Cincinnati Children's Museum

On Saturday we headed off to the Cincinnati Children's Museum for a day full of fun. We left the house about 9:00 am and picked up Scott, Raegan, and Jackson on our way out. We've been meaning to head off to the zoo, but our weather has been very cold and so we decided for some indoor fun. The drive up to the museum was wonderful. It was snowing a little bit, but definitely not enough to slow us down. The kids were sitting side by side in their car seats watching various DVD's in the Hick's portable DVD player. That was wonderful. About a couple miles outside of the museum Will started crying. I didn't think anything of it because he does not like to be in a car seat for a long period of time. A mile from the exit, Will threw up all over the car. Joe pulled over and I cleaned Will off. Scott graciously cleaned Will's car seat (thank you so much, Scott!). We dressed Will in his spare set of clothes (I've never really used the spare set before....) and we went off to the museum. I was a little concerned about Will because he had thrown up in his bed the night before. He slept all night and woke up happy, so we thought he just ate something that didn't sit right. Now we know that he had some virus and he probably spread that to many little kids this weekend. His buddy Nathan also came down with the bug and they were throwing up on the same day!

The museum was great. Jackson and Will played in the balls, in the toddler area, in the water play area, and in the "tree climbing" area. I think they both enjoyed the water play the best. In the toddler area, there was a slide, a climbing apparatus, a sand play area, and other various toddler play things. That was perfect for them. Jackson really liked the big car that he could sit in and drive and Will really liked the "ball ramps" (see picture).

They boys started to get tired and we had played in every area, so it was time to head home. It was definitely past lunch time and it was even past nap time. We stopped for lunch at Fuddruckers and then drove home. The boys both slept (and so did the moms) and I can happily say that it was an uneventful trip home. When we got home, Joe took Will straight into the bath tub and I cleaned out the car. The car seat cover is all clean and it smells great, but I wonder why the car seat makers have so many little holes in car seats? I can't seem to find all of the throw up, so I think the seat will smell until it airs out completely. I am thankful that it doesn't smell too bad, just a tiny hint of our eventful weekend!

What a week!

It has been a very busy week in the Stone household. Will had his last week of swim class. We are so sad to not be going back to swimming because Will has really learned a lot the past few months. He loves to swim and has started to jump into the water, paddle his arms, kick his legs, and even swim under the water. He does not like the water in his eyes, but he is getting used to the sensation. We love to go to swim class, but as the warm weather approaches our little swim class gets to be too full. I guess everyone signs their kids up for swimming right before summer. That's okay, we'll be back in the fall! We're going to start a mommy and me gymnastics class in April (as long as I can sign him up early enough.... space is limited!) That should be a lot of fun.

Grandma was up here this past week and Grandpa was up for the weekend. It's always nice for my parents to see Will and get to see first hand how much he's grown. Mom and Dad being far away has been tough on me, but I'm adjusting. I'm just so proud of Will and all of his accomplishments, and I want them to see all that he can do. Mom and Dad bought us a web cam so that Will can see them and they can see Will. It's been great so far! Great Grandpa and Great Grandma have been able to see Will play basketball and he even blew them kisses. They haven't seen Will since he was 9 months old. Wow, I guess it's almost been a year! The Peppers have been able to see Will play, too, which is great since they will be here in June. We are really looking forward to their visit and getting the cousins together.

Friends

I have played with many friends this week. On Thursday, my buddy Jackson came over. He is a lot of fun to play with. I am starting to play and communicate with other children and that is fun for my parents to watch. Jackson and I kept saying hi to each other and we played a game of peek-a-boo around the ottoman. We had a great time rolling around on the floor together and Jackson loves to play with my cars. I shared pretty well, though I didn't like him to play with my trains. My mom hopes that I will learn to share soon, though she thinks it may take some time! Unfortunately the memory card on my mom's camera was full and she didn't take any pictures. She has a picture of Jackson and me playing from December, so she'll post that picture instead. (Don't you like my crazy hair?)

On Friday I had my regular play date with Nathan. We met at the park by Nathan's house and we played there for an hour. I can go up the stairs and down the slides all my myself. Mommy is very happy that she doesn't have to go down the slides anymore and she can just watch me have fun. (Don't tell mommy, but it's more fun doing it by myself!) We had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch and then I played a little at Nathan's house. We like to play on his John Deere ride on toy (there's room for both of us - one person is a driver and the other is a passenger). I fell asleep on the way home, but I woke up when we got home. I decided that today was a great day to skip my nap. It took a while to convince my mom, but she gave in and took Ella and me to the park. That was a lot of fun. They have a really tall slide and I went down it all by myself. I went to bed early, but it was a great day.

Here is another picture that my mom wanted to post - just because it's cute!

Nathan

Today my friend Nathan came over to play while his mommy and daddy went to the doctor. Nathan and I had a great time playing. When Nathan first came over I didn't want to share anything. I wanted all of my books, all of my trains, all of my cars, all of my basketballs, and all of my mommy. Mommy said that I needed to share, and it wasn't that bad. I got to read books with Nathan, play cars with Nathan, eat a snack with Nathan, and play outside with Nathan and my friend Kaitlyn. When we were outside I got to go down the slide, swing in the big boy swing, climb the jungle gym, pick up sticks, chase Ella, and for a couple of minutes we all just sat around on Kaitlyn's deck and talked. My mom wished she had the camera because we looked cute! We went into the front yard to play and a boy had a kite. It was fun to watch him fly his kite. I told my mommy that his kite was blue. I shared my basketball hoop with all of my friends. It was fun to shoot the ball in the street like the big kids always do!

I was sad when Nathan left (Nathan was sad, too), but I was really tired and hungry. I ate a great lunch of quesadillas and pineapple and milk and then my mommy and I read some books. Boy did that make me sleepy. The last book was the Blue Choo Choo book (The Little Engine that Could) and I was sound asleep. What a great morning!