Rockets, Rastafarians, and Rakes

Saturday was chilly, but sunny, and our stated adventure for the day was to head out to Perkins Field near Butner to watch rockets launch.  We learned of the event last week at the Astronomy Days at the the science museum, and thought it would be worth a shot since Alice likes watching youtube videos of rocket launches.  The event was hosted by the NC Rocketry Club, and this was for low-power launches, like the rockets you'd make at home out of a wrapping paper tube.  We toyed with the idea of getting a rocket to launch, but since we only had a week to prepare, didn't know what to expect, and didn't trust Alice to maintain interest, we decided to just go as spectators.  We invited our friends Rob and Kate to come along too.  The field is about an hour away, at NC State's Butner Beef Cattle Field Laboratory.  When we got there, we relieved to see that they were not literally launching the rockets from the middle of a cow pasture.  Instead, there was a bit of tarmac and it was fenced off from the cattle fields, so at least we didn't have worry about stepping in poop.

In this picture, Rob, Kate, and Sera are huddled under blankets sitting in front of the van, while Alice and Simon wander around with a ball and frisbee we brought to play with (which Alice is currently hoarding).

 Here, you can see the rocket launch at the top of the paved area.  Alice, and her new friend Ivy are watching the blast off.

Funny story about this brief friendship:  I was kicking the soccer ball with Alice and this pleasant older girl came over and asked if she could play.  I said sure, and asked her her name.  She introduced herself as Ivy, so the next time Alice had the ball, I told her to "Kick it to Ivy!"  Alice held the ball and started studying the grass.  I thought she was checking for mud.  After a moment, she found a different looking weed, scrunched up her face, and said, "Mom, is this ivy?"  She'd remembered many of Zac's lectures on poison ivy, and didn't know that Ivy could also be a name.

Simon loved watching the rockets blast off, then drift back down with their parachutes. 

Simon had fun walking around, but he had trouble navigating in the thick grass and fell over a lot.  He also fell on the pavement and split his lip. 

 Alice is good with a soccer ball, but hasn't quite got the hang of frisbee yet.  Zac and I inadvertently played keep away while trying to demonstrate how to throw the frisbee. She pretty much hoarded it after that.

After we'd seen enough rockets, we headed to this Caribbean restaurant that Rob and Kate had picked out, called Golden Krust.  Here, Simon kneels at a shrine to Rastafarianism. 

 Alice had fallen asleep in the van, so she was a bit of a zombie for a while.

 She eventually came to, and took forever to eat her macaroni and cheese. Here we all are, waiting for her to finish.  Bob Marley is cool with it though.

Back home, since it was nice out and the kids were already bundled up and dirty, we played outside for a bit while Zac raked the yard and swept the driveway of all the sweetgum balls that had fallen down in the wind on Friday.  Simon loved playing with the little yellow rake.

Simon loves to walk around outside, but he doesn't quite understand about getting squished by cars yet, so it's a bit nerve-wracking.  He kept walking back and forth in front of the neighbors house, because they have flags, and for Simon, flags are awesome.

Since both kids just had mini-naps in the van during our travels today, we decided to go straight from supper to bedtime snacks.  While they were watching the bedtime video, I was suddenty struck by the immense mess that had accumulated in one day--mainly because we'd been out most of the day and hadn't unpacked anything yet, and then one of us just played with the kids while the other cooked supper.  But then I had an optimistic thought: That one day this would not be a normal, and so I should record it just to document this strange time in our life when messes accumulate at a much quicker rate than we can keep up with.

Bath facts

"Mom, do you know this shark is smaller than Jupiter?"

Alice likes to enlighten us with little bits of information like this.

Airplane

We got this hand-me-down toy from the cousins, and the kids (ok, even the parents) love playing with it.

Simon at school

Simon has been doing great in his new classroom.  We'd love to be a fly on the wall and see what he does all day, since the teachers just say vague things like, "He did really well today!"  But when one of us picks him up, we can always peak in the window and get a glimpse of his classroom interaction before he notices that a parent is there. In this photo, he is in the gray shirt holding something.

But what really made us feel good was that one morning when Zac was dropping off Alice first, one of Simon's teachers, Ms. Evelyn, was in Alice's room and Simon went right over to her.  Although we're happy with the daycare and we know Alice loves it, since Simon can't tell us his feelings yet, all we can go on is gestures like this to infer that he is happy enough hanging out there all day.  

A walk in the park

It was a warm sunny day, so we headed to dragon park.  Here's Simon, representing America, with his flag and space shuttle.

He loves going down the slide.

He played in the little house in the toddler area.

He climbed in the tunnels on the big-kid playground.

But mostly, he walked around holding a stick.

He was so happy, trying to catch his shadow.

He did really well walking.  He walked up hills and through sand without falling.  Zac and I are so happy because we can finally do lots of outdoor activities again, without worrying about trying to carry him, keep him strapped in a stroller, or just let him crawl around in the mud.  Waiting 18 months for him to walk has certainly made us appreciate it more.

Astronomy Days

The science museum downtown has special days from time to time, and this weekend was dubbed "Astronomy Days."  Since Alice is currently interested in planets and rockets, we headed out.  On the top floor, they had some representatives from NASA.  In this first photos, Alice and I are in front of a blow-up replica of a thingy that's going to land people on Mars.

Alice was absolutely terrified of this guy dressed up like an astronaut, but Simon could not resist a high-five.

It's a two-headed astronaut!

And here's Simon, looking out the window at a giant flag at a government building across the street.  He loves flags.

Simon's new classroom and Alice's new bed

Friday was an exciting day in our little universe.  We'd been told, officially, on Thursday that Simon would be in the next class the whole day Friday, that his trial periods had gone well.  Zac dropped him off, and he cried and clung a little, but then when Zac went back past the classroom on his way out, Simon was sitting there happily with his snack.

When I picked him up in the afternoon, he was sitting there happily playing with a toy.  The teachers said he did fine.

All week Alice had been having trouble sleeping (as in, asking for food at 9pm, once we'd finally gotten her in bed).  She has these phases sometimes, so we're used to it, but this time she was also focusing on the bed, and asking to have a bed without sides on it.  She's been in a crib this whole time (3 1/2 years) because she never climbed out and never complained about it.  Since we like having her contained, we were in no rush to transition to a toddler bed.  But since she was asking, we told her we'd do it on Friday.  So Friday after supper, Zac removed one of the sides and put the toddler gate on it. Alice was so happy, and she slept just fine.

Our main concern was that she'd start waking up early and come and wake us up in the morning (on weekends, when we can sleep in, that is).  So we kept emphasizing that she had to stay in bed and read books in the morning like always.  And she did.

Squirt

Simon laughed hysterically the first 25 times he squirted himself with the crab. He had calmed down a lot by the time I got there to make a video.

The children perform

Simon loves to walk around the living room listening to his own voice echo back at him with this plastic microphone.

We've often done the parent trick of reading the wrong words in a book, and Alice always corrects us.  But tonight, I discovered that sometimes she memorizes entire books.  We've had this book, The Best Show and Share from the library for about three weeks, and it's one of her favorites.

Daycare pickup

Zac does the bulk of pickup and dropoff for daycare, but I picked the kids up today. When I went inside, Simon was in the hallway, where they often take the older kids from in the infant room out to practice walking.  There were only two kids left, and the teacher beckoned me over like she had a secret to tell.  She made me swear not to say anything, then revealed that the director had decided to let Simon try the older classroom the next morning. I had gathered from a previous conversation that they had tried before, but that he had cried the whole time.  When I'd asked the director about when they might move him up last week, she'd said that she was waiting for him to feel more confident. I really like the director and respect her knowledge of kids and their transitions, so I wasn't pushing it, just wondering. But I guess Zac had been asking too, so maybe Simon was finally ready or maybe the director was interpreting our questions as complaints. The teacher's secrecy just now suddenly helped explain why it seemed like Alice was always moved to the next class with little warning.  Maybe they try it without telling the parents, that way if it doesn't go well, they just don't say anything, and if the trial goes well, they tell the parents the kid is moving up the next day.  I can imagine a lot of parents are much more micromanagerial with their children's education than we are, so this probably saves the teachers and director a lot of headaches.

I took Simon with me out on to the deck, since Alice was still on the playground.  Although normally once we get Simon, he won't let us put him down, he had no problem being put down outside. Both kids climbed on these toys, and true to their natures, Simon just sat there, while Alice started rocking madly across the deck.

Simon was looking at the kids in the next class up as if they were creatures in a zoo.  I thought it was good foreshadowing for his trial the next day that he was interested in the classroom and kids. 

We finally left, and Alice took Simon's hand because he was going off the sidewalk.  She also carried his daycare bag.  She's almost helpful sometimes.

Drumming and dancing and reading

"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away."

Henry David Thoreau

Alice is certainly dancing to the beat of her own drummer!

After they both woke up from their nap, we were hanging out in Simon's room and Alice was sort of reading a book to Simon.

Selfie

Climbing up and flipping down

Simon has finally gotten tall enough and strong enough to be able to climb up on benches and couches by himself. At the park Saturday morning, he intentionally climbed up on the bench next to mine so no one could accuse him of having been helped up.

This morning Simon would go get a book, bring it up on the couch and read it, then climb back off and get another book.

Simon has known how to slide off the couch for a couple of months, but then one time it didn't quite go as planned...

South Koreans and Selfie Sticks

We went to Burlington to meet the two exchange students from South Korea who were staying there for two weeks.  The girls spoke excellent English and were so nice. And one of them had a selfie stick! Alice fell asleep in the van on the way over, and so she took a bit longer to warm up than usual, but eventually she did.  Simon warmed up quickly too.  

Into the swamp

After a rainy week, the sun finally came out Saturday, and we took the kids to the park.  Zac and Alice normally walk through the woods adjacent to the park looking for trees to climb, but when they discovered a swamp had formed, they went back home to get their boots on so they could go into the swamp.  Alice could not have been happier.

Standing up without pulling up

Simon started standing up on his own today!  Normally he has to pull up on something, but Zac modeled for Simon how to get up, and he did it several times today.

Flag boy

Simon loves flags, and he loves walking around with this little flag that we got at the Christmas parade in December.  Part of the stick broke off, so the pole is the perfect size for his little fist.  And he hasn't poked his eye out, *yet.*

18 month stats

Simon had his 18-month wellness visit Friday afternoon.  When I picked him up from daycare, the ladies there insisted that I have the doctor have him tested for iron deficiency, because they said he seems tired a lot and one time he turned blue.  They also said he walked weirdly.

So, we all know Simon is way behind on skills like walking and being able to stand up on his own, and the questionnaire I had to fill out at the doctor's office confirmed this.  He's fine or ahead on everything else, but way behind on gross motor skills.  The doctor, out of an abundance of caution, is referring him to be evaluated by neurologists, to make sure nothing is wrong.  She also ordered some extra blood work.  Stay tuned.

At least he appears to be growing better.  Six months ago, he was in the 10% for weight and the 18% for height, so we're happy he's becoming a little more "average."

I don't think we have enough toys...

18 months of this little man

Simon turned 1 1/2 today, so here are some pictures and videos from the morning.

He normally wakes up happy.

He just lays there and looks at books while we get him changed and dressed.

He's a very smiley kid...

...but he does make some other faces:

Simon loves balloons.

Simon loves bugs.

Sometimes it's hard being the little brother, with a sister like Alice!

Although he has not been the most athletic kid so far, he's got some potential.