Showing posts with label Adventures with dad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Adventures with dad. Show all posts

Thursday, April 17, 2014

You have energy...I'll build you an obstacle course!

The afternoon started off with a bang. Henry fell down an entire flight of stairs! Thankfully, they were carpeted. He cried a little, I checked him over for any injuries or pains, but he was fine and off playing in no time. I feel like having your kids fall down stairs is a right of passage as a parent. It's right up there with having some time pass after changing a diaper and realizing you have poop on you...in an area that is way to close to the part of your hand that was touching the food you just put in your mouth!

Anyway, I digress. After the fall, Evelyn and Henry were playing nicely together with blocks. This lasted for a little while and eventually turned into Henry smacking the blocks all over the place and then bashing a block on top of Evelyn's head, which led to me giving him a stern talking to. Lately, whenever he gets in trouble and I start talking to him about it, he closes his eyes. I have to try not to laugh, because it makes me think of THIS scene from The Simpsons every time.


After playing with blocks it turned into wrestling and Henry saying, "I tackle you" every time he fell on Evelyn. Shortly after this video Evelyn pulled Henry's hair - that was the end of wrestling. I'm beginning to wonder if this is the beginning of Henry being able to dish it out, but not take it. Evelyn seems sufficient at both! 



From that point on Henry seemed to become super energized. I needed to do a number of things inside of the house, so we couldn't go outside or anywhere for him to get his energy out. The solution...a makeshift obstacle course for him to climb on! He loved it! And, Evelyn loved having her own personal ball pit!
The creation kept evolving, eventually turning into this. Not only was this fun for Henry and Evelyn, but it was for me too. I'm already thinking of more ideas to make it even bigger and better!!

Evelyn had a go at the ball pit at the bottom of the slide...she was not a fan. As soon as she got in it, she froze and wouldn't move. Then she started crying, which oddly enough, made me laugh do to another Simpsons episode when Maggie gets stuck in a ball pit...maybe I've seen too many Simpsons episodes?


Friday, April 4, 2014

Florida

This week we returned home from a week long vacation in Florida and both kids seemed to grow and develop more every day. Evelyn is rolling over easily now. She is babbling and playing with Henry more and more every day. The best interactions between the two of them are when she is laying down and Henry lays next to her smiling, laughing, and saying, "hi baby." Evelyn thinks it's the funniest thing in the world. Henry does need to be careful though. He leaned in real close and got a little to physical so she grabbed onto his hair with both hands and wouldn't let go!

We went on a lot of walks in Florida. Henry loved to push the umbrella stroller everywhere we went. And, every time we went outside he said over and over again "owl" "black owl" and was obsessed with looking around and finding a fake owl that was in someone's yard. When I say 'every time' I really do mean Every Time! There was not one time we went outside when he didn't say it over and over and over again.

Henry is putting more and more words together to make sentences. The best over the week was when he got a boo boo and turned to me and said, "daddy, pepe (pacifier). I need it." All of us smiled and laughed when he said it so it turned into a very common saying!

Henry also started randomly walking around saying "todaaaaaaayyyy." Who knows where that came from. :/

The flight back had the potential to become a complete disaster! Henry and I flew back just the two of us because Annie and Evelyn drove back with Annie's mom. This alone would not have been a big deal, however, due to weather we sat on the plane for 3 hours before finally taking off! Thank God Henry was an angel and didn't whine, cry, or scream the entire time. Plenty of snacks that doubled as toys and a fully charged iPad didn't hurt at all!! The fact that we were stuck with other planes on the runway also helped. Henry loved looking out the window and describing what he saw: "big airplane" "big black airplane" big blue airplane" "big airplane fly" "big airplane down." Over the three hours of waiting he probably said big airplane mixed in with various descriptive colors, 100 times. I'll take listening to that for a week straight before 3 hours of screaming on an airplane!


On our way to Florida. Both kids did amazing on the flight!

Henry very quickly fell in love with his Great Grandpa. Anytime we saw him during the day, before we left, Henry had to give him a big hug! Same thing with his Grandma Marge!

The morning routine.

Henry freaking out when he saw Mickey and Minnie Mouse at Disney World.

When Henry saw this huge Minnie Mouse he ran over and gave it a huge hug.

It didn't take long for Henry to fall asleep on the drive home from Disney. 

Henry petting a King Snake at the Brevard Zoo.

It's a little hard to see, but Henry is pointing at a bird that he was following around desperately trying to touch...until he got about this close to it...then he got a little scared and didn't want to touch it anymore.

Henry very impressively ran right up to compare his wing span to these birds. He then, of course, didn't want to leave and kept running back to this area.

Evelyn and Annie enjoying the zoo. She slept for most of the trip to Disney and the zoo - Evelyn, not Annie.

Mamma and Henry on another walk to find the Black Owl. Henry is sporting his new favorite Mickey Mouse hat which he grabbed right of the shelf at Disney and put on.

Evelyn loving the warm weather with Skippyjon Jones.

This was one of the "Hi baby" moments.


Henry loved running on the beach and chasing the birds. He loved to splash in the ocean too, until a larger wave came and almost knocked him over. Then he just wanted to look at them.


Evelyn had her first taste of an apple. She has now had apples, sweet potatoes and peas. She loved them all - heres hoping the love of all foods continues. 

Henry wanted to feed the giraffes at the zoo. It took him a couples times before he realized he had to just hold onto the carrot in order for the giraffe to eat it, not throw it at its face!



Towards the end of our zoo trip Henry started to imitate the monkeys. Or, at least that's what we think he's doing here...



After a long day at the zoo Henry relaxed with a cool smoothie (or as Henry calls it "meemoo"). Apart from drinking it, Henry loved to watch it go down the straw and say "bye bye."



One of the last nights we were there Henry found his new favorite toy at Great Grandpa and Grandma Marge's. Oh, to be as easily entertained as a kids!





Saturday, December 21, 2013

Grocery Store Success

I went out to the grocery store with Henry and Evelyn the other day. Venturing out with two kids to the grocery store can easily become a horrifying event. This, was anything but. Evelyn slept the whole time! The only thing Henry did, apart from eating some pouches and taking his shoes off, was yell Nooooo Nooooooo Nooooooo Noooooooo Nooooooo Nooooooo on and off for about 10 minutes. I was cracking up, and fortunately, everyone else that could hear him was laughing too. I could see people at the ends of aisles looking and laughing. I think that's why it went on for 10 minutes...Henry had an audience!

Children's Museum

One of the great things about being a stay at home parent is all the time I get to spend with Henry and Evelyn. One of the bad things is whenever Annie is home, or out with us, I am pretty much invisible to Henry. He wants nothing to do with me and can't get enough of Annie! We went to the children's museum today and as soon as we walked in the door he couldn't pull her hard or fast enough to all the toys!! Looks like Evelyn and I will just sit on the sidelines and watch the fun!


Thursday, October 24, 2013

Klackle Orchards

As this is Annie's last week of maternity leave we have tried to do as much as possible. It was somewhat sunny and in the forties so we decided to get outside and go to Klackle Orchards (http://www.klackleorchards.com). Henry had a blast. I highly recommend it. They have farm animals, a little town, bikes, a huge sandbox, tons of random farm equipment to climb on, a corn maze, tractor rides, some of the best apple cider and donuts I've had (yes, I did eat a donut) and a bunch more. It definitely has that small, country, ma and pa feel to it. Everyone is laid back and really nice. We will absolutely be making another trip back.








Thursday, October 10, 2013

Sapo

A park full of slides, swings, and all the climbing things you could want, dirt, leaves, and sticks. What does Henry want to do? Sit on the picnic table, drink from the water bottle, and creep on some women working out in the pavilion. Sapo!

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Everything and everyone for your pleasure

While at Manhattan Park, Henry met some new friends. While on top of the jungle gym, a 17 month old girl walked up next to him. Without any hesitation, Henry leaned right in and planted a big kiss on her! A little later on, he grabbed a bottle that another girl dropped and put it right in his mouth. Yeah, that's right Henry, everything and everyone is here for your pleasure!!

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Off to South Haven

Off to South Haven for a little relaxation and to check out daddy's tri course on Saturday!



Evelyn seems less than enthused...


Henry couldn't even last half way to South Haven.

Monday, September 16, 2013

Bright Beginnings

Henry and I were at the library this morning for our weekly story time, but when we got there we found that they weren't having it. Instead there was Bright Beginnings - which I will happily promote - It was a pleasant thing to stumble upon as it is a free program put on by the public school system! They have one of these every day throughout the various school districts. Henry and I showed up after they were already 30 minuetes in. Normally, they spend about 40 minutes just having free time for the kids to play, then they have a snack and read a story. In total it last about an hour, but you are free to come and go whenever. I think we will be adding this to our normal routine of fun stuff to do! If you have pre-kindergarten kids I encourage you to check this out at www.kentisd.org. They have a schedule under Bright Beginnings.