Bryce is such a big kid! Today, when we went down to the subway, he walked and stood on the platform all by himself. Bryce knew not to stand on the yellow line (and commented on anyone who he saw break that rule!) Bryce also climbed in and sat in the seat on the train by himself.
You can almost see that these two are going to be the best of friends when the grow up (well, at least after they stop beating on each other)!
It took a little while for Bryce and Julien to "warm up" and start playing together. However, once they got started, they couldn't stop! I'm not sure what you would call the game, but it entailed screaming nonsense words back and forth at the top of your lungs. I'm sure all the people in the park loved it! In an effort to save Audrey's, Jackie's and my ears, I convinced the boys to play their game at the top of the hill.
Bryce, Audrey and Daddy played with blocks this morning. Bryce did some of the building, but seemed to mostly enjoy directing Jeremy where to put the blocks. Bryce will build with the blocks if he feels that you haven't put the pieces in the right places, though!
It was a beautiful autumn day here in Brooklyn, so I offered that we should go outside in the backyard to play. Bryce initially refused. He finally reconsidered when I told him I would go out first and remove any caterpillars from his swingset. Once the swingset was a caterpillar free zone, Bryce had a great time playing in the yard. It was so nice out, so I made a 'picnic' lunch for Bryce.
When nature calls...
Here Bryce is flying a pretend kite. His pretend kite also got stuck in a pretend tree!
And now, the biggest surprise of the day. I was fixing some lunch for Audrey in the kitchen while Bryce was playing in the yard. The next thing I know, Bryce came in the kitchen holding a CATERPILLAR! When I inquired, he responded, "I asked the caterpillar if it wanted to come home with me and it said 'YES'!" (Bryce is regularly wanting to bring things home that belong outdoors and when we say no, he always wants to know if it would be okay if the 'thing' said that it wanted to come, too.) I then said that he could keep the caterpillar inside for a little while, but that it needs to live outside. Bryce looked at me with shock and concern and said, "NO! I told it when I came inside that it could stay for very lots of hours!"
Bryce, Audrey and I went to the Prospect Park Zoo this morning. Bryce was apparently rather tired and refused to get out of the stroller until we got to the turtle shells. After playing here for a while, he was ready to run around and look for more animals!
Bryce was a little weary of the baboons... interested, but definitely wanted to keep his distance from the glass!
I felt the need to tell this story because apparently that fear of caterpillars was absorbed into the genetic material that I passed on to Bryce! Today, while climbing up on the ladder of his swing set, Bryce saw a very tiny caterpillar...and he let go. Thankfully, all he did was knock the wind out of himself - the mulch did a nice job cushioning the fall. After calming down from the scare, I found another caterpillar crawling on a plant. Bryce asked me to hold it, but he didn't want to be near me when I picked it up. I put the caterpillar over on the swing set with the other caterpillar and they began to race up the ladder. This was too much for Bryce and he started screaming and crying - completely out of control hysterics - even threw himself on the ground. I was so caught off guard by this response that I started laughing! Eventually, both of us were able to calm down and I moved both caterpillars over to some leaves that Bryce thought were acceptable.
Other than that event, we had a good time playing on the swings. Bryce worked on pumping his legs and I worked on pushing him as high as I could to tickle his belly!
It is hard for most of you to appreciate how amazing these pictures are, but Mimi worked tirelessly to get the basement clean and organized. Bryce now has a place to drive his big truck, paint on the easel and just play in what was previously a forbidden zone!
Bryce had his first Super Soccer Star lesson in the park today. He didn't want to go and spent the first 5 minutes crying face-down in the grass. Eventually, I was able to get him to participate. Bryce kept mainly to himself, but was working very hard to follow the directions given by the coaches. In the end, Bryce was pretty proud of himself and the two stickers that he was given!
Notice "Binket" was playing soccer, too... Bryce is my little Linus from Peanuts!
About to get a High-5 from the coach.
It was a rough night in the Shannon household last night. Audrey essentially did not sleep (therefore, neither did Jeremy or I) and then Bryce had a nightmare at some point in the middle of the night and so we were up with him, too. So, instead of rushing off this morning to Music Together, we took our time and wandered to the library instead.
After the library and the Farmer's Market, we went over to the grassy area in front of the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Bryce and Jeremy had a great time romping about, though Jeremy was careful not to roll in the grass!
I love this series of photos...wish I could make it go like a flip book!
Bryce was such a pleasure to be with today. He was curious about everything, but polite...and was extremely determined to show off that he is a "big kid" now.
Just "testing the waters"...
Lately, Bryce has been so attentive to Audrey. He mimics what we say and how we say it, so now when Audrey comes into the room, Bryce says, "Hi, Sweetie!" He also grabbed her leg the other day and very sweetly said, "You're fat!" Today, Bryce made sure Audrey always had a toy to play with and even give her his 'binket' to hold while we were strolling.
Bryce was determined to go down the stairs. I explained that we couldn't because I had the stroller. He told me that I could go down the ramp and he would go down the stairs by himself. He waited at the top until I got to the bottom to watch and in the meantime had a conversation with a stranger about grass cutters!
Another staircase...same situation!
Here, Bryce was pretending to buzz like a bumblebee around the vegetable garden.
And yet another staircase!
The trio!
Nikki, Danny, Mimi and Pat (Ex-Pat) joined us after lunch. Bryce didn't waste anytime in asking Nikki lots of questions about the plants.
Kisses under a weeping beech tree.
Ex-Pat and Bryce exploring the gardens.
Bryce found a pear and a nut in his explorations with Ex-Pat. He was VERY excited!
It is a shame you can't see the face I am making at Pat for telling Bryce that we need to use that pear in a "Pear Pie" when we get home. Thankfully, Bryce just wanted to eat the pear plain...
