Top 5 Reasons We Love April:

1) Baseball is BACK! In this house some of us root for the Red Sox, others the Yankees but we are ALL Washington Nationals fans! Baseball season in our house is quite interesting. It's calm and friendly now.......check back with us in October! I'm not prediciting it will stay that way!

2) April is Occupational Therapy month! How are we going to celebrate? Hmmm.....

3) The Masters is on next week (April 7-10). I am definitely more excited about this than Michael or Mikey. How can you not get excited by the beautiful Augusta National Golf Club and more specifically the 12th hole?!?!? The gorgeous stone bridge (the Hogan Bridge) leading to the green and the colorful flowers surrounding the course are stunning. It just makes me long for the warm days of summer.....which hopefully aren't too far away;

4) Mikey turns 25 months today (April 1)! This means we have 11 more months experiencing these "terrible two" behaviors. Fun. I'm not wishing the time away.....but I AM wishing that these tantrums will disappear soon!

5) WE ARE GOING TO FLORIDA!!! Grandma Anita, Mommy and Mikey will be flying to Florida from Sunday, April 17 until Thursday, April 21. We are VERY much looking forward to spending quality time with Aunt Diane, Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle A and THE SUN. As for specific plans nothing is set in stone yet but we are hoping to sink our feet into the sand and enjoy some warm weather. This has been one long winter. 16 days and counting! Yay! (And a big thank you to Michael for letting Mommy and Mikey take a mini-vacation while he stays behind to work!)

What are YOU looking forward to in April?

"DADDY!"

Every time Mikey and I enter Hannaford, our local grocery store, we always follow the same routine. We walk into the entrance way, pick a shopping cart, insert the grocery cart "protector" (for lack of a better term), I strap Mikey in and we are on our way. The past two weeks have been different. Recently when we walk in Mikey will yell in a very excited tone...."DADDY!". (As a side note: we primarily visit the grocery store when Michael is working so I was baffled by the connection between Daddy and the supermarket.) It can be a little awkward when strangers turn to look at you and your child calling them "Daddy". Then today it all made sense. I noticed that there are pictures of the managers of the different departments hanging on the wall right when we walk in. It just so happens that 2 of these men are bald. Mikey looked at the pictures, smiled, pointed and yelled his famous "DADDY!". Mystery solved!

Weekend Visit

Auntie and Uncle Scott came to visit this weekend! We spent time with them on Sunday afternoon and all day Monday. Mikey had a great time sharing his toys and playing. He really gravitated towards Uncle Scott (and also taught him a lesson about locking the bathroom door!)! We took them to the Publick House for dinner on Sunday and on Monday afternoon Auntie came with us to My Gym for class. While we were there Mikey was in one of those "I'm-a-two-year-old" moods but all-in-all we had a good time.



Thanks for coming to visit, guys! We loved having you!

GOOD LUCK wishes to Auntie as she begins her new job today! Yay!

Back to the farm!

We made it back to the farm for the first time in 2011! Mikey and Mommy bundled up and headed out on Friday afternoon. It was "warm" when the sun was out but the high was only about 40 degrees. These days as long as the sun is out, we're going outside!

Mikey surprised me this time around as he was intimidated by the animals up close. They poke their little heads through the gates and you could tell he was really uncomfortable (squirming in his stroller and whining). He was more comfortable when I held him in my arms but we still had to maintain quite a distance. I have a feeling the initial fear will wear off and he will enjoy the animals more. Our favorite animals were the baby goats. SO CUTE. Next we are waiting for the baby piglets to be born on April 26th.

And we can't forget about the TRUCKS. There were a few tractors and bulldozer (they are building a new building on the property). Mikey was in his glory. He spent most of his time sitting on the old fashioned tractor and "driving". Wonder what he will do next time......

Busy Week!

This past week was SUPER busy for us. In addition to our regular routine of My Gym on Mondays and work & Eva's House on Tuesdays, we now have joined Boston Sports Club!

Wednesday was my first "orientation" session with the trainer. They set these appointments up to familiarize you with the gym and also have you do some exercises to make sure you know what you are doing and don't do anything that could end up harming yourself. One of the best things about the gym is the babysitting program. Although you have to call DAYS in advance to secure your child's spot, it is nice to go exercise and know that Mikey is being cared for and having fun. This was always a reason why it was difficult for us to work-out in the past. The babysitting area has all sorts of fun toys and crafts to play with, in addition to also a full gym with balls, trampolines, climbing structures...you get the idea. He LOVES it. His most favorite activity at the gym is to play "hockey". We did NOT teach him this. He immediately gravitates towards a stick (the same height as him) with a sponge on the end and runs around the gym hitting balls and pucks with the stick! I must admit he is quite good!! So while Mommy works out, Mikey plays hockey! We all get our exercise for the day! (Next time we go I will be sure to get some pictures!)

Thursday Mikey participated in a study at Boston University regarding language and cognition. They were looking to see if Mikey would understand a certain direction even though he observed something else. For example, Mikey observed one of the examiners putting a puppy dog in a drawer. Then, they closed a curtain and moved the puppy behind a pillow instead. They opened the curtain and told Mikey "I moved the puppy behind the pillow. Can you get the puppy?". So even though he SAW the puppy placed in the drawer, he was to follow verbal direction and get the puppy from behind the pillow. They said he did wonderful! He got a BU t-shirt as a "prize" for participating.....not sure how Daddy feels about that "prize"!

Friday morning we started another semester of "Music Together" with the maracas collection. Mikey is in the same class as his friend Maggie McNeal. The whole car ride to music all Mikey kept saying from the backseat was "Maggie! Maggie! Maggie!". And when we left we saw our friends Ruby and Kieran as they were heading in for the next class! Yay for girlfriends!

See the next post for our Friday afternoon adventure.....

Another game!

As if last night's hockey game wasn't enough fun, today Daddy and Mikey met Sean and Abigail Irwin at Conte Forum for the second round of the NIT featuring Boston College and Northwestern.

Although BC lost, everyone had a lot of fun!

"Hockey"

Mikey is coming out with new words every day. Although he is mostly speaking in one word phrases, he will imitate most of what we say. His new favorite word is "HOCKEY". And what better way to put that word to good use than to take our adorable son to his first BC hockey game at the TD Garden in Boston for the Hockey East Semifinals!

Mikey was such a trooper. The game started at 5, which was perfect timing for him. As soon as we walked in and for the ENTIRE first period all we heard was "HOCKEY!" and his little finger pointing to the ice. We think he means the puck when he says hockey, just like whenever he sees football, baseball or basketball, he says "BALL!". Mikey alternated between sitting on Mommy and Daddy's laps and also sat in his own chair. He ate, drank, watched the game, checked out the people.....he was fabulous!

Oh....and BC beat Northeastern 5-4!