A trip to the zoo

Before we left Boston, our good friends Sarah & Wendy gave us a fantastic going-away present: two tickets to the Milwaukee County Zoo! We had planned to use them last summer, but then we got to go to the zoo for Troy's company's annual picnic. But this weekend was the perfect time to go, as it was nice enough to be outside, and we really needed a cure for our winter cabin fever. So off we went!

We spent most of our time inside in the aviary, where there were lots of interesting birds ("boos!"), and ducks ("duh-duhs!")



We also spent a while in the ape house, where we saw gorillas:


And gibbons:


Simon enjoyed himself, though in the photos he looks very serious. Part of the issue was that in the ape house, when Simon was right up against the window looking at the Bonobos (there was a very little baby one!), one of the young ones got feisty. S/he charged right up to the window, banging in to it pretty hard and completely freaking Simon out. It didn't take too long to calm him down, and we went back to the window to make friends with the Bonobo, who was still sitting there.

Of course, one of Simon's favorite parts of the whole day was finding a little puddle outside and stomping in it. And also, the fruit in the cafeteria (grapes, watermelon and pineapple).


Thanks to our great friends for a wonderful gift!

Photos for Daddy

Early last week, Troy had to travel for work again. I usually try to take lots of photos on my phone to send to him while he's away, to show him what Simon's days were like. Here are some from last week. First up, breakfast:


Next, a happy moment with Mommy during Valentine's Day dinner:


But then, a sad moment after Mommy wouldn't let him play with buttons on the DVD player:


All in all, a representative sampling. He's usually pretty good and happy, but definitely has his "moments".

Pre-tubby silliness

Before his tubby, Simon really enjoys running around in his diaper for a while. It's usually pretty silly!

Pre-tubby silliness from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

Big vehicles

Simon really, really, really loves buses. And trucks. And cars, and pretty much any vehicle. On our drive in to daycare each morning, he always looks really hard for buses and trucks, and gets very exited if we see them. "Bus! BUS!!!"

Here he is playing with his bus and his bulldozer. He loves them both!

Big vehicles from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

Catching up / scrounging

Last weekend, we had a great time at Gilbert Lake. As it turns out, our camera is enjoying an extended vacation there. It's sitting there with lots of fun photos and videos, including some we took there and some we took during the week before that. But alas, we'll have to wait for a while to post them here.

So in the meantime, I've scrounged for some slightly older photos and some for our phones. :) We're also processing a few slightly older videos and will get those up soon. I'm also hoping for some photos from my parents' camera from the weekend at the lake, but they're on vacation right now so we'll have to wait for those too!

First, I went grocery shopping about an hour before the Superbowl last weekend when we got back from the lake. Sendik's was nearly empty, and they started giving away all of their green and gold balloons! We tied them to Simon's bus and he had a blast with them.

This is one taken in the car on our way to daycare last week. Daddy was out of town and requested some photos of his boy :)

Reading - he's more willing to "read" his books independently now:

And a bit of "quiet time" yesterday morning. He's fond now of asking to climb up on the couch when we are up there ("Up! Up!"), and then asking us to get off. ("Dow. DOW!")

Snow day(s)

We all stayed home on both Tuesday and Wednesday. We had a few inches of snow Tuesday morning (enough to make the morning commute a hassle), and the snowpocalypse was forecast to start on Tuesday afternoon/evening, so we decided to just not leave the house at all. It turned out that the storm didn't hit until really late on Tuesday, but we were glad to have stayed home anyway.

On Wednesday morning, it took Troy about an hour and a half to clear the driveway, even with a snowblower. It takes a while when the snow is higher than the mouth of the blower!

Simon enjoyed watching Daddy blowing the snow, and then playing outside. He also "helped" Daddy dig a path from our back door to the garage!

Snow day from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

Vital Stats Update

We had Simon's 18-month appointment yesterday, and had something confirmed that we already suspected based on how his clothes are fitting. He's gotten a lot taller! Creeping up the growth charts, now at 40th percentile for length. He's still at the 20th percentile for weight, but eats well and is doing great overall.

He's also moving up at daycare, where they are transitioning him to the toddler room. He could have probably moved there earlier, but he's kind of at an in-between age and things overall at daycare worked out better for him to be in the infant room for a while. But a few weeks ago, they moved him to the toddler room just for nap time, since he's the only one from the infant room who takes only one nap in the early afternoon. He sleeps on a cot and does really well with it! This week they have started keeping him down there for the rest of the afternoon, and it sounds like it's going great. The toddler room teacher, Lauren, says that he does as well or better at listening than the other kids in the room. But he does have some trouble sitting in his chair and staying there. If any of you know the story of Troy's first day of kindergarten, it'll be obvious where Simon gets that from. :)

He's also starting to, um, assert himself more. (Read: he's started throwing tantrums when he doesn't get his way.) We're trying to deal with it mainly by ignoring them, with varying degrees of success. Mostly we're learning how to try to avoid the tantrums using weapons of mass distraction.

Sorry for the picture-less post - more soon!