With turning 18 months we finally got to take Zach to nursery and leave him there (Zach couldn't handle sitting through Priesthood with Derrick so we'd been taking him to nursery for a couple of months and Derrick would just stay with him). Since Zach had been going to nursery for awhile we figured he'd transition really well. Who wouldn't want to go play with tons of toys and kids their age? Zach surprised us and decided to start being really clingy as of December. We're still waiting for a Sunday where Zach doesn't cry the whole time and end up back with one of us. If anyone has any advice for helping Zach transition, we'd love to hear.
I realized that pretty much every picture on here shows a happy Zach. He's happy most of the time but this is more the face his poor nursery teachers get to see. (He was very upset that he couldn't get out the tennis ball he'd wedged into the cup. Problem solved once the ball got killed by a pair of scissors.)
Zach's gone through so many changes within the last few months. One that's been so fun for him (and us) is that he's gotten a lot better at communicating. Over Christmas break he got a renewed interest in his signing movies and watches them like he's studying them. They'll do a sign and then he'll show it to me while trying to say the word. After I repeat it and tell him how good he did he gets so excited. He can say so many words now, do many signs, and we pretty much always know what he wants. We can ask him to bring us things that he's holding and he'll usually obey. This is great so we don't have to chase him down if he's doing something like trying to pull the batteries out of the remote control. Being able to explain to Zach that we need to change his diaper or put his shoes and coat on to get in the car has led to him being so much more cooperative.
Zach being more clingy has been a little helpful with this pregnancy. I've had a lot of abdominal pain to go with the nausea so it's been nice to have Zach just sit and cuddle with me more often and read books or watch his movies. (He would never do this for the first 17 months of his life unless he'd just woken up.)
Another change with Zach is that he's gotten really into lining things up rather than just destroying any sense of order. He got a farm for Christmas and is always moving the animals from one place to another. Every time he moves them he sets them down so carefully and has to make sure they're all standing up. Zach often likes to show us each animal while making its sound.
At my mom's request, here is a video showing Zach arranging the animals. Just to warn you, the sound on this computer has been weird so I haven't had a chance to listen to it and make sure I didn't say anything too weird while taping.
Zach's also moved to lining up his bath toys.
Zach is such a pleasure to have in our home. He's still wild and crazy most of the time but has started having a few mellower moments. Zach is such a happy kid and gets so excited at the smallest things. He's keeps Derrick and I laughing all the time. His favorite things right now are juice (giving him juice seriously makes his day and once he gets it he runs around saying "juice" over and over), baths, brushing his teeth (kinda random), playing outside regardless of temperature, his farm animals, Blue's Clues, running around with our laundry hamper on his head, and playing ring around the rosie.
Here are a few more pictures of Zach:
First and only tower we've built together. Zach broke it a minute later. Building with legos is still a little beyond him.
He's figured out that Derrick's water bottle is usually full of juice.
We let Zach run around with his juice (green smoothie) before trapping him in his highchair. He somehow managed to make a line down his forehead.
1 comment:
Thanks for the update and such cute pictures. I couldn't get the video to play.
Post a Comment