While away, Ezra decided it was the perfect time to, finally, add a 5th tooth to the mix and is currently working on a molar coming in. It made for an interesting time in Pittsburgh because when the gums got painful, Ezra got very clingy and did not sleep well. So he and I spent a lot of time together... While Ezra is enjoying lots of extra cuddles, Micah is currently obsessed with space. We read space books, talk about space, and, today, we watched a video made by one of the astronauts on the International Space Station giving a tour of it. Micah was very intrigued. I'm supposed to be finding a video about the astronauts who went to the moon tonight... and, in case you are wondering, Pluto is his favorite.
With Matt's long hours, the boys and I decided to go spend some time with family in Pittsburgh for a week while Matt worked. The cousins had a BLAST and all four played really well together. Uncle Jon was out of town most of the week too, but Aunt Jen planned some fun activities for us and Nana and Grandad came along when they could. First up was the Carnegie Science Museum on Monday morning. Such a cool place! The boys enjoyed looking at insects, reptiles, and amphibians, robots, trains, water play, and Micah and I toured the submarine! Since Micah loves robots and trains it was a huge hit. We finished the afternoon with some park play! Tuesday was a lazy cousin play day followed by 5-6 inches of snow on Wednesday. So much for spring... at least we brought our snow gear! Thursday morning we visited the National Aviary. The penguins were definitely the favorite! Then in the evening we went swimming at the YMCA. Micah LOVED the water and kicked around holding onto a pool noddle for 30 minutes just having a blast. In between toddler activities, Jen and I got to get out by ourselves (no kids!) thanks to Nana and Grandad and enjoy some girl time and shopping. Aunt Jen also planned a few surprises and the boys had a little early Easter egg hunt and Micah got a surprise early birthday party complete with cupcakes, a new book, and an adorable new bathrobe for him to wear when he gets cold. I need to get a picture of him wearing it around one of these mornings. He thinks he's pretty cool with it, especially because his cousin Jack has one too! Before heading out on Friday, the boys and I did a little hike with Grandad and had lunch at Chick-fil-a with everyone. Boy were the cousins (and me!) sorry to say goodbye. Until next time Pittsburgh!
While away, Ezra decided it was the perfect time to, finally, add a 5th tooth to the mix and is currently working on a molar coming in. It made for an interesting time in Pittsburgh because when the gums got painful, Ezra got very clingy and did not sleep well. So he and I spent a lot of time together... While Ezra is enjoying lots of extra cuddles, Micah is currently obsessed with space. We read space books, talk about space, and, today, we watched a video made by one of the astronauts on the International Space Station giving a tour of it. Micah was very intrigued. I'm supposed to be finding a video about the astronauts who went to the moon tonight... and, in case you are wondering, Pluto is his favorite.
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Matt is unfortunately on a rotation that involves LONG hours (shifts that last anywhere from 12-30 hours) so the boys and I have been hanging out largely by ourselves. To pass the time, we hit up the Discovery Museum again. The water play is a hit every time, as is the Recycle Truck, but this time we found a new exhibit on space... with a working robot. To say Micah was transfixed might be an understatement. The viewer could hit a keypad to make the robot go through a cycle of transferring blocks from one plate to another. And Micah just kept hitting the keypad as soon as each cycle ended to start a new one. He literally watched that robot for 30 minutes. Ezra and I wandered around the exhibit and tried out a few other things, including pressing lots of buttons on the Mission Control system, but Micah had no interest in anything else, lol. We did eventually get to leave, but this kid is going to need a robot someday.
We got snow this week too, which meant a fun morning of snow play that involved lots of driving on "roads" in the backyard made from repeated laps around and around. Too bad the snow melted that afternoon! Dad did get one day off, so per Micah's request, we went for a hike in the woods in Clifton Gorge State Nature Reserve. Ezra hiked a bit of the trail before opting for a lift, but Micah hiked the whole thing and had a blast looking at the ice hanging from the cliffs and watching all the water tumble down the gorge. Micah and Ezra are just exploding with new things they learn daily. Watching them just absorb everything around them is so amazing. Micah, through no formal instruction, has learned all of his letters and numbers up to 10. I didn't even know he could recognize all the letters until he put all the foam letters up in the bathtub, in order, and sang me the alphabet song as he pointed to each one! And he loves to count and tell me how many of different things there are. And listening to him lead his brother has got to be the sweetest (most of the time) and most hilarious thing (he sounds like me sooo much). "Ezra, come this way, let's get our bike and truck and ride around." Ezra has become a routine pro and can basically tell you everything you need to know. A typical conversation: Me: "Ezra, did you poop?" Ezra: "Uh-huh" Me: "Are you done and ready to be changed?" Ezra: "Yesssss" Me: "Go back to your changing station and let's get changed then" Ezra: walks back to changing station and waits for me to pick him up and put him on the changing pad He brushes his own teeth, gets his own socks and shoes, and is just a generally all around great listener throughout the day. I can tell he loves the ability to communicate so well and do so much for himself now because the frustration tantrums have gone way down and he thrives on the independence. He also loves walking and can walk about a half mile on his own two feet around the neighborhood before tuckering out. Almost as soon as Nana and Grandad left town, Grandma drove in to town to spend a few days. Not wanting to bore her too much, we took her to the Discovery Museum for a morning of exploration. The boys got to show her some of their favorite things to do there, and the animals really showed off by being awake and very active! It was a fun time, and a good diversion from the cold weather that was rolling back in.
While Grandma was here, Micah had her reading books to him all day, but we did sneak out of the house for a few walks and a trip to the park. Ezra is loving going down slides on his own, and Micah finally decided that pedaling wasn't so bad and taught himself to pedal on his tricycle while Grandma was here. Of course, now that Ezra is walking like a pro, he wants to do everything that Micah does, including taking up the lawn mowing since Micah is busy riding his tricycle these days, haha! The last of February brought colds for all boys in the house, but everyone recovered nicely for Nana and Grandad's visit the first weekend of March. Despite being a bit chilly, the boys and I took Nana and Grandad to several parks in the area over the course of the weekend. We had fun showing them the red caboose at our "train park" and the "elevator" at Owen's place. Ezra a is a professional walker now, so he enjoys getting to have more autonomy to explore.
And of course it wouldn't be a weekend with the grandparents without a project to keep us busy, so Grandad and I made a "tent" for Micah's bed and painted stars, the moon, and a planet on the inside with glow-in-the-dark fabric paint. Micah seems pretty excited! I also got to slip away for an afternoon to get my hair chopped off, which I am super excited about. Micah and Dada finished off the weekend with a chess lesson. Micah had a good time and got really into it. Though I think Dada was just as excited to teach him ;) |
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April 2020
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