Monday, September 23, 2013

Shamu fly!

I may be a little late with this.  Almost a month ago we had a little family vacation to see Shamu at Sea World, San Antonio. We left early on Friday morning to head south.  We packed a lot of new activities for Ethan to do in the car on the way there.  He was an angel for the entire drive.  He played with his flashcards, his trucks, he colored, and he napped.  We made it almost the entire drive with no Bubble Guppies.  We stopped for lunch for the boys at McDonald's so the boys could play.
Peek-a-boo, Mommy
We made it into San Antonio mid-afternoon.  Once we stretched our legs a little bit in the room we went to the pool.  This was a big hit. We had the whole pool to ourselves. It was a bit chilly for me to stay in too long (I am a weenie when it comes to pool water).  My guys had a great time though throwing Ethan's cars and balls from the pool to the fountain.



After the pool we made it out to the Riverwalk for dinner. After dinner we walked around for a little bit. We introduced Ethan to our favorite bear at the Chocolate Factory. He was instantly in love.

Hugs for the big bear



Saturday was the BIG day.  We went to go meet Shamu. He seemed to really enjoy watching the show. The rest of the day he kept saying "Shamu fly!" We watched the Shamu performance, saw some penguins, played with the dolphins- who came and kissed my hand - and ended our day with playing in the splashpad and meeting some friends from Sesame Street.














He was excited but leery to meet Cookie Monster at first

Dad calmed him enough to ask for a high five

And mom calmed him enough for a picture

We had a hard time getting him to leave.

I think he had a great day!
Glad the 30 minute search for that cup was worth it.

Sunday we decided to go home a day early since someone was still tired from a big day the day before and not getting enough sleep.  So we packed it up and drove home.  Ethan slept about half the way home.

Pretty wiped out after a busy weekend

It was a great way to end the summer!

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

A day in the life....

....of a two year old boy.

Since I am not doing the monthly post anymore I feel like I am missing out on capturing new milestones and quirks that he has.  

Since our last post his new favorite things:
Really there aren't a lot of new favorites. He hasn't strayed from his moving objects.  But he has added in Legos, of course Legos that are made into cop cars, dump trucks, etc. 
He loves puzzles and is doing mostly 3+ puzzles now.  He actually loves most of the learning activities and toys I have for him.





He recently got into his first fight.  Let me preface this story by saying that we have a very laid back child.  If someone takes a toy from him, he will usually just move on to something else.  With that said, we were at a playdate with some neighbors that I met through our neighborhood Facebook page.  The little boy he was playing with is just days older than Ethan.  He is also quite a bit rougher than what Ethan is used to being around.  The boy kept taking his toy, and taking his toy.  After about an hour of this Ethan had had enough. He put both arms around the boy and threw him to the ground.  I was flabbergasted.  I didn't know what to do or say.  And let's face it, I was a little proud he stood up for himself.  Of course, I did get on to him for it and I will have to teach him that is not the way we do that.  We still aren't sure where he learned to do this.

Most days are filled with playdates, learning activities, or running errands.  And some days he decides to have lunch on the patio by himself.  He just got up, took his plate outside and shut the door behind him.
Who would believe this face would be a fighter?




My favorite thing these days is him telling me that he loves me.  And the way he I will look up and he has been staring at me waiting for me to look with the sweet smile and look of adoration on his face.  

That he calls the bride and groom on his puzzle game MamaDada.
The way he says "uh, mom mom"
The way he gets in my face when we are laying bed and smiles at me when he thinks I am sleeping
His joke telling, Bite, No bite and then laughs so hard.
That he is learning to sing the ooohs and aaahs of songs.
He just recently started saying "Oh man" when drops something.  Less baby talk like "uh oh" and more little boy.
They way he calls hexagons, hecgon.
His awesome donkey call.
His hint of a country accent.
His love of himself in the mirror. He and Robert have frequent gun shows in the mirror in our bathroom. 

Something we don't care for too much are his tantrums.  And the whining.  Geez Louise that is frustrating and trying. Our patience has definitely been tested lately. There was the span of about two weeks recently that I thought would never end.  Screaming and crying about everything.  It has finally disapated back to normal toddler, at least for now. 

We all love park time with Dad



Sometimes pictures can say more about what our days look like.

Reading to Turk


Post bath run away
Pretending to be a dog
His daring lifestyle
Just another day relaxing with "Tuk"
Playing with some trucks
OOH, and airplane
I love airplanes!

Mommy, I have a bag on my head!

What, I'm just taking puppy for a car ride