Birthday Boy - 5 years old!!

Zane's birthday coincided with his preschool classes field trip to the Gateway Children's Discovery Museum.... I couldn't have planned it better! His whole class got special treatment and access to all the different play stations and Zane owned the joint!

 We started at an art exhibit and Zane colored a few pages. He's getting pretty good at holding the pencil/crayon the right way and using lots of different colors. He uses the whole paper - from corner to corner - and has much better fine motor control than earlier this school year. He is very good at drawing circles - or spirals rather as none of his "circles" meet. I've noticed he is drawn to blue and green colors the most!

Then we went over to the magnets where we spent quite a bit of time. He didn't seem to interested until I showed him the stool to sit on... then he went to work: stacking, pulling them apart, building a magnet tower. He seemed to be very intent on his task at the table there... and fortunately has always been a very good worker. :)

From there we found the wind tunnels... they have a great quote on the front of these that reads something like, "A parachute is like our mind... both work best when they are open." They have a stack of cupcake papers for the kids to put inside the tunnel and watch them float up to the ceiling. Zane was totally fascinated... but it was a little too stimulating for him, so we  moved on quickly.

Then we went downstairs to the balls. There is a huge contraption where the balls are sucked up through giant tubes and circle overhead and land somewhere else. Zane was totally captivated and had just as much fun watching the balls overhead as he did putting them into the tubes. He also got to play a giant xylophone!

The water station was very fun - probably Zane's favorite. There are fun waterfalls and pools and slides that ping pong balls float down and Zane had a great time picking up the balls and throwing them into a pool... until his nemesis showed up. A little brown-haired girl stood across from him on the other side of the water station and to his left a few feet, right above the pool that Zane was throwing his balls into. She didn't seem to like what he was doing, so she'd rescue the balls and throw them back at him, making him flinch. After a couple of times that Zane tried to ignore her, he finally picked up a ball and pelted her right back, which started a brief ping pong ball war between the two. I, being the good parent that I am, stood back with my camera in tears from laughing at the interchange, while the little girl's mother frowned at me and scooted her daughter away..... she started it. (shrug innocently)

We tried to climb the rock wall and once Zane figured out what his legs were supposed to do, he wanted to keep trying the first two steps over and over again.... almost mastered it except he leans  back on me for support.

Then we visited the "grocery store." This is really cool.... it's a mini supermarket, complete with deli, where the kids can grab a shopping cart and go shopping, make a sandwich, and checkout and "pay" for their "food." I went wrong somewhere along the way, however.... Zane ended up stealing a "banana" so I had to make him go back and "pay" for it. ;) Too funny, though.... he seemed to understand his faux pas.

We also went out on the patio to see the helicopter! A real helicopter - gutted and bolted to the ground. Zane loved it and I couldn't get him out of the pilot's seat so we kept flying and flying the helicopter - complete with takeoff, in flight, and landing sounds! (hmmm.... must take after his mom!)

Zane's not much of a cake eater... must take after his dad. He does love cookies and donuts though, so I decided to do donuts for his birthday instead of the cake, which was a big hit with the kids. After lunch his classmates and friends sang him happy birthday and Zane just soaked in the attention. I get the impression he knows what's going on, even if he can't express it. I hope he had a special day today - he sure had a good time!

 

Spring Break - LCH '09

For Spring Break this year Zane and I flew down to Louisiana to visit Todd and his family in Lake Charles. We all had a blast and it was so nice to be back "home." Roy, Todd's dad, made his famous bbq - smoked alligator, pork, and chicken! Yum!! And another night we ate crawfish and boudin.

Todd's parents drove us out to Kaplan to see all the work they've done on their property out there. It is so amazing! They've built a pond, complete with fish, in the back... put up a big barn with an apartment inside and have done some really neat landscaping. They've got a gazebo in the front as you drive onto the property with a family memorial stone and they are still working on their house. It is going to be such a fun place and it will be fun to have family reunions there. Zane liked it a lot there and had a great time exploring and running around, but mostly because he got to feed the fish!

Lake Charles has a wonderful children's park downtown near the lake where kids can play in the PPG fountain and explore through the maze fort, which is really quite elaborate. Zane had so much fun. We had to coax him into the fountain and show him how to have fun getting wet.... he saw the arcs from the water and would bend over clear to his waist, even though the top of the water was plenty high from his head!

 

Todd's parents live on a small farm just outside Lake Charles. We spent several nights visiting the animals, watching movies, and visiting. Zane was a great flyer too. We flew from SLC to ATL - spatula in hand. (the spatula has since been replaced by a toothbrush). And he was absolutely perfect until we got inside the terminal bldg. in ATL. He was all over the place and I was wishing I had brought some kind of leash! But we did fine. We bought a couple treats for the next plane ride and rode the tram to the other concourse and caught our little CRJ to Lafayette. All went perfectly except they lost Zane's suitcase, but we got it back the next day. 

Todd suggested buying him a few things anyway, which ended up being a great idea... I'd forgotten how to pack for the south! Zane got to meet Granny and PawPaw again. He hadn't seen them for a few years and it was so wonderful to see them interact and to see Zane respond to them. He seemed to take to Sandra after a day or two and wanted her to take him for a walk. He'd grab her hand and drag her down the road. 

Goodbye, Please

I'm often  told what a polite child I have... I wish it were my fault. When Zane was 2 1/2 we were living in Dallas, Tx and had a sliding glass door from the kitchen out to the backyard. I tried for months to teach him to say "out," but he couldn't catch on. Once I added "out, please." He still didn't say out, but the please caught on.... And on.... And on. He started saying please for everything, which ended up being a great learning tool for him as he knew his blubbery mom would undoubtedly say yes, just to hear him say it!

Zane turns five in two days and he still says please for everything, except now he tacks it on the back of what he's supposed to say. It's really sweet and most of the time very appropriate, giving the illusion of being a normal little kid who has a mother who taught him right. ;) ... He makes me look so good! Except sometimes his pleases accompany something not so appropriate and then you remember that perhaps he doesn't know exactly what he's saying, but at least he's obedient! 

For example, this morning as we were getting ready for school, Zane brought me his backpack and said, "Go, please." (so cute). We piled in the car, toothbrush in hand, and drove happily to preschool where the kids were already in their semi circle for calendar time. Zane shook off his backpack and gave it to me, sat down in his chair and promptly handed me his toothbrush. (This item goes with us everywhere, but at school he knows he has to surrender it to me while he's there, but gets it back again when I pick him up). I hung up his pack and bent down to say good bye. Which went something like this:

"Zane," (Zane looks at me), "Bye, sweets... have fun at school!"

(then, without a prompt for the first time....)

"Bye, bye, please."

I chuckle as I head back to the car, totally beaming, and spend my time wondering in amazement why I, of all people, get to raise this wonderful little boy. 

After preschool, I go to pick Zane up and find him sitting at the table for "snack." He's learned how to drink a Capri Sun using a straw.... and not spill! I happened to notice his whole front covered in apple sauce - most likely from a struggle with his teachers, who made him try it at least once. But Zane, firstly, won't eat with a utensil, nor does he tolerate the texture of applesauce. They even offered a popsicle, but he didn't want that either. There are some days where I think I would give anything to be able to run through the drive through and pick a Kids Meal for him for dinner.... yeah, right - wishful thinking! Zane is way to picky for that.... nope - no chicken nuggets, no french fries, not even hot dogs for this kid. 

I don't really mind this, really. In fact I'm grateful I don't have to argue it with him.... I've learned to be sneaky, adding grated vegetables to cupcakes and other various supplements to grape or apple juice. And.... I get away with it, most of the time!

I've been working with Zane on saying prayers at night and tonight I was tired and wanted to just put him to bed, but he kept going limp at the side of the bed... took me a minute to realize he was trying to get into kneeling position for prayers. It was adorable. He folds his arms and bows his head, except for when I talk which is when he turns his head to the side to watch me. Tonight he repeated the last word of every sentence, at my prompting... followed by "please." I really tried hard not to laugh it was so cute. 

We blessed Mama... "mamum, please," then Daddy... "dawee, please," then Zane... "Zay, please," then the kitties... "(something unintelligible... I don't think he likes the kitties), and he's really good at amen... "maymem, please." Too funny. I've listened to my parents for years tell me how fast time goes by and how quickly kids grow up. It's not fair. I still feel like I have my little three year old - which he is in many ways - just in a 5 year old body. I feel so blessed to have him - I am so lucky to have this chance to get to know him - to see him open up, even if it's just a bit, and show me his sweet, perfect, funny personality!