Easter



Our Easter was a bit of a dud this year.
Okay, well not really. In fact, Brad keeps saying how, other than being sick, this was his favorite Easter ever.

Friday night, we went to my dad's to dye Easter eggs with Noah. Oh my gosh, Noah looooved it this year! He totally understood what we were doing, and he wanted to be the one to put them in, scoop them out... and frankly, make a big mess.

That night, Brad came down with a bad tummy bug. This was absolutely AWFUL timing, because we were supposed to be doing a photo swap the next day with Jess.
I was also doing a photoshoot with my little sister and niece for my sister's 16th birthday present. So basically, we weren't going to be getting our pictures done, and Noah was going to have to come with us. The girls got their makeup done by my stepsister Sarah (who is amazing, btw), and we headed to the park I chose for both shoots.

It all ended up working out. Jess will be back in June for our shoot, and the girls kept an eye on Noah while I worked with her family. It was a team effort once I got to their shoot, though. The park is more like a massive field. No playground... just trails, a couple of barns, and lots of dirt for Noah to play in. It was awesome.

To see some of Jess's pictures, go here.

To see some of my little sister and niece's pictures, go here.

The next day, Brad still wasn't feeling very well. I wasn't about to just leave him alone on a holiday, so we decided to hang at home all day.

We did give Noah an Easter basket, which was fun to watch. The boy now loooooves bubbles and asks for "bu-bu-sss" multiple times, every day.

We also gave him some chalk, which he proceeded to pick at instead of actually draw with. Whatever makes him happy, I guess.

And that was our Easter. :)
Now I need to go catch up on everyone else's posts!

recent happenings

Last week, we took a day trip up to Asheville to visit the Biltmore. Brad had gotten free tickets through a work friend, so we picked a weekday (when it wouldn't be busy) and headed on up there. I hadn't gone since high school, and Brad had never been.

 

Noah did SO well. He even walked some of the tour and didn't try to jump on any beds or anything. :) He liked the tunnels in the basement, and his favorite part of the whole trip was the bus ride to the house.
When we were getting dropped back off at the parking lot, he starting waving and saying, "bye bye"... not because we were leaving, but because he wanted to go "bye bye" longer in the shuttle bus. lol.

I won't bore you with a ton of details of the house, but if you're in the area, definitely go for a visit. Especially if you watch Downton Abbey. It's very very similar to that. Except I recommend going in the spring. I mean, it was great for a free trip, but it would've been nice not to be so flippin cold!

(dude. bright sun. yikes.)

 We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but we did grab a quick shot with Brad's phone of Noah and me at the indoor bowling alley. The quality sucks, especially since it was pretty dark down there. It is what it is. Photos of me with Noah are rare, so I'll take it.

 

Because Noah did so amazingly well, we decided to give him a treat. They had a little vintage toy shop, full of old timey type things like spinning tops, marbles, etc. They also had plenty of Melissa & Doug toys and these cool clocks (which Noah was mesmerized with). He found some trains, so we grabbed him one of those. And I was kind of surprised that the price wasn't too bad... $6 for a high quality, metal train that makes sound is better than those Thomas ones.

We also stopped by the candy shop, and his little eyes couldn't believe all of that chocolate behind the glass. He got a chocolate covered graham cracker, which he only ended up eating a few bites of (momma helped him with the rest...).
I'm kind of regretting I didn't get any cute candy shop shots with my fancy camera, but it was a little hard juggling everything (purse, backpack with Noah's stuff, stroller, etc).

 

We had a really good time. Brad was a little creeped out by some of the darker hallways, saying how he'd hate to visit at night. It did have a little bit of a haunted house type vibe goin' on. I'd like to take one of those tours where they show you the secret tunnels and doors and stuff.

You can get a better idea of just how big the house is by comparing how small Brad and Noah look standing next to it (bottom right, with the stroller). Now that I'm a mom? I kept telling Brad how I couldn't imagine raising kids in that house. I would be scared to death one of them would fall down the stairs or hang off a balcony or something. Or I'd lose them in a secret passageway.

Other Random Happenings:

The tickets we got expired March 1st, and part of the reason we waited so long to go was because Noah kept getting sick. I swear it's the school. He gets therapy there on Mondays, and it seems like by Thursday, he's sick again. Thankfully, it was just a fever this time, but it was still sad to watch him feel so lousy.

 

***

 

I've already decorated for Easter. I got my snow, so I'm good to move on now. 

 (bunny bums make me happy)

Actually, even though I'd like spring to show up early, it'd make for an awful summer. The mosquitos around here are ridiculous, and an earlier spring means more mosquitos (and other bugs). I'd rather wait a couple more weeks than get eaten alive.

I've also been planning Noah's Easter outfit. I'm so excited about it that I'm not even telling Brad what I have planned yet. Mostly because he'll probably veto it. He tends to do that when he can't see the whole picture yet. Seriously, half the fun of having a kid is dressing them up, and dangit, that's what I'm going to do.

***

We got a knock on our door recently. It was a surveyor telling us that our fence was on our neighbor's property by a few feet. Brad was super annoyed, since we'd had our HOA send out someone to check out the property lines before we built it. Turns out, that guy wasn't official.
So Brad went ahead and moved it now before it got too hot. Our neighbors behind us have a little girl who is about a year older than Noah. She was adorable chatting Noah's ear off, and most of it just went right over his head. He loves playing with other kids, and it cracks me up that little girls are drawn to him. They must think he's a great listener. ;)

 

Toss in a few hours of play doh and some therapy appointments, and that's pretty much the last couple of weeks for us.

Happy Tuesday!

Fiddlyfart

For the last few weeks, I've become obsessed with popcorn. I eat it almost every day. For those of you who have done Weight Watchers before, you know that plain air-popped popcorn is zero points. So when I'm wanting a snack, that's what I go to. To give it some flavor, I spray a little butter flavored PAM on it (sounds gross, but I promise it's good... zero calories? Yes please) and sprinkle a little kosher salt. Voila. So good and guilt-free.

***

Noah was sick with a tummy bug for most of last week. That's my least favorite kind of sick. And my poor kid is terrified of puking. Combine the sickness with sensory issues, and you've got one fun recipe for a freaked out kid.

***

At the beginning of December, I shot my second wedding. I did it for my cousin as a gift, so it took a ton of pressure off me. I just showed up and did my thing. No list of must-have shots, no crazy time frame to follow... they're really laid back. And honestly? That fact alone made me relax and just have some fun with it. They are so cute together.
I don't normally say a whole lot about my photography business and website on here. I'd rather keep it personal and not do the whole "HIRE ME!" thing on every other post. But if you're interested in seeing the pictures, click on over to the blog portion of my website. There are also a few pictures from a newborn shoot I did. She was so precious.

Anyway, one of the reasons I'm mentioning this is to give a little advice. If you decide to hire a professional photographer for any reason (family, newborn, wedding, etc), pick one because you love their style. Yes, price often plays a role. But that shouldn't be your #1 reason. Pick a photographer because you're drawn to their work. And when you hire them, put your trust in them. Realize that you hired them for a reason, and this isn't their first shoot. It's fine to give them a few ideas of pictures you like, but when it comes down to it, the shoot will come out a million times better if you just let them do their thing. My favorite sessions have been the ones where the clients relax and trust that I'm going to do a good job.

***

We have mice again. Not in the house, thank you Jesus. Just in the garage. They love the dog food, and our pups have this wonderful habit of turning over their bowls on purpose.
Apparently, one of our neighbors must have gotten pest control, because these mice just move around the neighborhood in waves. The worst part is that I don't like having to kill them. It makes me sad. Unlike water beetles or termites, mice are kind of cute. So I was researching ways to keep them away, so we can avoid killing them. Turns out they hate peppermint. I'll be heading to Hobby Lobby soon to get some peppermint oil. I have some candy canes left from Christmas, but I have a feeling the dogs will just eat them.
I swear, Disney has ruined me for life. All I can think about is Gus Gus or how we might be killing somebody's mommy.

***

And in case you were wondering what we've been up to lately besides mice, photography, and tummy bugs...

Playtime at the local kids museum...
I think people wonder why I don't ever invite friends for play dates there. Because for me, they don't work. Noah is all over the place, and I never actually get to talk to anyone. However, he did keep coming back to the water table. He is obsessed with those buckets.

Playtime outside...

Playtime on the iPad.
With a rare video appearance. Noah is sitting on our love seat with no cushion, because he spends the majority of his day jumping off the arms of the couches and onto the cushions. And the whole sight makes me smile.
Anyway, it took a while to get him to use the blablabla app. It helps promote speech. But within the last couple of weeks, he's fallen in love with it. But instead of just "talking" to it? This is what he does:

 

Cracks me up.

Happy Thursday!

Noah stuff

Noah has been having a bit of a rough time lately.
He's realized that he's 3. It took a while, but he's finally having normal fits and meltdowns. They're still really mild compared to most kids (his OT actually laughs at them, because they're just so... cute).
He also got some sort of weird virus on Friday night. He would randomly break down crying over the silliest things, or over nothing at all. He wouldn't eat anything all day. On Saturday, he finally drank some water and proceeded to throw it all back up. After that happened two more times, he then ate half a bag of tortilla chips and was totally fine. So weird.

But the cranky mood hasn't completely left. Yesterday, he got wimpery as we came up to the McDonalds (at a red light). I figured, what the heck. So I went to get him some ice cream. Except? He didn't want it. And when we pulled out of the parking lot, he proceeded to have an epic (for Noah) meltdown and threw the ice cream cone at me from the back seat. I didn't get on him too much, because I know he's not himself right now. Plus, I had a hard time not laughing.

I just feel so bad for him. He's now understanding more and has opinions and wants, but he can't express them. When he felt bad over the weekend, I didn't know why. We were guessing everything from ear infections to a stomach ache. It's just sad. So while I'll never accept ugly behavior, I also know I have to extend a little grace to him. He's just now becoming more aware... of his surroundings, other people, himself. He expects us to just know his thoughts, and it must be so frustrating when we don't get it. It's like having a newborn in a toddler form sometimes.

***

Yesterday, he had a little bit of a rough time at his OT. She knew he wasn't quite himself when he would just randomly sob at things they always do.
After it was over, we walked out of the little side room. Noah quickly walked into a different room (the lights were off), grabbed a very specific toy, walked into a different room, sat on the floor, and proceeded to play with it for the next 20 minutes. See the door to the left of the slide? Obviously, this vintage Fisher Price cash register had caught his attention when he was sliding.

His therapist felt terrible. He probably thought she was being mean by not letting him play with it. She had no idea that's what he wanted. She even said she would've grabbed it to help him transition had she known. Whoops!
At one point, I asked him if he was ready to leave, and he politely stuck his hand out for me to back off (it's his way of saying, "no thanks").
So being that this is the ONLY thing he's gone crazy over lately, I immediately did a frantic online search for one of these things. I found one on ebay for like $20 (including shipping), which was the cheapest option. After I bought it, I realized I didn't check to make sure it came with coins. Sure enough, it does not. So I searched for the right coins for that particular model.

Then it dawned on me to check craigslist. There's a mom nearby selling theirs (WITH coins) for $10. WHY did I not think of that BEFORE purchasing the non-refundable one?? I've already emailed the guy and asked for him to cancel it (it had only been an hour or so, and yes, I was totally that mom and mentioned "my autistic son who wanted this for Christmas with the coins").
Now I'm just praying he taps into the spirit of Christmas and gives me my money back. Otherwise, I'll just save it and give it as a gift later on down the road. And don't think I'm above calling him a Scrooge if he makes me keep it. lol. I'll just make sure to cook an extra awesome Christmas dinner for Brad to smooth over the fact that I've bought two of the same toy.

***

The owner of the OT company plopped down on the floor with us to chat yesterday (they're all so cool), and she asked how Noah's sleep was going. She then asked if we were using a weighted blanket. I told her that they're just too expensive, and we don't want to spend that kind of money (we're talking at least over $100) on something he'll just throw on the floor.
She then tells me that someone donated one recently, and I was more than welcome to take it home and try it out for a couple of weeks. How awesome is that?!

I hope we never move. These people have been so amazing for Noah.

***

His OT is beginning food therapy with him now, to help him expand his palate a little. She told me about this new technique called "food jagging" that seems to be working well.
Basically, you offer them three kinds of simple foods, one of which you know they will eat. Everyone at the table gets the same thing. There's an empty plate in the middle of the table, where unwanted food can be discarded. She also suggested putting Noah in a contained seat at the table (not a high chair) and placing something on the floor that he can rest his feet on. This gives them added stability when eating, instead of that wiggly, dangly-feet feeling.
So I used his old travel chair last night and put a big speaker we weren't using underneath his feet (perfect height!). He ended up sitting there for 30 minutes, eating everything on his plate. He never does that. He even ate his lima beans with his fork... so exciting!

There were a couple of times where he pushed on the table, like he was ready to get down. But then it was like something in his head clicked, and he was all, "Oh wait, I'm still hungry...".

***

I'm not sure if I'll be back blogging before Christmas. I hope so, because I have plenty to document. But honestly, I'd rather be soaking up this time with my little family. If not, I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!! :)

July 4th-ish Fun

Our July 4th didn't quite go as planned, unfortunately.
I ended up catching Noah's tummy bug Tuesday night (which is my excuse for being so quiet this week). I was hoping after a few days, I was in the clear, but obviously not. And while I was so bummed about missing out on July 4th fun, I was really bummed that I had to miss out on Noah's first OT appointment that morning. Brad took this week off from work for his birthday and the 4th, so he (and our nephew Kalyb who spent the night with us) went with Noah (more on all that later). The only plus side is that I finally made my way back into the 120's. Now if I can just live off of Saltines and Gatorade for the next few days, maybe I can keep it that way. ;)

Thankfully, we had gotten our fill of cookouts, festivals, and fireworks over the weekend. In case you were hiding under a rock last week, you know our area was hit with an insane heat wave. I don't ever remember it being this hot before. Stepping outside was like hitting a big wall of heat. The highest temp I saw on our car was 110 (and that was while driving, not just sitting in the sun). Sunday morning, it was already 93 at 9am. Ridiculous.
Anyway, our little town threw a big July 4th party over the weekend, complete with fireworks on Friday and Sunday.
Friday night, we headed to the festival after it cooled down to a reasonable 95 degrees. :)
The place was packed. I didn't even know we had that many people in our area!

The streets were filled with music, dancing, and lots and lots of people.
One of my friends from high school was in town visiting, so we met up. I hadn't seen her since our reunion, and I'd never met her older two babies. So that was fun. :)

I was so impressed with the fireworks!
We got the best view, and Noah LOVED them.

Saturday, we decided to go visit my grandmother (Mom's mom). She lives almost an hour away from us, so we don't get to see her as often. My little brother came with us, and we made a night of it. I know it made her happy to have all of us there. It was one of those really perfect evenings where nothing was really planned. The guys helped her in the yard, Noah played with the hose, and we just had a lazy summer day.

(Noah found my brother's dog tags. Noah looooves his Uncle Harrison)

(Noah has loved her wind chimes since he was tiny)

After getting completely soaked, we let Noah have a taste of real summertime freedom. :)

Once we got his clothes dry, we headed on over to the local rodeo/festival they were having. It was really crowded, but we found a perfect spot on the side of the road to park, next to the field they were shooting the fireworks off from.

And just when you thought we'd gotten enough of fireworks?

We turned around and did it again on Sunday. Our nephew Kalyb joined us, along with my brother and his girlfriend.

So even though I didn't get to join in the fun on the actual 4th, I'd say I still got plenty of celebrating in.

***

As for the July 4th plague, I'm feeling much better, but now Brad has it. It always worries me a little when Brad gets these things. His immune system isn't as tough as it should be, but so far, he seems to be okay. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a ton of laundry and Lysoling to get to. ;)

supermom moments, not-so-superwife moments

While I always knew when I was younger that I wanted to someday be a mom, there was one particular aspect of the job requirement that had me a little worried... puke.
I don't handle that kind of stuff well. When we were dating, if I found out Brad had a stomach bug? I avoided him as if he had contracted some sort of leprosy plague. Girlfriend of the year right here. I knew that getting through 18 (or more?) years of parenting without having to deal with this kind of grossness was pretty much impossible. So I worried about how I'd handle it.
Turns out that once you have a little one of your own, you suddenly become immune to their disgustingness. I mean, nobody exactly enjoys it when a tiny person poops on them. But because their yours (and you can't exactly just hand them to a stranger and tell them to deal with it), you learn to rise to the occasion. Make a face, tell them they stink, whatever... but ultimately, you learn to get over the gross parts of your kids. Their sudden need for you to hold them, for that security, trumps your fear of actually catching it. I mean, that didn't stop me from Lysoling the place up and down... but still, my baby needed me.

Noah caught his first stomach bug the other day. He was so pitiful, and it made me sad for him. The whole ordeal actually freaked him out. He would start crying every time he got sick, because it scared him. Not being able to understand what's happening to you has got to be terrifying. So yeah, I got over my aversion real quick as soon as those sweet, teary baby blues looked up at me for help.
Thankfully, it was super quick, and he was almost back to normal yesterday.

***

Brad's birthday is on Sunday, and I have absolutely NO idea what to get him.
I tried to plan a birthday/July 4th bash for him, but three days after putting the info up on Facebook, we only had 1 RSVP. That's just sad.
I swear we have friends. They just all had plans already. I mean, it was kind of a last minute idea... but still. It made me look like I have no friends. :)

I have two days until his birthday. No gift, no party, nothing.
I should probably get my act together and figure something out.

***

Unrelated: I have a couple of favorite recipes up over at the poop whisperer from yesterday and today. Just in case you happen to actually have big party plans and are looking for some July 4th ideas. :)

fiddlyfart with a side of honesty

Wow.
Even though I knew people loved us, and especially our little Noah, the response to my sharing the news was... well... wow. I just want to say thanks. As soon as I hit "publish"; the comments, emails, FB messages, etc all came flooding in. I don't know why it shocked me so much, but it did. People I haven't seen or heard from in ages, sharing their stories and pledging their support. People hooking me up with their friends via FB, because this particular person's child also has autism. Friends sending me invites to festivals and support groups. People offering their encouragement to my family. It made me a little teary hearing all of the sweet things they had to say about not only Noah, but myself.
Sometimes a girl just needs to hear a nice compliment from someone besides her husband and mom. You know what I mean? It's great when your mom says your beautiful, but she's your mom. Of course she's going to say that. But when that guy you've been crushing on hard (in this case, my husband when we were 15) admits to his buddy that he thinks you have nice legs, then it makes its way through the friend vine back to you? Suddenly, you feel like a supermodel... all while feeling slightly self-conscious about your legs now.

Anyway, I just really really wanted to say thank you to everyone.

But I also wanted to make it clear that I didn't "come out of the autism closet", as I phrased it to my friend, because I was looking for people to react the way they did. I wasn't asking for pity or all of the amazing words our friends sweetly offered us.
The reason I decided to write about it is because I've been wanting to share our journey here.
This will definitely not become an "autism blog", but if this is a for real diagnosis for Noah, then it will be a part of our lives. And to hide that? Seems silly. And disingenuous. I want to get how I feel about it out in the open, because that's how I process stuff. I want to document when Noah responds to a question or makes a friend... even if it all happens later than other toddlers.

***

We met some friends at a park on Tuesday. It's Spring Break here for public schools, so the place was packed out. Kids.Were.Everywhere. Noah gets a little overwhelmed in large, crowded scenarios. Sometimes his "red flags" become more obvious in these situations.
But he surprised me. He ran around, in the middle of the action, and played with all the other kids. He climbed through tunnels, went down slides, and giggled when other kids ran around him. He ignored the mulch (his go-to sensory tool he obsesses over when we're out) and actually played on the playground.
A little girl that's in his class at church recognized him when we walked in and shouted, "Noah's here!!" Noah has never really acted as if he notices other kids that I'd consider to be his friends. But hearing toddlers get excited when Noah comes around? Makes me happy. He's the kid that other kids remember, and I think that's really going to come in handy later on.

***


I bought Kelle Hampton's new book, Bloom. It came out on Tuesday and that morning, after the park, I ran and grabbed it. I was originally going to wait until we went to the beach in a couple of weeks and read it there. But I couldn't wait. I decided I'd pace myself... read a little bit every other day... that way I'd have some left to read when we got there.
I should've known better. By that night, I was at chapter 7.
Although Noah doesn't have Down syndrome, I found myself relating to some of the sentiments she wrote. Like how she originally felt about therapy:


     "...when four therapists show up at your house at once to evaluate your baby. And one is pulling her arms and testing her reflexes, mumbling scores for each reaction while another who's set up a makeshift office at your living room chair is typing it all in. And you see the way your baby's head is a little floppy and how she doesn't turn to look at the bell that's being jingled outside her left ear and, although the therapist is quietly and professionally rattling off these number scores without alarm, you know d*** well that '2' and '3' aren't the winning numbers.
     And while, at this point, you have no idea that these therapists will later become your friends and will love your baby and that someday, you won't even frantically clean up your living room before they arrive - at this very moment, you want to cry and make a big scene, kicking paperwork and screaming, 'For the love of God, leave my baby alone, take your portable office and your laptop and these d*** bells and books and get the hell out of my happy house because I didn't sign up for this club and certainly, you've come to the wrong place.'"

When professionals were showing up regularly to our home to evaluate Noah... his speech, his eye contact, his cognitive skills; when a pediatrician recommended we take him for genetic testing; when we had random people mentioning "autism" around us; when I felt like everyone in his world was analyzing him instead of loving him; when my baby sat in the corner and had broken heart-ed tears trickling down his cheeks because he couldn't understand why the SLP wouldn't blow bubbles with him anymore... all those times I fought back the urge to tell everyone to leave my beautiful, perfect, tender hearted, sweet baby boy the heck alone. To take their boring toys, their MCHATS, their pamphlets and get the heck outa my house.
But I didn't do that. I knew they were trying to help, and I knew that Noah needed it. And when I saw the realization hit the SLP's face that he wasn't pitching a fit and being too stubborn to say the word "bubbles"? That she know knew she had hurt his feelings... and this made her so sad? I knew that these people weren't "after" my baby... they sincerely wanted to help.

But it was nice reading that someone else had to fight those same feelings. That I'm normal.
If you haven't grabbed a copy, I'd recommend it. It's an easy read... and it has pictures! What grown up book has pictures these days? I think it's great. :)

***

Noah caught a cold this week. I'd blame it on one of those millions of kids at the park, but he started sneezing while we were there. He's pretty much been himself, just a little extra cuddly, which is so nice. Yesterday, we sat on the bed, cuddling and talking (his version of talking). No tv or other noise. Just us. It was really, really nice.

***

Hope everyone's having a fantastic week!
I'll be back with some Easter related stuff tomorrow!
Lots of egg dying and family time going on around here.

I declare war.

Yesterday, Noah and I were hanging out in the back yard. Me, doing some old school blogging (writing with a pen and paper). Noah, goofing off and doing whatever most toddlers do outside.
I heard him make a weird noise and looked up. He wasn't crying but was looking at me with a weird look. He started running towards me with his hands held out at me. I immediately jumped up and met him halfway.
Ants.
Ants everywhere. He had grabbed what he thought was two fist fulls of dirt. Turns out, he grabbed two fist fulls of a newly formed ant colony. They were crawling all over his hands and biting the daylights out of him. He started whimpering as I frantically swiped them off and stripped him down in the back yard.
Our area is notorious for ants. The kind that don't go away. You think you've killed them, but NO. They just move. I make it a habit to inspect for them while Noah's out. This hill wasn't even a hill yet.
These boogers messed with the wrong family.

After taking care of Noah, I headed out with a gallon of straight bleach. I bleach bombed those suckers, and their neighbors too. And I don't care what anyone has to say about "they were just defending their homes, protecting themselves, blahblahblah". They bit my kid. Mercilessly. All's fair in this war now.

As I typically do when Noah's had a rough time, gets hurt, etc. I do something fun to make up for it. Something special to balance the day out.
Remember those St Patty's Day cupcakes we made? Well, they came in handy.
I handed him the container and let him at it. No worries, he didn't get a tummy ache. He doesn't actually eat the whole cupcake. He's like his momma and prefers the frosting.

So what cures the sting of ant bites?
Double fisting cupcakes.

What else helps?
Letting him do something I'm very consistent about in this parenting thing. No feet on the table.
At this point? I figured I'd be a cool mom and just let him do whatever. I'll go back to being tough when his hands aren't hurting anymore.

my little monkey joe

So yeah.
I caught Noah's cold. Good times. It really isn't too bad. I've just become BFFs with Puffs tissue boxes and Sudafed.
Yesterday morning, I was dragging. I had a slight fever, so I quickly downed some Tylenol, drank a ton of water, and got some decongestant in me. I knew there was no way I could keep Noah entertained all on my own. See, he's a mover. When our EI coordinator told his SLP about him, that was her exact phrase. He's busy busy... loves to run, jump, wiggle, and shake. Since I was not in the run-jump-wiggle-and-shake mood, I had to think fast. After only being awake for an hour, he was already asking me to race with him.
We have a Monkey Joe's less than 10 miles away from our house, and since he's under 3, we only get charged $5. Our day was saved. I made sure my fever was gone and I had plenty of hand sanitizer on me before we left (no need to spread it around).

I'm so SO glad we went.
Noah jumped and bounced and ran and tumbled and... well, just went nuts.
The best part about going on a Monday morning is that all the kids there are 4 and under. No big kids to trample him.

It was so cute to see him play with the other kids. I had asked my friend Susan who watches the 2 yr old class at church how Noah did one day, if he played with the other kids. She told me that none of them really play with each other. More like around each other. If anything, they just take the other kids' toys. :)
So to watch him get this excited and giggly when other kids played with him was fun to see.

I think I've mentioned a couple of times how Noah is nervous with heights. So nervous, in fact, that the only way he'll even consider the slides at the playground is if I go down with him. In the 3 and under area, they have the perfect Noah-sized slide. He must've gone down that slide a bajillion times. The cute part is that he's very proper about it. Never went down on his tummy or backwards or anything like that. Just sat politely, often with his hands almost folded.

Anyway, it really shocked me to see him start climbing up one of the BIG slides. He would go up about halfway, then turn around and come back down. Finally, he crawled his way almost to the top, turned around, and realized he was a lot further up than he thought. He froze and got the cutest little frown, unsure of how he was going to get out of this mess.

Ever see Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too? The one where Tigger bounces up to the top of a tree and can't get back down? Yeah, that was Noah.
I had to climb all the way up there and bring him back down. Now that I'm thinking about it, I don't know why I didn't just take him all the way up and slide down? I guess he was already so frazzled, I didn't want to freak him out any worse.

After that incident, he decided it was time to take a break and re-evaluate life.

The whole thing was a tad traumatic.

He decided to give the bigger slides another go... except this time, he did it on his own terms.
Surprisingly, nobody pummeled him during this venture.

But other than the one little mishap, he had a blast.

He even checked out the arcade games.
His favorite was the one where you throw balls in a trash can. He did great, although at one point, I did have to keep him from climbing in the ball pit.

Overall, it was a huge hit.
The best part was that it required almost zero energy from me.

Have a great day!!

And Happy Valentine's Day!!

xoxo.