Into the Wilds of New Hampshire
Kind of a crazy weekend with two, two year old birthday parties to attend. Of course each of them were scheduled during Zane’s normal nap time. I did my best to tire him out and get him to nap earlier and he did his best to not do that at all!
I brought him into the office yesterday, figuring he could run around while I had an espresso and posted ZaneZone pictures. After Zane-proofing most of the place of course (mostly shutting doors and moving tools). Unfortunately I missed one thing, thinking since he’d been around it enough times that it wasn’t a problem. Of course when I heard a crash and turned around to find the Mt. Bike laying on top of him I realized that he does climb everything and I should have know better.
After that dramatic event we played chase-n-squeal and jump-all-over-the-couch for a while. Then it was time to take the trash out to the dumpster, which involved going down a big set of stairs or walking around the long way. I asked Zane which he wanted to do and he picked the stairs, holding my hand as he walked down and counted them. He made it to 15 before I needed to jump in and remind him that he skipped 14 and then a little more help to get past the nebulous “20” barrier. Ignoring those he counted to 25 quite nicely.
On the way back from the dumpster, via a different route, Zane suddenly headed off into the woods. Well, I was trying to get him lots of exercise, and a hike is pretty good for that. So we climbed up the hill, onto and over boulders and then slid back down the hill to the parking lot. He turned around to do it all over, but instead I suggested we go on a real hike.
There’s a trailhead a mile or so away where Raz and I often go for our long lunch break hikes. Zane and I headed up the steep trail and he did pretty good, getting distracted once in a while, heading towards thickets or quagmires, but most of the time he held my hand and walked, talking about things he saw along the way. He fell once while walking on his own, kind of getting his feet tangled and sitting down hard on a rock.
I think he’s figured out that he gets attention whenever getting hurt. At the dinner table yesterday (and later when video chatting with Laura & Kirk) he hits a flat surface with his hands and then turns them over, palm side up, and does this little fake/forced cry. I’m not sure what he’s trying to accomplish with it yet.
Oh, here’s a party favor from one the weekend parties. The “tongue” rolls out when you blow it and, surprisingly, doesn’t make ANY noise.
