The Golden Egg

I think today might have been one of the best of Jack’s life. We went to Baldwin to ride the Easter Egg Train with Grandma Pam and Grandpa Glen. First, we got to ride a real train (not just the zoo train, according to Jack) for 5 1/2 miles. That doesn’t sound like it should take very long, but in fact it took a long, long time – about 40 minutes to reach our destination. The reason for the slow pace was that all the kids got to meet the Easter Bunny during the train ride. Jack and Henry didn’t care much for the Easter Bunny, but Jack was excited to get a whole pack of M&Ms. We felt bad for the Easter Bunny because it was hot on the train. Nathan thinks it was 90 degrees. I tend to agree. It was 86 outside and it was much hotter on the train.

Henry had fun playing peek-a-boo during the ride and climbing up the seats.

After the ride, it was time for the Easter egg hunt. There were 200 people on the train; we thought lots more adults than kids. There were 800 eggs to find. And one golden egg. And guess who found the golden egg? Jack! Here he is lined up ready to hunt.

He started off picking up two eggs right away and then he took off running through the crowd. When I got over to him, he said, “Guess what I found Mommy!” It was the golden egg. He said he saw it shining the sun and decided to run for it. I don’t know who was more excited – Jack or me!

After we got back on the train, he got to go with the conductor to pick out his special prize – an Easter basket filled with toys. He could not stop smiling.

When we got back to Grandma’s house, we all cooled off and Jack unpacked his basket. He got all kinds of bug toys. Then Henry got to share his first ever milkshake with Grandpa. Maybe it was one of the best days of Henry’s life too!

Splish Splash

We got the water table out for the first time last week. Jack started playing immediately, but Henry took a few minutes. He cried the first couple of times water got on his feet -- and for good reason, the water was very cold! After 30 minutes they were both soaked and we'd refilled the water table up at least five times.











Henry is becoming a good little climber. I was cleaning up the kitchen this morning and went out to the living room to check on him -- and there he was, reading a book in the chair. He was very proud of himself.

Moose Cake

I need to do one more birthday post for Jack… this time for his moose cake! We made this cake for his family birthday party last Saturday.

He had a great time and gobbled up lots of cake. So did Henry – he discovered he could walk around the living room, stopping at each person, and get lots of bites of cake. And that’s a golf glove on Jack’s hand in the picture below. He got his first set of real clubs for his birthday.

Shatto Dairy Farm

We went to Shatto Dairy Farm today and got to try all kinds of yummy (at least the boys thought so, I didn't try any) flavored milk and see the cows. Henry loved the orange milk and was mad when it was gone. Jack got to try root beer, chocolate, strawberry and the newest flavor -- cotton candy! Jack even got to milk a cow. We also saw two little calves and some tiny little kittens. Jack really liked it and Henry liked parts of it. He was very upset I wouldn't let him walk around whenever he wanted to. Here they are in front of the milk truck.


And here's Jack milking the cow.


Looking at the baby cows.





And holding the kitten.


Luckily I had extra pants for Jack in the car because he somehow fell off the picnic table after we had lunch and got covered in mud. Oh well, that was a minor mishap after such a fun morning.

15 Months

Henry is 15 months old today -- and very much turning into a busy little boy. He gets up around 7 each morning, takes a 2-3 hour nap and then goes to bed between 7 and 7:30. His favorite person is most definitely Jack, unless Nathan is around, and then Daddy wins every time.

Here are some of his favorites right now.

Food: Any and all fruits, but he would pick blueberries above everything else. He also really likes grapes, bananas and pears. He loves Kix and I let him try Chocolate Cheerios the other day, and he really likes those too. He also tries to drink my orange juice every morning. He is good about trying new things; just yesterday he gobbled up a ton of lasagna. However, he is not loyal to the food already in his mouth if I give him something that looks better to him. He'll just open his mouth and spit out everything to make room for the new food!

Toys: He loves stacking blocks and knocking them down, or filling up containers and dumping them out. I gave him poker chips and an old puffs container a week or so ago and he played with them for 20 minutes, filling it up and dumping them out. Also loves the ball tower with a hammer Aunt Lindsay and Uncle Anthony got him for Christmas. And the cuttable food and the play vacuum.

Books: Little People lift the flap books, Spot books, nursery rhymes, A You're Adorable, Baby Bible Sing and Pray. We read a lot because he doesn't like to drink his milk unless we are reading books in the dining room. So that means we read about 50 minutes to an hour every day! He figured out pretty quickly that if he drinks his milk slowly he gets to read more books.

Outside: He loves being outside. He walks around dragging the golf bag behind him. Or he wants to ride on the tractor or swing on the swing set. Some of the saddest moments in his little life have been when Jack's been outside playing and Henry has had to stay inside with me.

His personality is shining through more and more. He's very easy going when things are going his way... but he will let you know if he's unhappy about something!

First Haircut

Where did my baby go? He got his first haircut at Harvey's today and now he looks like a little boy. Rob cut his hair because Harvey was busy cutting someone else's hair and I knew Henry would not want to wait. The whole haircut took about 10 minutes. He cried and tried to get out of the chair for the first 5 or so, and then just sat there for the remainder.

When he was done, he got down and gave Rob a high five. Then he had to go make friends with Harvey's grandkids -- they are probably 8 or 9 years old. He gave them high fives and gave the little girl a hug. Next he charmed Susie, Harvey's wife. He sat on her lap in the chair and gave her hugs. Then he was ready to leave. He waved to everyone and walked to the door and looked at me, like he was just waiting for me to come so he could go home. He got an official first haircut certificate and an envelope with his baby hair in it. He does look pretty cute, but he sure doesn't look like a baby anymore.

Happy Birthday Jack!

Jack’s big day started early this morning… he woke up at 4:00 a.m. wondering if it was time for his birthday yet. He finally went back to sleep and got up around 8:15. He couldn’t wait to open presents, so we did that while the cinnamon rolls baked. His scooter was definitely the hit of his birthday presents. After presents, we put a candle in his cinnamon roll and sang “Happy Birthday” to him. He also got to drink chocolate milk! I think that’s the first time he’s ever had chocolate milk with a meal at our house.

Next, we went bowling. Jack has been once before with Grandma Sue and Grandpa Bill and he was very excited to go again. Nathan won, then Jack and then me. Henry watched from his stroller, and was quite content.

Our only mishap came near the end of the game, when Jack ventured onto the lane and promptly wiped out. His feet came out from under him, he landed on his bottom and then bonked his head on the ground. Lots of crying followed, but he recovered in time to finish the game. Prior to his fall, he was dancing all over the place and having a great time. Whenever I would ask him to smile for me he would turn around and shake his booty at me. Thank you Aunt Lindsay for teaching him that so long ago. He is a professional booty shaker.

After that, we were off to Cracker Barrel for a pancake lunch. The waiters sang to him and he got a sundae. For naptime, he got to watch Kung Fu Panda 2 on the couch on the basement, another first. Then it was outside for more scooter riding and fun with the neighbor kids. Per the birthday boy’s request, Nathan grilled hotdogs on the campfire for supper. Then it was off to bed. Tomorrow he gets to have a birthday celebration at school.

I can’t believe he’s four! Here are pictures from his previous birthdays:

Three

Two

One

Brand New

Birthday Fun Begins–Coco Key

This year, Jack requested his birthday party at Coco Key again with his best buddies Ben and Sam. We went last Thursday and all of the boys declared it was “the best day ever.” Here are Nathan and the boys getting ready to get in the water.

Jack’s favorite thing this year was the “raging river,” which is really the lazy river. The water was just shallow enough that the boys could touch easily and the current pushed them along pretty quickly. They did many, many laps of the raging river and could have gone on much longer.

The waterslides were a hit again. They are now big enough to go by themselves and we could stand at the bottom and watch. Every once in a while Jack would ask me to go with him, but I had to run to keep up with him and then he would launch himself into the waterslide without a second thought for Mommy. This is a picture on one of the baby slides. We didn’t get any pictures on the big slides.

He has been requesting a moose themed party for a couple of months now, so the moose fun began at Coco Key and will continue at his family party. We made moose cupcakes and moose munch for treats.

What a fun, and tiring, afternoon! Jack slept two hours later than usual the next morning. Birthday fun continues this week, including his real big day on Wednesday, his party at school on Thursday and his family party on Saturday.

It’s Finally March

Jack is very excited it is finally March – his birthday month! We had a lot of fun yesterday changing his calendar in his room. We added special markers on the calendar for his birthday parties, and also for his swimming lessons and soccer practice. He had his first swimming lesson today and really liked it. He put his head all the way in the way (with a bit of encouragement from Nathan) and used a kickboard for the first time.

Henry tried corn on the cob for the first time today. He was loving it until we saw some blood on the corn. He must have scratched the inside of his mouth somehow. So that was the end of his corn on the cob.

Learning to Smile

Henry learned how to smile for the camera this week. We also discovered Jack’s old overalls now fit him.

Jack is regressing in his smiling techniques. So we worked on his smile in the mirror for awhile and made some progress.

We also made them a reading “couch” in the dining room this week out of extra pillows. We spend a lot of time there. Henry prefers to read books when he drinks his sippy cup of milk, so 5 times a day we’re sitting on the couch reading. He knows lots of animal sounds now, and also points to all kinds of objects in his books when you ask them where they are. He is very opinionated when it comes to which books we read. He has his favorites and he is faithful to them.