27 months - hard to believe (and fun to look back on as it’s now May 29, 2015 as I write this :-).  Here is ZBL with his crinkle-nose smile. 

Thanks to Alan and Mary-Kay’s visit this month, Z is now looking for acorns everywhere.  This is in our neighbors’ yard on the way home from walking SPL to his school carpool.  There is this enormous oak tree and Z loves looking for acorns. He even is getting good at distinguishing “good” ones from “bad” ones.

First dentist appointment: On August 12, ZBL went to the dentist for the first time.  SPL went too, as did John, so that helped.  But Z took it in stride. He actually has a harder time brushing his teeth at home – wish I were as good as the dentists were at getting him to open his mouth and say Ah!

Going to the Exploratorium August 14: What a fun trip! It was one of our last hurrahs before SPL went back to school.  The new location is on the water and neither John nor I had been there yet, and SPL had never been to the museum at all, so it was fun to explore together. Even though the Exploratorium is designed for older kids, Z found a lot of things he could do and it was fun to watch him explore the different phenomena. I loved the 3 Bears’ Chairs the most :)

Family photo outside with the Bay Bridge in the background.

Back seat driver: Isn’t knowledge grand? The kid knows his colors now and knows green means go but doesn’t understand we have to wait for cars in front of us or oncoming cars. So immediately when the light turn green there is some admonition to Go from the back seat. 

Still loves the trash and recycle: Now he can push the large bins back to the side yard by himself (see video post after this one).

We have spent more time at the pool this summer and it definitely shows in that ZBL is a much better swimmer, more independent in the pool. 

Funny stories: 

– He is fond of stuffing the straw of his sippy cup inside of so that he can’t use it. Oh well right – he’s gotta learn. :)

– 1st thing in AM: Head buried under stuffed animals: “hello Goofy. How are you today?” (August 17)

– Woke up Sunday morning 8/18 and said “bike Apple store?”

– Discovered JOL’s pooh bear on 9/2

– knows our neighbor Wayne, by name; Also SPL’s friends Anzel and kyle.  He also knew it was Wayne’s car in the parking lot @ JCC before we actually saw him at the pool upstairs?!?! 

– He also now knows our friend Drew’s house (down the street).

– He now *loves* and has exclusive preference for the orange bowls in our dish line up (and that still continues today: May 29, 2015).

– First inside joke between SPL and ZBL — ZBL or SPL will say “cherry picker — whaaaat?!?!”  (from the Digger Dozer dumper grader book from grandparents) and they other will laugh

His Chinese is coming along too: he will translate hĕn dà to mean very big for me (even though that is a phrase I actually know :). 

– tóu:  head (click on the pinyin spelling to hear the pronunciation)

– Hi yao cher: I want to eat

– Suānnǎi (sun nī)i: yogurt

— háiyào: to want

– Píngguǒ jiàng: applesauce

– Shuāngshǒu:  hold hands

 – Lán sè (lan suh): blue

– said giraffe in Mandarin: Chángjǐnglù–  w/o CH saying it first (9/10)

– said pútáo when saw grapes

– Can copy CH do re mi la so fa ti ti do

Funny sayings this month:

– 8/15: Hello Zeyad. How are you today (we were just at home, not with his friend Zeyad)

Days of the week: ZBL knows some of the days of the week, especially Thursday, because it’s trash day :); Wed, Thurs, Fri he knows mostly, Mon, Tue he is still working on.

Colors about 80-90%: blue, pink, green, orange

60%: red, yellow

Funny quotes with John: John will say “ can I get a Boom shakalaka?” and ZBL will say “boom shakalaka” :)

favorite books this month: Digger Dozer Dumper, Good Night Moon

ZBL is obsessed with “flippers” (spatulas) and takes all of them out of the drawer in the kitchen.  Not much help when I am going to the grill or to the oven to get cookies :).

Back to school Jamba Juice with big bro:

August 20: We lost ZBL’s great-grandfather on August 20. Unfortunately, Z never got to meet grandpa in person but he did get to do some Facetime video chats with him thanks to mom/grandma’s iPad and frequent visits to KY. ZBL even said “I love you” for the first time to great-grandpa last year :). For my first trip away from Z, I went to grandpa’s funeral in Lexington. Z did great – no surprise.

Labor day: We had fun riding bikes to Stanford on Labor Day and Z had fun climbing tree at Tressider (see video above and photo below)

ZBL starts soccer: On Saturday morning, ZBL started his own AYSO program for 2-4 year olds called the Kickers. 2-4 years old is a *huge* age gap at this age and the coaches hadn’t totally thought that through, but Z had fun and ended up doing his own thing most of the time (big surprise).  

Uncle Bryan’s visit Sept. 6: It’s always fun to see uncle Bryan.  He’s living in Australia these days but he travels to SF with some regularity as his company has an HQ so we get to see him 2-3 times per year :).

First day of fall semester @ Bing: September 9.  ZBL loves Bing and as you can see, walks in to school like he owns the place.  He was there during the summer so it’s familiar to him and he loves playing outside in the sand with the trucks.

Friday routine begins: ZBL had his first swimming lesson with Louise on September 12 (Louise taught SPL too). He did great in the pool though he wasn’t a “water baby” (one who loves water from the get-go). After class, we went to Subway for lunch and watched the diggers working on a construction project.  This would become our ongoing Friday routine of swim, subway, diggers which would last all year (writing this now May 31).

Fun with the cousins before going back to school: It is great having EVR and KAR living so close and we always enjoy seeing them and hanging out.

Happy 27th month Z!  You continue to amaze us with your curiosity, your sense of humor, your strong will, and your joy.  Looking forward to what’s ahead!