Birthday, Horse and Cars

Christian had a big weekend!  We drove two hours to my 11 yr old niece's birthday party on Friday night.  It was at this fun pizza/arcade place and Christian was running everywhere! My family took turns keeping track of him so I got to visit with everyone a little bit at a time.  Then we went to my parents house to spend the night and take care of some family things.

We headed to my sister's house because Christian was adamant he was going to ride their horse.  Of course that didn't happen, he would just barely pet her.  He gets so excited, but when the horse got close, he realized how big she was and got nervous.  Then we puttered around, sitting on the tractor, lawn mower and ATV.  Then we headed to the trampoline, which was so funny to watch.  He was just an out of control bouncing ball in there and laughing the whole time.  He was panting by the time he got out with the biggest smile spread across his face.  Nap time that afternoon was easy :)  Then after supper, we headed to the cone shop for an ice cream cone treat, with about a quarter of it ending up all over his car seat.

He did pretty good in church this past Sunday. He whispered, which usually isn't the case, and wasn't up and down as much as he usually is.  I think he's slowly understanding that church time is quiet time.  YAY!  Although he did give a little shout out when he spied Aunt Lisa up in the choir loft.  My brother-in-law said I was officially inducted into being a parent that day.  At the end of church, after communion, when everyone had finished praying and was sitting waiting for the priest to give the final blessing, Christian thought is was the perfect time to poke me in the chest and say, very loudly, "boobies!"  Real nice.  It didn't help that my family started giggling, which of course made him think it was funny, so he said it again.  Thankfully the music started to drown him out!

After church we headed back to my sister's because Christian wanted to "ride the horse." My nephew Kolby took him into the corral and he petted the horse.  Then my brother-in-law got a lead rope and brought the horse over to us.  Abby climbed on and we thought Christian would get up with her, but he wouldn't. I plopped him up there anyway and after Abby hooked her arm around him, he was better, but it only lasted a couple of minutes and he wanted down.  Uncle Bob showed him how to hold the rope and helped him lead the horse around, which he loved.  Then I decided to climb on to see if he would sit up there with me and he did!  We rode around a bit and he had a good time.  Then we headed back over to the trampoline where he had a big time again.  He was asleep in about two minutes after we got in the car to come home.

I just love that my family has diverse interests and things at their homes for Christian to experience.  He is learning so much just by being exposed to it all and he's talking so much more.  The next hurdle is getting him to not be afraid of dogs!
~Amy