Our trip to Elm Bank ended with a trip.
As we walked through the woods, Sebastian insisted on running off the path. And he tripped over a log and banged his head on another, opening up a little cut above his eye. There was a lot of blood for a few minutes (see evidence on his shirt), but we had everything we needed to take care of it (although he did not like the band-aid).
He perked right back up again after a short cuddle.
We spent the morning today at MassHort's Elm Bank in Wellesley.
Sebastian loved playing in Weezy's Garden. He was fascinated by the fishpond (complete with goldfish and thousands of tadpoles). We were quite pleased that he didn't jump in.
Sebastian liked the trees, flowers and fields to run through.
Saturday, we spent the morning at the park (with D and M too, which was awesome!!).
One little boy arrived on his toy car and happily toddled off to play on the climbing structures.
A little girl asked if she could play with his car. Then Sebastian had a go.
Urban toddlers get car sharing.
On weekends, we often go to a park in the morning and different park in the afternoon .
Sebastian is getting more adventurous about the climbing he'll do.
He also now insists upon washing his hands after every diaper change (and brushing his teeth after lunch/before nap). We have to give daycare quite a bit of credit for helping to teach him and re-enforce these life skills. It is SO nice that these things are not battles.
Phil and Sebastian chose (coincidentally) coordinating shirts for school picture day.
Pier's Park is a hidden gem halfway between our house and Nana Sheila & Grampa Jack's house. It is built (no surprise here) on a pier (and along the shore) of Boston Harbor.
The views are lovely, the park is immaculate, there is always a nice breeze and Sebastian has made some friends on his visits.
And the playground equipment is so much fun that even Grampa Jack had a go on the slide.
Sebastian really likes having water dripped and poured onto his head. He laughs like this every night.
After climbing out of bed every morning, Sebastian likes to have a quick rock and cuddle with Owen the Owl.
Owen is pretty cool. He hides a nice toddler friendly alarm clock. Sebastian has learned to cuddle Owen any time he wakes up. If it is still nighttime, Owen says 'go back to sleep now', glows soft orange and plays a calm tune. If it is morning (as defined by us with the alarm clock feature), Owen says 'It is OK to wake', glows bright green and plays a more jaunty tune. And if it is almost time to get up, Owen says. 'Just a few more minutes'.
Owen has essentially trained Sebastian to stay in bed until at least 7am. He may not actually go back to sleep if he wakes early, but he knows we are not coming to get him yet and he needs to stay quietly in bed. We sometimes hear him singing softly to himself at these times.
We spent mother's day at Nana Sheila's house. She'd been quick sick in the hospital for a week before and was very happy to be home.
After lunch, play and a nap, we went to the beach. Sebastian can't read and he's a toddler, so the fact that he ignored the signs about the nesting area for endangered birds and barged right in wasn't really surprising. His first state and federal felony. Great.
Swimming lessons are clearly going well as he has no fear of water and just wanted to dive right in.
Reading 'This Old House' magazine and working hard under the table.