Fireman in Training

Like most li'l guys, Boden is a big fan of firemen and fire trucks.  He even wanted his room painted fire engine red (which we did) with a fiery scene painted on it (which we didn't do).  While most of October is spent counting down to his birthday (wish he had been born a little earlier in the month, because patience is limited), we are thankful for the diversion of fire safety and prevention month and the local activities that brings.  This year, Todd took him to the Victoria Fire Station Open House--I think they were there for about 2 hours looking at the rescue equipment, eating hot dogs, talking with the fireman and getting a ride on the brand new fire truck.  The highlight was watching the firemen in action as they put out a car fire as part of their demonstration.

The following week, for his class field trip, he visited the Chanhassen fire department.  He'd been there before with a friend and the previous year with his class.  He had fun but said it wasn't as good as his trip to the Victoria Fire Station...probably because there weren't any hot dogs.


Posing with the rescue boat

Love these prop boards

Why did the apple go out with the fig?

Because he couldn't find a date :)  hee hee.

Well, that's what happens when I can't think of titles for my posts; I end up with bad jokes.  But this post does have something to do with apples!  This morning we went to kid club--while Boden played I "had to" go work out.  (side note:  This system of finding the benefit for him is working out for a couple potential tantrum inducing events.  Instead of "No, I don't want you to go work out!!" it goes something like this:  me: "okay, I guess I'll work out while you play and have lots of fun! Can mommy please come back in an hour to get you?!"  Boden: "Okay, I'm going to go play now."  Off I skip to work out; everyone's happy).  Then, because it was a glorious day, we live minutes from an apple orchard, and he was being a great guy this morning, we headed to pick some overpriced apples and pet some farm animals all for the nostalgia and experience of it.  And we were home by noon to have apple slices and cheese for lunch!

I'm going to pick this one!

August Field Trips

This month, the cooler evenings made me panic and I began to feel summer slipping away, so we tried to leech everything out of the remaining bright and sunny days with a few field trips peppered throughout the month.  Boden is so much fun to hang out with right now and so interested in learning new things, that it's really great to be with him and enjoy his boyish silliness.  The one thing that does make me a little crazy, though, is the "are we there, yet?" question that starts shortly after we pull out of our driveway!!

MN Landscape Arboretum

 The Arboretum has an awesome exhibit in their child learning center area this year.  It's all about embracing outdoor play and using things like sticks, water, trees, pinecones and such to cultivate imaginary play and adventure.  We spent hours there the other day having a GREAT time.  Todd's hoping to create something like the pipe system in the above picture and put a similar structure in our yard so Boden can do lots of "work" with drains and water. 

Cheerios Dig at General Mills Company Picnic

 This is Boden's second year in the Cheerios dig--he was successful this year in retrieving a few Big G cereal logoed toys.  His friend Henry is right next to him in the red shirt.  Henry's mom and I had a good laugh listening to the boys and their silly conversaions--"Are you riding the bus? Yea.  Do you want to sit next to me?  Yea, that would be so cool.  That is cool.  Mom, he's going to sit next to me on the bus." and then lots of boyish giggling.  The company picnic also had a petting zoo, a bouncy castle, ice cream sandwiches, and a gymnastics course, but the best thing was riding the bus to and from the parking lot.

Boden and Henry enjoying some treats at the zoo

Boden taking on the dinosaur at the zoo

We went to the MN Zoo with Henry, his mom, and his little brother.  The two pre-schoolers kept us running and our main goal was to get to the dinorsaur exhibit before the wheels fell off the cart.  En route we saw the penguins, monkeys, bears, see otters, tigers, buffalo and such and then made our way through a prehistoric path littered with dinosaur scenes.  After the dinosaur walk, we went to the playground area, where Jill and I took turns keeping an eye on the wild pre-schoolers or standing in the shade with Jill's 4 month old son. 

We also went to the Uptown Art Fair earlier this month--one of my most favorite "things to do" in the Cities in the summer and, because Boden was so awesome, we also added in the Loring Park Art Fair which is the same day, where we had lunch from a food truck.  We considered making our way to the Powderhorn Art Fair, too, but didn't want to press our luck!  Next year, we may try for the Art Fair trifecta, but this year, I was content to have hit two and have such a great time meandering through the crowds (last year, Boden was hella crazy and kept jumping out of his stroller to run into artist tents--I was sure we'd be paying thousands in broken art pieces!).  Summer ain't over and we're considering heading to the State Fair--Lord help us!

Playdate at the Zoo

Getting two near-3 yr olds to look camera-ready = not easy.

First hunting season weekend so Todd and the dogs are off in Somewhere, MN, in search of some sort of bird. After a trying night of a really bad bedtime experience, I sacrificed my usual Saturday morning run with my buddy for a playdate at the Zoo in the brisk, Fall air.  Not an even swap but good to connect with another mama who is also widowed for four days while the men go hunt and gather things (or eat like crap and talk smart).

The boys didn't seem to mind the chill and the Caribou Mochas (decaf, soy, no whip please) kept the mommies warm enough.  I hadn't been to the Zoo on a weekend day for quite awhile (Boden and I take advantage of my Mondays off to avoid road/zoo traffic) and I have to say I was a wee bit annoyed by all the people...such a snob :)  But I suffered through the crowds and we got close enough to most of the animals we wanted to see--always a cool experience when the tigers and the bears walk right by the big windows in front of you and all that separates them from a delicious human snack is a sheet of (hopefully) very strong glass. 

Down on the Farm

I'm feeding the baby cows!

Boden was in hog heaven at my mom's last weekend.  Top 5 Highlights of his visit:

6. Sit on a tractor
5.  Ride a four-wheeler with daddy
4. Trample through a hen house (much to the dismay of the resident hens and roosters)
3.  Feed baby calves their milk from a bottle
2. Visit cousins and meet great-grandparents (and eat cake!)
1. And, of course, the ultimate highlight--mow Grandma's lawn on the riding lawnmower.  A weekend wouldn't be complete without a little lawn mowing.

Josh, Jake 'the graduate', Michelle, Boden

The 3 1/2 hour ride home turned into 4 hours and an on-going battle with Boden who unbuckled himself from his carseat multiple times and he fought sleep the whole way.  We were certain (our fatal mistake) that he would fall asleep on the ride home because he skipped a nap fell asleep twice in the car while we were driving around to first my nephew's graduation party then "downtown" for a little shopping.  Todd and I placed our bets on when sleep would overtake him neither of us expecting him to make it much past 45 minutes in the car before zonking.  We were soooooo wrong:


He fought sleep and proceeded down the road to Crabbyville until we were 20 minutes from home. That's when our route changed-- we ended up running into a street concert smack dab in the road and had to detour (both of us cursing our luck) so it extended our car trip.  We of course sighed with relief and settled into silence for the last bit of the ride.  Then, out of the blue, 5 minutes from home, Boden opened his eyes wide and screamed and wriggled in his seat for a minute or two.  We tried unsuccessfully to comfort him and stop the crying.  Then, like someone snapped their fingers, he immediately fell back to sleep--pretty sure it was a night terror.  Todd and I looked at each other and started laughing (quietly)...omg, get us home! 

Farmer Boden had a farm,..eieio.

My little lab rat

I signed up Boden to participate in a Child Development study at the U of M.  The study was on impulse control (I'm guessing they will find out that there is none in a 2 1/2 yr old) and cognitive development in pre-schoolers.  

I wasn't sure how Boden would handle it--I prepped him by telling him we were going to have a big adventure.  On our way to the U, Boden said "I'm ready for my adventure, mommy."  And he sure was!  We got to the U and he was full of energy. 

He immediately accepted, Josh, the graduate student, as his new best friend and he was excited and interested in all the "games" they played.  I had to be a silent on-looker and I had a couple moments of sitting on my hands and physically holding my mouth shut with my hands so I didn't interrupt and "parent".  Boden likes to "do" and he kept the pace moving really quickly.  More than once, Josh said "wow, you have great energy, I like that!"   I think poor Josh was just trying to keep the proverbial train on the tracks :)  It  fun and so interesting to hear some of Boden's responses--some surprising, some funny.

Examples:
1.  Do you want one Teddy Graham now or 15 later to take home with you?  Boden said:  I want them now.  All of them.

2.  This is where the fish goes and this is where the elephant goes.  Here is a card with a fish on it, where does it go?  Boden put him in the right box the first time.  The other 5 times he was handed a fish, he looked at Josh with an impish grin and said "Here" and he put the fish in the elephant box.  Stinker. 

3.  I say two words.  Cup, book.  And Erinie (Sesame Street) is going to say the words backwards: Book, cup.  Now, cup, book.  Can you say the words backwards, like Ernie.  Boden turned around in his chair and said Cup, book.

While it's a long trip to the U from our neck of the woods, I hope we get the opportunity to participate again. 

Where is Spring, really?!

Camera-battery-died-so-this-is-as-good-as-it-gets Picture

I ran a half marathon this past weekend and it felt as if I might have been running it in the Arctic circle:  May 1st shouldn't equal hats, gloves, and snowflakes.  While it was windy beyond acceptability for any runner, I had a good run and was happy to see my little bundled up spectator at the end.  He announced that I won the race and gave me a big "huggie" at the end which is better than any post-race goodie I've ever seen.

The Armadillo Inquisition

You might get it from the line of questioning in the video, but just to be clear for anyone who has a hard time following the train of thought of a two year old, Boden and I had a great visit to our first Toddler Time class at the Zoo.  The subject was textures by way of Armadillos and Chinchillas.  The experience was a bit like herding cats (the situation:  multiple 2 and 3 year olds doing mostly what they wanted--imagine that-- while the teacher taught and the adults tried to get their child to pay attention...after all, we paid $ for this!).  It was really fun to see Boden in this kind of environment--when it came time to touch the animals (Chinny and Tank), Boden was first in line to say "My touch" while other kids were not interested in touching.  He's all about experiencing things--a do-er...definitely not much of a listener, but I like that he's not afraid to jump in and try things out.

Looks like a duck

Dinosaur Henry, Boden, and me



The cat and the li'l duck


 Halloween was a success, but there was a lot of bargaining in the parking lot at the MN Zoo and Boden seemed a little unsure about getting into his duck costume.  In the end, through peer and parental pressure, he stepped into his costume.  We all sweated our way through the Tropics Trail in costume with lots of other kids and parents and costumes in search of treats and animal sightings.  We were going to end the evening with the Owl show but apparently 2000 other parents and kids in costume had the same idea, which changed our minds immediately.  We left with our loot and got home in time for bedtime...all in all a successful (and somewhat exhausting) endeavor.

Baby Farm Animals

Boden and Buck

Last Monday, Boden and I went to the zoo for the Baby Farm Animals exhibit--a favorite of mine.  And I've decided that this li'l city boy of mine is going to needs some countrifying experiences so he knows milk comes from cows, not supermarkets. 

Per usual, we arrived just as the zoo opened, and to beat the "rush" for the farm animals, we quickly strolled towards the Family Farm.  Boden and I and one other family were the first to arrive!  Mission accomplished.  Crowds averted.  We were able to get as close as possible to all the animals.  Boden seemed pretty impressed with the piglets (only one litter had been delivered, thus far) and got a kick out of the goats ramming into each other.  As we were leaving the farm area for the rest of the zoo, droves of strollers and fast-walking mommas were heading towards the farm...and I patted myself on the back for my expert planning.

Zoo much fun

Today, Boden and I went to the zoo--it was his first trip there so I wasn't sure what to expect. I thought it would be pretty vacant there--who would go to the zoo on a fairly nice February Monday in MN? Turns out about 40 other women with kids who don't work on Mondays and about 4 busloads of 2nd graders and their chaperones all had the same idea.

When Boden wasn't getting trampled by giddy 8 year olds, he was busy climbing up walls and cargo nets that lined the exhibits, finding all the electrical sockets on the Minnesota Trail, the Tropics Trail, and Discovery Bay, pulling on the handles and knobs of every door he saw and generally running meandering about the place. He did pay attention to all the animals, which was great--I was wondering if I would have trouble getting him to "Look!", but he totally got it. And, I knew he got it when his mouth formed an "oh" and he made his excited "ohhhh,ohhh" sound.

Besides touching a starfish, he touched plenty of other things in that place that made me want to completely disinfect him after I got him back into the stroller, but overall, it was a great time and I can't wait to go with Boden again.