I kept putting off this post so I could get a picture from my mom (she takes all of Cal's month pictures when she watches him), but the beginning of the school year has made me both busy and forgetful. You will have to make do with this shot taken during his appointment. He loves that damn crinkly paper!
The stats:
Weight: 22 pounds (70-something percentile)
Height: 30.5 inches (>97th percentile)
Clothing size: 12 months mostly fits, he swims in 18 month
He also got the first dose of his flu shot. With Billy and I both working in germ incubators, plus Cal going to daycare twice a week we figured that we need all the help we can get!
When Billy and I are both home in the morning, one of us gets up with Cal while the other gets a few more precious moments of sleep. We then bring the freshly diapered babe up to wake the other up. Because of this, Cal has started to think that Billy is upstairs whenever he can't see him (like when he is at work).
I was cleaning up toys the other day when I heard Cal say "Da da da da da" and then the squeak of the bedroom door opening. Because we have stairs that go up to our room, I ran over to see this:
And then this:
And pretty soon it was like this:
I am in trouble. So much trouble.
We celebrated his new skill with some gnocchi (thanks to a GFF mom for the idea - I never would have thought of it!) It was a hit, even if it was messy.
I love Groupon. Of course my bank account does not, but I do and try lots of new things because of it. Yoga? Sure (and I love it!). Bootcamp? Why Not? Bread? Spices? Bring it on!
I jumped at the chance to buy a Groupon for Gymboree. It seemed like something fun for my very active boy. Because I taught summer school, I put off using this Groupon until the very last day. Turned out well...August had 5 Mondays, so I got 5 classes; it lasted until my very last day of summer and there was a summer special that allowed to you to attend unlimited classes for the month - BONUS!
We went every Monday for our regular class and dropped into a few Open Gyms and other classes. Daddy evem came with us once, It was a lot of fun and I saw a lot of growth in Cal's gross motor skills. I loves crawling through the tunnels and up the ramps - he would chase a ball anywhere!
I wish I could say that we were continuing, but I just can't justify the cost. $60 a month is a lot, especially when I am limited to evening only classes.
The zoo has a secondary exhibit called Dinosauria. It costs an extra $4 a person, but I thought Cal might enjoy it because the "animals" were up close and not hiding in their dens. Best money we spent all day. The exhibit is set along a half mile path through the woods with the dinos set back among the trees. They are animatronic so they move and growl and hiss. Cal was a big fan of this. He liked to yell back.
I really hope they have this exhibit again when he is older. At the end there is an activity area where kids can hunt for fossils that looks like fun.
The Pros: The shady location and the mist make this a great stop on a hot day. The dinos are close to the path and move, so it is much more interactive and interesting than some of the other animal exhibits. There are neat info cards by each dino that give a phonetic spelling of their name and some other information (carnivore or herbivore, weight, habitat, etc).
The Cons: It costs extra, which can get expensive on top of zoo admission. A few of the exhibits are graphic (dino eating another dino, dead dino with blood coming out of his mouth and nose) which could be tough for some kids. They force you through the gift shop at the end, which made no difference to us now, but I am sure that an older kid would really want an expensive toy.
Billy kept asking what I wanted to do for my 30th birthday and was a little surprised that I chose the zoo. We hadn't been (and I felt like a bad mommy for that) and summer was rapidly coming to a close. It was a perfect day, not too hot or cold. Cal did pretty well. Here he is enjoying the reptile house:
The nice weather meant quite a few of the animals were out and active.
Some were more active than others! (Yes, those are humping kangaroos!)
Cal fell asleep somewhere between the Outback and the Arctic. He also missed the penguins, but that's okay. We enjoyed it so much that there is a zoo membership in our future!
