the Bucket List

Ever since August has been able to communicate with us he has been sharing things that he would like to do. He speaks of them in the future like, "One day I ride a horse Mama, Mama and August ride a horse together one day"
So we have begun to compile his bucket list. He was able to cross several off the list during our trip to the beach last month.

• Ride a horse
• Ride on a boat (08-30-2012)
• Go to the beach (08-2012)
• Fly on a plane (03-05-2010)
• Ride on the Train (05-23-2013)
• Own a real dog
• Ride a bicycle (04-10-2013)
• Drive a car
• Go to the moon
• Go skiing
• Ride a sled (12-31-2012)

Big Times in August

Big things are happening this month.

First. August was invited to a sleep over at his cousin Grafton's house. From what we hear at this end it went splendidly. (Check with Grafton for further details). August came back a changed boy. No more wet underwear for this one. He has taken to the potty with a renewed vigor. We have not changed a poopy diaper since, AND he has been waking up dry and heading straight to the potty to keep his underwear dry. At this point for our personal sanity he is still wearing pull ups under the underwear but he doesn't seem to notice or care.

Also Mama had the umbilical hernia fixed and is only back up to 75%. A huge improvement from 50% yesterday. August is responding nicely and being very gentle. He is all boy and likes to inspect the big boo-boo with regularity. Mama is not allowed to drive for two weeks so the influx of Grandparents in the next few days will provide a source of entertainment and wheels for our little man.

Baba & Grandpa will be here on Tuesday and Nena & Henry will be here on Friday. Lots of Family to show around.

He can hardly wait.

Summer in the Western Mass

Well it is summer here in the Pioneer Valley. That means hot days, cool nights, and lots of farm activities.

McCray's is still a family favorite. August loves to feed the animals and drive the tractor. Baby ducks, randy peacocks, classic cars, and who can resist ice cream.

August and I also went strawberry picking with our friends Anneka, Vedrana, Katja (18 mo), Sabina and James in Brattleboro last Sunday. He loved it. In fact he ate so many strawberries that his hands were stained for days.

Then on Tuesday we joined our Friends from work Gabe K. and Baby Gabe (age 3), Danny and Arden (age 3), Sara and her 2 year old. For berry picking and ice cream making. Sara's family owns 16 acres in Hadley with lots of blueberries and raspberries. Lets just say that with 4 boys, lots of dirt, toy tractors, running chickens, and ice cream that serious fun was had by all.

Then Thursday afternoon, August and I went to collect Aunt Neva's farm share. We collected greens, scapes, squash and salad mix. Then we went and looked for strawberries...they were few and far between so we caved and went to pick sugar snap peas instead. We gathered a quart of the green sugary treats. These were all consumed later that evening due to a bus riding snafu. Yum!

Feeling the love of the season and enjoying our move.

The motivation....

It appears that we have stumbled across August's motivation for potty training. It seems to be a three part motivation:

1. A proper taunting from an older and respected cousin.

2. The promise of no more diapers. (There was a slight misunderstanding on this front. After one successful potty trip he was enraged to be once again forced to wear a diaper. So now he knows that we must have 2 accident free weeks for us to put away the pull ups.)

3. Nudity. After a few minutes of nudity after another successful visit prompted 10+ visits in following two to three hours. most of which were successful.

So now that the motivation is known maybe the potty training will begin in earnest.

Current S. Hadley Favorite....

August has begun to settle in here in South Hadley. He enjoys being out side, adores his cousin, he is the apple of his aunties eyes. However his most favorite thrill is McCrays. He loves the animals. He told me that we would get 3 cones for a dollar to feed the animals. August and the animals love the feeding process. All the nuzzling and lip smacking on his hands make him super giggly.

Once you factor in the ice cream, put-put golf (yet to be enjoyed by the little man), and classic car Monday's. McCray's is his favorite place in South Hadley.

"I hurt myself" & other gems

Since August has turned  a seasoned 2.25 yr old he has been sharing many more of his independent thoughts with us. Here is a list of some of my recent favorites.

While snuggling up with me on the floor cushion he sighed and said, "I miss booby"

After any of his numerous incidences " Ouch! I hurt my self"

"No Papa" "Too Bad" When asked to put his shoes on.

"No poopy just toots!" (I think the context of this one is obvious)

"I want Mango"

"Papa has a penis. August has a penis too."

"August has a Penis. Mama where's your penis?"

Terrible horrible no good day

Fires storm was followed by boom town.

In a fit of stubborn willfulness of trying to turn the music on in his room, August pulled his 3 foot tall 3 foot long bookcase over on himself this morning. Carlos said, "the scary thing was I heard the crash and when I turned around I couldn't see him because he was under the bookcase."

A shattered lamp was the only casualty. No bruises, no blood, and tears only once he was removed from the scene.

After the clean up

After cleaning up the glass and books. They went to the park. A great time was had and a scraped and bloody knee was created.

After an event free lunch and nap we decided to walk over and have dinner in the shopping center. ...

August ate too much in his excitement over pizza and fruit at the same meal. He began to cry and say "belly" we convinced him that walking would help and he was mostly a champ on the way home. we stopped to give him a break and after a few burps he seemed to feel better.

But after fire ants, pulling the book case over, scraping his knee and eating too much; I am ready for this 24 hour period to be over. Let tomorrow be awesome and say Adios to this terrible, horrible, no good day.