Kicking off this weekend, James’ new TV came in Friday. A 56″ Samsung DLP. I was supposed to get it for his birthday but he ended up just using his own credit card since we technically share money. We joke that the TV is just for decoration. Seriously, we watch about 30-60 minutes a week! That night, we drove down to Santa Rosa to visit James’ parents and high school friend, who has a 3-year-old. The next day, we all went to the Charles Schultz Museum. It was geared towards adults, but there was an outdoors play area and a room for kids to draw. After the museum, we went to lunch and then the gift shop, where James’ dad bought the boys coloring books. When we got home, I started feeling tired so I lay down while James’ parents read books to Zachary. We stayed for a nice spaghetti dinner, and then headed home. It turned out I caught Zachary’s fever.
Zachary loves to watch me draw. It reminds me of when I was little and how I always wanted my dad to draw. He also says “More! more!” when I sing – and anyone who’s ever heard me, knows I’m tone deaf. Kids totally put their parents on a pedestal … at least toddlers do!
Zachary’s latest thing is an obsessions with symbols – numbers and letters. He is constantly looking at license plates and clothes with letters/numbers on them. He knows 1-12 (from a clock obviously!) and he’s really interested in letters. He knows OWXZBCMITGAP, maybe more. In the picture below, I was yelling out letters for him to stand on (Z). Two syllable words are coming now – a long wait after the fluke word “carrot”, my nonverbal baby can now say “lelow” for yellow, “nana” for banana, “turta” for turtle, and ”purpa” for purple. (Proof that he is indeed Asian, notice the lack of L sound at the end of his words.) Some less impressive words these past 2 weeks include “may” for mail, “nigh” for nine, “duh” for duck, “lee” for leaf, “blah” for black, and “seh” for six.
Sunday was pretty low key … James’ painted our walk-in closet. It’s a really, really light greenish blue. But, heck, it’s a closet and the paint cost $2 (retailed $25 but the color came out wrong so it was on clearance). We also got a new housekeeper. She is awesome – I was really impressed by her work, and she came on short notice on a weekend. I tipped her 20-25%, and she gave me a hug! So appreciative!
On the grandparents front. My grandmother (who is in her 90s) had hip surgery and is recovering well. She is getting around-the-clock care from a few of her children, including my dad. Unfortunately, James’ grandmother has liver cancer and is getting weaker. She decided not to fight it and just let nature take its course. 
She is in excellent spirits though – she has such a positive outlook.
The next morning, I held a play group at my house … the kids loved the ride-on Thomas. One would ride while the other “pushed.”
