"School" Adventures

Today was Casey's first day of learning daycare, or "school" as Casey refers to it.  He was overly excited about going to school today and talked about it non-stop this morning making it difficult for me to get ready for work since he kept demanding "GO TO SCHOOL NOW!"  When we finally got to school there was a police car parked outside to make sure traffic was going slow and Casey yelled to the cop, "Hi Policeman, Casey go to school!"  The cop smiled and waved and we proceeded into the building. 

We got to his class and were shown where his cubby was, and Casey pointed out that "C is for Casey" (his name is on his cubby) and the cute little girl who's cubby is next to his said, "No, C is for Caroline" (which happened to be her name).  So the two rugrats were informed that C is for a lot of different words, and the two kids went to sit down to eat cheerios and peaches.  Casey didn't want me to leave at first, until another boy showed up that was ready to play- then he told me, "Go to work, Mommy!  Later Gator!"  So I left...

When I picked him up he was playing on the playground and squealed with excitement when he saw me.  He ran over and jumped into my arms to tell me all about school.  One of the teachers said he was absolutely fantastic on his first day and only started asking for mommy as other kids were getting picked up.  He spent the rest of the evening telling me about school, the playground, building blocks, and singing songs.  I'd say school is a hit.

Cupcake Adventures

We had a lazy weekend, mostly because the weather was kind of stormy.  Sunday was really windy with rain and thunderstorms off and on all day... so we opted to play inside.  I had thought up a new cupcake flavor (not telling what it is, because it still needs to be tested to see if it's any good...) and decided to execute the new flavor with help from my assistant, Casey.  Casey had fun lining the cupcake pans with the little paper cups and he counted the cups as he placed the paper in each one.  Then he helped crack eggs (only putting the entire shell in once).  He had fun stirring the batter with me, and if I turned my back he'd sneak a taste of the batter.  The entire time he just talked about "Mommy's cupcakes" and told me that "oven hot" since that's where the cupcakes would go next.  As soon as we got the cupcakes in the oven, Casey cheered "Yay Mommy's cupcakes!" and then we proceeded to make pretend cupcakes out of pla-doh while the real ones baked.

Casey wanted no part in the decorating process except to eat the extra pieces of strawberries.  Not a bad way to spend a rainy Sunday... and Casey is off to his first day of school tomorrow.

Adventures in Daycare

So I have opted to enroll Casey in a learning daycare center so he has a chance to develop social skills and have other kids to be around to let his imagination go wild.  I found a daycare I really like at the local college and enrolled him.  Yesterday morning Casey and I got to go meet the teachers and his future classmates.  When Casey woke up in the morning I told him "let's get dressed now so you can go to school later."  So that morning before leaving, he went around telling me repeatedly (and all his toys) "Casey go school today!"

We finally get to the school (after nearly an hour of listening to Casey excitedly talk of going to school) where Casey hits a shy spell.  He wanted me to hold him while he watched the other kids play.  A little girl was at a nearby table playing with a puzzle when Casey decided to break out of the shyness.  He walked over to the table and started telling her what shapes and colors the puzzle pieces were.  The little girl, who didn't talk much, was in awe of Casey and kept laughing and handing him different pieces waiting for him to tell her what shape and color each piece was.  Then a little boy came over to Casey with a Thomas the Tank Engine toy and the two boys pushed the train back and forth.  It came time for our visit to end and I told Casey it was time to head home, he responded "Mommy go home.  Casey stay in school!"  Of course, a temper tantrum ensued when I picked him up and carried him to the car.  We're both pretty excited about him starting school on Monday.

"If you've got the money honey" Adventures

The last night that Grandma was in town, we were all finishing up dinner.  Casey wanted to sit in Grandma's lap and Big Papa decided to get Casey to sing along with him.  Big Papa sang to Casey ♫"If you've got the money, honey... I've got the time" ♪ and Casey would repeat the lines.  This went on for a few verses until Big Papa wanted Casey to finish the line.  Big Papa sings ♪"If you've got the money, honey..."♫ and Casey responds with, "I'm poopin'".  Of course everyone at the table was in hysterics because of Casey's awesome timing.

More Adventures in DC

Saturday was another day spent in my favorite city, Washington DC.  Grandma was in town so we made this trip really fun for Casey.  We spent Friday night in a hotel and then on Saturday morning we caught the Metro train into the city to hit up the zoo.  Casey loves trains, so he loved the Metro.  Once we got into the city, we headed for the National Zoo.  It was a sunny, yet windy day, and our first stop at the zoo was the Panda exhibit.

Casey informed us that "Panda have dirty butt" about twenty times before we met up with some of mommy's friends.  We then worked our way over to the elephants... which was probably Casey's favorite exhibit.  One elephant was using his trunk to eat some grass, Casey exclaimed "elephant pick up mess!"  He watched the elephants while they ate and then worked their way over to their watering hole to splash some water around with their trunks.  A duck flew up and landed in the water hole and Casey yells to the duck "Duck- there's elephants over there!" as he pointed to the elephants.  We meandered our way over to see the monkey's and then the tiger and "mommy's favorite" the lions.  Then we headed back to hop on the Metro and head to the other side of the city for our next adventure... Baseball.

Casey's first MLB game, the DC National's vs. Milwaukee Brewer's.  Casey had a blast seeing the President's race, singing, dancing, clapping, and cheering.  The Nat's won 8-0 and grandma bought Casey a new baseball hat.  He's definitely going to be a ball player- just like mom.

Hiking Adventures

Casey got to hiking at a North Carolina State Park last Saturday. He had fun chasing butterflies, stomping on ants, and checking under logs for lizards and snakes. He watched people in canoes paddling down the river, and then got really excited when he saw dogs in their boats. He shrieked with excitement every time we'd approach a bridge, and then he'd have to cross it three or four times (hopefully this OCD-errific trait is only temporary).


On Wednesday night, Grandma came into town and Casey has been having all sorts of fun adventures with Grandma since she's been here and he's been telling her all sorts of stories.  This weekend is our trip to the National Zoo (in DC) followed by his first Major League Baseball game when we go see the Nationals play the Brewers. 

Pictures and stories to come... stay tuned.

Easter Adventures: Part 1

Last night after Casey went to bed, the Easter Bunny hopped his way through the house leaving a trail from Casey's room, around the train tracks, to where Casey's Easter baskets were left.  So when Casey got up this morning, he was pretty excited to follow the egg trail to find baskets full of goodies.  He shook some eggs to discover jelly beans inside of them- which he decided he wanted to have for breakfast.  He got a new motorized train for his tracks, and once he saw the new train nothing else in his Easter baskets mattered.  He took the train over to the tracks and introduced it to the rest of his trains, cleared the tracks, and let the train ride the rails while Casey said, "Tooooot! Tooooot!" 

Now it's off to Easter brunch and then the egg hunt... more to come later.

Magnified Adventures

Casey loves a magnifying glass.  We had crab for dinner tonight and had to examine the crab with his magnifying glass, then he went and sat on the couch and kept saying "big hand. Big foot. Big finger."  After dinner we went for a walk since it was still beautiful out (temperature was probably around 75 this evening).  Casey brought the magnifying glass so he could get a closer looks at different objects along the way.  We only made it about a block before we were flagged down by one of the neighbors to sit on their patio and have a drink and visit.  Casey showed off his magnifying glass and examined different things around the patio and then went to inspect flowers in the garden.  He got into the garden and yells, "MOMMY! BIIIIIIIIG BEE!"  I went down to make sure it wasn't a wasp or yellow jacket, and it was indeed a big bee- even without being magnified.  He also found a big bird, a big pink bird, which I informed him was a flamingo (or as Casey says, "Plamingo").