Fall fun!

Whew! We had a whirlwind Fall Break weekend. On Friday, we met some friends at a local farm for some good play. At the farm, there was a nice little playground, and Stephen shocked me by going on the play structure on his own. Usually he gets a little timid in unfamiliar settings, so this was a BIG DEAL! And he went up and down multiple times, only coming to get me when he wanted to try to climb a ladder.

These are the friends we went with - Baby Korbin, Abby, and Audrey (and of course, their mommy!!)

Stephen has a little crush on Audrey - and really enjoyed watching her jump. Stephen didn't want to try the jumping pillows, but he had fun watching. We enjoyed a nice carousel ride too...

And picked out a pumpkin!

I love this picture, because none of the kids are looking at the camera - there was a tractor rolling by that had caught the attention of the two boys.

My little sweetie let me take a few pictures of him in a nice little photo area...

And of course, Stephen and Audrey had to hug and kiss goodbye. *my heart* I love these kids!

On Saturday, we took Stephen over to a home improvement store to build a monster truck.

And then on Sunday, we headed over to Frontier City with Grandma and Granddaddy, who are here for a visit! Stephen really LOVES "little houses" and there were several in the kid area at the park, and he had to go in all of them to look around.

Another carousel, but this time with Grandma!

The park wasn't very crowded on Sunday afternoon, so Stephen enjoyed "free ranging" and not holding hands. He was very good about staying with us, for the most part, and did a LOT of running and walking, with very little carrying. We took Stephen on a LOT of rides, and a great time was had by all.

All Better!

Stephen had his staples removed on Friday, and he was a SUPERSTAR! We had been concerned about how he would do, given that he had 4 adults holding him down to have the staples put in, but he didn't get upset at all. He got a flu shot afterwards, though, and he was more upset about that.

We spent some time playing outside this weekend. Stephen has discovered a love of running, and always loves his red ball. He's pretty good at kicking it, since it makes a large target.

And really, there's just nothing better than being chased by your Daddy!!

Stephen wasn't hatching the ball - he was about to try a somersault over the top of it.

Stephen was able to go back to the pool on Sunday, and resumes swim lessons tomorrow, and is back to his normal, crazy self!

Almost Five Years...

Stephen's Wednesday this week started out with drawing this at school (I'm sure he had help, but I know he put a lot of effort in to writing Pig, and he wasn't upset about doing this according to his teacher). They are learning about farms and pumpkin life cycles in anticipation of heading to a Pumpkin Farm this week for a field Trip.


Wednesday ended with this:

Yes, those are staples in Stephen's head. We made it almost 5 years in between ER visits for our boy, who last went to the Emergency room at 10 days old - he was having trouble breathing, likely due to aspirating some spit-up. Wednesday, after dinner, Stephen injured himself as a result of a high-speed backwards header in to the leg of one of our dining room chairs. He split his scalp all the way through, but we were all very tough (ESPECIALLY Stephen), and no one passed out or threw up. He had 3 staples put in, which will come out on Friday. Unfortunately, this means no swim lessons this week, but I'll find other fun things to occupy him on those days.

Don't worry - Stephen is really just fine. He doesn't seem to be bothered by it too much, and he is enjoying his showers (no baths). He'll be none the worse for wear, thanks to his mop of hair!