The boys are so observant and expressive now and are very aware of a lot going on around them. And they are getting so good at telling me what they want. Evan is now telling me "One too!" when he wants something, regardless of whether or not anyone also has that same thing. He just knows that he wants one of whatever it is, a toy, glass of water, a cookie, a ride on a scooter, too.
Cameron is fascinated by skiing now, much to his father's joy. He demonstrated his interest in the sport by grabbing the purple fly swatter off the hood by our trash can, placing it on the floor, and stepping on it sliding his foot forward saying "Cahmen skiing! Swoosh!"
In another moment of expressive demands, the boys have been using a new step stool to get to the bathroom sink for washing their hands. We typically keep that door closed because we just don't need to have them swimming in the toilet and are loathe to put a toilet seat lock on just yet. Cameron was trying to get in the bathroom and told his Granny "You wash hands? Wash hands Granny." When she said no, it's not time to wash our hands he replied, "I sad." It was only a matter of 24hrs and a single episode of Play With Me Sesame where Big Bird talks about opening a door that he'd figured out how to turn door knobs and open any of the doors in the house. Luckily the front door is a little heavy for him at the moment, but it looks like we're going to be forced to step up our baby proofing.
On the feeding front we're making very small strides in volume so the boys are getting back on track to eating two ounces of any stage 2 puree and consuming up to 4 and 5oz of milk, but very inconsistently. Occasionally Cameron will finish his 4oz of milk or 3oz of "monkey juice" (Danimals yogurt smoothie drink with a monkey on the side) and tell me "Milk all gone." and on one occasion he asked for more milk. I happily obliged but he didn't follow through with drinking the rest of the extra ounce I offered.
This weekend we made a trip to the Baltimore Zoo and as usual we had a fabulous time, despite poor Drew's allergies making him feel horrible. The boys walked the majority of the way around the zoo, but the stroller was still a necessity. They tire easily and if we want to get someplace pretty quickly the stroller is the way to go, especially since we have to carry around their feeding pumps and feeding toys and a double loaded diaper bag. The Baltimore Zoo is really nice, especially since the Whistle Stop eating area has been remodeled and there's lots of shaded areas to sit to eat. There are no high chairs or booster seats or air conditioned indoor area to eat, which poses a major challenge for us because our boys are so particular about eating. They can't be relied upon to sit still so we can feed them. They would run in a heartbeat so we have to have a booster seat to strap them down to or a high chair like the kind you see in a restaurant. And it's much nicer to feed them in a chair that's not their stroller because it's a real pain in the butt to keep the stroller clean and their posture is not the best for eating. Air conditioning wasn't necessary on a gorgeous day like today when the weather was a perfect breezy 77 degrees. But on hotter more typically humid Baltimore-style days in the summer months air conditioning means the difference between getting the boys to eat food and completely refusing necessary calories and fluids because they are already uncomfortable.
But the Baltimore Zoo is close to all our friends, is on the way to Mt. Washington Peds Hospital so I can take the boys there before or after appointments if there's time, and the parking is free. There's also a great playground jungle gym climber there which now that the boys are better at climbing up and hanging by their hands they can really enjoy. I also like that even on a slow day the volunteer staff were everywhere with animals in their hands or on their arms to show to the kids and they were very approachable and all of them were very understanding of a two year old's capacity for understanding and attention span.
Luckily today was a good eating day and the boys did well and it was really pleasant. There was hardly anyone at the zoo today and that was great for us. We didn't get to see too much because the animals all seemed pretty snoozy in their houses and the boys got pretty exhausted early due to walking more than usual. We only saw the polar bears, arctic fox and snowy owl, a couple of ravens, two hawks, a gecko, a turtle and a kookaburra bird that sang his special song just for us.
The boys are getting excellent at holding our hands and not letting go. But they are completely unreliable about staying put or trying to wander off or drag us in two different directions at the same time. And they don't really know how to walk a straight line, each always pulling and leaning to one side which either trips me up or makes one of the two fall down. But we're getting to the point where probably going to be walking most everywhere with them holding our hands in the next six months. Well, that or whenever they finally get that they are supposed to follow me no matter what and not wander off without looking where they are going.
Here's some pics from this weekend.
Old Navy has some of the best jammies this season. My little astronauts!
Cameron's got some big shoes to fill.
My little Pirates! The already know how to the pirate walk and talk. Aaarrrggg!
Here's some of the animals we saw at the zoo.
We visited the Kids Petting Zone to see the goats. Evan was mesmerized with how the goats were eating from the hanging bale of hay. He was so intrigued that he decided that he should see what was so tasty about hay and leaned in to sample a bite himself. At the last minute he changed his mind, but it was fun watching him think about what the goats were doing and see the little gears in his head turning trying to decide if this was something he should give a try.
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