The Aquarium & Other Adventures (during Isaac's last few days as a 1-year-old)

We had a fun family outing to the aquarium today, thanks to some free passes Daddy got from work.  Isaac loved taking in all of the sights on the walk to and from the aquarium, pointing out all of the helicopters, "big buildings", and birds.  We stopped at Pierce's Park on our way, and Isaac had so much fun exploring the different structures and the the living willow tunnel.  

At the aquarium, Isaac just took it all in, with a very focused look on his face, sucking in his top lip when he was extra mesmerized.  Just like his last visit last winter, his favorite seemed to be the jellyfish.  He even to got to "pet" a moon jellyfish. Brave boy!

Oooh! Jellyfish!

   

just reading up on sharks

petting a jellyfish!

We tried in quite a few locations to get a decent family selfie.  We did get one cute one with everyone smiling and looking, but as you can see it's pretty dark and hard to see.

Then we tried in a spot with better lighting, and wound up with this unfortunate but hilarious sequence of pictures, with poor Daddy getting his eye pierced (and his contacts knocked out, resulting in a blind, emergency run to the bathroom to get his eyes back in order!).

I guess my ponytail was in the way...

As a special treat, we grabbed some carryout from Shake Shack for dinner. On our walk to find a place to sit and eat, we munched on some of our fries, with Isaac asking, "more. french fries. pease?" (We've been working on "asking nicely" instead of just screaming for what he wants. It's funny when he manages to do this without any issue!)

 Over the weekend, Daddy and Isaac had an adventure at the playground at Linthicum Elementary.  Isaac had a lot of fun "driving" Daddy in the big truck.

We've had lots of nice weather giving us a lot of opportunities to spend time outside.  Isaac was really happy when Mommy uncovered the deck furniture and brought out the hammock. He has a interesting way of "relaxing" on it. 

enjoying a hammock snack

happy to hang out with Debbie!

Just enjoying a snack of frozen veggies while Daddy pushes him around the yard. What a life!

Isaac is becoming more and more curious. His climbing skills are getting even craftier, and he must have sprouted up a few more inches because he's been able to reach and get into a lot more lately, helping himself to quite a few snacks, making a mess in the process!

He got up here (and back down again) all on his own.

He helped himself to these snacks

...and these too!

 Yep...this was fun...

at least he's trying to clean up!

And of course we've enjoyed our regular outings as well. For our Mommy-son breakfast outing last week we checked out a new place: Grumps Cafe in Crofton. If any of our readers are looking for a cheap, family friendly place, check it out if you're ever in the area! Isaac DEVOURED the "ones" meal off of the kids menu: a buckwheat pancake shaped like Mickey, scrambled eggs, and a strip of bacon...all for $3.99! 

Then we ran some birthday errands before checking out Toddler Time at a new location. We are used to a max of 8 other kids at our library programs at the Linthicum branch, so we were both quite surprised to be surrounded by over 30 toddlers and their moms at the Severna Park location! At first Isaac was a little timid, gluing himself to Mommy's lap. But then he quickly warmed up, happily participating in the songs and dances...stomping his feet, doing the hokey pokey, and doing Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes. For one of the body parts games, Isaac kept running over to one of the other moms, "informing" her of what each body part was, looking at her with big, know-it-all eyes, and adamantly nodding his head as he insisted, "arm. arm", then running back to tell her, "leg, "leg." He did this quite a few times until the mom finally started looking around, seemingly trying to find where this kids' mother was!

We also enjoyed a last minute dinner at Willy's with Mommom one night.  You may have noticed a nasty scratch on Isaac's cheek in some of these pictures.  We had a mishap with the carseat on our way to Willy's.  Mommy wasn't quite used to the carseat in Mommom's car, and as she struggled to raise the tight chestclip to armpit level, her thumb flew up and scratched Isaac on the face. I'm pretty sure I cried more than Isaac did. Sorry little guy!! :(

Isaac is getting better at being gentle with the dogs and the dogs seem to be trusting him more lately (or maybe it's because they've learned he'll "share" his snacks if they're lucky), sometimes even rolling over for belly rubs.  We've had a good deal of cuddling together watching Baby Bum or Sesame Street.

We've been preparing Isaac for his big 2nd birthday this weekend.  When asked how old he's going to be, he answers with an excited, "Twoooo!" and when asked what kind of party he's having he says, "bunny birthday!" and he has even wished himself an early birthday, saying "Happy birthday, Acky!" 

As we're getting ready to hit 2, Isaac has really upped his language skills.  He surprises us with some of the stuff he comes up with, especially when it comes to his favorites.  He requests to wear his "tractor shirt" and refers to his minion toothbrush as "big eyes".  It's unclear if he's actually recognizing many letters yet or if he's just repeating what he hears, but he will repeat all of the letters of the alphabet..and asks to do it again. And again! He's got a very extensive food vocabulary and in addition to saying "more" and "please" when using these food words, he also specifies things like cold, hot, big, and even what form he wants his cheese to be in: "string cheese" vs. "slice cheese" and whether he wants a bagel with cream cheese or coconut oil.  He also often asks to "play outside" and he knows where to go when we tell him which door we're leaving from, whether it's the "side door", "front door", "back door" or "basement".  He recognizes where people live and knows as he announces their name as we pull onto their street or driveway: Margie, Mom-mom-mom and Tony, Mommom and CharliePop, and Sandy.