The Sweetie

I realized that the last few posts are mostly devoted to talking about how much Zain screams, so I should mention here that he is the most adorable, sweet, and fun little kid when he is not screaming.  :-)  Actually, the screaming was only when he was falling asleep and has pretty much stopped now that he has reacquainted himself with his paci. 

He really is a sweet little thing.  He always has giant smiles for us when he first sees us - a guaranteed mommy melter.  Yesterday, he farted and started giggling.  We're told this is normal male behaviour and will continue for at least 30 years.  

Yukking it up

Zain has developed all sorts of new skills in the last couple weeks.  He's very reliably getting his hands into his mouth now.  I'm sure this makes him happy, but it also creates very slimy little hands and makes it very hard to get a shirt on him.  He's also become a grabber - he'll grab bibs, Mommy's shirt, burp cloths.  He also loves to grab his new favourite toy, the "crazy ball", and immediately tries to shove the entire thing into his mouth.  

The crazy ball (we love this husky sleeper that was a gift from Jennah and Taz in Atlanta!)

Also grabbable - his own hair!

Zain also "talks" a lot these days.  If this continues and you combine it with Shif's chatty ways, this may mean that I will spend most of the rest of my life in silence.  He has a wide range of coos, squeals, laughs, and grunts.  He seems to develop a new sound every day and then spends most of the day trying it out.  Today, it was a deep man-voice hoot.  We've tried in vain to get a good video of him chatting, but the appearance of the camera seems to be a surefire way to get him to clam up.  We'll keep trying, because he's very entertaining. This video illustrates a small portion of his range.

We're in Florida right now, enjoying not having to pack up all our stuff for another five days.  Temperatures are a bit chilly by Florida standards, but we really can't complain given what what's going on in Ohio and Toronto.  It looks like we won't be busting out Zain's little speedo after all (unless we stay somewhere with an indoor pool on the way home!)  We have gotten a little time on the beach.  That went surprisingly well because it's been windy and Zain hates wind.  It seems to bother his tiny, stuffy little nose.  A few pics from our temporary home:

A diaper change on the beach

 

Co-napping after a long afternoon at the dog beach

Why is this one giving me a bottle?

Um.... yes, you should really use the safety harness

And yes, my first inclination when I saw him like this was to grab the camera, not to help him!  (Disclaimer: I was there the whole time and he was fine!!!)