Our New Neighbor - Papa Dale

I waited so long to begin downloading and posting pictures that this blog will include A LOT of pictures and a hodgepodge of journaling. At first, I thought I was going to have a hard time giving the blog a title, but with some fun that we have had with our new neighbor in the last week or so, Luke defined the title easily for me with his expression of how much he loves his papa Dale. Matter of fact, as soon as I posted these pictures and blog, that very afternoon, we had another great time with Papa Dale and I have a ton more to blog about so stay tuned for Papa Dale - Part II.

But, first, let's talk about our new neighbor - Papa Dale Part I. Lately, Papa Dale is the greatest guy on the block, especially in Luke's eyes. Because he is literally like 10 steps away from our front door, we see papa a lot and when we see him, we often plan meals together. Last week, papa Dale ate dinner at our house a few times and then ate breakfast with us at Cracker Barrel last weekend. He has become such a big part of our meals that one night when Papa Dale wasn't eating with us, Luke looked around at the dinner table and said, "Who's missing?" I said, "Who do you think is missing?" Luke said, "Papa Dale is missing. He can sit in that chair right there." (As he pointed to the empty chair at our dining room table.) We explained to him that papa was eating at his house tonight but thought it was very sweet that he thought of him.

Then, on Thursday afternoon when Luke and I got home from the museum, Luke noticed that papa Dale was home (based off of the cars in the driveway). He said, "Let's go to papa Dale's house." I told him that I had to get dinner started and that while I was starting dinner, he could call papa Dale to find out if he wanted to come outside and play with him. I dialed papa's number and handed the phone to Luke. I never talked to my dad. I let Luke do all the talking. This is how the conversation went...

Luke: "Papa, are you coming outside with us?"

PAUSE, PAUSE, PAUSE

Luke hands me the phone.

Mommy: "What did Papa say?"

Luke: "He said that he will be right out."

Mommy: "Okay"

I thought to myself, "Okay. Sure." And, sure was right. About 30 seconds later, here comes papa Dale with his cup of coffee in his hand out his door heading down the hill. Luke was thrilled! :) I, too, was quite excited that Luke took on that independent role himself. Now, if I could only teach him to dial numbers. LOL! (My dad even said, "So, Luke, are you using the phone now?") Quite funny! How old is Luke??? Some days I'm thinking 4, not 2! :)

Papa Dale pushed Luke in his red car all the way up the road. I walked with them. Having dad nearby has been nice for me too because dad and I get to talk a lot more than we used to. Me, Dad, and Luke enjoyed the nice afternoon and a stroll in the red car up the street. Before long, I had to go check on the casserole so Dad took Luke to his house while I went inside to finish dinner. I gave Luke a time limit at papa Dale's so we could make sure he was home for dinner. Papa Dale did good - Luke was only 5 minutes late!! :) (No worries Dad!)

While at Papa's house, there are several things that Luke enjoys doing. He loves to give Garbo (the talking parrot) a peanut, he loves to give Gunner (the gerbil) a sunflower seed (Gunner will take the seed right out of Luke's hand.), he loves to chase Wilbur and Smokey (the cats), he loves to sit in the big blue Carolina chairs and read, and he loves to play with the play-doh. He probably did all of this in the 15 minutes that he was over there.

When papa and Luke returned home, we all (including papa) ate dinner. After dinner while I cleaned up, papa Dale chased Luke around the house playing hide and seek. It was hilarious hearing both of them laugh out loud! My dad would run and dive to get Luke and Luke loved it!!! :) Luke would run in his tunnel and say, "Do you think that's funny?" as he laughed out loud. Luke would also go hide behind the leg of the dining room table and say, "I'm hiding behind a tree." He had an absolute blast! Matter of fact, I was worried that when it was time for papa to go home that Luke might have a meltdown. Thankfully, because Luke knows that papa Dale is right next door and that he will see him the very next day, there was no meltdown. We had a fairly peaceful nighttime routine, probably because Luke was exhausted! :)

At night time as we are rocking, Luke and I always say prayers. Our prayers are mostly listing all the things that we did that day and thanking God for those opportunities. On this night, I asked Luke, "What are we going to thank God for tonight?" His response, "That papa chased me and thought that it was funny." That's great! Obviously, even after the big fun day that Luke and I had at the museum, papa was still the highlight of this 2 year old's day. Thanks, Dad, for making such a sweet impression on Luke! These are times that he and you will cherish forever! :) Landis and I sure do love our new neighbor and Luke does too! :)

I don't have any pictures of all that I listed above, which is why journaling is so important. During our busy day to day lives, these are the times that we want to make sure that we don't forget. :) Papa Dale - Part II - will have some pictures though - I promise!

Here are some pictures of some other random fun that we have had over the last 2 weeks.

As always, we visited a park one Sunday afternoon and Daddy went with us. Here are some pictures of our Sunday afternoon park time.

Daddy helping Luke do the monkey bars...

Luke playing at the "kitchen" (that's what he calls it). I explained to him that I thought this was an office and then we pretended to check in for each other's hair appointments. :) It was fun!

I just subscribed to a new magazine for Luke - it's the High Five magazine by Highlights. It's designed for kids 2 - 5 years old. I love this magazine! It has the neatest stories, poems, snack ideas, and craft ideas for kids. Luke and I have used the stories to practice spanish, to do some animal motions to a poem that was in the last edition, and then, as you will see in these pictures, we did the craft idea this past weekend. It involved painting and tape and was very easy. Here is Luke doing his craft.


And, behind him is the finished product. We taped down the letter L and then painted all over the paper, then removed the tape and the letter L stands out - see it????
Luke did the painting around the L.
Last Saturday, we attended Avery Butcher's 1st birthday party. There were a ton of people there. Liz did a great job decorating. There were games and beautiful themed activities. Luke had a wonderful time. Here he is at the party...

I love this next face! This is his face after a boy tried to steal the cart he was pushing. He stood up for himself but then got this look of uncertainty on his face. I quickly explained to him that he did the right thing. You have to be kind, but you also have to learn to stand up for yourself. Luke will often times be passive and he has to learn to stand firm. Life can be tough - people can be mean - stand strong, Lukester! :)


Eating his chips in his cup....
Playing peek-a-boo on the steps...


Landis and I are both struggling to lose weight and shape up for summer time. We are planning a beach trip for spring break and we both dread getting in a bathing suit so our goal is to do something about our old looking bodies. :) Landis has been going to the gym 4 to 5 times a week and I have been trying to watch my calories and to run/walk outside 3 to 4 times a week. Last Sunday, we took Luke to Grimes park for our run/walk and let Luke slide and swing after we finished. Here is Luke in the swing - all bundled up - it was quite cold - colder than we thought!





And, now, another fun day with Mommy to write about. I had a dentist appointment on Thursday so I took a day off of work. (Unfortunately, I have a few dental problems that I'm having to take care of in the next month or so. I hate the dentist!) :( Anyway - I took Luke to school at his usual time so I could head to the dentist. I haven't taken him to school since November so I was excited to see how well he did. He told me, even before we left home, that he wanted to go see his friends, Hannah and Lily. That excited me that he was looking forward to school. When we arrived, he hopped out of the car and told me that he wanted to walk up the hill by himself. He was so cute walking up the ramp, into the door, and up the hall by himself. He saw his friend, Caden, as we walked in and they walked close together. While I was signing him in, Luke had already walked to the gate at the door and asked Mrs. Brenda to let him in. She excitedly grabbed him, told him good morning, and in he went to play. I waved at him and told him that I would pick him up early. He acted like he was the happiest kid in the world! So sweet and so reassuring that I made the right choice back in September when things weren't going so well. A big thank you to my mother in law for sticking with it through his tears and a huge thank you to Mrs. Felicia and Mrs. Brenda for loving Luke day in and day out and showing him how school can be fun! :)

I went on to the dentist and then to Target to get the things I needed for Luke's Easter basket. I was back at Luke's school by 10:30. When I turned the corner to his room, it was amazing how quiet the room was. I looked in the room and all of the kids were playing so well. They each were occupied doing their own thing and Mrs. Brenda and Mrs. Felicia were watching. Luke was on the mat playing with a screwdriver that looked a lot like the one he has at home. He looked so sweet playing! When he turned around and saw me, he smiled and then told me that he was "screwing around everything in the room" and then he told me that Lily got time out for running into him. He was so excited about telling both of these things - they were the things that stuck out in his mind from his day. Mrs. Brenda said that his behavior this week was excellent and that, matter of fact, he was probably the best listener in the class this week. Way to go, little man! I am so proud of him! Now, who knows what next week will be like??? :) (On a side note, I do think that because Luke is consistently sleeping through the night, which I thought would never happen, is having a big impact on his behavior in a positive way. He is rested enough to make the right choices. Just one more reason why he needs to continue with this great sleeping pattern.)

After leaving school, we headed to a playground near Wallburg school. Luke and I had a blast! This playground has a slide set that is designed for 2 to 5 year olds so it's very safe. I chased him all over the playground - I would hide behind things and then pop up and scare him. He laughed and laughed and laughed. While he was looking through the peek-a-boo bubbles, I would pretend to be the Big Bad Wolf and knock on the door and say, "Little Pig, Little Pig, let me come in." He thought this was hilarious and would hide from me. Luke swung for a little while and climbed up the big ladders and went down the big slides. I am amazed by how much Luke's agility level increases each time we go to a park. He gets better and better at maneuvering up and down ladders and slides. I still stay very close behind him but I don't have to physically lift him anymore. Boy, he's growing up fast! Here are some pictures of our fun at the playground...

Oops...I hurt my elbow climbing the blue wall....:)
After we left the playground, Luke fell asleep within 5 minutes in the car. I told him before he fell asleep that we were going to see the animals. So, to stick with my promise, I went ahead and headed toward the Natural Science Center in Greensboro, which, from Wallburg, was almost an hour drive. By the time I arrived at the museum, got my backpack ready, and made a phone call, Luke had slept about 1.5 hours in the car. He woke up and was ready to see the animals. He was excited to wake up and be at the place that I promised.

As soon as we went inside the museum, we headed straight to the animals. We started at the petting zoo. Luke wanted to go inside the fence with the animals and he was super excited when he saw that he could actually do that. We visited the sheep and goats. The museum workers gave Luke a brush and let him brush a few goats and a few sheep. He enjoyed that. He didn't want to touch them with his bare hands but he would use the brush. Because he was able to get so close to the sheep and goats, he was a little frustrated as we moved to look at other animals because I had to share with him that, "No, you cannot go in the cage with the monkeys." Or, later...."No, you cannot go on the other side of the fence with that HUGE tiger." Oh my! He looks very hungry and Luke would be quite a snack. :)

We ended up passing by the lemurs, monkeys, and meercats fairly quickly because, once Luke realized that he couldn't get as close as he wanted to the animals, he just wasn't that interested. Matter of fact, inside the lemur cage there was a real slide (like the same kind that you would see at a playground). Luke had the hardest time understanding why he couldn't slide with these creatures. The slide made him think of a playground so he wanted to go look for somewhere to slide. Of course, I knew there was nowhere to slide at the museum zoo so I encouraged him to keep walking.

As we walked along, Luke was very interested in the scenery not involving animals. :) He stopped to pick some pretty yellow flowers. See...





And then we enjoyed our walk across the bridge. He stopped long enough to throw his flower in the creek. After quite a long walk, we finally made it to the tiger area. One of the tigers was walking very close to the viewing area so this made Luke happy that he could get closer. Even though, as I stated above, Luke still asked if he could get in the tiger's cage, he was a little more satisfied when the tiger came right next to the window. While we watched the tiger, Luke sat on the bench and ate his banana. As we were sitting on the bench not bothering anyone, the tiger decided to jump up on the window next to us. Me and the dad standing near us just about had a heart attack. Luke's eyes got wide but he didn't seem bothered by it at all. After that show off action of the tiger, Mommy was ready to move on. :) We headed to see the wolves next. Luke enjoyed the walk/run across the long bridge way more than he did the actual looking at the wolves. And, I have to say, it was quite boring. They were just sleeping in the grass. Luke can watch Madi sleep on a daily basis. :)

On our way back from visiting the wolves, Luke ran as fast as he could across the bridge several times. We continued to take our time walking back towards the museum. It was so nice not to have to worry about a stroller or carrying Luke along the way. He's such a big boy now that he enjoys walking and he will stay close to me and listen to my directions. Sometimes it's like I have my own little walking partner. We walk and talk and listen and watch everything around us. It's quite relaxing and good exercise for us both! :)

At one point, Luke saw a squirrel very close to the path. Luke said he was going to go get the squirrel so he moved closer to him. All of a sudden, the squirrel ran to the other side of the path. Luke was a little startled but the fear quickly turned to curiosity as he continued to follow the squirrel until the squirrel jumped in the monkey cages. :) I guess Luke just has a hard time understanding why he can't touch and pet all animals like he can Madi.

Here are a few more pictures of our walk down the trails....Luke has milk and juice...
At the end of the trails, we stopped and let Luke climb up and down on the frogs, the bug, the turtle, and the crocodile. Here are some of those pictures....



Right before going inside, I let him walk up to the small creek near the front of the zoo area. Luke threw a few rocks in the creek and then he was ready to go inside.

Inside, Luke played with the toy train set for just a minute and then he became more interested in grocery shopping. He pushed the shopping cart over to the cabinets where the food was located, climbed up on the cabinets, and began loading his cart. He loaded it as full as he could. :)

He pushed his cart over to the kitchen area and began cooking. I went to the "drive thru window" and placed my order and he cooked me some pizza, gave me a pear, and cooked an onion in a pot. He was so cute "cooking." He would actually put the pizza in the oven and then turn the timer. He cooked some toast and took food in and out of the cabinets.

After finishing up in the kitchen, he played on the see saw a few times, played with the boats in the water, and then moved on to the tool set. He hammered a few things and then took the screwdriver to the "Nature Nook." In the "Nature Nook", there was a small loft. He took his screwdriver to the loft and began fixing all of the bolts with his screwdriver.

After he had finished fixing all of the furniture in the "Nature Nook," Luke and I began playing together. I put on a puppet show with all of the animal puppets. Luke watched and grinned. Luke then went on to pull a few toys around, climbed up and down the loft, and attempted to put on a puppet show for me. His puppet show was fast and furious. He would all of a sudden just toss an animal through the puppet show curtains. The only part of the puppet show that he could really participate in was singing, "Here comes Peter Cottontail, hopping down the bunny trail" (as we made the bunny puppet hop).

Finally, after being at the museum (including the animal area) for almost 3 hours, Luke went to the bookshelf, got a book, walked over to the loft, sat on the steps and started reading. He read the book all by himself for several minutes (now, of course, you know that I don't mean that he knew the words. I just mean that he "read" the pictures of what he thought the words said - which is still a great skill for his age. :))

By this point, I could tell that Luke was tiring down. His pace was slowing and I couldn't blame him because I was exhausted too. Look continued to go look at the books on the bookshelf. We read several books together and then Luke looked at the pictures of every book on the bookshelf. Thank goodness he put them back after he was done with each one. Good manners, Luke!

Finally, around 4:30, Luke was reading a book while sitting in the loft and he just all of a sudden laid all the way down on his back. He was exhausted! About 10 minutes later, he did the same thing on a large stuffed bear - he just laid back because he was so tired. I asked him if he was ready to go and he said, "Yes, but I want a coca-cola first." On the way to find a Coke, we stopped and looked at the snakes. The snakes had just been fed so they were very active. Luke loved watching them slither around in their cages. He kept wanting them to go in the water. On our way to get a Coke, we also stopped long enough to take a good look at the huge dinosaurs. As you know, Luke is a huge dinosaur fan so this was fun for him. Once again, he didn't quite understand why he couldn't just crawl into the exhibit and start climbing on the dinosaurs. I let him do a crayon rub with a picture of a dinosaur and this seemed to satisfy him okay. We talked about the dinosaurs and looked at them very closely for quite awhile. At one point, the T-rex made a loud growl and I was holding Luke - I purposely jumped and it startled Luke. He just grinned and grinned!

After the dinosaurs, we looked at the big hippo one more time and then continued on our journey to find a Coke. We finally made it to the snack area and realized that it was closed. So, we headed to the car and went through a drive thru on the way home. Luke got his Coke and I got some caffeine too! What a fun day but a tiring one! :)

Here are a few pictures of our play time in the "Nature Nook"....

Back at home, I was all smiles at the day that Luke and I had together. Just one day off of work spoils me and makes me long for the summer days when we can spend quality time like this everyday. This quality time is such a blessing - this day, once again, was a perfect day - in just one day, Luke played with his friends at school, went to a mini-zoo, a museum, and then had dinner with his papa. A day doesn't get much better than that for a toddler - or a Mommy....:)

Enjoy these videos...

#1 - Luke shopping at the museum with his cart.

#2 - Luke singing "This is the day that the Lord has made in the swing." This is Luke's favorite song lately. He sings it every morning when he first wakes up while riding in his red car. I love hearing his sweet little voice sing this and I'm so glad that he wants to start his day off with such a positive attitude.

Thanks for being patient with my delay in posting. Have a great week. I think it should be a beautiful one AND we get to enjoy an extra hour of day light in the evenings.

Toddy