Stuffed Animals

As a mom, I am always so amazed at the different stages that kids go through and the situations or events that trigger them. I bring this up because Zach has developed a new comfort mechanism.

Our dog, Meg fell asleep on the couch with a bunny toy that we had given her a while back. She was chewing on it one moment and lying with her head rested on it the next. Well, Zach saw this and instantly wanted her bunny. In order to stop him from hugging and playing with the dirty dog toy I quickly pulled a rabbit, that he had gotten for Easter last year, out of his toy box and gave it to him. He instantly took to it and has not let a stuffed animal out of his sight for more than a minute since. It started with the bunny and now also includes, Curious George the monkey, (or George for short), and a dog. They sleep with him, go to school with him, watch TV with him, and even eat with him. They are living people to Zach. He hugs them, kisses them, and tells them to sit, sleep, eat, listen, and look. They have come in handy when he is fussy at the dinner table because if they eat then Zach wants to eat.

I have noticed that he sucks his thumb less when they are around after he gets hurt or upset and he can put himself back to sleep when he wakes up in the middle of the night easier as well. So it is not a bad thing the only problem is I don’t have replacements. Luckily, we have increased the count from one to three but you never know which one he is going to want to spend the day with him in the morning. So hopefully, I don’t have to worry about replacing one before he moves onto the next big thing.

Another thing that Zach is infatuated with is his Aunt Anna. Anytime you ask Zach, “Guess what? Or Guess who?” He instantly replies with a huge grin, “Anna!” He only gets to see her once a week in the morning because she spends the night at our house but he loves every minute of it. It is probably because she gives in to him and he gets everything he wants from her and she is constantly sneaking sugar and candy to him. Plus, she knows all the cool games and songs.

Finally Snow!!

We finally got good snow!!! It has been the saddest winter ever in MI. It is either too cold to go outside and the snow is the texture of salt, or there is nothing on the ground. I can count the number of time there was even enough snow to shovel on one hand. I was shoveling my back patio for something to do and that never happens. But finally, after all the waiting, winter has arrived. In honor of Carnival and the arrival of winter we decided to make a small dog snow statue in our front yard. Really it was because the snow didn’t want to stick when we rolled it across the yard to make a snowman, but after we started we wanted to show that we still had it. I think we did a really good job for thirty minutes and not having any tools, or water.

We also got to go sledding at my parents for the first time. I loved growing up with my own private sled hill out my back door and it is fun to be able to share that with Zachary. To make it feel even more like going home we were able to go sledding with my sister, Autumn, Ryan (her husband), and my nephew, Aiden. Matt was not very successful at getting down the hill with Zachary in the sled. His first run he almost ran into a tree before the bottom of the hill. On his second run Matt didn’t even make it a quarter of the way down the hill before he slid off the sled. However, even with all of these mishaps Zachary would only get on the sled with his dad. He went all the way down to the bottom with me successfully but the entire way was crying for DaDa.

He didn’t even want to go down the hill with my Dad, who is the ultimate sled rider. Yes, you hear it right, my 59 year old dad (who just had his third hernia surgery Jan 28th) was sledding with his grandkids. He looked the most comfortable going down the hill with a kid on his lap. Probably because he has done it so many times with his own four kids and all of his 35 nieces and nephews.







Overall, I wouldn’t trade any winter snow days for all of the summer and sunshine in the world, which is probably why I ended up at Tech and loved every minute of it. I am just sad that we didn’t get the forty inches that some of my co-workers got in PA. Now that would have been fun!!

Good-bye Gram

I am sad to say that we lost a great lady this past week. After 84 years Donna Gligoroff (Gram), Matt’s grandma, passed away. I only knew her for a short time but she always brought with her a great story and lots of love. One of my favorites stories that she used to tell quite often when Zach or I was around was about how when Matt was around Zach age (17 months) they owned a bakery. One day Matt came to visit and while they were working in the back he stuffed a whole hamburger bun in his mouth. Gram started to freak out because she thought for sure he was going to choke. But low and behold no harm came to Matt and he ate the whole hamburger bun in one bite with no issues. He was a good eater from the beginning.
I will also never forget watching her with Zach. She was so good with him. Not that I should have been surprised because she had 5 kids of her own, 13 grandkids and 12 great grand kids. Zach loved to climb up on her lap and sit in her motorized wheel chair and play with her controls. I know that in her last days it gave her great joy when Zach would come and see her in the nursing home and give her a big hug and kiss.