Aside from school, something we love to do is go to the Long Beach Aquarium. August gets all fired up looking at the fish - especially the "pancake fish" also known as the stingray. Another fun thing we did was go to Disneyland for the first time!! As much as Matt and I were skeptical of the over commercialization, it was really hard to be cynical about it because it RULED! August had a blast and we rode It's a Small World about 10 times in a row. We learned the hard way that Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, although small, is not for really small people who get scared easily. We also learned this about the Alice and Wonderland ride that looked very gentle and sweet with the caterpillar cars but had a queen screaming "OFF WITH HIS HEAD!" at us with a 70's black light effect while our little car was jerking and jolting. Luckily August held himself together but he kept making sure we weren't going on that one again. He thoroughly enjoyed the monorail, the car ride, rocketship ride, the choo choo (go figure), Dumbo and the tea cups. If we could afford to, we would go there everyday.
This Halloween was so much fun since August really "got it." He loved the candy part, but what he liked best was going to all the different houses. He was interested in why some houses had their light on and some didn't and why some people didn't answer and some people did. He was on a mission - we thought he might poop out after an hour or so (he doesn't nap anymore, so he goes to bed early), but he hung in there and didn't want to stop for anything! Finally, way after dark and after all the other little kids were home and in bed, he could barely walk anymore and so he gave in bid farewell to Halloween 2009. He already talks about next year - "When is it gonna be Halloween time again?" and how he wants to be Thomas (another train) or "Cinderelly" (which is what his friend Ava was). He has already told me that I will be a tender (the train coal car) and Matt will be the "boose" (Caboose).
For Thanksgiving, August and I went to Colorado and surprisingly, it was warm and sunny out the whole time! It was so nice that we got to take a family bike ride around my parents' neighborhood which was a nice change from the busy, crammed streets of LA. I got on my old 10-speed and August got on his two-wheeler with training wheels and we went off for an adventure. Baba came along to supervise. August spent lots of quality time with Grandpa Jack and especially liked being in the garage and at Grandpa's workshop. He learned how to nail, use a screwdriver, drill a hole all by himself and even saw a board. His little mechanical mind was working overtime! While we were there, one morning when he woke up he shot straight up out of bed and said, "Wow, Grandpa Jack's got neat tools!" so clearly he'd been thinking about it all night!
Right now, August is heavily into pretending. He loves to be different people and tell us that we're different people. Today, he was a "ductor" (conductor), Thomas, Cinderelly, McQueen and an ice cream man. The other day we got in the car and from the back I hear, "Hi Murdoch, where are we going today?" (apparently I was Murdoch, one of his trains). He is always saying, "Let's pretend I'm XYZ and you're XYZ..." He has quite the imagination (not surprising knowing who he comes from)!
Christmas is fast approaching and it is going to be amazing since the whole Santa thing makes sense to him - or as much sense as a man coming down your chimney can. We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and we hope to see everyone in the New Year if not sooner! :) (Yes, that last line will serve as our Christmas card.)
Click on the photos to see the album.
September
 |
| September 2009 |
October
 |
| October 2009 |
November
 |
| November 2009 |
