Let's back up to mid-March for the start of a three week recap.
March 17 - 23
Happy St. Patrick's Day! There were festivities at school, of course. Not related to anything Irish, but at home Bennett showed his love of Beauty and the Beast as he offered imaginary food to Belle, Papa, and the horse.
On Tuesday Daddy had his class so Bennett and I watched Peter Pan and had popcorn for dinner. Hey, it's fiber, so it's good for you. Right?
Wednesday was Daddy's turn to bring Bennett to speech. They had a tea party while waiting for Miss Christina.
Thursday was Grandma Tedford's birthday so we Skyped when we got home. Since we had stopped at Target on the way home this meant that dinner ended up being a bit late. This was also the first day this week that Bennett took a nap at school.
The big excitement for the week happened on Friday. We picked Bennett up early from school and
brought him to Nana’s house where he spent the night. He started off by taking a two hour nap
(after he finally fell asleep) and then he went to Nana’s friend’s house so
that he could play with her grandson, Ryan.
While he was with Nana, Mummy and Daddy went to Sturbridge
to have a Dinner in a Country Village with their friends. Once again Mummy and Uncle Andrew went to the dinner in
costume. We were joined by the typical game night crowd (Bryants, Doucettes, York, Kristin) as well as the Birds, and Leslie. Everyone seemed to have a great
time so maybe we’ll do it again next year.
What was funny though was in the morning when we told Bennett that he would be going to Nana's house he got very excited and wanted to pack his suitcase right away. He also talked so much at school about going to Nana's house that Berta threatened him to take a nap at school (we had said we would pick him up before nap) if he mentioned Nana again.
Here are a few pictures from the dinner.
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| Selfie at the hotel just before we left. |
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| York mulling cider. |
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| Kelly and Leslie skewering the beef. |
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| Chris stirring the cabbage for the hot slaw. |
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| Vegetable prep. |
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| The pastry table. |
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| Jason checks on his stewed pears. |
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| Fun with cutouts as we left the Village! |
On Saturday when we picked Bennett up from Nana’s we had planned
to go back to Sturbridge. He seemed fine at first, but took a quick turn for the worse and seemed to be a little under the weather. So instead we had a low-key day at home. Bennett watched Cars and then took a 5 hour nap! Amazingly he was able to go to bed just two hours later.
On Sunday he was feeling better so we were able to go to
Sturbridge. We were surprised to see
Victoria working inside the Small House.
However, it’s the first building in the village so we didn’t get much of
a chance to talk. Mummy did show her a
picture of her costume and she was very impressed. We later went back to chat with her some more
and found Phil in the Small House. I don’t
think we’ve ever seen him in any building other than the Tin Shop. Isaac is still in with Bonnie where he likely
will be until he weans. This also means
that they won’t be milking Bonnie. However,
they are doing well together so I guess it’s all for the best. We also saw Bonnie drinking Isaac's pee. Yuck!
To make our weekend even busier, the Durbins came over in the afternoon. We passed along lots of clothes as well as some toys. It was interesting to watch the boys play together- still very much parallel play rather than interactive.
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March 24 - 30
Monday- no nap
Whenhe got home from school Bennett played Candyland and Zingo Bingo. Then we pulled out some coloring/activity books and he did dot to dots, wrote letters/ wrote his name, and circled things like all the whatevers on the page.
Tuesday- "I did the puzzle all by myself. Not with the help of Mummy, or Daddy, or Tony."
Wednesday-
Bennett: (while holding a banana) This is my hook.
Mummy: Are you Captain Hook?
B: No, I'm Victoria.
M: Why do you need a hook?
B: So I don't hurt my fingers. I'm in the Small House.
M: What are you doing there?
B: Making maple syrup. Do you have a hook?
M: Where am I working?
B: (long pause while thinking) The farmhouse.
(This conversation was prompted by watching Victoria use the hook to take the pot off the fire at the Small House while she was making maple
sugar. See, he does learn things from all of our visits!
Thursday- woke up from nap at school with a fever. When we picked him up he was rather snuggly and subdued. It was Mimi's birthday, but given the fever we couldn't visit so instead we called to wish her a Happy Birthday. He's slowly getting better about talking on the phone.
Friday- He was home sick with Daddy and they watched lots of movies.
By Saturday he was feeling better and he had his first soccer class. The little uniform is super cute on him! Mostly they run around with a little bit of direction, but Bennett isn't the best at following directions.
Spring is here!
After soccer he went to the Ecotarium with Grandpa, although he would tell you that he went to "Worcester"
After the Ecotarium he came home in time for nap. When he woke up he climbed in bed with Mummy to nap a little longer.
On Sunday it was raining for the weekly OSV visit but that didn't keep us away. We arrived a little later than usual. At the farm there was a chicken that kept going in the woodshed so Bennett chased it out. There are 3 new lambs from the previous week, bringing the count up to 4. We also saw a ram that had gotten out of its pen and was in with the cows.
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| Demonstrating what the privy is for. |
At home after OSV he once again climbed into bed with me to finish his nap. If only those snuggles would last longer!
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March 31 - April 6
Monday- coloring Peter Pan pictures.
Tuesday- picked up early (Mummy had dr appt)
more coloring
Had to put books on stairs so that "we will remember to bring them upstairs."
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| He apparently forgot how to make the first E so I helped him with the second one. |
Wednesday- The weather got a bit nicer so we were able to get outside to rake leaves and pick up sticks. Bennett loved finding sticks to put in the bag.
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| Building a Duplo tower before Speech class. |
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| Self portrait |
Thursday-
As we were driving to school Bennett asked if Sturbridge was open. We frequently have this conversation in the car. Apparently when it's light out Sturbridge should be open and it should only be closed when it's dark out.
Mummy: The clock says it's 7:21. Sturbridge opens at 9:30. Does 9 come before or after 7?
Bennett: I have a clock in my bedroom. I have TWO clocks in my bedroom. One on the wall (mural of Big Ben) and one on the ceiling (London skyline on the sloped part of his wall/ceiling).
He also has a real clock in his room but apparently that one doesn't count.
After school we picked up more leaves and sticks. While playing in sandbox he let us know that he was making maple syrup.
School celebrated the Red Sox home opener (a day early). Everyone got dressed in their Red Sox apparel and they had hotdogs for lunch.
While going on a walk he decided to hold G's hand. The teachers have commented that sometimes they will look quickly at the two of them from behind and get the two confused since they both have messy blonde curls.
Since Bennett has lots of hand me down Red Sox clothes we had hims show team pride again on Friday. He told us that the B on his hat is for Bennett/baseball/soccer.
Asking us to repeat various words...
Bennett: Say "waterminnow"
Daddy: Watermelon.
B: No- waterminnow.
D: What's a waterminnow?
B: Peas, and rice, and corn.
Saturday
At soccer on soccer on Saturday he started tackling the other kids. To him he was just playing, but I don't think the other kids enjoyed it. We'll have to have a talk with him about how this isn't appropriate.
At OSV there are now 8 lambs! Being the start of April, things picked up on the schedule. Lots more people around, both in terms of the number of visitors and the number of interpreters.
Other randoms from the visit:
- At the tinshop, Bennett got a hug and kiss on the side of his head from Phil. Phil also kept pulling Bennett's hat over his eyes. We don't have a problem with any of this, but it struck us as a little odd.
- I asked Victoria a question about something completely unrelated to the Village and she gave me her cell phone number so that I could text her with more information as she said it was easier than email.
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| Bonnie walks around while Isaac takes a nap. |
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| A really cool hammer that one of the blacksmith's made. It's based off one in the collection. |
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| Musket firing demos are back! |
After we got home and Bennett woke up from his nap we went to Uncle Andrew and Aunt Gentry's to check out their new house. They hadn't moved in yet, but it was nice to see. Can't wait to see it when they've moved everything in, unpacked a bit, and gotten some of the numerous projects finished.
On Sunday we had a relatively low-key day at home. Bennett watched Peter Pan, we baked cookies, and we did some yard work.
April 7 - 13
Monday- We've reached the terrible threes. Or based on comments from friends, it's the 3 and a halfs that are really bad! At home he seemed to want lots of 1 on 1 attention- playing games, reading books, etc. And then he ended up having to go to bed early because he wouldn't eat his dinner.
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| Reading the paper at school. |
Tuesday was the Braves home opener so he wore a Braves jersey to school. Got to show our support to both our teams, right? He skipped his nap and had the attitude to match. However, his disposition did improve after dinner, so maybe he was just hungry?
Wednesday he woke up early and got in bed with Mummy. That didn't last for very long though. He did play nicely on his own before speech though, which is always nice when we are trying to get ourselves ready.
On Thursday he had a very raspy voice, and I can only imagine how sore his throat must have been. After dinner he played with the Lego firestation while Mummy baked a cake for Kelly's birthday celebration the next day.
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| Sunflower/ Peeps cake |
Friday night was game night. He started off very sluggish and not feeling well, but he magically improved during the egg hunt.
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| The kids with their baskets of eggs. |
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| Dying eggs. He had a blast! |
| Bedtime was rather late. After the umpteenth meltdown over little things plus falling off the couch we changed him into PJs and with Daddy holding him, he fell asleep around 10:00. If only he were one of those kids who would lie down on their own when they are tired! |
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On Saturday we decided to skip soccer since it had been such a late night the night before. In hindsight we likely didn't have to since he woke up at normal time.
But instead we went to Sturbridge a little earlier than originally planned. The weather was awesome- warm and sunny. It was Girl Scout Day so there were lots of other people around plus some extra things on the schedule.
Chris went to a member talk in the morning. I would have liked to go as well, but we knew Bennett wouldn't cooperate so I took him off to the rest of the Village. The talk was supposed to be about hand tools- planes, hammers, etc but ended up being a look at early machinery- tablesaws and the like. He also took this picture which for some reason just strikes me as funny.
Doc and Blue were out plowing the garden. They hadn't been plowing since last year and they weren't cooperating.
We started a new game- identify the building on the map. Bennett surprised us by being able to correctly name various buildings when we pointed to them- the tin shop, farm, blacksmith, cookie store...
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| The advantage of knowing the interpreters- they let you sit places that are normally roped off. |
At one point Bennett was drawing pictures in the dirt. Victoria came over to join him and then commented, "I went to art school to be able to draw you a sheep."
Back at home after nap, we played outside for a while and Bennett did some gardening.
On Sunday Bennett went with Nana to a farm near Auntie Hanna's college for another egg hunt, and of course a stop at Target as well.
