Picnic in the Park

We took advantage of a lovely fall afternoon recently to have a picnic in a local park.

G is still absolutely obsessed with collecting walnuts, sticks and pinecones, while Miles has a sixth sense about finding cicadas.

After their pockets were full, they played on the playground and ate lunch.

While Grant created an instrument out of a piece of bark and stick and sang what Kent and I call his thrash metal songs {think "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"--with anger},

Miles was busy climbing to the top of the play structure. He was about 6 feet off the ground when I finally noticed him. 

This particular park has the first and only riding squirrel I have ever come across. Grant insists that it's a bear.

Spider-boy

I recently picked up a spider costume for G for Halloween. Our new house has lots of spider webs, which he is constantly pointing out with a mixture of squeamishness and awe. So it seemed like the perfect costume this year.

From the moment the spider costume entered our house, it has hardly left his little body. He actually slept in it the first night, mask and all. We thought for sure he would want to take it off after 10 minutes, but the next morning he came into our room in full sweaty spider regalia. He napped in it again for several days. It probably will need to be dry-cleaned before Halloween arrives.

Spider-boy doing a puzzle

Above all, his favorite thing to do as a spider is to chase poor Miles around saying, "The spider is going to eat you!" while Miles screams and runs.

Gooooaaaal!

Grant recently started playing soccer in a local league. The 4-year-olds practice for 30 minutes, followed by a 30-minute game each Sunday afternoon. We weren't sure what to expect -- recent swim lessons were often met with protests and tears. But soccer has been a hit so far. He looks forward to his game all week and often wants to practice in the backyard. His enthusiasm for the game has surprised us both.

It probably doesn't hurt that Kent is the coach.

The first couple of weeks have been all about figuring out where the goal is and kicking -- not holding the ball. It's hard to remember.

Miles is a pretty good spectator. He loves to yell "Go green team, go!" when he isn't trying to run onto the field. Snacks are a good distraction.

Tree Seat

One of the things we love about our new house is the number of big, old trees on the property. Grant recently found a tree with a built-in seat just his size--perfect for deep thinking and other preschooler pursuits.

Adventures With Thomas

In what is becoming an annual tradition, we rode the Thomas the Tank Engine in the nearby old railroad town of Boone last weekend. It is not an understatement to say this event is a toddler boy's dream.

Grant, our little botanist, stared out the window, pointing out the crab apple trees and "pinecone trees" that he saw along the way, while Miles asked over and over again: "Ride Thomas?" As in, "Pinch me, Mom. I can't believe I'm riding the real, true Thomas."

Conversations With Miles: 2 Years, 1 Month

Now that Miles is becoming a little chatterbox, I thought I would try documenting our conversations just like with G. Here's a transcript of a recent conversation:

Me: What's your name?

Miles: Daddy!

Me: No, what's your name, really?

Miles: Mommy! No. Silly me. I'm Miles.

Me: How old are you?

Miles: 5.

Me: No, how old are you, really?

Miles: Silly me! I'm 2.

Me: What did you do today?

Miles: {Listing things off}  I played, no cry school, eat cookies...

Me: Eat cookies? 

Miles: Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you.

Me: Was it someone's birthday at school?

Miles: Yep. Cookies! Num, num, num.

Silly Miles

Update: Preschool has gotten much better since Miles' rough first day. There are still big tears when I leave, but his teachers assure me that he's fine after a minute or two.

New Cousin

How could I forget to post pictures of the boys' newest cousin? Theo was born in Iowa City on Aug. 14, and we got to meet him on his first day of life. The boys loved patting him and holding him. Grant seemed especially enamored with him, saying, "Aww, he's so little" and "He's so cute."

Theo, first day

3 weeks old

He is now the sixth boy on the Smith side of the family. What fun he'll have in a few short years chasing his big cousins around.

Labor Day Weekend in Chicago

We spent the long weekend in Chicago, visiting Grandma and Grandpa, the zoo and favorite parks.

The boys were most excited about going to Brookfield Zoo, and we decided to brave it even though it was rainy Saturday morning. The rain meant we had the zoo pretty much to ourselves and lots of big puddles to splash in.

On Sunday, we rode the El train downtown {which is a highlight of any trip to Chicago}. These pictures don't convey how completely excited Miles was by his train ride. Once downtown, the weather was perfect for walking around Millennium Park and wandering along the lakefront.

We also took a lot of walks to the park, went out for ice cream with Uncle Alex and saw Grandma and Grandpa's new house. It was a fun end-of-summer weekend!

Miles' First Day of Preschool

After seeing his brother go off to school each morning for the last couple of years, Miles seemed excited about starting school last week. He's in the same early preschool classroom at the Montessori school that G attends, going three morning each week this fall. He had his older brother to give him pointers, such as: "Listen to the teachers, Miles," and "Put your work away when you're done." When we got to school, Miles knew just where to go and how to put his backpack away and find his name tag before entering the classroom.

But when it came time to leave him at the classroom door, Miles cried hysterically--and apparently continued to cry for much of the morning. Even visiting G in his classroom next door didn't help console him. He was red-eyed and sniffling when I picked him up. 

So...we'll try again this week and hope that he just needs a few days, like G, to get used to school.