This is heavy

As I look back on this blog in 20 years (assuming that in 20 years I have been wise enough to back up this content which is about a 50/50 chance in my estimate) will I be mad at myself for missing three months of blogging? Or will I be confused and think that maybe there was some mistake with Google Blogger in the dating of these blogs? I bet you would guess the first one...you'd be wrong though. I won't even notice. I'm way to lazy to notice something like that. (Note to self: edit out this paragraph before archiving)

Anyway, the last few months came and went. Days are getting shorter, but Zach is getting larger. Back in September we all made the trip back to NC for Penny and Matt's wedding. The plane ride out was [expletive deleted] interesting. He was actually very well behaved. We were completely ready with Yo Gabba DVDs, food, toys and the thing that ended up taking up the most amount of his time was an empty plastic Sparkletts water bottle. No major incidents on the plane other than some small yells of discomfort so we were very happy. The wedding was great and it was great to see all the family on the East coast and for them to be able to see Zach. He was walking well (not quite well enough to prevent a fall and bump on the head requiring a trip to urgent care) and he even danced at the wedding with Remy.

All I do is Party, ha ha ha ha, so bounce low.

The wedding was really nice and my parents took Zach back to the hotel so that Kelly and I could stay and dance the night away. The plane trip back was pretty much just as uneventful except for the part where I messed up on the seating so that we weren't going to be able to sit all together. Fortunately, a really nice guy switched with me (for which I owe Karma a huge debt) and we had a relatively peaceful flight home.

Kelly got us matching ties....so cool

Kelly went off track at the end of October so she's been spending more time with the dude at home, the mall, the park, Molly's, etc. Although she's mad because even though she's the one that greets him every morning (now that I can sleep a little longer) the first thing he does is ask for Daddy. What can I say? The kid loves me...

They have been traveling a lot this last month around town visiting the grandparents, friends and other fun places. His favorite/only friend is Molly.

"Molly, I'm not sure if the centrifugal force will permit the ball to remain within the confines of this vortex."

After the busy election season, Kelly surprised me and Zach (but Zach doesn't really count because everything surprises him) with a fun weekend trip to Santa Barbara. We went to the Zoo and stayed the night (not in the Zoo) then walked the pier the next day.

The missing link

Zach and dad lookin at Magilla

It happened to be Veterans Day weekend, so we got lucky enough to see the Parade right by the Pier. We saw some cool airplanes fly over and Zach got a flag and a cool picture:

Patriotism swells in the heart of Zach

Zach has been very active recently. He's walking/running of course but he's talking a lot too. Most of the words he says are unintelligible but Kelly can translate some of them. We have him saying "Please" when he wants something and that has translated into him yelling "Hel-peas!" (Help please) continuously when he needs something done like removing the safety gate from the top of the stairs, or unscrewing the life threateningly small cap from a wattle bottle. He definitely knows mommy/mama and daddy although Daddy has now progressed to "Daddyo" We think it's due to Kelly asking him if Daddy is home when I'm at work. i.e. "Is Daddy home?" = my name is now "Daddy0." He's also really good at saying "more" and "all done" when he means it. The animal noises are pretty good too now with new animals being added to his repertoire all the time, except that he probably thinks a sheep is a "bah." What is pretty exciting is that he really understands a lot more than he can say. That being the case, we can tell him to do things and he knows what we mean (i.e. "time for night-night?" or "bath?" and "let's go to the car", or "put your toys away please") There are a ton of other key phrases that he understands and it's cool when he learns new things to say or do...although we are not happy that he has learned how to say "no" and uses it liberally when he does something he is not supposed to do (like when he tries to turn the burners on the stove and says "no-no!" or when he grabs the remote and explains to Kelly "Daddy; no-no" as in "this is daddy's and it's a no-no")

Tier two on the food pyramid: Corn dog

He is also eating pretty much everything we eat. The only thing he still hasn't tried is peanut butter which apparently we are supposed to withhold from him until 2 years. He is really good at dipping things like chips into guacamole or fries into ketchup...or fries into milk, or anything into anything. Except he enjoys the dip so much that he usually licks it off the item being dipped and goes back for double, triple and quadruple dips frequently. He tries to practice with a spoon too. It's coming slowly. Right now it's hard to get the spoon to scoop; he thinks it's more like a dipping motion. We have noticed that he prefers his left hand for eating, so Kelly thinks he'll be left handed. I think he just uses whatever hand is closer to what he wants.

We have also noticed that he's getting more into television. He always has loved Yo Gabba Gabba and other musically driven stuff but he's starting to be more interested in Sesame Street and other cartoons. We are really trying to make sure that it doesn't become a baby sitter by limiting his watching and being sure that we are there when he is watching; however this translates to us memorizing every song and singing them often when Zach is not around.

Just a minute dad, I've only seen this Phineus and Ferb 18 times.

Well I guess that's enough catch-up for now. I'll leave with a kissing shot and a video of rainy day Zach.

Ah mom, right on the lips?

Since dad didn't do the yard work because of a little rain, Zach took it upon himself.

Fun Facts:

• Zach can tell us what he wants to hear in the car by telling us "Holy?" (Praise Baby), "Goodbye?" (Yo Gabba) or sometimes he just makes crazy noises when he's tired.
• He can "jump" which really looks like running in place in a really spazzed-out way.
• He can almost climb into the bath by himself. He gets most of the way, but does realize he has to flip his legs over....that's going to be a fun trick for us. (Sarcasm)
• Zach is now 16 months old.
  

-pf