Germantown Indoor Swim Center

Saturday I had planned to take Kyle to Bohrer Park's outdoor swimming pool. We woke up to rain and thunderstorms, though, so we decided we'd head over to the nearby indoor swim center. I'd heard good things about their leisure pool with splash areas for kids, but we'd never been there. They have open swim for the general public from 1-3pm on Saturdays. Of course when we walked out the door a little before 1:00 the rain had stopped and it was sunny outside, but they were calling for thunderstorms again later so we just stuck with the new plan. It turned out to be a really fun experience! The place is huge and Kyle was a little overwhelmed at first, but once he got comfortable he had a blast! He's never been in anything besides a "baby" pool before so this was a whole new world to him. The more adventurous he got, the more nervous I got, but he did great! By the end he was getting better at holding his breath. He went on a small water slide a couple times. And he mostly wanted to stay in the 3 ft. area of the pool which made the water pretty much up to his neck. We had "races" and he told me "Look, Mom, I can really swim!" Of course he wasn't actually going under the water :). He was just bouncing and hopping along while moving his arm in swim-like motions and making a face like he was holding his breath above the water. It was really cute! I wish I could have gotten a picture of that, but he pretty much needed constant supervision, so I just got pictures of him in the 6 inch water area and I got one picture of what the place looked like inside. It was nice because the water went gradually from 6 inches, to 1 ft. 6 inches, then 2 inches, 2 ft. 6 inches, and 3 feet. It was super crowded, but we had a lot of fun and he can't wait to go back!

Stuffed Animals

Today was a rainy day so we just stayed inside and played. We were playing in Kyle's room at one point and Kyle decided that he wanted to bring all his stuffed animals into his bed to "sleep" with him. He has quite a collection so he actually didn't even bring all of them! Max watched cautiously at first. When Kyle invited him to join him and his animals on the bed he thought it was a great idea. As you can see from the pictures, he quickly changed his mind. At first he tried to escape, but was unable to get off the bed. You can see that he wasn't happy about this. Don't worry - I quickly rescued him after I took the picture!

Hadley Park

Today we went to a playground we hadn't been to in a LONG time! We used to meet our playgroup there when it was just me and Kyle. I had forgotten about it until recently . . . it's a great playground for new walkers like Max because the ground is soft foam instead of concrete or mulch. The boys had a great time. And funny enough, we even ran into some friends, Micah and Sara, from our playgroup while were there!

Kings Dominion

Jason took last week off for vacation and we went down to Virginia to stay at my parents' house for a few days and took Kyle on his first trip to Kings Dominion. "Ma" was kind enough to stay home and watch Max since he's still a bit young. Jason and I took Kyle and he (and we) had a BLAST! We spent about 8 hours there the first day and about 5 hours the second day. He measured just at 40 inches (although I think they were a bit generous) so he got a blue wrist band and was JUST tall enough to ride the Scooby Doo Ghoster Coaster, the Avalanche roller coaster, and the Log flume. These 3 rides turned out to be his favorites and we rode each one 5 times over the course of the 2 days. He also enjoyed some of the kiddie rides, as well as some other family rides that he rode with us - the ferris wheel, flying eagles, old fashioned cars, and the Eiffel Tower to name a few. Another favorite was the Scooby Doo Haunted Mansion - he was a little timid at first, but turned out to be quite adventurous! We also played games, ate yummy food, and took lots of pictures! There was also a construction play area with lots of things to climb, tunnels to go through, and a ball pool to play in. He was very cute and kept saying how much fun he was having and was genuinely excited after each ride he rode. He had the same reaction coming off of the Scooby Doo roller coaster as he did coming off of the little jeeps that go in a circle. They can't possibly compare, but he didn't seem to care - he was just happy to be there! He won some cute stuffed animals playing games - 4 frogs, a bee, and 2 orange dogs. He was so tuckered out that first day that he fell asleep in the car at 6:30 on the way home and actually slept in both mornings following his days at the park. A big thank you to "Ma" and "Pa" for letting us stay with them and all their help to make our vacation a fun time!

More pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/inmantl/KingsDominion2009?authkey=Gv1sRgCODx5KjyitGWugE&feat=directlink

Teddy Bear Picnic

Today was Kyle's last day of preschool for the year. He still has one more year of preschool to go, but it's still hard to believe he's been through a whole year of school already! I am so pleased with the preschool we chose. Kyle had a wonderful year with great teachers and lots of great friends! He'll definitely miss it this summer! Today they had a "Teddy Bear Picnic" to celebrate the end of the year. It was held inside due to the rain. Parents and siblings were invited. Everyone brought a teddy bear and the kids sang some bear songs for us, received special certificates and goody bags, and had some yummy refreshments. I'm so proud of Kyle!

Baseball Game

Yesterday Jason took Kyle to his first baseball game. They headed up to Frederick to watch the minor league team, the Frederick Keys, play a game. Kyle has been super excited all week waiting to go! They had a GREAT time! Kyle couldn't stop talking about it when they got home! Since it was his first time at a baseball game, Jason went all out. He got him a pretzel, blue cotton candy, and a popsicle (which ended up being his dinner). He let him pick out some souvenirs from the gift shop - a soft baseball, two foam fingers (a big one for him and little one for Max), and two Coyote (the mascot) stuffed animals (again one for him and one for Max). Jason also signed him up to be a member of the Jr. Keys Club, so he got a free hat. One of their colors is orange so Kyle had lots of fun picking everything out and the hat was orange as well! They had a playground for him to play on and they spent some time tossing the soft baseball around. He played in a moonbounce. He got to practice hitting a floating whiffle ball. And they even managed to watch some of the game! :) At the end he got to run the bases as you can see in the video - priceless! Even though he didn't exactly get to all the bases he thought it was great and kept saying that he ran like a lightning bolt!

Max 18 months

Max was 18 months old on May 8 - it's hard to believe! He had his 18 month well baby check up today. He is now almost 22 lbs. He's around 50th percentile so he's gaining and growing well! He has made great strides with walking, but is still only taking 4-5 steps (on average) before he topples over and gets around mostly by crawling and cruising. He also still isn't talking and has no words to speak of. He babbles a lot so I know he is able to make the sounds, but mostly points, grunts, and squeals to attempt to communicate. He is definitely frustrated by his inability to do so. Therefore, the doctor recommended that he be referred to the Infants and Toddlers program in Montgomery County. We will schedule an initial visit where someone will come to our home and observe him. From there we will make a plan to help him in the areas of physical development and speech. His pediatrician didn't seem overly concerned. He said that he is pretty sure he will attain these skills on his own eventually. However, he is slightly delayed and in order to make sure he doesn't fall even farther behind and have difficulty catching up, it would be best to make sure he gets some extra help/motivation now. He also had to get 2 shots. He cried for about 5 seconds after each one. Kyle, however, cried during them both, on the way to the car, and part of the way home. The nurse and I actually had to work harder to calm Kyle down than we did Max. It was so sweet how concerned he was about his little brother!