Children's Museum

This last week our friends invited us to the Children's museum. I haven't been here since I was a kid and admission can be pretty expensive so I haven't explored it with Charlie yet. Luckily, our friends have a pass so we got to explore for free! It was so much fun, and unlike OMSI, everything was aimed for a much younger crowd. Charlie had a blast. 

Madeleine and Charlie are awesome friends!

Planting a garden

This kid is an excellent climber!

The highlight attraction of the museum. 

This was like a huge Light Bright. I'm pretty sure I could have played here for awhile...too bad that 2 year olds have such short attention spans. 

I don't know what this is, they didn't stay here long enough to find out but it looked exciting. 

And then we got to the water area, I'm pretty sure that is Charlie's favorite.

The train

Brushing the alligator's teeth

Then there was the kitchen/restaurant/shopping area. That was my favorite when I was little and Charlie sure enjoyed it.

This kid sure has a thing for ovens...and helping in the kitchen. 

My climber at it again!

Doing some construction. 

There really was so much more to explore too. There was a veterinary clinic, and a camping area, and a theater area, and a clay place. And probably even more I didn't see. We stopped playing for snack time then went and ran around in the outdoor maze. This was one of the best parts. The kids could run around and be free but they couldn't get very far. Madeleine and Charlie ran and ran and laughed and laughed.

A secret doorway in the hedges.

Madeleine makes the best running faces!

As you can see, I went a little crazy with the maze pictures! They were just having such a blast. Anyway, this is just my advertisement for the Children's Museum. I'm considering getting a membership here when OMSI expires because it is definitely more for the little ones to participate in. Thanks to Kerri and Madeleine for inviting us. We had so much fun!

Big Brother in Training

I always thought I wouldn't want my kids to have an army of stuffed animals. Actually I still don't want that. Charlie has a small collection and I would like to keep it that way. My negative opinion about stuffed animals has recently shifted a bit as I see Charlie starting to have some serious imaginative play with them. I've always known that these types of toys would provide Charlie with more enlightening experiences than anything electronic that claims to teach the ABCs

Charlie's favorite animal is his giraffe who we just call Giraffe. Also, Charlie has never been particularly clingy to any one animal, toy, or personal item. So starting a couple days ago we started using giraffe in our bedtime routine. We'd pretend to give giraffe milk and brush his teeth then Charlie in turn, would be more excited about these activities. 

A couple days later Charlie kept Giraffe with him all day long and made sure Giraffe had a chance in participating in all the activities that Charlie enjoys. Charlie laid down with Giraffe for a nap, (after wrapping him up in a blanket) 

Charlie also showed giraffe his favorite games on my phone and held Giraffe's hand as he attempted to let Giraffe push the buttons...(which doesn't really work in the days of touchscreens) 

(I've included some blurry phone photos to spice up this blog post) 

He helped Giraffe play with his toys

HE made sure Giraffe got food to eat. 

 He brought out a loaf of bread. and tried to put a piece in Giraffe's hand, then to his mouth. When giraffe didn't eat it, Charlie gobbled it down.

 Charlie brushed Giraffe's hair.

... and made sure he got his vegetables

Later, Charlie brought over a chair for Giraffe and looked at his favorite animal book with him. 

Later he tried to put a diaper on giraffe and of course give him milk to drink. 

These other pictures are from a couple weeks earlier when Charlie was trying to coach Giraffe. 

He set up Giraffe with the work out bands then stood by him and started doing squats. 

Another time, Charlie was practicing push ups in his bed then set Giraffe up to do push ups!

The thing I love most about this is that Charlie has learned most of these things from observing the way I take care of him. I also love seeing how patient and sweet he is with his Giraffe. I can only hope this is a glimpse of how he will be with his baby brother.  

24 weeks

They say that at 24 weeks along in pregnancy your uterus is the size of a soccer ball. I find this statistic particularly amusing. It's so crazy to see a soccer ball and think that it could fit inside me. Then I see these pictures and feel like an oversized soccer ball.

During  my pregnancy with Charlie we took these funny pictures so we could compare my belly with one Max's soccer ball belly. We are so mature!

July 2011

We figured we needed to do the same thing with this pregnancy to compare. I will be 24 weeks tomorrow, it was getting late and we were laughing like crazy and these are the pictures that came about. I know we probably look like children but oh well, we had so much fun with this. Also, we need to send a special thanks to our live-in photographer Justin. He is pretty handy to have around! 

December 2013 (24 weeks) 

 I love the following picture because Justin kind of captured exactly what we look like when we stay up too late and everything is funny. This was not posed.

And as the night got later we somehow ended up climbing under the Christmas tree and taking pictures.?? I know, we are weird but we sure know how to have fun!