Aaron without Zack

Zack has been in preschool for a week now (3 days per week) and I think Aaron enjoys having mommy all to himself, yet he definately misses his big brother. Almost always, the first thing out of Aaron's mouth in the morning is "Zack??" And most mornings, Zack is still sleeping, but lately I have to say "Zack is at school." I think it takes Aaron a few minutes to take this in, but then realizes he can now play with all of Zack's toys without having to fight over them. And he can drag mommy around wherever, whenever he wants now.
Yet when its time to go pick up Zack from school, Aaron's the one that dragging me out the door. "Come on! Zack! school!" he says to me.

First Day of Pre-school

Today was Zack's first day of preschool!! I would have photos however the airline had only delivered 2 out of our 3 bags when I left this morning...and of course, my camera was in the missing bag. Thankfully, the luggage was here when I got back home after class.

Zack's first day of pre-school started much better than his first day of daycare 3 years ago! His first day 3 years ago was filled with screams, tears and alot of kicking. (This routine continued until I took him out of daycare after Aaron was born!)

This time around Zack was just a little shy, but warmed up really quickly. When I came to pick him up after lunch, the teachers said he fit right in and had a great day!

Its funny, he just turned 4 two days ago, yet he's about an inch or two taller than most of the other kids in his class.

We stopped at the park after I picked up Zack; Aaron was asking to go to the park. There was only one other mom at the park when we got there. She had two little girls, one was 5 and the other was around 12 months old. Zack and the 5 year were instant friends. I thought for sure the girl was going to give Zack a hug when she came over to say goodbye. I hope we see them at the park again. Next time, I'm gonna get the mom's number. These two were so cute together.

Frustrated Aaron!

I havent't gotten the look of frustration on camera yet, but its already a classic look for Aaron. I really started noticing him having a fit, screaming in a high-pitched voice "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" and stiffening up his muscles about a week ago. I've taken note though that 9 times out of 10 its directed at Zack!!
Aaron will be playing contently and Zack will just walk. Aaron clenches his fists, tightens his jaw and screaches "NOOOO!" until Zack leaves.
We started teasing Zack saying that only he can make Aaron so angry he goes like this....and we mimic Aaron. Zack thinks its histerical.
Poor Aaron though. He'll get his repreave from Zack later this month when Zack starts preschool.

Shadow

Our Shadow kitty has been sick for a while now, he has several big malignant tumors on his tummy. I first noticed the lumps back in March. I think it was April by the time we were given a diagnosis (they had to do a biopsy.) The vet gave him a few weeks to months to live. We were given the option to put him on a steroid to help reduce the size of the tumor and make him more comfortable. We did and we noticed an improvement in him almost right away. We were hiding the pills in kitty treats, which he gobbled right down.
Then about 7 weeks ago we ntoiced he wasnt eating much of his kitty food and he wasn't eating the treats, with or without the pills. He stopped grooming himself and once he urinated in the spot he was sleeping. Just by chance, this same week, our dog Brandi was due for her shots. So when Dave took the dog into the vet's office, he mentioned to her about Shadow. She recommended that we give him a shot of the steroid (which lasts 30 days) and see how he does after that.
He improved a little bit. We switched him to all wet kitty food. I think the dry stuff is just too hard for him to eat anymore. But he still isn't eating much. Our once 16 lb obese cat is down to 9 lbs!!!!! He has a hard time walking. He tried to rub up against my leg the other while I was preparing his food and he fell over!!
We're supposed to go out of town in a few weeks and the dilema of what to do with Shadow came up. We felt we couldn't just leave him here alone. (Normally we'd ask someone to come in every other day and check on the cat and give him fresh water and food.) We could kennel him at the Vet's office....So Dave consulted with the vet and she said that we should put him down before we leave town. :(

We have a date and time set to euthanize our dear Shadow.

We're estimating that he is about 14 or 15 years old. We don't know for certain as he was a lovable stray found in Dave's parents yard that we adopted. He's been a wonderful cat. With the exception of destroying Dave's couch, we could have asked for a better pet.
Now our dog on the other hand.............

Swimming

Both Zack and Aaron have loved the water and swimming since they're first pool experience. They both come by it honestly from Dave and I, which makes us happy of course! It could also have something to do with living in Florida and going into the pool 9 months out of the year.

We were finally able to get them into swim lessons at the Y. Zack, who seemed to have just picked up swimming on his own, regressed somewhat. He went from swimming 10 feet underwater last fall to being afraid to dunk his head! Dave has a membership to use the facilities at the Penn Stater Hotel, so now about 3-4 times a week we all go and use the pool. I think Zack just needed to get his confidence back and almost swimming as well as he was last summer. So he regressed some on swimming on his front, but swim lessons has helped him get more comfortable on his back in the water. Aaron seems to love swim class, daddy participated with Aaron!

I think the other reason Zack wouldnt go under water was because he HATES water in his eyes. We got him some goggles. Well, since Zack now has goggles, Aaron wanted goggles.

Zack looks cool and ready to swim in his goggles!

Aaron looks like an alien in goggles! hee hee, he's still cute though!

Ohhh, the stories parents have about poo!!!

Here's a little story about the boys that happened before I started keeping this blog (it gets tied into the present though.) Since Aaron could sit up on his own, he and Zack have shared bathtime. Last September, I was staying with my in-laws for a few weeks with the boys. One night I was bathing the boys and Aaron (11 months old at the time) released his bowels into the bath water. It was Zack that noticed "Aaron's poopies are floating in the tub."
I removed the boys, drained and rinsed out the tub and started over. Pretty much as soon as the tub was ready and the water turned off, Aaron poops some more!! Zack starts screaming about poopies again. This time my mother-in takes Zack into her bathroom and gives him a shower! I drain and refresh the bathtub to finally get Aaron clean...again. Wouldnt you know it, Aaron pooped AGAIN!
It took Zack about 2 weeks to go into the tub with Aaron again. Each time he asked if there were Aaron poopies in the water.
Well, last night, Aaron did it again!! As they were quietly playing in the tub, I was sitting there thinking that Aaron was a little constipated. I hadnt changed a single poopie diaper all day. In the back of my mind I was contemplating giving him some FiberOne cereal for breakfast in the morning. Then I heard Aaron making a familar grunting noises. Sure enough, he's poopin ALOT of poop in the tub. I tell Zack its time to get out. At first he whines and says he's not ready. All I have to do is say that Aaron's pooping in the tub and jumps out soo fast!

Friends

Zack would looove to have 2 or 3 friends right in the neighborhood that are always outside and want to play all the time! We have a neighbor that's in between Zack and Aaron in age. But she's in daycare all day. And I still dont know many people here....partly my own fault. I'm just not comfortable in the whole mommy-group setting. Everyone's all chummy already and I'm the odd one out.
When Zack meets a friend at the park, lately its been boys that are about 4 1/2 and he and his playmate have a BLAST! Today, I had to drag him away. We had been at the playground until nearly 7:00 pm.
The funny part about Zack is his shyness. At first, he didnt want to play with this boy. He kept asking me why he was chasing him. I had to tell him that he probably just wants to play with you. 2 minutes later they were laughing and running everywhere together!

I'm happy he'll be starting pre-school at the end of August....haha, mostly so he'll have friends!

Our Last Music Class

It just so happen that Zack and Aaron's last music class coincided with Dave's parents visit. My mother-in-law, who has always encouraged the boys with music, came along to the last class. Zack loved having his Bubie there (grand-bubi too!)

Zack looks like he's conducting Grand-bubi and Francisca

I think Grand-bubi enjoyed herself too!!

Shake 'em high...shake 'emm low!!

This was the first class that Aaron really participated too!

Aaron loved playing peek-a-boo with the scarves!

Back-log on blogs

I have so many postings in my head (and camera) that I want to post, just haven't gotten around to doing it. First our computer dies, now that we have a new computer, I still havent installed the proper software for my camera. Thus, I havent uploaded any pictures since about mother's day!
I will say though that Aaron and Zack both are little pieces of work lately. Aaron's sputtering new words all the time and copies (or tries to) copy everything Zack does. And Zack, he's at the "kid's say the darndest things" stage.
We were in a store and a man, who's arm is 90% tatoo'd, walks past us. When the man is out of ear shot (which I find impressive that Zack waited), he turns to me and asks me, "Mommy, why'd that guy color his arm??" I just laughed at the question and said that he's just silly. Zack says, "yeah that's silly!" and he cracks himself up over this for the next 15 minutes. He asks me to read him a book in the store, so I do. Half-way through the book, Zack is laughing uncontrollably. I ask him what's so funny? He says, "the guy colored his arm!!!!"

My handsome boy!

Zack was looking into the mirror this morning, smiling at himself. Then he turns to me and says, "Mommy, I'm handsome!!"

...oh boy!! :)