BooBoo alert!

We took the opportunity that the weather presented us and went to the park this morning. It was cooler and less humid than it has been recently and every so often you'd get a hint of Fall when the north wind would blow lightly. Yes - we actually got a front to pass through the area. Of course, at this time of year, that front only served to bring us some rain and dry us out slightly. But I'll take what I can get. And I'm looking forward to more of these outings to the park as the weather changes.

This so doesn't do it justice, but right before nap today, John managed to fall into the coffee table in the living room, whacking his head pretty hard. He's not raising his eyebrow in this photo, it's just that swollen, 5 hours after it happened. I saw it in slow motion and even thought to myself "I hope he doesn't trip over that." Well, he did. But I was there to scoop him up and immediately put ice on it. It will likely be blackened (or more colorful) tomorrow. It's not the first black eye he's had and likely won't be the last. I'll try to get a better photo tomorrow. He just wasn't interested in posing while we were outside this evening.

-EBP-

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The Library and a Fire Truck

We made our bi-weekly trip to the library today. We had a short stack of books today. John has become most proficient at checking the books out using the automated system. He knows how to swipe the card, run each book waiting until they register, and print his receipt at the end. Then we load the books into our bag for the trip home. And for the record, all those books were read before nap time today.

The reason our stack was so short was because one of the local fire fighters and his engine had come to story time. We got to sit front and center. John was only marginally taken aback when the fire fighter entered the room fully suited and I'm thinking this was because of the reaction of the little boy sitting next to us. We got to see his fire suit, air tank, helmet, and the really cool thermal imaging camera (I think the fireman brought this mostly for the parents!).

As you can tell, John was in a most serious mood today. Not a single photo of a smile on the fire truck from my child. You'd think I forced him to be there. I guess it was too much for him to take in at once.

I finally made him pose for me and this is what I got: a cheesy smile.

-EBP-

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Roughhousing with Daddy

The newest game in the house is called “Hang On”.  Because that’s what John does.  He climbs on your back and waits to be “bucked” off, in the gentlest sense of the word.  No bucking is usually needed.  One just moves around until he loses his balance.  And John loves it!  In case it’s not obvious from the smile on his face.

The second phase of the game involves John running around Daddy until he “attacks” and takes him down.  JHP loves the anticipation of this game and the physical play.  He just laughs and laughs and laughs!

We’ve managed two consecutive days of naps so far this week.  I wasn’t so sure that he’d quiet today when naptime came around, but he did, sleeping about an hour and a half.  Overall his naps have been getting shorter, down from three hours to two – two and a half.  I don’t think he’s ready to give them up altogether, but I think the trend to shorter naps is likely at this point.

John’s really enjoying school.  He was ready to go to school yesterday, even though it was not our normal day.  He knew what his sticker said on Monday (God Made the Animals).  He was full of stories about how he was a doctor (they had play equipment out for pretend play on the animals), how he was the flag holder, and how they talked about their pets.  He doesn’t remember everything correctly (like he kept telling me that he was the flag holder for the race cars when he was the American flag holder for Circle Time and the Pledge), but he was excited to share what he did in his day.  I can see that this environment will do what it did for him last year.  He’s just going to blossom!  (Can a boy do that?  Or is that only reserved for girls?)

-EBP-

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