An unfortunate trip to the emergency room for Daddy early Wednesday morning resulted in some bonus family time this week as Daddy stayed home a few days to recover. On Thursday we went to Goucher for Dinosaurs: Art OnStage. Isaac loved all of the prehistoric puppets and music, sitting mesmerized in Mommy's lap for the hour-long "adventure". Isaac wore his "T is for Triceratops" sweatshirt for the occasion.
Later that night we were getting ready to head out for a family dinner to East Moon Asian Bistro to use a Groupon. Isaac decided this would be a good time to test out his dancing-on-a-bed skills and, almost as if he were reenacting "5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed", fell and bumped his head on our headboard, resulting in some heavy tears and a quickly-appearing welt on his forehead. After drying tears and calming our little daredevil (and consulting the pediatrician...#firsttimeparents), we headed out for what turned out to be a very delicious dinner. Isaac enjoyed trying our lemongrass hot & sour soup, panang curry, and sriracha beef. Thanks to our very friendly waitress, Isaac also got to try his first ever fortune cookie.
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| Isaac's 1st Fortune Cookie |
On Friday we were able to give Aunt Margie the day off with Daddy staying home with Isaac while Mommy went to work. They had a great guys' day walking the BWI trail and seeing the horses, planes flying overhead, and the pair of emus at the bottom of the hill. Isaac was quite fascinated with the emus.
Saturday was the most fun of all as we got to go to a birthday party at Clark's Elioak Farm. Isaac loved petting all of the animals and catching up with his pal Jarrett (and hitching a ride in his wagon!). He got to pet goats, a sheep, and a bunny rabbit. He also got to see calves, a donkey, emu, and a turkey. He went on another pony ride, this time with Rascal, followed by another hay-free hayride. He also got to choose a pumpkin from the staged pumpkin patch. Isaac had an awesome time and was very sad to leave. (If you haven't walked through a parking lot carrying two cupcakes, a pumpkin, and a fussy toddler, then you haven't lived!)
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| off for a farm adventure! |
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| Isaac saw Jarrett crawling and decided to join him on all fours |
Hitching a ride on Jarrett's cool wagon:
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| "Hey man! How have you been?" |
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| "Do you see that crazy turkey back there?" |
Fun with animals:
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| gentle pats for the bunny |
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| He would have absolutely climbed in with the cows if I would have let him |
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| Moooo! |
Catching up with Jarrett by the goats:
Then there were the playhouses. Isaac loved stomping around inside this cute purple house, peaking outside the windows, and opening and closing the door with Liv and Freya. (We're now working on plans for a playhouse for Isaac's play area come springtime/2nd birthday.)
Then he discovered this cool playhouse with a piano in it! He went in and sat on a hay bale at the end of the piano, playing much gentler and nicer than he does at home. Some little girls came in and joined him, and then one of the girls came out and asked Mommy if she could make Isaac leave because she just didn't want him in there. Mommy very calmly defended her son, and explained that Isaac was there first but he was happy to share the space with her!
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| Can't wait to get home and show Daddy my pumpkin! |
After the birthday party, our plan was to head to Kelly & Steve's housewarming party once Daddy got home from his workshop and Isaac woke up from his nap. However, all of that farm fun really wore Isaac out and he just couldn't be bothered to wake up, so Mommy went by herself for a bit with the fun housewarming basket she made for the new homeowners.
This week Isaac seemed to officially shift to one nap a day. This allowed him to make it to church on Sunday without conflicting with naptime. Isaac was very content to sit on Ms. Barb's lap and point out things he found interesting. And now that Mommy has her mentee, Richard, playing some of the music during mass, Mommy was able to sit in the pew with Isaac for quite a bit as well, which was nice. He clapped after every song as if he were at a concert.
After church, Mommom & CharliePop came by for a visit and read Curious George Pat-a-Cake and tested out which walking stick he'd use for his Halloween costume. We even got him to say "hobbit"!
The rest of our Sunday was very productive, thanks to Isaac's 3.5+ hour nap! We did a lot of cleaning and organizing, and Daddy even made Isaac a learning tower so he can participate in all sorts of counter-height activities in the kitchen. Isaac loves it and we're very excited about all the fun we'll be able to have with it.
Isaac has been giving us a crash course in toddler mood swings this week. He has gone from belly laughs, to frustrated screaming, to super sweet cuddles, and back again. Phew!
We did a deep clean of Mommy's old stuffed monkeys and bears from Mommom & CharliePop's basement and shared them with Isaac. Mommy's childhood favorite, Marvin the Monkey, was of interest to Isaac. He kept giving him kisses and then gave him an interesting inspection, which we caught the tail-end of on video, HERE.
Isaac is showing more interest in "helping" with housecleaning. Here he is wiping down our cabinets. Shortly after this shot, he tried to eat the rag. He cried bloody murder when Mommy took it away, mouth wide open in a pitiful frown, with real tears streaming down his cheeks. Seconds later, the door creaked open, and Isaac perked up, stood, and sweetly and innocently said, "Dadda?" as he walked to the door to great Daddy coming home from work as if nothing at all were the matter. #toddlers
morning snuggle fun:
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| "Mommm, do we have to do a selfie right now?" |
We take the dogs' collars off at night because when they shake in the middle of the night it drives Mommy crazy. Isaac found Allie's collar on the headboard, so we put it on Isaac for fun. Turns out Isaac's neck is the same size as an 11-pound dachshund.
Earlier this week, he was very proud of himself for working on his "fork skills". Here's a VIDEO.
working on his first pumpkin still life:
In our last entry we mentioned how Isaac has been sharing his snacks with the dogs. Here is a VIDEO of him "sharing" his cracker with Allie through the screen door.
Here are some videos of Isaac running through the leaves. We realize that only our diehard Isaac fans will appreciate the fact that we couldn't decide which of these clips was "the best", so we added all of them: Leaves 1, Leaves 2, and Leaves 3!
Here's a VIDEO of Isaac at play, checking out the monkeys, and struggling to climb up on his new "stage".
And here's a family shot from Aunt Karen's wedding last week:
