Playing around and Trev's first Field Trip

The stereotype is true... boys like to wrestle.






I think Ryan won...


Wrestling without daddy usually means Trevor dragging and rolling Ryan around while Ryan tries to climb on top of Trevor or grab his face. Ryan can play dirty sometimes.

Trevor had his first real on a bus field trip last week. His class went to a little pumpkin patch place at a local church. I met them there in the parking lot so Trevor could have the full riding a school bus experience. He was pretty excited.




Class picture--you can tell they're a well oiled machine since they managed to get all the kids on the hay bails at the same time.


Song time


Decorating Cookies


Sticker craft with Jorja


Playing with Aiden

Trev's Growth and Pumpkin Patch

Trevor had his three year appointment last week. It was put off for a while because we ended up going to Alaska during the first appointment time. Then when I got back the receptionist lady told me that it was just a well check, no shots or anything. So I didn't worry about it too much. Then I got a call later on explaining that there was a vaccination that needed updated. So there you go. Those appointments always feel sort of like tests with all the questions they ask. But he passed... especially with the extra several months to practice. He was a trooper with his shot and only screamed briefly before composing himself for his sticker. Here's where he's at on the growth chart:

Weight: 30 pounds (in between 10th and 25th percentile)
Height:38 inches (in between 25th and 50th percentile)

We went to the pumpkin patch near Bakersfield yesterday. Ryan had some sort of brief fever Friday afternoon evening and we thought we'd end up missing it, but he woke up generally happy and minus any worrisome symptoms. But he still wasn't quite his chipper self all day and you can blame his overabundance of glares on his parents who dragged him out of the house.


Ryan did not like the corn tub.


Trevor did.






Ant land




Ryan not so sure about the asparagus plants


Ryan looking to the future

LA Trip

We had a very exciting weekend in Los Angeles with my parents. We went to Venice Beach the first day and Trevor now very much enjoys the beach. Ryan thought it was okay for a few minutes before he started scooting around. Then he quickly filled his diaper with sand. I don't think he enjoyed the fine layer that stuck to the rest of his exposed skin either. So we worked it out where mom and I strolled Ryan around while the rest of the boys played in the sand. I guess there was lots of knocking castles down, chasing birds and searching for shells on their end. Ryan briefly took in the odd people sights before drifting to sleep on our end.




Trevor photography at lunch


Street performer that surprised Trevor a couple times


That evening we went to the mall and the grandparents took Trevor to the Disney store. Trevor picked out some pirate gear--so Trevor's new favorite game is 'pirates'. Lots of Aargs and fighting with swords, taking bad pirates to jail, saving boys and girls, demanding treasure, and of course complimenting pirate hats.



Day two was Disneyland. Trev was pretty excited and went right into his 'what's that' and 'why' questions. We went to Fantasyland first and found out that when you think about it, every one of those storybook rides has a dark scary part. Trevor quickly became weary of the whole ride thing. It seemed he mostly didn't like lots of lights flashing and the cars being jolted around. So we went on the carousal because what you see is what you get. He said it was fun, and that he 'held on real tight' (it looked sort of like holding on for dear life). The teacups were a hit, and Dumbo of course.























Waiting for the park to open



Of course ducks and water are at least, if not more interesting that big castles



Working hard at not falling of the horse
























My favorite picture--on the teacups



One of the brief moments that Ryan would let the ears stay on--he mostly wanted to yank them off and chew on them


Next was tomorrow land, where we had much more success. Trev and grandpa Steve went on the autotopia ride--dad pushed the pedal while Trevor steered. I guess it was a very jarring ride. Trev got a kick out of the rockets too. John was happy to play with the big marble water fountain thing.



We managed to go to the part with the least shade during the hottest time of the day--toonville. Trev was pretty interested in seeing where Mickey lived. Pluto was making an appearance when we got there and to my surprise Trev went up to give him a hug and take a picture. We ate some hot dogs (not related to Pluto) and took the tour of Mickey's house. Then back to the hotel for naps.




After the boys woke up we announced that we get to go back and see more things at Disneyland. Trev answered something like "no, I want to stay at the hotel". But his parents paid for a full day ticket, so he was going back for more magic, like it or not. The idea seemed better to him when he found out he got to ride in a stroller too. We did the adventure and frontier lands before watching the fireworks extravaganza.



Ryan managed to sleep through most of the booming music and pyrotechnics. When we got back on the hotel shuttle he decided that he was awake again and ready to party. The whole ride he was bug eyed and ecstatic. I think it might have been his favorite part of the whole trip.



We hung around the next morning to spend more time in the pool before the drive back. The idea was that the boys would then sleep in the car. It mostly worked for Ryan. Trev ended up staying awake most of the time, but then fell asleep maybe a half hour before getting home. John unbuckled him to let him out and then we went on to unload our stuff. When we finished, this is how I found him.

Still Growing

Ryan had his nine month appointment--so time has been flying.

Here's his latest stats:

Weight: 20.75 lb (just under 50th %tile)
Length: 30.5inches (95th %tile)
Head Circumference: 19.25inches (off the chart %tile)

So Ryan seems to be creating his own curve for head size. The doctor doesn't really have a problem with it as long as it is curving. He said that Ryan just has a big brain.
























I took some pictures of him yesterday in preparation for posting since I wasn't sure whether he would be getting shots today. He continues to be my little ham--I'd take one picture and he'd stare, then start grinning (sometimes a little too much to the point of maniacal) for a few pictures afterwards.

As far as tricks, he's on the move now. He's mostly scooting around on his tummy, and sometimes will make a couple crawl moves. He's really into crawling up obstacles--he'll climb all over us while we're sitting down, but put him on flat ground and he usually plops to his tummy. He really likes to stand a lot and seems frustrated that he can't quite get the coordination down to do it himself.

Here's some pictures from bath time last night. They've been able to go in together for a while now, which makes things easier in maintaining the very low hygiene standards set for the boys. They usually like to play together for a little bit until Trevor decides he wants to move around more and insists that Ryan is all done and wants to get out.





Ryan figuring out the delicate balance of fun splashing and water getting on his face


Boo!

And we have a couple pictures from a recent movie night. We rented Peter Pan in preparation for our upcoming Disneyland trip. We're still expecting Trevor's head to explode once we're inside the park.

























John trying to add dramatic interest to the picture
























Trying harder...

Vroom!

Thought I'd post these before I forget. Trev came up with what I found to be a brilliant game--Ryan sits in the basket while he pushes the basket around the house. So it accomplishes two of my daily goals--expend Trevor's energy while at the same time entertaining Ryan. If I remember right Trev kept this up for a good ten to fifteen minutes, perfect time for getting lunch together.


Weeeeee!



After a few laps of pushing Trev would announce it time to rest and jump in the basket with Ryan for a while before hopping out to start again. At some point Trevor thought it'd be fun to throw toys in too, but then noticed that Ryan would hold onto the toys instead of the edges of the basket. So captain safety declared that it was most important for Ryan to hold on and got rid of the distracting toys. He was probably on to something there.

Playing at Park, Playing with Friends, Playing at Home

Ryan is finally old enough to sit in the big sand areas and play rather than try to jam all the dirt he can manage in his mouth. So happy day! We went to a 'big boy' park this weekend. It has higher climbing things for the daring. Trev continues to be a braver monkey lately. He'll get himself through the big catapillar things on his own and is trying to figure out how to climb up poles but still needs a little help. We start up gymnastics again next week after stopping for the summer. I'm thinking he'll love it again.


Ryan not eating sand


Trevor on top of the catipillar

They both had a lot of fun in the little tunnels. Ryan thought it was hilarious when Trevor would pop in and out. And sometimes he just found it pretty exciting sitting in the tube period.





Where'd Trevor go?


He just remembered a funny



Later that day we went over to some friends' house to play games and visit. There were three little girl babies there, all of them under six months. Trevor enjoyed trying to make them laugh (until it got boring of course) and had most success with one of the twins, Jessica. Ryan didn't seem to notice much that they were there except when he occasionally got kicked in the face. Girls. Sheesh. But he did get to play with exciting pink toys part of the evening.


Ahhh aren't they cute?

And this was from a different day--Trevor was making thankyou bags to put his thankyou cookies (dinosaur shaped with extra sprinkles) for his teachers. I put Ryan in chair number two and we managed to avoid any falling disasters. The sitting on the chair was novel for a good fifteen minutes or so. Trevor and Ryan are moving up in their daycare rooms tomorrow. Trevor will be a Hummingbird and Ryan a Teddy Bear. I think it's a bigger switch for Trevor because it'll be more preschool focused and more kids per adult. I guess they get to take real field trips and all that too this year. He's pretty excited about it and dubbed himself a Hummingbird a couple weeks ago. Ryan is blissfully unaware, but seems to be reasonably adaptable for his age so I'm thinking it'll work out okay. I start work this week by going to the agency retreat in Apple Valley. It's just two days, but sort of carries the impending thought that school is indeed starting again.