New Favorite Treats!

Luke is growing like a weed - I really can't believe it - you'd never know how little he actually eats! A few different neighbors have commented recently on how tall he's gotten and even his nanny said today "wow, he looks like a little boy today." It's seems so long ago that I got the comments "he's so tiny, how old is he?"...to which I replied, "oh he's still a month away from his due date." The kid is long and lean and sure to outgrow his mommy by the 3rd grade! Anyway, I got distracted there, back to the title of this post - new treats!

So Luke's new faves include, white cheddar popcorn, trail mix and fish oil. Quite the combo, eh? He'll even eat them all together in one sitting. He's still a milkaholic and also a fruit addict, throw in some pasta and you've got Luke's basic diet. Did you catch that fish oil is considered a treat? Yep, it's a treat and he loves it! It comes in these cool little eatable capsules that pop in your mouth when you bite them. They taste like a burst of orange juice and have no fish taste at all. I've set up the expectation with Luke that the fish oil capsules are "special" treats and he can only have them if he's good - this of course, makes him want them even more. I love that he thinks they are candy and instead they are a great source of Omega 3 fatty acids that build the brain and help the heart. And I'm so proud of myself for being able to trick an almost-2-year-old :) In addition to the fish oil, I've also convinced Luke of how fun vacuuming is. I'd say the vacuum cleaner is his "go-to" toy these days and it must be plugged in and turned on for him to like it. I'm such a great brainwasher, huh?

For the non-Luke section of Zappia news, Matt is back in Detroit yet again. He left today, comes back tomorrow, stays in Chicago Wednesday, then back to Detroit Thursday and home again on Friday. Today he figured out that he has spent 1 out of every 4 days of 2009 in Detroit. We are headed up to Lake Geneva in Wisconsin with our neighbors, the Callahans this coming weekend. It'll be a nice little getaway.

Exhausted!

Everything is relative. "Tired" this week is very different than the "tired" of the first year of Luke's life. I've gotten a decent amount of sleep this week but I am exhausted. There are two reasons for this. The first is that Matt is back in Detroit this week so I am playing the single parent gig. I've enjoyed the one-on-one time with Luke but wow, it makes me tired! The second reason is that I have started working out again after a 2.5 year hiatus. Yes, you read that right, it has been 2.5 years since I have worked out! Gah! I've been a lazy momma! I need to whip this body back into shape! Oh and by the way, if I'd have known Matt was traveling for work this week, I would have waited until next week to start the new work out routine.

Oh and a quick cute Luke story:

When I was putting Luke's shoes on earlier in the week (the last stage of dressing him), he looked at me, pinched his shirt and said "shir," then pinched his pants and said "pans," touched his socks and said "soooooooooooooocks," and pointed to his shoes and said "shoe." He's so cute I could just gobble him up!

Sleeping Baby

I don't think there is possibly anything sweeter in the world than a sleeping baby. Each night either Matt or I rock Luke to sleep in the glider in his room(after a few books). Many people can't believe we are still doing this at almost 2 years old. We haven't given it up probably because it is some of the most precious time that we get to spend with him. I'm not sure why this is, but I feel a sense of personal accomplishment when Luke either eats the food that I give him, or when I am able to get him to sleep. He is so cuddly in his footed pajamas that some nights I prefer to just sit there in silence with him. Sometimes rocking Luke to sleep puts me to sleep in the chair, too :) He started sleeping through the night at 13.5 months when we transitioned him to the crib from the bed, but I don't yet see an end in site to rocking him to sleep.

I'm thinking there will eventually come a time when he won't want me to rock him to sleep anymore - I will be sad, but I'm sure his high school guidance counselor will advise that this is best for him.

A few sleepy pics:

Mr. Meltdown

We had a Mr. Meltdown weekend broken up by quite a few trips to the park. Luke was unusually fussy and moody this weekend - maybe because he is getting over his sickness from earlier in the week. Matt and I have been joking that the "Terrible Twos" started yesterday. Luke loves the park, so much so that we visited 3 different parks yesterday and 2 different parks today. We've literally left no slide unslid. And I must mention that Luke has no fear whatsoever of the slide and prefers the "superman" form, head first, arms out. He scared another father at the park yesterday while performing the superman...I was at the bottom of the twisty slide waiting for him and he was at the top when the father started yelling "he's going head first, he's going head first!" I told him that was normal and his eyes bugged out of his head- cleary, he wouldn't be voting for me for Mother of the Year. A little while later after he witnessed Luke doing this he said " wow, no hesitation there!" I know that kids going down head first is not unusual but that is only normal when the kid is 5 years old, not 22 months. It is an understatement to say that Matt and I have our hands full.

In non-Luke news, Matt and I celebrated St. Patrick's Day with our friends John and Amy. John used to work with Matt and caught him up on all the old work gossip. We dined on salad, pizza, cupcakes, and of course, beer! Chicago has quite the St. Patrick's Day crowd and we decided to avoid it this year, although we did see a youngin' passed out on Southport at about noon - he gave us a chuckle :)

Collage Fun

Just for fun I was making more collages tonight!

Springish Cleaning in March

The recent heat wave (temps above 30 for a week straight) has the Chicagoan Zappias excited for spring! We even began some spring cleaning this past weekend with the giant task of cleaning out our walk-in closet. Luke had a blast playing amidst piles of clothes, randome pieces of unused furniture, and lots of shoes. Luke has a slight shoe fetish - he loves trying on everyone's shoes but likes his momma's the best (as usual)!

Matt went and bought Target out of all of their plastic rubbermaid storage bins and now our closet looks,well, organized! I have to admit, I thought he was nuts when he walked in the door with all of those tubs and tops. I fear he may be practicing for a future life in suburbia - I can only imagine what he'd do with a garage. In addition to the closet, Matt's true nesting mode continued to other parts of the condo - I almost passed out when I saw him cleaning the bathroom floor on his hands and knees!!! There must have been a full moon.

So now we are desparate for spring, desparate for our daily walks down Southport, and desparate for the days when the equipment at the park is dry. I don't think I've ever looked so forward to 50 degree weather in my life - a true sign the times are changing.

Because I don't have any good pictures to go with this topic, I'm posting some "vintage" pictures.

Crack for Toddlers

Yes, you read the title correctly and no I don't give my toddler crack. BUT, we have found the equivalent of crack for toddlers in the form of a music dvd by The Laurie Berkner Band. I've never seen Luke pay attention to one thing for so long. This dvd puts him into some sort of dancing trance. Luke craves this dvd as one would crave crack - it is the first things he asks for in the morning and the last thing he asks for before bedtime. The wee one demands his dvd by finding the black remote control (the one he knows controls the dvd player) and the silver remote control (the one you need to change the input on the tv) and giving it to any adult in the room. If you don't happen to know what it means when Luke brings you the remotes, he follows up with some dance moves and shouts something that resembles "dance!" So all is right in the world when the dance dvd is on.

Grandparents Visit

Grandma and Grandpa Zappia came for a visit this weekend. Luke was showing them all of his new tricks and reviewing some old ones with them. G-ma and G-pa inadvertantly brought some fun new toys for Luke - a watch, a suitcase and a fancy camera! Luke is always drawn to the most expensive items he shouldn't touch...in particular, the more expensive the camera, the more Luke likes it. On Saturday, we dined at a favorite restaurant of ours, Spacca Napoli (real Italian style gourmet pizza). It was very nice of the wait staff to place us in the corner, that way we were able to create a sort of playpen for Luke without including the other customers. Luke sat in the highchair they provided for about, hmmmm, .6 seconds and then he wanted to be on the run. All in all, it was a pretty decent restuarant outing for Luke. We had lots of fun with the grandparents and are looking forward to their next trip to Chicago.