Cole loves his butterfly pillow.

Grandma Mirman sent a little pillow with two pillow cases-the butterfly one and a frog one. Cole was thrilled by both of them and carried the pillow around with him for a few days. Our babysitter (who was here when we opened the box) and I thought the butterfly pillowcase looked a little girly, but Cole likes butterflies so we didn't think too much about it.

When Cole and I called grandma to say thanks, we learned that the butterfly pillow case was for Cole's cousin Alexandra--grandma got the labels on the boxes mixed up. (Alexandra ended up with a firetruck pillowcase.) I asked Cole if he wanted to trade the butterflies for firetrucks and he very emphatically said "NO!" I hope Alexandra likes firetrucks!

I think the babysitter, who is a special education major at College of Charleston taking a psychology of gender class, was a little disappointed that it was a mix up. She thought it was cool that grandma sent a girly pillow to her grandson.

The Yorktown--Another Fun Field Trip

We had so much fun on the trip to the farm that we decided to take the boys to the Yorktown, a WWII aircraft carrier. There were a lot of planes on display and one they could sit inside. They loved running around on the flight deck. After the tour, we had a picnic lunch.

It has been hard to get a picture of Jay standing. He gets so excited that he starts to bounce and laugh, then falls over before I can grab the camera. He has taken a few steps (six is the record), but I think crawling is so much faster for him that he prefers it. Doesn't he look proud!

Aunt Robyn,

Does this remind you of anything?

(To those not in the immediate family: Robyn got her head stuck between railings at our old house growing up. I never understood why she did it. Apparently Jay got this gene.)

Guess what I had for lunch...

A Day at the Farm
My friend Holly arranged an outing to a farm on nearby John's Island. It was a blast! When we arrived, Cole climbed right up on a tractor like he had been doing it for years. I was shocked that my cautious, shy Cole moved right into the driver's seat. He was very excited to be there!



We started the official tour with a hay ride out to the cow pasture and fed the cows (from the trailer, not the ground). They gave us a bag of food pellets which we threw out (or, if you were brave, held out in your hand.) If I hadn't been holding on to Jay I think he would have jumped over the side with excitement. Cole spent much of the time teaching Jay that cows say moo. When the food was gone, we went to see the other animals. These were all in cages. There were goats, which we had to feed by hand because they can't eat food pellets off the ground. Who knew?! I always thought goats ate anything, anywhere, anytime. Cole didn't want to get near the goats until all the other boys had fed them and survived. Even then, he wasn't comfortable unless I held my hand under his. There were also two little lambs that had been born earlier that morning and two pigs which we admired from a distance because the woman said they were mean. Then the boys played on playground equipment before we left. All the boys had a great time and there were a few tears when it was time to leave.


Another highlight of the day: The gas station where we met before driving to the farm was doing major construction so the boys saw an excavator and a crane in action. Altogether a heavenly day for a three-year-old boy.

The Party--Thomas the Train Birthday Express

Train tracks led to the front door.



Everyone had fun playing outside.

Eating pizza.
Cole loved his Thomas cake so much that he cried when we passed out pieces. The party momentarily stopped as he sobbed, "I want to put it back together." When we told him we would open presents next, he decided it was ok.

Jay thought his cake was wonderful too. But when it was time to eat it, he also cried. We finally figured out he wanted more pizza, not cake. Next year we may have to make a Birthday Pizza!

Cole tore into a present before we were ready. When we told him to wait, he said "But it has my name on it." We really couldn't argue with that, so we quickly got ready. All the friends helped Jay unwrap his gifts. The boys got some great new toys.

A Thomas pinata ended the party. It had strings to pull instead 0f hitting it with a stick. When it opened the kids had a blast finding all the toys. A Thomas train whistle was included, which was a big hit (with the kids, NOT the parents).

When Cole finally settled down to take a nap, it was a record 5 1/2 hours long. We probably should have woken him up earlier because he was then up until 10:30, long after we wanted to go to bed! Jay never did take an afternoon nap. It was a great day!