Parks, Butterflies, and Flowers - Oh My!

Sam cut his upper left molar last week. We could tell that it happened before we even looked in his mouth based on how well he slept through the night. Since he was feeling so much better, I picked him early from day care on Friday to take him to the park. We went to Celebration Park in Allen. There was a group of little kids age 18mos to 4yr playing on this climbing wall. Sam saw them and pulled me over to them. He got in the middle of them and watched them climb with wide eyes. When they were gone he grabbed the chain and started shaking it and yelling. I was starting to wonder if he was actually going to try to climb it.



Celebration Park is very neat. It has a great play area with lots of slides. It doesn't have many swings, but that's ok because Sam doesn't seem to like them very much yet.



I started out sliding down the bigger slides with Sam in my lap. As soon as we got to the bottom he'd try to reach around me to go back up. So, I went over to one of the smaller slides and let him slide down on his own. When he got to the bottom, he turned around and climbed to the top. That made me very nervous. I had no idea he could do that.



Of course it was hard to take pictures. I was scared he was going to just jump over the edge at any moment. Someone please tell me how soon that feeling will go away!



Sam and I went to Willowbend Mall on Saturday while Chris and Ian installed surround sound in our living room. It was a rainy day, and the Kiwanis Club was sponsoring a butterfly exhibit at the mall. Sam fell asleep on the way there, so I let him nap in the car for an hour before we went in. I actually enjoyed just sitting there! We had lunch in the food court and Sam got to try some Cheetos.



The butterfly exhibit was neat. The butterflies were attracted to bright colors and pieces of canteloupe that they were handing out. This little boy was covered in butterflies. Sam's eyes got really wide when he saw them. I felt bad because he wanted to grab them, but I didn't want him to hurt them. I let him touch a few, but he lost most of his interest when he figured out that he wasn't going to be able to really hold them. Here's a wider shot of the enclosure.



Next we went to the Apple store. I figured that Sam could pound on a keyboard and mouse in the kids area. I actually found some cool software. It's called Giggles Computer Funtime for Babies. It makes things happen on screen for any keystroke, mouse movement, or mouse click. That's a lot better than the blank screen he's been getting!



Before we left, we went to the indoor play area at Willowbend. There were a lot of kids there which I think Sam really likes. I wasn't sure if he'd be comfortable getting in the middle of them to play, but he didn't hesitate. He even came over to me and gave me a big hug, as if to say, "Wow this is fun!"



Sam still doesn't want to walk without his walker or without holding our hand. He'll take a few steps, and he can take more steps than last week. But, it's definitely not his preference. He loves his walker so much that it's the first thing he asks for in the morning. He calls it "daht". I think it's because we kept asking him, "Do you want that?" instead of "Do you want your walker?" That'll teach us to use pronouns. His other two words are "dah" for dog/Cleo and "dah dah" or "dah dee" for Daddy. You're probably recognizing a pattern with these "d" words, and maybe you're thinking that its really just one word, but I swear you can tell a difference.



I tried to snap this shot really quick of Sam lifting the walker over his head, but it focused on the countertop. You know if he has enough balance to do this, he has enough balance to walk without it.



Here's Daddy and Sam playing with the monster puppet. Sam also loves to crawl around on the couch. He stands up on it and looks over the edge. He rolls around with the pillow and bites them. He really likes it when we lay on the couch with him and pretend that we are going to roll over on him -- it really makes him laugh. He stopped getting the hiccups at the slightest giggle, so he giggles a lot now, but if we really make him laugh hard he still gets them.



Sam decided that he wanted to take his monster for a ride. He's been doing that with his toys lately -- either that or he just uses it to bulldoze them.



Yep, it's still there ...



Later on Sunday, we went to a wildflower field in Jack Carter Park which is next to the dog park. There are a lot of wildflowers around the Plano/Richardson area. There is an annual Wildflower Festival, but it falls on Sam's birthday this year, so we probably won't go.




It didn't take him long to realize that he was in the middle of the flowers all on his own, and he wanted to be picked up.



He was slightly more intrigued after he got used to the idea -- especially after he realized that he could touch them.



We went for a dip in the hot tub after we got home from the park. Sam loves the water. He likes to go in the backyard and walk around the pool with his walker. He'll throw a fit if we don't take him out when he wants to go. He gets his way about half the time, so we've been getting a lot of fits lately.



After swimming, I thought we would let Sam try some SpaghettiOs. He was very interested in them because he could put his finger through them. He would put the pasta and the meatballs in his mouth, but he spit them back out. He's still not liking the texture or the feeling of table food in his mouth. Cleo was very happy to help him clean his plate though.



Here are some pictures of the before and after on our front door. We decided to get a new front door because the old one was not very energy efficient and it was hung poorly. You could actually see light all the way around the door. We got a door with a half-light, and it really lights up the entry. We got a new door knob and lock too because you could barely turn the key in the old one. We think it's very pretty.

Before:



After: