Zane the Engineer: January

Zane has been growing like a weed and has really taken to building with blocks and legos and anything that he can. His biggest interest in building is carefully placing pieces together to build houses. His houses are completely unlivable, but we admire his resolve that houses, in fact, do not have to have walls. 

Because Troy has started eating baby food, Zane wants to wear bibs now. It is the weirdest thing and we are thinking that he will grow out of it. When he eats now, he is hyper aware of how messy he is getting and once he reaches the deemed appropriate amount of messy, a bib must be put on. He also asks for a "nakin" (napkin) to wipe down his face and hands after almost every bite. Let's hope the manners continue, but toned down a notch or seven. We live right in the happy medium of not being a slob, but also eating almost entirely with our fingers. 

Zman has also reached a level of independence where everything must be done "by me, not mommy". He wants to do everything and it takes so painstakingly long! I'm glad he is exploring and growing, but if I have to sit through another session of a bucket of legos being picked up piece by piece, I might hurt somebody.

Bathtime is one of Zane's favorite times and he adores being able to take baths with Troy. For his entire life, Zane has HATED getting his hair washed. He acts like I am fulfilling my threat in the previous paragraph. He screams and cries whenever we pour water on his hair, even if it doesn't get into his eyes. However, I am glad to report that this month, after watching Troy get water poured over his hair and not making a single fuss, Zane has mostly gotten over his fears. We also have bathtubs where he can make a little course for the water to run through. He is actually getting the hang of it very easily and even coming up with more creative courses than I do.

The boy has loved movies for a little while, but he is now starting to get engrossed in movies and recognize the sad parts or the scary parts and show empathy during the movies. I love watching his face while he watches movies because the eyebrows are going wild, let me tell you. He's also started asking for us to change the show if there are scary parts. It is crazy how we will be talking about something completely different and he will liken it to a show or movie he recently watched. 

My Z boy still loves dance parties and singing, and trips to the DI. He still loves Mitch more, but I've got the LEGO obsession down pat, so while I may not be the favorite, Zman loves playing with me and I just relish in that!

Click here to see Zane's pictures for December!