While I kept the notes in emails from July 2014, I am writing this now in April 2015.  

Summer was a lot of fun with starting a new preschool, going to Disneyland, going to TX to see cousins, Nan, and grandparents, and having Uncle Al and Aunt Mary Kay come for a visit.

We had fun with Alan and Mary Kay and the kids had a blast playing.  Watching them play, I had memories of my own grandparents (who were the same age as Alan was when I was 9).  We are grateful they decided to celebrate Mary Kay’s milestone birthday in SF and shared some of their time with us!

Language development continues and is fun to be a part of (now that it’s April 2015 and I’m reflecting back on August 2014, it’s fun to remember when Z’s language was 3-5 words as it’s now full narratives :).

After coming back from Texas, Flash! and “Recycle man” are now in his vocabulary (both were names that grandpa called him :).

New words that we heard this month: scott (his uncle – on 7/14), Uphill, almost, chicken teriyaki, California, too tall, too short, Hold on, hop down, basketball, camp, Texas, times.  Pronoun usage has also increased:him, me, her, you, your

He is also speaking more Mandarin: squirrel:  shung shu) shirt (ee fu) and Chun Hua (his nanny’s name – though he says it “chunhuaayi” all in one word.  Ayi is the word for auntie). Also Mien tien Jie – see you tomorrow

And this is how he is counting 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8 :)

Phrases or sentences that were new included Why and yes please (of his own volition  – hooray for manners and curiosity on 7/14), see you later sam (on 7/29)!! and 2 sentences in a row: daddy here.  He’s coming upstairs (7/29).

And then there were the funny exclamations of I need it!  ( he wanted a kitchen utensil tool – another obsession of his) ( 8/11)

And a funny story: Sam came into room and Z immediately said “tiger tiger” b/c Sam didn’t have his tiger shirt on and they’d agreed to wear buddy shirts

He also started calling himself Zacky (or as he says it “Zaddy” :).

ZBL has also starting to sing more and more and his favorite song this month is one he learned at preschool: Octopus song.

Octopus, Octopus, swimming in the water (see video below):

Octopus, octopus, gulp gulp gulp.

Oh no! It was eaten by…..

Tuna fish, tuna fish, flashing in the water

Tuna fish, tuna gulp gulp gulp.

Oh no! It was eaten by a great white shark!

Great white shark, great white shark, lurking in the water.

Great white shark, great white shark, gulp gulp gulp!

His favorite books are 2 he got for his birthday: Digger Dozer Dumper & Spot (thanks TX grandparents!).  He loves the garbage truck & street sweeper + fire truck & cement mixer pages the most (from Digger Dozer Dumper). Then he moves on to last page and asking “which one do you want to be?” and we go through all our family (grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins) and he picks out a truck for each person :). He also likes Good Night Moon.

He continues to be obsessed with band aids – especially the decorated ones.  

And his big accomplishment was climbing out of Bjorn crib in TX!!?!  The story was we were spending the night at his Nan’s house and sleeping in her room (thanks Nan!). He was in the Bjorn portable crib and I was in the bed.  Around 6 am I heard the sound machine (he used it to sleep) get turned off and I thought to myself, how did that happen? Did Nan come in and turn it off?  And then I realized that there was another option: ZBL climbed out! So I sat up and saw him smiling at me.  It made for a challenging trip as the first 30 minutes of nap or bedtime was spent reminding him that he needed to stay in his crib.

The interesting thing too was that when he returned home, we thought he would need to move to a toddler bed.  But after one 3:30 am escape from his crib, he has stayed in bed ever since :).

Other developments of this month include exploring physical abilities: he can climb ladder with help, climb playground equipment that is more challenging.  He is very capable :)

He still takes out trash every morning and enjoys picking strawberries from our patch in the garden.

And another first: ZBL went to his first dentist appointment!  SPL was there too so that helped but Z did great.  

And we had fun at the Exploratorium: first visit for Z and SPL and my first time to see them at their new location:

And since it’s summer, what would summer be like without ice cream!

And one of my favorite photos: SPL walking Z into preschool :)

And probably my favorite development of this month: ZBL delighted in hiding! Can you find him here?