Now that fall has finally arrived in Houston, we are enjoying playing outside a lot more. Here's some pictures and video of Zachary enjoying his play yard set.
I found a ball!
Sliding is such fun!
Such a happy boy!
Zachary is mastering the art of rock climbing, rock wall climbing that is! We're so proud of him!
We've hit a few great milestones over the last couple of weeks. Zachary now goes to Mommies Day Out preschool three hours a day three days a week. While there was some crying the first couple of weeks, he no longer cries and really seems to have a great time. Donna is still a very important part of our family and watches Zachary when Mommy and Daddy are working and Zachary is not in school. Zachary tells us every day when we take him to what he calls "pretty school" that Donna will pick him up. Donna also takes him to Kindermusik on Thursdays and when not at class or playing at home, she and Zachary both love going to resale shops together.
We have also completely eliminated the bottle! Zachary drinks out of cups with straws now and occasionally, under MUCH supervision, an open cup.
Zachary's health is great although he seems to have allergies and asthma. Easily controlled. Mostly the asthma kicks in when he is already sick, we haven't had any trouble (so far) with it when he is not already sick. We are not surprised by this as both Mommy and Daddy have it and not only does he have preemie lungs, he was in the womb without fluid for just over five weeks. He currently weighs 22 pounds, 12 ounces and his weight/height ratio is good. He is still on the skinny side and not on the charts, but he's not underweight for his height.
He loves to sing and talk. Basically if he is awake, he's talking. We love it! His current favorite toys are his "animals" (the mountains of stuffed animals he has), Legos, Little People and his Toy Story figurines. He helped us decorate for Halloween and has told us what he wants to dress up as and knows that he will say "trick or treat" on Halloween.
We are becoming very involved with our Temple. Daddy is on the Board of Directors and Mommy is a Sunday school teacher. He has a friend Jacob there that is a month younger and they are in the same Sunday school class and they even go to the same preschool (unfortunately on different days though) and they pal around together at Temple. It's a wonderful place with wonderful people. Zachary knows some of the Hebrew terms now, he knows the Shofar is the Ram's horn you blow on the Jewish New Year, the beema is the pulpit (although he calls every stage a beema) and the sukkah is the three sided hut we shook the lulav in. On Sundays he also loves being fussed over by the kids in Mommy's Sunday school class (which are six and seventh graders).
A couple of weeks ago we went to the NICU reunion held at the Children's Museum (after it was closed to the public). While we did not get to visit with the doctors and nurses (Zachary was all about running around checking the place out) we had a great time. Zachary literally ran around for two and a half hours without stopping. It was awesome to see him have such a great time!
Waiting not-so-patiently for the museum to Re-Open for the event.
Crawling/Running between the legs of the statutes of the children on the outside of the museum
Shopping at the pint-sized HEB (ha ha ha)
Zachary and Brinson have learned to check their produce
Zachary and Brinson having fun grocery shopping
Can I have another basket please?
Tea party!
He loved putting the pegs in the holes to make them light up
He also loved taking them out again.
Unloading the truck.
Yes, he's eating string cheese while riding a cow.
The only drum in the ENTIRE museum and of course, Zachary found it!
Tea for two is much more fun!
Our friends the Rahmens Laura, Sami, Noah and Maya
Brinson loved the slide!
We will definitely have to go back to the museum. There were so many areas that we didn't get to see!
We're back with another round of pictures of our favorite little guy! We're having trouble blogging these days because if we go on the computer, Zachary comes in and says "pbskids" which is his favorite website. If we tell him that we are going to blog, he says "Brinson" so we watch Brinson's blog, which he loves to watch. When we are done watching a video he says "again". We love this, but it doesn't make it easy to get the blog done!
Last week was Zachary's last week of gym class (for a semester). He has a very full schedule! He has started Kindermusik and also Daddy & Me Sunday school class at our Temple (Mommy is teaching a Sunday school class this year). He goes to the library for Toddler Time and he and Ms. Donna love going to re-sale shops to find small little treasures. Plus we try to schedule lots of play dates and shopping (especially at Kroger since they have a bell to ring for good service and he loves ringing that bell!!) and lately our schedule has included lots of visits to Dr. Gray. Our poor kiddo has had a rough couple of weeks illness wise, he's had pink-eye, an ear infection and some mysterious virus that has only one symptom, a high fever. Thankfully he's doing great due to the excellent care of Dr. Gray, Ms. Donna and Mommy and Daddy too.
He "graduated" from his Early Childhood Intervention. Developmentally he is caught up or ahead of where he should be!! We're so proud of him but it is bittersweet as we won't be seeing Ms. Mary or Ms. Thien anymore. They have helped him (and us) become the little man (seriously!) that he is today. Thank you ladies!
Zachary is now 22 pounds, 6 ounces and is 33 inches long. He continues to follow his own little curve on the growth charts which is what they like to see. His favorite things right now are anything Disney and stuffed animals. He loves us to read Dr. Seuss (and play with the corresponding stuffed animals) and he likes his legos. He loves to sing and imaginative play is his favorite. He talks to and for his stuffed animals and enjoys making us "scrambled eggs" in his kitchen.
Here's some pictures from The Little Gym, visiting with Brinson and helping Ms. Mary with her ECI paperwork, enjoy!
Zachary and Ms. Kathy, his Little Gym teacher
He loves the high beam!
Wheeeeeee!!!
See? He just loves it!
Two of anything means Mickey Mouse ears!
This is Zachary's favorite shirt, he wants to wear it 24/7.
Climbing the alphabet rock wall
We see you Zachary!
Sitting in circle - this was a rarity, usually he is much more interested in exploring!
Helping Ms. Mary with his "graduation" paperwork.
Now what does that shirt say again? Mommy & Daddy got these hats at Disneyland when they were engaged, but since they have Mickey Mouse ears, Zachary thinks they are fair game for him (and Brinson)!
Watching Brinson
Zachary loves Brinson's whole family. He loves talking about Lisa, Ned, Brinson and MeMe. Zachary has noticed Mommy and Daddy's rings and we explained that we got them when we got married. So, at some point over the last month he has said he was going to marry each one of them. "Marry Ned." "Marry Lisa", etc. so cute!
We tried and tried, but we couldn't get them both to look at us let alone look and smile!
Here's Zachary helping Ms. Mary
Here's a snippet of what we get to watch every day!!
Zachary is mastering the art of rock climbing, rock wall climbing that is! 
