Liam Graduates from Safety Town

Friday was Safety Town graduation.  This was a two week course designed to teach kids about road and pedestrian safety, sun and water, poison and germs.... Possibly more.

You can hardly see me.  I am a dot by that white thing.  I am at the Safety Town pad.  It is a place where I ride around on bikes and learn road safety.  I usually do ten people going out, but this time I'm doing all. 

This is me.  You can see me now.  I am by the parking lot.  I look like I am not me, but I am.

I am smiling for the camera.  I am at a crosswalk as you can see.  I always have to stop at a crosswalk unless the stop sign is not facing me.  It is not so I am still going. 

Devin is sitting in the stroller under a tree.  You cannot see the tree, but he is still sitting under a tree.  All the moms and dads were at Safety Town for the graduation.  You can see on all the rest of the pictures that they have to be here.

I have sunscreen and a sun visor.  It is very hot today.  The sun and water safety rules are reach, throw and run to get help.

We are pedestrians but we can be a train too.  But we are still pedestrians when we are a train.

We are ordering pizza at the pizza place.  I also ordered a guitar.  We are in the shade.  I really like it.  You can see a little bit of my sunscreen by the eye that's by the word pizza.

After the kids showed us what they learned on the pad we went inside and waited while they used the bathroom.  Devin and I played a little "peek-a-boo" with his hat.

It's hard to catch this baby smiling in pictures.  Of course he's doing it when you can't see his mouth!

I am coming over to the stage to sing.  I have to go to the diamond and then to officer Robin.

I am getting ready to sing.  I am waving "Hi!" to you Mom!

I am getting my certificate.  I give high fives to officer Robin, my teacher and officer Robin's boss.

I am getting a picture with officer Robin.  Don't I look a little weird?















It was fun.  I really don't like it when I leave.  I really wanted to stay forever but then I would miss all my vacations.  So maybe see you next year, Safety Town.  (Although actually Safety Town is a one time course.  So we'll have to find another fun activity next summer.)

Devin Draws

It's about time Devin got his own post.  He's been kind of miserable lately, actually.  Between getting a vaccine, possibly having some tummy upset from trying baby food with mangoes in it, getting a cough and teething there have been days that have been all fussing all the time.  Or at least when Liam wasn't making him laugh by throwing foam blocks at his head.

 Monday Liam had drama club so it was just me and Devin from 4:30 to 6:00.  A time when, I realize, I usually rely on Liam pretty heavily to entertain his little brother.  In my defense I often actually make supper during this time.  But Monday there was no supper making, only a crying baby.  So I tried to make the best of it and see what he would do if given a crayon and paper.

To tell you the truth I probably wouldn't have thought of doing this with Devin yet but it was part of a "pre-literacy" activity sheet provided by the library. If we do all the activities we can enter a drawing.  So it's worth trying, right.  He actually spent quite a bit of time making contact between the paper and the crayon.

 As you can see he is getting up on all fours.  But he is not really crawling that way yet.  He still "army crawls" to the detriment of his big toe toenails which are getting shredded.

 He actually did his best work when sitting up.  It was only later that I thought to take pictures.

 "But seriously, Mommy, what else do you have for me?"

 "Because I'm about to have another meltdown.  Really."

 "Taking pictures is not helping"

 "O.K.  An empty food storage container might do the trick."

"What else can I get into...."

Yes, he has been getting into things.  We finally decided to fork out the big bucks and get some indoor fencing.  So far it hasn't been too popular.  But he has, as I mentioned been kind of fussy in general.  Possibly it's not so great to take pictures of your kids when they are crying, but... I did.

More than one, in fact.  But in my defense they aren't very good because I was in a hurry.  I really did help him after this.  I'm afraid this apparatus will make it harder for me to take cute pictures of the boys playing from across the room, but if it keeps Devin from eating carpet crumbs and getting tangled up in computer cords it will be worth it. 

Liam: My Gift Card and I

Liam won the Kroger coloring contest.  He got first place for boys.  The prize was a $25 gift card.  Friday we went to Kroger so he could spend it.

 This is me with the picture I drew to get the gift card that is beside the picture.

 I am pushing the cart to get the stuff that I am getting with my gift card.  It is hard to find all the right stuff.  We are at the first part of Kroger.  I really don't know what to buy right now.

I am wanting three boxes because they connected.  They were Lego.  They could be a train.  There was a jet pack for the train, a carriage for the train and a locomotive for the train.  There was not track, but that is OK.

This is a lot of the stuff that we bought.  I bought Little Drums, two water guns, Legos and strawberry drink and the dinosaur book that I am holding in my hand.  And that all adds up to six things.

I am asking Mommy which side I should slide the card.  The thing I am holding is the card and I am asking her if the thing I am pointing to is the right side.

I am holding both groceries.  The one that you can see clearly is a little too heavy because Little Drums Ice Cream.  I had to give it to Mommy when we got out.  It was way too heavy.

I am sitting in the back of the car with my newly bought groceries.  It is fun to be with my newly bought groceries.

I am sitting here eating my Little Drums Ice Cream cone.  Isn't the cone cute?  It's vanilla mixed with chocolate ice cream.  It is so fun to eat it.

I am almost to the bottom of my ice cream.  There is a segment of chocolate at the bottom.  The segment of chocolate is very yummy.

I am doing my dinosaur book.  Isn't this so great?  It is very fun.  My pirate ships and stuff and monsters is very good looking, isn't it?

Liam: At the Theater, Father's Day, Cleaning Up and Safety Town

Liam has been doing "Safety Town" this week. "There are 20 people in Safety Town not including the staff.  There is a pad.  The pad is a thing that teaches you road safety.  I really like the pad.  I learn about germs and police.  Today I am learning about fire safety.  I think."

 I am at the theater with my friend and my dad.  we are watching Mulan.  my favorite character was Mooshu the dragon.   

(Allen and Liam went to a community production of Mulan last Saturday.)  

 I am putting in the wrapping paper.  We had to switch bags because one was too little and one was just right. 

 

 We are getting pictures of Daddy and the boys - me and Devin.  It was Fathers Day.The game is called Gravwell. We were at Daddy's friend's house and we played the game.









This is Daddy, Devin and me.  Devin likes the box.

 Today we are cleaning off things again.  This time we are cleaning off the bookshelf, the couch and the ottoman.  We were trying to find the library list for the points.  I was really scared that I would lose a lot of them but I didn't.  We found it later, on the couch.

The points are for getting prizes for the library "Robot Readers."  And we are robots.  I AM A ROBOT.  (Please read in your best robot voice.  Electric words.)  

The couch and the ottoman are not all clean.

Liam: Us at the Park and Camp

Camp is over.  Yesterday was the last day.  We were playing Fear Factory.  We had snakes, broken glass, and turtle eggs.  We had to get a fish egg from the spider webs and a Styrofoam fish.  Then  you had to get a worm with your mouth.  Then we got hit in the face by shaving cream on a plate.  I see this a lot on AFV.  Then we had to get wiped off.  It was very fun.

The snakes were ribbons, the broken glass were chips, and the turtle eggs were packaging stuff that you can pop.  The spider webs and fish eggs - I forget what they were.  I did not do the Styrofoam fish.  The worm was a gummy worm in flour.

I played dodge ball a lot at camp.  There were boys versus girls, camp staff versus kids and one camp staff versus all - even other camp staff.  We used more than one ball and I never caught the ball and I never got anyone out.  I hated being out.

On the last day we did a water thing.  We laid out tarps, we slid on the tarps, you jumped through hoops, then you jumped into the pool.  I did a few splashy cannonballs!  One other person didn't like that I did cannonballs, but I kept doing them.  I was so freezing my hands and feet hurted.  I could not find my towel.  I left it inside.  I had to go back inside.  I really did not like it when it was time to go.

 This is me and Devin in the car.  It is time to go.  I am sad.  I really wanted to stay.  It was really fun.  But for the next two weeks I will be doing Safety Town.  That will be fun too, but it will be shorter.  It is for little kids, but I am five.  But it is actually for six-year-olds.  I'm glad they let me in.

 Devin is In the swing.  He is having a very very very fun time.  We went to the park so we could have supper at the park [on Thursday].  Supper was yummy.  I met Roger at the park.  We had a fun time.  I liked it.

 Now I am pushing Devin.  It is very fun.  Roger is trying to push him too but I want to because I feel better with that.

 Roger's mom is holding Devin.  He has a very funny face. 

Now Roger's mom is making him stand up.  He is smiling really good for the camera.

Liam and Devin at Camp and Home

 This is me and Devin.  We are comparing Devin to me and Devin is very tall.  We are both in 24 month clothes [in this picture - Liam's shirt, but not pants] but mine was bigger. 

(Devin seems to be growing very quickly lately.  He's also sleeping differently.  He's had a few nights of sleeping for longer periods.  We can only hope that it will continue.)

 Devin is crawling very well now.  Better than the last picture I did that I said this.  Devin is by his play mat.  This is his play area.

We are at my camp.  We are playing BIG Candy Land.  I have been playing games such as Battle Ship, Sorry, and they had Twister.  I go to camp every day this week in the afternoon for four hours.  It is at the park in a building.  I really like camp.

This is the whoopie cushion from my camp.  Above this picture is me holding the whoopie cushion and blowing it up.  I jumped on it when we got home and that's what made the hole.  I just wanted to get the picture over with.  That's why I have scary eyes.









We went to Lima to a funeral this morning.  Mommy's uncle died.  I kind of liked the funeral.  Sammy really liked me.  Sammy is my baby cousin.  He was very excited to see me.  He really smiled a lot.  I also liked their singing.  We also went to the cemetery.  I really liked it at the cemetery.  I'm glad I got to hold one of the umbrellas.  Mommy didn't get a flower because she didn't want to but I wanted to. 

(We are very sad that Uncle Ross died unexpectedly on Thursday.  We were honored to spend time with my family today remembering his life and offering our sympathy.  It was, truly, a beautiful and touching service.)