Country Lakes Park

Last weekend ,we took advantage of the warm weather and played at the park with our friends Lindsey, Maya, and Brandon. It was great to see them! Since they're in kindergarten (all day), we can't play together as often as we'd like.

Gavin surprised me by climbing up this rope thing all by himself. He just zipped up, right along with Brandon. He couldn't do this last year! He assured me that he didn't need any help getting down either.



One rung higher, just to show me he could do it:









Gavin also managed to walk along this chain-link bridge thing, all by himself. Again, last year he needed help with this.

Slide races with Brandon:

Those two little faces peeking out belong to Gavin and Linsey:

There is a big hill that the kids can roll down, or run up and down:

We had a great time and hope to meet up again over spring break!

Under the Weather Again

Gavin came down with another 24-hour bug last week. It started Thursday afternoon and lasted until Friday night. He had a low fever, so I kept him home from school on Friday.

He was listless, but had no cough or runny nose. I'm not sure what it was, but he was able to run around and play outside by Saturday!

He fell asleep on the floor Friday afternoon:

Rainbow Fish Play

Gavin's classroom performed "The Rainbow Fish" for us last week, and it was just about the cutest thing in the world! The class actually had three "performances" so that each kid could have a turn to play a character. Here is the backdrop that they created:




Gavin played the Rainbow Fish in the first performance. His teacher is putting on his costume:

Here he is with the student who played the Little Blue Fish. Only the Rainbow Fish got to wear a costume.

The video below doesn't have anything to do wih the Rainbow Fish, but every Wednesday the school had a "dance party" where everyone goes out into the hall and dances to one song, then goes back to what they were doing. We just happened to be there on Wednesday! Gavin is in the red shirt in the middle of the hall, showing off his moves:





The videos below are from the play. The kids are "swimmimg" when they are walking around on their knees.

When all the performances were complete, we got to hang out in the Cat room and have a snack and play with the baby chicks.




Gavin wanted all of us to take a turn holding one. Francis went first. Gavin showed him how to hold it:

Nana got a turn:

Grandpa got a turn as well. So did I, but my chick unfortunately decided to poop and pee while I was holding it. SIGH. Just my luck!

We had a great time and were very impressed with all the classroom activities. The chicks have since returned to the farm, and the kids have moved on to a new unit - on pizza!

Gymnastics!

When ice skating ended, Gavin told me he wanted to do gymnastics. I was surprised, since he didn't seem all that into it the first time we tried it (summer 2010, when he was almost three).

But I was happy that he wanted to give it another try. We signed up at Naperville Gymnastics Club, and he LOVES it! He jumps and runs and does everything the coach asks. His class has four other boys his age, and they work on tumbling skills and rings.

Parents watch through windows at one end of the gym - so the picture quality isn't the greatest. It's also hard to get a good shot when your subject is in constant motion!

His class was doing somersaults (forward and backward) on these ramps:



The cutest part, which I was not able to capture on camera, is when he raises both arms at the beginning and end of every trick! Just like the pros!

Baby Chicks

Gavin's classroom (and several others in the school) had a batch of eggs in a little incubator. The incubators were stored in an empty classroom, and the kids would go and visit their eggs each day.

The teachers explained that not all the eggs would hatch, and the chicks would come out wet and need to get dry. Gavin actually came home with a paper about the life cycle of a chicken!

As it turned out, none of the Cat Room's eggs hatched because of a problem with the temperature control on their incubator. But one of the other classrooms shared their chicks with the Cat friends, who all got a chance to hold the chicks.

Gavin's teacher sent us this picture on Monday, and we were amazed that Gavin was willing to hold the chick. Right after the picture was taken, the chick tried to flap its wings and jumped out of Gavin's hand. He told me that it was "showing him how it liked to play." He also told me (on the car ride home on Monday) "Mommy I held a chick and I feeled it and it was soft!"

The Cat room has four chicks altogether - more pictures will follow! Stay tuned!

Playdate!

Last week we had a playdate with Aisling. Since they are the same age they both chatter away, making up stories and scenarios to act out. It's so cute!



She and Gavin hid behind the couch...

...and jumped on the couch. Over and over. I think they were hiding from a monster.

Like Gavin, Aisling has NO toys whatsoever:

Playing on the slide with Aisling's brother Nolan:

Buddies!

They pretended they were getting tickets to go to a show later:




They only had one tiny fight, which was forgotten in five minutes. It was a great afternoon!

Friday Cuteness

I apologize for the lack of blog posts lately. There just hasn't been a whole lot going on! A few weeks ago Gavin had a cold. The next week I had it. Then last week he caught bronchitis. I seemed to have dodged that bullet, but Francis now has a cough that he can't shake.

Gavin with a box of "cool touch" Kleenex, after a visit to the doctor:

Francis has introduced Gavin to the boardgame "Sorry Sliders." Below is the "Cars" version. He and Gavin usually just race around the track, not necesarily keeping score. Sometimes it's more fun that way!