The dangers of pacifism

We were playing in the backyard, and I heard Zander say, "All done! All done, itsy bitsy spider! ALL DONE ITSY BITSY SPIDER!!!" I looked over and he was yelling at a mosquito biting his arm. It's great that he was using his words to express his needs, but I guess I have to teach him that there are certain situations where violence may be the best solution. What a sweet kiddo.

Zander's Little Secret

Last Thursday I discovered that Zander has been keeping a secret from us: he can walk. For those of you who haven't seen us lately, Zander has been dragging out his "learning to walk" phase for ages. He went from crawling to walking on his knees (which he still does a lot) to walking with assistance. He can walk fine if holding on to a wall, hand, stroller, etc, but refuses to walk alone.

Then on Thursday I came around the corner to see him walking across the living room. I cheered and congratulated him. He responded by getting upset, saying "no!" and dropping down to his knees.

Hmmmm....

I decided to drop the subject and for the past few days we have just been pretending not to notice as he walks around the house.

 So what does this mean?

My hunch is that his perfectionist streak is making him self-conscious. It feels like he wants to get it "right" before he shows us he can walk. At one point when he thought I couldn't see him, I watched him walk across the room, then smile and applaud for himself.

There is also the possibility that he likes having to hold a hand when walking. It is kinda sweet, though he can be pretty demanding about it!

And maybe we have been putting too much pressure on him, trying to get him to walk. He's a pretty sensitive kid, so he probably senses that I've been getting anxious about him being a "late walker" (whatever that means).

I think we will just drop the whole subject and see how this plays out over the next few days....

Zander gets his driver's permit

They start driving young in Michigan!

Check the rear-view mirror...

Hands at 10 and 2 ...

Keep your eyes on the road!

Woah, it even has a backseat!

Zander calls this his "cool car".

Spring Cleaning

I've recently discovered that, in addition to having a wonderfully sweet little boy, I also have a child who loves to help with housework. Crazy. He certainly doesn't get this trait from me!

Washing the dishes:

Eating the suds:

Mopping the kitchen floor:

Hanging out the diapers:

Mowing the lawn:

Taking a break to hide in the kitchen cupboard:

And here he is looking super cute in his friend's bunny ears:

Kate's Confirmation

We had a great trip to New York, visiting with family and celebrating my niece's confirmation.

Here is the lovely Kate. Congratulations!

The ceremony was quite nice and the bishop actually took time to speak with each confirmation-ee (? I'm not sure what they are called) individually. Here are Kate and my dad speaking with the bishop.

Zander did pretty well for the first 20 minutes of the mass, then he starting trying to tell the priest that he was "all done." Jason took him out for a walk. Aww, the little guy passed out in the middle of having a snack.

I forgot to take pictures of the rest of the trip, a testament to how much I was relaxing and enjoying myself. It was a great weekend with fantastic food and family time. I hope we can do it again sometime soon.

Zanderman vs. The Flu

It was a quiet day for our hero. He played happily, taking a short break from fighting crime throughout the land.

Little did he know that a dangerous foe was lurking.

The foe's name was ...

The FLU!

Zanderman dashed to the left, bobbed to the right, dodged and weaved but even his super speed was no match for this rival.

It got him with a one-two punch. Oh no! Our hero is down!

Yes, times became quite dark for our hero. His strength was sapped by this silent attacker. Hours became days, and still the little man struggled.

But the nasty foe underestimated the fight in our Zanderman.

The clouds parted, the skies cleared (the fever broke), and our hero emerged victorious from the battle.

All is well in the world again.

Fall Days and New Style

Today was a gorgeous fall day. Z and I spent the morning soaking up the sun on our semi-finished (okay, let's just say functional) sun porch while Jason was at work. Then we all took advantage of the sunny and breezy Sunday afternoon to take care of yard work.

 

Here is Zander's first time playing in the leaves.

In other news, Z has just gotten over a cold so I had boxes of kleenex everywhere.

Zander found one of these boxes....

We decided that it was time for Zander to have his first haircut. We tried to hold off as long as possible, but it was starting to obscure his vision so it had to be done.

Drumroll please....

Let me just say that cutting a baby's hair is WAAAAAAY different from cutting an adult's hair. He refused to hold still and I was constantly pulling the scissors away to keep from chopping off his grabby little fingers.

(This is all just a way of me saying that, yes, I know this isn't a good haircut. Cut me some slack!)

Jason decided that the best way to clean up was to vacuum up the hair. And vacuum the baby.

Pumpkin Patch

Jason and I took little Z on a trip to a pumpkin patch with a few other young families. We took a hay ride out to the patch and selected our own pumpkins.

Here is Z with two of his little friends. They all seem pretty fascinated with their pumpkins, which Zander refers to as "ball". Actually, he calls anything round "ball" and he says it with a lilting tone and makes it into two sylables, "baaaa-aaal."

Daddy! Z has started to say something that sounds a lot more like "Daddy" and less like the baby sound "Da-da". He's starting to talk so much, it is really exciting.

Here is what the pumpkin looked like after being gutted and cut up.

But to Zander, it is still just a "baaa-aaal."

Big House Big Heart 5K: Mission Accomplished

We did it! Team Tomalia completed the Big House Big Heart 5K race! Little Zander got his personal best time at 1 hour and 5 minutes.

Here he is preparing for the race. Such focus!


At the entrance to the race there was music and a big balloon arch marking the starting line.

And we're off!


I decided to make Z his own shirt with a race number painted on, as he would certainly eat anything I tried to pin on him.


Crossing the finish line.


See? We really were there in the Big House. The race was really well organized, with free food and drinks at the finish line and everything. It was my first time in the stadium, so it was pretty cool to run through the tunnel onto the field. Probably the closest I will ever get to playing football!


Thank you to everyone who donated! It was a great event to participate in, and all your donations helped to raise money for a wonderful organization.

Race Day Approaches - One Week Left

One week and counting until the Big House Big Heart 5K fundraiser for the Lamaze Family Center!

Due to Tori's old shoulder problems acting up again (boo!), Jason has decided to move from the cheering section into Team Tomalia (yay!).

Here we are on a training walk. Zander seems to think there is a basketball event involved. I hope he isn't too disappointed.



A huge THANK YOU to everyone who has donated so far. There is still time for more donations! This money will help support Lamaze’s mission which it carries out through community outreach programs such as the Miscarriage and Newborn Loss support group, scholarships for childbirth classes, and underwriting the teen childbirth classes.

To make a donation, click here and select "Tori Tomalia" from the drop-down menu. All donations of $25 or more are 100% tax deductible and go directly to Lamaze Family Center Ann Arbor.

Zander Prepares for his First 5K Race

On October 4, Zander will be participating in the Big House Big Heart 5K race to raise funds for the Lamaze Family Center.

Here he is trying out some new running shoes:


The plan is that I will push him in the stroller until I get tired, then we will trade places. I guess he better learn to walk before then.

Zander is pretty pumped to get the chance to support this non-profit organization. Here's what he had to say about it:

"Thanks to the classes my parents took at the Lamaze Family Center, I had a great birth, breastfeeding was a breeze, and I made a bunch of awesome friends at the Mommy's group. Thanks, Lamaze, for helping to make my first year so fantastic!"

At least I THINK that is what he said. It kinda sounded like "mamamadadadwhatzzat?" but you get the idea.

Seriously, though, Lamaze is a great organization that supports families from pregnancy to preschool. Donations will help support Lamaze’s mission which it carries out through community outreach programs such as the Miscarriage and Newborn Loss support group, scholarships for childbirth classes, and underwriting the teen childbirth classes.

To make a donation, click here and select "Tori Tomalia" from the drop-down menu. All donations of $25 or more are 100% tax deductible and go directly to Lamaze Family Center Ann Arbor.

Thank you, and wish Zander luck - 5k is a long way to crawl!

Birthday Bash

On August 18, 2009 Zander celebrated his first birthday. Jason's family came down from Owosso to join us for a bbq and cake.

I think I have started a tradition for our little family. The birthday hat. It is made up of all Z's favorite things from the year.

- white for mama's milk
- blue water for bathtime with dada
- spirals for rotini, the first food he ate until he puked
- "pages" for books (he loves his books)
- the colors of the hat are the same as Puppy, his security toy
- an elephant's trunk on the front (he sleeps with a stuffed elephant)
- green blades of grass, which he loves to pull up and eat (unfortunately)
- three bells for out little family of 3.






I don't think he really liked wearing the hat, but he tolerated it so we could snap some pictures.

Next we sang "Happy Birthday" and ate a delicious cake that Vicki made. Zander did not so much blow out the candle as try to grab it, so I ended up helping him with that.





Next it was time for presents!

Zander was thrilled by the tissue paper.


Yum - envelopes!


Delicious - a puzzle piece!


Oh boy - books!



By the way, this is what the garden looks like now. It is producing some nice veggies and abundant potatoes. I think we are going to end up with a ridiculous number of squash, as the vines are taking over everything.