Another busy week and weekend! Graham is still up and down with potty training, some successes at home and school and lots of non-success, so we will just keep working at it! He has definitely settled in to the "new school," as he still calls it, because he seems to be getting in trouble a little more these days, but he always confesses to me and tells me all about it! Dean said that won't last forever, ha! We did manage to get out and walk a couple evenings so that was nice. We love our outside time!
On Saturday, Graham and I headed out early Saturday morning for a big full day! First, we stopped at mama's and picked her up. Then, we went by and visited with Kenneth, Danah and Baby Lillian for a little bit and then we went to the nursing home to see Granny. It was the first time that we had visited her there, so she was tickled to see us. Graham took her flowers and sang her about three songs and sat on her lap and gave her hugs and kisses, very very special moments. She said she loves all the pics that she has on the walls of him to look at, so that was sweet. She seemed in pretty good spirits, of course, with Graham, it had to be a pretty short visit, but still very nice.
Then, we headed to a playground and met up with Stacy and the girls and Carol and her kiddos and had a picnic lunch and lots of playground fun. The kids, all six of them, played so well together and it always amazes me to sit and look at how our little get togethers have grown and grown! Then, we headed to a swim club that Carol belongs too and we had a few hours of pool time. Again, the kids were so fun, going back and forth between the big pool and the kiddie pool. Graham was quite taken with the kiddie pool and preferred to spend most of his time there. The kids even all took a snack break together and shared snacks. It was very very cute! We headed out around 4pm and Graham was literally asleep within minutes of pulling out of the parking lot! We stopped and dropped off Mama at her house and he didnt even notice. He slept all the way home! He was quite exhausted, but told daddy all about his day when we got home!
On Sunday, we slept in.....well, until 8am that is! Late for Graham, ha! And, we just had a lazy morning at home and I did laundry and housework and such and then we headed out to Red Lobster for lunch. Graham ususally does pretty well there and we had a nice lunch. He even went potty in their bathrooms twice while we were there! We ran a few more errands and he fell asleep in the car on the way home and slept until the evening! I think he was still a bit tired from Saturday!!!
We have another full weekend next weekend as we have Dean's company cookout on Saturday and we are celebrating his bday at our house with family on Sunday! Our busy summer continues!
We had a good short week back at work and school. Graham struggled a little settling back in, he had been so far off schedule and going down for nap at noon was a little tough on him. His listening skills needed a bit of work as well, but by the end of the week, he seemed to be getting back in the swing of things. I picked him up a little early Friday evening and we went to see Rachel for a haircut. He is still struggling with thin hair that is not fully coming in all over, but gets unruly in some areas. So, she cut it super short all over and we will see what happens this time! He does so good there now. He sat in the booster seat in her chair and talks to her the whole time and of course gets a sucker at the end!
Potty training is still ups and downs. Sometimes he is totally in to it and other times could care less! So, we will just keep working with him and see how it goes. We took pull-ups to school and they also had mixed results. Mostly, he just does not want to stop playing to take the time to go potty! He is such a busy little boy!
On Saturday, we had a big day at the lake. Mama, daddy, Kenneth, Danah and Baby Lillian all came down and went to the lake with us. Graham and Baby Lillian were boating buddies and as usual Graham wanted to be in the water non-stop. We had a nice picnic lunch by the water and had the pool all to ourselves for a couple hours, so that was great fun! Graham konked out on the way home around 4pm and slept until 630pm, he played so hard, he was worn out!
Of course, even though he went to bed a little after 9pm, he was still knocking on his door to let us know he was awake bright and early at 630am! I guess his little internal clock is just programmed to wake up at the same time every morning! We headed off to church, it was a special service as the new priest was in town and so the choir sang and the new priest, Father Paul conducted service. So, this was the first Sunday in awhile that Dean was not with us in the congregation. Sure enough, Graham was a good boy for me like he had been the past few weeks. He was very quiet and we even went back to the pew and sat until the service ended. He whispered when he talked and held my hand walking up the alter. We had a nice reception after service and then headed home. Graham did NOT nap all afternoon, so we went outside to play on the playset and burn off some energy and then called it a day. He has now learned how to climb back up his slide and then slide back down on his belly. He thinks this is a great trick!
We just got back from a fun family vacation to Pennslyvania! Graham was talking about it to anyone and everyone the days before left and especially about the big train that I told him we were going to ride. We headed out on Friday morning bright and early and stopped in Gettysburg. It was about a five hour drive with a couple of stops. Graham did great on the trip. We had lunch at a little tavern in downtown and then drove around a little looking at battlefields, it was very very crowded and bike week, and Graham fell asleep as soon as we got in the car after lunch, so we decided to head on to our main destination - Lancaster, where we were meeting up with some friends and kiddos Graham's age!
We got to Lancaster on Friday evening and were right down the street from the amusement park that we were going to on Sunday, so Graham got many glimpses of the castle and the dragon that we were going to see. On Saturday morning, we went to the Strasburg Railroad, which was quite a treat for Graham to see! We took a 45 minute ride on a steam engine through the Amish countryside. Graham (photo below) was absolutely in heaven being on the big train! After the train ride, we ate some lunch and looked around at some of the other trains and then Graham was fast asleep as soon as we left there! We played at the pool for awhile when he woke up, so that was fun.
On Sunday, we went to Dutch Wonderland, it is basically a kiddie amusement park and Graham was in heaven, trains and boats and airplanes and horses and bulldozers and more trains and more boats, he loved every single minute! He didnt nap all day and just wanted to keep going and going! He loved the rides, kept his arms in the arm on lots of them and laughed and yelled, it was so much fun to watch him. We got to ride on some of the rides too, the train, the monorail, the boats and Dean and Graham even did the log flume! It was a very fun day and a great park!
On Monday, we headed to Hershey, the sweetest place on earth! There are lots of different things to do there, but we focused on Chocolate World, we took a tour of the factory and saw how they make the chocolates, saw a 3D show with dancing candy bars, took a trolley tour of Hershey, complete with singing, characters and candy treats and had some yummy desserts before we left. It was a really fun place. We got on the road late Monday evening and we were home about 1030pm. Graham did not fall asleep until 930pm! He was just so wired and talking and singing and telling us all about his trip! Luckily, we were off on Tuesday, so we had some time recooperate!
Graham has started to show the most interest in potty training to date right before the trip. He even went several times in the hotel and a few times out in public restrooms, so that was interesting! We spent a good bit of time working with him on Tuesday and are experimenting with pull-ups and big boy underwear. We still have a ways to go, but at least he is showing some interest! So, we will see what the days and weeks to come hold!
Graham settled right back in to his routine after our beach trip, he still loves to talk about it and what all he did when he was there. They had a very patriotic week at school getting ready for the 4th of July and he made lots of red, white and blue artwork and by the end of the week he was singing "happy birthday to our country," it was very cute!
We were all off on Friday for the holiday for the 4th, since it was on Saturday. So, we had a fun day around the house, played outside, got a walk in and ran a few errands. On Saturday, we headed to the lake, we played in the pool, walked all around looking at the boats and for the first time at the beach area, Graham just took off right down in to the water. Clearly, he remembered being in the ocean and the waves. Typically, he would stay right at the edge of the water and not even let his toes get wet. Well, this time, he was out in the water, about to his knees and wanted to keep going and I had to convince him we didn't need to. This boy is a water boy for sure, any kind of water, anywhere!!!! We had more playtime outside when we got home on the playset, which we still enjoy so very much!
On Sunday, we woke up to a cold rainy day, so we went to the early service of church and then had an inside day. Graham is doing much better at being quiet in church and not quite as wild, so that is good. Hopefully, this is a new trend!!! He really enjoys being in there and watching everything going on and saying the amens. He is quite the singer these days too, especially when we are in the car, he will just sing song after song after song! He can already even carry quite the tune! Very glad he got his daddy's musical talent!!!
We had a mini 4th of July photo shoot at the pier before we left the beach last week. Graham doesn't cooperate nearly as good as he used to the posed photo shoots, but I managed to get a couple shots of him!
Happy 4th!
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