Zack - Two to Three

We had a little party for Zack's 2nd birthday.  He had a Telletubbies cake and got some gifts. As a parent, you just love those presents that make lots of noise...such was this truck.  It ran on batteries and once you turned it on, it would make several different noises depending on which button(s) you pressed.

He loved it...but it stayed at my parent's house!  


About a month after he turned two, he bought me one of his Telletubby videos that he wanted to watch.  But I had another idea (I was a little tired of the Telletubbies)...Thomas the Tank Engine!  Oh.My.Goodness.
See this happy boy?

He dropped his body on the floor and started crying as if I had just asked him to cut off his right arm or something!  
But, being the mean kind of mother that doesn't give in to tantrums...I put the Thomas the Tank Engine video in and walked away.
Two minutes later...

And a four year obsession with Thomas began.  Oh, and I never had to watch another Telletubbies show again!!!!

Because of the boys' karate schedule, we spent quite a bit of time at the nearby Burger King.

They knew me so well I even got a job working there a couple nights a week while my sister watched the boys.  
At the end of July, I re-entered the work force full time (or nearly full time) when I got a job at a Day Care Center across the street from the school the boys attended.  It was a perfect arrangement.


Now, this is where Zack's stranger anxiety really kicked into high gear! He was a handful for his poor teachers the first few days, crying every waking moment and not moving away from the doorway.  He knew I was in the building somewhere.


My mom kept him for one day to give his poor teachers a break.

Looks sweet doesn't he?  And notice he's still rockin it out in the triple wide white shoes?


But around this time I found success in these adjustable adidas sandals.

They had velcro on the top so I could loosen them to fit his crazy fat feet.
This picture was taken at EPCOT center at the height of his "scream my head off at Daycare" period. On his sixth full day there, he finally stopped crying...on this day his teachers discovered a secret weapon that would keep him quiet.. his blanket.  Whatever it takes!

At least he stopped crying and his teacher's could regain their sanity.  And eventually, he discovered that school could even be fun.

On August 29th my grandma died quite unexpectedly.  This also resulted in an unexpected trip to Wisconsin for the funeral.  I bought Zack with me while C.J. and Jon stayed with their dad.

We flew back to Florida less than a week before 9-11.
I was a little worried about his readjustment to Day Care but he did just fine.

Um...I'm not sure why he wearing a Jacksonville Jaguars jersey here.  I must have gotten it really cheap. I don't remember even owning one.


Turning three was a huge step because it involved a change in rooms and teachers at Day Care.

But he did amazingly well!  The teacher used the blanket trick for the first few days but everything went great!  I was a little nervous because his new teacher was not exactly a compassionate person and certainly had no tolerance for tears.

But, besides not being potty trained (which she didn't care for) he fit in her class perfectly (for the time being anyway).
His three year pictures:

So cute!!!!!