Zachary is learning a valuable lesson–that sometimes mom knows best.

Had he listened to me and put his brand new $100 bill away when I told him to, it wouldn’t have fallen out of his pocket. And he wouldn’t have mowed over it. What makes it heartbreaking for me is that this is $100 he earned himself, mowing lawns. As much as I want to simply replace it, I know that I would be doing him a disservice if I did. If I dropped a hundred dollar bill on the street and walked away, no one’s going to give me another one. Hopefully, my bank will take pity on him and swap the pieces of his shredded bill for a new one (I think we’re close to 50%). Otherwise, my heart will hurt because he’s upset. But I bet that next time I tell him to do something important, he listens to me.

It’s also very interesting to see how Chris and I have influenced him, and his vocabulary. We never really talked to him like he was a baby or a child, which is evidenced by his use and understanding of words and terms well beyond his age. This can be a great thing, but every coin has two sides, and many words have multiple meanings. And it can often be amusing to hear Zachary’s definitions of words he thinks he knows.

A perfect example came from a Goosebumps book he was reading the other day. I randomly have him read out loud a few pages of the various books he reads to check his comprehension, and he came across the sentence “The window was framed by large, black, ominous shutters.” I made him stop there, because I was sure the word “ominous” was going to trip him up. As it turned out, however, I was wrong. He very clearly defined ominous as “scary and evil”, which, while technically defined as “…foreboding or foreshadowing evil…”, Zachary obviously got the point.

No, ominous did not trip him up at all–but he still had an odd look on his face, like he didn’t quite understand the sentence. After a moment of thought I realized the word that was causing him problems was “framed”, so I asked him if he knew what that word meant. He told me he did, but he didn’t understand what it had to do with a window. Now it was my turn to look perplexed, and I asked him to tell me what the word “framed” meant, to which he replied, “That’s when someone tries to get you into trouble by blaming you for something that you didn’t do. So what would someone be blaming a window for, anyway?”

Priceless. My 7-year old doesn’t equate “framed” with enclosing something, like a picture or a window; no, he understands the nefarious act of falsely accusing someone of something. Where did I go wrong? (That’s a rhetorical question. Heh, one of these days I’ll write a post about that word.)

The afternoon’s love fest started with Zachary trying to watch the cartoon that Jonah was watching and Jonah blocking Zachary’s view. After a few renditions of “get out of my way!” followed by grunting and heavy breathing, I was not surprised when the high-pitched shrieking reached my ears.

When I got to the living room I found Zachary looking contrite and trying to console a wailing Jonah. Okay, he was really trying to talk him into not squealing on him. Which of course, Jonah promptly did. It seems that Jonah had been standing on the couch, and when he wouldn’t get out of Zachary’s way, Zachary pushed him. Off the couch.

From these pics it’s hard to see how big and dark the bruise was (the little bugger won’t stand sill!), but it’s several days later and he still has his “trophy”.

I’m sure this is just the first of many brother-inflicted wounds to come. I think it’s time to invest in a first aid kit. Or a stand-by EMT.

Zachary’s Fourth Birthday

Zachary’s birthday party was a definite success. We rounded up the usual suspects and bounced around IPEZ. Kids of all ages had a blast playing on the big bouncies and sliding down the huge slide. Of course the birthday meal consisted of pizza and birthday cake, and Zachary received so many great gifts. Thank you for all of the wonderful presents. I’m enjoying them more than Zachary–he actually stays busy now for more than 10 minutes at a time!

Father’s Day

We spent Father’s Day on Singer island with Nana where we relaxed and drove down to Miami to visit Uncle Cory, who was under the weather. (Zachary still wants to know why Uncle Core lives in “your ami.”) Daddy received the Special Edition U2 red and black iPod (a steal on eBay). He seems to be enjoying it quite well and is now often seen doing a mean air-drum solo while doing household chores.

Tattoos

Towards the end of June, I went and got my fourth tattoo–a sunflower on the top of my left foot. I’ve been wanting it for awhile, so when I came upon the perfect picture, decided finally where I wanted to put it, I decided it was time. The artist did an amazing job and I’m pretty thrilled with it. It looks pretty sweet with all of my Florida-y shoes!

Baby Loves Disco

Lastly, there was the dance party.

It’s pretty surreal to take your child dancing in a nightclub. There’s a group called “Baby Loves Disco” and they sponsor dance events at local nightclubs, where you bring your kids. Of course, since Zachary LOVES to dance I had to take him. We had a pretty darn good time, once he warmed up to the idea. He was all for going to the dance party until he got there and saw so many people. It took about 90 minutes, but he finally got his groove on. Be sure check out the video–it’s on the Eye Candy page.

As always, the slideshows are updated to include June activities. No, I haven’t forgotton Jonah. This month, however, we remembered that there were other people in our family 😉

For Mother’s day, Chris gave me the sweetest present–he sent me to South Carolina to see my dearest friend Michelle. The boys and I went on a road trip. Sounds like a Lifetime movie, doesn’t it? Tagline: Eight hours in a car with two small children–who will survive? Actually, it wasn’t bad. We just made a lot of stops and got all sugared up. It was definitely worth the drive–South Carolina is beautiful. I wish I could’ve spent more than two days to see the sights. We did get to see the SC aquarium and downtown Charleston. Standing in what used to be the slave market was really creepy, but the antebellum homes on the water with their widow’s walks and gardens were really amazing. We’ll definitely have to go back.

June is here and is going to be just as busy as May…stay tuned 🙂