Our Visitor

Today we met Max and Lucy (and Chris and Patti) for some pictures of the cousins. The pictures didn't turn out quite as planned, but that's another story.

Rudy brought his Gato and Max had his beloved Puppy. The boys played around the mall with their animals and at some point switched them (or as Rudy says, fwitched). Max told me he wanted to take Gato home with him. We asked Rudy if he wanted to take Puppy home. He said yes. Next weekend is Max's birthday party so we knew we'd be seeing them all soon enough to be able to switch the animals back. We reviewed several times that if we did this, there was no changing their minds later. Max would have to be without Puppy for the week and Rudy would be without Gato. The boys continued to agree so we all left for our respective houses.

Rudy has asked a few times for Gato - but more just a question than a concern. A few times he has also said "I want my Gato." But I just reminded him he was visiting with Max and we had Puppy to visit with us. I even suggested Puppy might miss Max but Rudy's response was "No, Puppy like be by himself and come see me."
So we took a few pictures today chronicling Puppy's first day of vacation. We hope Gato is having as good a time and Max should know that Puppy and Rudy are happily sleeping together.

One the way home, Rudy and Puppy had to stop at the Rest Area.



Rudy insisted on taking a picture of Puppy in the chair.



Rudy and Puppy watching Nemo and taking Rudy's medicine.



Rudy, Poppy and Puppy reading stories at bedtime.

FFF

Gato and Rudy have been inseperable lately. Gato goes to school with Rudy and stays in his cubby until naptime. Gato has gotten in trouble for being too noisy at nap time, though; Rudy says Gato keeps talking to him. Rudy has been refering to Gato as his 'daughter' lately. Here we were on the way to Grandmom and Gram's house for my birthday celebration. Gato had to be carried inside Rudy's coat because she is his baby.

Birthday Parties

Rudy had two birthday parties this weekend, followed by two over the next two weekends. It is a busy season for parties. This weekend's parties were quite varied. The first party was at our local aquarium. It's very small but it was still fun. We saw an animal show and got to feed sting rays. Rudy was fascinated with touching the horseshoe crabs over and over again.



He also really enjoyed the big sea turtle.



On Sunday the party was at a gymnastics center. Rudy had fun running around trying all sorts of things (of course, at the time he was supposed to be doing what everyone else was doing!). Here he is with his new best friend - S, she is his teacher's daughter and they are just two peas in a pod when they get together.



He also got to ride on a zip line. Paul and I were very jealous. The first time Rudy went on it, he landed head first in the foam pit. When I pulled him out, he had a big grin on his face. Of course he went back a second time!

Happy First Day of Spring

In typical fashion for our area, the first day of spring was like anything BUT the first day of spring. We woke up to a rainy day but by the time 9am rolled around, it was snowing. Fortunately there was no accumulation but it snowed pretty big flakes for 30 or 40 minutes.
But it was the first day of spring and Rita's gives out free water ice so Rudy and I decided to brave it. We picked up water ice on our way home - Rudy picked chocolate and I chose lemon. Despite the cold, we gave it our best try. I ate about 1/8 of my water ice because I got so cold. Rudy did better - he finished about half of his before he decided to save it for another day - preferably a non-snowy, sunny spring day!

FFF - Growing Up

While not yet consistent, and only with one pair of shoes, Rudy is starting to become Mr. Independent when it comes to putting his shoes on. We've been gradually working with him to get dressed and undressed on his own and lately he will grab his shoes and insist he do it himself. Sometimes he's even lucky enough to get them on the correct feet.

Fun at Home

Over the last week, Rudy and I have spent almost 5 days together. I was sick last week. I went to my doctor on Thursday and she diagnosed me as having a virus ( very little that could be done) and suggested strongly that I take the rest of the week off to rest and relax. I agreed, which is very unusual for me. Despite popular opinion, if I'm at home, even if it's because I'm sick, Rudy stays home with me. The main reasons for this are 1) I feel guilty sending him to school if I am able to take care of him at home and 2) his school is not on the way to anything else and very much out of the way for Paul to go to, so it doesn't seem worth the effort to get him there if I'm not going there. So Rudy and I stayed home Thursday and Friday and had very lazy days - Rudy got to watch more TV in a day than he usually does in a week - but it enabled me to nap so all was good.

By Saturday I was feeling better. Paul had a basketball tournament this weekend so he was gone most of the day. Rudy and I ran errands and I felt pretty good, if a little tired. By Saturday afternoon my throat started to get scratchy and I started thinking about how to see my doctor again without having to take off from work on Monday.

Sunday, my birthday, Rudy and I went to watch Paul's basketball team. Then we came home and waited for Paul. We had plans to go out to a nice seafood dinner. By mid-afternoon on Sunday my throat was very scratchy and painful and I decided my best option was to go to the local Urgent Care center once Paul got home. Fortunately, once I arrived, I only waited about 30-45 minutes. The doctor checked me out, didn't see anything in my throat, my lungs and ears were clear. But he decided to do a throat culture anyway, just in case. Good thing he did since it turned out I had Strep Throat. His next question to me was "What do you do?" When I told him I was a teacher he told me I could not go to work the next day because they were trying to prevent any major outbreaks. I wasn't thrilled about being off, and I knew my work wouldn't be either. But I accepted it as necessary.

Our day off on Monday turned out to be a great day. Paul had a very busy weekend and was out the door by about 6:15 both mornings. I suggested that he should take the day off and relax and he agreed so we had a nice, easy day off together.

Now onto the pictures. When you are 3 and forced to stay inside at home for 2 days, you tend to get creative.

Playing a drum in a parade around the house.



The blue blanket was his cage and he was a tiger.



A sleepy boy on the way home from basketball on Sunday. (I just can't resist the peaceful pictures!)



Birthday cake made by my favorite guys.



On Monday Paul and Rudy went to the local Wildlife Refuge and walked and drove around for a while.

FFF - Hockey Ball

Last weekend, less than a week after the big snow, was a warm , spring weekend. So Rudy and I played outside for a while. We ended up kicking a soccer ball back and forth. Rudy named the game "hockey ball". Essentially we kicked the ball back and forth. A few times he missed the ball and I jokingly said 'strike' then went to correct myself by saying "oh, no, that's baseball". However, Rudy said there are strikes in hockey ball "just like a jaguar has strikes". So many things wrong with that answer, I didn't know where to start so I just let it go.

FFF - Naps

Rudy has pretty much given up naps, although he does sleep pretty regularly at school during the week. However, the last 2 Sundays we have discovered a way to get him to nap. Around 4pm we put on a show for him to watch and eventually he (and anyone else in the room) falls asleep.

Snow Day, Part 2

Yes, two posts in one day. After lunch we went to take Lou for a walk and explore the areas around us. It was still bitterly cold so we didn't stay out for very long, and Rudy seemed to get more frustrated this time by the depth of the snow and the fact he would often fall over while trying to walk through the yard. While on our walk Rudy discovered the chunks of snow/ice from the snowplow and had a lot of fun picking them up and throwing them onto the ground. If they didn't break, he would then stomp on them to break them.







The view from the bottom of our street.



We had a great snow day at home today. Rudy was very busy - playing with his toys, making Gato and Cookie Monster have a dance party, pretending to skateboard through the house and going to a skateboard party. We had delicious potato soup for dinner and baked a cake for dessert. Just a perfect day. Back to the grind tomorrow.

Snow Day

We finally, in March, got our first big snowfall of the year. Believe it or not, Rudy's school (and my work) was actually open, but there was no way I was attempting to get in there. Paul's office was closed and even my night job closed so we all got to stay home.
We went out around 9am and it was snowing again and very windy. Rudy had a lot of fun and was covered in snow within minutes. But we still had to bring him in against his will.





Even the dog had fun in the snow - since he's a Swissy, I think it's in his blood.



Once we came inside, he was trying to eat the snow off his clothes, so we got a cup full of snow for him to eat.

Ideal Bite | Green Mardi Gras Celebration | How can you have a fab Mardi Gras without flying to N'awlins?

Ideal Bite | Green Mardi Gras Celebration | How can you have a fab Mardi Gras without flying to N'awlins?

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