What We've Been Doing
A lot! The fall is always my favorite time of year. It seems like it always gets filled up with fun trips and visits and activities that we never get around to at other times of the year. There are holidays to look forward to, the weather is perfect, life is good! However, it seems like I’ll never get around to making a separate blog post about everything we’ve been up to, so instead I’m going to try and play a bit of catch up. So here are a bunch of random but good things we’ve been up to.
Also in completely random updates, E has 4 teeth! We have no idea when #3 and #4 came in - we flipped him upside down the other day (the only way to really check) and he has a mouth full of teeth up there! But since he only has 1 on the bottom, we hadn’t noticed. I guess that’s a good thing though. (Although now that we know they’re here, we’re thinking back on a cranky week last week and wondering if that’s what was going on!)
Truck Day
I don’t think this was a thing when I was growing up? Or maybe it was and I just didn’t care about trucks. Totally possible. Either way, almost every town does them now and they’re pretty easy to find. We weren’t really sure how E would do at the event, since he doesn’t really like sirens or loud noises, so we only planned to quickly check it out. Add to it that we were running up against nap time, it was unexpectedly hot out, and we had forgotten sunscreen or hats, we weren’t there long. Just long enough to get a feel for what it was like, and run into a few friends.
E did seem to enjoy it, but I’m not sure that it was the trucks. Just getting an opportunity to run around in a park and say hi to a bunch of people was enough to make him excited. Every time I’d put him near a truck he’d usually protest and want to run around again, but I can see how this will be a really cool event next year for him. Next year we’ll go more prepared and hopefully be a bit bigger and braver.
Church
We’ve actually made it to church a few times lately! It’s never easy to get out the door and plan naps and think of ways to keep E quiet, and we always come home exhausted… but at the same time, totally worth it.
My hope is that he’ll find a loving community that will be there for him as he grows up, and that he’ll always be comfortable there. So we make the effort. Luckily most people love E, and enjoy him in church - although we still get a few of the old fashioned crowd who don’t really believe children should be in church and should always be sent to the nursery. We just try to smile and hope they don’t get too annoyed with us. Luckily our pastor isn’t one of them, and totally plays along when E offers to share his sippy cup in the middle of prayers..
I mean I totally get it - church is meant to be reflective and peaceful, and your idea of that might not include a random “HI!” in the middle of a sermon or a giggle or cry during a silent prayer. But if we always send children out of the service, how will they ever learn to be a part of the church? My hope is that we can learn to adapt to include the entire church community instead.
Outside Play
You don’t need to know much about E to know that he loves being outside, and he loves playing in the dirt. Pretty much every day he begs to go outside until we beg him to come inside and put PJs on. He collects rocks, he drags snow shovels around, talks to the neighbors, and eats lots of mulch.
We’ve also recently broken out the sidewalk chalk to try to encourage E to draw a bit more. Mostly, though, I’m usually the one drawing all over our driveway while he makes a few marks and then moves on. He doesn’t know how special he is to grow up with a paved driveway that he can draw on!
Daycare
Not much has changed here, E still loves going to school every day, and is learning so much there. At a recent back to school night, his teachers told us that their educational goals were to get him speaking 10-15 new words in the next THREE MONTHS. It’s mind blowing to think that our little Bubba who can only say hi and uh oh at this point, will be saying so many more things in such a short period of time.
They also want him eating with a fork by then, which now that I think about it seems even more impossible haha.
We’re still dealing with possible teething (?) which brings all the drool. It was recently sports day at daycare, so we sent E in Sox gear, but it only lasted for a few hours, since he’s averaging 3 outfits per day while at school. My stash of daycare clothes is now bigger than his home clothes. At least it’s due to drool now and not something grosser…
Other Randomness
E is hilarious in what he’s interested in lately. He’s recently discovered cleaning, and will beg for the swiffer or dust pan to clean up with. If you hand him a wipe after a meal, he’ll wipe down his entire highchair tray. He’s also learned to put his dirty clothes in the hamper, and since I clapped for him when he did it originally, he now claps every time he’s done.
While trying to kill time before bed recently, he found his baby tub, and has become obsessed with sitting in it. He can climb in and out on his own, and it will keep him busy for a good 20 minutes.
I mentioned he doesn’t have any new words, but his favorite noise right now is to mimic a siren: eee-ohhh-eee-ohhh over and over again while he’s playing. It’s the cutest.
Speaking of cute, on our drive home from daycare every day, E now plays peek a boo for most of the ride. If I happen to glance back at him, he’ll have his hands covering his eyes, and I’ll go “Oh my gosh, where is E!? Where did he go?” and he’ll giggle and pull his hands away from his eyes. Apparently he does it with Tom too, but he always peeks through his fingers haha.