We spent the Canada Day weekend in Kingston with Kathy, Steve, Jennifer, Sarah, Jenny, Kian and the grandparents and it was a great time. We were able to go to a local craft fair to wander around and pick up a few fun things, and get Alex a little arm painting (he didn’t want his face painted, nor was I keen on the idea of him looking like a butterfly or other animal). At first he was quite shy with the girl doing the painting, but his curiosity soon go the better of him and he watched her closely as she drew a spider and web on his arm (his pick for design - he asked for Spider Man but she said she couldn’t do that but could draw a spider).
After the trip to the fair, Chris and I took Alex to a local farm to pick some strawberries. The berries were so juicy and ripe and Alex loved picking them as well as sampling a few from time to time. He also loved getting to ride on a trailer pulled by a tractor and walking through the fields.
After going back to Lilac Cottage to rest, we then took Alex out for his first fishing trip. It was a bit chilly and was starting to rain, but the fish were biting like crazy. I was too squeamish to get overly involved in the whole process, but Sarah was the first to catch a fish and Jennifer caught one soon after that. Alex was quite fascinated by the whole process and kept asking, “why” throughout the fishing trip, but his zeal was tested a bit once he actually caught a fish for himself. As we pulled the fish out of the water, he told us he wanted to see it, but if it got within two feet of him, he’d scream, and then would ask to see it again. We let him look for a few seconds before releasing the fish back into the water.
Kathy, Steve and the girls had to head back early in the weekend to go to an event in Toronto, but the rest of us hung out in Kingston and went to the fireworks by the Fort. This was Alex’s first taste of “real” fireworks but as we were pretty far away, I don’t think he realized how big they truly were. We’d done some fireworks in our own backyard last Canada Day and Steve and Jennifer had done a fireworks show on the lawn of Lilac Cottage the night before they left, so Alex was used to the small shows (which he found incredibly exciting!), but the big one also got him all wound up. Everytime a coloured firework went off, he’d sing the chorus from a Thomas the Train song that lists all of the colours, so I’m sure the people near us were quite sick of hearing “red and green and brown and blue” being repeated every 30 seconds for about half an hour.
The weekend after our trip to Kingston, we went camping near Peterborough with friends of ours. We each had our own site and we’d rented a tent trailer for the weekend to try it out (our friends own their own), so we camped in semi-luxury for the whole weekend. Alex loved the whole experience, and was incredibly excited once the tent trailer started getting put up once we arrived at the provincial park. He was great the entire weekend, and had fun with our friends’ two girls, and it was a lot of fun to be able to share the experience (and cooking chores) with another couple. We roasted marshmallows, hot dogs, made s’mores, went to the beach and played at the playground. If we ever go camping again, I’d love to rent a tent trailer again as it really made the whole sleeping arrangement more comfortable, and it was quite easy to get Alex to go to sleep as it felt like a little house for him, and we were able to set up Chris’ iPod and let Alex watch a bit of a movie before bedtime as a way to wind down.
We have a busy summer still planned, with trips in the works for Montreal, plus our big family trip to Walt Disney World at the end of August for the entire family. We also have a Day Out with Thomas planned for Alex in the coming weeks, so there’s lots going on.
Alex is still going to daycare two days a week and is enjoying it. He’s talking more and more and is starting to tell us jokes (not all of them make sense), and he’s really getting into lots of imagination-type play.
The other big development with Alex is that we’ve now entered the “Why” stage. He’ll ask “why” over and over again, until we run out of answers, or distract him or until one of our heads explode. A typical conversations runs like this:
Me: Don’t sit there.
Alex: Why?
Me: Because the cat is asleep there.
Alex: Why?
Me: Because that’s where she fell asleep.
Alex: Why?
Me: Because it’s a comfy place and is warm and she likes to sleep there.
Alex: Why?
Me: Because all cats like to sleep during the day and they prefer warm soft places.
Alex: Why?
*my head explodes*
Please tell me this “Why” stage doesn’t last too long.
I’ve put some new pictures into a new Canada Day album - hope you enjoy them.
Take care.
No comments:
Post a Comment