NiklasAndZoe.com

Cuddles is ready for Zoe's birthday throwdown.

Niklas will tell Zoe the names of all of these buildings, even if he has to make them up.

July 2012

2012-06-03: So, we had yet another eventful weekend. On Friday, Niklas went to school and Zoe and I went to the gym which I only know because that's what we do pretty much every Friday. Friday was several days ago; I can't be expected to have recall of events that happened more than 24 hours previous. Let's just say we went to the playground on Friday. That sounds plausible.

Yesterday, Niklas had a t-ball game in the morning. He made solid contact off of the tee and hit the ball in both of his coach-pitch at bats. With the pitching, he clearly sacrifices power for contact, but on the other hand, he's five. He fielded the ball respectably as well. While Niklas was game facing it up, Zoe had an awesome time playing at the ball field adjacent playground. Her climbing skills are pretty exceptional at this point which is good and also quite a bit terrifying. After t-ball, Zoe went shopping with Andrya while Niklas and I went to see The Avengers. Niklas enjoyed all of the Hulk smashing, but when Iron Man made his first appearance, Niklas put his arms over his head and cheered like I do when the Penguins score and overtime goal. Also, The Avengers is awesome and you should totally go see it.

Today, Grandma Meeker came up and Niklas and Zoe both had fabulous times playing with her.

2012-06-04: So I'm late on the pictures this week. Hopefully, this self explanatory picture of normalcy and typical behavior will tide you over.

2012-06-05: Here's a complete list of things that Zoe threw on the ground while we were out and about today:

My CTA Card

A Fisher-Price Flamingo

2012-06-06: I don't want to alarm anyone, but Niklas's face currently looks a bit like this:

He doesn't have the puck dent in his face, which is a plus. The minus is I have no idea why his face is blowing up like the Hindenberg, but I'm sure a trip to the doctor's office in the morning will clear things up. On the plus side once again, here are some pictures of normal face Niklas and also Zoe.

2012-06-07: So, this morning Lord von Swollen Face, Lady McRuckus and I got an early start in order to make the 8:00 walk-in time at Niklas's doctor's office. I guess they figure (correctly) that if you have a sick kid (or a kid in general), you're not sleeping in. On the plus side, it's quite summery out so there's not a big walk-in crowd and people are summer houring it up so the bus wasn't even remotely crowded. Anyway, the doctor's official diagnosis was "I don't see anything wrong", so we'll keep an eye on the swelling with the expectation that it will give itself the gate without any effort from us.

Since licensed medical professionals opted to not restrict Niklas's activities, he, Zoe and I got some doughnuts ("Runs on Dunkin!" - fifteen month old Niklas) and watched the boats on the river for a while. It reminded me a bit of hanging out by Somerset Bridge in Bermuda except you couldn't see through the water and there were other people around. Then we went down to Millennium Park where the kids had a great time climbing on things, running about and splashing about in the fountain. I could tell Zoe was starting to get tired because when she is in need of rest, her trouble blocks are the first things to fail. The kids took their shoes and socks off for their fountain splashery and the reintroduction of these articles of clothing was delayed by Zoe's constant efforts to throw them pretty much anywhere she could. She regained her composure somewhat and we were able to eat lunch without getting a lifetime ban from the Chili's.

After Zoe's nap, we went to Niklas's t-ball practice. That went all right, but you could tell that the long day was starting to catch up with him. Tired Niklas has a hitch in his swing that makes all other hitchy swings look like Ken Griffey Jr. Still, he tried hard and had a good time, which is the point. While we were there, Zoe ate a bunch of grapes (that we brought with us; there's not a vinyard or anything at the practice field) and filled her baseball mitt with dirt, so good times all around.

2012-06-10: Well, the secret of Niklas's puffer fish impression has been revealed: terrible, terrible teeth. It's really not a surprise as the last time he had a swollen face it was because of his debacled molars, but it didn't become obvious until a giant lump appeared on his gums Friday afternoon. A couple calls to the dentist and some ammoxicillin later, his face is back to normal. He'll have to get one of his metal teeth removed and roll a molar down until his adult one comes in in several years, but other than that, he's' cool.

Today, Niklas was feeling much better (and looking less bloated). He had a t-ball game this morning complete with reasonable looking swings of the bat and league average plus fielding, so success. Once again, the game was at the playground adjacent field, so Zoe had a blast playgrounding it up. She climbed up a bunch of stuff, spent significant time on the swings and said "hi" to a few dogs. "Hi doggie!" said Zoe.

Here are some new pictures, mostly covering a two hour period.

2012-06-13: What's been up for the last couple of days? Well, let me tell you.

Monday: Niklas, Zoe and I headed down to the Menomenee club for Niklas's t-ball class. Inconveniently, when we got there, we learned that the gym had been double booked and that class was therefore postponed. "Oh well" - Niklas ; "Nooooo! Want go to t-ball! T-ball!" - Zoe

Tuesday: Niklas went to school and learned about construction equipment. Zoe tore it up at the gym's playroom and then tried to eat her weight in grapes.

Wednesday: Niklas made himself a sweet paper tool belt at school. Zoe went to music class with Andrya which resulted in Andrya getting the "Shake Your Sillies Out" song stuck in her head. Please pray for Andrya.

2012-06-18: Anyone care to guess how old Zoe is today? Here's a hint:

That's right; she's four if you ask her, but two if the documents issued us by the city upon the event of her birth are to be believed. As is befitting such an event, we've done a bit of celebrating over the past few days.

Friday: Zoe and I blew off our regular trip to the gym and went for a tricycle ride which is to say that I pushed her about while she did a passable impression of this lady by waving at passers by, people in cars at stop signs and the queue of people waiting to get into Wrigley Field. We also went to the playground with the fake camel. "Camel!" said Zoe.

Saturday: Niklas's Godfather Josh came in for a visit in time to watch the boy's t-ball game. Niklas played probably his best game of the season. He got hits off of the coach's pitching in all three of his at bats making "t-ball" a bit of a misnomer at this point and his fielding offered very little in the way of hilarity.

Sunday: Grandma and Papa Meeker came up with Uncle Eric and we celebrated Zoe's birthday with tacos, an Elmo shaped cake made by Andrya and a ton of presents. The most popular so far have been a comfy chair, a giant Foofa, a stroller for her baby doll and some bracelets but Zoe seemed to have as much or more fun tearing the paper off of her presents as she did playing with them.

Today: Today is Zoe's actual birthday, so Niklas and I took her out to do a bunch of stuff today. We went to the Zoo this morning where we learned that Zoe's love of the monkey house remains as strong as ever. "Monkey! Another monkey! There's another monkey!" quoth Zoe. She also went through the giant climby apparatus in the Children's Zoo for the first time. She was pretty excited about that. Also, Niklas and I had this exchange at the gorilla exhibit:

Me: What would you do if one of the gorillas got out of his habitat and was running around?
Niklas (without hesitation): Tell the zoo.

For lunch, Zoe wanted "chicken and fries" so we went to McDonald's for that. Then we went to the "water playground" (the regular playground, but the water features are turned on) in the afternoon. Then I passed out from exhaustion after updating the website. Before that happened, I was able to post some new pictures

2012-06-20: So yesterday, Zoe had her two year checkup at the doctor. The doctor asked if Zoe can she speak in two word sentences which, yes, to the third power even. Anyway, she weighs 24 pounds 8 ounces (which is skinny) is 33 3/4 inches tall (average) and has a big head (big). What else did we do... nothing. It was skull meltingly hot, so we laid low inside for the rest of the day. Today, Zoe had her last 12-24 month music class and she celebrated by jumping up and down in pretty impressive fashion. Niklas had t-ball practice and did not die of heat exhausion, so success.

2012-06-21: Well, I gave the kids the option today of going to the beach or heading downtown to Millenium Park. The beach lacks a giant face that spits water on you, so I guess I should have seen that the park would be the obvious choice. After an hour of running about in the water (which featured Niklas engaginging in a pitched splash battle royale with some other kids and Zoe stomping about like a giggly Godzilla), we checked out the orchestra rehearsing in the bandshell, looked at some flowers and then fled the park just ahead of a thunderstorm. Success!

2012-06-24: As is per usual, it was a busy weekend for Dr. Trouble and Lady von Ruckus. I wrote a song about it; wanna-hear-it-here-it-go:

Friday: Our usual Friday routine was disrupted by a trip to the dentist's office so Niklas could get the tooth responsible for his bloat face removed so as to prevent it from blowing his face up balloon-style in the future. Success, there. He was a bit slowed down by the gas they gave him, but he was back at 100% (or 100% minus whatever a missing tooth is worth on a percentage basis) by the afternoon.

Saturday: Niklas collected some tooth fairy cash and we headed off for his penultimate t-ball game with the Braves. He played as well as he did with twenty teeth, so there was that. While the Braves were on their way to their ninth straight no-decision, Zoe tore it up at the ol' playground which was apparently in need of some tearing up.

Today: Andrya took Niklas to a birthday party for his friend Catherine. A good time was apparently had by all. Meanwhile, Zoe and I rolled out with the tricycle and hit the pirate playground. Because I will occasionally apply forethought to my actions, I changed her out of her white jeans before we left which worked out on account of how she jumped into the sandbox as soon as we got there and proceeded to dump sand on herself for twenty minutes or so. She followed that up with some climbing and swinging for one to two minutes on every swing that the pirates who built the playground (I assume) thought to install.

In other news, Zoe has figured out how to wriggle herself out of her sleep sack even when it's pinned closed. She follows that up by taking off her pajamas and diaper and often as not, peeing on her bed. So that's awesome. Also awesome? New pictures.

2012-06-25: As the children have no conception of what is and what is not appropriate beach weather, we went to the beach this morning to enjoy some mid 60s sunshine. Despite the moderate temperature and crazy wind gusts, Niklas insisted on running out into the water, getting knocked down by a wave, running back up the beach and then repeating the whole thing about a billion times. Zoe tried it once, got knocked down and then swore eternal vengeance against waves, the lake and perhaps even the concept of weather.

2012-06-27: Yesterday, the children badgered (badger badger badger Mushroom! Mushroom!) me into taking them to the playground by pulling them in the wagon. We had this exchange on the way:

Me: How are you doing, Niklas?
Niklas: (plays the Super Hero Squad Theme Song on a kazoo)
Me: Zoe, how are you?
Zoe: (laughs hysterically)

So, success, I guess. Today, Zoe and I went to the zoo while Niklas was at school (awesome) and then in the afternoon, Andrya took Niklas to a playdate with his future Alcott classmates (awesome) while Zoe got sent to bed early for acting like a two year old (a drag if you define a drag as something that involves infinite screams).

2012-06-28: It was a bit warmer than I enjoy today (104 at one point), so we had that to deal with. My preferred option would have been to sit inside and watch TV all day, but Niklas and Zoe are both quite susceptible to an infuriating strain of cabin fever which is why we were at the playground at 7:45 in the morning. After yon punks ran out a bit of their energy (and we were perhaps moments away from bursting into flames), we ran some errands and cursed the not very significant walks from the car to wherever as far, far too significant. In the afternoon, Niklas had t-ball practice which featured twenty minutes of batting (while Zoe tried to do cartwheels and somersaults under the tutelage of one of the Braves' older sister), a ten minute water break (while Zoe straight rolled around in some dirt) and then an admission of defeat at the hands of the horrible, horrible sun.