What a fun weekend! On Saturday morning, I took Zachary to a kid’s art demonstration at Michael’s (craft store.) He got to sample all kinds of Crayola products, such as foam stickers, clay, and magic markers. There were snacks from Trader Joe’s and a local bread company. There were numbers on colored paper all over the store – and of course Zachary wanted to step on them and repeat the numbers. When he was on 20, I heard an announcement,”20! Will the child on 20 come up to claim a prize.”. We had no idea a game was going on,  but hey – free toy (bubbles in a spill proof container.) 

Next up was Nicole’s 4th birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. Happy 4th Birthday, Nicole! Wow, that place was crowded. Zachary had fun, but he preferred to just watch other kids play – and he did not like the rides at all! In the evening, we had Dana and Dave over for dinner/games.

Sunday, we decided to take Zachary up to Tahoe to see snow. We had low expectations since Zachary didn’t like sand when we took him to Cabo last winter. We thought maybe he would like sledding since he likes slides. James thought it was going to be a waste of time waiting in the rental ski line since he expected Zachary to refuse to wear them. We were so wrong! Zachary did not care for the sledding or snow tubing too much, but he LOVED skiing! And I know I am biased, but I thought it was so cute to see a not-yet-2-year-old in skis.  

At first, James or I had to hold him under the arms and run down the hill with him between our legs. By the end of the day, Zachary could ski down the hill holding both our hands! He could sort of turn, and he knew crossing ski tips was “baa.” (bad)

At the end of the day, he got tired so we took off his skis and played in the snow. Another family made a snowman, so I tried to make a stack of snowballs to show Zachary how to make them. Nope. He found a big pile of snow and stuck snowballs all around it. The kid from the other family said,”Whoa – look at that!” And the mom said,’Yes, that is certainly creative.” Hahaha.

Hello! Last week, Zachary got the stomach flu … 4th time this winter. Ick. I took Thursday off since James had some important meetings, and then James took Friday off. On Friday I went on a team off-site … go-kart racing! It was lots of fun, but I lost terribly and got jammed up in the bumper walls a few times. At one point, a guy that worked there shouted at me,”When you see a curve, you need to turn the steering wheel!”

That weekend, I went on a mini vacation with my sisters. We met in downtown Napa, then had a cheese/pate/baguette lunch. We brought our own water and bread. After that, we drove to a winery to get my father some wine he liked (but is not available in Maryland.) The next stop was a spa. My sister Sophie booked us a multi-step spa treatment. This place is really interesting – instead of a typical spa that focuses on ambience, it was almost like a hospital, and the clientele was mostly … plump and elderly. But the massage I received was one of the best I’ve ever had! Anyway – we start off soaking in peat moss and volcanic ashes. It’s warm so you sweat a little, and it smells a little like manure. (Disturbingly, they reuse the mud.) Next, you shower and get a bath in mineral water. Then you go into a steam room – Sophie loved it, but I felt like a couldn’t breathe through the thick air. After that, you lie on a cot, wrapped in sheets – I felt trapped, but some people must find it relaxing because I could hear snoring around me. The final step was a 30 minute massage – that was terrific, especially since my shoulders were sore from go-kart racing. We had KFC for dinner, and then headed to the outlets, but got so lost that we didn’t have enough time to shop more than a few stores before they closed. That evening, back at the hotel, we took a dip in  the pool.

The next day, we had another picnic lunch and then continued outlet shopping. I picked up a skirt and top from the Ann Taylor outlet (boy, I have aged….) It was lots of fun, but I definitely missed Zachary! Next time, I’m bringing him to play in the mud. Thanks to Sophie for organizing the trip!

Egads! My “baby” is almost 2 years old. He’s 23 months now! He’s still not a great talker, but he is catching on to phonics. He knows putting sounds together make words; he’s just too slow at running the sounds together smoothly. I sometimes think he is going to read before he says a 3+ word sentence. I ordered him a Word Whammer (Leapfrog toy) for his 2nd birthday. I actually prefer basic toys that require more imagination and creativity, but I’m also trying to be supportive of his is new interest in symbols.

This Saturday, I finally used my massage gift certificate I got for Mother’s Day last year!  We went out to eat at Buca di Beppo, where a small $9.99 dish lasted us 5 full meals. It makes me wonder why I even bother cooking. And tonight, we went to Mikunis, where I had my favorite – chirashi! Zachary liked the tempura prawns. This meal was more than $9.99, but I had a gift card.  I also did a lot of shopping – Old Navy had some kid’s clothes for $1.97! And Gymboree had $8.99 sweaters (plus I earned a Gymbuck: buy $50+ and get $25 off a future $50 purchase) I stocked up, so now he has winter clothes until he’s 5-years-old. No pants 3T+ though. Why don’t pants go on super clearance? Zach’s going to be bare bummed after his third bithday!

And ugh.. Recall that he has a favorite frog? Now he has 3 stuffed frogs he sleeps with every night. If one drops out of the crib, he starts screaming in panic. One of them is not even a frog – it’s a frog head on a ring. For crying out loud…

Hello again! What have we been up to… the past two Friday’s I’ve have coworker friends over for dinner and games. (We also had wine and yummy desserts, thanks to my guests!) I think that’s the best thing about a new job – you make new friends!

Last Saturday evening, we went to Sam and Melissa’s house for dinner. Then on Sunday afternoon, we attended Brianna’s 2nd birthday party at Little Gym. It was great – Zachary had so much fun running around. Happy 2nd Birthday Brianna!

This weekend, we took Zachary to the California Railroad Museum in Old Sacramento. The entire time, he was chanting “Choo-choo-choo.” He loved the electric toy trains and kept saying (and signing) “more, more!” Afterwards, we had lunch at Cafe New Orleans. I had a great prime rib sandwich - there was literally a steak in the sandwich, not slices of beef. This morning, Zachary’s friend Alex came to play – then for lunch, we went to Quiznos because I saw an ad for a prime rib sandwich. Good, but not quite the same.

Zachary hasn’t learned too many new words lately – “ta’ for turn, “frog”, “my” for mine, and “ira” for giraffe. He’s crazy over symbols though – on top of knowing the letters and saying many of them, he’s connected some of them to the sound they make. So he’ll pick up a W, say “double-U” and then “wuh! wuh! wuh!” It just goes to show that different kids are good at/interested in different things. Zachary may be behind in his verbal skills, but he knows lots of letters and numbers.