Mr. Chatty & More

Family selfie on the ridge in WV

Zach - Of Note

• A rougher month for sleeping. He's had 3 nights of waking. It used to be once/month and then it was once/3 months. Not sure what's going on!
• Lots of loveys. It started out as sheep, and then Bunny, so I bought a back-up, but now it is Bunny, Tiger, and Paint the Pony (from Auntie Em and Uncle Jeff)

• Claude Moore park in Sterling. A nice place! Zach liked the dining car of the train in the playground, and he continued to ask us to join him. There was a Fall festival, and he checked out the sheep, chickens, rabbits, and goat.

• He had two final late summer pool trips on HOT days, so it was good!
• We got a video of his laugh over bubble wrap here. 
• A couple of Mondays, Zach has waited for me to get home from Zumba. He and Zach are strolling, and he's watching bats. He know "bats, Zumba, and NYC"!
• I took Zach to the farmer's market one morning, and he loved watching the blue grass band. He took his lovey, Bunny.

• We listened to Tom Petty’s greatest hits over Zach's dinner/happy hour/dinner several nights
• We had a couple of low key nights reading in our room
• Zach LOVED "appee cake," aka apple cake this month!
• Because he has so many stuffed animals in his bed, he's doing a lot of chatting with them at night and in the morning. One morning, I heard him make the "Bbbbbbbbbbbbb" and then say, "OUTSIDE!"
• Starting to read and think about potty training. What? I will say goodbye to his footed onesies soon.... Zach seems into it too. He's saying it all. “bathroom,” “potty,” “pee,” and “poop.”

Zach's Words and Words - Words - Words

• He's amazing us daily. He'll say something out of the blue, like "wash cloth," and I think, "Where did he learn that? We don't even say that word too much." Still loving "back hoe," which also sounds like "big hoe." He also told us that was the magic word!
• He says everything: bread, broccoli, bathroom, Auntie Em, birthday, labyrinth, Emmy, Buster/Teddy (Debbie), Rachel, and Erik

He LOVES his cars!

• He says, "Thank you, Mommy!" and another favorite, "Mommy, are you?" for Mommy, where are you. He says this when he can see you!
• He learned about shaking hands, and so I went with it and taught him, “Nice to meet you.”
• We've been trying to teach him that Daddy is Frank and Mommy is Susan. Over several days, he calls us both Frank. On 10/14, he seemed to get it right and call me Susan!
• “Steep,” "yucky” and “stinky.”
• He says "Moona" a lot, but he now talks about all his care givers. Moona gets "Moona, diaper," and "Moona, cracker."

Susan and Susan & Frank

• Sick again. Just a little cold right after vacation, but still!
• Enjoying South of Superior
• Date night: rollerblading and Red's Table. I got a local Wild Hare cider.

Good Food

• Variations of summer checca pasta: spring onions, tomatoes, basil, eggplant (already roasted), corn, and parm and mozzarella with angel hair pasta. Yum! Yum!
• Yum! Zach loved it too!
• Chicken and grape pasta salad
• Smashed potatoes!
• Turkey zucchini meatballs with the yogurt dipping sauce and sweet potato/kale salad
• We made really great chili in West Virginia. Thank you, Kathleen.
• I made my Indian-inspired chicken dish with chick peas on a 60 degree day...not many of those cool days lately

Visits with

• Sofia!

• A really nice birthday celebration with Mom and Dad and Emily

• Greer and walking nearly 10 miles in NYC. We took the Highline to Chelsea Market and ate at Dizengoff’s (hummus bowls and frozen lemonade). Back on the Highline Trail to the end and then on the river walk along the Hudson. At the World Trade Center area, we hopped on the subway up to Greenwich Village and Big Gay Ice Cream. After a stop at Murray’s Cheese Shop, we walked back up to Penn Station. A sunny, beautiful fall day, and I was so dehydrated!
• Gib and Deb and Jeff
• Zach stayed overnight with Gamma and Bob on our West Virginia weekend, and they had a great time!

• The Ubers! WV! West Virginia 2017 Album. 
• Frank and I got to try a new hike in a beautiful area that we've never explored! We met Kathleen and Brian for dinner at the Hellbender.
• On Saturday, we met my parents and picked up Zach. He loved the car/cart at the grocery! K & B got out for a good hike in Dolly Sods, and we took Zach up on the ridge near sunset. (See the sunny hiking pics in the album.)

• The weather turned rainy on Sunday, and we went out to eat at the Purple Fiddle in Thomas (and heard live music) and to Sirianni's on Monday. Frank and I took Zach to playgrounds at parks, Blackwater Falls on the sunny day and Canaan Valley on the rainy day w/ swings.
• The house had a great porch and grounds that we all enjoyed. There was a great fire pit, and we had good weather for it on Saturday night. We hot tubbed in the rain on Sunday night.
• Emily's birthday dinner at Clyde's was so much fun!

Professional Fun Stuff (or just Fun Stuff)

• Walking meeting with Mary Kay
• Top Golf with the Field Ops Team
• Inclusion work is really taking off. I'm the staff point person, and it's just where I want to be! Met Krystal, working on modules, training, calls, measures of success, communication plans, etc.
• Raju left. On his last day he shared delicious Nepalese food he made, and I gave him a food token
• My awesome mentors continue!