The wave

One of the things they never tell you in those child-rearing books is just how much toilet paper you're going to go through if you have a 4 -1/2 year old and a 1-1/2 year old. The 4-1/2 year old still can't quite gauge how much he needs, and the 1 1/2 year old just wants to grab the end of the roll and run...

So. Since I last wrote, Zach hit the 18-month mark and Luke is down one tooth. You won't see any pictures of these milestones because our camera is officially kaput. Dave bought a new camera the other day but it's still sitting downstairs somewhere under wraps and we haven't had a chance to put it to official use yet.

The tooth-pulling thing was OK, all things considered. Luke was really out of it that day from 9 am till about 2 pm, when he suddenly bounced up and started doing projects. (I thought he was OK immediately after the procedure, until he told the nurse dreamily, "You look like you have three eyeballs.") The tooth fairy left him a shiny 50-cent piece and a card; later in the day she left him a present (collection of large bugs encased in plastic, plus magnifying glass) outside the front door. Luke was so excited about the tooth fairy that for about three days all he wanted to do was play tooth fairy and re-enact the leaving of presents under a pillow.

At the moment, there's basically a big hole in the front of his face where his tooth used to be. It's mostly healed but it seems to be a little sore because yesterday he was complaining that it burned while he was eating pizza. That's a big bummer because a pizza-free diet means that just about 50 percent of his food options are gone. But in general, he's been a good sport about the whole thing.

So Zach is now a year and a half. I kinda thought he might have more words now than he does, but what he lacks in actual words he makes up for in constant expressive babbling and tuneful singing. Today his big word was "Wow!" so when I took him to the pumpkin patch he was entertaining me by getting excited at every new batch of pumpkins: "Wow! Wow! WOW!"

Another thing about Zach is that he's incredibly conscientious. If he sees trash at the park, he'll pick it up and put it straight in the trash can. When he's finished with a meal at home, he'll carry his plate into the kitchen...and put it straight in the trash can. We'll have to work on that part a little bit, but at least his heart is in the right place.

It's hard not to compare Zach with Luke; I know that Luke was/is a generally more outgoing guy with strangers. Luke is/was the kind of kid who has a big smile and something to talk about with everyone. Zach is a little bit of a harder nut to crack. He mostly clings to me around strangers and rarely gives a smile for someone on command. But we've had a few breakthroughs this week. He didn't cry at all when Juana and Jennifer came to babysit, and he readily and happily offered balls and kisses to Suzi and Bill when they came to dinner. Today, shock of all shocks, when Luke's teacher said goodbye to us as we left school, Zach waved and said, "Bye!" Now that is a huge first.

I'm really fine with Zach having his own distinct personality and I'm not trying to force him to be someone he's not. It just makes me sad that he's a little harder to warm up to because I know what an amazing, funny, cool little guy he is and I wish that more people would have a chance to see that.

But here's the thing: I know another guy who is kind of like that some ways. He doesn't necessarily open up to everyone; maybe it's a little harder to get super-close to him. But once you're in his inner circle, you get to see what an amazing, hilarious, brilliant, completely unique and lovable person he is. And once you're in, he is a dedicated friend for life. I think Zach takes after him in a lot of ways, and that's just one of the many reasons I love them both.

Update #1: Yesterday my friend Jenny, one of the sweetest people in the universe, said hi to Zach and he buried his face in my chest. She just patted him on the head and laughed. "You're going to love me, little man," she said. "You just don't know it yet." Luke has a huge crush on Jenny, so she is probably right.

Update #2: To be entirely clear for the uninitiated: I am talking about Dave. There. Everyone happy now?