Mama

Well.... its been a couple weeks so I will try to recap what has been happening with the Houstons!  We had reading week at school two weeks ago.  Each day we had a different theme... crazy sock day (reading knocks your socks off), neon day (reading makes you bright), crazy hair day (reading makes your imagination pop), dress to impress day (reading is impressive), and book character day (you meet the most interesting characters in books).  Here are a few of my co-workers for book character day and dress to impress day.  Anna (my office mate) and I dressed up as the mouse and the cookie from "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie"... hopefully you can tell that I am the mouse and she is the cookie. ;)  My principal was the coconut tree from "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" and my assistant principal was the big bad wolf from "Little Red Riding Hood".  Also, for our dress to impress day, Anna and I sported our high heels (which didn't last very long!) and my assistant principal brought out his tux! 

By Friday of that week (March 7th).... we received another snowstorm at our house.  This storm had more ice than snow and knocked out our power for 15 hours.  We stayed near our gas logs since it was rather chilly in our house.  Zander ate a great deal of cheerios since I realized most food we would eat needed to be cooked (since he has moved on to most adult foods now).  We were so thankful when the power was restored!  The main thing I was worried about was the breast milk I had stored up in the freezer going bad.  We are so thankful that didn't happen!  For those moms that have ever breastfed your baby... you know that milk truly is "liquid gold" and you hate to see it go to waste!

We made a trip "back home" to see all of Zander's grandparents and great-grandparents.....Zander had fun playing with a maraca at Gran Daddy's and Grandma Vicki's. 

Grandma and Grandpa Bakewell found a child size rocking chair that they brought out for Zander to play on. 

We were able to celebrate Zack's (a.k.a. daddy's) birthday with GranDan, Grannie and Uncle Henry.  Zander was able to play with a new stuffed animal... a "Dixie" dog!

Grandpa Buzz entertained Zander with mommy's phone.... one of Zander's favorite toys! (that and mommy's keys.... Zander cannot understand why I have to take the keys away from him after I put him in his car seat so that we can actually go somewhere!)

For those of you that don't know this.... my husband is a HUGE Marvel Comics fan..... HUGE!  So...when one of the parents at my school gave Zander four super hero hoodies.... all with masks and all Marvel characters.... Zack has been counting down the days until Zander could fit into them.  You will remember that Burke was SpiderPup a few years ago for Halloween.  I imagine Zander will be a superhero in the future for his Halloween costume.

 

Zander had his first haircut today (March 15, 2014).  He did such a great job with daddy as the barber!  We trimmed the sides (that were covering his ears) and the back.  We left the front for now as I like that it can be combed forward or swiped to the side.  (Check out Zack's Captain America shirt.... did I mention that he likes Marvel Comics?!)

 

Finally.... what I feel has been the biggest milestone of the past two weeks....Zander said his first word..... and it is "mama"!  As you will recall..... Zander has been quite vocal for months! He loves to babble!  I feel that sometimes he is giving me an ear full if I could only understand what he is saying.  On March 11th (Tuesday), as I was dropping him off at "school", Zander crawled over to me (have I mentioned that he is crawling with his belly off the ground and getting places fast!?).  He pulled up to a standing position (which he also does often as he is cruising from one stationary item to another) and reached his hands to me and said "ma".  I knew at that moment he was working on his first word.  There were no other syllables before it and no sounds after it.  Zander has continued to do this throughout the week and since I keep saying "mama"..... he has added the second "ma".  Zack acknowledged he said it as well which makes me feel less crazy... you know ...... like I am trying to force him to say "mama" first. ;)  He is now saying mama for a lot of things but what I love most about his first word... is that he clearly has separated these sounds from other sounds he can produce.  I can't wait to hear what he says next!