Elmo's House!

(This is Nate) Finally made the trip up to Sesame Place to check it out (Kris and Ben refer to it as Elmo's House), and Ben got to meet a bunch of his buddies, including The Count, Bert and Ernie and a few more we were able to get some good pics of, including Abby, Super Grover and Elmo. We saw a show of Elmo's World with Elmo and Mr. Noodle - kids were CRAZY during it and Ben really enjoyed it. Ben had a great time riding the rides too, and sacked out for a long while later that day - a key ingredient in any of Dad's activities, especially during football season. We got a season pass that covers next year, so I think Dad and Ben may become regulars...

Baby Luuuuuuuuuga

Ben likes to sing songs at bedtime and I often find myself struggling to remember kids songs in general, and specifically the lyrics. I randomly remembered this song we used to sing in nursery school called Baby Beluga. Although I was quite sure that Mrs. Pinchbeck herself penned this ditty, it's actually a Raffi song and I found the lyrics online. Anywho, Ben caught on pretty quickly and will sing "Baby Luuuuuuuuuuuuuuuga...swim so wild...free...whale on the go." He's missing most of the lyrics, but he does dance to it which is pretty hysterical as is the "Baby Luuuuuuuuuuga" that he belts out.

Remembering this song made me realize that I remember quite a bit from nursery school - the sand/water table, dress up, singing songs in the circle and making dinosaurs out of clay. If I remember those things I wonder if there's anything from his current age that Ben will remember as an adult. Probably not quite yet (especially if he has his Dad's memory), but at least we'll have the blog to remind him!

Memory and Imagination

Ben is really growing up! For one thing he's become quite imaginative. As previously documented he has an arsenal of "lawn tools" which are random toys like mops and golf clubs, he loves to pretend to cook or even pretend he's a lion. I love that he "makes" toys out of whatever's around...

Most recently he's really begun to remember things. He came come from LeeAnn's on Thursday and kept telling us that he "broke Mary's sand dollar and had to have a time out". This is all true! Sad but true. Sometimes before he would tell tall tales (i.e. I had cake for lunch) or just couldn't be bothered to remember things that had happened during the day. He is now able to tell us things he's done during the day when we're not there...today it was "I slept in Mary's room!" and "Played in the playroom with LeeAnn". It's so great to be able to hear the things he's excited about that have happened when we're not there!

Labor Day Weekend

We had a great Labor Day weekend! On Friday Nate took Ben to the Tyler Arboretum where they were having a tree-house exhibit. The boys trekked into the wilderness to climb all sorts of tree-houses and play in the woods. Nate said it was "very cool" and def seemed like a good male bonding trip!

In the afternoon we headed down to the shore to spend some time at the beach! Saturday was a great beach day and Ben loves the sand and surf more and more each time we visit. We had to physically remove from the beach for lunch and a nap and as soon as he woke up he wanted to get back outside. Sea Isle recently opened a kiddie amusement park, and Ben loved the rides - specifically the carousel, the big slide, and the "roller coaster".

Sunday started with some excitement when Ben and I decided to take an early morning walk. Ben had been asking to take the elevator since we arrived so I finally conceded. Bad idea. The moment we walked in, he pressed the big red button which stopped the elevator and sounded a heinous alarm. Long story short, we were stuck in the elevator for about 30 minutes and the police had to come rescue us by hoisting us out of the elevator. Ben will still randomly say "I got stuck in elevator". Ug.

The rest of the weekend was much less eventful. The weather turned rainy so we just spent time with the family and relaxing. We're pretty busy this falls so I don't know that we'll be able to make it back to the beach, so we really enjoyed our Labor Day visit!