Pumpkin patch!

This morning we took a trip to a place called Washington Farms in Watkinsville, GA (about an hour from us) www.washingtonfarms.net It's a great place with all kinds of fun things for kids to do.

They had a little maze made from bales of straw.

They also had this cute little 'cow train'. They made these little cow cars out of plastic barrels. There are probably 20 of these little cows hooked together and pulled by a small tractor. They do a loop around the farm area...Spencer was on his own with his cow (we didn't ride with him) and he had a lot of fun.


Next we did the hay ride. It was actually a 'straw' ride, but I guess that doesn't matter much. It was slow going, but Spencer enjoyed it. We sat in the front so Spencer could watch the tractor. The hay ride took us toward the back of the farm where the corn maze was located.

The corn maze was on about 8 acres and was really fun (as long as you weren't traumatized by 'Children of the Corn' when you were a kid). The corn maze was actually much more involved than we thought it would be, but thanks to Fred's D&D skills we made it out of the corn maze. Spencer enjoyed shouting 'Left! Right!' and looking for ears of corn. After we went through the corn maze we walked back to the pumpkin patch.

On the way to a prime pumpkin-picking spot.

Daddy's pumpkin's stem was too big. Mommy's pumpkin was too round. But Spencer's pumpkin was just right!

On the way home Spencer said he was going to put triangles on his pumpkin then cut it out with a knife. I have no idea how he knows these things, as we've never carved pumpkins with him.

It was a fun morning, and I highly recommend Washington Farms to any family in the Atlanta area.

Fall days and bargaining power

The recent fall weather has been beautiful. We spent a lovely morning at the playground about a week ago. And last night we went to a picnic at Spencer's preschool where he ran around after the other kids like a little mad man! It was fun.
Spencer can almost tell us about his day now, which is so cool. He will tell us about activities and people, sometimes quite clearly. Bedtime has improved tremendously (though now that I said that it will all change again tomorrow) and he's just a happy little kid.

He has decided recently that he can make his own rules. For example, one night we bribed him with television to get him to eat dinner ("if you eat your dinner you can watch some Bob the Builder"...I know, I know, not the best parenting move). Well, the next night he bargained right back ("ok, I'm going to eat my broccoli then I get to watch Bob the Builder!"). We tried to explain to him that as the parents we get to make the rules, not him. But I'm not sure he believed us. He gets quite insistent that as long as he follows his rule, he gets a reward.

Hhhmmm...now that I think about it, I think he gets that from me!

Myrtle Beach

We spent last week in Myrtle Beach, SC with Fred's parents and my dad and stepmom. We had a great time. It was Spencer's second trip to the beach...he was 6 months old the first time we went so didn't do much except eat sand. This time of course was totally different. The first day he ran right into the water, until he got splashed in the face by a wave. Then he wouldn't go near it, and we had to drag him in kicking and screaming. Once we got him in, he loved it again, until he got splashed in the face by a wave, then he hated it...again. This went on for the first few days, but by the last day of our trip he was laying on his belly at the end of the surf, facing up the beach, waiting for a good wave to body surf him the rest of the way up the beach. I'm sorry...who are you and what did you do with my child?And of course he loved the seashells, and loved playing in the sand. He didn't eat much sand this trip, but still managed to get it all over himself (inside and out).















One of the highlights of this trip was getting to spend lots of time with Grandpa and Grandma from Tucson, AZ. Hopefully he's old enough now that he will remember them. And actually, he had 4 of his 5 grandparents there...what a lucky kid!

We really lucked out with the weather. We arrived on the tail end of Tropical Storm Hanna, and the other hurricanes headed to the gulf. Not that we were completely unaffected...we had a difficult time fueling our 15-passenger rental van for the ride home. But at least we had great weather.

There was also a pool at the condo complex where we stayed, and Spencer really enjoyed that as well. Fred practiced dunking him under the water...a new experience for Spencer.
I'm already looking forward to our next vacation.

Free Range Spencer

I have been reading this Free Range Kids blog lately http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/ I really want Spencer to be a 'free range kid'. I don't think it will always be easy to balance safety (whether real or perceived) with freedom, but I really believe in the free range kids philosophy.



The author/creator of this blog is Lenore Skenazy, the woman who let her 9-year old son ride the NY subway home from Macy's by himself. She received much attention, mostly negative it seems.



I hope we can give Spencer the opportunity to be 'free range'.

What was that I said?

Did I really say in my last blog post something about Spencer being in the 'terrible twos' but mostly being a 'lot of fun'? Those words were MEANT to be eaten. What was I thinking by writing that? We have certainly seen some terrible two's surfacing during the past few months. The worst of it so far was basically a week long temper trantrum...seriously. Everything was a battle. We are fortunate that Spencer talks fairly well and can tell us what he wants. We are unfortunate that he is the most contrary person in existence. 'I want pancakes!' 'Ok, we'll have pancakes.' 'No, I don't WANT pancakes!' 'Ok then, no pancakes.' 'I WANT PANCAKES!' Eventually either Fred or I have to just make a decision (pancakes or not? Little Engine that Could or Winnie the Pooh? Bob the Builder or Curious George?), and no matter what it is the wrong decision and ends with Spencer in freak out mode.

Once the week long tantrum was over things were ok again. When he's cute we can hardly stand it...when he's throwing a tantrum we can hardly stand it. Seems there is no in between with a toddler.


















Sleep has been another issue. At bedtime we used to read a few stories, sing a song, then put him in bed. 'Goodnight Spencer, I love you', 'Goodnight mommy'. Now, it's read a few stories, then 'one more! One last time! I want trains!!! LAST STORY!!!' 'Songs!' 'No, no songs!' 'SONGS!' He also decided to stop napping about a week ago. I think he still needs to nap, but since he's apparently learned to keep himself awake there is no more napping to be had. We at least make sure he gets some rest time in his crib (more for caregiver rest than Spencer rest). We have learned that you can lead a toddler to crib, but you can't make him nap! And yes, he still is in his crib. I don't plan on putting him in a 'big boy' bed anytime soon if I can help it. We did wean him from the pacifier about 6 weeks ago, which may be attributing to the change in nap and bedtime pattern.

He has started calling daddy 'Fred'...which was really funny at first (at least to me) but isn't funny to Fred. He's been calling me 'mom' at times, rather than mommy. He's a little parrot, and uses his learned words and phrases appropriately. Several mornings ago I asked him to stay still so I could change his diaper. His response was 'You can't always get what you want, Mommy'.






We've had a good summer. Nothing too exciting. We went to an airplane show at the local municipal airport, and they had some fire trucks there. Spencer got to 'drive' a fire truck.









For Father's Day we went to the aquarium. We took MARTA (public train) to get there, which Spencer loved. He loved MARTA so much, that it was all he could talk about at the aquarium. 'Spencer look at that Whale Shark!' 'Uh-huh...can we go ride MARTA?' Oh well.




And another day at the train museum, this time for the trains, trucks and tractors exhibit. Spencer loves that museum.









This is one of Spencer and Fred's favorite games. Fred loves it because it takes minimal effort on his part.


Having fun during story time.

Trains

We recently discovered the Southeast Railway Museum www.srmduluth.org It is only about 20 minutes away from us. Spencer loves trains so we took him there last Saturday. He was absolutely thrilled. He had a blast seeing all those train cars up close and personal. He's been talking about it for days...he even told the pediatrician about the train museum. We had to tell him it was closed (indefinitely) so that he would stop asking to go there. They have a 'trains, trucks and tractors' exhibit in July, so we'll have to go back for that. Those are definitely 3 of his favorite things.

And this weekend we're going to the local county airport for an open house and airshow. Spencer is going to love that!

I had heard so much about the terrible twos...and yes, Spencer can be awful at times...but he has mostly been a lot of fun. It's so fun to see so much genuine excitement.

Riding in the caboose with daddy.

Checking out the locomotive before the train ride.

A really big train and a really small boy.

Typical boy

So I really tried not to gender-type Spencer. By the time he was a year old he had a plastic doll house, an old Barbie style horse (no Barbie), and a doll that was designed to practice buttoning, zipping, tying, etc. Well, he never cared much for any of these items. As soon as Fred bought him a plastic CASTLE for his 2nd birthday, with a dragon, they instantly became his favorite toys. That castle is not so different from the doll house...but it's a castle. He loves it. He also loves tractors, excavators, bulldozers, loaders, cranes, trains, airplanes...all the stereotypical boy stuff. Oh well. I did recently read about a new study that shows the same phenomenon in baby and toddler monkeys. The female monkeys would play with masculine or feminine toys, but the male monkeys were much more drawn to the masculine toys. So, while I'm sure there is some nurture involved, a lot of it does seem to be nature related. According to the results of this study boys will be boys.

Spencer has recently discovered garbage trucks. They have become his new favorite thing. We went on a rare shopping trip for some new toys and we were of course in the truck/tractor toy section, and Spencer said he wanted a garbage truck. Fred and I looked at each other and shrugged, both thinking there was no such toy in existence. I even told Spencer we couldn't get a garbage truck. Well, Fred moved a toy aside and lo and behold, in the very back of the toy shelf there was a single big, plastic garbage truck! Actually, it's a recycling truck, which to me is even better. It was fate. Spencer was so excited. He loves his new toy garbage truck. It even has a little dumpster that attaches to the front. Very fun.

His vocabulary keeps growing, and he almost exclusively talks in full sentences (if I point at an 'A' and ask him what letter it is, he says 'That's an A' never just 'A'). He picks up words and phrases everywhere, and repeats them correctly later (yep, we really have to watch what we say these days even when we don't think he's paying attention). He still loves his books, but enjoys a little bit of education television especially if it's related to garbage trucks, fire trucks, trains or airplanes. He can almost recite numbers up to 20 (1-15 is good, gets a bit shaky after that), is quickly learning basic colors, and knows all the upper and lower case letters. I hope he doesn't get too bored in pre-K. Oh, and most importantly he's learning the concept of 'time out'. Very important.

But he's still our little baby in some ways...we still have diapers, pacifiers, and crib. But the time will come when I'll really have to stop referring to his as 'baby boy'. Sigh.

Helping feed the cat...and quickly becoming her new BFF!

Horseback riding with Grandma.
Hanging out in the backyard. (We need to mow.)