Edaville Railroad

Yesterday we took a trip to Edaville Railroad in Carver, MA

Both C and I have fond memories of this freezing cold winter wonderland

Only in NE do people bring their children out in frigid weather to ride trains and amusement rides!

Alex loved riding on the train and seeing all the lights (he did not want to pose for pictures!)

WOW - 2 family pictures in one trip - taken in one shot by two different really nice people!

Alex's first amusement ride - the nice thing about this place is there are rides just for little people! He LOVES the rides and was very upset when he had to get off!

Riding on the little train!

One thing I should have done is brought my "Big" camera - better flash and faster shutter - these pictures are disappointing. I hope the videos are better. Funny Alex is not smiling in any of these - too cold I think - and too shell shocked at all the fun things to do. Since this went so well I think the summer calls for a trip to Story Land and Santa's Village!!!

Big Boy Bed

Well, as you can see - there is no more crib - Alex is now officially in a big boy bed. We went over to Toys R Us last night to pick one up - because moron's that we are did not think we would use the "toddler bed" part of our convertible crib so did not buy the required parts. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Anyway, he has been in the bed for almost 20 minute - no crashes, no toys that I can hear and no little face at the gate at the top of the stairs. I think the test will be at 4 am when he normally wakes up and tries to climb out of his crib - which is what precipitated this big event in the first place. Wish us luck! And I think its time for some big boy sheets - maybe Thomas or Cars!

Christmas Photo Shoot

Fireman!

Go Alex! GO! Speeding around on Gramma and Grampa's new driveway - we had to make sure the gate was shut so he did not end up in the busy street.

Birthday Party Adventures

To round off the weekend Alex went to a birthday party for one of his friends at daycare. I am really glad we went - the kids had so much fun eating cake and running all over the play rooms together. Each room had a "theme" - one of which was of course - water - and thus the really wet kids who were having a blast spashing about catching plastic fish! It was awesome to watch the boys run around chasing each other - Alex is turning into a real little boy.

He did it!

I dont have any pictures of it but at Auntie J and Uncle M's wedding he walked down the aisle! A big thank you to the church wedding coordinator who told him to bring the pillow to Daddy - he got right up and down the aisle we went. I was almost in tears I was so happy. There was NO WAY he was putting on the tie or the jacket to his tux - but half is better than nothing!
Here's my handsome boy!

This is what happens after two long days and very little nap. I cant believe he was sleeping through the music!

Halloween Parade

The busiest weekend ever began with the Halloween parade at daycare. After some struggle we got Superman to sit and eat some yummy bribes, but....
Once the bribes were gone the pulling and crying began, so....

He had on some cute new jeans and a flannel shirt and with the addition of a cowboy hat they had in the classroom...voila - a cowboy! And a happy one at that!

How to make your kid hate Halloween...

This is "Elmo" - we found him out one day and Alex loved him - loves to carry him around and point to him. Last night we tried to practice putting "Elmo" on to get prepared for the school parade on Friday. No luck - tears and kicking and screaming.

So I figured OK - he really does not like things on his head so buy another costume. I found a cheap Superman costume today and said to Alex that they were pajamas to try on. Here are the results...
Crying while getting the thing on

Crying because of the cape

And crying while trying to rip the costume off.

I also realized that my 22 month old cannot be bribed - even with EO's (Oreos) to keep it on.

Helping Hand

Loading the trailer
Raking the leaves

Loading his wagon wiht rocks and leaves

This is the first year we have had a yard so its also the first one where we have to rake leaves. This was one of those gorgeous New England fall days where we all came home early from work and school and decided to work outside. Daddy blew the leaves into a big pile and we picked them all up!

And so it begins...

Alex has been invited to his first - non-family birthday party! It is on the day after Auntie J's and M's wedding so I am not sure if we will be able to go or not - I have to decide that by next week. I am excited - he is becoming a real big kid and yet a bit ho hum about it because here we go with buying gifts etc for everyone in class' birthday party and I am so un-creative when it comes to gifts. What do I get a 2 year old that we dont know all that well?

We have been hanging low lately - working around the house and such. The weekend weather has not cooperated with us for apple picking or pumpkin picking. Oh well - next year I guess.

Look who came to visit!

A Preying Mantis! It was about 6 inches long and was hanging out on Alex's adirondack chair!

Swinging

We went to our friends' baby shower this past weekend - it was a gorgeous day and they have a great yard with the perfect view! Alex spent most of his time exploring around the yard. He found their kayaks....
And the tree swing....

That was pretty far off the ground on a slope - so it was not easy for Daddy to hang on!

Ride 'em Cowboy

Today was our first official outing in our new town. It was the Annual Harvest Fair - small with vendors and food - made me miss Ithaca a lot. I miss the farmer's market and the crazy parades and every weekend in the fall it seemed there was some sort of festival on the common. I miss that.

Anyway....Alex discovered the ride on ponies at daycare the other day and LOVED them. Every morning since discovering it he runs over and gets on. So I thought OK we need one so I go out on Friday and get one. He likes this one too!

Then today there are pony rides. One black one one brown one and there are little kids on them so I figure what the heck - ALEX LOVES THE PONIES! We watched for a while and asked him if he wanted to ride. He says Yes so off he goes with Daddy. He cried - because he had to get OFF! So we walked around a while and decided to go back for one more ride. He rode the smaller brown one first and the bigger black one the second time. He held on to the saddle tight!

Where have we been?

Back to school and daycare but here are a few pictures of the last few weeks. This weekend we were in sweatshirts feeding the ducks: Here is Alex trying to get the ducks to come over to him.

Here is Alex and Daddy feeding the ducks some bread.

Chilling on Mommy's bed watching Thomas the Train on the TV. Daddy doesnt like how the narrator does all the voices.

Amazingly last weekend we were in the big pool - well everyone but Alex was. He chose to sit on the edge and try and empty the pool one cup at a time in his truck.

But he really likes his little pool and jumps and splashes and "swims" as best he can in it!

What a difference a week makes! Gotta love New England!

Swimming Lessons

One of our things to do together this summer has been swimming lessons at the YMCA. On Friday mornings we head over to the pool and Alex and I have a lesson. These pictures are from the first lesson where he clung to me like a spider monkey but this was the one lesson Daddy was able to go to and take pictures. Since then Alex is becoming more comfortable with the water and even starting to kick his feet.

I have since learned my hair is short enough NOT to wear the lovely hat if I put in in a ponytail - YAY!

Alex's trip to the ER

Yup it happened - a trip to the ER. I am sure it was only a matter of time. This past week Alex decided that jumping on the chair in the play area was fun. So he has had a lot of times being told to sit down on the chair and removal from the chair when he does not sit and diversion away from jumping until Saturday night. He thought it was a game and thinks he is funny and as I was doing something at the sink and Chris was the one removing him from the chair - he bounced one mroe time and bounced himself right off the chair and face first into the brick surrounding the fireplace. Luckily he cried right away but when I picked him up he was bleeding and then I realized he had sliced his lip open at least 4 times on his teeth and had a nice abrasion on his chin. After some debate we decided a trip to the ER was in order - just to be sure his teeth and jaw were OK. Luckily when we walked in to the ER - my second time to this particular ER - there was virtually NO ONE THERE - for 730 on a Saturday night and the ER waiting area is EMPTY so they were able to take us right away and the Dr checked him out - no stitches - his cuts on his lips were already sealed and his right front top tooth was a tiny bit pushed up so we went to the Pedi yesterday to have him check it out. As long as its not loose or discolored we are going to let it be for now.

We were in and out of the ER in less than an hour! His lip is still pretty swollen even now but the pedi said it should be healed in 5 days or so - your face heals quick he said. There has been no jumping on the chair or other furniture either - but he has been a bit under the weather - I think his canine teeth are finally coming in.

Popsicles - YUM!

This is try 2 with the popsicles - he did great - he wore a lot of it but otherwise had a great time

This is attempt 1 - a bit less messy on the face - a bit more using the fingers to get it in his mouth!

Car Washing

"Helping" Daddy wash the car - Alex washes the soap container and the pads
Where was I? Took 5 minutes to fertilize some of my new plants in the back! This is what happens when Daddy is not looking!

We are drying out his shoes still.