Meeting a Monkey

So I am going to have to steal the wording here from another blog that I read, because it's so true and fits this post perfectly. "If you think an activity will be fun for your 2-year-old, it probably won't be. They enjoy simple things, like flushing a toilet 5 times in a row, or climbing up and down the stepladder. Save your money."
This is not to say that Brian did not enjoy any part of his Curious George Train Ride. He smiled a few times.
He wasn't terribly bored.

However, it certainly wasn't all we had hoped.
He was truly excited about the event. Every morning the week before he would ask me, "Monkey Choo Choo?" It was the first time I felt like he was really excited about something.

The train ride was hot. And kind of loud. And sometimes smelly.

And then there's that whole thing where most two year olds do not enjoy dressed up characters. Remember the Easter Bunny?


George was not quite a traumatic, but Brian certainly was not a fan either. Was the train ride worth the $20ish per person fee? Certainly not. However, we got some cute pictures, a really cute color page booklet and we now know better than to try it again.

Amusement Park Rides

Brian got his first taste of amusement park rides today at Pappy's company picnic. He didn't quite ride the tilt-a-whirl, but he did try the giant slide (with Dad) and he rode on a "choo-choo" all by himself!Let's just say, he was not really a fan of the giant slide.

When asked if he wanted to go again, we got a resounding, "NO!"

The choo-choos were more his speed.

Coloring

Brian has decided he likes to color. He has never shown any interest in coloring. He likes to put crayons in his mouth. He also likes to shove them down into his drinks at restaurants. He has been known on occasion to use a crayon as a fork. And he often tears the paper off his crayon. I guess some wisdom comes with being 2. He now uses them properly. Well, properly for a 2 year old. He scribbles on every page of every coloring book he can find.

More Chicago

We were lucky and there was no baseball for the boys this past weekend while we were visiting, so we got to spend a lot of time with them.

We went to the zoo.We played trains.We cuddled.We golfed.And we tried to get a good shot of all 4 boys. Tried being the most important word in that sentence!

Last year when we visited the zoo we got a good shot of Mommy and Brian in the kangaroo. Here's the comparison from last year to this year.




And one of the boys too.

Windmills

On the way to Chicago we drove through an area with about 600 windmills. It was super cool and strangely futuristic (even though windmills are super old). We stopped at an exit and took lots of pictures. The shadows were amazing so we even took some 'just shadow' pics!

Making Lemonade

Luckily, the fireworks in the previous post happened to be taking place at a GOLF COURSE. It was hard to be angry when Brian was so elated. He spent over 2 hours doing what he loves most. What more could a boy want?
We all had a blast watching him. Everyone nearby did too. We get comments all the time about his golfing and this night was no exception. "Hey he's got a nice back swing!" "Wow, he really follows through." "He's gonna be the next ____________" (fill in the blank with some pro golfer). We even had one guy say, "Oh, wow, someone's been here before. You came prepared." I answered, "Actually, we're from Kentucky, he just likes golf so much, we take the clubs wherever we go." LOL!

So, even thought I was bummed, and it wasn't the night we were expecting, we made lemonade. Because that's what you do when life gives you lemons. Or in this case, golf balls.

What does one do, when it gets to dark to golf? Play in the sand trap, of course!

Freedom

This 4th of July, I struggled a bit. It all turned out okay in the end, but I was pretty frustrated for awhile. I just couldn't stop thinking about how it was a day to celebrate freedom and our freedom was so limited because of a bad doctor.

When we arrived at the fireworks (actually on the 3rd in Chicago where we were), our family's friends had set up a nice area where we were all going to sit. Except there were speakers playing music. Loud music. So, of course, we couldn't sit there. Mom, Shawn, B and I had to move away from our family and their friends. This was the responsible thing to do. Why expose a child with hearing loss to loud music when you don't have to?

Then as the fireworks started, we had to move again. This time to the car. Even though we were WAY far back, the booms were much too loud.

When we first had to move, I said to my aunt, "I'm sorry, this is our reality." And it is. We have to do what is best for B and we do it at all cost. But for a moment, (actually about an hour) I was really upset about the fact that we have to do something different because someone else messed up. That's a lot to swallow.

Luckily B didn't mind, or even know we were moving to protect his hearing. I never want him to think it's his fault that we can do something, or have to do it differently because of him. He certainly can't help that this happened and I don't want him to feel the sadness and anger that I feel. I have felt enough of it for him over the past 2 years.