November 14th, 2008

With this being the last day of assignment I have been thinking about my blogging experience. After the initial hesitation, I grew to enjoy and actually have a lot of fun with my posts. I am considering to keep up this blog even after our marketing class since not only is it a fun way of keeping a diary of our family, but it also is a great way for the Grandparents to catch up with our kid's lives. Grandpa Bob is a follower now and seems to like this communication tool. We do live in an interesting world where letters are not the only option anymore...Isn't it amazing that our kids are able to chat and see their Grandparents in Europe through Skype? That they are able to download photos of the kids within seconds and email with daily updates.

So stay tuned for more from the Engelcrew!

November 13th, 2008

Oliver has a girlfriend! Her name is Sophie and she is 2 months his senior (he already prefers older women)...Sophie is genuinely interested in Oliver and his toys while Moms yap about Mommy issues over coffee. Oliver is interested in Sophie's ribbon hair clip...They share animal crackers and cheerios.

Regular playground/library afternoon for the Engel crew (minus Daddy). Adam had a "first" at the play structure today. After watching his 1 year younger friend slide down the firefighter pole he decided to give it a try. With a huge help from Mom supporting his bottom he managed to slide/jump down...he was so proud! and wanted to do it over and over. Mom had to stop him and rest her arms for a moment...she will have to do some extra work at yoga tonight to relax her achy back...

November 12th, 2008

Busy day today, not much time with the family.  Work then class and by the time I got home the kiddies were in bed.  We are taking family pictures tomorrow so there should be some good stories to tell from that!

Congrats goes out to Tim Lincecum on winning the NL Cy Young Award!!!  

And a nice OT win for the Warriors last night as well!

November 11th, 2008

SHARING IS FUN! was the theme of today.  For many months we have been trying to convince  Adam that it is actually ok to share.  He has been pretty good about "other people's stuff" but his toys, books, gear, room and his brother are sacred.  Not only does he not let anyone touch these, but he is visibly annoyed even when someone just looks at his stuff.  Today was a big breakthrough.  On the way to playground Mommy put down the rules: "we will either share your favorite robot ball, or the ball has to stay in the car."  Adam had a long time to think this through and at the end decided to give it a try.  They took the ball out and immediately a little boy approached him.  After the encouragement from Mommy, Adam played soccer and catch with the little boy and actually HAD FUN!  Way to go Adam.

No news on the Oliver front.  Maybe just a few more bunny hops this morning...

November 10th, 2008

Monday. Busy work day for me, exciting preschool day for Adam. Adam got his first invitation to join his classmates outside of school at Sean's birthday party. The invitation came on a special card with a picture of "Cars" which is Adam's all time favorite animation. It only made it that much more special. He talked about it the whole way home in the car. I guess he is at the age when his friends are becoming much more real than his imaginary friends Kablub and Kablulu who he "played" with for most of his second year. We are making progress!
Pretty mellow day for Mama and Oliver. His crawling has not improved in the past 3 days. It still looks like 2 or 3 bunny hops forward. I guess the items that we plant 2 or 3 feet ahead of him (books, toys) are just plainly not so interesting. Even though today he made a major bunny hop after a lost Cheerio that he found lying on the ground. Maybe we will have to put some Fillet Mignon there to make him crawl...

November 9th, 2008

Another Engel boy day. Mommy is working like a horse :) so we are YOYO (you are on your own) these days...

Can't wait to go back to work on Monday and pass on the parenting responsibilities  - pfuf, they do wear you out!!!

Tomorrow will be a more inspiring day since it is preschool and Lola will hopefully keep us entertained.  

Warriors at Kings tonight - Go Warriors! 

November 8th, 2008

Not too much happening with the Engelcrew today. Pretty mellow at home with 'da boys while Mama was at work. We did hit a couple of toy stores and a bakery on our weekly Saturday walk to West Portal. The advise from Mom was "keep their tummys full and you will survive the day". We only had to call her once, which was a big success since I usually averaged 5 to 10 calls while she is at work. Overall another good day at the Engel house.

November 7th, 2008

Another big day for the Engelcrew. Oliver, our very chubby 10 month old, finally developed the strength in his arms and was able to "crawl" about half a foot forward. His mommy was cheering him along the way.
Adam had yet another great day at pre-school. Lola said that she really liked his shirt with the dogs! But then he said that Lola was not at pre-school today??
I am enjoying my Friday night in with a beer pretending that I am hitting the bars. My wife is at work pretending to work :)

November 6th, 2008

OOO - big night for the Engelcrew.  It was our first parent teacher night at Adam's pre-school.  I met Ms Alice and Mr Charles and Lola's mom.  Lola is the classroom's Ms Popular and Adam, of course, talks about her constantly.  

So now all of a sudden on my tag I am not Zach, I am Adam's dad...The school years have begun.

November 5th, 2008

Howdy! Welcome to the Engel family blog.