A Day at the Zoo

You've got me! Another two weeks have gone by without posting. I haven't written about it, but I've been working this summer as a consultant coordinating a summer youth program. It's been going well and bringing me in contact with lots of former colleagues and more work opportunities. In the first few weeks, I spent 10-15 hours a week on it, but in recent weeks have been spending closer to 25 (and even 30 last week) that cuts into my regular blogging time. Aaron has also been booked and even doublebooked with projects recently. While I have appreciated the work, I have decided that I am not really interested in going back to work full-time yet -- I think most of my earnings would go into childcare and takeout dinners as they have in the past two weeks!

And, I've been trying to spend as much time as possible with the Kid. He is so busy and we have lots of fun. He climbs everything, has been enjoying a new trike, tent and slide, and has been combining signs ("More drink please"). I've also brought him with me to work a few times and he has enjoyed a very popular reception with the students and been very interested in what they are doing. He is still obsessed with dogs (evidence of this to follow).

I have two favorite developments, though. First, he has become a more sociable creature. He hugs his music teacher (we've been taking summer music classes instead of gym classes), he got kisses from moms at playgroup today, likes his babysitters, and generally approaches more people. Second, he has discovered books all of a sudden and discovered that we keep them all over the house. We read every night and he pulls what books he wants us to read from his bookshelf. He then will sit in between us or in our laps, flip pages and stay for at least part of the story. Throughout the day, however, he will also bring us books to read. His favorite is Doggies, a counting book, and he like the page that says "Nine dogs on a moonlit night". He will let you read the first pages of the book, but then he skips to that page.

Not that everything is giggles and smiles. Man, this kid can throw a tantrum. He also likes to run away from me in stores; I admit to now understanding kid leashes. He has dropped a nap and resists even that one. Getting him dressed and changing his diapers is like wrestling a bear or giant eel. He also has absolutely no concept of what I mean when I say "no". He still likes playing in the pets' water bowl and dipping things in there. And, my biggest pet peeve, Zeke feeds at least a third of the food I give him to the dog. Though cute, it drives me nut. Now, both the boy and the dog are poorly trained, well fed bad listeners.

We like to take all this fun on the road as much as we can and we finally got some well deserved family time this weekend at the zoo. A whole zoo of exotic and amazing animals, but the best animals to Zeke were the ones on the carousel and in the petting zoo. The playground was also a highlight. I like the photo of Zeke posing as a panda, mainly because of the little girl. She kept saying "CHEEEEEESE" and snapping imaginary photos of Zeke -- he was absolutely taken with her.