Throwing rocks

Kids love the simplest things, it is great.  This weekend we spent well over an hour doing one of Ben's absolute favorite activities- throwing rocks.  It sounds silly, but he adores it.  He isn't often able to.  Let's be real, there are not a lot of times in which throwing rocks is appropriate and allowable.

Saturday was a beautiful day.  There was no way we were going to stay home.  We headed out to the state park to do one of our mini hikes.  This one was a bit different in that we didn't bring the stroller.  Ben was a trooper!  He sat down to rest a couple of times, and we carried him for a few minutes, but overall he walked almost the whole time.  And we did a mile!  It might not seem like much, but think how many steps that is on tiny toddler legs!

Ben loved walking around nature with us.  The best part was when we found a little clearing by the river.  It was just a tiny little spot, but it had a ton of little rock, just perfect for tossing into the river.  Which we did.  For quite some time.  He never seemed to get tired of it.  

We dragged him away from his fun long enough for a nap and to take Pat out to dinner to celebrate his birthday.  After that we went to a different part of the river to walk around.  Oh yeah, and throw more rocks.  Seriously, we hung out on the riverbank for almost an hour.  Ben loved every second of it.  

Why walk when you can run?

Found a stick right away.

I had to wrangle him to get a picture together. :)

Throwing rocks!!

Looking for good rocks with Daddy

He had so much fun!

-Kim

Dagger's bad days

Dagger has had a rough couple of days here.  Monday morning I noticed she had a spot on her back that was missing some fur.  It looked a little irritated and was pealing a bit.  I don't like to mess around with Dagger's health so I decided to take her in to the vet to get it checked out.  I had assumed that we would go there, she would get a cream or something, and that would be the end of it.  That was not the case.

When we got to the vet we found our previous vet had sold his practice to a new lady.  Okay, no big deal, she was keeping all the patients that wanted to stay.  I was already there and we liked our old vet, so I stuck around.  This new vet looked at her skin and said she needed to shave it down and take care of it.  While we had Dagger at the vet, she gave her a once over and noticed that her teeth weren't looking good at all.  In fact she was worried that a couple might need to be pulled.  Well at this point I am kind of freaking out a bit.  I adore this kitty.  One might go so far as to say I am obsessed with her.  So I do not understand how she could have gotten to the point where she needs teeth removed without my noticing.  I take her in to the vet for routine check ups every six months.  I know cats are very good at hiding anything wrong with them, and I do not want to miss anything.  I made a promise to Dagger when I adopted her to always take care of her, and I felt terrible that I had failed her.

Instead of getting a cream and heading home, Dagger ended up spending the night with the vet to get blood work done and her procedures done the next day.  If the vet was going to put her under she wanted to get both the teeth and the skin taken care of at once.  I thought that was a good plan.  Tuesday I was able to pick her up and found out she had 4 teeth removed.  My poor baby!  Fortunately her blood work looked great, so the vet thinks maybe she just has bad teeth.  It happens in humans, it could be the same in cats.  Her skin looked okay, we think it is just allergies.  (I know, how does an indoor cat have allergies?  My only guess is that since we play outside with Ben more somehow we are bringing something inside.  New rule, we all wash our hands after playing outside and before playing with Dagger.)  But my poor girl has a sore mouth and a shaved back.  When we brought her home she jumped right up into her cat tree.  She was eating her treats by evening, and has been eating a bit today.  We think she is coming through like a champ.  Now that we know she has bad teeth, we can be more proactive in her care.  She'll be getting real dental checks.  I admit I am very frustrated with our previous vet.  I mean, I brought her in every six months.  I would see him look into her mouth.  How does he miss teeth getting that bad?  It has only been about 4 months since she last saw a vet and I was told she was perfectly healthy.  I don't want to speak badly about  him, but I just don't understand.  All we can do now though is move forward with our plan to keep my precious Dagger healthy!

If anyone reading this has a cat,  make sure they get their teeth checked when at the vet!  Cats are so good at hiding problems.  Dagger was eating normally, playing, sleeping, using her litter box.  We really did not notice anything wrong with her.  I feel terrible, but I don't know what else I was supposed to do.  Luckily it is now taken care of, we have a plan of action, and my sweet kitty will be be all better soon.  She is already acting pretty much like normal, and was just begging me for scraps of cheese.  I love Dagger so much.  She was my first baby, and is still so important to me.  I am so thankful for good vets that take care of the animals that mean so much to us.

Here is my poor girl with her shaved back.  She still looks beautiful to me.

I don't think she knows she looks a little silly, so nobody say anything to her. ;)  I am so happy to have her back home with us!

-Kim

A brisk spring day

This past Sunday was a perfect, crisp, early spring day.  The sun was out, but it was cool and breezy.  We took Ben on a long walk and played at the nearby baseball field.  Ben had a blast running around the base path, chasing Pat.  The only bad point- it isn't early spring.  It's June.  (Okay May 31st, close enough ;) ) Now, I adore this weather.  I think it is perfect and should be this way all the time.  But Ben is supposed to start swim lessons pretty soon.  Something tells me he isn't going to enjoy swimming in 60 degree weather.  I can say for sure I'm not going to enjoy getting in there with him at that temperature.  Oh well, we're used to crazy weather around here.  I'm happy we are getting some spring days, even if they are at an unexpected time.  

So happy!!

Fingers crossed it warms up a little bit soon!

-Kim

Memorial Day- Fishing!

After a morning at the zoo, and a good nap for Ben, Ben and Pat got to do a little fishing!  Ben really liked watching Pat cast his line, and he even tried it himself (with some help).  He did not want to touch the fish or the worms, but was curious about them.  Pat adores being outside.  He loves fishing, and exploring, and just being in nature.  Ben seems to be heading down that path too.  I think Ben and Pat have a lot of fun outdoor adventures ahead of them.

Observing the process

Trying to cast the line

Daddy helped ;)

They caught a fish!

This is so much fun!

Ben loved being outside with Pat.  And I want to add a special thank you to Meo and Omi for watching Ben while Pat and I went to see the Avengers.  All around it was a wonderful Memorial Day!

-Kim

Memorial Day- Zoo!

This Memorial Day we celebrated by taking Ben on his first zoo trip!  We went to the local free zoo.  It is small, but is super cute!  I didn't know before we got there, but most of the animals there are rescues of some sort.  They are animals that had been injured and sadly couldn't survive in the wild any more.  They focus on local wildlife, so we saw a lot of birds.  The also had a couple of otters, some cougars, and some wolves!  The most surprising of all was in the reptile house- they  had alligators!  It was really cool to see them close up.

Overall Ben enjoyed the zoo.  He wasn't too thrilled by the reptile house.  I think the alligators made him a bit nervous.  (Though he was wearing his alligator shirt, so they knew he was a fan.)  And the peacocks made too much noise for his taste.  (Side note- I did not know peacocks could be so loud!)  But he enjoyed seeing the wolves and the cougars.  In general he liked running around and having Meo and Omi there to play with.  It rained for a short time while we were there, but we made our own fun dancing under the stroller tent.  The rain kept a lot of people away however, so we had the whole place practically to ourselves!  We had a great time and will be going back again this summer.

Checking out some turtles

The rain doesn't bother us!

Checking out the reptiles with Daddy

Dancing while waiting for the rain to pass!

Dancing with my sweet boy!

Running around with Meo

We had a fun time!

It was a great way to spend Memorial Day morning.  We're so thankful to have had the holiday to spend with family.  Thank you to all who have served and are currently serving in our armed forces for keeping this country safe.

-Kim

I got the hint

Every day after breakfast and before work, Ben and I get ready for our day.  I bring Ben into my room with me while I finish my hair and finalize my outfit for the day, then we go and get him ready.  Normally he runs around our room, looks out the window, and plays with some toys.  The other day I think I was taking too long, because I looked over and saw this.

Sigh, Mommy takes forever...

Ben had pulled the throw off the bed and made himself a little nest.  I think he was trying to let me know I was taking too long getting ready and he was bored.

Aren't you ready yet?

Maybe Pat needs to explain to him that women take longer to get ready.  Or maybe I should try to speed things up in the morning.  No, that couldn't be it. ;)  I think Ben just wants to make sure we are on time to work.

-Kim

How is this comfortable?

I know kids can sleep in all kinds of places and positions. But Ben has one current sleep position we just do not understand.  He likes to stick his feet through the slats of his crib.  Now that he is bigger, we keep the crib bumpers in his crib to try to keep this from happening.  He usually manages to prop his feet up on the bumpers, leaving them mainly inside the crib.  If we see his feet sticking out we would try to move him.  But the last time I did that he woke up enough to give me the stink eye and put his feet right back where they were.  I guess it must be comfortable.  

Last night Ben took it to a new level.  I went to check on him, and this is what I saw when I peeked into his room.

Upon closer inspection, I saw exactly how he had arranged himself.  He looks so sweet!

We checked on him about half an hour later, and he had pulled his feet back into the crib, safe and sound.  (And in case anyone is wondering, there is a towel tied to the bar of his crib.  This was put in place when he decided he was part beaver and start gnawing on the crib.  It has helped to keep the teeth marks at bay.)

I love Ben, but I do not understand this sleeping style. :)

-Kim