Last weekend, I went to my friend Dana’s “retirement” party. (She’s actually only 34, but quitting work indefinitely.) It was girls only – we ate cheese and chocolate fondue, and played board games.  Happy retirement, Dana! We had other plans that weekend, but had to cancel because Zachary was sick. This week, Zachary’s daycare had a Thanksgiving feast, but according to James, it was more like a famine since they served child-size portions.

Here Zachary climbs onto a Little People garage (generous gift from Yoon). Typically, I’d reprimand him for climbing on furniture, but I was curious what he would do. He loves slides, and the Little People garage has a ramp. Is it possible he has no concept of size? Slowly he puts his foot on the ramp and moves his foot to slide down. Surely, now he realizes he is too big for the ramp? Nope, he stands up and says “More! More!” – He thought he did it! He thought he slid down the ramp! I am stunned. Maybe that fever last week was more serious than I thought!

We spent Thanksgiving with James’ family – his grandmother in San Jose hosted. Zachary didn’t nap well and was pretty cranky and clingy while we were there. He did have lots of fun with Great-Grandma’s “Chevy Chase style” front yard Christmas decor. He also laughed at cousin Brandon’s antics.

Today I spent all morning shopping (made out like a bandit at Old Navy!), and we had some friends over for dinner. Tomorrow, we’re going to Andrew’s 2nd birthday party!

New words: “la” for block, “ba-ba” for bubble, “star”, “cah” for cow, and “cow” for cloud. (By the way, the reason I am keeping a word count is because Zachary started talking so late … our pediatrician asked us to keep track.)

Conversation with Zachary this weekend:

Me: Mama?

Zachary: Dada!

Me: Mama?

Zachary: Dada!

(repeat about 5 times.)

Finally I say,”Dada?”

Zachary pauses. A big smiles appears on his face,”Mama!”

I think he likes to mess with me.

It’s been 2 weekends since I last posted! The first weekend, a group of girls and I went to Aioli’s for dinner in Sacramento and then to the musical Mama Mia! It was fun – my sisters took me to see Mama Mia a few years back, but it was definitely worth seeing again. This past weekened I volunteered for Engineering Awareness Program, which is a half day of labs for high school girls, to encourage them to consider engineering fields. Later that same weekend, Zachary and I got sick … fevers. We’re both on the mend though and plan to be 100% better by this weekend.

And guess what? I’ve started Christmas shopping. I’ve been buying online for years, but always thought it was nice to get out to the mall for the holiday music, decoration, and hustle/bustle . I’ve since realized I have no patience for bad traffic, slow lines, and flustered, error-prone cashiers. Or worse yet, a chatty cashier. (Thank goodness Walmart now has a self-checkout line.) My husband was right. Shopping online is the only way to go. Zachary has reindeer Robeez. That’s holiday spirit enough for now!

More words are coming out.  Oh-oh, dot, buh (bus), bah (bat), shoo-shoo (tissue), chay (chair), baa (back), kai (open), gee (chicken), and DADA! After all I have done for him … no mama?!

Zachary had a great Halloween. We went to a bunch of houses in our neighborhood. Zach would get candy, hold up his basket and say,”More? More?” He ended up getting a few pieces at each house. Then he’d put down his basket and blow the person a kiss good-bye … people just loved it! He got thirsty running up and down the driveways, so at one house, he did the “more milk” sign. The person said,”Oh my gosh – that’s like the Meet the Fockers kid!” At home, Zachary thought it was great fun to move his candy from one basket to another. He ate a mini granola bar for breakfast the next day, and the rest of the candy went to work with Dad.

This week was bad. Zachary had the 24 hour stomach flu. I cleaned up his rug (wah!) before he went to bed. The next morning,. when I opened the door to his bedroom I was greeted by a strong stench and sleeping baby lying amongst puddles of vomit. James said,”Oh my God. It’s like a drunk person in here.” I almost got sick cleaning it up … literally gagging.

Oh – and some new words. Heart, boat, tree, hat, cat, and ho. And in case you think we listen to questionable music in our household, I’ll clarify that “ho” means monkey in Chinese.