ZumwaltOhana.com

Happys Birthdays!

Happy Birthday, Tracie!

A couple of days ago Koa and I were privileged enough to get to celebrate her birthday with our friend, Tracie, at Ruth's Chris steakhouse.  You may have already noticed the pictures in the Baby Zumwalt! @ 11-12 Months photo album.  We had a lovely time! 

It ended up being a very late evening and our Wee One was about to fall asleep right there on the table by the time we left at around 11.  He did pretty well in spite of his exhaustion and got lots of compliments from folks about what a little gentleman he is.  This is always nice since we sometimes get stink eye from people when we walk into a fine dining establishment with (gasp!) a child.  The folks at Ruth's Chris were very positive--we didn't get any stink eye that night and I think Koa represented toddlers everywhere very well.  I have a couple of other pictures to add to the photo album when I can figure out how to get them off the new fangled memory card so you can see him in his long pants and covered shoes--he was a well-dressed gentleman!

Happy Birthday, Grandma Tutu!

Today we got to ring Grandma Tutu on the Skype first thing in the morning to wish her a happy birthday.  Zak gets the honor of spending this day with her.  I hear that all the schools in the area took the day off in honor of Princess Regina's special day.  So glad to hear you all get to spend the it together.   Wish we could be there!

Steady on...

Well, the "unsteady gait" is getting more and more steady all the time.  It's amazing how good Koa is getting at walking up and down hills and stepping over things.  There are lots of times when we are walking that I expect him to take a spill, but he continues toddling away.

Zak had his first (of many, I assume) argument with Koa a couple of days ago.  He was letting Koa know he was not allowed to touch the laptop (for the 1,000,000th time).  Zak would say, "No, Koa." and Koa would say, "Yeah!" with that adorable little lilt in his voice. 

"No, Koa."

"Yeah!"

"No!"

"Yeah!" 

They went back and forth with that at least five or six times before Koa got the point and walked away.  It was a fun little exchange for me to witness. 

We had a nice long weekend to spend together in celebration of our presidents.  While most of our crazy friends got up ridiculously early to run the Great Aloha Run, we slept in and then headed to the beach for the afternoon.  Koa really enjoyed it this time!  I don't know if we have mentioned it before, but he developed a dreadful fear of the water--especially waves.  We don't know where it came from, but it went just as dramatically as it came.  Monday he walked right out into the water holding Zak's hand and laughed joyfully as he lost his balance and fell into the ocean.  We all had a really fun time.  Maybe it helped that he brought his orange do-nut along for the experience or that he could walk in and out as he pleased rather than being forced into the water.  There are new beach and bubble pictures in the Baby Zumwalt! @ 11-12 Months photo album and there will be a new video, Update Fifty, coming soon.

Speaking of Orange Do-Nut, we had a bit of a crisis the other day when it was misplaced in the bathtub.  Koa must have dropped it in there at some point and I didn't notice.  For a couple of days he would go to his toy cabinet and pull out each of the other colors of do-nuts individually, throw it on the floor and pull out the next one.  When he got to the last one he would just look very perplexed and then find something else with which to play.  Finally, at long last we discovered Orange Do-Nut and everything was OK in the world again.

Also this weekend, Koa learned to play Hide-and-Seek.  Well, he learned to play Seek.  (I suppose we shouldn't be surprised, but he loves a game of any sort)  If we hide from him he will wander all over the house with this sheepish little look on his face looking intently until he finds us.  He will check the places we have hidden previously before he moves on to new locations. It makes him giggle uncontrollably when he finds us. He's actually quite good.  I'm sure it helps that we have such a tiny house and there aren't many good places to hide.  He's also figured out to go around an object to get to us which has changed just since we started playing this weekend.  Once again I am so fascinated by watching his little mind work and learn new things. 

On grown-up topics, Zak and I have a recipe we can recommend.  We tried making a chocolate souffle (with sauce) last Friday night and had some friends over for the occasion.  It was lots of fun cooking together (even with all four of us in our tiny little kitchen) and the souffles turned out VERY good!  I was pretty surprised.  I always thought souffles were a lot harder to make but even with a few substitutions to the recipe they were great.  Next we plan to attempt Creme Brulee.  I just want an excuse to have a blow torch in my kitchen!

Zak is leaving today to go to Washington DC for about a week.  He's meeting with the same group of guys he met with last December in Orlando.  This time around, they're creating navigation training scenarios for Saipan (near Guam), Brisbane, Australia, and the Strait of Gibraltar.  He gets to spend some time with his family while he is there.  I told him it's too bad Koa's not weaned yet, or I'd send him to play with Grandma Tutu and I'd take a vacation.  Of course I have no idea what I would do with my time if both of them were gone, but it might be a fun dilemma to solve.  As it is, we will miss him, and I'm sure we will have lots of web cam meetings with Daddy, Grandpa Stimple, Grandma Tutu and Nanny Nick.  That's always a good time.  Then Koa won't be able to sleep because he has a computer in his room and all of his friends live in the computer!  We've got to find a solution for that....

Welcome Home, Derrick

Just a few days ago we were fortunate to get to meet a friend of ours at the airport as he came home from Iraq for his two weeks of R & R.  We made quite a spectacle of ourselves with signs and kazoos and all forms of noisy things that might drive a travel-worn person mad.  We also got to enjoy our second annual Super Bowl party with him a couple days later, which is always a good time.  Go Colts!   

"An unsteady gait."  That's how dictionary.com defines toddle, so I guess we are officially parents of a toddler.  It's amazing how quickly the Wee One has gone from taking just a couple of steps at a time to being a toddler - it's been very fun to watch.  Just in the past couple days he has become proficient at stooping to pick up objects without toppling over, and yesterday he mastered standing without any assistance.  You can see some of these new found skills in Update Forty Eight.  While you're there, you might as well check out Update Forty Seven as he jabbers and Update Forty Nine: the growth and development of Koa's green thumb.

In addition to walking, Koa has been working on plenty of other skills.  He's learning to put objects into a container.  In fact, just today he made a basket for the first time in his bath-time basketball hoop.  He's also sort of learning to bring things to us when we ask for them.  It helps if it is Littlest Duck or Orange Dough-nut since he is always willing to go find one of his most favorite toys, but he will do it with his blanket or some other benign object once in a while.  My personal favorite skill he has recently mastered is giving hugs and kisses upon request.  He's very generous with his affection!  For some reason however, when we ask him to "be gentle" he also gives kisses!  This gets a little weird when we are asking him to be gentle with animals.  Last week he got lots of kisses back when he was "being gentle" with a huge American Bulldog named Jake.  He didn't seem to mind much, though.

We had a well-baby check up on Friday and Zak actually got to go with us.  Koa and I have recently switched doctors and we now see the same family practice doctor at the Schofield Army Clinic which is much closer than the Navy clinic.  We were pretty pleased with our new doctor and she seemed pretty impressed with Koa and his newly emerging skills.  She said we don't have to come back until he's 15 months old!  Yippee!  (Zak would like for me to mention here that she said Koa has some skills of a 14 month old!)

It's hard to believe we are getting so close to Koa being one year old!  We are making plans for his party, and we have decided against the zoo.  Since Zak has been sailing again over the past couple of weekends and Koa has never been out on a boat, we decided to coordinate his birthday and his inaugural sailing trip.  We have reserved a cabana at the marina where we sail, but the jury is still out on whether we need a Bounce House or not.  In anticipation of this milestone, Zak has been working on another book.  This one is just a photo album of Koa's first year.  I call it Zak's Creative Memories album, but he doesn't think I am nearly as funny as I do!