Downtown Fair

Saturday was our town's downtown fair. It's not all that exciting - about a block's worth of activities, vendors, etc. But it is within walking distance and a nice way to spend part of a day. Rudy's friend, Tommy, and his parents joined us.

The first stop was the petting zoo. Later Rudy continued to talk about the 'paca (alpaca). He also attempted to brush a chicken.

Tommy wanted to hold Rudy's hand and Rudy willingly agreed.

Then they started dancing to the music as they walked together.

There were a few people in costume walking around. The first one we saw was Spongebob and Rudy was excited but after he walked away, Rudy told me it was someone pretending to be Spongebob because he had different shoes. Look out, Santa, this boy is observant! Next we saw Mickey Mouse (the same man as Spongebob - we saw him trying to unobtrusively change costumes in the parking lot) and then Batman. But the big hit, for both boys, was Snow White and Belle. Both of them were very excited and shy to see these ladies. And for the rest of the time, everytime we passed the princesses, Rudy would point them out again. Even now, as I type this, Rudy is telling me that he wants to see the picture with Belle again. Rudy also told me later that Batman and the princesses were real but not Mickey Mouse and Spongebob. I am assuming because they were people instead of animals or characters.

After walking around, going in the bouncer and down the slides, we stopped to have pizza and later found some yummy brownies. The boys played football while we finished our lunch. It was a beautiful morning to walk around.

Guatemalan Soccer Star

Today was Rudy's second soccer class. He was very excited and when he picked out his clothes for the day, he had to wear Max's soccer shirt (an extra from Max's team that Chris gave him) and talked about how his coach was going to be so surprised to see his shirt with the number 1 on it. He wouldn't let me take a picture until I took a picture of the back first.

Then at school today he got, not only a shirt for his team, but also shin guards, a ball, a bag and a water bottle. He was so excited! So, of course, after dinner we had to go to the park for a little while. To quote Rudy his shirt is "a little big".

Once at the field he kept demonstrating how his shin guards work - by falling down. I think he thought they were knee pads because he would fall and then say "see I not get hurt because of them".

He had to take a break from playing to give me a flower. "Close your eyes, I have a surprise for you."

On the way home he was hugging his ball and saying "I love you. Lovey dovey. Lovey dovey."

Here is a video of Rudy in action. We may be prejudiced (just a little) but we think he's very skilled for his age. :)

FFF- My Boys

The last few times we've been on the boardwalk, Rudy has wanted his picture taken with this statue. Since he is very hard to take pictures of, anytime he volunteers to have a picture taken, I agree. This time Paul got into the picture too.

Rudyisms

Rudy is fascinated with Batman and Spiderman - two shows he has never seen (except maybe at a babysitter's - more than a year ago). He also will frequently reference the "bad" Spiderman or Batman. I don't know where he gets that from.

Although he's almost 4, he still plays hide and seek like a much younger child. Anytime he wants to hide from someone, he covers his eyes as if since he can't see us, we can't see him. I am ready for him to be past this phase, so I can stop pretending I don't see him as he covers his eyes and says "Say, Where's Rudy?"

Getting ready in the morning has become a struggle - he wants us to 'help' him get dressed - which translates into do everything for him. We came up with a reward system - he and Paul pick out his clothes for the next morning right before he goes to bed. Then in the morning we bring the clothes downstairs and he is expected to get dressed. He then receives a sticker on a chart. Once he has 4 stickers, he can pick candy for his dessert that night. So far, day one went great!

Rudy's most recent favorite phrase is "Oh, boy, here we go again." It is said with a sigh and the sound of exasperation and is absolutely hysterical. Of course, since we laughed the first few times, he says it often every day to get a reaction. This morning I asked him to repeat it for me on video - it's not exactly the same as when he says it spontaneously , but it's close.

Last Boardwalk Trip for the Season

Since it was a nice weekend, we decided to take one last trip to the boardwalk before the rides close. My dad went with us and then took us out for a delicious dinner.

Riding the carousel (Paul doesn't like to use the zoom for some reason :)).
The tilt-a-whirl - I used to love this ride even when it made me nauseous. Now I get nauseous just thinking about riding it. I think it was a bit much for Paul but Rudy went from this right onto another spinning ride.

My son - isn't he cute?

The scrambler

After dinner, a quiet ride home until we realized he was fast asleep in the back. This is amazing just because we can ride home at 7pm from Chris and Patti's, put Rudy in his pajamas before we leave, and still have him stay awake until we get home (an hour and a half later) but he was asleep about 10 minutes after we left the boardwalk. It is very odd to have the house so quiet so early (but certainly nice).

Climbing Trees

Today we attended a spanish playgroup. It was set up by a local Guatemalan adoption group to help foster spanish knowledge in our kids and ourselves. The class was led by a native spanish speaker and she was a great teacher. We spent the first class learning the colors rojo, amarillo, verde and azul - all things Rudy has known but often forgets. It was a nice refresher course for Paul and I, who haven't used our limited spanish in almost two years.The playgroup is hopefully going to be a monthly event and we're really looking forward to continuing with it.



Rudy refusing a picture while in the car.

And refusing another picture after the playgroup - he's wearing his rojo sombrero with Elmo that he made. I was very impressed with how well he colored and cut it out - two weeks in school has been great for him.

Since we had to drive over an hour to get to the playgroup, we planned on making a day of it and doing something locally. Fortunately, there was an arboretum a few miles down the road. The theme of exhibits was treehouses. We spent a few hours walking around the grounds, climbing in treehouses and enjoying the frogs (pictures to follow). It was definitely cooler than usual but very sunny.

One of the houses from the three little pigs display - see them on the roof?

These frog statues were all over the grounds and everytime we found one, Rudy wanted his picture taken. If you've ever tried to take a picture of Rudy, you know how uncooperative he can be, so we had to take full advantage of this willingness!

The picture does not show how he was running and skipping ahead of us, so excited to follow the signs and look for the next treehouse.

A guitarra, which had lots of instruments inside to play.

Yes, we did climb all the way up here.

Another frog

Paul was trying to get Rudy to stop walking and take a picture with me. Rudy said no, but when we got to the next house, he would be willing to take a picture inside. Well, the next house we found turned out to be a storage shed that we couldn't go into, but Rudy kept his word and happily posed outside of it with me.

Checking out some blueberries in the meadow maze.

Playing more musica.

Looking at a real frog - waiting to see if it would do anything (like move).

Yet another frog statue

A bird house/ treehouse where Rudy told me he had 12 babies inside that I could take care of when he left - gee thanks.

Rudy and Paul in front of one of the three little pigs' houses.

The trees in the arboretum were just majestic and amazing and Paul took a lot of great shots of them.

FFF- My Three Favorite Kids

Walk for The Arc

Once again, Paul, Rudy and I are going to participate in our local Arc's fundraising walk. Here is the link from last year's walk. The walk takes place on a local boardwalk and it raises funds for an organization that is so essential. The Arc provides a variety of services for adults and children with developmental disabilities. I have been working for them since 1996 in many different positions but one position has remained the same over all those years. I work as a family support associate. I provide respite services for a family with a member with cerebral palsy. This family has become a part of my family over all these years. I have known this family longer than I have known Paul. Although it is technically a job, it is such a part of my life to be over there a few afternoons a week, that I don't know what I would do if I didn't have to go there. My job is easy: I hang out with Chrissy, paint her nails, look at pictures, take her out, and basically give her mom a break from having to care for her. The family does not pay me; Arc pays me. There are many other families who receive in-home support. There are families who know their loved ones are well cared for and supported in a supervised apartment or group home setting. And there are adults and children who are able to go to social programs and participate in sports, that, if not for the Arc, they would not be able to do.
All this information is just to let you know why we support the Arc so wholeheartedly. When we started the adoption process, our first referral was for a little boy with Down Syndrome. Unfortunately, that wasn't meant to be, but it is something we still consider and talk about and it is nice to know we would have an agency like The Arc available as a resource if we were ever in that situation again.
The walk we are doing is October 10. If you are able to sponsor us with any amount, we greatly appreciate it. There is a link to the right of the blog that will take you to our sponsorship page or you can leave a comment and I can send you information about mailing donations. Thank you for anything you can do to help us support this agency.

Fun with Big Cousins

Friday night we celebrated Gram's birthday. Rudy loves going over to Aunt Pat's house and hanging out with the big boys - Sean and Neil.

Rudy petting Shea (can you tell Neil is a Mets fan?).

The center of attention

Being crazy with "loco Neil".

Smiling at me while Sean takes my picture (and I take his).

FFF- Rudy's View

Again, here are some pictures that Rudy took - this time of himself. We definitely have to look into getting him a camera.(Sorry, Patti, I will do much better next week, I promise!)

Labor Day Weekend

Our final weekend of the official summer season started with a bang - or rather a ROAR! Rudy and Paul went to see Walking with the Dinosaurs. If you haven't heard about it, it is a show with life sized dinosaurs that move all over the stage. Both Paul and Rudy gave it a thumbs up. Rudy's only complaints were that the T-Rex was loud (he covered his ears through much of it) and the intermission kind of lost Rudy's attention for the second half.

This is what the stage looked like - see the big teeth?




Rudy after the show.

And at a favorite pizza place after the show (Rudy's first time there and our first time in many years).

This flower at my dad's house had dozens of small butterflies all over it. They almost hopped from flower to flower and were not easily startled. Rudy actually touched a few of them and they just remained on the flower.

On Saturday afternoon, our neighbor yelled over the fence and invited Rudy to swim in his pool. Of course our little fish was happy to do so.

On Sunday Patti and Chris had a family BBQ. We took a bunch of pictures and they turned out great. I am not posting the best ones because I am going to make copies for everyone and want them to be a surprise (the actual pictures - obviously they will all be reading this at some point!).


Lucy in her high heels - she walks and even runs really well in them!

Like father, like son - yummy cake and toffee bars!

Our family plus one.

Whenever you try to use a self timer on a camera, you always get one of these. Check out who's being the goofiest in this picture - yes, the big boys - Paul, Chris and Bill - some things never change!

On Monday, we just had a chilled day - we ran a few hours, took Rudy to the Children's Museum and did some things around the house. We topped off the weekend with a trip to Rita's for some water ice. I am so sad to see the summer over - and the way the weather has been, it certainly feels like fall - so although we did beat our beach record of the past few years, it doesn't look like we're going to make it there any more times. Hopefully we can use the rest of our ride tickets before the season ends and maybe we'll have a warmer fall- I am not yet ready to get out coats and sweaters!