No fun at all!

I hadn't realized the water was turned on at the park. Richie discovered it pretty quickly while I wasn't paying quite enough attention.

"Camp Mom"

 Daycare closed for a week in July.  Anthony had theater camp and Richie did "Camp Mom". 

We started by walking Anthony to theater camp.  Then we'd head to the park for awhile and a nice long walk to cause him to nap.

After naptime, we'd head out on our excursion for the day.  Some excursions were less fun (pediatrician for shots), some were more fun, like the Children's Discovery Museum.  This time around I bought a membership, I buy it every year or two.  Richie had a great time.  He LOVED the water play area the best, of course.  He painted for awhile, too.  His other favorite was playing with the balls in the baby area.  He'd put the ball in the pneumatic tube, it would shoot to the top and then zig-zag down a maze and pop out at the bottom.  Such fun.

18 Months Old!

Richie turned 18 months old at the first of the month.  His check-up went well.  He weighed in at 21 lb 15 ounces and 30 inches long.  15% for weight and 1% for height.  Dr. Zetes said we shouldn't expect any major changes, since he's been following his little curve since he was about 5 months old.

Richie is still insanely fond of balls and dogs.  At this block party a doggie grabbed pizza right out of his hand.  We all watched it happen, it took the dog a good five minutes make it happen.  Richie just thought it was funny.

The big change we've noticed is that he now likes to read!!!!!  We're a family of readers and I was very sad when he couldn't sit through "Moo, Ba, La La La."  Now he'll grab a book walk up and climb on my lap to read.  He is quite fond of some of the Boynton Books, LOVES Brown Bear and The Very Busy Spider and also loves Mem Fox's books "Hello Baby" and "Ten Little Fingers".

Park Time!

In addition to daily camp, Anthony is doing swim lessons every day.  We try to get to the pool early so the boys can play on the playground for awhile first.

Richie loves the slides.  He can go down the five foot slide by himself.  He keeps trying to go down the big curly slide, but when he does he tends to topple down it.  I don't LET him, but last time he took off while Anthony was getting positioned to go down it with him.

He usually walks up the stairs on the jungle gym, but sometimes experiments with the ladders. 

Anthony, meanwhile, climbs up the OUTSIDE of the curly slide.

Summer Camps

The modern child (with two working parents) spends his summer doing a series of day camps.  We are currently on week 4!

So far, all the camps have been a success.

Week 1 was Camp Splash at the YMCA.  He had swim lessons every morning, water play some afternoons and free swim other afternoons.  They ended the week with a field trip to a small waterpark.

Week 2 was Bible School through our church.  It was a short program and he spent the rest of the day at Kathleen's house with Richie and his old friends.

Week 3 was Baking Camp, also through the Y.  That's where he got his lovely chef hat.  This was the camp he most wanted to do.  When we were looking through the camp book I'd say, "Do you want to do swim camp?"  He'd reply, "No, I want to do baking camp."  Ditto for rock climbing camp, theater camp, etc.  So far baking camp was his favorite.  He's eagerly looking forward to making some of his recipes at home, especially the Elephant Ear cookies.

This week is "Camp Discovery" at the Y, a general day camp.  Yesterday they had a water balloon toss.  Today is swimming and tomorrow is a field trip to a bigger water park.