october art

every week at preschool samuel has the opportunity to create a painting and an art project. here is a sampling of this month's creative endeavors.the witch hat has gotten a lot of use over the past couple of weeks.pumpkin painting with leaf. yes, that is what the green thing is.

is there a theme emerging here?boo!the plate came home with us today. i get the impression that it will be used for every meal for the next very long time.

fish heads, fish heads, rolly, poly fish heads

fish heads, fish heads, eat em up, yum.

samuel eats some headless sardinesand then explains how he pulls the bones out, as you can hear him crunching on them...

glasses

i went to get a new pair of glasses this week, and samuel perused the selection

pumpkins, trains and turkeys, oh my!

We met Joe and Dhea for a picnic at Ardenwood Farm this weekend. In addition to the farm stuff (which included a working blacksmith!) we visited their pumpkin patch and had some fun on the train.

As soon as Samuel saw the pumpkin patch, he ran straight up to this pumpkin, told Steve that we needed to buy it, and refused to leave its side. He tried to pick it up, as we debated whether it was appropriate to instill the "you can get any pumpkin you want as long as you can carry it to the check out stand" rule. We decided it was a bit too early for that rule, mainly due to Samuel's strong attachment to this particular pumpkin. He valiantly tried to pick it up and carry it, but it just wasn't going to happen.
Driving the train
Hanging with the turkeys. Samuel and I walked right up to these turkeys - they were huge - bigger than Samuel, but then Steve became convinced that they were going to attack Samuel or me, so we had to back off.

the aquarium, sort of

i had to get fingerprinted AGAIN today.

thankfully livescan is much better than the old days of ink. results are faster and you don't walk around looking like you just left central booking.

the upside to our afternoon at the fingerprinting office was that we actually passed through downtown during hours that the "aquarium" was open.

it has been at least six months since we have stopped in for a visit, and probably closer to a year. samuel talked about the fish and really took an interest in a way that he hasn't in the past. we'll definitely need to add this back to our list of free diversions in a pinch.

shira snoozed through the pescateria

swings

after our visit to the Y this morning, we decided to hit the park.

impressively, samuel made the cross country trek from the parking lot to the playground on his own while shira and utilized the paved path.

shira enjoyed her first experience on the swing.

and she survived samuel taking a turn pushing her as well.

i'm flying!

today's preschool adventures

samuel all decked out for school. backpack on, cheese toast with avocado in hand.

today we had the "parent meeting" for the first time at preschool.

this is significant because it means that all but a couple of moms go off to a separate room to discuss parenting topics while the kids stay and play. the story during snack time was all about the impending "separation".

i'd say it was a big day, but samuel took it in stride. i think his recent trips to the YMCA daycare while I exercise were to thank for the easy transition. samuel gave me a concerned look, and said "mommy go to meeting?" and that was it. he was happily playing with orange playdough when i returned.
sweeping up leaves from the recent storm. it was pretty adorable to see a bunch of two year olds with rakes and brooms hard at work.
"this is the first time i have seen samuel really play "house". he saw a high chair, looked around for a doll, and began feeding her. then of course he wanted to feed himself and shira as well.

samuel discovers how super cool tire swings are