Hedgehog

At storytime at the zoo today, Carter got to pet a hedgehog!

After the stories and hedgehog, the craft was making elephants. We still needed to add the eyes and mouth, but here is Carter demonstrating how to give the elephant a trunk ...


Since it was much, much warmer today (mid-40s while we were at the zoo and reached the low 50s this afternoon), we went to see the monkeys. Carter was very happy to the see the gibbon, but refused to get near the glass (same for the gorilla). When I tried to get him to get near the exhibit, he hid behind me.

The gibbon was extremely vocal today. Carter tried talking to it by making the same sounds ...

And then he had to say good-bye to the gibbon ...

Carter played outside for a little bit this afternoon. I think he's forgot how to walk down our driveway (which is on a small hill). I barely saw what he did, but he did some sort of forward, standing somersault. He ended up on his back, but still hit his face on the concrete. He got a busted lip and a scraped and bruised cheek. All is well, but he does look a little rough!

Lexington

The boys and I went to Lexington this week to visit Mary Grace, Sarah, and Brent. We got back midday today. I'm not going to get around to doing a trip recap tonight, but here are a few cute pictures until I do ...

Beer

Carter calls his milk "milk" and his water something like "wahlwahlwahl".

At home, I drink cans of Pepsi and Brian drinks cans of Diet Pepsi. Carter knows the difference and if a can is sitting around he'll say either "Mama wahlwahlwahl" or "Daddy wahlwahlwahl".

Tonight Brian took Carter to the grocery store to pick up some things. They were walking around and when they came upon the beer aisle, Carter said "Daddy wahlwahlwahl". Apparently Brian's been drinking a lot more beer lately!

Bigger Diapers, Again!

I have officially moved both boys into size 4 diapers. Carter would be fine still wearing size 3, but Rylan is way too big now.

On the bright side, it's super convenient only having to bring one size of diaper with me when we go out!

Zoo and Other Updates

The boys and I went to the zoo this morning for storytime. We met Amy and her kids there and also saw Jennifer with Sammy. It was super crowded in the cabin today. It's hard because a lot of people have strollers and it was so cold that it's hard to get the kids out and leave the strollers outside. So everyone (including me) brings their stroller into the cabin and they take up a lot of room.

Carter and Caitlyn ended up sitting in the chairs for awhile after it got crowded ...


The animal that visited storytime today was a guinea pig. Carter gave it a quick pet and then tried to say it was Rylan's turn. He always tries to include Rylan during activities like this.

Ms Paula had another animal for the kids to color today. It was Carter's favorite animal - a monkey!

After storytime we went to the indoor play area again.

The kids checking out the degus ...


I knew Carter was playing with the tools but hadn't made it around the corner yet to see exactly what Carter was doing. This was the cute scene I came upon ...


Then he showed off his "patting" skills ...


Poor Rylan developed a bit of a cough this morning. He doesn't seem too sick yet and I think I also have a touch of something. Hopefully it passes quickly.

I noticed last night that Rylan's top two front teeth are starting to break though. His gums have been really swollen for awhile so hopefully his mouth will start feeling better soon. If you enlarge this terrible picture you can see the teeth ...


Carter has started calling himself "me" this week instead of "carcar". He doesn't use the pronoun 100% of the time, but he uses it most of the time now.

Oak Ridge Children's Museum

Today Amy and I took the kids to the Oak Ridge Children's Museum. It wasn't any better than last year when we went with Sarah and Mary Grace, but it was something to do. And, most importantly, the kids had fun.

Most of Carter's smiles when he's posing are really bad, but this one turned out okay ...


Putting babies to bed in the giant dollhouse ...


Finding more babies ...


Playing in the kitchen of the giant dollhouse ...


The train area was a big hit with both kids (Caitlyn also got a train table for Christmas).





The Waterworks Room ...


Carter soaked one arm of his shirt so he had to ditch the shirt and just wear his hoodie the rest of the time!

Both Rylan and Alek fell asleep in the Waterworks Room ...


Both Carter and Caitlyn loved the binoculars in the replica Oak Ridge guard tower. Carter tried looking through only one lens at first ...


He got better at it though ...


And then regressed (the binoculars are backwards) ...


Checking out the polar bear on our way out ...


We spent about 2 hours at the museum today. It's older and not that big (at least compared to all the other children's museums we've been to) but it wore Carter out which is always a good thing!

Rylan Pictures

A few cute pictures from today ...






Here's a picture of Carter with the same toy when he was 4 months old ...

Applesauce

Today's new food for Rylan was applesauce. I always made Carter's applesauce at this age, but I just don't have the same amount of free time now. It takes forever to peel, chop, steam, and puree apples. And an expensive bag of apples does not make as much applesauce as you'd think. Especially when you compare the price to premade applesauce. So I'm using the natural, no sugar added applesauce that's with the regular food (not baby food).

Rylan kept making sour faces but also kept opening his mouth up for more before I was even ready so I guess he liked it!

Gym Bugs

Amy and I took the kiddos to the open gym session at Gym Bugs today. I was there once last winter with Sarah and Erin and their kids but Carter is a lot bigger now and got a lot more out of it this time.

Carter passed out on our 5 minute drive there. Open gym is from 10:30 to 11:30 but I guess getting up at 5 am made him tired early!

Gym Bugs has one of their dance studios filled with toddler-sized tumbling equipment (like low, padded balance beams, small trampolines, etc) and random other playground-type equipment (like a see-saw and slides).

Carter and Caitlyn seemed to have lots playing with everything. I think their favorites were the trampolines, the ball pit, the see-saw, and the Step 2 Up & Down Roller Coaster.

I was really tired of being stuck inside at home and only running errands to get out of the house so this was a great way to spend an hour this morning.

New Shoes

I finally got Rylan a pair of shoes that I can fit his feet into. I always feel like I'm freezing his feet when I have him in the Bjorn with just socks on in the cold.

I saw these today at Ross and they were just too cute to pass up ...


The backs of the shoes are what really sold me on them ...


Too cute!!!