Fall fun

After our adventure at Truck Day, Zach and I headed north to meet up with my friend Cindy and her daughter Caitlin for what I called "Fall Fun Day." I still don't know what else to call it; we went to a nursery/fresh produce market that has created all sorts of games and activities for kids. It was similar to what many of the larger apple orchards around town do, but much more fun for kids (and shorter lines)!

Here's what happened on Fall Fun day...

Shooting a corn cob gun (not pictured), potato-launching and duck racing:


Bike-cart racing (guess who loved this one!):


Eating mini-donuts while waiting for the animal train (pulled by a pretty darn fast tractor!):


Making "corn angels" (guess who did not love playing in the big pile of corn?) and attempting to ride on a goofy inflatable horse:


Petting and feeding a huge menagerie of animals. Where else but Otsego, MN, can you touch and feed grapes to a kangaroo???



And last but not least, finding our way out of the corn maze!


I think there's a 2nd annual Fall Fun Day in our future.

Truck day

Last Saturday we attended Truck Day - Zach's 3rd adventure, Charlie's first. Once again, it was a great time for the boys: a big parking lot full of enormous trucks, too many of which had working horns. Zach's declared favorite was the ice cream truck, and Charlie's was... a difficult call, since we had a hard time getting Charlie out of every single vehicle.

This one is my favorite:

This is something

I have been compiling a list of Zach stories & facts for a while now. I haven't blogged them sooner as I was hoping to include some cute pictures of our boy. It's not easy these days, for various reasons. For example, standing still is not his favorite activity, so many of the pictures turn out like this:

And, for some reason, he still hasn't really mastered smiling on command. He's getting better, as you can see, but it's still not quite natural. Plus, he's just goofy, so many of the pictures turn out like the others scattered through this post.

However, I discovered one way to get a great picture of him, smiling happily. Last Friday was pajama day at Zach's school, so I brought along my camera and asked Zach if he wanted a picture with his new friend Brett. He sure did, and look how darn cute they both are!!!! So I guess if I want a good picture of him, it'll have to include Brett!

If you live in our house, you hear a lot about Brett. The boys bonded on the second day of school over Mario Kart, of all things (we don't even own the game, but somehow Zach has become an expert and quite obsessed). When I picked Zach up that day, he asked if Brett could come over for a playdate. When I picked him up the next time, he wouldn't leave Brett's side until he learned Brett's address (necessary for a playdate, I guess). The teacher has commented many times about how well they get along; the other day she said "it's amazing - they even have real conversations!" That is unusual for boys this age!

Zach's other buddy is our neighbor Payton. They are both home in the afternoons, so they end up playing for a couple of hours every day (a blessing, since Zach is otherwise bored to pieces while Charlie is napping). I've enjoyed watching them figure each other out, considering they are similar in many ways (love of anything involving a ball, cars, trains, etc), but also like to do some very different things. Payton, for example, is an expert grasshopper-catcher, and that is clearly one of his favorite activities. Zach will gamely participate for a while, but I think he remains in the role of spotter, and lets Payton do the dirty work. :)

Some random Zach facts:

1. His latest career ambition: ice cream truck driver.

2. When wearing a hoodie, coat, or vest, he prefers it zipped to the very top. And never, ever can it be completely unzipped. Apparently zippers were made to be zipped.

3. Zach has discovered that everything is made in China, and he enjoys pointing out all the evidence.

4. He would like to change his birthday to May. If that can't happen, he'd recommend that our other babies have birthdays in May.

5. Wondering about the title of this post? Lately, that phrase is what Zach says before he tells us just about anything. We'll be in mid-conversation and he'll say "this is something," pause, and then tell us (a classmate fell on the pavement and scraped his knee, that another one is allergic to bees, etc). We have to try not to laugh. He started out saying "this is something I want to tell you," but now he just goes with the abbreviated version.

17 months

Here we go, the monthly update on our growing boy, who turned 17 months yesterday. It's fun to reflect back on what can change in a month, or at least is a noticeable change.

Like with Zach, I wanted Charlie to have a lovey. And I didn't want it to end up being some ginormous stuffed animal that I'd have to tote everywhere, and that would be difficult to wash. So once again I stuck a small blanket-type animal in Charlie's crib from the time he was just a little guy, hoping he'd become attached to it. And while he's been snuggling it in his bed for a while, we've now reached the stage of true attachment - he wants to bring it everywhere! What's different from Zach's experience is that I immediately bought two of the "frog-bungadee," so I wouldn't have a desperate search for a back-up. And since we interchange them regularly and forget to put one away, Charlie now loves BOTH of his froggies, and seems to prefer to have carry both of them around. Not exactly what I had in mind, but at least he's still satisfied with one!

Charlie talks non-stop. It seems inconceivable we could have two boys who love to talk, but it looks like we're headed in that direction. Don't get me wrong, while the "words" coming out of Charlie's mouth have all sorts of vowel and consonant sounds, and he uses lots of inflection in his "sentences" - he is not speaking any language we know!

Even before we got pregnant with Charlie, I worried that we'd have a hard time if our second child wasn't as quick to speak as Zach was. And now I know - I had nothing to worry about. Charlie does not speak even close to as many words as Zach did at this age... and it doesn't both us in the slightest. It's kind of amazing - you realize so quickly that your kids are different in so many ways, and that's more than half the fun! Charlie is Charlie, and we love everything about him, including all the ways he manages to convey what he wants without using words we can find in the dictionary. And I'm very aware there's a huge range of "normal" when it comes to talking, so I know we don't have to worry. He'll talk when he's ready, and we'll all be ready to listen. :)

Now that Zach is in preschool three mornings per week, Charlie and I have more time together than we've ever had (last year he was still taking morning naps). It's been nice to take him to a park and be able to focus on him without feeling like I'm ignoring Zach (cause as I mentioned before, you have to watch this guy closely when he's on playground equipment!), or just hang out at home reading books and playing together. He's a good little companion!

Charlie has always seemed to prefer Zach's toys to any "baby" toy we have. But I've really been noticing lately how he's really starting to play with things in the way they are intended - zooming cars (or a remote control) across the carpet or a track, lining up and making the animals interact with each other, pushing the trains on the wooden track. He's always been great at playing by himself, but lately I've really gotten a kick out of watching what he'll come up with next.

I know I've said it before, but this is such a fun age. It's so easy to see how Charlie's personality remains the same - he's still our happy-go-lucky, goofy boy - as he continues to grow and expand his world.

^Just had to include that last picture, since it shows his crazy always-standing-up hair!!

Klicka Family visit

Catching up on the rest of our trip to Wisconsin...

While we never need an excuse to go visit my family, the reason we went Labor Day weekend was to attend a party at my cousin's house. It was a great chance to see family I don't get to see often enough!


Four of the 7 cousins - Kim, Gail, Dave & me


Charlie put on a bit of a show - having a great time in the driveway puddles. Doesn't take much to entertain a 16 month old!

Zach spent most of the party in the basement playing Mario Kart with the bigger kids, but he surfaced long enough to roast a marshmallow and chat with Grandpa.

Back at my parents' house, Grandma & Grandpa came up with all sort of entertainment for the boys:

Playing with flashlights in the "fort"

"Fishing" (no hooks, don't worry) off the front porch

Pretty good casting, huh? And Charlie took a moment to smell the flowers.

Nothing like good old-fashioned bubbles, although Zach came up with a new technique as popping them - throwing a ball at them!