Encouraging Independence

Photo evidence of the consequences of encouraging independence in a two year old. With the potty training came dressing himself. Since he can reach his shirts and shorts, that means choosing what to dress himself in. And in an effort to also instill confidence, I rarely veto his choices. Which is how we ended up running errands looking like this...

Good thing he's handsome... ;)

Swing set

I realized I hadn't put up a pic of the finished(ish) swing set yet. We got the tarp made, still working on the most effective way to keep it secure. Josh got all the walls up. We're holding off on the toddler swing since Luca isn't interested in it anymore and it'll be a while before little sister needs it. And the rock wall rocks keep selling out on amazon before I buy them. So, for a while at least, it's done!

He's back to using the slide, and still thinks it's super awesome. So happy with it!

Update on Little Sister

She's been growing for 31 weeks now, hard to believe there's just a couple months left! We've ordered the crib and it should be here at the beginning of August. We moved the rocker out of Luca's room and into her's. The dresser is in the garage waiting for a coat of paint. Bought and installed a new ceiling fan (Thanks to Grammie and Poppie, and to Pa for helping with the install!) My little crafts are coming along too. Hopefully they'll be done soon, and hopefully she'll feel like cooking the whole 40 weeks instead of coming two weeks early like Luca. We got his crib assembled just the weekend before he came home!

So she probably weighs about 4 pounds, likes to stretch out completely so she hits both my pelvis and my ribs at the same time, and at every OB appointment they tell me she has a happy little heartbeat. We've already had the normal two ultrasounds, so the next time we see her will be on her birthday!

There has been some discussion (from family as much as from complete strangers) on if I look as pregnant as I am, or more or less. The random lady outside a store said I only looked 5 months,  but I feel bigger, but the scale says I've gained about the same or maybe a little less than this point with Luca. So, here's an easy comparison:

That's 30 weeks with Luca, and 31 with Little Sister. Granted, I am a full week further ahead in the recent pic, but I still think there's a pretty clear answer!

So, the dresser should be done in the next couple weeks, (depending on how good munchkin naps). Then we just have to get people out to help take it upstairs again. Then I can hang shelves and put away clothes. Still need to get the rest of the "den" stuff out of the closet. (I don't imagine little sister will be needing convenient access to a paper shredder as a new born...) Just gonna be waiting on that crib... Oh, and did I mention we ordered the crib from a store in Kalamazoo? It was almost $100 cheaper there, so once it comes in it depends on when my in-laws can pick it up and then deliver it here... Really hope she cooks the whole 40 weeks... ;)

Air Zoo

While we were in Michigan for the 4th, we decided to go to the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo. Luca and I had never been, and Josh hadn't been since they'd done some major renovations. So the three of us, plus Nate, Bryce, Ry and Poppie all went for a couple hours. It is an amazing place! The main part has a whole host of airplanes ranging from super old to current, all with signs explaining their significance. Had we not been there with a two year old, I would have learned a lot! ;)

Off to the side they had like carnival rides that the little boys could ride. And the big boys. And one the pregnant lady could. Well, not according to the sign, but I'm sure it was just for liability reasons. It was a Ferris wheel. Luca rode that one a couple times, a hot air balloon one like the swings at every state fairground, and one airplane one that was like the Dumbo ride at Disney.

He mumbled something about it being harder to get in than the GT40

There were also a bunch of things that he could sit in. The cockpit of a Blue Angels plane, a Fighter plane like from Top Gun, and a helicopter. Luca had fun playing with all the buttons in all of them.

There's a picture of little Josh in this one. He says it smelled the same

In a little room to the side was a Kid Zone, there were little rides like at the mall that you put fifty cents in, some crayons and tracing plates, and a whole bunch of toy flying machines. I think Buzz was even there. Luca enjoyed the rides but didn't pay any attention to the toys or crayons. It was kind of crowded in there and the rides were the only thing he was guaranteed to do by himself--I'm sure that had something to do with it.

I think the best part about that room was the mural on the wall. Most specifically, how they incorporated the fire alarms. Just clever, it was.

The front one is the actual panel. The side ones are... UFO weapons?

Then the back room was mostly space oriented, lots of stuff about astronauts and such. And at this point Luca had the camera. My little photographer in training!

All in all, a super entertaining way to spend an afternoon! And it's nice that it's something we can continue to go back to as Luca gets older. There are more intense simulator rides, and it would be nice to actually have time to learn about the planes!

Washing the car

Luca gets hot and wants to play in water. Understandable. However getting the pool out and filling it up and getting the toys and his suit and all is not always convenient. So one day while mom was watching Luca she asked if he wanted to wash her car.

He was good at using the hose to fill up the bucket and make tons of suds, but wasn't really interested in using the sponge. He grabbed a handful of bubbles and spread them on the car. Smeared them around a little, and grabbed some more bubbles. After some prompting, he decided to see how the sponge worked.

All was well until Mom got the hose to rinse off the car. For whatever reason (because normally he loves the hose) that was not okay. He screamed and cried until she was done, then he was more than willing to dump the bucket of suds. On the way back to my house, It was apparently exceedingly sunny because Luca needed two sets of sunglasses. Fun day at Oma's house!