My baby the bully...

So I have entered a new phase of parenting...What to do with a bully. Zachary, who is used to being mostly the center of attention, doesn't really mind other kids. He tolerates them. I'm sure he even loves the other little boy he plays with at the babysitter's house. But a few weeks ago, his babysitter told me that she was pretty sure Zachary was going to be a bully when he got older. She said that once in a while she lets the boys go at it, but I've never seen any marks or anything on Zachary, so I'm pretty sure its not like 2 yr old WWF. I took this information and stored it in the back of my head, thinking, "Huh, well I don't think he's that bad..."
So then we went to the playground, which we often have all to ourselves, but some other children came to play. When one little girl climbed into the tube Zachary was in he said, "No, get out!" He didn't push or hit or touch the little girl, just bossed her around. I of course intervened and told him he needed to share, and he begrudgingly complied. But last week, I took him to the big library downtown to widen our book selection. Zachary was enjoying a little ride on the rocking horse when a very nice 4 year old kid walked over and put his hand on Zachy's arm in a very nice, not threatening way, and smiled at him, saying, "Hi!" Zachy gave him the meanest, most suspicious glare you've ever seen and jerked his arm away and said, "NO!!!!"
I watched this interaction in slight disbelief, the kid wasn't trying to take the horse, and you could see Zachary's mind working through this and realizing that he just didn't want the kid touching him. (sigh)
So at the doctor's office last week I saw an article that said, "How to Bully Proof Your Child" and I was so excited, I was going to learn how to make him a non-bully! Can you believe that the article was for the parents of the pansy kids that get bullied? Geez, I couldn't believe it, where's the article for me? Anyway, now I have to somehow teach my child that he needs to be nicer.
This might take a while.
On the upside, the weather is really turning, and I love Fall. We have pumpkins and are going to look at Fall leaves in the mountains this weekend.

Just some random pictures...

Gorgeous squeaky clean smile!


Zachy LOVES to read. This was an outdoor reading.


So those little party-blower things are a huge hit.
George had to protect himself with a pinwheel!
What a ferocious 2 year old.


George then got his own blower to fight back with.

Birthday Number 2!

Wow, its been two years and it feels like 5 minutes! So much has happened in Zachary's first two years of life, first of all he was born, which, you know, was kind of a big deal. Then I finished up school, got a job, and we moved to Salt Lake. And we've been building a life there for the past 10 months, which has been interesting. When I write it down, it doesn't seem like so much, but it is, trust me.
Anyway, we came up to Idaho for the weekend to visit all the grandparents and have a little party. I am going to post pictures of Zachary at 7 weeks, 1 year, and 2 years.





Zachary blew out the candle and said "Birthday!" It was ridiculously cute!

A bunch of stuff in one blog without pictures...kinda lame

Alright, I decided its been a while and my procrastination at getting my pictures organized is out of control. I will post and then hopefully catch up with the pictures later.


Over the past few weeks, Zachary and I have been very busy. Two weeks ago, Grammy came to visit. She stayed with Zachary on Friday while I was at work and then we went shopping and had dinner at Red Robin. This is my favorite place because I can have a Rookie Magic and Zachary's favorite place because he can have a balloon or two to terrorize everyone with. On Saturday we just relaxed and went shopping with Mary, and then in the evening we went to the Barnum and Bailey's Circus. I was a little antsy about taking Zachary just because he is not well known for his ability to sit still, but he was captivated the whole time and we had a fantastic experience. My mom is excited to go again next year. The trip was especially interesting as we decided to take the train to the stadium instead of try and find parking downtown. That was only an adventure because we haven't done it very much, but still quite fun.
Also, Zachary has started Sunday School in full force and is doing OK. He is still not a big fan of mommy leaving him, but I get to go help teach 3rd and 4th grade, which is a blast. My class is mostly boys, very active and intelligent boys, so it keeps my on my toes.
Last weekend, Zachary stayed with a friend of mine for a couple of hours and I got to go see Body World 3 with some friends. It was an amazing exhibit and I was really glad that I had as much experience with the human body as I do, it really made it so much more interesting. The exhibit on the embryo had a pretty huge impact, and they also have this method of dissolving all of the tissue so that all you can see is the capillary structures. It was incredible. I will throw a couple pictures of that in here just for human interest.













Upcoming is Zachary's birthday on the 13th, which also happens to be Grammy's birthday. We will just have a little tiny celebration with the two of us on Monday, and then we're all driving up to Idaho to celebrate with the family over the weekend. Zachary probably won't care much about the whole birthday aspect, he's much more interested in just playing with Grammy and Poppy. We're hoping to bring Gonzo, my dog, home with us for a little while to see how that works out. We miss having a dog to pet and look semi-intimidating to strangers. We will see how it goes.
So I think that's what's going on right now, but I will try and get some pictures from Grammy's visit up and definitely some from the birthdays.