Dear Zach,
You were fast asleep while everyone rang in the new year. We look forward to the day when you’ll want to stay up all night and watch the ball drop with us.
This year, though, you spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa’s house for the very first time. Daddy and I can’t believe it but you slept through the night for them too! You’ve been doing well with that lately. (Thank you). I guess that means you wouldn’t mind doing it again soon!
Well that was a whirlwind of activity! Christmas eve was spent crawling around your great-uncle Ken and great-aunt Sally’s house. You had lots of fun with the kids there. And found the light up christmas tree light bulb necklace someone gave you particularly fun!
We woke up bright and early Christmas morning and hustled right over to Grandma and Grandpa’s house to open some of your awesome presents and eat a delicious Christmas breakfast!
You had french toast and sausage and bananas and oatmeal for breakfast. It was pretty awesome!
We packed it up and headed down to Rhode Island to visit Daddy’s family. Thankfully you took a nice long nap in the car because boy did you have a long day ahead of you! You helped MiMi open up all your presents.
Then Auntie Colleen and Dylan and Helen came! You watched them open up all their presents and then we started playing! You guys had so much fun!
We had dinner over Mimi’s. You got your first taste of lasagna. It was good despite the lack of cheese! But that is all part of the Christmas tradition at Mimi’s! After dinner you ate pumpkin pie. You love pumpkin pie just like your Daddy! After Auntie Cyndi and Uncle Aaron came over we packed all your new toys up and came home. You were pretty tired so again, you slept on the way home. We opened your presents from Santa and some other family members when we got home. And you even tried your first candycane!
All in all it was a really long, really awesome couple of days. We can’t wait until next year!
You went for your 9 month check-up this afternoon. In the hours before the appointment, you were quite a busy little boy. You managed to give yourself a black eye when you fell into a drawer handle and get a big red mark on your face when you pulled your high chair over on top of yourself. Your mom and I were kinda worried that the doctor might get the wrong impression and have us hauled away. But it worked out ok and you don’t seem too bothered by the bumps (after the initial shock wore off, of course).
The doctor said you are doing excellent. She was very impressed with your balance and both her and nurse remarked at how tall you were. You even had 6 teeth at this visit and another 2 coming in.
Unfortunately, today was a big day for needles. You got 3 shots and some blood taken… none of which you were happy about. At least these will get less frequent as you get older.
Daddy and I took advantage of this unseasonably warm day and took you to the ocean for the very first time! First we went to eat in a fancy restaurant in Gloucester called Latitude 43. You were very well behaved except for the flirting with the bartender. (And the rest of the staff–they weren’t very busy for lunch so they all ogled you the whole time)
Zach trying to get the attention of the bartender.
After lunch we went to Pigeon’s Cove in Rockport and explored the beach. Considering it is the end of November it was such a treat to be able to take off your socks and let you feel the sand! We met lots of puppies that wanted to play with you and took lots of pictures. (There may or may not be an ulterior motive for said pictures to be released at a later date.)
After the beach we took a walk around scenic Rockport past all the shops and down by the pier with all the lobster traps. It was a pretty awesome day–it could be the last nice outing we have until the Spring!
We went over to Grandma and Grampa’s house for your first Thanksgiving feast. And feast you did. You had some turkey, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and cranberry. I don’t think we’ve found a food yet that you don’t like.
Dear Zach,
Today we had to raise up the legs on your jeep because you were way too slouchy. We also had to lower the mattress in your crib and co-sleeper as you can now sit up and pull yourself up (and out if we gave you the opportunity).
At first you didn’t like your crib being so low. But you got used to it!
Last night Uncle Mark and Auntie Julia both commented on how big you’ve gotten and they saw you last on Halloween! I had to adjust the straps on your stroller the other day too. Is it possible for you to grow so quickly? It must be all the big boy food you’ve been eating!
That’s right. Baked stuffed pumpkin, an orange, and a margarita all in one night! Okay, so you just licked the salt on the margarita–but you liked it all the same.
It was unseasonably warm this year so we took that opportunity to get some pictures of you with our decorations.
We didn’t go out trick or treating this year, but we got you dressed up anyway. We got lots of kids at our house but your favorites were the brothers dressed as Elmo and Cookie Monster! Uncle Mark and Auntie Julia came over to celebrate and hand out candy too. And even though you were scared of Daddy in his gorilla suit last week, this time you didn’t mind so much. You thought Elvis’ squirrel costume was pretty cool too.
We drove down to Auntie Colleen’s today for Dylan’s 7th birthday party. Since his birthday is so close to halloween it was a costume party. You sported your Frankenstein costume very well but when Daddy put on his gorilla costume you thought it was way too scary. You had fun watching all the kids run around. Next year you’ll be right with them beating that pinata and running around.
Today you saw your first snowfall. Welcome to New England–where mother nature needs to buy a calendar. It is not yet halloween but the snow came down pretty hard today. Not much stuck around thankfully. I guess you’ll have to wait until next time to make your first snowman.
Please note the halloween decorations in the yard.
Today we went apple and pumpkin picking! It is Columbus Day so Daddy had the day off–unfortunately so did many other people so it was pretty crowded! Uncle Mark and Auntie Julia came with us too. Uncle Mark was happy to strap you on his back and carry you around.
All the apples at Smolak Farm had fallen off the trees already so for half off the farm let us pick apples up off the ground. They said “There are perfectly good apples on the ground” It was hard to find those perfectly good apples but we managed to get a peck-ful.
Uncle Mark also gave you your first taste of a real farm-fresh apple. But you weren’t very impressed.
We found you a Zach-sized apple and then a Zach-sized pumpkin.
Today we visited Topsfield Fair for the first time! While this year you aren’t really too interested in the goings on at the fair we know that next year and for many years to come you’ll just love seeing all the animals, going on the rides and eating some food one can only get at a fair or carnival!
We made the rounds through all the animals.
We saw cows, sheep, turkeys, miniature clydesales, an elephant, a camel, baby chicks, pigs and baby pigs and many more. We even stopped by to pay tribute to your Rhode Island heritage.
We saw a HUGE sand castle, a giant cow sculpted out of butter, and of course, this year’s largest pumpkin weighing in at 1471 pounds!!!
The Topsfield Fair is there for 2 weeks every October so we’ll be sure to go back next year so we can chase you around and pet all the animals and of course, try your first “fried dough” (Or as Daddy would say “Dough-boy”–but he’s wrong.)
When we found out mom was pregnant, I started thinking about all the cool things you and I will hopefully do together one day. Playing with Legos together is one of them. We even bought you your first set of pirate Legos to decorate your room with. When I was a kid – about 8 or 9 years old – I loved playing with Legos. I had so many different sets that they filled a big 5 gallon bucket. And when I one day grew out of them, I gave them all to your cousins Matt and Mark to play with.
Well, when we stopped by Auntie Cyndi’s last weekend we got an awesome surprise! Even though Matt and Mark were both older now, she had held onto all those old Legos… and in the original bucket that I painted for them about 20 years ago! I had no idea they were still around. She was more than happy to give them back for you.
My old legos and the bucket I painted for them
Lego army, attack!
How cool is that? Now I get to share a part of my childhood with you… literally. Playing with Legos together is going to be even more awesome!
You said your first word today. Well… your first ‘official’ word.
You’ve been saying “mom” and “mama” for a few weeks now. But we haven’t been quite sure that it’s not just babbling. Today, though, you definitely knew what you were saying.
You and mom were doing the daily routine of watching some Sesame Street on the computer while eating breakfast. At the end of one video, a picture of Elmo popped up. You always get excited to watch the Elmo videos. And today, when he showed up you actually said, “Elmo”. Mom told me, but I didn’t believe it. So we got out the old Elmo doll Auntie Cyndi had given to you a few days before. You played with it for a minute, then stopped, looked at it and clear as day said “Elmo” again.
Zach with his circa-1996 Tickle Me Elmo from Auntie Cyndi
Not only did you say the word, but you knew what it meant and used it in the right context. Cool! But if you could work on saying “daddy” before learning the names of any more television monsters, that would be great.
