And we were swingin'

The other day, Mom and I met our friends Samantha and her mom Dawn at a park. We played for a while and explored every inch of the playground. We had lots of fun and mom and I fully intend to visit this park again. There was a water feature in the middle (unfortunately, I was pulled back from venturing into this area SEVERAL times), but there was also a huge sand area with trucks, several play structures with steps and slides and a huge closed tube curly slide that I came down about a zillion times with absolutely no hesitation on my part. To get to the top of this fabulous slide, you had to scale a fairly steep set of rock stairs, so it gave me the opportunity to work on my rock climbing skills as well. I am sure dad would faint if he knew this, but mom, in her pregnant state, also scaled this set of rock stairs in her sandals no less. Sorry to tattle on you mom, but you shouldn't be doing that!

Attached are a few pictures, courtesy of Samantha's mom, of us two cuties posing for a pictures at the bottom of a rock wall as well as swinging with a little push here and there from mom. Speaking of mom, I am still not completely sure what is going on, but she has a huge belly - she says she is pregnant with my brother, but I haven't seen any evidence of a new little brother yet. She tells me the due date is only 1 month away now. Come on mom, get on with it. I am tired of waiting!

After the park, we went to eat at TGIF's and I must say that Samantha and I were fabulously well-behaved dinner companions. We ate our food and were quite agreeable during the entire meal. Mom and Samantha's mom have determined that we must have some future plans for mischief up our little sleeves, but it's just that we are both wonderful little kids!

Later!

Toddlers know how to party hardy!

So, after talking about it for weeks, we finally had my official birthday party on Saturday at the house. I had so much fun and enjoyed racing around, looking at all the balloons and decorations and playing with my little friends. Unfortunately, Mother Nature decided she was going to give us rain on the same day, but no problem, we just came inside and Mom and Dad created a very festive atmosphere in the house for the party. Mom also brought my picnic table indoors so we would all have a place to sit and eat our snacks and cake and she had Curious George decorations and stickers all over the walls. When I first came downstairs for the party, after my nap, my reaction was "Whoo". I was certainly in Curious George heaven and I had to walk around, look at the balloons and point to each of the stickers to comment on them.

I had my friends Samantha, Jack, Carter and Sydney over as well as Sydney's sister Katie and my cousins Lindsey and Justin. We had a grand time! It was a little packed in the house with all my friends and their parents, but I really think everyone had a good time and the adults didn't seem to lack for things to talk about and to eat.

See the attached pictures of my cake, my special birthday cookies and a few pics of me and my guests enjoying birthday cake at the table together. Our friends took lots of pictures too, so if we get some good ones, we will post those later. Lastly, I want to send out a big hug and kiss to my mom and dad for creating such a special day for me!

Also check out this short video of me blowing out my candles and eating cake on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRFjgBTczHo. A special thanks to Uncle Jeff for taping this for us as well! Later!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Well, today was another big birthday in the Fletcher household. As you know, I just had my second birthday only a few weeks ago, but daddy was the star of the day today! He says to tell you that he can't believe he is only 30 years old today (ha, ha, Daddy, nice try). He said he feels closer to 41 most days.....I have days like that too, where I feel like I have been on this earth AT LEAST 4 years myself.

To celebrate Daddy's big day, we went to my favorite restaurant, Chevy's (you know, this is the place that has the corn tomalit0...yummy). Mommy invited my Uncle Jeff, Aunt Lori and cousins Lindsey and Justin to celebrate with us.

We had a delicious dinner and then all the waiters and waitresses did that thing where they clapped and sang for daddy and put a silly sombrero on his head. Mom says to tell you that she and daddy discussed this beforehand and daddy agreed to humiliate himself, but only for my sake, as they both knew I would just love the excitement. Daddy got a bowl of ice cream for his birthday and me and Justin and Lindsey were all treated with an ice cream cone as well.

See above for a picture of me and the birthday boy himself plus a few other pics of me donning his special sombrero and eating my ice cream and the Fletcher crew (minus mom who was behind the camera at her own bidding). Check back soon as my BIRTHDAY PARTY is this upcoming Saturday and there is sure to be lots to tell you about.

Fire truck heaven!

Those of you who know me well know that I love firetrucks. Just recently, a new park opened in San Ramon and it is, of all things, a fire truck themed park. Wasn't it nice of the city to develop a brand new park just for me? Daddy and I went to the grand opening of the park and Daddy says to tell you that I covered every inch of that park and had a grand time. Apparently, he seems to think I was a bit impatient about waiting in some of the lines, but we managed and survived and had lots of fun. Oh Dad, you are such a trooper!

There were two real fire trucks on site at the grand opening celebration and I got to look at them and explore the hoses and other buttons and valves on the side. In the park area, I had fun climbing up ladders, playing on firetruck themed structures and I even made a pal out of a little stone boy who was pretending to be a fire fighter. Really, that little statue is a little weird if you think about it, isn't it?

Speaking of parks, Daddy and I have been to almost every park in the vicinity of our home and neighboring towns over the last few months. It is Dad's thing to do with me now that mom isn't really up for chasing me all over the park in her pregnant state and it helps to wear me out and burn off some of this abundance of Peanut energy that I seem to possess. I love going to the park and when I am asked which park I would like to visit, I generally say "Fire Truck Park".

By the way, do you realize that in 6 weeks or less I will have a new baby brother to talk to about firetrucks? I am getting excited and seem to understand that there is a baby on the way. I like to kiss the baby by giving mom a kiss on her tummy and I like to pat the baby too. I am going to be such a wonderful and loving big brother! We are all very excited.

Fear no more!

There is a park that we like to go to in a neighboring town that has a little bit of everything that an active little boy loves to do. It has a water area, a sand area and several sets of play structures. There are also swings, a see saw, a merry-go-round and little springy cows that you can bounce upon.

Just last night we took our friend Carter and his mom and new little sister along with us and we had a blast. Everything I did, I wanted Carter to experience with me - there were many times where I yelled "Carter, come back!" I wanted him to come right along with me to experience the slides and everything else the park had to offer and he was up for the adventure.

It turned out that having Carter around was just the trick to help this usually brave little Peanut take the major step of going down a closed-tube whirly slide that generally causes me to tell mom and dad "I'm scared". Carter climbed up and went down the slide without a second thought (well, he is a whole 3 months older than I am, give me some slack here). Anyway, once he went down, I went after him, (I must say with a gentle push from Dad which resulted in a scowl at Dad from my mom) and my whole world changed. I must have gone down that slide a million more times with Carter during the remainder of our visit. We had so much fun and I was so tired by the time we got home that evening that I could barely keep my eyes open.

I am "2" cool for school!

So today, September 5, was a big day in the life of this little Peanut! Not only was today my second birthday, but today was also my very first day of preschool. We started the day at 7:30 - mom had to wake me up by singing this silly birthday song- and then we had breakfast and watched a little Curious George as per usual. Mom then got me dressed in my shorts and blue polo shirt and she said we were going to school. What?

Now, she has said that to me a few times lately, and I wasn't exactly sure what she was talking about, but after today, I certainly know what "school" means. Upon our arrival at school, mom signed me in and I proceeded to whirl around the outside playground like a human tornado, while mom went inside and made sure everything I needed was on hand for the day. Mom talked to my teacher and hung around for a bit, then she said goodbye. I gave her a kiss and said "Ok, see you later!"

Mommy doesn't want me to know, but secretly I know that she shed some tears about leaving me when I wasn't looking, but we all survived.

The teacher said I did cry for a few minutes a couple of times, but that was because I didn't want to come inside after each of the two playtimes outside (imagine that). She said once I was engaged in something else, the tears stopped and I was a happy little boy. She also mentioned that I wanted to eat the snacks the entire time I was there, but that was okay because they had lots of them. Now, who would ever guess that I would want to eat the whole time?

All in all, a good day, and mom says we are having a treat and opening presents this evening to celebrate my second birthday. We will take a few pics and post those on our next posting.

See attached pic of me taken just a few weeks ago. I am changing so much and becoming so grown up. I am talking up a storm, so rest up, as I will wear you out with conversation next time I see you!