A Day On The Farm

We took the boys to the Little Farm at Tilden Park in the Berkeley Hills this past weekend. With their growing mobility and Colin's future calling as a veterinarian, we thought this would be the perfect place for a weekend outing. The life of raising toddlers quickly snapped us back into reality when 30 seconds after arriving at the farm, a huge cow bellowed out a deep "MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" and promptly made Colin cry. We went from having visions of our two boys feeding the animals celery sticks and making all the farm animal sounds they've been learning from their books, to this:

After a while they calmed down and were able to enjoy the ducks and geese while bravely put up with the sheep. Jake was having a pretty good time and wasn't as scared, but his mood soured as soon as he did a face plant while walking. Chasing them around and trying to convince them both that everything was all right made both of us pretty stressed.

The boys rallied though and ended up having a decent time I think.

15 Months Old

A couple of days late, but Colin and Jake turned 15 months old a few days ago. With only 28 days in February, is their monthly “birthday” February 28th or March 1? Just asking….

Anyway, both boys enjoyed themselves this past month with their newly acquired skill of walking. In the span of 30 days, both of them have gone from quick, little baby steps of 10 feet or so to what closely resembles running! They have really enjoyed the freedom that mobility has provided them and take pleasure in showing it off. In addition to walking up and down our court, they have taken to doing little “laps” from the living room around the kitchen and back into the living room.

As you can see from the previous video post, Colin really loves his dog Scout. But we think we may have a future veterinarian on our hands because he loves all animals. One of his favorite words is “bird” and he points them out in the trees or flying by whenever he is outside. When he goes over to Grandma and Grandpa Scully’s house their poor cat is on alert because Colin is constantly chasing him around.

As long as we’re picking future professions for each of them, Jake is on his way to a life on the stand-up comedy tour. His utter delight in making anyone – including himself – laugh is so funny. Once he sees that whatever he has just done has made you laugh he grabs onto that and keeps repeating it. This time with a sly little smile on his face as he goes for more laughs.

I’m assuming everything you learn at this age is mimicry in one form or another. But Jake’s ability to hear something or see something and then try and repeat it is pretty staggering at times. We’re constantly amazed when all of a sudden Jake is next to you trying to repeat what you just said or did.

The harsh reality that they are listening to everything you say now was illustrated very clearly the other day with my choice uttering of a frustrated F-bomb in front of them. I’m not saying I’m proud, but I blurted out the word while running late to work one morning. I was then serenaded with “Fuuuuah”, “Fuuuaaaack”, “Fuuuuaahhh” as each of them tried to work out the word Daddy had just said. It was very funny, but reminded me that we may soon have to implement the use of ear muffs as shown in of one of the funniest scenes (view clip – contains language not for the easily offended) in the movie Old School.

All in all, we both agree this was our best month as a family with these two boys. They have been so much fun to be around. The toddler stage has been great so far for both them and us. It has opened up an untapped world for them and allowed us to enjoy life with them outside our immediate house and yard. Each day they seem to recognize more around them and surprise you with some new skill.