After we took Tatum to school, we picked up coffee (for me) and a donut (for Kellen), and headed to The Bounce, for their toddler time bounce (9 - 11AM, ages up to 5, I believe). I was meeting a group of moms there so that I could have some folks to chat with while Kellen went crazy on the bounce equipment...and crazy he went! I think he was sweaty within 20 minutes! We stayed until about 11:30, and I'm learning (it's amazing what you learn in 5 years...) to give him "count downs"...so as it was getting time for us to go, I had told him 10 more minutes, and showed him on my watch what time it was, and what time it would be when we needed to leave. Plus, it helped that we had already made plans for the entire day...plans that includes LOTS of other stuff that HE wanted to do...So anyway, when it was time to go (when the open jump was happening and the bigger kids were running amuck), I just walked over to him and told him "times up, let's go" - and he finished his turn in the one he was on, got his shoes on, and went to the door. I had to actually catch up with him!
We went home, got our picnic lunch ready, including lunch for the ducks (the heels of the bread and crusts from his sandwich) and headed off for the park that we hadn't had a chance to explore yet (and we've been in this house what now...a month and a half??). We walked there, which again, is something I just LOVE about this location!!!
As we "discovered" the pond (and really, I wouldn't have known it was there if someone hadn't told me...you just CANNOT see it - even if you're playing on the playground equipment!) the ducks automatically started to walk up to us. You can tell that they're used to being fed. Kellen was so cute...I gave him the bread and he started feeding them, but he wasn't throwing the bread very far because they were so close to him. Well, there was one duck, in particular, that was fairly aggressive, and started trying to take the bread out of Kellens hand. Initially, he thought this was pretty cool. That is, until the duck actually did it. Kellen looked at me with a surprised look on his face..."Mommy, that duck bit me!"
I just laughed (once I knew it didn't actually hurt him, of course)...and told him to make sure to throw the bread AWAY from him so the ducks wouldn't try to get it out of his hands and to not let them do that again. After he fed them all of their lunch, we sat down to eat ours and just watched them.
Kellen decided to name them all as well. It was fairly easy with some of them with markings, but the solid white ones were a bit harder (except the one that bit him - his name was easy). So we have the following "duck friends", if you will, now:Meaniac (the duck that bit him...)
Brownie
Blackie
Crownie
Honey
Caramel
Beautiful (this was the somewhat "generic" name for the solid white ducks, and he kept changing which duck was being called Beautiful, although he'll never say that he actually did that...)
Greenie (a black duck whose feathers actually look green in the light...pretty cool!!)
There were some more that I can't remember, but I think you get the point...
We also got more of nature than we thought we would...we saw some squirrels up close and personal, too. Very personal. As in, I-guess-it's-mating-season-personal. I initially only saw one squirrel, so I of course, pointed it out to Kellen. He's the one that pointed the second squirrel out to me. Then pointed out that they were wrestling. Uh huh...They WERE wrestling, but that's not all, folks. Anyway, this is a G-rated blog, so that's all on that subject.
After we enjoyed the ducks for a L-O-N-G time, and talked about why they wouldn't be good pets (you can laugh now), we went to the playground area of the park and played for a while, then walked back to the house for a rest.
I did it. I gave in on the nap. I HAD to have one today! It's my vacation and I can nap if I want to, right? So I told Kellen to lay down for a short rest, and I did the same. I fell asleep and only later in the day did he tell me that he didn't. But he did stay in his room and rest, which is what I wanted and needed him to do.
Anyway...he went to his Little Dragon lesson after watching some cartoons (I decided against the pool after our "rest" time...we both needed to just chill out and hang) and once again did wonderfully! He even challenged the instructor! So they sparred...and Kellen ended up telling me after class that he couldn't beat the teacher, but that he was going to practice really hard so that one day he could beat him. He did really well, and sparred really well against the other student, too! I'm so proud of how he's doing in there with that instructor! It's like night and day with that instructor vs the one on the weekend...Goodness gracious! Kellen's attitude and bahavior are AMAZING when he's with Mr. B...
Then it was off to pick up his sis and back home for dinner, and on the way to do those things is when I learned that he didn't actually go to sleep during his "rest" time...as he was so very tired and fighting falling asleep (his normal pattern when he doesn't get a nap thus far). He did manage to stay awake, and had only a minor melt-down when we got home, but I talked him through it and he was able to calm himself down enough to have dinner and help me get things ready around here, so that was good.
All-in-all, another fabulous day with my Kellen!
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