Look Who's Two!

Happy birthday Alex!

Farm in the Zoo Open House

We had a fun time today at the Farm in the Zoo Open House. There were all sorts of special activities and opportunities to see the animals even more closely than usual. Although all Alex could talk about as we walked to the Farm was getting to touch the animals, once he had the chance he got a bit shy. We walked around in the goat yard, but only Mommy and Daddy petted the goats. We saw the ponies "lunging," which really was just touching a ball on a stick and following other commands, and we got to see the new piglets (not even two months old) playing. We learned about worms and composting, but Alex only wanted Daddy to hold the worms rather than trying it himself. We walked through a large garden with all sorts of vegetables. But Alex's favorite parts of the adventure were getting to "drive" a tractor and feeding the cows. He liked the cow feeding so much we went through the line three times!

Worms!

Alex really liked driving the tractor, but the first thing he asked when he got in the cab was to turn on the radio!

This was right before the cow grabbed the bundle of hay out of his hand. If you look closely, you can see the cow's tounge starting to wrap around the hay.

Riding Around the Neighborhood

The video quality isn't the best because it was off of the phone, but it's worth it for the ending. We took Alex out for a ride on his Scoot About today, and it was a lot of fun for all of us. We went around the entire block (with a couple of pit stops to play with some neighborhood kids and then in a sprinkler). He did great with the turns and even figured out how to navigate big bumps in the sidewalk.

Family Fun

We had a great weekend with all of my family this weekend in New Harmony. (It was actually all of us -- 20 in total!) Alex had so much fun playing with everyone and in the rain. Two nice people gave him bubbles and a bell from a wedding that was being held there on Saturday. It was such a treat to see everyone!

And Alex gives a special shout out to Uncle Mark for his 50th birthday!

Catching Up

Fingers crossed, we seem to be back in the land of computer households. There's lots to catch up on but here are a couple of highlights.

Alex had so much fun at the Spray and Play for his friend's birthday party. It took him a little while to be ready to get into the water, but he loved it once he did, even though he got a faceful of water more than once when he was inspecting a fountain too closely (like the one below) and then it came on full blast.





After searching all summer, we finally found a train table at a garage sale. As expected, Alex loves it!

Various and Sundry

The computer problems are continuing, and we're in the midst of our busiest season at work, so updates will be a little sparse for a while. But Alex continues to be funny and do fun things, so I must share some highlights.

Sock entertainment has become part of the evening routine. When the socks come off, there is no end to the goofiness that ensues -- socks on ears, socks on our heads, and the big favorite -- sock puppets! (I will, however, resist the temptation to call this post "Sock It To Me.")

Alex had his first external school field trip this week to a indoor play center called Day Frog. He had a great time. We had talked to him about the outing in advance, and apparently he spent the whole morning at school talking about "Day Frog" and was the first one to line up at the door when the teachers said it was time to go.

Another awesome thing about Alex's school is that they bring in a librarian from the Chicago Public Library once a month during the summer. What I didn't realize until last week was that this was done as part of CPL's Summer Reading Program. Technically, kids have to be three years old to take part in the program (of course, I had already looked into when he could do the summer program at the library), but since it was done through the school, even the toddlers got to participate. Alex got a certificate that he "read" 35 books (for the little kids that means "was read to") and completed the program. He also got a library t-shirt. The book geek in me was so excited!

More to come, hopefully with pictures again before too long!

Horticultural Update

The computer is back so I can now add the picture of Alex and Mommy's plants. The oregano is on the left. It's doing well, but the basil and mint are really thriving. Since this photo was taken (two weeks ago), the basil has shot up a few more inches and the mint is spreading out like crazy. One of our projects for this weekend is to get a new container so we can separate the basil and the mint. Plus, we also want to find a kid sized watering can for Alex. He loves to help water, but the large can is a little unwieldy for him.