Chauntelle's Random Musings: Fun with eggs and fun with animals

We had a great trip to Knoxville over the Easter weekend; we had the egg hunt on Friday, and it was Noah's 2nd egg hunt. His first was at school last Monday--and I had completely forgotten that they were going to hunt eggs at school, so I missed my boy's first egg hunt. So, the one at Granny's was the first one where we were a party to! I had volunteered to bring the eggs, and to stuff them with candy--I picked up about 30, because there were only going to be 3 kids, including Noah. However, it wouldn't be a get-together at Granny's if there weren't over-planning. As it turns out, we ended up with about 70 eggs... Noah had a great time; I was the photographer, and Patrick and Noah went about picking up the eggs. Noah was pretty good at it, and seemed to catch on quickly as to what you do during an egg hunt--see an egg, put it in the basket, look for more eggs in the general vicinity where Daddy is pointing.

I have to hand it to our boy, though. He managed to figure out an easier way to get eggs. Follow one of the other kids around, wait for them to turn their back on their baskets, and take the eggs! He did this a few times, but to his credit, he also gave some of his eggs to the other kids, too--which gave me much joy, seeing Noah share so well.

Noah also figured out very quickly that there was stuff in the eggs, and I'm sure it's no surprise to find out that Noah likes peeps. We're not so keen on the sugar rush that follows, but hey--it was an egg hunt, and you don't get to do those every day!

We also went to the zoo. Knoxville has a pretty great zoo, and we figured this time Noah may actually get a kick out of seeing the animals. The first time we went to the zoo was last year, I believe, and the Greenville zoo is much smaller, and Noah was more interested in a water feature at the zoo and people watching. He did seem to enjoy seeing the animals, and seemed to think that nearly all animals required his "meow" sound. Not sure if he thought all the animals were kitties, if that's just his default animal noise, or whether he knows that his "meow" sound makes us laugh and so that's what he falls back on. He charmed everyone, saw lots of different animals, and seemed to enjoy his first carousel ride (but only if Auntie Ray Ray was holding him). We took him to the petting zoo, and he pretty much just proceeded to run around in circles, not really petting the animals at all. At that point, I'm not sure if he was tired, and trying to keep himself awake, if it was the caffeine, the sugar, or what, but it was pretty funny. I'm sure the employees were glad to see us leave the petting zoo enclosure.

On our way out, we saw the Zoo's kids' area mascot, a giant beaver. Noah seemed to think that he'd like to go to the Beaver, right up until the time that the Beaver reached out to Noah. Then Noah was trying to climb up & over Patrick's shoulder (Patrick was holding him the whole time)....so, I guess it's good that we didn't try to get pictures with the Easter Bunny!

We did leave with the required toy for Noah--a stuffed tree frog, which is funny, since we didn't even get a chance to see the frog exhibit! But, Noah seems to like it, so that's really all that matters.

Noah is on Spring Break this week (as is Patrick), so we had today to get back to our schedules... He seemed tired this afternoon, so I put him down for a nap, and he was quiet for awhile. Then over the monitor, I hear him say, "Poopie." We're pretty excited that he seems to be connecting "poopie" with the act of pooping (hey, I didn't think that this sort of thing would be exciting, either, but here we are.). I open his room door & immediately smell that yes, indeed, "poopie." Then I notice it on the floor. Noah's diaper. With some poop in it. The rest of the poop is smeared on my little boy. On his crib. On his blankies. And it wasn't pretty. I noticed, too, that his Pooh bear was aptly named. As was his "green kitty" (i.e., stuffed Grinch). His new Froggie, though, did escape the horror of being smeared with poo, but did not escape the humiliation of being peed on. Oh well. It's all washable, as is the boy himself.

Here are some pictures; enjoy!

Thanks to Rachel for some of these pics! Here is our boy, on the hunt for some not-so-well hidden eggs...

Got one!

He looks like such a little boy!

We visited Nana (Dan's Mother) on Friday; Noah was enjoying all the songs she sang, and was really watching her hands as she was going through the motions.

Gotta love those marshmallow bunnies!

Noah with his friend, Skyler. I can really see a lot of me in Noah with this picture...not sure if it's just wishful thinking, though!

Yum! SUGAR!

On the brass tortoise at the zoo; the live ones were off exhibit, which is probably best, as the live ones probably would not have liked it if Noah sat on them.

1st Carousel Ride!

Here Noah is visiting a real, live Pablo. He seemed to like the penguins, and liked to get close to the glass and point out the penguin's eyes, mouth & nose. I'm sure the penguin learned a lot.