A Boy and his Toys!

Micah LOVES toys!  I say this surprisingly because we had tons of little rings, stuffed animals, chew things for Caylee and she was never interested.  Micah on the other hand is usually very content playing on the play mat with his toys.  He's also just now big enough for the walker and has had fun with the toys on that.  He has even turned himself in a circle on the walker to reach another toy... since he's still little, his time is limited in that... eventually his head begins to drop and it's time to get out :)

Micah is also a little chatterbox.  He LOVES to be talked to and will talk back saying "ooh" and "ahh".  I think he likes talking to Caylee the best.  Often in the mornings, I am cleaning up dishes and I can just hear him babbling away, when I look it's always because she is there kissing and hugging him or showing him more toys.  She is really good with him and he adores her! I love it :)

Since I've been blogging a lot about Caylee, or with pics of her anyways, here are recent pics of Micah!  I do take tons of pics of him too... even though he's the second child :)

 Such a man!

You can really see how much hair he's lost here!  I don't mind too much, I've always said I prefer a boy to be bald than a girl... thankfully Caylee kept her hair, so Micah can lose some :)

 

 

 

 

 

Tiny Tot!

That's Caylee... a tiny tot... she's been in a gym class at the Y and the class is called Tiny Tot Gymnastics.  It's for 18 mo-3yr and we JUST hit her 18th month so we joined the class.  Luckily, all the kids in this class are also under 2, so it's been nice for her to be at the same level as the other kids.  It's been SO fun for her and myself.  I have to go with her, so it's a great time to begin teaching her how to listen to the teacher and take turns with the other kids.  Unfortunately, not all the other parents feel the same and they let their little ones run around like hooligans!  It's SO frustrating, especially for Caylee because she doesn't understand why I'm making her sit and wait when the other kids are climbing and jumping.  I want to tell those parents just to take their kids to a park, that's where they can run free! 

Anyways, enough of that.  When we started a few weeks ago, Caylee was very hesitant... she has never been much of a climber, so climbing on all the big mats, learning to hang on the bar and rolling has been a challenge for her.  She's been doing GREAT though and I've seen TONS of improvement in her climbing and balancing abilities.  She is even able to swing on the bar herself now, which I never thought would happen.  I'm debating about signing her up for the class again or to try swimming next.. or maybe both :)  We'll see. 

While we are in class, Micah is in their nursery-- they love him and he's been very sweet for them.  I'm thankful they are so nice and remember us each week!

 She does love the bar! 

 He is such a good sharer and his mom makes him participate! I like them :)

 Ms. Stephanie does floor stretches at the beginning and the end... usually Caylee and the little boy are the only 2 participating... again, because parents don't make their kids follow her instruction. (And trust me, it's not always easy to get Caylee to participate when she sees something else, we have had our battles, but what better time to start learning to follow rules!?!)

 The slide is the favorite, and always in the rotation, but I limit her time on it.  I make her follow the entire circuit so that she gets a feel for everything else too.  Another frustration... some kids only stay at one station and their parents never encourage them to try something else.  Again, so thankful Caylee is willing to try things!

 Rolling is still tough... she kinda scoots down the mat :)  But she does try, and that gets HUGE points!

 The parachute at the end is fun... she typically likes to be under the parachute :)

Ft Wayne Children's Zoo

Today Matt only worked a tiny bit early, early in the morning.  Then, it was such a gorgeous day (no wind!!) so we headed to Ft Wayne's Zoo.  We had such a fun time! Caylee was just 4 1/2 months when I took her to the St Louis Zoo, so this was such a fun experience. 

The very first thing we saw was a peacock!  These peacocks just wander the zoo.  This particular peacock had it's feathers open! It was gorgeous... Caylee wasn't sure what to do, she kept saying "bird?".  Yep.. it's a big 'ol bird!

 

 Caylee LOVED the goats in the petting zoo.... she brushed/pet every single goat.  She was so happy! 

 Any animal that was close to it's fence or the window she enjoyed... including this leopard!

 We rode the train! Micah was not happy on it, but Caylee seemed to like it... even the super dark tunnel :)

 

The sea lions were a HUGE hit!  Matt had her on the ledge waiting and suddenly one appeared...she almost fell backwards!! "Whoooooaaaaa" she said :) We spent a long time looking at these guys!

Dingo dogs... of course she wanted to pet these guys.

 

Giraffes!

Yep, she touched it :) She wasn't scared of ANYTHING!

 

 

We had a great trip to the zoo! I can't wait to go back when Micah is older so he can experience everything too :)   

MUMS

When we moved up to Ohio it was very important to me to find a group of other moms to hang out with.  We looked everywhere!  Nothing existed like I was used to in TX and KY.  Finally, we found a MUMS group "Mothers Uplifting Mothers" at the church we ended up joining.  It's a small group of really great women :)  I've so enjoyed getting to know them this past year.  I also love the short break every other week :)  The kids enjoy the nursery and I love their sweet workers.  Sadly, we had our last meeting for the semester this past week.  They treated us to brunch at the Van Wert Country Club.  I hope to get together with several ladies over the summer though and am excited about next year!

 The mentors/organizers of the group...