Thomas the Tank Engine

It started off as a casual interest when he received the beginnings of his Thomas the Tank Engine train set for Christmas however, over the months as his set and collection of engines has grown and as he watches the tales of Thomas on television, Simon's casual interest has turned into a full-blown obsession. He even foregos trips outside to play trains these days. He can name all of his engines and doesn't play favourites - each one gets their own opportunity to crash and lead all of the other engines through the quarry mine tunnel and around the track. The funniest thing is when watching the show, the play a sing-a-long song at the end and Simon is quite particular about who gets to sing along - namely, only him.

More Experimental Farm and a Picnic with Jack and Kate

Now that Matt is finished with the craziness of year-end, his focus has shifted to our massive basement renovation. Needless to say, Simon and I are on our own most weekend mornings. Today we were lucky to have some company in our adventures as Kate was also a work widow for the day. We met her and Jack at the Agricultural Museum to check out some animals and all of the new babies. Simon and Jack both have a very similar disposition so it's great to get them together. We spent the first little while in the barn with all of the sheep, goats, horses, cows, pigs, bunnies and a token donkey. Simon and Jack were both thrilled to get to pet one of the resident bunnies who was out of his cage being introduced to the youngsters. Simon was a bit hesitant about touching the bunny but he kept talking about the soft bunny for the rest of the day so I gather it was a highlight. Once we checked out the animals outside, we hit the play structure. We timed things perfectly because things were still relatively calm and uncrowed at this early morning hour. After a few hundred trips up the stairs and down the slide, we moved onto the cow barn where we could get up close and personal with the baby calves. Jack loved it and him and Simon both were imploring (i.e. shouting at) the sleeping calves to, "stand up". We stayed in there for about as long as I could take the smell and then headed back outside for a snack. Next we headed up to check out the tractor exhibit. I had never made it up there before but Simon obviously knew the way (he spends quite a bit of time here with his grandparents). Simon is obsessed with tractors (a.k.a "Dan") and points out anyting even closely resembling one in all of our travels. A few more trips down the slide and a quick trip through the now crowed barn concluded our visit. We capped off the rest of the morning with a picnic and then headed home for a much needed nap. It was a great activity for such a beautiful day.

Napping in His Big Boy Bed

This weekend marked the start of the transition for Simon into his new room and big boy bed. We've been reading a lot of books in there so he feels comfortable and we've cleared out most of the mess so we figured we would start with naps and she how that went. Today after reading a few stories, we left Simon with a few blankets and crossed our fingers for a successful nap. Matt and I sat in silence downstairs both afraid to comment on the quiet from upstairs. Two hours later Simon woke and summoned us upstairs. He was quite proud of himself that he napped in his "new bed" and made sure to let everyone know. Here's to hoping nighttime goes as well, we just have to fix the door first and put a gate at the top of the stairs before we're comfortable trying for a full night.

Toddler Conversations

Nanna B: "I think a little boy pooped"

Me: "Simon did you poop?"

Simon: "Nope"

Me: (checks diaper and confirms Simon isn't lying). "No he just farted"

Fast-forward 5 minutes after I put on his shoes to go home and noticed a funny smell.

Me: "Simon did you poop?"

Simon: "Nope Mommy, farted"

Note: This time he was totally lying.

Swinging

I caught this great sequence of Simon swinging at the park the other day. Simon loves the swings - particularly now that he thinks he is flying like the geese he has been admiring flying overhead in the past weeks. He always asks for a, "big push" and loves to go as high as we can get him.

Peanut, Peanut Butter...Jelly

Well it wasn't a PB&J but I finally took the plunge and gave Simon a peanut butter sandwich. Our pediatrician recommended waiting until 2 years of age and considering we waited that long, it was an effort to come up with a time to introduce it. I'm just happy that he seemed to like it since it allows for an easy protein source. We're still not out of the woods yet as I have read with food allergies, the second exposure is generally the more severe reaction - we were planning on doing that one right in the hospital parking lot but Matt and I are both pretty comfortable that that second exposure has already occured many times over considering all the peanuts that Simon has handled to feed the squirrels at Grandma and Poppa's.

Trampoline

For Simon's second birthday, we requested gift certificates from all his Aunts and Uncles so that we could buy a backyard trampoline. Simon loves to jump on the trampoline on gymnastics so we figured it would be perfect for this summer when we have the new baby who will be demanding a lot of attention. Picking up the trampoline felt like an episode of the Amazing Race. I had received the Canadian Tire flyer and noticed that they were having an awesome sale. It started on a Friday at 8:00am and thankfully coincided with one of my holiday days so I called Gramma to come over bright and early to hang out with Simon so I didn't have to try to wrangle a toddler and a trampoline. I arrived at the store at 7:55am and there was already a crowd gathering. I started to feel panic setting in when I thought everyone was there for the same purpose - thankfully, it seemed that most of the other people were there for one of their other bargains save one other person. When they opened the doors we both went on a frantic search for the coveted trampoline. Twenty minutes later, I walked triumphantly out with said trampoline. We had to put it in the garage for a few weeks when the backyard dried up and until we were sure winter was truly over (we often get snow into mid-April around these parts). Plus with all of the overtime Matt has been working, putting together a trampoline wasn't really a priority.

Matt and I finally found time this morning to put together the trampoline. Well to be honest, I mostly watched from the sidelines and critiqued the whole process (my specialty). Simon was antsy to get a turn on the trampoline but it wasn't ready until late in the day after his nap. His first time out on the trampoline definitely showed us that it was worthwhile putting up such a huge contraption that takes up a huge portion of our backyard. He was squealing in delight the whole time and made sure to call Mommy and Daddy in on the fun. Here's some shots of his first time out - thanks to all of his Aunts and Uncles for making it possible!

Go Pens Go!

With the home town team not making the playoffs, Simon broke out his Penguins gear to throw support behind this Daddy's favourite hockey team. Although he cried when Matt tried to put the jersey on him, he finally allowed me to get him dressed after a promise of going outside to play hockey. Simon was quite pleased once he noticed the hockey stick on the jersey and proudly pointed it out to whoever would listen. After a Penguins win, Matt has appointed Simon his team's good luck charm - at least this will make it nice and easy to dress Simon every other day for the remainder of the playoffs!

Easter Egg Hunt

Easter Sunday marked Simon's first official Easter Egg hunt. Matt (a.k.a the Easter Bunny) hid a whopping eight eggs in my parent's backyard and we went out to do the search an Easter breakfast. We were all incredibly greatful for the small scope of the egg hunt because it was absolutely freezing. It took a little promting, but Simon soon caught onto the concept and gleefully collected the sports themed Easter eggs. The hunt continued inside where we had hidden the rest of Simon's Easter surprises - Bertie the bus, a yellow school bus and some wooden play food for his kitchen. After cracking open the eggs, putting all of his stickers on Granddad and sampling a few of the Easter treats, it was back home for a nap and then off for the second celebration at Poppa and Grandma's. By this time, Simon had caught onto to the whole appeal of Easter eggs and figured out how to unwrap and eat the ones from Matt's parents. Simon definitely has the taste for chocolate now and has been asking for eggs quite a bit.

Sugar Shack and Soaking up the Sunshine

Last year's adventure to the sugar shack was a chilly affair. We were all bundled up beyond belief and it was way too cold for the sap to be flowing. This year was quite the opposite, with it being a bit too warm for ideal conditions. But it did allow for us to enjoy a few of the other things that the sugar shack had to offer.

After the third installation of the car seat, we were on our way to pick up Grandma and Poppa to join us for pancakes and lots of sugar. They were our secret decoys to keep Simon entertained in the car which they managed to do with an assortment of books and Poppa's fish hat. We got to our destination a few minutes after its' opening and as a result managed to avoid much of the crowds - 20 minutes after we got there, the line-up ran out the door and seating was a bit more scarce. Simon enjoyed having a maple syrup dip and managed to coat most of his front which was quite the feat considering he only ate about 4 bites of pancake and a sausage - mental note for next year, do not sit in the window overlooking the playground!

Once breakfast festivities were over, it was off to said playground to check out "Dan" (the tractor), the see-saw, the slide and the shovels. It took a while but Simon braved the crowds of pushy kids and made his way round the playground, only breaking to run out front to check out "Jasper" the dog (a well mannered installation who had parked himself in the sun on top of a picnic table). After a few trips between the playground and the dog, we picked up taffy on the snow and then decided to take one of the trails around to see what this maple syrup stuff was all able. Simon was not his typical slow self and had us through the trail in less than the recommended 15 minutes - obviously they were not measuring on toddler hyped up on sugar time!

After 20 minutes of running up and down a hill (and taking a few head first tumbles), a few more trips down the slide, a trip to the gift store to buy maple flavoured cotton candy (the main reason for our trip and was almost not possible because of a mix-up with cleaning the machine) petting the horses and of course the dog, it was time to head out. Simon was noticeable grimy and tired and happy to have spent the morning outside leading his Poppa here there and everywhere.

Simon almost passed out in the car on the way home but soon discovered that it was funnier to pretend to sleep. After dropping off Poppa and Grandma, we spent the rest of the morning/early afternoon outside, eating lunch, raking the grass, rediscovering outdoor toys until naptime. It is so nice to be able to enjoy the outdoors again.