Summer Vacation - Part 1 {arriving at White Horse Ranch}

Our vacation is finally here!  We had originally planned to go in May or June, but it just didn't happen.  And we had planned to go somewhere for an entire week (for the first time as a family), but started thinking it wouldn't be possible this year because things are tight these days.  But things changed when we found out the uncle of my good friend, Kama, was willing to let us use one of his condos in Hilton Head for an entire week for the low, low cost of just the clean-up fee.  The only stipulation is that we had to go after the busy season.  So even though we had to wait until the end of the summer for our beach vacation, it was totally worth it because we got to vacation with our very good friends, Jim and Kama, and their precious little boy, Gabe, and baby girl, Addy.  And vacationing with other people makes it even more fun!

We left a day early (on Friday) so we could stop in Rincon, GA and visit my brother before continuing on to Hilton Head on Saturday afternoon.  We got on the road about an hour or so later than we had planned, but we've come to expect that whenever we go on a trip.  Heading east on I-75, we soon hit the curvy trip through the mountains.  And because we can't seem to go on a trip without someone throwing up, Boone decided to throw up immediately AFTER we passed the entrance to a rest area.  So we pulled over at the end of the exit ramp coming out of the rest area and got him cleaned up.  And in a not-so-smart move on my part, I had packed back-up clothes for Fenn (in case he had a potty accident), but had neglected to pack back-up clothes for Boone.  All of our other clothes were in the rooftop carrier and not so easy to get to.  So I put one of Fenn's t-shirts and shorts on Boone.  Luckily, Boone is starting to catch up to Fenn in size.

The rest of the trip was mostly uneventful.  We had packed peanut butter and honey sandwiches and lots of snacks with plans to stop at a rest area for lunch.  That way, the boys would have plenty of grassy areas to run around and stretch their legs.  Fenn got to pet a cat on a leash, and we discovered Boone loves trucks and that he can actually say "truck".  It actually comes out more like "dwuck!".

While at the rest area, I told Fenn he needed to go potty.  He said he wanted to do it on the grass.  I tried to tell him he really needed to go inside and use the big boy potty, but he was insistent on doing it outside.  So then we started looking for a bush or something he could get behind for a little privacy.  Nope... that wasn't working for him.  He walked out into the middle of a grassy area and said, "I wanna pee pee on da gwass right here."  So that's what he did.... for everyone to see.  Pants down around his ankles, white butt shining, and stream of pee shooting straight out.  Oh, and a big smile on his face.  I looked over at the nice older couple (who had the cat) eating lunch and said, "I'm sorry."  They said, "You've gotta do what you've gotta do."  A few minutes later, Fenn said he needed to poopy.  And once again, he didn't want to go inside to the bathroom.  So we got the potty seat out of the car.  I asked him if he wanted me to put it beside the car, but once again, he had other ideas.  He wanted it underneath one of the covered picnic table areas.  So he sat there, looking all around him at the people walking by, and poopied.  Needless to say, we got lots of smiles and giggles from people walking by.  But everyone seemed to have a look on their faces that said, "Don't worry... I totally understand."

We finally arrived at Todd and Angie's White Horse Ranch shortly after 6:00 p.m.  Fenn was so excited to finally see them... we've been singing 'Uncle Todd had a farm' (as opposed to Old McDonald had a farm) ever since our visit last summer.  And Boone did his usual "I'm shy" thing, hiding his face on my shoulder at first.  But he quickly warmed up and was ready to play.  Within a few minutes, the boys were riding on the trailer and going to help their cousin, Seth, feed the horses.  They both looked so cute carrying around the buckets of feed... like natural-born ranch hands.

After a yummy dinner of spaghetti, it was time to get the boys down for the night.  Tomorrow is going to be a busy day of riding horses and tractors and playing with Sarge and Deuce.  Stay tuned for more about our vacation!    

How do I love Fenn?... Let me Count the Ways.

I'm still running behind on doing blog posts.  This is yet another post I've been working on for a while now.  I'll jot down little things about Fenn on the chalkboard in the kitchen and then start a draft blog post that I work on a little at a time.  The writing part is not what's hard, it's going through pictures and figuring out which ones to include in the post.  I currently have thousands of photos of the boys.  For special occasions, like a trip to the zoo or a trip to see a relative, I may take hundreds of photos.  Then I have to go through all of them and try to delete the really bad ones or the ones that are basically duplicates of another.  Then I have to narrow the good ones down to my absolute favorites.  And if you look at my blog very often, you know I have a hard time narrowing my photos down because I typically have anywhere from 6 or more photos in a post.  I hate to see how long it's going to take me when I actually learn to edit my photos in Photoshop.

So anyway, I'm finally getting around to doing this post that is all about my precious Fenn.  He is so much fun right now and he surprises us every single day with something new he has learned, something funny he says, or something sweet that he does.  Yes, he's not perfect and is a typical 'almost' 3-year old.  But he truly is a special little boy and so, so smart.  Here are some of the reasons we love our Fenn...

.: He says, "Let's go on a 'pic-pik' at the pahk'."  {That's a 'picnic at the park'.}
.: He and his daddy have green bean races at dinnertime.  He really does like green beans, but he's going through a phase right now where he won't eat certain things, even things he says he likes.  So he and his daddy race to see who can finish a green bean first.  Fenn usually wins.
.: We also have this thing we do where we hold our hands together (with thumbs facing up) to form a 'shark' and do the Jaws thing {you know... "duhhhh DA, duhhhh DA, duhhh DA, duhhhh DA, duhn duhn duhn duhn duhn duhn duhn duhn..."}.  While we're doing that, we're moving our hands toward the boys and then tickling them.  They both laugh hysterically and love it.  And Fenn does it back to us, except his version comes out more like "daaa NO, daaaa NO, daaaa NO...".
.: His version of the blessing is "God is gwate, we are fed, tank da Lord, our day-yee bwed. Amen!"
* He says "gog" for 'dog'.  We have no idea why he does this because he can clearly say other words that start with a 'd'.
.: One day recently, we were playing baseball in the family room (with one of those plastic Little Tikes bat and ball sets) and I was pitching the ball to him.  When he missed, he said, "That's okay mommy, you can try again."  It's like he thinks it's up to me (and my pitching) to make sure the ball hits the bat.
.: He's going through a phase right now where he gives me silly faces when I tell him to smile for a photo.  Oh, and sometimes he tells me to put down my camera because he doesn't want me to take a picture of him.

.: When he sings his ABCs, he finishes up with "now I A-B-Cing wid me, next time won't you sing wid me".  Also, when he gets to 'L M N O P', he says "Elma Emmo P".  So cute!
.: He loves to sing.  He will sing along with the Little Einsteins intro song now and the other songs within the show.  Sometimes, he'll just start singing the songs even when he's not watching the show.
.: Speaking of his beloved Little Einsteins... he has started losing interest in them a little here lately.  Some new favorites are Timmy Time, Curious George, The Cat in the Hat Knows a lot About That, and the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  He's starting to sing some of those theme songs, too.
.: And speaking of those new songs, he really likes the theme song for Timmy Time.  The show is all about this little lamb named Timmy and his adventures at school with his animal friends.  There are no words to the whole show, except for the theme song.  The animals all communicate with their various sounds... "Baaaa" for the lamb, "Meow" for the kitten, "Quack" for the duck, etc.  So, the theme song goes something like, "Timmy (baaaa), It's Timmy (baaaa), He's a little lamb with a lot to learn..."  Dan will start singing the old M.C. Hammer song, but instead of singing "it's Hammer time", he'll sing "it's Timmy time!".  And Fenn will say, "No daddy, that's not right."
.: He has started calling us 'Mom' and 'Dad' sometimes instead of mommy and daddy.
.: He refers to the kitchen as the 'kitchen room'... makes sense because other rooms are the bedROOM, the bathROOM, the family ROOM, and the dining ROOM.
.: Sometimes he likes to pick out his daddy's clothes.  And he has also started picking out his own clothes more often.  He definitely has more of an opinion about what he wears.  So if you see him in something that totally doesn't match, just know it's because I'm trying my best to let him be Fenn.
.: He is completely potty trained except for nighttime.  He has even had several nights where he hasn't peed in his diaper at all and waits until he wakes up to pee.
.: His first chore was to set the table.  He has actually sort of lost interest in it now.  But he does sometimes still want to help out in the kitchen.
.: One of his favorite things to say is, "Look at all the animals!" in reference to all of his stuffed animal friends.
.: He has stopped this now.  But for the longest, when he counted to 10, he would skip the numbers 4 and 6.
.: Right now, he is really into being polite and says "thank you", "you're welcome" and "please" on a regular basis.
.: He really loves Petey.  And Petey loves him, too.

.: He still loves to read and sometimes 'reads' the book himself.
.: One night in mid-September, he pulled out his "book of prayers", told us to close our eyes, flipped through the book until he found the one he wanted (which is his favorite at the moment), and 'read' it out loud.... "I see the moon and the moon sees me.  God less the moon and God less me."  {that's supposed to be God bless the moon and God bless me, but he leaves off the 'b'}
.: He has started memorizing a lot of sentences, phrases, and prayers from his books.
.: He recognizes a lot of his letters and can even associate them with people's names and/or objects.  B for Boone, M for Marley or Micah, W for Wes, T for Tyler, etc.  {Those are some of the kids in his class.}  He also recognizes all the letters for his name and can spell his name.  He says, "F E N N Fenn" as he points to the letters.

Another fun trip to the Zoo!

Dan had to work on Labor Day because this time of year is really busy for him.  The boys were going to be home with me all day and I didn't have anything special planned.  On Sunday night, my friend, Kathryn, texted me and invited us to join them at the zoo on Monday.  So that's what we did.  We met Kathryn and Ella Kate there, and also Amanda and her daughter, Claire.  Claire was also in Fenn's class at his old school.

Checking out a really big snake... and not at all scared.

Fenn, Ella Kate, and Claire.  I really love this picture!

Snack time!

Boone feeding a camel for the first time.

He thought it was funny to tease the poor camel!

Getting up-close and personal with a gorilla.  At first, he was sitting down the hill.  But when a small crowd started gathering at the window, he noticed everyone and walked up the hill.  At first, he turned his back on everyone and stuck out his butt.  Not sure of what that meant!  But then he walked right up to the glass and looked directly at the boys.

Fun at Pump It Up

Over the weekend, the boys went to our neighbor's birthday party at Pump It Up.  It was Miles' 5th birthday.  Basically, it was a couple of hours of fast-paced fun for the boys.  And I have to admit it was fun for mommy and daddy, too.  Oh, and did I say how tiring it is to climb up those things?  Especially if you're having to carry a 15-month old in one arm and hang on with the other arm!  Fenn had been to another party there before, but still started off going down the slides with his daddy.  It didn't take him long to start doing everything on his own, though.  And Boone was fearless and absolutely loved going down the slides with either me or Dan.  Here are a few pictures from the day.  {Sorry they're not necessarily in focus, but the lighting in there is horrible!  You can still see the joy on their faces.  And isn't that the point?}

First time down the slide.  Dan had to go down with both boys.

Do you think Boone enjoyed his first time down?

Fenn went down right behind Mr. Wayne (Miles' daddy).  I think he kind of crashed into him at the bottom. 

Then it was time for a big 'high five'.

And a couple more fun ones.

Oh, and one with mommy, since I'm hardly ever in any of the pictures.

Thanks, Miles, for inviting Fenn and Boone to your birthday party.  They had a blast!

Just Boone

Once again, I am WAY behind on blogging.  I don't know what happens.  How do I let myself get so far behind?  Boone's 15-month check-up was on August 25th, and here it is October 13th when I'm doing this blog post.  {If you notice the date for the post, it is an 
August date, but that's just so I can keep my blog in some kind of chronological order.}  I have actually been working on this post for a while now, jotting down little things about Boone as I think about them.  So some of these things he might not have been doing at 15 months yet.  He may have actually started doing them between 15 and 17 months.  But I wanted to remember as many little things about him as possible.  I'm sad there are some things he does that I can't think of right now. 

The pictures I'm interspersing in this post were all taken at the end of August.  I was specifically trying to capture the expression he makes (see the last photo at the bottom of the post) when he doesn't like something you've said to him.  He made the face once and I had to snap the photo really quickly without adjusting my camera settings.  So unfortunately, it is out of focus.  I tried, unsuccessfully, to get him to do it again.  He wouldn't, but I got some other really cute expressions in the process.

So here are a few things about Boone:

.: When we're saying the blessing at dinner, he says "Ahhhh mmmmm" {That's "Amen!"}  That's one of his first 4 words.
.: So, his first 4 words are 'ma ma', 'da da', 'uhht ohhh', and 'ahhhh mmmm'.
.: I'm worried he might think he's a dog, because he sure does like to sit on Petey's bed.  It has gotten to the point where if Petey sees him coming, he'll just get up and move out of the way because he knows Boone is going to sit down on his bed.
.: He really loves Petey.

.: He can climb up on the sofa, dining room chair, Fenn's bed, and our bed without a problem.
.: He has totally been in a 'daddy' mood for the last 2 or 3 months.
.: As of the real date that I'm doing this post, he has 11 teeth now.
.: Despite the delay in starting to eat real food (vs. baby food), he has turned out to be a pretty good eater.  He will now eat pretty much anything.  The other night, he even ate some of my salad.  And he kept reaching out for more.
.:  We have one of those plastic slides in the playroom.  He can climb up the ladder and sit down on the top without a problem.  But for some reason, he always hesitates to let go and slide down.
.: He loves to give open-mouthed, wet, sloppy kisses.  And you have to be careful because he'll bite down sometimes.
.: He likes to show you his belly button.

.: Did I say how much of a daddy's boy he is???  That's a hard thing for mommy to accept, especially when it has lasted for so long.
.: Over the last month or so, he and Fenn have started REALLY playing together.  They like to chase each other around the house on their ride-on toys.  And it gives mommy and daddy a little break sometimes.
.: He can whistle.  I'm serious!  I really need to get it on video because no one will believe me.  It's not a great whistle, but he knows what we mean when we tell him to whistle and he does make a whistling sound.
.: He seems to be very mechanically-inclined.  He analyzes things like he's trying to figure out how they work, how they're put together, etc.  I know it's normal for babies to be curious, but the way he does it seems to be a little more in-depth.
.: Right now, he favors his right hand.  In comparison, Fenn always favored his left hand, and still does.
.: He likes to play with the little kitchen set I bought at a consignment sale.  He'll get a cup and a spoon and pretend like he's eating.  He'll put the spoon in his mouth and then say "Mmmmmmm" as he pulls the spoon out of his mouth.

 
These are his stats at 15 months old:
Weight:  24 lbs. 9 oz. (49th %)
Height:  31 5/8" (63rd %)
Head:  47.3 cm (52nd %)

Compare this to his stats at 12 months old:
Weight:  23 lbs. 6.5 oz. (55th %)
Height:  30.625" (70th %)
Head:  46.6 cm (52nd %)

I still think it is funny how people always look at my kids and say, "Wow!  He's big for his age."  But when you look at Fenn's stats or Boone's stats, they're always just slightly above the 50th percentile for their ages.  Certainly never anywhere close to the 100th percentile.  They're pretty much average in size.

And this is THE face.  He doesn't do it quite as much now.  But I'm glad I captured it, even if it is out of focus.  If you told him "No" or said anything he didn't like, he would give you this face and let you know exactly how he felt.

Go Jump in the Lake!

Last weekend, we visited Dan's sister in Mooresville, NC.  We always have a good time visiting with Debbie and Mark.  And the boys love their cousins, Piper and Sydney.  The girls do such a great job of entertaining the boys that mommy and daddy actually get a bit of a break for a change.

They live near Lake Norman, so we spent Saturday morning letting the kids swim in the lake.  They have a neighbor who owns some lakefront property nearby, so all we had to do was walk and 5 minutes later we were at the lake.
{I hesitate to post these pictures of the boys swimming in the lake.  We visited them when Fenn was about 8 months old and rented a pontoon boat.  We put Fenn in the lake for all of 5 minutes.  He had on a life jacket, we held him, and he never went under water.  Anyway, I did a post (click here to see it) about the trip and posted some pictures.  Well someone left a nasty comment on that post about the fecile count in Lake Norman and how we should be ashamed of ourselves for putting our baby in that lake.  Oh, and their post was 'Anonymous'!  Don't bother looking at the Comments because I deleted it.}

First of all, we introduced Fenn to fishing.  He seemed interested at first, but it didn't hold his attention for very long.

Then it was time to swim.  At first, Fenn wasn't so sure about getting in the water.  But once we got him in with his daddy and the girls, he was fine.  I'm sure the lake, with the water being so dark, seems strange to him compared to a nice, clear swimming pool.  And once he got comfortable in the water, the real fun began... jumping off the dock!

Fenn also thought it was hysterical to push his daddy into the lake!

Boone also had a great time swimming in the lake.  He loved 'jumping' off the dock (actually his Aunt Debbie would drop him in to his daddy).   

After we sufficiently wore everyone out, it was time to get back for lunch and then naps.  We kept the rest of the weekend pretty low-key and just hung out at the house.

On Sunday morning, the girls put on their own production of 'Cats' for us.  Afterward, we all loaded up for some playtime at a very nice park nearby (Hope Park at the Lowe's YMCA).  The plan was to tire out the boys so they would nap on the ride home. 

After lunch at Steak 'n Shake, we headed home.  It was our first road trip since starting to potty train Fenn a couple of weeks earlier.  He did great with the 4+ hour car ride and didn't have any accidents the whole weekend.

Thanks Mark, Debbie, Piper, and Sydney!  We had so much fun with y'all.  Wish we lived closer to each other.

And keep scrolling on down a little for a link to some more photos from our trip.  You'll notice I'm not in any of the photos.  I just never got around to handing the camera to Dan. 

More Photos from our Trip to Mark and Debbie's

Just click on the photo below and it will take you to the Picasa Web Album with lots more photos.

Bend It Like Fenn.... More Soccer

Fenn finished up his 5-week introduction to soccer class last night.  He seemed to have fun and even seemed to improve some of his skills by the end of the class.  One big rule they learned is there are no hands in soccer!  And, of course, he loved getting to see Ella Kate every week.  Here are a few photos from the last class.

Hanging out with Ella Kate before class started.

Practicing some of his footwork.

He just received his certificate.  It is not in focus, but I still like it because it shows how excited and proud he was.

A big "Go Team!" at the end of class.  Coach Joanna was great with the kids.

Fenn and Ella Kate showing off their certificates.

We had so much fun that we might do another session in late fall. 

More Swim Lessons for Fenn

In mid-July, Fenn finished up a round of back-to-back swim lessons with Mrs. Mildred.  She teaches the lessons at her house.  We started the week of July 5th and went for 5 nights straight, and then resumed for 3 more nights the following week, with the last class being on Wednesday night.

Mrs. Mildred is both similar to and completely different from Mr. Ed (where Fenn and Boone have taken lessons before).  She is tough like Mr. Ed, but she does allow you to comfort your child more than Mr. Ed.  However, she is not afraid to get in their face and tell them they're not allowed to cry at her house.  This wasn't a problem for Fenn, because out of 8 nights, he only had one bad night where he just wasn't himself and was a little whiny.  Also, she does not allow anyone to say "ohhh, the water is cold!" when entering the pool.  You have to toughen up, shut your mouth, and get in and get wet within the first couple of minutes.

All this aside, she gets results and is a good swim teacher.  We'll probably use her again next summer, especially for Fenn.  Boone may not quite be ready for her class due to her techniques.  While the parent is in the pool with the child, her technique is very hands off for much of the class.  The child needs to be able to follow directions and has to swim on his own a lot.  And Boone will barely be 2 years old next summer, where Fenn was just over 2 1/2 at the time of this class.  Six months makes a huge difference.

Her big thing is making sure the child knows what it feels like when they fall into the water, with all that water rushing around you and splashing everywhere.  She says if a child has never experienced that before, that's when they panic and get disoriented and can't get to the side of the pool.  She teaches them to swim to the side, grab on, and climb out of the pool.  She also works on coming up for air, using their hands/arms, and floating on their back.  She does not teach dog paddling.  She teaches kids to swim with their faces in the water.  Oh, and one way she shows kids what it feels like to fall into the pool is to drop them off the end of the diving board and have them swim to the side... with mommy or daddy watching from the shallow end of the pool!

So here are a few photos from the last class.  I (mommy) was in the pool with Fenn and daddy was on the side taking pictures.  In the first photos, Fenn is jumping into the pool in his typical 'flying squirrel' pose and doing a great job of splashing mommy.  And in the next photos, Fenn is swimming across the pool by himself.  He couldn't quite hold his breath long enough to make it all the way across, but he came close.  Mrs. Mildred was there to help him with the last couple of feet.  Keep in mind that she did not help him swim across.  She was not touching him at all.  She was only swimming along beside him.  And we were so impressed with how far he made it by himself.  After climbing out of the pool, the kids were instructed to sit on the bench and wait.  Most nights, it was cold being outside the water and being wet.  And the kids would sit there shivering, and sometimes whining.  But Fenn never complained.  He just sat there and waited.

In the next group of photos, Fenn is being 'tossed' off the end of the diving board and is swimming to the side.  Because of the distance between the water level (kind of low in my opinion) and the edge of the pool, Fenn had a hard time reaching up and grabbing the side.  So Mrs. Mildred actually had to help him once she saw that he wasn't going to be able to do it on his own.  That was not easy for mommy to watch while standing in the shallow end of the pool.

At the end of the class, the kids got to go down the slide.  This was pretty special to Fenn because he's been watching people go down the slide at the YMCA pool all summer and has been wanting to do it.  But you have to be able to swim to the side all by yourself without a parent at the bottom to help you.  So he got to do it at Mrs. Mildred's and then swam to mommy.

So he did great with the lessons.  He still has not made the connection to start using his hands.  But he'll get there.  He kicks well, can hold his breath, can climb out by himself, and loves to jump off the side of the pool.  I think he'll be swimming pretty good next summer.