October 2012

Aiden had his 2 year check-up the end of September and he is doing really good. He is in the 98th percentile for his height and the 81st percentile for his weight. His speech and development are right on track and our pediatrician is really happy with his progress. He is still a bit shorter than Austin, probably a few inches, but he has surpassed him in weight by a few pounds. I am keeping my fingers crossed that Austin somehow catches up on his growth (at least average for his age), but it doesn't seem to be happening very quickly. We can tell he is slowly getting taller, but he just doesn't seem to want to gain any weight. He is still under 30 lbs, which is really tiny for an almost 4 year old. Speaking of 4 years, I can't believe my baby is going to be 4 in December!! It is absolutely crazy how fast time flies, even though some days seem to crawl. Austin is so smart and he is really starting to pick up habits and mannerisms that Ramsey and I have...not sure if that's a good thing but it sure is funny to see. :) He is such a good big brother and is teaching Aiden how to count and sing the alphabet song (among other songs). It's very entertaining to listen to the two of them interact when they don't think you are paying attention. Anyhow, below are some pictures.
 

Aiden running around the house in mommy's shoes.



 

 Daddy teaching Austin to fly a kite.

 

Daddy teaching Aiden to fly a kite.

 

The kite.

 

Austin playing with sticks by the fence.

 

Aiden playing in the dirt. 

 

Both boys playing in the dirt.

 

So, I thought it would be fun to take the boys to a pumpkin patch this year to pick out their pumpkins, rather than buying them at the local grocery store. One, among many, of the most awesome ideas I've had this year (said with extreme sarcasm). We drove about 45 minutes to a pumpkin patch that I found online, which sounded really great in theory. When we got there, it looked pretty cool, complete with ponies, horses, goats, sheep, chickens, bounce houses (3 of them), hay bale maze, hay ride, pumpkins, etc. We parked and had to walk a distance I would equate to approximately 3 blocks, through a field to where all the fun activities were located. This wouldn't have been bad normally, except for the fact that it rained the night before and was now a huge field of mud, with few patches of grass. By the time we even got to where you bought tickets, our shoes were completely covered in mud.  After standing in line for a bit, we find out that it is going to cost us $30, not including pumpkins. I was thinking that was kind of pricey but they had pony rides and bounce houses and for that, I thought it was worth it. The place was extremely unorganized and evidently running a bit late on getting everything setup. We waited, what Austin and Aiden thought felt like forever (in actuality prob about 35 minutes), before we finally got to ride the ponies. Both boys loved all 2 minutes of riding time. The "petting zoo" was next. This was a fenced in area with some chickens, goats and sheep. However, you couldn't really "pet" the animals because you couldn't enter the fenced-in area and the animals were not standing right along the fence line so that you could reach them. We stood around the fence and looked at them for a few minutes, then got bored with that. Moving right along...we then we walked over to what I thought would be a guaranteed hit with the boys ~ the bounce houses!! Neither one of them had any interest in them whatsoever. Ok then...on to the hay bale maze. Austin found his way through it in about 30 seconds and Aiden followed him through. What next, you ask? Well, then Austin had to go to the bathroom...which we found after asking, was back across the 3 block mud pit by where we parked the car. After about 3 minutes of actual "fun" time, we were done at the pumpkin patch. Definitely not an experience I wish to re-live again next year. Perhaps a different pumpkin patch might present a better experience? 

 

Austin and Aiden at the pumpkin patch.  On a side note, I have no idea how people have such awesome pictures of their children at events such as this because I took about 1000 pictures and there were only like 2 where they were both kind-of looking in the general direction of the camera.

 

Aiden riding the pony.

 

Austin riding the pony.

 

Aiden in hay bale maze.

 

Austin in hay bale maze.

 

Austin and Aiden holding the teeny, tiny pumpkins that they got for the price of admission.

 

Aiden sitting in front of the big jack-o-lantern sign for the pumpkin patch.  Austin is missing from this picture because they had already started back through the mud pit towards the bathrooms.