Over the past two years Zachary has changed tremendously. Here are some of his characterisics at the age of two...
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| Not in the slightest bit cheeky |
Most people that meet him think Zachary looks like his Mummy, or her brothers (or maybe Uncle Humphrey), but he does bear a resemblance to Daddy too:
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| Like father, like son |
Zachary loves to copy whatever Mummy and Daddy are doing, which is fine when he wants to help clear his toys away, but not so great when he wants to help Mummy take the dinner out of the oven. One of his favourites is to help unpack the bag after we've been food shopping, but he has now decided that it's his job and no one else is allowed to take things out of the bags without a tantrum.
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| Helping water the plants |
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| Zachary wanted to get as close as possible to the lawnmower |
Zachary is a fruit monster - his current favourites are satsumas, blueberries and sultanas. If you suggest things he might like to eat, he'll continue saying 'no' until you offer one of his favourites. A few days ago when Mummy was dozing on the sofa, Zachary helped himself to a packet of sultanas from the larder cupboard and managed to eat half of the bag before we realised. He later experienced some pretty explosive nappies as he excreted hundreds of whole sultanas. If he has the opportunity, Zachary will always help himself to fruit and he loves picking fruit from a bush such as blackberries and raspberries.
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| Picking raspberries from Bumble's garden and immediately eating them |
Zachary loves to copy the things that other people are doing. Sometimes this can be hilarious. It's always interesting when he learns to do something that you didn't actively teach him and he has learnt it by observation - he's a lot cleverer than he first appears.
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| Big yawns all round |
Zachary loves interacting with maneouvrable objects such as latches, gates, swinging signs, switches and buttons and won't hesitate to try them all out. He loves going in lifts for this reason - pressing the button and watching it move; he gets angry if you try to exit a lift and walk away.
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| He spent a good 5 minutes opening and closing this gate |
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| He couldn't quite reach the button of the hospital lift, but with Daddy's help he enjoyed 10+ lift journeys |
Zachary is amazing at counting. He can count to ten (although he always says the word 'nine' for 5 and 7, as he can't quite say those). He can also count downwards from five, with a loud 'zoom' at the end. When asked to point to specific numbers in a random order, he can do so accurately for the numbers 1-12 and if he sees a number written down, he'll shout out its name. He loves to count objects, and when he counts to ten he uses his fingers to add digits in the sequence.
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| "Two" |
Zachary seems to be left handed, as he will always tend to use that hand first; when I put a pen into his right hand for drawing, he immediately swapped it to his left before proceeding. Our current prediction on what he might be when he grows up is some kind of engineer.
Zachary also loves to read books and he is constantly bringing you books to read him. He also loves to point to letters for you to read out their names, especially on number plates and signs with large lettering. We have decided to teach him the sounds of the letters, rather than their names, as we think this might help him with learning to read.
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| 'kicking kuh, ih, ter, curly ceh, heh, eh, neh (sorry Phobe!) |
Zachary's talking is going pretty well, although he can only say monosyllabic words and no sentences yet, but he can easily make himself understood with a few words in the right context. For example, if he's hungry he'll always ask for cheese even if that's not exactly what he wanted to eat (because that's the only food word he can say); if he's thirsty he'll ask for juice, if he wants to play in his new playroom he'll say 'ball', but if he's tired he'll never ask for a sleep (because being awake is much more interesting).
Zachary loves to play, but much prefers playing with other people than alone. He loves playing with balls, kicking and throwing them around and he giggles when they bounce.
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| Playing 'peek-a-boo' with Auntie Marilla |
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| Zachary is very attached to his ball |
We recently had a large conservatory built at the back of our house which is to be Zachary's new play room. It still needs decorating but Zachary has already claimed it as his own...
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| Hiding in his ball pool tent |
As always, Zachary loves going outside, particularly enjoying playgrounds. If you suggest going to a playground in half an hour's time, Zachary will pick up on the word 'playground' in your conversation and immediately bring your shoes, grab your arm and drag you to the front door. He likes the swings best and usually enjoys slides, unless they're enclosed, too fast or have sand at the bottom. To ensure a slow ride, he always sticks his feet out to the edges to control his speed.
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| A controlled descent |
If he was able, Zachary would take all of his clothes off , including his nappy and run around as much as possible. He also likes to climb on people who are lying down. This made a bad combination when he managed to achieve his objective while Mummy was asleep on the sofa and climb onto her... the worst part was that he'd left behind a soiled nappy.
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| Zachary hates wearing hats |
Sleep has always been a bit of an issue with Zachary; even now, he goes through phases of sleeping through the night some days, then waking a few times on others. This usually seems to be caused by being away from home for several nights and becoming unsettled on returning home. Depending on how tired he is, he can be fine to get to sleep or he can take many attempts of putting him back down before he finally drifts off. There is, however, nothing worse than the bang of our bedroom door opening at 5.30am, as Zachary enters to get us up for his breakfast (fortunately this isn't every morning).
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| Daytime naps are usually pretty easy to coordinate; on this occasion, he hadn't quite finished eating when the nap took over |
Zachary is a very happy boy with a lot of energy. He knows how he wants things done and is proactive in getting things he wants. He has a great memory for walking routes, knowing which turnings we need to take for the playground, library, toddler group etc.
It's often hard work to look after Zachary but on the whole he's an absolute joy to have around.
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