Pirate Tea Party and the Jelly Belly Factory

I know I've been awful this week about blogging and it feels weird missing a few days but I'm back and had a few things to share.

Thursday the boys had behaved well enough that we took a field trip up to the Jelly Belly Factory in Farfield. We last made the journey 1½yrs ago and it was, well, not easy with a just barely walking toddler. This time was much easier as Nico was fascinated with all the machines and stayed with the tour the whole time. He even kept his hat on! LOL Truly, it was a lot of fun and a field trip the boys always enjoy. Of course, on the way out we had to stop and get a bunch of Belly Flops. What's a trip to the Jelly Belly Factory without those?

Yesterday we had a new break through with Nico's language development. I was laying on the boys' bed trying to get Matthew moving and cuddling with Jonathan when Nico came in. We were all giggling and cuddling and Nico actually said "Luh Mommy". I looked at him with surprise and asked "Love Mommy?" to which he gave me a big grin and said "Yeah". Talk about melting my heart.

Then today I had Nico at Jon's soccer game. He enjoys going to the after school program's play area because it has a bunch of little tykes stuff left out so we headed there about half way through the game. He climbed up on one structure and informed me that it was his pirate ship because it had a ship's steering wheel. We played pirates on that for a bit and then he headed over to the playhouse and kitchen stuff. He got out plates and cups and set up a tea party for the two of us plus a plastic frog and turtle he had found. He would take a plate, put it in the microwave, push the button, and then slouch down waiting for it to beep. When it did, he would run over with a big grin on his face, pull it out and look at the plate with a look on his face that clearly said "It's not done yet" and then put it back in and repeat. LOL After a few times of this, he would bring the plate over to the table for us to eat and then he'd pour the tea and we would eat and feed the animals. At one point, he dropped the plate on the way to the table and got distressed that he had dropped his "hamburger" so we made a big deal of getting a new one out of the fridge and he cooked it again. We played there for about 20min all told and it was so neat to see his imagination really at work and be able to understand and join him easily. I can't wait to hear all the stories he has trapped up in his head.