Gram-o-meters

Soon, mommy will be departing to spend two months in France, so there won't be much for me to report (apart from perhaps our Skype convos lol), but I will be thinking of you all the time and wishing you would be with me...hopefully in a few years you can :)

Meanwhile, I had to be sure to write down one of your expressions that I find so cute: 'gram-o-meters'.  This is a measure that you came up with for height.  For example, you tell us things like, "Baby cat is 6 gram-o-meters and her sister is 8 gram-o-meters" lol.

You are absolutely amazing at math, honestly.  Not only that, you love doing it and request it.  We practice adding and subtracting, and a little bit of multiplication (10's).  You can handle pretty big numbers and don't even need to use your hands for the most part.

Recently, we went to Nana Linda's for Father's day weekend (and for mommy to visit before leaving to France).  A few days prior to going there, mommy bought you an inflatable pool, which you really enjoy a lot.  We took it to Nana's and you played in it quite a bit; we left it there so that you can play in it more when you return next week.  You're going to spend some time at Nana's, then some time at Grandma Judy's, so that daddy can have some time to get work done on his dissertation.
While at Nana's this last time, you made drawings for daddy and Pa-Pa Junior, which they of course really liked for Father's day.  You showed off your reading skills when Aunt Lenora, Uncle Bill, and Uncle Larry came to visit for a while (I took a couple of videos and posted them to Facebook).  Our favorite moment was when Uncle Bill was joking around about birthdays and remarked, "Oh, I've had too many birthdays now, I don't even know how to count anymore."  You piped up immediately in response, "I know how, I'll teach you!" LOL!

Fauxhawks--not sure if mommy has already mentioned this one...it's the name of your imaginary store.  The store seems to sell everything, is close by, and never closes.  Quite convenient!  They even sell "mommy magic potion", which is now the cure for any injury you get (is pretty much a daily occurrence with you running around all the time).

And last, I will add the Facebook post that daddy put up tonight about you, which everyone loves:

Avery is playfully repeating everything I say. To mess with him, I said, "The square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides."

He replied, "This is a square that doesn't care about the other two squares."

Love always, mommy

Plane ride and other tidbits

The month of May is zooming by just as fast as April did, I swear.  Didn't even get around to writing about your first plane ride yet, so here we go!
The day after the last entry, we flew home from Portland.  In the morning, we headed to the airport and met up with mommy's friend Erica (to whom the car we were driving belongs).  She and her son Kai (who is nearly the same age as you--9 months older) were there to meet us.  We all had an awesome lunch together at Beaches, a restaurant that is available to everyone before passing to security.  Erica treated us and even gave us some cool 'parting' presents--a bag of cooking related stuff for mommy and a wooden train whistle for you (which you ADORE).  We then headed to our gate, where we found an indoor playground area in the middle of the waiting area--wow!  You were upset, though, because the plane was on-time and thus you didn't get much play time before our boarding was announced.
When we got on the plane, that changed instantly, as the hostesses handed you a 'junior aviator' flight book and invited you to go visit the pilots in the cockpit.  Mommy was excited, too, as I've never even got to do such a thing!  We took your picture, with you sitting in the co-pilot's chair :D  You were elated, of course.  We then found our seats and settled in for the flight.  It was a great experience and you can hardly wait to do it again.  You asked me only days later how many days it was until the next flight lol.

Apart from that, we've gotten back to skating every week (except this one, as the weather was nicer and we did other things instead).  We still read every night before bed, which you love to do; you are an amazing reader, especially for your age (and it's not just mommy saying so--many people have remarked about this, including those who watch you at the Kids Zone).  One night, we were reading a story about the 'early worm'.  It described that he lived underground, in the dirt.  I asked you (somewhat jokingly) if you would like to live in the dirt.  You thought about it for a moment and replied, "Well, only if it was a big hole and we had a long ladder!"  LOL!  So smart :)

We're also back to cooking, finally.  Mommy's schedule is calming down a bit with the end of school year, yay!  Speaking of mommies, my mommy (Nana Linda) came to visit for the week after we came back from our vacation.  She and Papa Junior helped out with some house stuff as a gift to mommy for mother's day.  We all celebrated together a lot on the weekend of mother's day: Friday evening, we made steaks.  Saturday we had lunch at L'Eiffel Bistrot (where you had the biggest cone of fries ever lol), then did a little shopping (you went to Cabela's with daddy and Papa and explored every tent they had!), and in the evening, made a special dinner at home.  The following morning (on actual mother's day), we went to Mapleberry for breakfast before Nana and Papa had to leave to go back home.  We had a lazy afternoon, then went out to dinner at The Cellar Bistro (mommy's choice), where you gave me a beautiful card that you made a drawing inside. <3  Best mother's day weekend yet as a mommy!

I also need to mention that you are really great at math, too.  You can do addition--not just memorized ones, but also in your head--and subtraction rather well.  On the minus side, I haven't done nearly as much French with you as I'd hoped to do by this point.  Let's see if we can change that soon...
Love you lots, mommy.

First road trip! Days 2-5

I had wanted to write this each night as we went along, but a few factors kept me from doing so.  I'll explain as I go along...

Tuesday (Day 2): I had to laugh last night when you finally fell asleep--you had your legs draped off of the side of the bed!  I scooted you back up on to the bed and thankfully you stayed asleep :)
As I explained in yesterday's entry, we had to change the original plan due to an impending snowstorm in South Dakota.  Thus, we departed from Sioux City and made our way through the upper part of SD, crossing into North Dakota's southwestern tip, before finishing out in Montana.  It was cloudy all day long and rather chilly.  About halfway into the ND part, the rain started having snow mixed in sometimes.  Across Montana, sometimes the flakes were really big and the wind seemed to be blowing them straight across the foothills and badlands.  Our hotel in Miles City was quite nice, apart from a couple of minor things.  One was that the pool was a few degrees too cool to be really comfortable.  We were only in for a few minutes before we decided to go to the hot tub instead.  You were very unsure about the spa for a long time, but once you got in (only sitting at the edge and then walking around the top step) you loved it.  Back in the room, we ordered some Chinese food delivery and mommy had to help a student online for a bit...until the Internet/wi-fi went down.  And didn't come back on for the rest of the evening.  Thus, no chance for writing the blog that night.

Wednesday (Day 3):  The weather today started off nearly the same as the day before and stayed that way for most of the time.  We had pizza lunch at MacKenzie River Pizza Co. in Bozeman, which you enjoyed as much as us, I think.  We saved our leftovers to have as dinner in the hotel later.  Mommy didn't enjoy driving the mountain passes when it was raining; thankfully, you were just happy in the backseat.  Daddy rode there with you for most of the trip.  Although you napped some, it wasn't enough.  We decided on going all the way to Spokane so that we could make the best of the last two days that looked like they were going to be nicer weather.  At the hotel, we had a much better experience with the pool and spa.  You were very brave in the water this time and did a great job of kicking your legs around, playing with mommy and daddy, and even floating with assistance.  Again, you only put your legs in the hot tub, enjoyed it quite a bit.  We left once a lot more people started arriving to give them a turn.  Back in the room, your lack of sleep made you a bit crabby and restless.  We watched part of Star Wars: Episode VII and you imitated BB-8 every time he made sounds lol.  You fell asleep right between mommy and daddy.

Thursday (Day 4):  First thing to start the beautiful sunny day was a stop by a park mommy spotted on the drive to the hotel.  You had a great time playing around and were very nice to a little 2 year old girl that came to play there, too.  We then went to Leavenworth, which is a cute touristy town that is modeled to be like a German alpine village.  We had lunch at a Mongolian grill place, then walked around the town and in a few shops.  Our favorite was the gingerbread house shop/bakery.  You got a gingerbread dinosaur and loved it (of course).  After that, we continued on to Snoqualmie Falls.  This was a massive, thunderous waterfall!  We did some hiking on a nice trail there, then returned to the town of Snoqualmie to admire the collection of old railroad cars and engines as part of a city trail.  Very cool!
We drove from there to Poulsbo to stay the night.  It was a bit late when we arrived and we were all tired, especially you.  You were very fussy, cried a lot over silly things that you normally would not have.  We tried to watch more of the movie while we had some Domino's pizza, but this was too difficult because of your fussiness.  Mommy ended up getting you calmed down and ready for sleep time by reading a book with you (we have read every night of the trip, I think).

Friday (Day 5):  This morning, your phone alarm went off at 8:17am.  You slept through it, but mommy and daddy did not.  No worries, though, as we intended to get up around then anyhow.  Mommy and daddy took a shower while you continued sleeping; you woke up as we were getting dressed.  You got dressed and joined us to go have breakfast, which was again a waffle for you and mommy (it has been every day except one, and we have been the last to get a waffle nearly every time).  We then headed into the town of Poulsbo to explore.  We got some treats (pastries and chocolates), then walked along a boardwalk path on the bay.  Despite the forecast for rain showers off and on through the day, we only had rain when we left from Poulsbo and crossed a huge bridge over the bay.
Our next stop was Port Angeles for lunch; we went to a Chinese place that was really great.  We saw a really big ship in the port as we left and headed to the rainforest in Olympic National Park.  you have been wanting to get to this rainforest ever since I showed you a picture on the evening of Day 3.  Yesterday, you kept trying to get us to go there "right now", even though we kept explaining that it was for the next day and that we were on the wrong side of the state lol.  En route, mommy accidentally went too fast after we stopped for gas in the small town of Forks and got stopped by the police.  Thankfully, the officer seemed to recognize that I really had no idea I was going 40 in a 30 and let me off with a warning (whew!).  I think this was also good for you to see, as you were trying to understand what was going on.  After this, we finally made it to the Hoh Rainforest.  It was really amazing to hike in, especially on such a gorgeous day, and to celebrate Arbor day!  You loved it--we took oodles of pictures, many at your request with you making goofy faces.
After leaving there, we spotted the ocean as the drive lead along the coast and decided to take a short hike to go down and see the ocean.  You were a great hiker once again and we took a bunch of pix at the beach, too.
Finally, we piled back in the car to finish driving to the hotel, where we are now.  Unfortunately, you did not nap at all today and became very fussy upon arriving.  Daddy had to take you for a walk outside to get you to quit wailing.  We just snacked for dinner and you are now passed out on the bed.
Am looking forward to our plane ride tomorrow, but also a bit sad that our little vacay is coming to an end.  Can't wait for the next one with you :)  Love always, mommy.

First big road trip! Day 1

It finally arrived--the departure day of our big road trip as a family!  We started out from our house around 10am.  We stopped once for uncle Kevin to have a bathroom break, then stopped for lunch in Bloomington, IL.  We got gas here as well, and you got very upset (like meltdown level upset) because you wanted to use the gas station bathroom instead of the food place's one (we went to Fazoli's).  After much fussing and the incentive of a big cookie, you finally got calm and enjoyed lunch with us.
We then hit the road again and made it all the way to Macon, MO at 4:30pm, where we met up with Nana Linda and Papa Junior to drop off Kevin so he could go visit them and his friends.
We continued on and stopped again in Chillicothe, MO for an afternoon treat at Dairy Queen.  You got a hot fudge sundae and loved it (of course).
We ended up in Sioux City, IA to stay the night at the Howard Johnson here.  It's a hotel that is under renovation right now, but the room seems pretty good.  We've been watching Animaniacs on the TV thanks to the Netflix on Roku (installed on the TV).  Nice!
Originally, we planned to go see Mt Rushmore tomorrow, but there's going to be a snowstorm there!  Thus, plans are changed and we're going to take a more northern route to be sure to avoid the storm,   We'll be in Miles City, MT tomorrow night :)  Love you and very happy to be doing this trip with you!

Sign language and math skills

Today mommy didn't have to work so much, thus we got the chance to hang out as a family, yay!  After I came home, we all went to the library, as they were having a little celebration of national library week.  There was cake, water, butter cookies, popcorn, a guessing contest, balloons, and 'tattoos' (the paste-on kind, of course).  We checked out some new library books, too.
After we left the library, we went to Olive Garden for lunch.  You ate lots of salad, as usual.  While we were having lunch, you learned some signs (in sign language); you had asked me about them the other day, so I thought it was a good time to learn them.  You've always known the sign for "more", thanks to Nana Linda.  Now you know a whole bunch more!  We will keep practicing them each day, so we can surprise her with how many you know the next time we see her.
Right now, you are sitting on the couch with mommy, working on your FIRST GRADE workbook (at 4 1/2 years old)!  You're doing a wonderful job, too.  You know how to add and subtract pretty well already; we practice in the car and at home, out loud and with flashcards.  Now you are starting to write with lower case letters as well as upper case.
The weather was absolutely beautiful today.  You and daddy went on a long walk to 7-11 and to a park while mommy was at work.  We went to Costco to get a couple of things after lunch, then came home and worked outside in the yard.  You got a couple of owies doing this, none that are serious, though :)  Love you lots!

Easter and stories

Yes, the whole month of March got away from me, which tells you that we were busy!  The biggest event of March was that we went to Nana's for Easter at the end of it.  We spent the weekend there, of course, and we made and egg hunt for you on Saturday because the weather was forecast to be colder and rainy on Sunday (Easter)--which it was.  You love doing the egg hunt in Nana's yard; there are always a couple of eggs that you have trouble finding lol.
In the afternoon, we went to Bennett Spring State Park, not too far from Nana's house.  There, we all fed the fish together and went for a short hike.  During the hike, you slipped on some loose rocks on the trail; mommy tried to catch you (and broke the screen of her cell phone doing so), but ultimately daddy caught you as you tumbled onto some branches at the side of the stream.  This scared you, you cried for a bit, but you were not injured, thankfully.  After you calmed down, we continued the hike and saw a huge snake at one point (on some branches above the water, not on the trail), then we made a loop all the way back to the car.  You are quite the hiker already; can't wait to do longer hikes with you when you are a bit older :)
Easter morning, you eventually found the basket the Easter bunny left for you and enjoyed it very much.  We spent the day inside since it was not nice weather.  Mommy and Nana made a big meal that was fantastic (you did not eat any of it, though).  It was a great visit.

Your new thing lately is to tell us long stories (and read long ones, too).  The funniest and cutest thing about it is that you will tell us how many pages the story has, and you even announce the pages as you tell the story.  Absolutely adorable!

We went skating again a couple of days ago (you and mommy); we hadn't been for a few months due to my schedule, so it took you a couple of times around to get used to the sensation again and remember how to balance yourself.  I'm hoping that my schedule will stay better and that we can get back to going every week like we were before.

Last, we are very excited about a trip we are going to do as a family at the end of the month--your first long road trip out west, and fly back home in an airplane!  Two big firsts for you.  I hope you will remember them, but in case you don't, I will be sure to blog here about it.  I love you so much, little guy.  Big kisses.

More imagination at work

Your imaginary friends world has expanded now.  Not only is there a cat, but now the cat has a mama cat and a baby cat, and you have also told us that you have a sister named Avery and a brother, also named Avery. LOL!  You now will sometimes make a comment, to which I will reply, and you tell me, "Oh, mommy, I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to my sister (or other imaginary)."  So cute.

In other news, you still love to cook with me and help me clean, but your attitude sure needs help at other times.  We're working on it, of course.

And oh how you get to laughing sometimes.  Tonight we were playing around and you grabbed my hand.  I put it over your mouth and you blew some air, which resulted in a farting noise.  This was the funniest thing ever, so, naturally, you had to do it over and over again.  You exclaimed, "I'm making toot sounds!" and giggled wildly.

Also tonight, when we read "House Mouse Friends" at bedtime, you decided to read the words in backwards order in the sentences, silly boy.  This was the first time for that move.  Love you lots and lots, crazy kiddo :)