Wocka Wocka Wocka

It won’t be long now. It’s only a matter of time before my baby is officially a toddler. Actually, if I look at the definition of a toddler – he already is one!

According to Wikipedia, a toddler is a “young child just learning to walk.”

Yep, that’s Zach.

A couple months ago my mom bought Zach a lion that doubles as a walker and rider. Up until now, he’s only sat on it for rides. The other day, after my back became sore from bending over to hold Zach’s hand while he walked, I pulled the lion out again.

Zach grabbed on and took off across the room! It took only a day or two for him to figure out how to turn the lion around. Now, he walks all over the place—walking from the living room to the kitchen and doing laps around the island.

He’s pretty steady on his feet and doesn’t need to be supported, but he’ll freak out and freeze  if you let go of one of his hands.

Snip, snip

Oh yeah! I forgot to mention that Zach got his first haircut a couple weekends ago!

I was hesitant to give him a haircut since his hair is still so fine, but it was just getting SO long. We just happened to be at Leen's (Permanent Solutions) a couple weeks ago to watch *cough, tennis, cough* and I was whining about Zach's mullet. Leen suggested we just cut the back -- so that's what she did! It looks so much better now and Zach did great! No sleeping babies needed for this hair cut!

At first, hair clips were enough to keep him entertained...

When he tried to lunge forward off his chair, I had to entertain him (and hold him in place)

"What the heck are you doing back there?!"

 All done -- Yaaaaaay!

My baby is a big boy now!

Ants on parade

 Walking down Main Street in New Richmond before the Fun Fest parade

Man oh man we've had a lot of fun lately!

With the 4th of July, Fun Fest in New Richmond and now the start of the Ramsey County Fair, we've had quite a few parades to attend. The best so far has been the Ramsey County Fair -- that's because the parade marches up White Bear Avenue, just two blocks from our house. We found a great spot to watch the clowns, marching bands, floats and political people (blech) walk by. Zach got lots of candy (of which Mommy ate most) and discovered that he LOVES suckers.

On Thursday, for Mommy and Daddy's 4th anniversary (and Annie's 4th birthday!!), we went to the fair to eat some greasy food. While there, we saw a lots of funny animals (especially that weird cow with the black tongue) at the petting zoo and watched the carnival rides. On our way back to the fairgrounds (from the carnival area), I looked over at Zach and he was WAVING!

Now, for most 1-year-olds, this is no big deal, except Zach never learned to wave bye-bye... until now.

He's also learned:

• To lift his eyebrows, which I think is the funniest thing yet. Every now and then, I'll catch him making faces out of the corner of my eye.
• To play peek-a-boo, except Zach doesn't cover his eyes, he puts his hands on either side of his head. "Where's Zach?" "PEEK-A-BOO!"

Zach's version of peek-a-boo

I'm a big boy now

At Zach's 1 year check up last week we learned many new things:

• Zach weighs 24 pounds (67.4th percentile)
• Zach is 31 inches tall (84th percentile)
• Zach has a big head -- 19 inches (92.4th percentile)

He's now on 2% milk and all food restrictions have been lifted! Yay, Zach!
Here are the results of Zach's photo session at Como Zoo on June 11.