Day Trippin'

Yesterday we took a day trip to Owensboro to visit Kevin's brother Brian (and Julie and Van). I had my camera out most of the visit (after I missed some initial snuggles between Lewis and Van), but I didn't take a single picture while we were there! Not a one. We had a nice visit with everyone--we spent a lot of time outside, with Lew and Van chasing each other most of the time.

We stayed through a late lunch and then headed back as Lewis started to get fussy (and he's been sick, so he was melting down more than usual). He fussed/moaned for approximately 1 hour 30 minutes of the 1 hour 40 minutes drive, falling asleep 10 minutes from home. :( He seemed a little better today but worse again this evening--I already called him in sick to his school, and I think we'll be going to the pediatrician tomorrow, instead. I hope he feels better soon.

I did take some pictures at Cracker Barrel yesterday morning while we were waiting for Kevin's parents and Scott to arrive:

 Lew wasn't interested in playing checkers, but he was interested in stacking them all, perfectly neat and tidy. :)

 

That concentration. :)

 

 

Getting an assist from Dada to keep it steady.

 

 

 Finally done. YAY!

Admiring his work. :) 

He threw a small fit when Kevin unstacked them and put the pieces back in place for the next person.

A Day on the Farm

Last week, Lewis and I visited a family farm with Tonya and Carlton (it's called Gallrein Farms and is in Shelby County, KY). On the weekends, they have a tractor barrel train ride, a hayride to the pumpkin patch, Punkin Chunkin (slingshot+pumpkin at a target), and a few other kid-friendly activities. We visited during the week so there wasn't as much to do, but we were still able to visit the market, petting zoo, and corn maze.

But first, Carlton and Lewis took off for the tractor train as soon as we arrived:

 Each of the barrels (you can sort of see them behind the tractor) is painted in John Deere colors and has its own steering wheel. Lewis would love it if we ever return on a weekend!

 Snuggling with a (friendly) farm dog in the shop :)

 Taking turns on the kid-sized tractor

Outside the shop they have a large greenhouse and covered dining area (for the weekends). Of course L&C found a cart out there to pull around:

 

 

 Lewis really seemed to like riding on his chariot, and Carlton really seemed to like pulling him around--so it worked out well! :)

The petting zoo:

 

 

 

The corn maze:

 :)

 Lewis' up-to-no-good face, combined with Carlton's running away, makes me smile. :) 

We only went a little ways into the maze before the boys went off trail and into the corn. Once we got them back out to the path, we chose to go back to the entrance vs. risking a helicopter rescue from somewhere deep in the maze. :)

Feeding the fish/duck:

 

 :)

We didn't have any more quarters for the feed machine, but we picked up some pieces that others had dropped on the deck. The slats of the railing were a few inches too far apart for my liking, though, so we didn't spend much time up there.

Tunnel fun:

 

 

 

:) I love how L&C's feet are off the ground in the last two pics. They were bouncing and yelling and having a grand old time. :)

It was a fun (and dirty) morning! Although I know Lewis would've liked to do some of the weekend-only activities, we still had a good time with what was available.

A Weekend Spent Mostly Outside

This past weekend's weather was gorgeous. Cool-bordering-on-cold overnight, not too hot during the day. My kind of weather. :) We made it a 'no plans' weekend and had a good time around the house, at the park, and got a few yard/garden-related To Do items done in the process. And we made our first pot of chili for the season!

First a picture from late last week when Lewis was at the height of his nap streak (which is not the case the past few days). I was getting some things cleaned up in the kitchen and found him like this:

 Under the covers in the guest bed 

(with Monkey, on the left, under the covers, too)

Saturday evening we had a bonfire and roasted hot dogs to go with our chili. Kevin took a few pictures of Lewis and I and said something like, 'The sun is a little bit in your face.' Eh, just slightly:

 I think in the 2nd one the sun is starting to creep into Lew's eyes, too.

 Lewis, arranging his monkey, trash truck, and sports car in the chair

 He got annoyed that they were falling from the blue chair, so we got a different chair for him to try. I guess he wanted to sit with them in the seat next to him?!

 He eventually gave up and just put them back in his hands. :)

Sunday morning we headed out to the park/playground:

 Climbing through the store window, naturally...

 

 

 Big Boy Swingin'

He rode in the baby/toddler swings at first, but then he made Kevin push him in each of the four big kid swings. He'd swing for a few minutes and say 'all done.' Then he'd get down and move to the next one. It was pretty funny.

 

Dipping his toes

You might have noticed that Lewis still has his hands full of toys in most of the pictures. That's been the case, still. It's now causing an issue at drop-off for school because he isn't allowed to bring any toys inside with him. Yesterday and today he melted down when I took the toys, so next week we are going to leave them at home and give him the five minute commute to school to chill out and talk about what fun he'll have that day. Hopefully there will be a lot less tears that way. :/

It seems like the newness of school has worn off, and it's been harder to get him going both yesterday and today. Today, especially, he was fussing his way through the morning at home, and I kept trying to talk up the fun he would have. I mentioned that he had soccer, and he asked if Mama could come to soccer. :) Hopefully by next week he'll be back in the groove--he always comes out with the biggest smile, but it's just been a little more difficult in the mornings.

Colorful Creatures at the Zoo

Thursday we attended another 2-year-old educational program at the zoo--the theme was Colorful Creatures. It just so happens that Lewis has been really into colors this past week, so the timing couldn't have been better! And, randomly, there was another mom and her son there from our hospital's new mom group--it was great seeing them! It had been just over 2 years, I think.

We started off with some circle time, a story, looking at pictures of animals and talking about different colors/patterns, and then they brought out the real animals for us to see/touch. They had a corn snake, a big lizard (that surely has a more precise name than that), and a yellow bird (again, insert your own fancy name here). Lewis petted the snake and lizard, but the bird was just for us to see. After seeing the animals, they had stations of different color-themed activities that we moved through. Lewis was pretty well-behaved this time! He was able to sit and try out most of the stations (play-doh, painting, matching colors, scooping colored rice, etc.).

At the end, they gave all of the kids a cute T-shirt, which Lewis wanted to put on immediately. :) It says 'I'm a Zooper Kid' and has a zebra on it, which Lewis called out. After leaving the program, we strolled around the zoo a bit and then ended our visit with a ride on the train. During the ride it started raining kind of steadily, so we headed out after that! It was a fun morning.

Petting the Corn Snake

Threading felt squares on a ribbon to mimic a snake's coloring

Lining up the blocks

Checking out the pythons

The tortoises

And finally, Lew's favorite, the train!

 That train picture reminds me--since the Butts visited last weekend, he has been carting around handfuls of toys everywhere we go. Here he has a two-piece Thomas in his left hand and an Elmo and miniature police car in his right hand. I'm pretty sure he's afraid that someone's going to take them away from him. :)

Donuts with Dad

This is the 3rd week of Lewis' school, and things are going pretty well so far! Yesterday was the first event of the fall, Donuts with Dad, which Kevin attended. He said they read stories, showed off their place mats (that tell about each student), showed off the classroom toys, and ate donuts, bananas, and strawberries. There were just a few dads and/or grandpas that were able to attend, so I'm glad Kevin was able to go. They're having it again on Friday for those dads who couldn't make it yesterday.

Here are some pictures that Kevin took while he was there:

 Talking colors and balls with Ms. Lauren (the director, whom I love)

She reminds me so much of our former summer camp director/mentor/friend, Joan, and I knew once I met her that we'd have a good fit with this school.

 Playing with 'a girl'

Most of the time when I ask Lewis how his day was, what he did, etc., he says he 'played with a girl.' Maybe this is the girl? I'm not sure, but I guess we'll find out as the year progresses.

 Two basketballs in one hand and trains galore--looks about right! :)

Here is Lew's place mat in action! A couple of the students haven't brought in their photos yet, so they aren't using them at snack time until all of the students have one. (But the dads got a sneak peek.)

 One side

And the other :)

Kevin said they had a good time! Apparently after he left, though, Lewis got really upset. His teacher was telling me about it after school and said she's going to try to push it until later into the semester next year since the kids are still getting used to being away from mom/dad just three weeks in (which makes sense). She said they almost called me to come and get him, he was so upset, but a ride in one of these made it all better:

:)

The 1-year-olds have one for transporting the kids further distances, so they let Lewis hitch a ride, and all was well again. :)

He has had a couple of 'incidents' with another student in his class who keeps biting him. It happened on Monday and Tuesday and once last week to a different student. They are going to bring in an occupational therapist tomorrow to see if they can teach him how to interact more appropriately. The other mom feels terrible about it, and we feel bad that he might get kicked out of school (knowing that he's just 2 and it's just a phase). BUT we also don't want Lewis to be bitten every day. :) His teacher has let the other mom know that the students have to be safe, so if they can't get him to stop, he will have to leave. They thought last week he was fixating on a toy, but this week they felt he might have been fixating on Lewis, specifically. I think both instances involved fighting over a toy (which, again, we feel is normal 2-year-old behavior), sooooo it's to be continued. The occupational therapist will be in tomorrow, and I've heard good things about what can be accomplished, so hopefully it will all end well!

Lewis also started soccer on Tuesday (busy day!)! He will just have practices after school for 10 weeks, learning some of the basics. No games, nothing formal. Since he likes balls of all sorts, we thought it'd be a good place to start (and he can run off some of that extra energy). :) So Mondays he goes 9-12 and Tuesdays 9-2. So far, so good!