His Brain.

 We have a son with a highly sophisticated, mysterious, interesting brain. His name is Zakkai, in case you hadn't guessed.

We don't understand most of the ways in which his mysterious brain works. We don't understand why he doesn't hear half of what we say or why he says the things he does, why he hangs hoola hoops on the bathroom wall with toothbrushes or things like that.

We do know that he is fearfully and wonderfully made! But boy, I wish we could have a glimpse inside that little boy's mind. Must be exciting!

Here is this week's glimpse into Zakkai's brain....

I came in to tuck Z into bed and this is what I saw. "Zakkai," I said, "where do you get these ideas??!!"

He chuckled in his strange little way and said, "I don't know. They're just in my mind and they just dig their way out!"

He sure keeps us on our toes, that one!

p.s. I should have clarified yesterday~it was mostly the umbrella ricocheting off the tree rather than Z's body. Didn't want you to think I was laughing hysterically at my son's misfortune!

Thursday Headlines.

*Local Kindergartner Runs into Tree While Holding Umbrella. No injuries. Mother laughs hysterically.


Tonight in the suburbs of Chicago, a young boy, regularly known for his fascination with all things mechanical, became obsessed with opening and closing the family umbrella while on a walk home and ran into a tree. His mother, in between fits of laughter, describes the scene in detail.

"It was absolutely hysterical. Don't get me wrong, I made sure he wasn't hurt before I bent in half laughing. He was so focused on the umbrella that he failed to notice the huge tree coming up next to him and he ricocheted off of it. He was smiling before he even fully realized what happened!"

The newly minted kindergartner regularly makes his family laugh with his zest for life and "zany" personality.


Household Toddler Finds New Obsession With Umbrellas.

Last year at this time, young Eliana Thomas was terrified of umbrellas, crying hysterically if she happened to be near or under an open one. This year, however, the story has changed.

With the threat of rain eminent throughout the day and several walks to and from school ahead of them, the family umbrella traveled to school all day. Eliana dissolved into tears this afternoon upon being told she could not hold the twice-her-size umbrella on the way to pick up her brothers. Her mother compromised with a dainty pink prop umbrella she happened to have lying around from a recent baby shower.

Heidi shares her thoughts, "I knew we would look awfully silly walking along in the stroller with a lacy pink umbrella being twirled around in my daughter's hands but I was willing to take the chance to keep her happy and avoid a tantrum. Sometimes you've gotta do what you've gotta do!"

Heidi's tactics worked and stares aside, Eliana was quite content on their afternoon stroll. The only problem? She bent the prob umbrella and has now decided she needs to carry one around with her at all times. Her mother is considering adding a small umbrella to the toddler's upcoming birthday wish list.


7 Year Old Samuel Thomas Enjoys Back to School Picnic.

This year's annual school welcome picnic fell on Chicago's coldest fall day so far. Rain was forcasted during the local picnic but 7 year old Samuel Thomas didn't care.

"He was so excited to be able to go and have extra time to play with friends. I admit it wasn't my first choice to go but I promised him that if it wasn't raining we would try to go."

Samuel's wish came true and the rain held off until close to the end of the school get together. He scarfed down his dinner as fast as he could without choking, despite many motherly warnings, in hopes that they could leave sooner. He and his brother ran almost the entire way to school and disappeared quickly into the throng, ready to play with friends old and new.

Underneath sweatshirts and jackets, kids from grades 1st -6th were all sporting their school spirit shirts. Each grade has it's own color, which follows them all the way through their elementary years.

Samuel was proud to wear his green spirit shirt tonight.

Miss Thang, Teeth and other stories.

Samuel's feeling a bit lighter tonight because he's once again toothless! That's right, #2 came out this afternoon and now he has the perfect space for a straw:)

He must've felt a little pressure since his good buddy, Danny, lost his front tooth last night and so he did a little, or a lot of wiggling in school today and after school he came running up to me and said, "My tooth is SO wiggly! I can wiggle back and forth and sideways, too!"

And so, he very kindly offered me ONE chance to pull it out today. He's a little gunshy after the last tooth-pulling episode. After he finished his homework and was at the sink washing something out, I came over and used his shirt and with barely any pulling, it was out!

I don't think anymore will come out for awhile and I promise not to document them all but he's awfully cute with some missing teeth:)

Here is Z-man enjoying a drumstick this weekend. Ben said, "He used to be so photogenic...." Hard to tell with his recent goof-ball pictures:) He is really enjoying his foray into reading and also showing some mad math skills! He was asking Samuel to give him some math problems this weekend and his stinker of a brother said, "Hmmmm.. What's 300 plus 300?"

I asked him to start a little smaller;) And during our story tonight, Zakkai sat back with a frown and a big sigh mid-chapter and when I looked at him, he said forlornly, "I wish I could read."

So fun to see him really wanting to learn!

Samuel cracks himself up every time he looks at this picture:)

Eliana practiced some stroller-walking this weekend but you may not be able to tell from this picture what is so special about her walk.

Hmmm.....let's look at a close-up....

Oh, that's right! She was strolling along in her Cabbage Patch Doll's shoes! Oh, she is so silly!!

She had such an off day today. She and I ran out to do some grocery shopping this morning and she did great until the last 10 minutes, when she decided to have a very loud, tears-rolling-down-the-face meltdown. Because she wanted me to carry her.

Which, if you've ever pushed a cart full of groceries, you would know is not an easy thing to do. She cried through check-out and was quickly pacified by a piece of a bagel:)

Then she and I rushed home, put away the cold stuff and went out to the library for her first storytime! She also cried there when we first walked in the story room but by the end was shaking tamborines and shakers and having a pretty good time.

During her happy period this afternoon, she showed off some pretty cool dance moves, which I just happened to catch on video for you. Don't you feel special?!

*Disclaimer: please ignore the messy kitchen. I was in the process of cleaning it when I decided Miss Thang's dance moves were more important:)

Also, I rotated the video to be right side up but it's refusing to show up that way! I know sideways videos stink and I'm sorry!

A Conversation.

Here's a conversation I just had with Zakkai as I tucked him in bed.

Z~ "Mommy, I need to tell you something. Like, Samuel, like, won't let me, like-"

Me~ "Whoa, whoa. Hey, Zakkai, why are you saying 'like' so many times? Try again so I can understand what you are saying."

Z~"Well, Mommy, like, Samuel, like, won't, like, let me-"

Me~"Zakkai, I can't understand what you are saying! Why are you saying 'like' so may times?!"

Z~ "Mommy, I have to! I can't stop saying it!"

Me~"But, Zakkai, you just said a whole sentence without saying it!"

Z, quiet for a few seconds.~"Well, I have to say like for that sentence. I can't help it!"

Me~"Why don't you try again and try really hard not to say like. I know you can do it!"

Z~pause "Mommy......Samuel, L-, Samuel won't let.....Samuel won't let me, li-, won't let me play with his toys."

Me~"You did it!!! Now why won't Samuel share his toys..."

Haha. Such a funny boy! He was getting so frustrated trying to not say "like" in his sentence but he was still able to laugh and try hard:)

Why do we say "like" so much??

Half Birthday!

 Poor Zakkai got the birthday shaft this year due to my unfortunate foot business. I had my surgery 4 days before Ben's birthday (so that would mean he got the shaft, too....) and 10 before Zakkai's. On his actual birthday, we were traveling back to Ohio with my mom to be taken care of for a couple of weeks.

I have felt so bad all this time that he never got a party or a cake or anything special! So we promised him we would celebrate his half birthday this year. Unfortunately, the half birthday came the day before school started and we've been SO busy since then.

BUT. We finally got the chance to make our Z-man feel special today! After all, FIVE is a big birthday and deserves a celebration.

Or 5 1/2:)

We took him to the Rainforest Cafe today after church for a special lunch. We'd heard about it from friends and it seemed like a fun way to celebrate Zakkai. You are basically eating in a jungle! You are surrounded by big fake trees with animals in them, huge fish tanks with amazingly colorful fish and every 10 minutes or so the jungle comes "alive" and the animals move and make their noises.

It totally freaked Eliana out and even Samuel the first time. We never in a million years could have gone there with S when he was younger. I would definitely not recommend it for a sensitive child. Or someone with a headache:)

Hard to see in this picture but there is a giant Gorilla surrounded by trees. He was right across from our table.

I didn't have the camera with me and had to make do with crappy cell phone pics so I had to retake Z's picture like 5 times because he was making the cheesiest faces ever.

This was the best out of the bunch:)

We let him pick out a small lego set and he even got a drumstick after dinner! It was worth every hard-earned penny to make this little boy feel special for a day.

I can only hope he won't be in counseling someday over his neglected birthday:)