A 13-Month Zach Morning

Well, to give you a peek into our mornings, here's what Zach's been up to this morning:

He slept until 7:54am!!! Woo hoo! So did I. :) I ran down to get him some milk, and by the time I came back up, he was standing in his crib, having thrown out: the small bear, the musical bear, two pacifiers, a blanket, a bear and blanket, a giraffe, the cow, the My Daddy and I book, the Taggie blanket ...

When he saw me at the door, he bounced up and down and walked over to the railing, smiling through the pacifier. It's a site to see him walking in his sleep sack, but it doesn't seem to slow him down.

We sat in the rocker for a few minutes as he slurped out 4 ounces of milk. Sumo made the floor boards creak outside the nursery door, which distracted Zach. "Dah-dy? Dah-dy?" So the meal was over. I put him through the torture of a diaper change -- "there's SO much I'd rather be doing, Mom!" -- and we went downstairs to find Dada.

Still dragging the feet of his PJs behind him, he toddled over to Scott who was sitting at the kitchen table, pouring over his business plan. Zach loves his Dada! And he has learned how to make his Dada pick him up - just cling to his legs, bury your head in between them, and make a pathetic little "I need you" sound.

Dada scooped him up, and they went for a walk around the block. Fresh air before breakfast...we should all do this! Meanwhile, I prepared some oatmeal for our breakfasts.

Zach came back in, unhappy that he wasn't able to walk around outside. So he wasn't pleased to be deposited into the highchair either. But he did enjoy the oatmeal, and especially the mandarin oranges. There are two indicators that meal time is over: 1) slapping of the food on his tray, or 2) plucking of the food from the tray and releasing it onto the floor. This morning we had both. So I put him through the (even more dreaded) torture of having his face and hands wiped.

Finally free, he zoomed over to the window look at Patches outside in her little cat house. "Ooo-oh, oh-oh!" I had the door cracked to let Spring in, but soon Zach had it pulled all the way open, so that was the end of that.

We made the move into the living/family/toy room. Zach found the train, and may be learning the chugga-chugga sign for train. (I don't know if that's really the sign, but it makes sense to me). The train was fun until it made a real chugga-chugga noise. At that point, Zach had to run over to bury his face on me. But a minute later, he went back to press the button and run away again (he didn't press it hard enough, and it didn't make noise that time, so the game continued).
The stereo (noise, buttons, speakers, etc.) is fascinating! Recently, Zach has discovered his love of dancing. So this morning he went to the entertainment center, and began bouncing near the door that holds the speaker. I turned on the music, and he danced and grinned away.

Soon it was onto the next activity, pulling the letters out of his name bench. And then dragging shoes around, and asking for "more" (of what?), and playing with blocks and pulling the magazine off my desk, and ... Now he's in his wicker toy basket, where he can adequately access all things toyful. Can you see all the toys flung within flinging distance of the basket?

It's time for his nap, so I will collect him for a diaper change and a story then put him into the crib (and replace all the stuffed toys). He's typically sleeping for 2 hours or more during this morning nap. And it's so wonderful that when laid in his crib, he may look around quietly for a few minutes, but then drifts off to sleep!

Sigh.