Two Cute Boys

Michael:

went to the Zoo with us on Saturday and it was such nice weather. We had fun being there all together, and hearing Bennett call all of the animals "Kitty!" That little boy loves animals. Michael has also been taking good care of the ducks and chickens that are still living in the backyard. He's not even afraid of picking them up... I don't pick up chickens. But one of them (Peaches, if you want to get personal) seems to think it's a puppy. She can tell Michael's a softy.

Maddie:

took Westin to toddler time at the Zoo on Tuesday, and to a pumpkin patch playgroup on Friday. We had so much fun meeting up with friends, and the pumpkin patch was really cute. There were different centers for the kids including a mini corn maze, corn pit, story time, "spooky" walk, pumpkin picking, tractor wheel climbing... they loved it! Westin was so happy to see his friend Sam. Westin and I made cookies with duck eggs this week because they're supposed to be great to bake with. They were delicious! But I haven't made cookies in so long, so that's probably a factor here. 

Westin:

really loved his pumpkin patch playgroup and it made me excited for when Bennett drops his morning nap and we can make it to more of those things. He is so funny with these ducks and chickens and loves when we put them in their kennels at night. He just runs around acting like a duck and laughing. He had his worst public meltdown to date yet at a park this week. He had suddenly mastered slides the week before then did some majorly dramatic regression that was decided when at the top of a tall playground, and it turned into a big ordeal. Wouldn't slide. Wouldn't go back down the stairs. Wouldn't come with me when I'd try to go get him. So much screaming.... the worst. Learning and responding correctly to your kids strengths and weaknesses and needs and love language and triggers and responses and thought processes and just all the things is such a job. 

Favorite Westinisms right now:

"I need a hug and two kisses. Maybe two hugs and two kisses."

Picking up on ANY labeled words I use on the phone... "What's sad? What's funny? What's crazy??"

Calling the pumpkin patch a "pumpkin park".

"Maybe so, I mean, if you want to" to the majority of questions he's asked.

Anytime Michael holds him at the same time as Bennett: "Be careful with Mama's two cute boys."

Bennett:

has "mama" and "kitty" down but no other words yet. Michael's working hard to get "dada" in there, and I'm trying to teach him lots of signs before the screaming phase hits. I just shuddered thinking about the screaming phase... please (rubbing stomach) don't come, all done (turns palms) with that already. Worst phase. Bennett's crawl is the cutest thing to me, he's my first kid to really crawl. Westin took a while to get there, did it for a tiny bit, then walked. Crawling has also brought on an opinionated side of Bennett though, so we're getting used to that. Opinionated is a positive spin on fussy and whiny, because I don't want to just call him out like that since he's such a sweetie. But I guess I just did. He's over the baby toys and into bigger and better things these days (looking at you, Westin's dump truck) and Westin is getting bugged that his "trades" aren't always easily accepted anymore. Even though I'm not looking forward to adding referee to my list of mom duties, I do like getting to know Bennett more and more as he grows.

Hay ride with my guys.

Still in his "magnetic monkey" stage.

Chicken watching.

This pacing cheetah made me seriously miss the Indianapolis Zoo and the tiger who would always do that.

Story time at the pumpkin patch.

Bennett was an angel during our 90 minute pumpkin patch experience -- happy in the stroller the whole time,
never needed a thing. He's so happy to go with the flow.

Pancake morning! Westin likes being in charge of the chocolate chips.
Many are sampled before added to the pancakes.

Found them in the same position. Michael falls asleep so fast at nights. He's works so hard and plays so hard.

Tired morning faces out to take care of the chickens. Bennett still LOVES the Ergo.
I used wraps and carriers so much more with him than I did with Westin.

Little stinker woke up early enough to see daddy getting ready before work and got excited when he figured that out.

Kangaroo day at the Zoo's toddler time.
When we saw them I asked Westin what they were called to see if he'd been paying attention (we've never really covered kangaroos much in all of our animal time) and he said "a marsupial!" 

This kid loves pom poms. Sometimes he just wants to do this instead of a new school activity so we just go with the flow.
I love that we can stretch out our curriculum like that, it's so flexible.

New haircut! He looked in the mirror after and said, "Wow! I look like Bishop!"
Our bishop's hair doesn't look like this but he seemed pretty pleased about it so I went with it.

Cute sleeping ducks. They are BFFs.