East Tennessee Discovery Center

My mom and I took the boys over to the East Tennessee Discovery Center today. It's a tiny little science museum adjacent to the zoo that isn't anything special but we get in free with our AMSE membership. Since it's a stormy day here we figured it was worth a visit.

Carter loved the train table, of course. Even though he now barely plays with his own at home.


Carter checking out his reflection in a concave mirror ...


A tarantula!!!


There were several small fish tanks ...


And a space shuttle with a few buttons that still made noise or lights work!


But Carter's favorite thing were the geese and ducks outside.


He terrorized these guys chasing them around. I think there has been some cross-breeding between the mallards and white ducks!

Red Wagon

My mom is visiting this week and we took the boys for a walk this morning between rain showers in their wagon. Rylan didn't look very comfortable (it looked like he was standing) but it worked.

Teeth

Rylan has been waking up a lot the last few nights and screaming because he has more teeth breaking through. At least I think that's why he's been upset so much. He officially has 7 teeth now.

Three on the bottom ...


And four on top ...

Race Car

We took the boys to Lowe's this morning so Carter could build a race car at the Build and Grow Workshop.

Carter waited patiently with Pat while Brian signed him in and got his kit ...



Building ...


Carter used both Pat and a real hammer.

Testing out the finished product ...


And showing me his car ...


Carter is getting better and better at putting the nails in the pre-drilled holes and hammering them in with a hammer.

Naps

Carter and Rylan have been getting up around 5 am lately. They both go to bed around 7:45 pm every night, and Carter typically takes an afternoon nap from about 1:30 to 3:30 pm.

Nine hours of night-time sleep has not been enough for Carter because he has been falling asleep in the car a lot lately. Even as early as 10 am when we're heading out to run errands or go to one of the storytime classes we attend.

Today Carter fell asleep on our way home from lunch with Brian. I had a soccer ball in the car from one of our trips to a park and Carter had wanted to hold it. So cute!

Spin Brush

I'm hoping this new toothbrush will help with Carter's staining on his teeth ...


I was worried that he might be scared to use it but he LOVES it. It may help that there's a train on it. Hopefully it helps his teeth look better (or at least not get any worse)!

Date with Mary Grace

Carter had a date today with one of his very best friends ...


Sarah and Mary Grace were in Knoxville today and we got to spend the day with them at the zoo! Carter was so excited when he first saw Mary Grace - he couldn't stop giving her hugs!

Checking out the elephants ...


And the river otters ...


Carter decided this turtle was hungry and had to feed him ...


My poor attempt at a group shoot of all 3 kids ...


We had a lot of fun today and hope we get to see Sarah and Mary Grace again soon!

No Crawling

We cannot teach Rylan how to crawl. We've been working on it a lot. We put stuff in front of him that he wants, Carter demonstrates, etc. But so far, no crawling. Rylan can scoot and slide backwards and spin in circles, but he just won't get those knees underneath him.

I'm not worried - Carter only started his belly crawling around this age. It's probably tough for Rylan to lift up his body that weighs almost as much as Carter but on a shorter frame!

Rylan is thinning down though. He's getting taller and not putting on much weight so he's looking skinnier.

Fort McFee

We went to a brand new playground at McFee Park today. Fort McFee is a really nice and large playground designed to be handicap accessible with lots of rubberized mulch for safety. I was really impressed and Carter loved it. I just wish the park was a little closer to our house!

I wish I had taken a picture of the whole play structure to show how big it is, but here are a few pictures of Carter playing ...




Carter is getting better at climbing. He did this ladder all by himself ...



He also enjoyed climbing back and forth through this window ...


We had lots of fun here and I'm sure we'll be back soon!

More Teeth

Rylan's top front teeth are really noticeable now that they've come in more. The ones on either side of the middle teeth (lateral incisors, I think) have looked close to breaking through for about a week now.

Brian mentioned at the end of last week that Rylan had gotten another tooth. I thought he meant one of the top lateral incisors had broken through. But apparently I never noticed as Rylan's bottom left lateral incisor came in. It's totally broken the gum and is in almost as much as his top front teeth.

So on top of having the stomach bug and a nasty cold, Rylan was also cutting another tooth.


Rylan had another new food today - yogurt! Yum!


I'm giving him the Stonyfield Yobaby whole milk yogurt like I did with Carter. He seemed to like it and ate everything I offered.

Rylan also ate an entire banana tonight. He can put away some food when he wants to!

High Five Gibbon

Amy and I took the kids to the zoo today.

About half way there I realized that I had forgotten to put shoes on Carter before we left the house - oops! I was running about 10 minutes early, but I was already 15 minutes from the house. So I found a Family Dollar about a mile from the zoo and the kids and I ran in to buy a $5 pair of shoes. They are actually not bad looking except for the super wide and super long laces. They look like little Converse shoes but I'm sure they aren't made nearly as well. So we now have a pair of backup shoes to leave in the car! Disaster avoided!

We were planning to attend storytime but there was a line out the door of the tiny log cabin and we knew it was way too crowded to even attempt. It was warm again today so we decided to just tour the zoo instead.

Most of the animals were out so the kids had plenty to see.


One of the giraffes was hanging out close to the fence we got a good look at one for once.


The kids had to play on one of their favorite things - the zoo jeep.


Today Carter was finally not scared of our favorite animal. He hasn't been willing to get anywhere near the gibbon or any of the other primates lately. He still didn't want to get near the gorillas but he was all about this gibbon today. He gave the gibbon "five" multiple times.



Even Rylan got in on the action ...



I hope this warm weather sticks around a bit longer because we are loving getting to do outdoor activities again!

Toddler Storytime & Anchor Park

The boys and I met Amy and her kids at the library today for Toddler Storytime.

Carter is the man. Look how he has his arm wrapped around Caitlyn!


Rylan just wanted Alek's shoe ...


Carter had a lot of fun participating today. He loved doing "The Wheels on the Bus", "Head, Shoulders, Knees, & Toes", and "5 Little Monkeys".


After storytime we went to Anchor Park since it was so beautiful today. I think we got into the 70s!

Carter spent most of the time there playing in the giant sandbox.



Rylan chilled out in his stroller for a little while but I had to pick him up soon enough so he didn't fuss.


Carter was looking for "quacks".


When we were getting ready to leave, we heard a train whistle. The kids had to wait almost 10 minute before the train finally showed up.



But it was worth it!