Puzzle Man

Zane has been loving puzzles lately and has gotten SO good at them. It seems like all of a sudden a few months ago, it just clicked and he could do puzzles. His favorite one before Christmas was a 24 piece puzzle with pictures of kids and babies. He did it so many times that eventually, he could just whip it out in like a minute or two. Luckily, for Christmas, he got a bunch of new ones that are keeping him very busy and engaged.


This first video is him doing one of four Eric Carl puzzles that go with the box. They are 12 pieces each, so he usually gets them done pretty fast. He knows how to put each puzzle back in the box when he's done and get a new one out. It's fascinating though, because he doesn't just have them completely memorized, he actually has to think and try pieces and rotate them. It's fun watching him. He also got two other 24 piece puzzles that don't have any kind of frame on them, that he's finally just now starting to be able to do by himself.

Untitled from Josie Weingartner on Vimeo.

The next videos are of Zane doing his United States puzzle. He got it for Christmas and it's for ages 6 and up, so we though we'd be working with him on it forever before he'd be able to tackle it, but man, he learned SO fast. After doing it several times with Zack or me, he remembered so much that he started doing a bunch of it on his own (all the states and the border) and then before we knew it, he was completely independent on it! Now, he does it several times a day with no help whatsoever. It's also been fun because as he's learning the puzzle, he's also learning tons of information about who lives where, the state names, symbols for states, cities in states, and who is from where. He also comes up with connections of his own, like New Orleans (Nola) is where "Princess and the Frog" is from. You'll hear some in the videos (yes, they are so long but we had to get it on tape for our sake).

Untitled from Josie Weingartner on Vimeo.

Untitled from Josie Weingartner on Vimeo.

Weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's House

Last weekend, Zack was out of town hanging out with Middle Schoolers so Zane, Emerson and I packed our things and drove down to Colorado Springs to visit Grandma and Grandpa. We had a full schedule, packed with activities...

Zane used his new tool kit to help Grandpa Dave fix our car door. It would only open from the outside, so they took the whole door apart, fixed the broken wire, and put it back together. What a handy little guy and a really handy Grandpa!


He and I got to go to the park together, just the two of us. The whole time he played, he carried around his two pretend birds, who he named "Diego Bird" and "Nice Dinosaur." When I asked him if the birds wanted to do something, he would say, "Not right now, they're busy" or "They're actually sleeping right now, so maybe later." When he gets one on one attention, he's just so fun. There was also a huge map of the U.S. painted on the sidewalk, which he was happy about because he knows a bunch of the states from the U.S. puzzle that he's been doing daily. I would ask him where someone lives or ask him to find a state and he would go jump on it. It was pretty remarkable, actually.


We hung out under the blanket a lot.
What would a weekend away be without some singing and dancing...Grandma found a "real" microphone and Zane went to town with it. It was funny because Emerson wanted it so bad, so she kept chasing Zane trying to grab the cord and Zane could barely keep it away from her.
We baked sugar cookies in the shape of hearts for Valentine's Day. Zane and I stood there and rolled, cut, and baked cookies for almost an hour and he never got tired of it. He did a lot of it by himself.

This is his smile. :)

Emerson had fun playing with the tuppaware. I think this face is hilarious.

She also spent lot's of time with Grandma. During the weekend, since she's crawling now, she was just so content. A whole new world opened up to her and she played and played and played.

Happy Kids

Emerson has been super happy lately. She's finally feeling better after having a cold, cough, fever, and ear infection for a week, and she's also crawling so is free to move around and get any toy she wants. She's pretty content and happy most of the time. Here's a video of us playing and laughing.



Zane is packed full of joy too. This video is of him, once again, singing "I Gotta Feeling" along with the Black Eyed Peas. When he sings, he acts like he's Will-i-am, the lead singer so now he wants to take off his clothes and wear his "jacket" since he's wearing a jacket. He usually uses toys for his microphone, but now he likes to use Emerson's "real" microphone. At the end, he was reaching to grab a microphone for me, Fergie (the other lead singer) so I could sing my part.

Untitled from Josie Weingartner on Vimeo.

Good Morning

The other day, I decided to video tape our good mornings because they are pretty much my favorite part of everyday. Both kids actually wake up around the same time each day, but not always. When they do, I love going to get Zane and then letting him help me get Emmy. They both wake up so happy and Zane is always blabbing from the second I walk in the room. Usually Emerson pulls herself up to look over the railing to greet us with a huge smile, but this morning, she was just laying there talking and hanging out. I also like Zane's high voice when he's saying "Good morning" to her.

Good Morning from Josie Weingartner on Vimeo.

Crawlin Crawlin Crawlin

Yes, Emerson is officially crawling! Which means our lives have officially gotten even crazier and Zane's life has gotten harder too because now he doesn't have total control over all of his toys. He's used to giving Emerson toys and then playing with other toys that he wants and now she comes over whenever she wants to "play" with him and messes up his plan (and his neat and tidy piles). When Zane sees her coming from across the room, sometimes he yells to her, "No, Emerson! Don't crawl over here!!"

It's also funny because she tries to crawl up into Zane's lap and he either gets frustrated or thinks it's hilarious. She's already started to fray our big rug, try to eat small pieces of trash or fuzz, and close doors in front of her. Goodbye to our sitting-still little girl!

These first two videos are a couple days before she actually started crawling for real. She was still just taking a few steps and then sitting and still trying to talk herself into moving. But as I was getting ready in the bathroom, she did end up making it down the hall eventually.






Here's her really doing it...on the wood floors her legs just kind of scoot behind her. But now, especially on carpet, she's crawling normally.

Recent Pictures

Here are a few random, and I mean really random pictures from the past few weeks...

I had to take some pictures of Zane and Emmy when I was grocery shopping the other night because they were being so funny. I looked around to make sure nobody was looking and then I snapped a bunch of pictures while cracking up. I usually never have them sit next to each other, but I tried it out this time. All Emerson wanted to do the entire shopping trip was touch Zane and grab his shirt or grab what was in his hand and his steering wheel. I tried giving her her own toys, but she just loved bugging Zane. At first Zane was really annoyed and kept asking her to stop, but then all of a sudden, just gave up and put up with it. He started thinking it was funny and so did I so Zane and I laughed the whole time together. He started being super patient with Emmy while she messed with him. It was the cutest.


ALL of last week, Zane, Emmy, and Zack were sick sick sick. I felt really bad for only about 2-3 days of it luckily because I had to take care of the three of them. They had coughs, sore throats, fevers, and runny noses. Emerson's then turned into an ear infection. Fun! Here's Zane watching one of many movies that we watched during out sick, stay at home week.
Here's my monkeys playing on the bed. Emerson kept trying to tackle Zane and he was cracking up because it tickled.
Here's some pictures of my playgroup recently. We seriously found Zane and his friend Emily laying in our bed with the door closed...I know, so inappropriate. :) :)
This day, we had 9 kids, all younger than Zane, and a couple of mom's couldn't make it.
Moms and babies at Lil' Biggs in Colorado Springs.
Here's Zack reading to our sweet little ones. Some of Zane's favorite books lately are Knuffle Bunny and Knuffle Bunny Too. He has his own Knuffle Bunny, who he "loses" all the time like the little girl in the book.
I liked this day...he decided to pile everything into his kitchen to have a "party."
We ventured to the Denver Zoo Lights this year and we loved it. It was pretty cold, but we all bundled up (except Zack) and got to see some animals and lot's of Christmas lights. For some reason, Zane really liked this one tree and wanted to touch it and look at it for a long time.

Does this remind anyone of the little boy on "The Christmas Story?" Her arms never went down.

Sign Language and Clapping

Emerson has really been responding to us and copying us more which is so much fun.

The first video is of her doing the sign language for "more" (putting her fingers together and tapping them together) and "all done" (waving hands in the air back and forth). You can hear Zane saying the words with me in the background...he helps me teach her. It's a good start.



This is her copying me clapping. I like how she smiles really big each time she does it. I also like how Zane shows up in the background in a t-shirt, diaper, and guitar. :)

Story Teller

Zack is a really really good story teller and Zane is finally starting to really enjoy listening and getting into the stories. Zack always asks him at least once during it what he thinks will happen and he's so good at making something up that goes with the story. We didn't really realize how much he was remembering until the other day when we asked him to tell us a story. He basically repeated the exact beginning, sort of middle, and end of a typical Zack story, but he added in LOT'S of his own details and imaginative and very random ideas (spaceships, boys wearing pajamas, monsters, bus rides, etc).

He starts out with something like, "Once upon a time in a land far far away or a land not far away"... and then ends with, "and they lived happily ever after." So, listen for that in this video. He also changes his voice which is what Zack must do to a quiet sort of raspy voice. In the end of the video when I ask him if he wants to tell another one, he says, "Not right now because I have to go "night night" later."

Mama

Emerson loves her Mommy. Lately it's been hard because her stranger anxiety level has been higher than ever. I think her personality is that she's pretty clingy to me already, but goes through worse stages of it at times. As long as she can see me or is touching me, she's fine.

So, sometimes, when she's playing, if I start walking away, she starts fussing. Eventually, she's just fine after she realizes that I'm not coming back to save her every time, but it can be pretty funny. Now, the best part is that she's starting to say, "Mama" when she's sad, like she's calling me over. She barely ever says it besides when she needs me or wants me though, so we need to work on that!! :)

The other fun thing she's doing now is copying our actions, like clapping, clicking with our mouths, etc. I love that!

First Day of School

We enrolled Zane in a one-day-a-week preschool where he can go and learn, learn, learn. He's such a fast learner and is talking, pretending, and playing so much that we figured that he needs something like that to engage him. He gets to learn letters, numbers, social studies, (they follow our school district's curriculum) Spanish, music, pe, and all sorts of other things. They take them on field trips often and it's at a church which I feel even better about. I was way more nervous about leaving him there for 3 1/2 hours than he was I'm sure. He did so great, even better than I expected the first day. The teacher said he only cried for 2 short times during transition times, but that he was very sweet and did so well.

And since then, he keeps telling me things he learned, trying to say Spanish words, explains about the story they told or about what he learned about doctors (community helpers), what toys he played with, etc. So, so fun! Plus, during the time that he's there, I'm really hoping that I can get tons done either with errands or at home.

For his first day, I packed him a huge lunch and even wrote a note. I know, I know...I just had to.

We also checked out some library books about going to pre-school for him so he knew what to expect.
Here he is saying, "I'm going to preschool..."

My sweet little guy holding his very own backpack and lunch box...
Saying goodbye before we walked him in and dropped him off...The good news is that I only cried for about 5 min. in the car after leaving him there. Not bad for my first time leaving my baby. :)

Zane is 2 1/2

My little guy is already 2 1/2 years old (tomorrow). I feel like I'm in complete shock about it. He is seriously the sweetest kid and he blows us away by how much he learns everyday. He's loving puzzles lately and is also really into books again. He also sings all the time, songs he knows and lot's that he just makes up. He jokes around with us a lot more now and gets our jokes sometimes. He's even starting his very first day of school (Kid's Day Out program) tomorrow. It will be one day a week for 3 1/2 hours, but I still feel nervous even though I know he will thrive so much and will love it! I'm totally going to be that mom who wants to hover...not really, but sometimes I think I might be. :) We just love him more than words can express!



Here are some funny things he's been saying lately. I know there are a million more, but there are just way too many to remember.

Yesterday, I couldn't understand a sentence Zane was saying. Before I could really ask him to repeat it, he said, "You can't understand me, Mommy? I'll say it again..." and then he kept saying it clearer and clearer until I got it.

He sings "Nice Lollipop" instead of "Feliz Navidad." He also says "Snurfs" instead of Smurfs, "Blockmonster" instead of Blockbuster, "Polar Explorer" instead of Polar Express, and "Nuppets" instead of Muppets.

When I wanted to listen to a Celine Deon Christmas song, Zane said he didn't like it and I said, "Well, isn't her voice pretty though?" and he said, "No, her voice is BORING though!"

When we ask him to do things he doesn't want to do, he often says, "Not right now. Maybe later, OK? I'm just doing a puzzle right now (or whatever he's doing."

He says, "That's for sure" after lot's of things and says, "actually" a lot.

He tells Emerson, "Listen to me, Emerson" or "Watch me, Emerson."

Emerson is 8 Months Old

Our sweet little girl is already 8 months old!! People always say time flies, but I never really truly knew how that felt until I had kids. It's unbelievable. Anyways, Emerson is doing so well. She's been completely sleeping through the night for about a month now and usually sleeps about 11 - 12 hours each night and also takes two pretty long naps each day. She completely refuses a pacifier and acts like it's an insult when we try to give it to her, so she just cries herself to sleep only for a few minutes or sucks on her sleepsack and falls asleep right away. We are just able to lay her down awake and she talks or fusses herself to sleep. The coolest thing is that she doesn't wake up crying anymore, but just talks for a while. It's so nice to be able to have a little warning before having to get her up.

She's eating well too...she nurses like a champ and is now also eating lot's of cereals and fruits and veggies and even some little snacks which she tries to chew with her two little front teeth. She is getting so big too, wearing 9-12 (mostly 12) month clothes. We're not sure how much she weighs, but we know it's a lot because it's basically impossible to carry her while she's in her carseat, so we always take her out when we go places now. By the way, she hates being in her carseat and hates riding in the car...which is too bad!

She sits up really really well and can go from a laying position to sitting up easily. She catches herself almost every time she starts tipping. She is also super super close to crawling now...should be anytime now and can crawl into our laps. She's starting to try to pull herself into a standing position and loves standing all the time.

She's a SCREAMER and I mean screamer. She's unbelievably loud no matter how she is feeling. Did I mention this girl can scream?? She copies us really well with playing with toys or other actions and she's starting to mimic sounds a little bit. She says baba, mama, lala and of course our favorite, aaaaaahhhhhh! She's starting to get frustrated and very vocal when Zane takes her toys or if she can't reach something, etc. But she thinks Zane is absolutely hilarious and wants to be part of everything that he is doing and hates being left alone for any amount of time.

She is smiling more than ever lately and is more fun that ever to be around. We love her more than we ever imagined being able to.

We went to Lil' Monkey Bizness last week and she got to play in the baby part. She loved all the new toys and was super entertained. I can't wait till she can crawl and climb on all the stuff there. Actually, I take that back, I'm a little scared about her starting to crawl...life changes big time!!! :)

She has pretty bad "stranger anxiety" most of the time. She's always been pretty clingy to me, but it's gotten really bad lately. She just starts getting this sad lip look to warn us and then she breaks out in a full out cry pretty quickly and frantically starts looking for and reaching for me. This is Pappy trying to hold her...she usually warms up to him after he sings in his very low voice, but it takes a while.
This video is over a week old now, so since then she's gotten even closer to crawling and has even taken a few "steps" here and there.


She's been getting tired of "baby" toys and has been enjoying bigger toys to play with. This lion that she got for Christmas has kept her pretty entertained and happy.