- I love mornings and breakfast with Zach.
- He started potty training! Gamma has been in charge of finding fun underwear for him when he's ready. Puffs as incentives, and he has some books coming as well. We'll see.
- 2nd Birthday!
- Visitors, presents, apple cake, and adventures at Keswick: Riding on the Gator, visiting the cows in pasture, and feeding the chickens!
- He loves his construction toys, hot wheels, and truck books. He got an amazing singing card. See video.
- We got a Christmas Tree, and Zach has been pretty responsible about making sure it gets watered. He and I also did some decorating and for the first time, put on some of his ornaments that he's collected over two Christmases
- We're taking him up about 7:15pm now, and we read from his HUGE selection of books. Thanks to all for his birthday books! He also enjoys climbing on my back and over me!
- We explored Lake Anne in the snow! Zach got boots and ski pants for the winter. He's all set.
Zach's Words & Singing
- “Mommy cooking.”
- “My Mommy” when Tristan (at daycare) got too chummy with me
- "Mommy's coffee" - when I arrived to pick him up one afternoon he was "drinking coffee." Pretty funny.
- One morning he named all the things in his play room: blocks, box, phone, monkey, tractor, seat, etc. Pretty amazing.
- Zach is loving looking at pictures of himself. He'll say, "More Zach." He loves photos of Sisi too, and so we asked Leah to text us a new and recent picture since all that we have are kind of old.
- Zach sings:
- Itsy, Bitsy Spider
- Wheels on the Bus, he says “all through the town” and does hand motions too
- Thank you, thank you, he always comes in on “big and strong”
- All of the Raindrops, he’s really good at the “Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ahhhh."
- Peanut Butter and Jelly, he sings "jelly" after, "peanut, peanut butter...."
- We are singing The 12 Days of Christmas nightly now. Fun ritual.
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| Before we leave daycare, Zach MUST play in the gym! Other kids ask awkward questions about why he doesn't want to go home... |
Susan & Frank
- Basically, Frank and I did not see much of each other on our own. We had visitors and visited galore this month.
- Then, I finally succumbed to the family cold, which turned into a nasty sinus infection. Frank rolled his ankle. Lots of recovery, rest, and TLC were necessary this month.
- Date night of drinks at Ocelot (though their two dark, malty beers were over the top sweet and frankly bad) and dinner Liberty Tavern was a Lot of fun!
Good Food
- Lunch at Enyate after a fun day down on the Mall at the Natural History museum, though he was obsessed with the museum store...
- Chili, pumpkin soup, and the roasted carrot salad
- For Zach's birthday and Thanksgiving: apple cake, chocolate pecan pies, and Brussel sprouts
- Homemade bread again
- Garam masala chicken "chili" - Yum, yum!
- Fritata with roasted broccoli and cauliflower
- Braised chicken with beets and olives, mashed potatoes, and broccoli with the Pet Nat from 868
Visits with and to
- Alison from Seattle
- Cooking day at Emily's before T'giving with Mom and Dad. Just like old times.
- Sara Lee was a tremendous house for Frank, Zach, Jeff, and I over Thanksgiving. We had her homemade pumpkin muffins and eggs from her chickens. Yummy!
- Sam, Julia, and Zahra at Blenheim Winery!
- Kathleen and Brian at 868 Winery
- Coopers Hawk with Auntie Em
- Walking around DC and meeting LeaderFit folks
- Finished Stranger Things
- Cook Ross RISD session on SCORE's Culture of Inclusion training. Lots of good energy in the morning. It had really waned by end of day. We'll see.
- Participated in the HSN Academy, and it's always good to get out of the office and see SCORE at work in communities!
- Trip to the zoo!
- Thanksgiving was fun - both of them! We had a sing-a-long on Friday with Leah and Bennie playing the piano and Sisi and the rest of us singing! See the "cousins"!
Nolan, Gabriel, Zach - I love Kate's stretch song Setting the World on Fire, by Kenny Chesney with Pink.
