Monday we went to a birthday party, then attended the literacy playgroup at the library. The party was fun, but the literacy play group was not so much. The leader did not seem prepared for the age range advertised, 1 to 2 1/2 year olds. She wanted us to pick up every single toy our child put in his or her mouth (she needed a much bigger bucket with a teething 11 month old in attendance!); she expected the little ones to sit still for about 15 minutes of reading, singing, and rhymes; she brought out apple shampoo-flavored Play Doh (here's a tip: no matter how many times you tell them not to, kids will put Play Doh in their mouth, so don't make it smell even more like food with something they really shouldn't eat!); and she wanted them to color self-portraits. Needless to say Matt had his own idea about what he should be doing, and I couldn't blame him.
Tuesday we went to the play space at the Y with other members of our moms' club before heading over to watch one of Matt's buddies while his mom went to an appointment.
Matt with his "birthday buddies": one is one day older, and the other is one day younger than he is.
That afternoon we met up with another friend and her baby to try out an indoor playground. It seems like a good option for the upcoming cold winter days.
Are you sure that's all this toy does?
"Eating" a piece of pizza
Being cute and snuggly with the giant stuffed puppy dog
Seeing all of his walking buddies must have inspired Matt to try out his first steps that evening. (He hasn't yet progressed beyond a step or two on his own; he still prefers crawling and hanging on to something as he walks.)
Wednesday I had a meeting in the morning for my moms' club board. The Y very kindly agreed to watch our kids for us in the child watch room, so we got a lot done in a record amount of time while the kids had fun. Matt wasn't sure he wanted to leave when I went to pick him up because he had three attendants fawning over him. How could I compete with that? Later that morning we went to library story time with our usual children's librarian, who's better at not only choosing age appropriate materials but also working with that age's activity level. The natives were extra restless that morning, and she kindly let them roam around and try out the touch and feel pages.
Thursday we went to another play space, which was very busy. Matt's favorite part may have been chewing on the finger puppet during the circle time.
Yum, a tasty lion...
That afternoon we went to our town's community center for a little animal show by a local father who rescues exotic pets. Since Matt is currently obsessed with his touch and feel books, he had a great time petting the animals. He got to touch a chinchilla (which he called a "kitty" - not a bad guess), blue-tongued skink, small tortoise, hedgehog (the spines felt very different than what he expected!), hissing cockroach, degu (resulting in me saying something perhaps never said before, "You can't hit the degu with your teething ring"), and corn snake.
The chinchilla and hedgehog
Friday we just met up with some friends at the Y play space again for a little bit in the morning.
Saturday we went to a local farm, the one with one of Matt's favorite playgrounds. We checked out the pumpkins, both harvested and in the field, said Hi to the farm animals, and did a little playing.
Petting a goat
The old billy goat stuck his tongue out at us.
Riding the bouncy motorcycle, sea creature, and toucan
Crawling through the sandbox
Afterwards we went out for a late lunch / early dinner at a local Chinese restaurant. Hopefully they let us back after Matt's mess!
Sunday we needed a quiet day at home.
Playing while wearing a onesie to support the home team
Here are a few more photos from the week:
Hanging out with his current favorite buddy, Winnie the Pooh
Just standing around
Getting tickled by dinosaur tails
Eating one of his favorite meals, pasta with chunky tomato sauce (Matt loves tomatoes!)
