Ravings, Ramblings and Lunacies: September 2009

Jacob is now 18 months old but feels more like a "terrible two" on some days! He is such a little rascal but so adorable about it that I can never stay cross too long... and he totally knows it. When we're having a staring contest (especially in the middle of a no-no activity) he looks at me for a long time then starts grinning and of course I can't resist his sweet "I love you mommy" smile, so I either have to turn around or start smiling and laughing!

In honor of becoming an even bigger boy, I took him to get a big boy haircut. I found a cute place called "Snip-Its" near SMU aka Highland Park, so needless to say we were both very under dressed to be seen in the area, but we went anyway! We also went to the Dallas Aquarium which was fabulous. It's more like an indoor zoo than anything else. It had the essentials: birds and fish, which are Jacob's current obsessions. Driving anywhere is now always a bird watching experience. It's precious that he still gets so excited about each bird he sees- there is always pointing and emphatic shouting of "bird, bird" but it sounds more like he has a British accent when he says it.

We just got back from our mini-vacation to San Antonio (we figured we'd better keep it close with a toddler). Our original plan was to go to Sea World and the zoo, but Sea World apparently has a very strange schedule and was not open on the days we had hotel reservations for. Luckily, the hotel we stayed at was AWESOME and was very kid-friendly. They had a lazy river and provided inner tubes so you could just ride around, relaxing. There was also a little "beach" for kids to play on and for people to sit out and soak up the sun. Jacob really enjoyed the sand and wading out into the water- it made him feel so big! He was quite popular with the middle-aged crowd when they would float by. Of course it helps that he really likes waving and saying "hi" to people right now.

We went to the San Antonio Zoo which was really great. They have a wide variety of animals and great places for the kids to interact. I just wish we'd had a good camera with us, there were some gorgeous animals! (My camera is still unusable after the Arboretum deluge in April 2009. Stephen told me to get one for my birthday but I still haven't found the right one that isn't too expensive for an amateur to carry around.) The zoo wore Jacob out and it was hard to get him to take a nap in the hotel room... but 45 minutes later he was passed out and I was able to read my new collection of Roald Dahl's short stories on the balcony! (I highly recommend any of his books.) As a consequence of all being in one room together in the hotel, Stephen and I also had to go to bed when Jacob did, otherwise he felt like he was missing too much and refused to go to sleep. I'm more of a night person than a morning person, so it was hard for me to go to bed so early. But at least I got over and above my daily sleep requirement :)

Since it was such a short trip to San Antonio, we didn't do too much else, it was a lot of playing outside at the hotel. Luckily, the trip was fairly uneventful and we all really enjoyed ourselves. I've posted some pictures below (sorry about the quality, it's a disposable camera we had lying around at home, which is most likely 5+ years old).

Jacob is walking with his great grandmother at her new home. We stopped in Fredericksburg, TX to visit her on our way to San Antonio.

Trying to get a closer look at the bird.

Helping Jacob walk across the concrete lily pads to the Kids' Nature Corner at the San Antonio Zoo. My little rascal kept intentionally missing the lily pads so that he could stomp in the water!