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Last night, Fenn started playing soccer. Well, they don't actually play soccer. It's really just a 5 week class, meeting once a week, where they introduce 2 1/2 year olds & older to some basic soccer skills. His friend Ella Kate is in the class, as well as another former classmate, Claire. Picture it... wide open inside soccer field PLUS 10-15 kids under the age of 4 PLUS 10-15 soccer balls flying in all directions PLUS one very patient teacher/coach EQUALS a whole lot of fun and chaos.
.: Fenn picked out his orange soccer socks (over a selection of 7 or 8 colors) and his blue soccer shorts when we stopped by The Soccer Post after the zoo the other day.
It was tons of fun for me to watch. Daddy had a great time running around the field with Fenn. And Fenn seemed to have a lot of fun, too. Our plan is to introduce him to as many things as possible (sports, music, art, etc.). If he likes something, then he can continue. But if he doesn't like it, we're not going to force him to do anything he doesn't like. Same will go for Boone, too.
When the class was over, we headed over to Chick-fil-A with Ella Kate and Claire for family night. And Fenn got to meet the Chick-fil-A cow.
On Sunday, we took Fenn and Boone to their very first movie. It was really for Fenn because Boone is really too young and won't remember it. But I didn't want to miss seeing Fenn's reaction, so Boone and I tagged along. The movie was Toy Story 3... in 3D. So we got to wear the fun 3D glasses. {That first picture up there cracks me up! It kind of says it all with the expression on Fenn's face.} Right from the very start, Fenn was fascinated by all the lights in the lobby. He was totally happy because he was giggling the whole way into the theatre. And then he was really fascinated by the 'big TV' and all the seats (it was stadium seating). He and Boone both sat there totally mesmerized during the previews. A lot of those were in 3D, too!
On Friday, I let Fenn skip school and we went to the zoo with his friends Ella Kate, Layla, and Sophia. If you keep up with us here on the blog, you already know about Fenn's friendship with Ella Kate (a classmate from his previous school and also from The Little Gym). Fenn often says he's going to marry Ella Kate, even though I'm sure he has no idea what that means! And Layla and Sophia are some other friends he met at The Little Gym. The kids have so much fun together, so Ella Kate's mom, Kathryn, planned a zoo date.
Here they are looking for bears. "We're going on a bear hunt... We're going to catch a big one... What a beautiful day... We're not scared..." {That's one of Fenn's favorite books right now.}
:: Cute group shot! It was much harder to get than it looks.
:: How cute is this?!?!
:: Getting up close and personal with the zebras.
:: Cute carousel shots of Ella Kate, Fenn, and Layla. Sophia opted not to ride.
:: Fun at the frog splash pond with Sophia. Ella Kate and Layla had to leave after the carousel ride.
After playing in the water, Fenn and I grabbed some lunch and then headed home for a nap. I know Fenn had a great time with his friends. But I also had a great time with the other moms (Kathryn, Joy, and Kelly). Since I work from home and the boys are at school every day, that was really my first official play date. And I look forward to doing more. I have Fridays off, but it seems like I always have so much 'house' stuff to do and haven't gotten around to planning play dates.
On Thursday of last week (June 24th), Fenn's big boy furniture arrived. We've had it ordered since mid-April and have been anxiously awaiting its arrival. We had expected it a couple of weeks sooner and had even gone ahead and removed the crib from Fenn's room. So for a couple of weeks, he slept on the crib mattress on the floor with bed rails on the sides. He did great with that, so we knew he would do great once the big boy bed arrived.
A couple of weeks ago, in mid-June, Todd (my brother), Angie, Seth, and Jesse were on vacation in Pigeon Forge. When they told us they were going to be so close, we jumped at the chance to meet up with them for dinner. So we planned a trip over on Saturday afternoon for an early dinner at The Old Mill Restaurant. Like I told them, any visit with family you don't get to see very often is a good visit, no matter how short it is. After dinner, we hung out down by the river and at a park across the street. The boys had a blast playing with their older cousins, running around, and playing in the fountains. By the end of the evening, Fenn was soaking wet and filthy. Thank goodness I had taken their pajamas to change them into before heading home.
Thanks for meeting us for dinner! We loved seeing y'all. And we'll see you again in September.
We've had a really hard time getting Boone to eat anything with texture. He's 13 months old, and we have finally had a breakthrough. It's a small breakthrough, but we're okay with small. As long as he eventually starts eating real food, we're happy!
.: He had his first taste of ice cream on May 22nd. He liked it so much, he was grabbing the spoon.
.: Feeding himself on June 17th. It was much worse in person!
.: First taste of watermelon on June 20th. We were eating it while playing outside and he practically lunged forward to grab it from our hands and then proceeded to gnaw on it right down to the rind.
.: Eating a hunk of banana.
We have also had some luck with peas, green beans, cheese, and strawberries. And he loves mini Nilla wafers. Of course, for some odd reason he'll chew on something for a while, spit it out, and then sometimes pick it up again and finish eating it. Or, he'll be chewing on something, then we'll offer him something else. Instead of finishing what he already has, he'll open his mouth and let it fall out, and then grab whatever it is you're offering him.
Fenn had so much fun going to The Little Gym during the winter session, we signed up for the spring session. Their graduation was on June 2nd. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the night.
.: Receiving his medal.
.: Class photo... the best I could get knowing the kids wouldn't stand there for long. The ones I know are (L to R): Macy (purple headband), Layla (turquoise & green), Ella Kate (pink bows ~ Fenn's friend from his old school), Fenn, Emma (Fenn is looking at her), Eli (pink flowers), Aiden or Caden (Old Navy shirt), and Lauren (pink top, yellow shorts... so sweet, but so shy). I don't remember the other 2 boys' names and there were several kids missing from the photo.
.: Fenn with his 'bestest' friends Ella Kate and Layla. We're going to the zoo with them on Friday {so be on the lookout for a post and lots of fun photos}! And check out Ella Kate's blog post about Little Gym graduation (click here)... Fenn is in several of the photos.
Boone got lots of fun sports-related gifts for his 1st birthday, including a t-ball set, a soccer goal, a basketball goal, and a set of golf clubs. So far, both boys have had a blast playing with them. Here are a few pics of them playing with the t-ball set one day last month.
.: I'm pretty proud of Fenn in this one. Notice that he has his eyes on the ball. This is an 'action' shot and the bat is in motion and he hit the ball off the tee. Oh, and notice he's batting left handed.
.: Boone getting a little help from daddy.
In late May, we went to the Children's Festival of Reading down at World's Fair Park. While there, we also let the boys play in the big fountain.
.: Cool Fenn meeting Ronald McDonald right after watching his magic show and listening to him read a book.
.: Boone was really eager to meet Super Why! and walked right up to him without any hesitation whatsoever. He even sort of gave him a high-five.
.: Surprisingly, Fenn was a little hesitant about the big fountains. But those fountains are BIG! Luckily, Dan had worn some quick-dry shorts and was able to join in the fun. He carried Fenn through the fountains until he got more comfortable with them.
.: On the other hand, once I took Boone out of the stroller, I couldn't keep him out of the fountains.
.: And truth be known, I think daddy had just as much fun as the boys.
We've been gearing up here lately to start doing some serious potty training. Fenn has been showing signs of being ready for a while now. But we knew we couldn't even think about getting serious until after tax season. His interest in using the potty has really increased since starting to his new school and watching the other boys in his class use the potty. And he has been wanting to watch daddy pee in the potty, too. So we've been telling him that as soon as he pees and/or poopies in the potty, we'll take him to McDonald's to celebrate. {Sidenote: He has already peed in the big potty and poopied in the little potty one time in the past. But we think those times were mostly flukes and/or good timing.}
So yesterday morning while eating breakfast, Fenn suddenly said, "I need to go potty now." I got him out of his chair and sent him off to the bathroom. He pulled down his pants and I took off his diaper. He stood up on his stool and lifted the toilet seat. He stood there for a little while... but nothing happened. Then he got this 'look' on his face and it happened. It shot straight out, ricocheted off the side of the bathtub, soaked a section of the shower curtain, and then hit the toilet tank. While all this was happening, I was trying to grab Fenn and get him pointed downward in the right direction before anything else (like me) got soaked.
And the first thing out of Fenn's mouth was "I peed in the potty. I ready to go to McDonald's now." Guess where we went for dinner last night? McDonald's. And we had to go to what Fenn refers to as the Big McDonald's. That's the one we used to go to on the way home from his old school. Since changing schools, we have to go to a different McDonald's because the Big McDonald's is out of the way.
Yay Fenn! Mommy and daddy are proud of you. It's a good start. Maybe we'll have him potty trained by mid-summer.
.: The photo of Fenn above was taken back in late May... right before the finale of American Idol.
At the end of April, the boys started swim lessons on Saturdays. The classes began on April 24th and continued for 5 weeks. Fenn's class was in the morning, and Boone's class was in the afternoon. Needless to say, it made for a pretty busy day. Basically, the entire day was taken up with swim lessons, eating, and napping. There wasn't really any time for anything else. Like Fenn's lessons last year, we used Mr. Ed of Adventure Swim.
We started off the morning with Fenn's first lesson, and his first time in the pool since Labor Day weekend. Surprisingly, it didn't go well at first. He was extremely upset, which was just the opposite of how he was last summer. He never cried one time last year. But we're thinking it could have been attributed to the fact that he started to his new school the day before and was still upset about leaving his old school and all of his friends.
By the end of the first lesson, he seemed to be better and we even managed to get a few smiles from him.
And for the rest of the lessons, he was back to his old self and looked forward to going every week. Boone and I didn't attend any more of Fenn's lessons until the last one.
That afternoon was Boone's first lesson. And his very first time in a swimming pool {other than having his feet dipped in last year}. He quickly proved that we have another water baby on our hands. He loved it from the start. And he never once cried.
.: Getting ready to get in the pool.
.: Going under water for the first time. {Pouring water over their heads teaches them to hold their breath.}
.: One of the techniques Mr. Ed uses for getting them used to being horizontal in the water.
.: Learning to float on his back.
.: All done!
I actually took Boone to the rest of his lessons. Unfortunately, he missed 2 out of 5 lessons. He missed one because it was at the same time as his birthday party. We were scheduled to do a makeup class the following Thursday morning, but then Boone had pink eye. And then for the very last class at the end of May, he had both an ear infection and pink eye and couldn't go. So the only pictures I got are from the very first lesson. Thank goodness I got those! But we'll take pictures at the YMCA pool this summer.
And here are a few pictures from Fenn's last swim lesson. We're actually hoping to get him into some more lessons this summer, either from a lady who teaches at her home or at the YMCA.
.: Jumping off the ramp. {Boone got to do this, too. But I don't have any pictures.}
.: All done and smiling! He ended up really enjoying his lessons this year. It was just that first lesson.
