Dinomania (August 2016)

August has been a month of obsessions. Alexander kicked off the month with a fixation on coloring animals, which are now decorating the play room. This evolved into an absolute craze for all things dinosaur. He has now colored several coloring books’ worth of dinosaurs (for the most part while singing “Carry On Wayward Son”). He knows at least one dinosaur for every letter of the alphabet, likes to list them in alphabetical order, and can talk about almost nothing else. We have recently moved on to a more labor-intensive phase of the obsession, in which Mommy is commanded to draw dinosaurs and suitable landscapes for Alexander to color. (Coming soon to a blog near you.) Overall, the dinosaur hobby is much more fun to indulge than the Cars and Radiator Springs hobby. Nothing is music to Mommy’s ears like the words “Mommy, let’s spend the whole rest of the day drawing. But you should have some coffee first.”

Zachary’s “interests” seem to be evolving in step with Alexander’s, and his obsession with markers pales only in comparison with Alexander’s obsession with dinosaurs. Zachary plays endlessly with markers, often coloring (which he usually does on paper, thank goodness), but usually taking the caps on and off. Zachary has also become a fan of Curious George and of ducks. He quacks whenever he sees a duck, and his frequent quacking has alerted us to the fact that there are a surprising number of ducks in the house and in the world at large! Zachary walks fairly well now – much better even than when the photos below were taken. But he still prefers crawling when he is seized by the urge to snuggle, and must reach the object of his affections as quickly as possible. (This happens often.)

In other news, school started for Zachary on the 16th and for Alexander on the 17th. It seems to be going well for both, but cannot compare to the thrill of dinosaurs! Coincidentally, the “academic” theme for Alexander’s class this year is dinosaurs, so hopefully he will be in his element.

Well, there’s no more time to write today. It’s time to draw a hadrosaurus.