Willing Family

As I was picking jared up from school today, his teacher, Ms. Alma stopped me.  She said that she had to share a funny story from yesterday.  

During lunch Jared spilled some milk on his shirt so Ms. Amber thought it best to take it off of him and wash it while he napped.  When Jared woke up he noticed that he did not have a shirt on and decided to ask Ms. Alma what happened.  Here is their conversation:

Jared:  Where my shirt???

Ms. Alma:  *Acting  a little surprised and shocked*  ”Did it sprout legs and run away?”

Jared: *giggling*  That’s Funny!

Ms. Alma said that she couldn’t stop laughing because Jared was so serious in his inquiry but so funny in his response.

Jared’s new favorite books are the Llama Llama series.  He really likes “Amma Amma Mat Ama” or Llama Llama Mad at Mama!  They go to the Shop-O-rama or Shamama as Jared calls it.  He is going to be really sad when this book has to go back to the library.

I can’t believe how fast Jared is changing.  It baffles me that just a few months ago he was barely saying a word and not he just doesn’t stop talking.  Just this weekend he started saying “whoa!” and he has been saying “thats funny for about two weeks”.  the crazy part of it is that he uses it in the right context, like when things are obviously a play on words or if something is really far fetched like when reading “Hey Diddle Diddle”.  Other crazy things he says”

motorkikle = motor cycle

ice pickle = popsicle

awful = waffle

he likes to say I did it when he helps!  And when he wants to do something himself he shouts our “My Turn!”  these are the things that make parenthood priceless.

We are officially finished with teething!!!!!  The lone hold-out, the top-left second molar finally came through.  Trust me, this is something that should be celebrated and to celebrate we watched a little TV, which is still very novel to Jared.  He was so into the program that he barely blinked.

Sesame Street Stupor

Jared has really been into trains lately so we thought that we would try the Day Out with Thomas event!  I am so glad that we did because it was awesome.  Everything about the day was just great.  Jared woke up in a great mood and was perfect for the 90 minute car ride.  The people of Connersville really know how to do this event.  There was ample parking, plenty of space and of course lots of Thomas the Train related activities.  Anyone with little ones who are really into trains needs to do this event.

Here we are in front of the big ticket.  Jared is upset because daddy stepped away for a minute.

Jared rode the tractor train, which was nothing more than a tractor made to look like a train engine pulling 55 gallon drums on wheels.  Jared seemed a little apprehensive about going on the ride but he went and there were no tears.

Jared waving good-bye from his train car

The tractor-train in action

Our last stop before our train ride was the souvenir tent.  Holy Cow!! I had no idea that there was so many Thomas the train engines.  And stuff, there was tons of kitchy stuff everywhere.  Thomas the train dishes, lunch boxes, t-shirts, coins, frames, etc, etc..  Insane!  It was total overload of stuff.  But we managed to come away with only one item, the Commemorative Thomas the Train Engine.

Jared doing a little shopping! So many choices.

Since we opted to go for an early train we got to watch Thomas arrive at the station.  It is amazing how much it looks like the toy engines.  This was such an adorable spectacle.  Kids and adults were cheering and clapping.  There dozens of children staring in amazement of their favorite character arriving.  I suspect that it was similar to what kids experience at Disney World when Mickey Mouse shows up.  I will admit, that it was impressive.

Thomas toot toot train

And finally, it was our turn to ride.  Jared was so excited.  He kept telling us “Ride Thomas toot toot train!!” while miming pulling the train whistle.  It was a nice ride out in the country.  The engineer made up a little story about having to rescue a stranded train and quizzed the kids about different characters and the Island of Sodor.  Volunteers were on hand to answer questions and to pass out the Jr Engineer certificates.  It was a lot of fun and seeing Jared so happy and excited about something was priceless.

Family train trip

Jr Engineer

Attempt at a family photo

You would think that after the main attraction that there wouldn’t be much to do, but there was still tons to do.  We still had to hit the pony rides, the petting farm, see Bertie the Bus, get our picture with Thomas and visit Sir Topham Hat.  We tried the pony rides, but Jared got scared at the last minute and decided not to go, but he did not want to leave the petting zoo.  For a while there I thought that one of the rabbits was going to end up coming home with us.

Jared on Bertie the Bus

We left just before naptime which is exactly how we planned it.  Unfortunately he didn’t didn’t nap very long so he was a little grumpy for our afternoon at John and Dana’s for BBQ.  Since Dana works weekends we don’t get to see them very often so doing the Thomas event in the morning freed up a Friday afternoon to hang with the Hartman’s.  The kidlets  had a ton of fun playing on the waterslide and we capped off the day with some delicious BBQ.  Dana grilled up some pineapple and it was awesome.  All in all, an amazing day.

Jared has really been enjoying the “Little Critter” books lately. In particular he is fond of a story called I Didn’t Mean Too, which is all about the minor accidents that happen in life when we just aren’t paying enough attention.  while reading the book for what seemed like the dozenth time I took the opportunity to teach Jared about empathy.  After each situation I would ask him what he could do to make the other person feel better and then asked could you say “I’m sorry” and give bug hugs?  Apparently a few more readings the message that I had wanted to get across hadn’t sunk in because when I asked him what he could do to make someone feel better he responded with a very concerned look and said “Ice pack”.  Apparently the solution to spilling milk, knocking down a friend, ripping your jacket, etc. is to get an ice pack.  At least he is sort of getting the concept.

the bottom left molar came in today.  i saw it while we were playing monkey after shopping for the potty book. I knew that it was only a matter of time since he has been chewing on his fingers non-stop for weeks, but it still surprised me.  

So yes, today I broke down and went and bought a book about going potty.  Jared loves his potty seat, but uses it inconsistently.  Not that this is unusual for a child his age, but I thought that I could improve our chances of getting “hits” on the toilet if he had a greater understanding of how and when to use the toilet.  Multiple people have recommended the book “Once Upon a Potty”.  I think that it is a little strange but so far Jared seems to enjoy the book.  It starts off by describing the body parts used for going potty and it caught both me and Eric a little off guard.  Both of us had to stifle a chuckle while reading it.  

We also bought Jared a boat!!  Ok, so that statement makes it  sound like a big deal and it really isn’t, but everyone that I work with seems to be getting boats this year so we decided to jump on that bandwagon.  Only ours cost $4.99 and is not sea worthy, it’s debatable if it is even tub worthy, but Jared seems to be enjoying it.