Tough Week

*This was composed the end of June but never posted. Go figure. :)

It's been a while since we updated the blog, but we honestly have good reason this time. Last week the whole house came down with a not-very-fun sickness, so we spent a lot of time watching TV and eating soda crackers. Since everyone is finally feeling better, we have been trying to get back into our normal schedule, and unfortunately we've run into a couple of days where the kids have decided to rebel. Today, for example, the boys were downstairs playing Star Wars after lunch. I took advantage of a few spare minutes and went to my room to do some filing. The air conditioning came on and closed the bedroom door. I thought nothing of it and finished going through some papers. (Yeah, mommy-sense had apparently suffered from the sickness as well.) When I was done, I went downstairs to check on the kids. They were having a little scuffle about sharing, so I asked Ryan to come over and talk to me so we could work it out. When he came over I noticed orange powder around his mouth and smelled Doritos on his breath. Now, we don't have Doritos at our house very often, so the kids get pretty excited when they are around. I asked Ryan if he had been eating chips. He just looked at me and tried not to smile. I asked Matthew the same question, and he told me no, but the Mommy-sense (finally) kicked in and I could tell he wasn't being truthful. After some more questioning Matthew led me over to a blanket on the floor and lifted it up to reveal the bag of chips. It was almost entirely empty. Apparently the boys had decided they needed a snack and snuck the bag downstairs while my door was closed. Let's just say they had to clean up the mess and it looks like Doritos will have an even bigger hiatus from our house. Boys!

Buzz-Man Zach

Zachary is just like his brothers - tons of fun but FULL of mischief. He loves to grab things he's not supposed to, wait until I see him, then run away full throttle in an escape attempt. And I have to admit he is pretty fast. He likes to take favorite toys away from his brothers when they aren't looking and thinks it's hilarious to have them chase him down. And then he throws the tantrum when they reclaim their goods. This has resulted in a new era of life for him - duh, duh, duh - corner time out. He's been in time out on my lap before, but he's old enough to start the regular stuff. The first few times he went to the corner he went pretty willingly, sat down, and started to fake cry (obviously imitating his older brothers). Honestly? I had to try very hard not to laugh. Because of his talent for disturbing the peace, he has also learned to say "sorry" (sha-sha) and "love you" (lo loo).

Zach loves to play. He likes the typical cars, trucks, little people, etc., but he is usually interested in whatever his brothers are playing with (as previously mentioned.) He can really get into their ball games and can hold his own in wrestling matches.
He even likes to have lightsaber fights and can make some pretty good blaster noises. Legos are also a favorite, although he prefers to play with the lego people (he calls them "guys") by pulling them apart and putting them back together again. He loves playing outside on his bike and on the swings.

He is also starting to talk a lot more and is trying to imitate the things that we say. He wakes up every morning with the same question - "Daddy bye-bye car?" and has started to put more words together in phrases and sentences. He heard one of the boys pass gas one day and started to laugh. "Mat-ma toot!" he told all of us. New words he is saying: Mat-ma (Matthew), Rye-Rye (Ryan), uh-oh, nuh-uh, swee (swing), sly (slide), pan (pants), sock, ha (hat), bye (bike), pwee (please), tank oo, pop-pop (popcorn - the kid is an addict), my (mine), no, ow-sy (outside), muh (milk), wa-wa (water), der (there), show, gink (drink), umpa (grandma/grandpa), bubbo (bubble), Buh (Buzz Lightyear), Queen (Lightning McQueen) and some others as well.

And finally, we had to give our little guy a buzz. His sweet baby hair just wasn't filling in where it was supposed to. It was long and wispy and he was starting to have a mullet. Cool as that may be, Kevin opted to give him a buzz to give Zach's hair a new start. Here's a short breakdown of the process:

Before

During

Mohawk

Final Buzz

It made me a little sad to see all of his hair go. He looks bigger now and is no longer my baby, just a happy, busy toddler. He is such a fun little boy with a lot of spunk and personality. I guess he has to be in order to fit in with the rest of the crew. I can't believe he will be two in a few months. We sure do love our Zachary!