A Day at the Zoo

The day to day grind was getting mundane, and I'd been meaning to get together with Katrina. We agreed to meet up at the Zoo this past Wednesday as it could be fun for the kids and is about halfway between our houses. 

It is the perfect way to spend our morning. We get there right when it opens, and are the only people there (or we didn't see anyone else anyway) for the first hour and a bit. After that there are a few school/daycare groups, but it is still not crowded at all. Such a nice leisurely way to spend our day. 

I borrowed a double stroller (City Select) from Natalia (THANK YOU!!!). It allows Emilia to sleep for the first half of the excursion, and I carry her in the Beluga Baby wrap for the second half.

The first animal we see is the Zebra, and Dominic points excitedly towards it. It's not doing much, and Henry wonders out loud why it's being so still. Henry is so hilarious the whole time. He is more excited about the pine-cones ("Oh my GOODNESS! Look at the pinecones!!") than the cheetah, and keeps asking if we can go see the giraffes. We let it slip that we plan to stop for a snack break when we get to the giraffes. 

Over all we have a wonderful time, and we're considering getting an annual pass sometime. That way we can go whenever we want, and don't have to worry about being disappointed if we miss an animal, or if the kids have a meltdown 30 minutes in. 

Now for the pictures!

Dave is able to take the morning off and come along to help us out! He also doesn't want to miss out on Dom's first trip to the zoo :) I can't believe we forgot to take a family photo. We're so bad at that!

2 Mommies and 4.5 littles

Pointing to the Zebra!

Me: Do you see the camel?

Dom: *spits*

He looks relatively un-phased and unimpressed most of the time, but I assure you he is just taking it all in.

There are 3 black bears and they give us a great show! They are wrestling, come right up to the fence and show us how fast they can scurry up the tree

He's a bit more excited about the bears, "Rawwwwr"

We miss out on seeing Shadow the Grizzly bear. Glad these black bears make up for it!

David spots the cheetah coming towards the fence, so we meander down that way, and it paces back and forth in front of us, purring and staring. It is a very eerie creature. Katrina and I talk about how the other big cats seem cute and cuddly, while this one just seems scary.

We let the kids out to stretch their legs and play with rocks in front of the cheetah.

Why is Dominic such a giant?! These two are only 6 weeks apart.

Henry climbs the fence for a better view, and the two littler boys naturally want to follow suit!

Okay Henry, NOW it's time to go see the giraffes and have our snack.

After our snack we sit down on benches in front of the big cat cages. The tiger comes out of its enclosure and comes straight for us! Very cool!

This big guy was vocalizing and came up to the fence. He must not have liked a particular lady. In this photo I have captured him spraying pee through the fence right onto her! Definitely the funniest moment of the day.

Dominic only cries once the whole day, and that is when the female lion sneezes right in front of him. Daddy is sitting here making sure he knows it's all okay.

The King of the Jungle

The boys!

Loving the pea gravel!

I guess since Dom's love language is food, he wants to feed the giant pig some gravel(?)

Beautiful mama and her 2.5 babies

Dom normally naps from 12-2, but we didn't leave until after 12. He passes out HARD on the way home, and transfers well into his crib. He seems happy to be put into it.

Getting him back out after a 2.5 hour nap was a whole other story! I have to pick him right up out of his crib to even wake him up. Amazing what some fresh air and new experiences will do! I look forward to more of that this summer :)

Thankful Thursday - 138

This week I am thankful for..

1. A fun day at the zoo! I'll post a separate blog about our morning at the zoo, but we met up with Katrina & the boys there, and had a really good time. Such a nice change of scenery, even if the animals are a little sad... at least the boys were entertained!

David came along with us to increase our adult to child ratio .

2. Friends for Dom. Dominic is super cautious, timid and shy/sensitive about new people, new surroundings and new anything really. He takes a long time to warm up and we try to respect that to the best of our ability and resist the urge to push him. It was really nice going to the zoo with Henry and Sam who are more adventurous and could model that behaviour for him. He actually cried and fussed when we LEFT the playground! Not like him at all! That made me happy :)

3. Happy happy! 

Excitedly batting at the hanging ball

4. Seeing Dom & Emilia grow together. While it's only been 7 weeks since Emilia came into the picture, I have already loved watching Dom interact with her, or ask about her when she's not around. He is always so excited to see her. It warms my heart!

He has a thing about pointing to eyes right now, so we really have to watch him. He's not always gentle!

Dominic - 18 months

Our little firstborn is a full-fledged toddler now. He is becoming more of a little boy every day. He is a sensitive, caring, goofy little guy whom we love very much. This is my last "monthly update" post until he turns 2. It kind of makes me sad, but at least I have another baby to do them for! :)

Weight: 32.6lb (still way off the charts)
Height: 88cm/34.65 inches (over 97th percentile)
Head Circumference: 49cm (85th percentile)

Likes:

• Favorite toys/games: Cars, throwing the ball for Sherlock, pass, reading books, playing in his kitchen, building with his megablocks and duplo, basketball, hitting a ball around with his plastic golf club, his stacking toy from IKEA. 
• Emilia (aka Yaya). Fun fact. Yia Yia (how Dom says Emilia) actually means Grandma in Greek. Learned that while watching "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2" the other day.
• Chew & Show. Super charming!
• Sherlock is still a favorite every day. "BUPPAAAAAA!!!!" First thing he looks for every morning when he gets up. Buppa and Yaya. 
• Familiar songs (Tiny Turtle, happy and you know it, shake your sillies out, wheels on the bus, etc.)
• His blankets

Dislikes:

• Being told "no".
• Not getting what he wants
• Loud noises. We had a dump truck and wheel loader moving around large rocks outside our house for a few days straight. The sound of the rocks on the metal totally freaked him out and traumatized him. Now if he's in a mood (hungry or tired or sensitive), any time he hears a vehicle or noise from outside he comes running and crying and needs to be picked up/comforted. Poor guy. 

Notes:

• Words: Please (pees pees), puppy (buppa), no, ya (da), help (sounds more like "kelp kelp"), mama (what he calls phones), daddy (any person he views as a caregiver), shoes, Yoda (na-na), banana (nana), cheese, hi, bye, yummmm, blue, turtle, tractor, night night, uh oh, all done, toes, two, three, Emilia (Yaya), diaper boo, General Grievous (mostly just a soft growly "G" sound), Darth Vader (Da... Va da), dump truck (Duh Tuh), yee-haw!, bless you (dess uu), THROW!
• Sounds/signs: cow (moo moo), fish (kissy face and hand wave), bird (wildly flaps his arms), lion/bear (softest roar ever), turtle (tries to make a turtle with his hands), snake (hisss), crocodile (CHOMP with his hands), hippo (clicks his teeth together), elephant (pathetic elephant noise), giraffe (with a LOOOONG neck - points to his neck), dog/puppy, porcupine/sea urchin (OUCH!), walrus/seal (claps and barks), crab (pinches), bunny (does bunny ears and smacks his lips), donkey (hee-haww), monkey (ooh ooh ahh ahh trying to scratch armpits), gorilla (bangs his chest), skunk (stinky stinky), owl (hoo hoo), kangaroo (jumps), camel (spits - I love this one), penguin (waddles), bee (bzzzz), car (vroom vroom!), ambulance/police/firetruck (wee-oo wee-oo), train (CHOO CHOO! Which is actually "Tee tee" with his arm pulling down on the horn), taxi (holds his hand up like hailing a taxi), chewbacca (pretends to chew... chewy ;))
• He seems to understand some colours and definitely understands instruction/direction, but doesn't always listen.
• Repeats "bless you" (dess uu) after someone sneezes.
• Will give kisses. Most consistently to Emilia. He seems protective of her and will rush to her aid if she's fussing/crying. 
• Blows kisses when we say goodnight. He used to kiss his hand and forget to blow it, but now he just holds his hand up to his mouth and blows on it. He'll connect the two eventually haha!
• He has figured out our "child-proof" plugs for our outlets. He takes them out and puts them back in... great. 
• He can string two words together sometimes (ex. "Hi Daddy")
• He's starting to understand 1, 2, 3. He knows I point to things, and if I go one... two... he'll enthusiastically yell out THREE!!! 
• He is developing more of an imagination. Likes to pretend to cook, eat (and share his pretend food), sleep, etc.
• He will sing/hum the "clean up, clean up" song when we start putting his toys away.
• We took him to the zoo for the first time today!
• I'm ashamed (but not really) to admit he totally knows the Netflix logo. He can differentiate between getting to watch a show (Netflix logo), or if I'm just putting on music (spotify logo) on the TV. If netflix comes up he runs over to his chair and plops down ready to watch... He gets anywhere from 0-60 minutes of TV a day. Usually around the 20 minute mark total. It's a useful tool, and I use it when I need to, but I try to avoid it when possible. 
• He has 3 Star Wars books, and can now identify the following characters: Chewbacca, Yoda, BB-8, General Grievous, Darth Vader, C3PO and R2D2
• He throws temper tantrums. 
• In his car seat he'll say "Vroom!" for every car that drives by. A big car gets a big "VROOM!" and a little car gets a quiet "vroom"
• Wears mostly 3T shirts and 2T bottoms, and size 6-7 shoes, depending on the brand.

A typical day for Dom:

700 - wake up

715 - breakfast (oatmeal & banana)

Play-time

930 - occasionally a small snack

1100 - lunch time

1145 - 10 minutes of Paw Patrol

1200 - nap time

230 - up from nap

3/330 - snack if needed

500 - dinner time

630 - bath (on bath day), jammies, and some wind-down play time. 

7/715 - head upstairs for bed!

Photos (oldest to newest) from the last month. Lots of firsts!

First kiss for his baby sister

First dump truck experience. Much less scary than the second one.

First food truck festival

First ice cream cone(s)

First time painting

TWINS!

First time wearing my shades

First time at water park

First time to the Provinceton Playground with Mom & Dad

This is what a Tuesday morning looks like when your husband works from home some days :) Wouldn't change it for the world!

Tummy Time Twins! 

(Why is his head SO massive?!)

So photogenic. And those lips!! 

Getting him to sit still for his photos with the bear was near impossible!

I hardly recognize this boy. Check out his little poof of hair <3

First time to the zoo! (More on that to come.)