Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Taylor Turns Three!

Taylor turned 3 last week and experienced all of the joys that go along with being 3. Max and I decided that we would deprive him of a day at the sitter and take him out with us. We started off by visiting The Children's Museum at the Cincinnati Museum Center.
The Children's Museum is a very special place for me. First and foremost it is my favorite place to take my grandchildren. It always has so many adventures- and I love to watch them explore this imaginary world. But there's more to it than that. Amber was an "original"- an "original volunteer" at the Children's Museum. So every Sunday- for a lot of Sundays- Don and I would drop her off on our way home after church for her afternoon at the Children's Museum. Her enthusiasm- and love- for this special place rubbed off. So now I take my grandchildren- and remember Amber and her love of this special place.
The Children's Museum is divided into a great many areas, each with its own theme and representative items for that theme. First we went into the "ball" area and launched a few balls towards the targets.

Next we stopped and did some cleaning. It's obvious that Taylor takes after his mother and enjoys mopping the floor.

Then we come to a gas station and Taylor demonstrated exactly what good ole Dad does when he fills up the gas tank.

Next he took Grama for a ride in a bus.


Then we found what appeared to be a favorite place, the grocery store. I think he inherited food shopping from his Grama. He spent lots of time filling the shopping cart with food and then taking it to the check out counter so it could be scanned. This process was done several times ensuring that we would have enough food to get through the evening. He seemed to have a great need for breads, as every time he passed the bread shelf, he took everything that was there.





Next we went to the water display. We got Taylor a rain coat to wear and set him free to play. We used ropes to raise buckets of water, filled water bottles, and played in the sprays.




Finally we ended up in the forest with the tree houses-

and the rope tubes that are strung between the "trees". Taylor dove right into it and scampered through the "rope tube" without a problem.


Unfortunately, I decided to follow, and that was definitely a mistake.

I did manage to get through, but I was wondering there for a while. I was below- trust me- I wasn't about to try to crawl through these tight places, but I knew that Don couldn't resist. So I was below watching as he scooted himself through. I didn't laugh out loud- but I was sure laughing on the inside.

By this time we were thankfully hungry and decided that lunch was the next item on the agenda. Taylor chose a corn dog that he put away very quickly.


Then he helped me finish off some of my pasta (noodles), before settling in on Grama's lap for some after lunch snuggles.


After the museum we headed back to the house for a movie and hopefully a nap (note that hopefully was directed both from and toward me). The movie was "Toy Story 2" and it didn't take Taylor long to snuggle into a pillow and pass right out. Unfortunately, I wasn't that lucky. Maybe it was because the plot of the movie was so intriguing, maybe it was because Taylor got to lay down while I had to sit up, but after all he is the one that needed it the most. As you can see in the foreground, even Brutus got a nap. Brutus is the funniest of dogs- he absolutely loves to sleep lying on his back!

Taylor was up by 3:15 and it was time to do some more playing. The fishing pole is always good for a little while, especially if you can fish from the stairs. Now Grandpa Don might be talking about the fishing- but Grandpa Don was sitting on his behind- doing Facebook or something-


It was Taylor and his Grama Max doing all the fishin. We're practicing for the spring- when we can really take this pole to a lake- or at least a pond!

And finally it was time to help Grama in the kitchen fixing dinner. Taylor always helps me in the kitchen- and he is great help (maybe not quite as good as Grandpa Don is- but I do think he brings more enthusiasm)!

Snapping green beans seems to be one of his strengths. He did the whole bag of green beans. Next was help with the rolls. They were put on top of a heating pad and under a towel so they could rise up, but since they needed to be checked every few minutes, Taylor took over that job. Finally one of them got extracted from others since it needed kneading, a job that Taylor assumed for the next hour. Taylor likes to "pat" the rolls when he is checking them. Eventually we came him a couple for special care- and we guarded the rest for dinner!


And then Mary and Kevin and Sam arrived for the party-

Did we mention recently how adorable our Sam is?

Even with scrunched up eyes!

And we sang "Happy Birthday" and Taylor blew out his candle!


And of course presents!

A book- Grama Max's favorite!

And a race track with cars!

2 comments:

Liz said...

That looks like it was so much fun! I haven't been to the childrens museum since my brother was little. Looks like Taylor had a great birthday!

Bloggin' from the Bayou said...

Happy Birthday Taylor! Looks like everyone had a great time at the museum and with the rest of the celebration.