Winter

Zach of Note

• Ice and snow has been a theme. All the sledding ahs been around here. I went on a sledding run with Zach!
• We're still working on the allowance and chores. We did decide that he needs to give away part of his allowance, so he's designated funds to Fairfax County Parks, Banshee Reek, Great Falls, and the AT. 
• Husky and Tigey are beloved and sometimes I call them Tusky and Higey! 
• Zach toys are rotating and coming around. The school bus, play-doh, roller coasters, trains, Legos, the Mighty Tower, Tom Thomas' helicopter and on and on! 
• Games: Briscola, Spoons, and Wildcraft are played most often. 
• Video games Viva Pinata and Toy Story. He and Frank get time together, but I do not like to be in the house when they play. Zach gets frustrated :(
• Back to Bear's Den on the AT, regular excursions to Banshee Reeks (on Saturdays for me and Zach) and to Great Falls (me and Zach and Zach with Frank and Grandad), Scott's Run with Grandad
• Banshee Reeks: the train stick, exploring barns, snack at the barn, all trails to the barn, new trails ("Mommy, I've to a surprise for you!"), frozen ponds, skating on the trail
• Great Falls: Galloping NP Law Enforcement rangers on horseback; we watched as they put the horses in the trailer and followed them as they left the park. Running into our neighbor!
  
• Filling the bird feeder all by himself; he even showed Cora one day! 
• Dancing! Zumba radio and dancing with Buzz, cutting a rug; dinosaur dance party, the family Zumba dancing
• Puzzles
• Sunday mornings playing with Logan and Cora
• Balloon badminton and listening to Alan Doyle
• I laid Zach out playing soccer. Fell on top of him! "We're okay!"
• One Saturday morning Zach “made Daddy’s breakfast.” He took him his part of the Panera cookie and made him toast with jam. :)
• While working on science experiments, Zach used a pipet!
• Zach as been calling his friends (on the phone he created out of Legos)
• Registered Zach for Kindergarten and entered him in the Spanish immersion lottery. At registration, they commented: “He’s really ready for Kindergarten isn’t he!?” Yes, he is! I read him the rules at Lake Anne and we talked about how he needed to walk down the right side of the hallway and that he should “admire with his eyes” instead of touching things. At the end, he told me he admired something with his eyes, and he’s practicing, or something like that.
• He got enough funds to buy his fire boat this month!
  

Zach's Words and Songs

• Zach told me he didn't like it when I told him he fell on the ice because he wasn't being careful. He's right. It was his choice to be bold and adventurous, and yes, he fell a few times. :)
  
• He loves to identify "wiggle-dance" from the Ana and Andrew books. Andrew does a wiggle-dance 2-3 times per book. :)
• One day Zach got frustrated and said he wouldn't go for a hike with me. The next day we went off hiking, of course, and he was happy and excited to go with me. On the trail he mentioned it; his way of apologizing!
• We're enjoying NKOTB, especially, "We Own Tonight"
• Still Loving: Ribsy, Purple People
• Purple Questions: 
• Hot lava or the sun, which is hotter? 
• Can you do complete rotations on monkey bars? We watched gymnastics videos: parallel bars, high bar, and uneven bars. He said, “I guess the answer is ‘yes,’" and he was AMAZED! 
• New books: Ana and Andrew series (6 early reader books), When Charley Met Emma, and a book on Ghandi, Be the Change. This one is deep and thought-provoking.
• We learned that pirates are not always bad. They helped slaves in Savannah build a Black church in the 17/1800's. We also learned about the slave castle in Cape Coast, Ghana 
• He loves the Lulu series and Flicka, Ricka, and Dicka are somewhat surprising hits. 
• Reading Alphabugs and laughing in bed at night
• Podcasts are still a hit, especially as part of the Saturday morning ritual of driving to Banshee Reeks. We listen to Wow in the World!
• We still enjoy Amazon's animation adaptation of The Snowy Day on snowy days, and he loves the Boyz II Men song :)
• Words: retrieve, age-appropriate, and playability
• Zach got into writing for a few days. 
  

Sleep Update

• He puts his toys to bed. 
• He yells out, "You can turn down my light." He has created a phone out of Legos and calls Frank to tell him to turn down his light, and sometimes he yells. :)
• We are doing a lot of tucking in. 
• He spent quite a few days going to bed at 9pm and waking close to 7am, but it was not a trend!

Good Food

• Nordic Knot's pretzel chocolate croissants
• Nice dinner of wild rice, cherries, walnuts, salmon, and live kale salad.
• Panera's broccoli cheddar soup
• Clarity's Indian lentils
• Bagel, egg, and cream cheese sandwiches
• Chai w/ honey!
• Super Bowl box from Thompson Italian
• Winter milk shakes!
• Passion Fish Restaurant Week meals
• Heart-shaped Brownies

Connection

• Almost daily breakfast calls
• Auntie Em!
• Talks with Emily R., Katie, Kathleen, Greer, and the Uber Ladies
• Visits to drop food to Charlotte: Panera and Chick-fil-A
• Sofia's virtual baby shower and her baby's arrival in San Antonio during a state of emergency on 2/19/21

Family Fun

• Mom (Pfizer) and Dad (Moderna) are fully vaccinated!!!
• Because of the Banshee Reeks winter bingo, I learned the difference between a red oak (spike-y) and white oak (curved). 
• Matching shirts for Inauguration Day, a peaceful transfer of power, a Fort/Edwards Zoom call, and Founding Farmers' cocktails 3 @ $4.60 for the 46th president!
• Zach started wearing the "Darn Tough" socks! 
• Zach and I went for a walk one evening, and it was nice! I told him how much I loved walking with him. :) He got up and went for a walk with me the next morning too. Aww!
• Zach and Frank bought me some nice earrings for Valentine's Day
• Zach loved his cards from Charlotte and his chocolates from Gamma and Daddy Bob. We wrote a haiku and I created Valentine's Lite Brite art inspired by the haiku!

I go to pizza
For you. Coming to Woodstock 
Is so fun. Love, Zach

• Zach acted out a bit for a few days in mid-Feb, and it's a good thing vacation was planned. He wanted to spend more time with all three of us together, and we all need a change up in the schedule, so it's vacation from 2/20-2/28!

Fun and Not So Fun Stuff (Personal and Professional)

• Reading: The Truth About Awiti, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, Autobiography of Malcom X
• Finished The Stars and the Blackness Between Them. Need to have a difficult conversation? Check out this book. They do that dialogue well!!
• Listened to Triggers by David Richo, the How to Be an Adult author
• Podcasts: listened to the FSP Attachment podcast again, Dare to Lead has provided nice content related to work, Good Ancestor with Christine Platt, Ebony Janice Moore, Angela Saini, and Nels Abbey
• Listening to Dare to Lead interview with Chad re: Black Magic and  Aiko Bethea - great. Unlocking Us and Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man (Emmanuel Acho), which led me to Beyoncé, Alicia Keys, and Erika Badu  
• Finished Offspring and started Seasons 12-13 of Heartland
• Give yourself permission to feel. 
• I am now supporting Good Ancestor and the Anti-Racism Daily. 
• Marc Goldberg reached out! Awww!
• ARC thoughts with Emily R. especially and Katie's reference

Health comer: 

Pernio diagnosis, clear mammogram, Fairfax Radiology images (finally!), podiatrist, thinking about embracing my upcoming colonoscopy: look forward to binge watching something and eat Miso broth! :) In the week ahead, plan to eat bacon, mac & cheese, broccoli and cheddar soup, scones, etc. Paperwork. Ugh!

What I'm pondering: 

• Instead of self-criticism, self-compassion! That’s it! Turn toward yourself with kindness and compassion. Don’t jump to the need to tell others how they’ve hurt you! Feel compassion for your caring, for your commitment to emotional richness, to caring deeply for others, people who matter and introspection. 
• We are emotional beings. You think you’re rational, but you need to work on your emotional intelligence and connect with people, share your feelings. Own the research and the arguments. Don’t argue. It’s there, and you can confirm it yourself if you need to, but I’m convinced, and I know this will help the world! 
• Being a good friend, supporting what I believe it. Bringing people together. Travel place for long periods of time
• The Anti-Racism Daily podcast on Curating Black History: Nicole Cardoza in Conversation with Tyree Boyd-Pates. Keep something from this time to curate history. A mask for example. The parallels for a renaissance coming out the pandemic and social unrest are strong. We are on an inspiring trajectory! 

Good work stuff:

• Rae's the GoCanvas Way content for Black History Month is GREAT! 
• Humor webinar that provided content for the support team and spoke to our Cheeky, Empathy, and Authenticity values. Listened to the author's interview on a podcast. All good. 
• Disrupt Yourself podcast re Humor Seriously (https://whitneyjohnson.com/jenniferaaker-naomibagdonas/) takeaways: Track 3 things to make you laugh per day. Laugh, not just “have more fun.” Live life with the promise of a smile. Consider three events that are meaningful to you. How do you see your strengths, values. How could this be a drama instead of a comedy. Different kinds of humor can be used at different times with different groups of people. But the rule of three. Throw in something unexpected that speaks to truth. Just something to consider. 
• Product Training Level 2 (PT2) Beta #2 is going well. Adjustments are working well. Joe B. said, "Tutorials are decent." Wow! Apparently, high praise coming from him.
• People (PT2 and leadership) enjoy the team building. Yay!
• Leadership Institute 2.0 kicked off again, and that was a lift as well! Breakout rooms, telling your story and sharing values! Chris Ma and Eric met! So funny!
• Nice connecting with Julie for Cornerstone. She's really helped!
• Kudos for PT2 and Leadership and ARC (Zoe, Judie, Joy, Charlie!) 
• Kind words from Amanda: I'm creative and a creative problem solver.
• A raise and a bonus that seem very generous! How can I be generous?
• From Dare to Lead with Aiko Bethea: Good stuff on action bias and the reframing: I am being action-oriented by taking the time to get this right and not just “do something.” I loved the information on the importance of teaching leaders to be empathetic and coaching them to confront feelings and fears to get to the root of issues. Aiko suggests that “Communities of Practice” are good for leaders to be a part of of and to share their challenges around learning and growing and being committed to getting this stuff right - Diversity Equity Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB). We should not expect to be perfect, but to learn and grow through our commitment to DEIB.  
• Thanks, Amanda, for the help with the desk!