TGFTZ (Thank God for the Zoo)

The past two Fridays I've been off work and Jack and I have spent the mornings at the Cincinnati Zoo. There is so much for him to discover and so much space for him to run and get all that energy out! I love watching him learn and it's amazing to see him translate what he knows from all the "booksss" we read to real life. He is learning animal sounds and counting. He verbalizes "one" and then continues to pretend count in his own language. He wants to count everything; trains, ducks ("quacks"), steps, flowers etc.

 This past week we got there early enough to feed the giraffes. There is a baby giraffe that can barely reach her little head up high enough to get a lettuce treat. Jack LOVED feeding them. We had to wait in line and of course could only feed them a couple pieces of lettuce, but the nice zoo worker let us feed a couple extra because Jack was enjoying it so much. He even snapped a pic of us.

He loves riding the carousel, we usually ride it three times in a row and then Mama gets too dizzy!

Jack signing for "more" on the carousel!

Jack's also finds joy in any puddle and running through it repeatedly. I was watching, laughing at him and an adorable little girl,about 3 years old, dressed in sparkly shoes and tutu, walked past and I overheard her Mama say "careful not to step in the puddle" and she casually skipped around it. We briefly laughed at the quintessential boy vs girl difference we had just observed.















However, Jack also loves smelling the flowers. The tulips are beautiful at the zoo and it's so sweet watching him enjoy nature.

He truly loves being outdoors. While we were walking through the more densely wooded area by the monkeys, I had to keep reminding him to watch where he was walking because he kept looking up at the tall trees and saying "wow". Melts my heart. I am so grateful for my days off with this little guy!

xoxo,
T

Easter!!! (A few weeks behind!)

We have been so busy playing outside that we missed posting about Easter weekend. Friday was a rainy day, so we stayed inside to play. We made homemade play-doh and dyed it. Much easier then dying real eggs with a toddler! We are noticing a little Type A in him. He doesn't like the colors mixed or the dough molded in any shape other then a circle ("ball")!

On Saturday, we went to Washington Park for Jack's first Easter egg hunt. It was the craziest thing I've ever seen, every egg on the lawn was snatched up in less then 5 seconds! It was madness! Jack didn't find an egg this year but he had a great time running around the "looking" for eggs.

 

Well, this picture makes me wonder if he really enjoyed the experience. Little grumpy bunny!

He loved petting the "baaa" and the baby pig and bunnies. He wasn't so sure about the baby chicks.

Jack and Mama got their picture with the Easter bunny. Jack wasn't so sure of his at first, but when he saw and Mama was cool with him, it was all good.

It was a beautiful day so we decided to go home and have our own egg hunt for Jack after his nap. Mama and Dada hid eggs all around the yard. Jack carried his basket around the yard and picked up all the eggs like a pro and put them in his basket! He kept yelling "ecksss" Then he played with his baseball tee that Grammy gave him for Easter. He quickly learned how to hit the ball. His favorite thing to play outside is "bubbless".

Easter we had a lazy morning and played with the Thomas train set that the bunny brought for Jack. We then went to a delicious brunch at Sleepy Bee Cafe. We went last year on Easter and they always have tasty Easter specials. It was another gorgeous day so we played outside all day and went over to Meems and Beeps for dinner. 

Meems hid more "ecksss" for Jack to find. He was so excited to find that these eggs had snacks in them! Beep's potato chips, what a treat!

 We enjoyed spending time with Mimi and Great Grandpa Jim too. We tried to snap a family pic, everyone looks great, but Jack had other plans :)

 Jack also discovered the the rope swing and kept saying "wheeee!" Sweet boy.

xoxo,
T