A Friday Morning Trip to the Zoo

This past Friday Matt and I went with several friends to one of the local zoos. We hadn't yet been to this zoo, which is relatively small but has the added attractions of a train and a carousel. It was slightly warm out, especially in the sun, but since school only started a few weeks ago it was nice and quiet.

On the choo choo 

Waving bye-bye to the choo choo

Elephants! (This was Matt's first time to see real live elephants.)

But more exciting than the elephants were all of the construction vehicles expanding the elephants' space.

Matt insisted on pulling a friend's wagon.

Checking out one of several exhibits of ducks

Eyeing the coyote

Checking out the pig (oink! oink!)

Look, another pig!

Someone was impatient to get going again after lunch.

 

On the carousel - Matt chose the "hum bird"

Holding on tight to "fly up down"

Happy 22-Month Birthday, Matt!

Today Matt is 22 months old.

Here he is climbing on a rock at the playground today.

As always, Matt has added a little more height and weight to his frame, although he continues to lean out. We had to buy a belt for his 2T pants because most of them want to fall down or even off, especially when he's running around. As soon as shorts weather is over he'll be in 2T pants exclusively, and soon he'll be in 3T shirts. His size 7 shoes are fitting more comfortably these days, too. Thankfully he's not outgrowing clothes as quickly as he was this time last year!

Matt adds more words to his vocabulary seemingly every day. He is closer to putting together two and three word phrases on his own. He has come close to saying complete sentences ("Cow. Eat. Hay." "Goat. Eat. Grass."), and he is more often saying a couple of words together as a unit, although most of the time they're repeats of something we've said.

Matt now knows a number of basic shapes: circle, oval, square, rectangle, triangle, star, heart, and diamond. The differences between a circle and oval and between a square and rectangle are still a little tricky for him, though. He can count up to four but still defaults to two. He correctly identified the number 1 without prompting the other day and has shown some interest in a few words on the pages of books we've been reading.

Matt is still a big fan of "dig digs" and other vehicles. This month fire engines and especially trains pushed their way to the top of his favorites list. He has a couple of trains which are seeing heavy use. We are also making the rounds of any place with Brio-type trains and tracks. (I was going to give him his own as a birthday gift, but it may appear sooner!)

Choo choo at the library

We went to the children's museum and spent over an hour and fifteen minutes at their train table. (We'll be getting our membership's worth just at the train table at this rate!)

All of that playing with trains has inspired Matt to start lining up his cars and other toys.

 

One of his choo choos at home (note the motley crew of characters who get to ride on the train, including an airplane pilot, a duck, and Batman, Batgirl, Robin, and Joker)

Over the past week or so Matt has shown even more interest in puzzles. He especially loves the chunky puzzles; he uses the pieces that are cars, trucks, etc., as extra toys. But now he has become interested in putting the pieces back into place, which he has improved at rapidly. (He still isn't ready for jigsaw type puzzles, however.)

 

Shapes

Dig digs with Uncle Vic

Numbers and letters

Thankfully the library has a number of puzzles, too, to complement our large collection and keep him occupied. 

At the library

We've started the toilet training process. We're reading books about using the potty to Matt, which he seems to be enjoying. He has been playing with and sitting on the potty, more and more without diapers on, but so far that's all he has done. We still have a long ways to go before he is fully potty trained.

P.S. As part of our preparations for Matt's second birthday, which is so quickly approaching, we have set up a college fund for him.

August Recap

As you know, this past month we had a big trip which included Matt's first flight and a family wedding. The rest of August was less exciting, but I've managed to find plenty of photos to round out to post about our month.

Here we are at one of our favorite places, the library, with our prizes from the summer reading program (photo courtesy of the library).

We had some playdates and playground trips.

Watching the cows at the dairy barn with two buddies

A wheelbarrow just his size

Whee down the slide

Choo choo slide!

Going through a tunnel

Trying out a maze

Backyard water fun playdate

Trying out the beanbag toss game at our friends' backyard party

Trying out the tee at our friends' backyard party

He climbed up the ladder all by himself - twice!

Trying out the three slides at the local playground

Matt still loves trucks.

No matter where we are, sometimes the most exciting part of our trip is the construction equipment in the parking lot.

Dig dig sighting on our street

Matt did take a little excursion with Jon and his Uncle Vic to the dairy farm one Sunday while I was at work.

Feeding the goats

Of course, sometimes we just stayed home, read books, and played inside and outside.

Reading a book on his own

Down the slide in our backyard

Trying out his new outdoor chair

Playing in the sandbox

I'll end with a final silly photo.

Cheese!