Lost at the Brevard Zoo

Today we went to the Brevard Zoo with Aunt Nikki, Wesley, and some homeschool friends. Unfortunately, we got there a little later than we had originally planned, so we only got to hang out with Nikki and Wesley for a little while.

We had a really good time there with the exception of one incident. Caleb got lost. It was the first time it had happened and will hopefully be the last. The zoo was really crowded because it was spring break. Caleb was walking with a friend of his, and I told him to stay with her. They walked ahead of us and were able to go faster than us since we had strollers we were trying to maneuver through the crowd. When we caught up to his friend, Caleb was no where to be found. He was lost for about 10 minutes, but it seemed like longer of course. Apparently, he had gone back to the giraffes to look for me while I went to the entrance of the Africa section looking for him. My friend found him and brought him out to me. We had a long talk about how important it is for him to always stay with me. We had talked about stranger danger and getting lost before, but I don't think it really hit home for him until today. I debated writing about it here for fear of what some of you might think, but then I remembered that I want this blog to be an honest and accurate account of our family's lives. My guess is that those of you who have children have lost at least one of them at some time and can identify with our experience.

The rest of the day was a lot of fun. The highlight for Caleb was the Planet Dinosaur exhibit. He has gotten into dinosaurs and was excited about going. The exhibit was very well done and full of lots of interactive activities. I wrote about it on Hands on Homeschooling if you want to check out my detailed review.

Caleb enjoyed seeing the animatronic dinosaurs.

At the end of the exhibit, Caleb got to pan for fossils. He got quite a few shark teeth which he thought were cool.

Eli wasn't too sure about the dinosaurs roaring, but he did enjoy reading Caleb's passport.

The highlight for Eli was watching the otters. Today was the first time he really noticed the animals and enjoyed watching them. There are two otters there, and one kept running past a window before jumping back in the water. He kept the same circuit up for a long time. Eli would smile and squeal with delight every time the otter ran past the window where he could see him.

We always love going to the Brevard Zoo, but today was especially fun since both boys enjoyed it so much. I really enjoy watching Eli experience new things for the first time.

Eli Loves Sunglasses

Eli loves sunglasses. When Caleb was Eli's age, he loved to wear hats. He would often steal hats from Daddy or Pop Pop to wear. Eli does not like to wear hats. If you put one on him, he will immediately take it off. If you are wearing a hat, then he will do his best to pull it off your head. Now hats are not Eli's thing, but sunglasses are! He got some new sunglasses in his Easter basket and has wanted to wear them nonstop. Here are some pictures of him wearing his new sunglasses.

Easter Family Pictures

Today we celebrated Easter. Here are some family pictures from our day.

Marshmallow Peeps

Eli tried a marshmallow Peep for the first time today. At first, he was excited when we gave the blue bunny to him, but then he wasn't so sure about it. He licked some of the sugar off it but never took a bite of it. I don't think he liked the stickiness of the marshmallow in his hands. We were surprised as Eli loves to eat and will try just about anything. I am sure with time that he will grow to love Peeps as much as Mommy and Caleb do.

Radioactive Spider

I crocheted a "radioactive" spider for Caleb's Easter basket. Caleb is going through a major Spider-Man phase and thinks he is in fact Spider-Man. I wanted to make him something for his basket that was special, so I decided to make him a spider. He has been acting out every other part of the movie, so why not let him act out being bit by a radioactive spider and turning into Spider-Man, right?

Here is the finished product. I couldn't find a pattern for a spider that I liked, so I made up my own. This is the first time I have created a pattern, so I am pretty proud of it. I used an amigurumi pattern I had to get started and then tweaked it to make it look more like a spider. The legs have pipe cleaners inside, so they can be bent however Caleb wants them to go.

Here is a picture of Caleb holding his new spider this morning. Notice that he is wearing his Spider-Man pajamas. Caleb likes his spider a lot but did request some eyes and fangs which still need to be added.



Edited to add: Here is a picture of the spider with eyes and fangs. I have also published the pattern on Ravelry.

Our Vital Earth Worm Farm

Today we went to Our Vital Earth for a field trip. Our theme this month in Roots and Shoots is worms. This was the second time we visited the farm to learn about worms and vermiculture. After learning all about worms, the kids got to make their own mini worm farm to take home.

This is a picture of Caleb with his mini worm farm.

I am hoping to get a worm bin soon so that we can compost our food scraps instead of throwing them away. The worm castings (poop) and worm tea (pee) are great for gardening with. Plus, composting will cut down on the amount of trash we throw out each week.

Grandma Bernie and her husband are featured in this video about the work they are doing at Our Vital Earth. Be sure to check it out.

Snugga Snugga Blanket

Great Grandpa and Great Judy gave Eli a soft fleece blanket and burp cloth at my baby shower. Eli has been sleeping with the burp cloth which is like a mini blanket for a while now. He loves to snuggle it while he sucks his thumb.

He recently discovered the larger blanket and loves playing with it with Caleb. They use it to hide from each other and then laugh hysterically when they find each other. It is really cute to watch.

Today I got some cute pictures of Eli snuggling and playing peekaboo with the blanket.

Decorating Easter Eggs

Today, Caleb and I decorated Easter eggs while Eli napped. We only did a dozen, but we still had fun together. We used natural dyes which did not come out as dark as traditional dyes. They still worked pretty well, though.

This is an adorable rabbit that Caleb drew.

This is Caleb with the finished products. I think they came out really cute. I plan to make Paula Dean's Deviled Egg recipe for Easter dinner. Yum!

Baby Kisses

Baby kisses are the best even if they are nice and wet. If you ask Eli for a "kiss kiss" and he is feeling generous, he will give you a nice big open mouth kiss on the lips. He leans in with his mouth open wide and will plant one on you. And if you are really lucky, he will lick you. It is a messy endeavor to say the least, but who can resist a sweet baby's love?

These are some pictures of Eli kissing Daddy.

Mischief Makers

Caleb and Eli are little mischief makers. It is amazing how much havoc they can wreak together, and they are only 4 and 1. Okay, so maybe it isn't actual havoc, but they have definitely been up to stuff together lately. Here are a few of their recent exploits.

This is a picture of the boys in Eli's bed. Caleb climbed into Eli's bed after his nap. Caleb jumped on the bed while Eli bounced. They were laughing and making all kinds of noise.

This is a picture of the boys in Caleb's bed. Eli really likes playing in Caleb's big boy bed. We often put him in Caleb's bed right before bedtime. The boys will snuggle Caleb's pillow and blanket before going crazy. They kick their legs knocking the blanket off. This makes them both laugh and squeal with excitement.

These are pictures of the boys from today. Caleb decided he wanted crackers and cheese for lunch, but we were out of sliced cheese. So he got a piece of string cheese and some crackers and sat at the table. Eli wanted some cheese, too, so I gave him one as well. Eli eats like a little piggy! When I went to check on Caleb, he had several cheese sandwiches sitting in front of him on the table. Apparently, he had gotten a knife and cut the cheese to put on the crackers. In addition to eating his crackers and cheese, he was also feeding Eli crackers. Eli is quite the little begging puppy who had gone over to the table for crackers. They made a huge mess of the table and floor with cracker crumbs. A little while later I discovered Eli under the table with a trail of crackers going from him towards the couch. Caleb explained that he wanted to give Eli a trail to follow in addition to a snack to eat.

If this is the kind of mischief they get into now, I can only imagine what is in store for us as they get older!

Funny Faces

We took some silly pictures of our funny faces today.

Learning to Walk

Eli is learning to walk. He pulls up on everything he can and loves when you hold his hands so he can practice walking. Today, Caleb helped Eli practice. Here are some fun pictures of them.

Our First Fruit

Our first tomato was finally ripe enough to pick and eat. We were excited to be able to enjoy the fruit of our labor.

Here is a picture of the ripe tomato still on the vine.

Here is a picture of Caleb with his ripe tomato after he picked it.

Here is a close up picture of the ripe tomato.

Here is a picture of Caleb eating a piece of the tomato.

The tomato was very yummy. I was a little afraid that the tomatoes would not taste good once they were ripe, so I was glad that they tasted great. I would have been sad if all our hard work had been for nothing. There really is nothing like a tomato fresh from the vine. We are looking forward to eating more tomatoes from our garden.

Milk Goatees, Kisses, and New Teeth

I got some cute pictures of Eli today that I wanted to share.

This is a picture of Eli with a milk goatee. It started out as a milk moustache that then ended up all over the bottom half of his face.

This is a picture of Eli kissing. He loves making the kissing noise and looks so cute with his cheeks all sucked in like a fish.

This is a picture of Eli's new teeth. He has two new teeth up top and two more coming in.

Eli Loves to Eat

Eli loves to eat. He always has. And he eats a lot. These days, he is all about big people food and feeding himself. Luckily, he is finally getting some teeth (four in and two more coming in), so he can eat most of the food we eat. He has been very interested in utensils lately and often tries grabbing the fork or spoon I am using to feed him. I let him try using a special fork today. He did pretty well with it until he got bored and started playing more with the bowl than eating. Here are a couple of pictures of him feeding himself with the fork.

Eli Signs, "Please!"

We have been using sign language with Eli for a while now. The signs we have been using are for the words milk, please, more, eat, and thank you. He has recognized the sign for milk for quite a long time and usually gets very excited when I do that sign. He loves his momma milk and has no intention of weaning any time soon!

Eli did his first official sign of "please" a few days ago. It usually takes some coaxing to get him to do it, but he has started to get the hang of it. Before bed tonight, I asked him if he wanted some milk. Before I could ask him to say "please," he was already signing "please" with a huge grin on his face. He figured out that if he wants something that he needs to say please. Then he will get lots of praise and what he wants, which is a pretty sweet deal in his mind.

We did some signs with Caleb when he was a baby, but we soon stopped since he began talking so early. We have no idea how soon Eli will be talking, so we hope that signing will make communicating with him easier. He has definite opinions about things these days and voices his excitement and displeasure very vocally! Of course we have no idea what he is saying most of the time, but he is trying really hard to communicate with us. The funniest times are when he gets angry. He will go off on you in baby talk. We tease that he has anger management issues. I think he is going to be stubborn like his mommy. Watch out world!

I will try to post a picture of him signing soon as it is really cute.