A wild experience

Today, Joe and I accompanied Zack and Shawn to The Wildlife Experience (thanks, Shawn!). It’s a bit of a trek (to Parker) and similar to the animal dioramas at the Nature and Science Museum, but much newer and more animatronic. Joe loved it!

There was a lot to look at, from all angles!

The life-sized animals were pretty authentic, the backgrounds beautiful, and the kids really got a kick of how the animals moved and made sounds.

Joe really enjoyed looking at all of the animals, which made mommy really happy!

There were a ton of these interactive displays with animal sounds. The kids had a blast running from one to the next.

Both boys pointed out Dori and Nemo at the aquarium exhibit.

Sometimes the kids needed a boost to see cool stuff over the rails and Shawn was happy to oblige. Not that Joe would settle for Mommy anyhow.

Joe checking out the ice cave.

There’s a new (temporary) butterfly exhibit. It was intended for older kids, but Joe and Z had fun too.

Joe spins the wheel of butterflies.

A reflection of Joe doing the butterfly mating dance. I told you the exhibit was for older kids!

All Zack cared about in the butterfly exhibit was the "big bumblebee tent."

Joe gave the butterfly exhibit a standing ovation.

The museum also had a (school-age) kids’ interactive exhibit, kind of discovery museum-ish.

Joe really liked the avalanche "game" where you dump foam "snowballs" in the top and watch them crash down a mountainside.

Joe and Zack carrying the snowballs.

Joe tried pushing all of the buttons on the exhibits, but they were a bit advanced.

So he decided that the exhibits were better to climb on. (He didn't get caught, whew.)

The boys took a split-second break in the movie room.

Not sure what the possessive "tree" hugging was about.

There was a craft center with crayons, glue, and scissors. Joe found the only pair of non-rounded scissors in the place. Greaaaat.

Z and Mommy colored. The craft of the day was peacocks.

We ended the morning in the tots room, where the boys had just as much fun as the rest of the museum.

Joe found a stick in an outdoor activity area. He couldn't be happier.

Z tried some rockclimbing.

The kids had great fun with puppet play.

Joe must have tried out every puppet in the place.

He was pretty good at it.

Z decided that the snake needed to wrap around Joe.

We ended our morning venture with a walk outside, because, well, that’s what little boys do.

Taking a walk around the little "ampitheatre."

Our walk pretty much ended in a roll. On purpose, of course.

Looking for rocks inside rocks. Duh...

Joe’s new hat

Joe got a new hat today, quite by accident. I bought a bunch of hats for Dan and I to try on.

Yo, baby.

I didn’t realize that this cute purple hat was a boy’s hat. It was in the women’s section and fit me perfectly. Of course, it fit Joe too, since Joe and I can share hats (…between my pinhead and his big ‘fro!).

Joe says "CHEESE!"

I’m so glad I have a hubby who appreciates fun and funky fashion and doesn’t get intimidated by colors like purple and orange…

"Yeah, mama! I like it!"

I love dressing Joe in fun colors, especially the ones I can’t wear nicely (like yellow and orange, yeah baby!). But I do wonder if I’m going to look back on these photos someday, get a good chuckle, and wonder what I was thinking?! (Like my purple polyester bell bottom jumper that I wore when sitting on Santa’s lap when I was 5…thanks mom!)

All done.

How to keep 2-year-old boys busy all morning long

Joe was completely stir crazy from being at home all day yesterday (waiting for our freezer delivery), so we met up with Zack at City Park. Shawn called just before they left to warn me that they were bringing a “giant” dump truck, so we packed one of Joe’s too. I had a hunch I should have packed both of Joe’s trucks, but didn’t. My bad.

Z took one look at Joe's big Tonka dump truck and we knew that an all-morning battle would be inevitable. So I just ran home and picked up Joe's second truck. Five minutes later, I was back with Joe's other dump truck. I do love living in the city!

As I arrived with the other dump truck, Z yelled “thank you” over and over as he ran to greet me…er, I mean, greet the truck!

Boy meets truck.

It was a first! For once, they didn’t argue over who got which truck, even though the trucks looked just a little different.

And they're off!

Buds

They even took turns being in the lead spot as they tooled around (and around and around) the park.

Z's in the lead!

Joe's in the lead!

The boys spent nearly two hours “driving” around the “roads” in the park, picking up pinecones and leaves (and, of course, dumping them out), following each other around, and traversing the hills. They only stopped for one quick snack.

Dump truck races. And, yes, the flames do make it go faster.

They had a really good time, but apparently boys take the whole truck thing pretty seriously.

That's a man on a serious dump truck mission.

They probably had the most fun sending their dump trucks down a steep hill to see which one would get to the bottom first.

Ready, set, go! And they actually let go at the same time...for once.

Dump truck races are quite exciting, don't you know?

And they showed great sportsmanship no matter whose truck "won!"

They even retrieved their own trucks at the bottom of the hill AND climbed back up.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a good dump truck play date if they didn’t find the mud puddle.

What you don't see is the mommy just out of the frame racing to rescue the kiddos before they got covered in mud!

The boys also had fun playing hide-and-seek and running around without the dump trucks.

Hiding in the rose bushes!

We recently clocked Joe at 5.1 miles per hour at the health exhibit at the Museum of Nature and Science (which, coincidentally, was only a few hundred yards behind the boys while they were running.)

It was an absolutely gorgeous day and a beautiful reminder why we live in Denver.

The view we were able to enjoy while the boys played in City Park, which is walking distance from my house.

A colorful day of peacocks and pirates

It was a bright, beautiful, sunny day for our annual trip to Boo at the Zoo. Joe had been really fascinated by peacocks this summer and even has an Eric Carle pillowcase with a peacock on one side and a hippo on the other. So, this year, Joe dressed up like a peacock and, naturally, he was the beau of the ball!

You can't exactly go to the zoo on a dress-up day in such a showy costume without the expected stares and compliments.

Actually, when we first arrived, Joe didn’t want to wear the costume. Of course, halfway through the parking lot, Joe insisted that he had to be a peacock since all the other kids were in costume. So, back to the car we schlepped!

Goofing around in the back of daddy's truck gives a good back view of the costume

Joe is such a good sport. Hopefully we’ll get many more years of mommy’s crazy costumes!

Joe was in a great mood and ran through the parking lot flapping his tail fan.

He took great pleasure in "hiding" too!

Joe had fun trick-or-treating at the zoo, especially since he had the hang of it after the previous night’s festivities.

Mom was happy because a small lollipop kept Joe occupied and out of the other candy for quite awhile.

When we finally caught up with buddies Zack and Landon, who weren’t in costume, Joe insisted in taking his off. Two-year olds are such natural-born leaders, aren’t they?! Then, after a quest for Dots candy (LT had some, so Z, then Joe, *had* to have their own), we caught up with more friends.

Sofia didn't want anything to do with the boys and skooched as far away from them as she could.

Z decided to go on the offensive and started headbutting, tickling, and chasing Joe, who tried to ignore it at first, then simply ran away. Not your usual Joe behavior! Maybe Z has figured it out?

Z leans on his bud. The start of the Zack Attack!

Z tickles Joe

By the end of the morning, when the sugar lows hit, the daddies turned into instant pack mules.

The boys were *almost* too tired to trick-or-treat at the end of our venture.

A tired but happy Zack

As we were leaving, the boys got free Astro Boy posters. Joe decided that his was a pirate’s spyglass.

Dan did not show him how to do this. Joe just did it on his own.

Joe’s Ghoulish Get-Together

Dan and I got a little more into the Halloween spirit this year (despite the fact that Dan still hasn’t recovered from his flu after being down-and-out for a week), but we only managed to dig out our old standby witch and wizard costumes.

I even donned the stripey socks. Dan was more of a Ren Faire wizard...What kinds of shoes *do* wizards wear anyhow?

Joe, however, was thrilled with the idea of being a race car driver. He had worn the costume to a party earlier in the week and thought it was the coolest costume ever! It’ll be interesting to see if he insists on a repeat tomorrow morning or if he’s willing to wear the peacock costume to Boo at the Zoo.

A man with a mission: Get Candy.

We had a simple dinner with some friends before heading out to trick-or-treat. Joe (who had insisted on taking off his costume after dinner) and Maggie (who was pretty content to be a dragon) had a good time playing while the adults finished up their meals.

Joe wouldn't wear his costume, but preferred his pjs while running around the house. Apparently he was a construction worker/baseball player too.

As we were getting Joe ready to leave, Maggie had a bit of a run-in with our living room radiator. Unfortunately the radiator won. Maybe we can work on that radiator cover sooner rather than later. I hate those things!

Miss Maggie calmed down and mom was relieved after the bandaging process.

Our empathetic Joe was pretty upset that his buddy was hurt, so he insisted that he needed a bandaid too.

Joe was sad that his friend was hurt and needed a matching bandaid for "his" owie.

But, soon enough, the kids were happy to go trick-or-treating. Maggie ended up being a “wounded” dragon once we bandaged her up a second time (she kept taking off the butterfly closures and bandaids).

Maggie and Joe walking from house to house.

The kids kept wanting to get into the bags before we finished trick-or-treating. We probably could have gotten away with going to 2 or 3 houses and they still would have been thrilled.

Checking out their loot.

Joe ended up eating a sum total of one piece of chocolate (barely), then, once everyone left, he snuck over to the dining room table and stole the last chunk of bread. That’s my kid!

Joe didn't blink when he first saw me in my costume. I sure do miss my red hair though...

Daddy sure is a silly wizard!

Mystery Solved!

Lately, Joe has been asking for “Fry Babies” when he wants a snack. This has been going on for weeks. But I couldn’t figure it out. Today, he found a mini pack of raisins that was in his Halloween Party treat bag from school and we heard him say it again. But they weren’t “Fry Babies” after all. Finally the light bulb went off and we asked Joe if he wanted cranberries. “Yeah, Fry Babies.” Mystery solved!

While he was eating his cranberries, I pulled out the camera and Joe instantly said “Cheese” and grinned at the camera. His teacher takes a lot of photos at school, so he must have learned it there.

Big snow + big melt = lots o’ fun

We had our first big snowstorm of the year this week (third snow, but first biggie) and got nearly 2 feet of snow over the course of 2+ days. This is what it looked like on Friday morning.

The view down our street on Friday morning (Oct 30, 2009)

The leaves hadn't even fallen before the big snow.

A neighbor's full-size wagon. Apparently, this storm had the most snowfall in a 2-day period in Denver, ever.

Our next door neighbor's had their roof done, but didn't get new gutters up before the storm. Good old fashioned icicles!

This crazy 4+ ft icicle was on a house around the corner. That could be considered a deadly weapon!

That afternoon (after much of the snow had melted), Joe and I went sledding with friends. Joe went down the hill once on his new sled, loved it, then vetoed the idea. (We went sledding on the hill near the nature museum and he was a little pissed that we weren’t going inside to “see the big T-Rex.”) He hiked around with his friends in the mud, then two of them found a huge puddle.

Why Joe and Z are crawling in the puddle is beyond my adult sensibilities. It was COLD!

Shortly after this, Joe splashed back down into the puddle, got a good blast of cold water in his suit and came out crying and ready to go. Mama got wet coming to the rescue and we both ended up soaked, muddy, and cold. I ended up pouring water out of his boots. Needless to say, we stripped him down before getting into the car and got him warmed up in sweats and slippers the second we got home.

Soaked through to the bone.

Joe goes to the museum

We live within walking distance of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, so it’s one of Joe’s regular haunts. We also have this crazy membership that lets us take in a total of 7 or 8 people in our party (and gets us discounts on special exhibits), so we met up with friends Annie and Jerry for a quick morning venture.

Dan really wanted to see the Genghis Khan exhibit...

Annie and Jerry came up from Greeley to join us for the morning. Joe and I only stayed for about an hour, so Dan got a real grown-up playdate!

Joe in awe of the T-Rex skeleton at the main entrance. He pretty much equates a trip to the museum with dinosaurs and likes to take one of his toy dinos with him.

Aside from seeing “the BIG T-Rex,” one of Joe’s favorite things to do at the museum is toss money in the Sabertooth Tiger’s mouth at the entrance.

 

I have my coin and now I will engage the beast!

The tiger growls once the coins go in, so we have to stop and do that at least three times.

We spent the bulk of our time in the health exhibit, which really is pretty cool. Joe had fun playing in both the kiddie and adult sections.

The health exhibit has a slide, fake rocks, a backpack loading station, and other super cool stuff.

Joe plays with a heart monitor.

At the pace meter, we clocked Joe at 4.7 miles an hour (shown here), then 5.1 on the second round.

We knew he was fast!

Joe has fun with the Gallegos

Joe has been spending an awful lot of time with his buddy, Zack, mostly because Zack’s folks, Shawn and Albert, have graciously become Joe’s third family (Mama Cole, Bill, and Maggie are his second family). Tonight, we dropped off Joe at the Gallego’s house so that we could celebrate my birthday (dinner at Sushi Den – yum!). Joe, not surprisingly, had a blast hanging with Z!

Joe and Zack watching trees blow in the wind

Lately Joe has been really attached to Shawn and wants her to hold him all the time. (See our friend Kari’s blog post.) Maybe it’s because she’s “super cool” and lets him do stuff (that mama won’t) like play with her (real) camera.

My little shutterbug

Albert has an incredible knack for getting Joe to sit still. When we arrived tonight to pick up Joe, he had been sitting down listening to several stories. (We’re lucky to get through one at home!) In fact, the very first time Albert and Shawn watched Joe was also the first time Joe sat still on the couch (for a long time) to watch a movie. I think Joe responds the same way to our friend, Bill (Maggie’s dad). Hmm…maybe we need to have the guys watch the kids more often?

Albert keeping the boys entertained with tools, trucks, and trains. What more could the little guys ask for? (Dinosaurs riding trains, I hear.)

Uncle Albert's storytime

Joe at 28 months, 3 weeks, and 5 days

Joe is really becoming a “big boy.” He’s talking up a storm, playing more independently, and getting more engaged with his environment. The “weed” is 35 inches tall, 32 pounds, and wearing a 3T top and 2T pants (though if his legs get any longer, we’ll have to move him up to a 3T adjustable waist). He’s best off in 3T jammies, but only The Children’s Place makes footie pjs to fit his 8-1/2W feet (and growing). He’s in a size 5 or size 6 diaper, depending, but seems almost ready to potty train, so fingers crossed there! I just cleaned out his closet for the third time in a month and it still needs one last overhaul. Somehow we ended up with a bazillion tops and only a few pairs of pants. Guess who’s going shopping!? One question, though: where do all his socks end up? I feel like I’m constantly buying new ones! Here are the latest faves and craves:

Favorite toy: the super-cool just-like-the-one-in-the-movie authentic Buzz Lightyear, a bribe from Uncle Jon and Auntie Tonya, which he likes to play with while watching Toy Story. He’s also started playing more with Mr. Potatoheads (“my tatos”) at the same time. Dinosaurs are another new exciting past-time, but he has a strong preference for T-Rex (I wonder how much that has to do with Toy Story). He’s also well-occupied with cars, trucks (construction vehicles, a fire truck or school bus), and trains (particularly Thomas).

Favorite TV show: this changes from day to day. He likes watching Thomas the Train when he’s in the mood (thank goodness for on-demand), but likes the morning Disney lineup too. Handy Manny, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Special Agent Oso, and, yes, the Imagination Movers (still), can keep his attention for at least a few minutes.

Favorite movie: Toy Story, hands down. Cars is old hat, but he’ll watch it on our iphones or in the car. Ratatouille isn’t really on the radar anymore. Happy Feet is a good background movie, and he’ll stop to dance for some of the songs. Finding Nemo doesn’t really keep him interested, though he does recognize the characters. We tried Wall-e once, but he didn’t sit still long enough. I suspect that will eventually be a favorite, though.

Favorite book: Joe is still into the truck book that Grandpa Greg sent last Christmas, but also likes the animals and dinosaur books (same company). They’re labeled picture books, so he likes to go through and identify specific things and repeat the names. He’s not into stories though. We’re still working on that.

Favorite song: The only song that Joe sings is 5 Little [children, monkeys, Josephs, whatever] Jumping on the Bed. Of course, the jumping, falling down, etc., is all part of it. Since school started, he seems to like to sing songs (or for us to sing songs) with hand motions as well...Itsy Bitsy Spider; Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes; Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, and those sorts of things. Joe definitely prefers to play his “guitar” (ukulele) while daddy plays his, but he will always stop whatever he’s doing to bust a move if a good song comes on. Dan swears he likes Stevie Wonder, but I think he just likes any good danceable music.

Favorite outing: We go to Little Monkey Bizness (an indoor playground for toddlers with parent cafe attached) about once a week for family night on Wednesdays. But the most common request is to “go Zack’s house.” to “play Zack’s cars.” Joe is really good when playing with one other friend, but he seems to struggle more or go off by himself when in groups.

Favorite food: Though he claims to always be hungry, Joe only wants “snacks,” not meals. And, I’m sorry to say that Joe’s favorite food is chicken nuggets. He prefers the Boca soy version. He’s definitely become a picky eater and I can hardly get him to eat veggies, which drives me crazy. Back to sneaking them in, I guess. Although, a couple of weeks ago, he went on a salad binge and would eat salad off of Dan’s plate, Italian dressing preferred. Oh, and, of course, fruit is always on the menu. He’d eat 10 clementines in a sitting if I let him…

Favorite lovey(s) : Joe is strongly attached to ducky, and there’s no getting away from it. And, he’s become much more orally fixated since starting school. We think it may be a nervous thing, but at least we’ve managed to wrangle the binky from him for most of the day. Now it lives in his bed (or ours) and he only uses it when he’s tired and ready to sleep, or if he’s stressed.

Favorite color: red. It used to be orange. Now everything has to be red. “I wear my red coat.” “I want red car.”

Favorite sport: any. He LOVED watching the guys at the Rec Center play basketball on our way to and from the pool this summer. He has made me stop flipping channels if he sees a football game. Baseball and soccer are fun to watch too.

Other quirks of being two, and the onset of the Terrible Two(ber)s…

Joe will no longer sit in a high chair (at restaurants) or in a booster seat (anywhere) without a huge fight, which generally results in a meltdown, time out, and no dinner (his choice). He only wants the “big boy chair” and since he’ll stay seated and eat, we just let him sit at the table in a regular chair now. He only lasts 15 minutes or so, long enough for his meal while we have a drink and appetizers. We always get the main course to go. We do insist that he sit down properly, so his little face just barely pops up over the edge. It’s kind of funny.

Joe only wants the toy or toys that his friend has, even if they are the exact same thing that he has…in his hand, at that moment. Fortunately, most of his friends are the same way.

Puddles are cool. The muddier the better. Particularly when we have no change of clothes and it’s cold outside. Snow is “messy, momma.” Go figure.

Joe whispers sometimes when he plays. Mostly it’s cute (particularly since his normal volume in LOUD), but other times, it really creeps me out…not as much as the Damian voice he likes to use every now and then.