Bon Appetite

I think I may have a little chef on my hands. Zachary hates TV. It probably has to do with the fact that we rarely have it on if he is awake (We read that it is not good to even have on in the background while they are playing). So we only have on the news in the morning. Personally, I think it also has to do with the fact that he cannot sit still. He wants to constantly be moving and in the action. Unless he is eating, trying to sleep, or wants to be consoled from a fall, he does not want to be held still for more than a second. However, at home there is one thing that Zach will sit still and watch without fail; and that is Matt cooking. I won’t lie. Matt does most of the cooking in the house. However, unlike my mom it is not because I cannot do it. It is because he enjoys it more, and I like to do the dishes. We will move Zach highchair into the middle of the kitchen and Zach will watch Matt go back and forth between the counter top and the stove and is just mesmerized. Ever since he started crawling he has also had access to a wooden spoon and pots and pans to play with in the kitchen. The other day I saw him reach for the spice that Matt had just put away like he wanted to play with it too. I didn’t think anything of it because he likes things that make noise when you shake them. However, when he took it and shook it right over his pot like he was adding spices I was amazed. And then he just started stirring it too. I couldn’t believe how much he had absorbed by watching Matt. It was amazing. As you can see Matt has become really good at cooking with one arm because the other one is full. Matt is such a great dad and they are so cute together.

Tent Fun

Zachary loves to play what Matt and I call tent. In the morning when we are getting ready for work we will put Zach on our bed and then pull the sheet up over our heads and make a little tent. When he was little he loved to lay and stare up at the colors and patterns of the sheet with the room’s light filtering through them. Ten and a half months later it is a lot of peek-a-boo but he still enjoys it just as much. Matt while down stairs putting away baby things that Zach had grown out of came across a tent that we had bought for Meg. It is a dog tent made by Eddie Bauer. I think we bought it for camping with Meg so she had a place of her own that was familiar she could go to. I think we used it once. However, we are now getting our money’s worth by using it as a play tent for Zach. He loves it. It is the perfect size for him and he will go in and out of it for hours. As you can see there is a little hook at the top of the tent where you can hang toys from. We use it outside, inside, anywhere. It is small enough to move around without even taking it down.

Matt and I are having a hard time getting Zach to eat real food. He will eat cheerios and those flavored puffs, they make now, all day. In fact, he will eat them by the fist full and some days I worry because that is all he will eat. Zachary will not eat anything that you pre-cut into pieces little enough for him not to choke on. He’ll only eat it if you give him a huge piece that he can hold in his hand and slowly tear apart into chunks with his teeth. Also, if you give him anything that is mostly smooth with a small chunk of rice or carrot he will spit the whole thing out to get rid of the small carrot or rice piece.

I just wanted to include a picture of Matt because after more than two year he got new glasses. I think they make him look like he belongs in Pleasantville or Blast from the Past. But they do look nice on him and he has gotten a lot of compliments. Retro is very in.

Uncle Adam

So Zachary finally had his second swim in Grandma Kipf's pool and this time he went in with just Uncle Adam. Zachary loves Adam. The minute he walks into the room Zachary watches him like a hawk and does pretty much anything Adam tells him to do. And sadly, he calls him something close to Adam more than he calls me mama. As you can see they had a lot of fun and Zach was able to do his favorite thing which is splash. Giving him a bath is like taking a shower at the same time.

In the final picture, Zach is making what we like to call his mean football face. He is so cute it is hard to take seriously. He tenses up all of his face muscle and presses his lips together and real tight and then starts panting through his clenched teeth and tight lips. I am still holding out hope that he will want to play any sport more than football but Matt's family pushes it really hard so I doubt that that will be the case. My family is too laid back about sports that soccer doesn't have a chance even though we all played.

Our New Favorite Chair

So this is Zachary's new favorite place to sit. Whenever we are folding cloths on our bed he wants up on the bed so he can take them all out of the basket and sit in it. It is so funny because Matt will try and get his fingers through the holes. Zach thinks it is the greatest game alive. It is a tough sell to get him out of it once he is there. He'll even tip it over while in it and just laugh and keep on smiling. He is a dare devil and a boy through and through. It is so great!!

Matt and I took these pictures in the morning while getting ready for work. I think we both ended up getting in a little late that day but it was worth it because I think they are just too cute. It is getting harder and harder to play with him in the morning though because of our early schedule, of getting up at 4:30. Zach has started to sleep in. In fact we have to wake him up more times than not because we are all done with getting ourselves packed and ready and he is still not up. Don't get me wrong I am not complaining but it does make me feel like a bad parent because I spend so little time playing with him during the week.

Cousin's Camp 2009

Cousin's Camp 2009 rocked!!! I had the best time and I remembered why I miss my grandma so much. When she was around my dad's family got together all the time. Any holiday (major or minor) and we were all there at her house hanging out, eating and just acting goofy together. That's what cousin's camp was all about. Why it took us this long to do it is beyond me. Even my Uncle Andy, from Oregon, got to come and enjoy the festivities.

First, I have to give a big thanks to Tina, for organizing cousin's camp and my Aunt Ann and Uncle Scott for allowing all 30+ of us to converge on their home in West Olive, MI.

It started on Thursday with Hawaiian night where we all played hula hoops, limbo, and hot coconut. Even the older folk joined in on the fun.

Then we had Mexican day where I was involved in a hot pepper eating contest which I was really good at. However, unlike my younger cousins I was smart enough not to stick the whole hot pepper in my mouth and eat it all at once. That may have cost me my title but at least I tried it, unlike my brother, Jarrett.

Saturday was the 4th so we had All-American night and took in the fireworks in Grand Haven. It was a pretty good show. Zach would have enjoyed it but there was no way he would have stayed up for it or sat through it. He wants to be in the go at all times. If he is awake he wants to be crawling, cruising, or standing up and falling down.

Zach did really good with sleeping in the pop-up camper that we set up in the yard and he really enjoyed all the attention and love he got from all of his extended family. Sadly, we never made it to the beach to swim because it was actually rather chilly out. But we did get to go and take pictures at sunset one day.

We cannot wait for Cousin's Camp 2010!!!! We had such a great time with everyone and miss you all all already.