Fun with Peter

 As the older ones are in school all day now, Peter and I have been living it up.  I signed him up for library story time and a toddler art class.  Besides that, we've been enjoying Greenfield Village and local farms.  On the agenda for next week is the pool and the zoo.

My favorite farm in the area is Three Cedars Farm.  The last time I took Peter, he was barely walking and it was so fun to see the difference now.  We stayed for hours and he was so happy.  Our first stop was the hay ride.  It was still early morning, mid-week, so we had the ride to ourselves. 

When it finished, the driver offered to let Peter sit on the tractor.  He hadn't turned it off yet, though and Peter is very afraid of loud engine noises.  He freaks out if Kelly ever tries to put him on a motorcycle while it's running.  So, when the driver did that, Peter was about to lose it.  He managed to keep from crying but I could tell he was close, so I asked the driver to turn off the engine.  

Peter calmed right down and gave me his "cheese" smile.

After that we went to see the animals and then it was over to the corn box and the mini tractors.  I wanted to take him to see these because I have pictures of all my boys at this spot around the same age and it's fun to compare.  I tried to get action shots on the tractor-trikes, but every time he noticed the camera, he swung his legs over like he was posing.  So funny.

Here are the pictures of Benjamin and Christian at the same age:

My favorite picture of this place is from when Christian was one.  Peter couldn't ride them at one because of covid, but this is cutie Christian:

A telling indication of what Bella's life was like as a small child - there's no picture of her on the tractors at two. I had 2 month old Christian and crazy 4 year old Benjamin and so this was the only picture I got of the farm when she was two:

He nailed that jump, by the way.  He always did.  It was always his favorite activity at the farm and I remember people always stopping to watch him fly from one to the other asking, "doesn't it scare you that he'll fall?"   I just always answered, "he never does."  We had to take "flying" pictures every time we went.

Peter on the same hay bales.  He had no intention of even attempting to jump, but I lifted him and flew him from one to the other and he loved that.

                                        

Peter's favorite activity at the farm was the corn box.  He was in pure heaven.  "This is the best thing I've ever seen!!" he seemed to be saying the whole time.

He rolled in it, poured it over his head, buried his feet, poked his head into it like an ostrich, jumped into it, ran it through his fingers, and stuffed it in his pockets.  He was having a religious experience in the corn.  For an HOUR I sat there with him while he played in the corn.  Kids came and went, and we stayed.  Each time I asked if he wanted to move on, he emphatically responded, "More corn!"  

Finally only the train could pull him away.  We rode the ridiculously adorable little train around the farm to his great delight.  It goes through mini tunnels, makes real train sounds and each kid gets their own car in their color of choice.  It's a two year old's dream. 

On the way out we had to stop at the cow bench - the infamous cow bench.  The downside to the farm is the wasps.  They are everywhere due to the cider and donuts that the farm sells.  The cow bench is the location of Bella's first wasp sting (she was 3) and she has never, ever forgotten that day. 

She still hates the cow bench, but I love to use it for picture comparisons and, this is funny, but that is the only picture I have of Bella at the farm - the moment the wasp stung her.  I had no idea why she jumped up and was crying when I took the picture. You can tell Benjamin was confused too. Her hand later swelled up fiercely and we hurried home.

Lastly Peter found the fake cow that squirts water from its udders. He thought that was amazing.  He was going to milk that cow dry.  I can't wait to take him to the farm where they'll let the kids milk a real cow.  All my other kids loved that. 

Peter's vocabulary is exploding and it's amazing how we can talk to each other all day long now.  He still speaks almost exclusively in nouns, but if you're with him all day long and know the context of what he's saying, it's very clear.  He's also started singing more and making up his own songs.  As we drove home from the farm that day, the magic of the train struck him and he made up a song about it.  I listened to him sing it for multiple minutes and the two of us sang it together too.  He would sing and then ask me to sing and I'd improvise around his melody as he'd sing his part.  It was a lot of fun.  Finally I thought to make a video.  Of course, by this time he'd almost worn out of doing it and I didn't want to let him know I was filming or he would have stopped, so I held the phone down and away (thus the image of my passenger seat, rather than Peter).  However, just as I started the video, he changed the song.  He kept the tune, but I guess the car ride had gotten too long for him, and it became the "go home" song.  So, the video starts with the "go home" song, but I manage to get him to sing the train song again by the end of the video. It's no musical masterpiece, but I love his little voice and I think it's so fun that he's doing little things like this now.