Funky Monkey

I love this little monkey!

Zain welcomes Shif home from work.  He's a little bit particular.

A Boy and His Food

Shif called from work while Z was eating.  Not wanting to be interrupted, he propped up the phone, put up his feet, and kept munching while he chatted with Mum Mum.

He pulled his Cheerio snack bowl out of the diaper bag on his own.

Does this need a caption?

19-month-olds eat free at the all-you-can-eat sushi place.  They may be regretting that.

A milestone - licking a beater for the first time!  It was mashed potato-cauliflower.

Outside

Zain has been getting lots of outside time in our alternating winter-summer weather lately.  He loves to run around (and try to run away), pick up sticks, and play at the park.  He can spot a playground from a mile away.  He recently went through a couple of weeks of slidephobia.  He has always loved slides, but he bit off more than he cared to chew one day on a tall, spiral slide.  After that, he was very leery of even the tiniest slide.  But in the last couple days, he seems to have regained his slide mojo.

This park near our house is now known as "Choo Choo Park" because he can watch trains going by

More trainspotting at Choo Choo Park

Stopping to smell the hyacinths.  He also occasionally tries to taste the hyacinths.

First day of the year in shorts!  He seemed a little confused when I put them on him.  He looked down like "why can I see my legs???"

The coolest thing at Christie Pits park

Enjoying spring with Bapa and Naani

With Bapa on the way to pick up Naeem at school

Cherry Blossoms

The beautiful cherry blossoms are out in High Park (almost a month early)!  We took a jaunt over there last week, along with hundreds of others.

The chase

Post-blossom snack

Mum Mum has a blossom in her hair!

He was only happy in this position for about 10 seconds

Obsession

For the last few months, Zain has had a slight obsession with putting things around his neck, cape-style.  It started with dish towels and has included clothes, bras, small area rugs, and - less cute - belts and electric cords.  Here's a sample:

Mum Mum's fleece

Superman is leaving the building

Don't mess with me

   

Tuxedo jacket

His winter coat

In a pinch, wooden puzzle pieces will do

Mommy is a Jukebox

Zain loves music (a.k.a. "minky").  He'll ask us to turn on the minky if it isn't on while he's playing. He plays his little toy xylophone/piano and sings a song of his own composition called Lola (there is one repeated lyric, inspired by a dog named Lulu that he met at the park).  


He can hum several bars of Frere Jacques to the right tune.  That was formerly his official sleep song; we'd hum it before we put him into his crib.  There are now several sleep songs and he has become very discerning about which one we sing.  We'll start a song and, after a note or two, he'll say "no" in a tiny but very directive voice.  Last night, I went through my entire repertoire of 8 or so songs, all rejected.  We finally landed on You are My Sunshine.  He knows when the end of the song is coming and will start saying "more" before you even get to the last line.  


Zain and I started a music class at the local community center last week.  He's the oldest kid in the class and the only one who seems to exhibit any signs of life.  Which makes him "that kid".  He runs into the middle of our little circle in the middle of activities, tries to take toys and instruments out of the cabinet while the teacher is trying to put them away, and generally is noticeable while all the other kids sit mute in front of their mommies.  But he seems to have fun.  Ashifa has gotten her old guitar out recently and he loves to strum it.  So when he sees the guitar in class, he squeals "Mum Mum gee-tah!"  

We have a CD called Zen Lullabies that one of Shif's friends gave us when Zain was first born.  It has been a fixture in our lives every day, multiple times per day for the last 400 days or so.  It's our official sleep instrumental music, and we play it during his naptime and bedtime routines.  When we travel, we even take it on an iPod so we can maintain his routine.  You'd think we'd be completely sick of it by now, but somewhere we aren't - the soothing Asian-ish music is relaxing for mommies, too.  Zain is a total creature of habit.  We use the same iPod, which contains oodles of kids' songs, in our stereo at home during the day.  So, when we play the iPod on shuffle, the sleep songs will occasionally come up.  Zain will be playing and partying and, all of a sudden, he'll go into a deep trance.  Shif and I will look at each other like "what is wrong with him??" and then we'll realize that one of Zen lullabies has come on.  Even when he's totally engaged in something, we've found he still is paying attention to the background music.  He'll be playing intently with blocks or Play Doh and suddenly shout "kazoo" when a certain song with a kazoo comes on. 


Yesterday, we went out with Stu and Paul to a restaurant that has a Family Acoustic Brunch on Sundays.   It was fantastic.  Everyone there had a kid or two, so they understood the occasional noise, fuss, squeal, or thrown food that occurs.  And the kids could roam around and climb on the furniture.  There was a bluegrass band that played and Zain sat in front of them, mesmerized at times.  He especially liked the gee-tah and banjo.  It also brought on the return of dancing Zain.  He went through a period several months ago where he would really boogie (the zenith of that period was a serious chair dance at a pub, where he got down to Play That Funky Music - glad my mom and grandma got to witness it!). But his dancing has almost completely died off in recent months.  But there was a little bluegrass bopping going on yesterday.  

Jam session with Naeem

Maestro

Morning cuddles with Binda

Making a tofu train

Swinging (and telling secrets?) with his pal Izzy

On display

"Playing" with Naeem

This is his new camera smile. Yeesh... Candids only from now on!

Zain's favorite kind of cheese is....

He likes it better than "cheddah"