Saturday, April 3, 2010

Playgroup and the zoo!

We're double dipping today, and I'm giving you two posts for the price of one.

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For the last 4.5 years, we've belonged to a parents as teachers group through our school. We really have enjoyed what they have to offer. Once a month for three years (except for a couple months during the summer) a parent educator would come out to visit Ajay to see how he was doing developmentally. She would bring games for him to play, crafts and activities for him to do, and would occasionally do testing on him to be sure he was not lagging behind in any specific area. Unfortunately, 3 years is the limit of having someone come to your house, so Alex was only able to be a part of the home visits for about 6 months. Even though we no longer get those visits, we still take advantage of one of the many playgroups offered. Just as Ajay got attached to Ms. Sheryl, Alex is now attached to Ms. Diana. Our routine on Thursdays is to drop Ajay off at one elementary school then drive to another school not too far off and play around, experience new things, try different art and get some social interaction. We pulled up to the school yesterday and I heard Alex in the back singing "I'm gonna see MissDinah! I'm gonna see MissDinah!" My sister has started bringing her younger two girls with her to our playgroup. Last week, I busted out my phone and snapped a few pics. (This camera on my phone is supposed to be better than my last phone, but I'm not finding that to be true. Outside pics usually turn out okay, but inside shots are all blurry.)

Ajay doesn't normally get to go to playgroup with us since it is during school hours, but on this Thursday, preschool wasn't in session (because of Parent/Teacher conferences).
Here he is dressed as a fireman (that big blue thing behind him is a slide, the kids love this!):


Alex with a straw hat:


Ajay has now changed his profession and is a doctor:


Getting a check-up:


Shelly with "Laundry" (thats what Alex calls Audrey):


Audrey and Kyleigh:


Ms. Diana giving Audrey some tummy-time:


And though you really can't tell it, this is me with the boys:


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It's that time of year again - time to head out to the zoo for some animal adventure. This year we actually splurged on a membership, so we can look forward to many visits.
We met up last Friday with some friends - you might remember Alex as a buddy Ajay made while doing his 3-year-old preschool thing. His mom and I became pretty good pals, too, so it is fun for everyone involved! (She even switched her littlest babe (now almost 10 months) over to cloth diapers when she saw our Alex wearing his bumGenius cloth diaper.) We've got a lot in common - Mom is from America, Dad is from another country, two beautiful sons with dark brown hair and brown eyes.

Here is our group, minus Rylan (the baby) and myself.


Ajay and Alex. Alex is 6 months older. (Keep in mind that Alex is sitting on the saddle and Ajay is not - so while there is a bit of a difference in their sizes, it isn't quite as much as it seems in this pic.)


In the petting zoo. (It was supposed to be warmer than it ended up being that morning. I ended up putting Ajay in a spare jacket we had in the van to keep the wind from making him too cold. Our Alex was under a blanket most of the time he was in the stroller.)


This was one of the many newborn lambs we saw that day.


We packed a lunch for that day and I guess the boys enjoyed eating in a different location, because I didn't pack anything different or exciting, yet they ate everything given to them! After lunch they got to play in the playground area. Since it was a Friday morning and a bit chilly, we didn't have to share the space with too many other children. We're looking forward to going again (and again, and again).

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