Visits from Auntie Noelle are always special and fun, but this week Cole's visit got a little sweeter--his first lollipop. And, he worked at it for quite awhile before he finally relinquished it to his big sister. Sticky hands aside, he was very, very pleased! Finally, he was able to try that funny looking thing his sister always gets to eat. Such is the life of the younger sibling!
Encompassing over 2000 acres and situated above Berkeley (the small green spot to the left of Franny's head is the UC Berkeley stadium) is Tildon Regional Park.
Although there is enough to do there to span several days, we had just one morning, and opted to ride the steam train (which ejected real steam--too cool!) and visit the kid's Little Farm.
Cole loved seeing all the animals and using his signs to tell us what everything was...
Franny loved feeding the goats...
Definitely, a very fun day!
It is definitely interesting to see the different ways that Cole and Franny learn and approach their world. I have tried to get Cole interested in one-piece puzzles, and while he is absolutely capable of doing them and will humor me for brief periods of time, he'd really rather do almost anything else. He is, however, extremely intrigued with putting together and taking apart the train tracks, which seems to me to basically be a less colorful and less interesting type of puzzle. Go figure. Today, we sat and did this for close to twenty minutes. If he wasn't continuously derailing his efforts, he'd have quite the railroad! It will interesting to see what kind of tracks he's constructing in a few months; possibly, his mental plans and his physical skills just aren't in sync, yet!
Cole's love of cars first became really apparent when he started riding the car carts at the grocery store. His unbridaled enthusiasm, bouncing around, and squealing with delight is always an entertaining spectacle for others shopping around us. And while the car carts are unquestionably top notch fun, they do not even begin to compare to Grandpa's truck--especially when he turns it on...
These blogs have slowly become my sole method of documenting all the different milestones and memories of Cole and Franny; I have yet to write anything in their baby books. It is not a perfect method, however, and unfortunately, not everything gets the attention or official recording it deserves. Whether it be due to time, or finding an appropriate picture, or just managing to translate my thoughts in a way that I like, there are many details that I miss. Cole has many words he uses and even more signs, but I have yet to document what they are or when he started using them. I am not exactly certain when Cole started to wave "bye bye" or blow kisses. But it has been over the last couple of weeks that he will consistently to do it when we ask him to. Although it is silly to ask him to do these things out of context, I can't resist. It's just too sweet. So, all in the name of documentation....
