Elmo, Crayons, Firetrucks & Horses

A while back you may recall I may have said something negative about Elmo, from Sesame Street. My feeling was that he was an outsider, a newbie, not one of the original characters I remembered growing up with on SS. Well, I suppose I have to eat my words as Nathan currently sees and says "Elmo" all the time. On diapers and diaper boxes, TV, books, shirts, etc. He loves that furry red monster. There are days I will go around the house singing "La,la,la,la,la,la, Elmo's World" (ha - now it's in your head too if you know what I'm talking about!) and I hardly realize it, now that Elmo has been introduced to the family. I'm not saying I fully accept him, but I'm taking steps towards forgiving him for taking over Grover's place. I mean, when's the last time you've seen Grover on SS? HE doesn't have his own show called "Grover's World"! So, we will try to be friends. According to Nathan, I have no choice.

Something else Nathan has taken a liking to: crayons. Yippee. (Insert sarcasm) I have been fairly good with keeping these away from him and we play together and only draw on paper. But it only takes a second of mommy and daddy being preoccupied for Nathan to discover new places to color. I must have been very busy as he had time to experiment with two colors on the wall of the foyer. Leo made two points "wow, those colors match his outfit" and "I wondered why you let him walk around with those." Umm, yippee he can match colors and why didn't you take them away from him?! Duh. In any event, there are at least 21 ways to remove crayons from walls and it was no big deal. All I have to say is I'm glad I spent a few extra bucks for good paint that is "scrub-able" and  thank goodness for Mr. Clean Magic Sponges. Those things are super amazing at many things. I may have to stock up.

Last weekend, Leo and I had non kid-friendly plans on Saturday (unless you think bringing your toddler to a beer festival is fun and/ or smart). So Nathan got to spend time with Gigi and Grandpa Ed. They came to get him in the early afternoon to go to a fireman's parade in Creedmoor. Apparently, Nathan really likes firetrucks in addition to Elmo and crayons. My mom said she was entranced by the big red machines and kept repeating his version of "firetruck" all day long. He now enjoys his "Elmo goes to the firestation" book and he likes to point out firetrucks on the road. It's pretty neat how much he is learning and repeating all the time now. It's like a switch has been flipped and he wants to learn it all.

Something Nathan isn't as big a fan of is horses. I think. I met with another mother and her son last week and we went to visit some horses. We feed them apples (or what was left after our boys had a snack out of them) and pet their gigantic heads. Nathan was less than a fan of this animal - they really are so big up close and a little intimidating I suppose.  He wasn't having it and wanted to watch the ducks instead. Either way, it was fun to see something new and every experience now is all the better for me. I know he is taking it all in and making choices about how he feels about things instead of just "being there" without much of an opinion. This is what having a kid is all about, for me - teaching him new things and seeing him take it all in. Our lesson for the rest of the week is "how to clean walls and put away toys". I'll let you know what he thinks of that.