The Zany Zukowski Weblog

We’ve noticed that we hit the sponge stage with Stephen. Everything is questioned and there are new vocabulary words popping out of his mouth everyday. Here are a few we’ve heard: 

“mom I got the lid off, that required a lot of muscles.”

“it did, huh?” I replied

“yea, it required a lot of muscles” he put emphasis on the word just to be sure I caught his use of a ‘5 dollar’ word. 

He also says: “mom lets discuss the plan”  

“Yes, lets discuss our plan” I reply! 

He wants to discuss! Or discush as he pronounces it! 

He is always asking questions, what does ‘believe’ mean? What does ‘extreme’ mean? What does ‘evil’ mean? How do you explain extreme to a 5 year old? I think I gave a lame answer. 

Freddy too is picking up on words, he said “That was so totally awesome!” with lots of appropriate vocal inflections. I haven’t talked like this since I was in in middle school, where did he hear that?  

Theo just coos, which is fine because I think I’m out of answers. He’s pulling things into his mouth, and continues to smile all the time! 

We had a blizzard and took the boys sledding, enjoy the photos! (Stephen and Freddy took turns taking pictures too!) 

Valentine’s day is a big holiday in our house. Michael and I had our first date on Valentines day, many years ago, and we still try to make it a fun day. I got some lovely cards, and chocolate, which is my very favorite. I made some photo collages of the boys with their help to give to Daddy. But that was only a red herring. I contacted an artist about doing a pencil drawing of our 3 boys. Because of slow mail service, and not calling the artist quite soon enough, we just got the sketch yesterday. It was worth the wait!

I decided to get out of the house yesterday and enjoy the nice weather. Not too hot yet, not too cold just perfect for visiting the zoo. The animals were active, the trees were blooming for spring, and everyone was in good spirits. We saw the polar bears back floating, the lions sun tanning, and rode the carosel. Daddy even treated everyone to ice cream cones! But you must know that visiting the zoo with young children is not without mishaps. 

We drove out of Castle Rock, and checked in with Daddy, who said he’d meet us at the zoo. It’s about a 45 minute drive from our house to the zoo, and so as soon as we were within sight of the zoo, Freddy announces he has to poop. Lucky for us we snagged a close parking space. We zip through member’s check in, when Stephen notices a sign with a picture of a gun, and a red line through it. Naturally, Stephen must tell the zoo clerk, in a voice loud enough for the entire entrance line to hear, that no guns are allowed in the zoo. (As if she didn’t know about this rule) But sweet lady that she is, she plays along and agrees with Stephen. Stephen feels like a big boy, Jeremy roars at a statue of a lion, and Freddy runs off. We have arrived!

We made our first stop, at the restrooms. Of course I have 4 boys and the family bathroom is occupied so we all trudge into the ladies room. Theo and Jeremy stayed in the stroller, Freddy had to poop and Stephen went in his own stall to pee. Of course Freddy is still little and needs help on and off the potty, Stephen is fine on his own or so I think. I hear a scream from Stephen and a whine

“Mom, I dropped my snack in the toilet!” 

“Ok” I respond and open the door to find Stephen holding a dripping wet plastic bag.

EEEEEWWWWWWWWWW!  I repeat my mantra ‘hand washing, good hand washing is how to stay healthy’, I don’t even try to explain to my son how full of bacteria and germs a public restroom is, but I gingerly take the gross baggie and tell him to go wash his hands. I toss the wet baggie and wash my own hands. Now Freddy needs my help getting out of bathroom stall. Stephen starts to whine about not having any snack, and I tell him we don’t take snacks into the bathroom with us, he should have left it in the stroller. Freddy is sitting on the floor of the public restroom to put on his pants and shoes. Ugh! Germs! Repeat mantra ‘hand washing, good hand washing is how to stay healthy ‘.  Jeremy is wandering away and Theo is hungary. Freddy washes his hands, Jeremy is rounded up and we’re on our way. 

Canadian Geese winter in the warm Colorado sun, and make a lot of noise with all their honking. Freddy and Jeremy walk up to the geese with the clear intention of petting them. I warn them that geese will bite and don’t want to be pet. Freddy develops an immediate fear of any goose within 10 feet. There are geese everywhere in the zoo, its going to be a long day. Jeremy on the other hand is undaunted, and continues to try and pet the geese. I repeat it will be a long day. We stop to see the lions and there are benches to sit on, so I take the opportunity to nurse Theo while the kids are entertained by the sun tanning lion. We are almost finished when Jeremy walks off to pet a goose. Stephen and Freddy round him up back to us, and after a quick change for Theo we are off again. Our little herd takes in the felines, giraffes and loves the backstroking polar bears. We stop for lunch, and walk into the reptile house. Michael joins us. YES an extra pair of hands! I forgot the ‘Baby Bjorn’ and must carry Theo while herding the little ones. We manage to wind our way through the reptile house without any major injuries, unlike last time when Stephen split open his head. 

Our trip is wrapping up. We visit the carrousel, have an ice cream cone, and wander through bird world. Bird world is free flight bird exhibit. Our timing was perfect, because we arrived just in time for the bug toss. The boys got a handful of meal worms and then just as the name implies, they tossed the worms to the birds. Fun times! A little hand sanitizer and our day at the zoo is complete. One more bathroom stop, and we load up into the vehicles. Kids are a sleep in 5 minutes. Another successful trip to the zoo. 

Stephen came home from school on Monday, March 16 all excited about leprechans and St. Patrick’s Day. He told us that his teacher told the class all about leprechans and that they are sneaky but can be caught with a trap. If caught, leprchans will give you their gold. So his teacher would set a trap and try to catch a leprechan. Well not to be outdone,  and after the kids went to bed on the 16th, Daddy set a leprechan trap complete with a note. The note said he caught a leprechan named Seamus, and that he’d give the boys gold. Well  Seamus was gone by the morning of the 17th, but there was gold in the form of Sacagawea coins. The boys were thrilled! What a great dad!

I am the finder, not the mom, or friend or teacher, but the finder. Just yesterday I found 2007 tax paperwork for my husband after his exhaustive search around the house. (It was in the oh so obvious paperwork place on the floor behind the couch, it slid back there on it’s own) I found a monster truck for the neighbor boy. (REally what was he thinking bringing a toy to our house? Our house is littered with toys!) I found my son’s shoes, in his room instead of the shoe place. Really I am not a mom at all, I am a finder of lost things. I love my husband, because he cooks, but he can’t find anything. And when he’s gone for 48 hrs it takes us 2 more days to point out everything that’s moved around the house. Our house is not static, it’s a living organism with stuff moving all the time. I am probably unaware of how many things flitter and flit about then return to their homes. I need a clock like Mrs. Weasley, that tells me the whereabouts of my family at all times and I need to perfect that ‘accio’ spell too!

I got an education, first I completed high school then I promptly went to college. I earned a degree in education, elementary education. I completed college and promptly got a job, teaching. I liked it so much after just one year, I went back to college for another degree a higher degree in teaching, a master’s degree. I taught for 9 years in the classroom. And while I haven’t seen it all, I’ve seen a lot. I learned a lot about how to avoid disasters, what questions to not answer, and how to redirect children’s attention. And yet, I still get sucked into circular conversations, that end in frustration for me not them. We’re driving around town and there is a statue of a cowboy and his horse on 5th street. Freddy asks in a rapid fire monologue

“what’s that round thing mom? the round thing what is it? What is the round thing? I think it’s a rope.”  

“oh the round thing you see it’s a rope.” I reply

“no mom it’s not a rope. I don’t know what it is” says Freddy

Wait he told me it was a rope, there’s a statue of a cowboy and a horse he’s probably looking at a rope, until I agree? This makes for fun driving! 

At times our conversations are very repetitive about the same things over and over and over, the same for questions, but I think that the kids so want to converse with us and they can only say or remember so much, so they revert to repetition. Of course we converse all the time as adults and I like to think our topics are varied and interesting but I suppose that’s open to interpretation. So the little sponges imitate us and repeat repeat repeat conversations.

The great thing about being a part of the fire department, that is so young and productive, is that our kids have lots of other kids their age to play with. Here are some pictures of Theo’s future girlfriends. One is 2 days younger and one is 2 months younger! Too cute! Yeah for babies! 

He is such a big kid now! The great part is he’s so independent and can do a lot for himself, like getting dressed and brushing his teeth. He and Freddy even help out with putting away the laundry! He’s a very kind big brother and proud too! Being such a big kid, he’s also very aware of everything we do and say. ‘Mom what does fooled mean?  Mom what does puke mean? Mom why is a bad dream called a nightmare?’ Wow! I answer questions all day long and sometimes I can’t explain, really how do you explain the etymology of the word nightmare? I have no idea where it came from anyway. It’s no wonder we grow up and think our parents don’t know anything, because my ‘oh so intelligent’ response was ‘that’s what it’s called’. A friend pointed out that once she had kids of her own, her parents became geniuses, I think my friend is right.  I admit it gets tiresome to answer questions all day, but I’ll miss the questions when he’s in kindergarten Monday through Friday next school year. Such is life I suppose, when we’re in the moment of parenting some stages and phases can feel so overwhelming, but once they’re gone, we miss them. I’m grateful to have these fleeting moments with these guys, ok not so much the puking moments, but the others ones are pretty cool! 

Freddy is quite the character. He’s put on Theo’s pants, which as it turns out he can wear as knickers, he has swaddled himself up as a nun or a baby, we call him Sister Mary Fred. And he also has his favorite hip hop outfit. Freddy really likes to say hang loose, which we learned when we visited Hawaii, almost a year ago. Being 3 when he says hang loose it sounds more like ‘hang-a woose’ and I think it’s so much fun now because he’s figured out how to make the hang loose sign with his hands independently. Now if he could only hang loose all the time instead of having the impatience of a 3 year old!

Theo is 12weeks today but not 3 months yet. He’s a cutie and very happy. His brothers still think he’s their personal doll.They want to hold him and actually argue over who gets to hold him first!  Freddy squished his tummy too hard on Sunday and got spit up out. Poor Theo! Stephen announces to every person we meet that we have a baby brother. (this includes but is not limited to cashiers, strangers in the soup aisle, police officers and people at church!) I’ve also been told by my 5 and 3 year old that I should have another baby in my tummy so we could have 4 babies. We’ll see about that, 3 may be enough. He’s not quite sleeping through the night, but he’s regular enough that it’s not an issue.

 Our old blind lab stepped on Theo’s baby bouncer bending it at an awkward angle. (Yes Theo was in it at the time, and while he was  scared he was unharmed.) Theo got a new bouncer seat. He seems pretty happy with it! If he likes Teddy better as a nickname, he’s got pictures to prove he was once a Teddy bear!