap at IKEA. I am “floored” by how much I just paid for a 8×10 Pottery Barn Kids rug for his room. (Sneak peak from the website below.) The truth is … I don’t know where to get decent but inexpensive kids stuff. I told my sister to ask her coworker … but her coworker also shops at PBK! No help…any suggestions? (Online shopping preferred.)