Captured Pretend Play

The tiger shown here is wearing a "fireman's hat" and is holding a "fireman's hose". The blob racing around is both a fire truck and race car.

Avery Charms the Ladies

Avery's motorcycle interest is not secret. Even the librarians know how much he loves the subject based on the books and videos he checks out. Recently, after watching a very worn motorcycle video from the library, Avery decided to take his motorcycle trike outside for a spin on the driveway.

Two fifth grade neighborhood girls were riding their bicycles in our cul-de-sac. Naturally, Avery strikes up a conversation with them about their rides while I translated his jabber. He was asking about their tires, bike chain and then finally asked where the engine was. They explained that bicycles didn't have engines. Well, that confused him, so Avery popped the seat of his trike and started to show them his impressive imaginary engine.

Maybe many girls don't understand the big deal about having big engines, but what is understood is the sweet effort to make them smile. : )

I Married Elvis Wooderson

There is never a dull moment in our home between our silly happy go lucky toddler and his dad. Clint took full advantage of the opportunity to dress up this week at school on the theme days.

On Holiday day, he dressed up as a reaper in spirit of Halloween. He said that he enjoyed scaring students when they walked unknowingly in his room.

On cartoon character day, he dressed up in western duds and borrowed Avery's cowboy hat (much too small for an adult size head, mind you) and taught the day impersonating "Woody" off of Toy Story (he even taped a mock draw string on his back - quite creative).

On "other occupation day", he paraded the hallways as a safari tour guide. He was his students guide on a "WILD ADVENTURE of learning". He said good bye to us that morning in a thick Australian accent.

Finally, he is shown here on famous person day. I'm sure "thank you, thank you very much" lines were purposely slipped into his lectures.

Needless to say, the drama teacher was probably a lot of fun at school.

Auntie Leah's Visit

Aunt Leah drove all the way down to visit us this week. Any time Leah left the room, even for a minute, Avery asked "where aunt leeyah go?". (He must know what his guests are doing at all times.) It was fun to go for walks in the wagon, play at the park, eat pizza, play with pretend tools, watch Sesame Street, etc... We enjoyed having her visit!

Party Hat

According to Avery, this is a "party hat". He will even insist that you wear one.

Some favorites this week:
1.) making dinosaur tracks in play doh
2.) dressing up as "fireman" with a fireman's hat and a furry red scarf
3.) referring to animal dropping on our street as "camoflage"
4.) naming the tunnel where shopping carts are stored in Wal-Mart as the "motorcycle house"
5.) using the needle of a bicycle pump as a "straw" for his dinosaur to sip "nuk"(milk) from
6.) trying to tickle his mommy

Expressions from Avery's Imagination

Avery has been surprising us with his clever thoughts lately. As his vocabulary expands, he is more able to communicate what thoughts he has throughout the day. Here is a couple of our favorites this week:

"muffin mittens" - his large, poofy mittens that are soft and round like muffins
"Look! A T-Rexxx" - the pile of chopped up peanuts we gave him for a snack that apparently had the form of a dinosaur

Also, he likes to dress up. The outfit he chooses to pretend with most often is his motorcycle gear. It included his trike, a bicycle helmet, "motorcycle coat", "motorcycle gloves", and his "motorcycle (stocking) hat".

Father/Son time at Chuck E. Cheese and flying kites

This was Avery's first time to fly a kite. It was a nice, windy March morning in our backyard. Papa was also with us when we attempted another kite flight the following day in the middle of the ballfield parking lot.
"Papa" (Avery's name for his grandpa Kocher) treated us to pizza at Chuck E. Cheese that afternoon and all three boys enjoyed playing the various arcade games.