Castle Island...

Alexander & I went to Castle Island again today. Daddy went to the TPC Golf and since it was beautiful out, we couldn't pass up the opportunity.

It was packed because it was so nice out...it took me a bit to find a place to park. Thankfully it was nice out because I parked a ways away. We walked over to Sullivan's to get hot dog & french fries. Alexander was more interested in the french fries this time ... can't blame him! These french fries are good!!

He loves this place as much as I do for three reasons:

*Planes

*Dogs

*Birds

People must think something is wrong because Alexander is constantly screaming...but it's because he's excited to see either a plane, dog or bird. He gets even happier when a dog comes up to the carriage.

We were walking around and I thought it would be fun to take him out of the stroller and run around for a bit. Silly me. He didn't want to get back into the stroller, he just wanted to run! Needless to say, he was a little mad at me when I put him back in the stroller so we could finish walking around and ultimately back to the car.

But the weather was perfect for a day at Castle Island...nice way to end Labor Day.

Itsy Bitsy...

Alexander has added another "song" to his repetoire.

He has a "Itsy Bitsy Spider" book and we went to read it the other night and as soon as a I started he was putting his hands together and moving them up towards the sky.

We sang the song together and acted out the words and he gets a huge kick out of "Out came the sun..."

The book has been added to our nightly reading list...

Arts & Crafts...

Last weekend, I tried to have a little Arts & Crafts afternoon with Alexander. I figured he'd love it as I get all sorts of crafts/coloring things from school. I got colored pencils, finger paint (washable), foamy shapes & letters, pom-poms, crayons, coloring books, construction paper, and a doodle pad.

Plenty of good stuff.

He sat there and gave me the look of "you're crazy lady". He wanted no part of it. He did manage to stick 3 foam stickers to a piece of paper on his own. He also took a couple crayons and scribbled for a nanosecond.

I thought okay maybe he's not into coloring today, but he'll love painting! Yah, wrong. He would barely touch the paint. So now I want to know what kid is coloring on Alexander's papers and they're passing them off as his own works of art! (heehee)

Grammie's Birthday...

Here are a few pics from Grammie's birthday:

Singing Happy Birthday














About ready to blow out the candles














Helping Grammie open presents














Deciding to just get in here and do it himself

Grammie's Birthday

Today was Grammie's birthday and to help celebrate Grammie, Grampie & Alyson came over for dinner & cake.

I plan on adding pictures shortly...

At first Alexander was in a fine mood as he had an audience to entertain. But we were a bit more relaxed on the bedtime routine and because of that we suffered a wee bit. A someone little did not want to take a bath, put on PJs, or just go to bed in general. But the wee little lad certainly needed to go to bed. Poor little guy had a little meltdown but I finally got him calmed down while in his crib enough for him to put his head down. Once there he fell right to sleep!

Photo Recap...

Photo Recap (Monday, August 18th - Sunday, August 24th, 2008)

Photo Recap...

Photo Recap (Monday, August 18th - Sunday, August 24th, 2008)

Weekly Recap...

Weekly Recap (Monday, August 18th - Sunday, August 24th, 2008)

This week was a busy week!

• Hit the 17 Months Mark
• Seemed to be an early riser this week, getting up around 5a or 5:30am, although he did sleep til 6am on Saturday!
  Did okay this week at school but did have a few days where he had minor meltdowns
• Played outside at school every day and loved it - went down the slide and played with his friends in the little house
• His naps were inconsistent this week - some were normal 2 hours, others were only a bit over an hour
• This was Ginny's last week at school as she is moving away (aww)
• Had an excellent week with eating with his spoon, getting most of it in his mouth
• Went to Davis Farm Petting Zoo/Splash Zone with Mommy & Daddy on Wednesday
• Had two pony rides this week!
• Got to see lots of animals (sheep, goats, horses, cows, llamas, ducks, bunnies, pigs) and he was not that afraid to feed them or touch them
• Cute moment before the fair...we were standing in my parents kitchen getting ready to leave. Alexander was standing in the middle of the 4 of us and put his arms up. He spun from one person to the next, to the next and to the next not knowing which one he wanted to have pick him up. He spun a few times and seemed excited yet frustrated all at the same time...we got a huge chuckle out of the situation
• Went to Marshfield Fair with Mommy & Daddy and Grammie & Grampie
• Loved to watch the trains go by
• In awe of the big kid rides at the fair and would just watch them go around & around
• Was in a good mood at the fair despite no nap, thankfully he napped (short one) at Grammie & Grampie's
• Got to have cheese puffs for the third weekend in a row and got so excited when he was shown a plate of cheese puffs and he couldn't contain his excitement
• Went for the usual Sunday morning walk with Daddy for breakfast to the gazebo
• Mommy, Daddy & Alexander went for a walk Sunday afternoon where he actually put a spoon full of ice cream in his mouth but he wasn't crazy for it
• The main food staples this week were PB & J, hot dogs, grilled cheese, pizza

Pony Rides...

Not one but, count 'em, two pony rides this week! This is one lucky little boy!

First one at Davis Farm, here with Daddy:

Then with Grammie, at the Marshfield Fair:

Marshfield Fair Pictures...

Alexander had his 2nd pony ride of the week:

He got to brush a cow:














He LOVES trains:














Daddy, Grampie & Alexander walking:














Trying to give the horsey some water:

Marshfield Fair...

Today we took Alexander to the Marshfield Fair. He had fun and loved checking out everything! He seemed enthralled with the big boy rides and how fast they were going. We walked around the fair...we checked out the rides, looked at the animals. Daddy, Grampie & Alexander even went over to check out the birds of prey (eagle, hawk & falcon).

Alexander got to see more animals as we went into the 4-H houses. He seemed to love the trains a lot more than the animals, but he did love brushing the baby cow.

We had some lunch and went to go see if Mommy's favorite part (Dan the Candy Man) of the fair was there but alas...he wasn't open yet...two years in a row! That's just so sad...

But at least Alexander had fun - maybe next year he'll go on some rides.

I'll add some pictures of our day, I promise

Zoo+Water=Fun

What do you get when you take a petting zoo add in a kiddie water zone and sprinkle in a warm sunny day in for good measure? A boat-load of fun!





Wednesday, we took Alexander to Davis Farm which is a great place for kids! It has a petting zoo, a Splash Zone, a Mega Maze (made from corn stalks), and an apple orchard for apple picking in the fall. I've done the Mega Maze a couple years ago with Gary, Sharon & the kids and we had a blast. And since Alexander loves animals & water, this place is perfect. I didn't know about the Splash Zone but a friend of Dan's told him about it so we couldn't wait to go.







We got there in the morning when it was still a bit chilly but the sun was shining and the clouds were few & far between. We decided to do the petting zoo first. They had goats, cows, horses, llamas, pigs, sheep and you could feed all of them! Some of the baby goats were not in pens and would just walk right up to you. They were very cute and just wanted your animal food. They didn't want to be petted or to be fawned over - just food! And you had to be careful...if you didn't hold onto your food cup, they'd take it!







We also got a ticket for a Pony ride. At first we thought he was too small because parents were not going along for the ride. We checked with the girl and she said it was fine if Dan went around with him to hold onto him. It was right before lunch, so we didn't know if he'd cooperate but he was great and enjoyed himself.







Daddy got him chicken nuggets for lunch which he ate but didn't love as much as his pizza. After lunch, we went over to the Splash Zone. Splash Zone water was CHILLY. You'd think they'd warm it up just a bit but no...At first Alexander wanted no part of running through the water because it was so cold. We took him over to the smaller section for him to get used to it. Once he did, he had a blast. He would run over to the puddles and splash around. He saw a few other kids jumping in the puddles and he was trying to copy them. But the poor kid couldn't figure out how to get his feet off the ground.







When he was playing with the puddle, some older kid ran by him and shoved him to the ground, intentionally. That did NOT go over well with either Dan or I. Dan screamed at the kid while I explained that you don't push kids smaller than you and that he should apologize. He was on a field trip so his parents weren't there so what did he care. However, after we got done with him he just stared at us with fear!









Overall he had a great day and I can't wait to take him back in late September for some good ole fashion New England apple picking.

17 Months...

17 Months...

Developmental:
-Has started to have mini meltdowns - sometimes at bedtime or randomly throughout the day. They're sporadic so they appear to be more when he's overtired rather than not getting his way
-Gives kisses & hugs, sometimes without even asking for them
-Walking is great, he's even turning into a climber
-Has 2 bottom teeth & 2 top tooth and a third one breaking through on the bottom left
-Excellent at putting things away
-He takes direction very well (You can ask him to get something, find his book, go to his seat for dinner, put away his toys, and he'll do it)
-Eating with utensils is getting better with each week, there's still a mess but he's improving
-He is great with stairs
-Very good with brushing his teeth before bed and can tell if you're tried to trick him with no toothpaste
-Loves to put things in 'hiding' spots-Developing an amazing arm with this throwing ability (don't know if this is a good thing or not yet)
-Loves playing in the water
-Knows what & where to turn the tv on but thankfully hasn't figured out the correct flow of buttons that need to be pushed
-Waves Hi & Bye
-Still a huge flirt
-Loves dogs & birds
-Knows exactly what I'm asking for when I say "go get your dinosaur book" or what his other books are
-He knows all of his body parts except for eye...he can even do cheek & chin but can't find his eye
-He screams, loudly, when he's excited

Vocab:
dada
mama
Ahh Daa (is his word for Please and potentially thank you)
up
apple
turtle
JoJo (His teacher's name is MaryJo)
Aiden (aah-den)
Hi (he's now saying this a lot)
Moo
Quack Quack
woof woof
Yah
Bye
All done (I keep forgetting to add this one)
All gone
baaaa (sheep noise)
toe
shoe (this was a new one this morning)

Animal Noises:
He knows what sounds the lion, cow, sheep, dog, duck, frog, elephant, & cat make. He make not do them consistently but he's done them enough that he knows what he's doing and not just making random noises

Sleeping:
-Wakes up around 5:30-6am every day, even on weekends
-Takes one nap in the afternoon, usually 2 hrs
-At home on the weekends, most times he takes his 2 hr nap in the late morning
-Asleep by 7:30pm each night (on average)

Clothes:
-Everything is still 12 Months
-Shoes: Size 3
-Diapers: moving into Pampers Size 4 Cruisers

Feeding:
-He drinks mainly milk or sometimes water from sippy cups
-He likes to be a big boy and use a cup without a lid and ends up drenched
-Three meals a day: (typical menu for school)
--Breakfast: pancake, waffle, cereal bar or muffin with his sippy cup
--AM Snack: Cheerios & fruit (bananas or strawberries) or graham crackers
--Lunch: Grilled Cheese or Hot dog & cheese, applesauce and milk in sippy cup
--PM Snack: snack bar, fruit, graham crackers, or yogurt
--Dinner: He loves PB & Jelly Sandwiches but we're trying to get him to try different foods but the staples are: PB&J, Hot Dogs, Grilled Cheese, Egg but he will eat veggies & fruit in the Gerber containers (he loves to feed himself)
-- Does not like food with texture
--Has tried: Cheese puffs (loves them); dried papaya (loved it); broccoli, cauliflower, pickles, lemon, limes, broccoli & cheese soup (loves it), pretzels (loves knawing on soft pretzels), he also loves to sit in his chair and eat a slice of bread - that's it just a slice of bread. He'll go over to the fridge and when you open the door, he'll put out the loaf and wait for a slice

Likes:
Being outside, water, taking baths, Bubbles, going down slides, Singing ABCs, reading books, pushing his truck, playing blocks, saying Hi to the vaccum, being chased by Daddy, showing off that he knows his body parts, medicine, sweeping

Dislikes:
textured food

Picture Recap...

Photo Recap (Monday, August 11th - Sunday, August 17th, 2008)