How Do You Measure Up?

Linus helped Matthew make a scarecrow this weekend.  It is a project for the corn maze the Gardens does each fall at the Chatfield site.  They shopped together for the supplies and when they got home Linus was excited to show me the boards they bought.  He said, "Look mama, wood!"

Linus had fun learning how to use the tape measure and proceeded to measure anything he could.  When he measured my foot I asked him how long it was.  He said, "Two feet."  When he measured his own head he said, "It's a good size." 

Linus' current look when he smiles for the camera includes him squinting his eyes.

Purple Park

One day last week we walked over to the purple playground in City Park.  It takes about 15 minutes to walk there.  We haven't been there since last summer.  The playground equipment was beyond Linus' abilities and I forgot about it.  I'm glad I remembered it because now Linus can enjoy many of the activities there.  I'm not sure what the real name of it is, but neighbors refer to it as Purple Park or Gorilla Park.  The predominate color is purple and there is a sculpture of a gorilla.  On a sad note, it is dedicated to a boy who died at the very young age of five.

Linus spent much of the time there pushing his dump truck around, sending it down the slide, and pushing it on various swings.  He has gotten very good at climbing and today he climbed all the way to the top of some rather tall equipment at Turtle Park.  It left me feeling a bit uneasy, but I spotted for him and he did it over and over again until he made it to the top without my help.  Even so, I was under him ready to catch him and worried about him hitting his head or teeth on the metal as he fell down.  Sometimes he gains confidence before I do.

Somewhere along the way I neglected to mention that Linus can say his ABC's and count to 13.  Neither of us knows how he learned the number 13.

Cute Guys

My guys are so cute.

We took my friends from out of town to the Botanic Gardens.  Between that and our keeping late hours all weekend, Linus was tuckered out.  

We just got back from a 4-hour visit to the zoo with Matthew's cousin and her kids. When we got in the door, Linus climbed up onto the couch and promptly fell to sleep.  Too bad I have to wake him up soon to head out to pick up our produce.

Veggie Heaven

Linus really has fun pulling out the veggies from our CSA farm bag each week.  You'd think it were Christmas.  He smells them as he takes them out and then he looks them over.  He tends to think carrots are cute.

Today I handed him a book to read and he told me, "I don't know the words in this book."  He's never said that before!

Nap Struggle

Linus continues to nap sporadically.  Some days he ends up passing out in weird places.  The other day he was overtired and crabby. I suggested he rest on the couch with a book. He said he wasn't tired.  Next thing I knew, he was asleep.

Gym

On Sunday we attended the fifth birthday party for Gabriel.  It was held at a gymnastics facility and was heaven for all of the little kids. They could run around, climb, jump, bounce, and swing to their heart's content.  The two-year-olds in the group were more timid about a number of the activities, but everyone found something fun to do and some pushed through their fears.

In the first picture Linus is sitting with Anna. She is four and a half years old and recently she has taken to Linus as though she were his big sister.  She made sure he had what he needed and put the straw into his juice box for him.  It is really cute to see.  Anna's mom is working on a teaching certificate, which brings my teachers as friends count up to four.  I think I identify with them in their approach to helping kids grow and learn.

In his goody bag from the party Linus found a pack of Smarties, his first ones, and he said they had good flavor.  He shared one with me and one with Matthew.

First Camping Trip

Our 24-hour camping trip was fun for all.  Linus helped us set up the tent and then he and I went down by the lake to see the four pelicans swimming near shore. We also got to get a good look at a pocket gopher that kept coming out of its hole to stuff food in its cheeks.  Linus called it a cute little critter.  Our campsite was near a small playground.  A big kid pushed him on the tire swing and once he was comfortable with her, he really got into the fun of it.  We had hobo dinners and then Matthew and Linus attended a mountain blue bird talk while I watched over the fire and relaxed.  We made s'mores of course.  Linus enjoyed them, but had little patience for roasting his marshmallows.  He pulled his out right away.  One good thing about this is that we didn't have to worry about him getting burned from melting marshmallows.

We got to bed rather late and it was like having a slumber party in our tent.  Linus slept in Matthew's old blue sleeping bag, which is better than either of our sleeping bags.  He thought it was cozy.

We got lightly rained on a few times and hid out in the car to stay dry.  When Matthew was out stashing the fire wood under the car to keep it dry, Linus sat in the driver seat and pretended to drive.  He said, "I'm driving.  Drive out of camp and go to coffee shop."  

We left earlier than we had planned on Saturday because Linus was tuckered out and at the crabby, weepy stage.  That was understandable since we were up way past his bedtime and each and every minute of the trip was a new experience for him.  I think it was overload for him.  He has good memories of the trip and talks about the tent.

Social Events

Saturday night through to Monday morning we hosted Luc from Montreal.  He works at the botanic garden there and is doing an employee swap with the garden here.  He'll be here for three weeks and we got to host him when he first got to Denver. He was a charming guest and Linus enjoyed playing with him.  The top picture shows him playing with Luc at a picnic at City Park for the final jazz concert of the summer.  (How could it already be the last one?!)

Tuesday night we attended a neighborhood ice cream social.  The free ice cream was a delightful treat and we all got to climb into a fire truck. Actually, Linus was in two trucks. One had the 100-foot ladder and he got to climb around in the back seat area.  The other truck was a regular fire truck and he had a blast "driving" it.  I was pretty excited to be in it, too. I don't remember ever having done that.  The firefighters were great with all of the kids.  

We are taking Linus on his very first camping trip tomorrow.  He keeps telling me he likes camping.  Little does he know how much fun he is going to have.  We are only going for one night because we want to see how it goes and because we have to be back for a birthday party.

Posts continue to be few and far between.  We've been busy and twice this week I fell asleep when Linus napped. Today he helped me can plum jam. He washed the plums and pulled off their stems. He also put the icky ones in the compost pile.  I ended up cranking out 24 jars of jam.  No wonder I'm tired out.