Zoo Trip with Friends

TerraDactyl got to go to the zoo again last week, but this time with a friend.  The kids liked seeing the animals, but it seemed like the best part for them was playing in the dirt.  We spent more than 5 hours there and the last two or three were spent with the kids digging around in the bark and stomping in a puddle.   

TerraDactyl had her 3 year check up last week.  She's 30 lbs and 36" tall.  The doctor was happy with her developmental checklist and very pleased with her verbal abilities.  The checklist asked about whether she is using 4 word sentences, but she'll often make 7 or 8 word sentences.  The most difficult part of the visit was getting TerraDactyl to wear a mask the whole time.  She got tired of wearing it pretty quickly and kept trying to take it off.  

The part of the checklist where TerraDactyl was borderline behind was on fine motor skills, but that is because I haven't thought about having her do certain activities they asked about.  Like threading beads onto a string, or picking things up with tongs.  Turns out, she's a pro with tongs.  And I bought some little noodles for her to make a necklace.  We haven't done it yet, but I'm sure I'll have a lovely macaroni necklace to show you guys one of these days.  

A HUGE development that is SUPER exciting...  TerraDactyl has started entertaining herself in the morning until about 7:30 or 8am.  It is AMAZING.  I am not a morning person.  And previously, TerraDactyl would wake me up every day around 5:30 or 6 and climb into bed with me.  Very occasionally, I would be allowed to go back to sleep.  But usually what would happen is TerraDactyl would just chatter at me for an hour until I gave up on sleep and we got out of bed.  But for the last week or so, she's played quietly by herself like a little miracle.  It's so great, I can't even express how wonderful it is.  

Here's an amusing conversation between TerraDactyl and DH that I witnessed the other day:

TerraDactyl:  "Here you go, DH"  (She used DH's name)

DH:  "What's my name?" 

TerraDactyl:  "DH"  (Again, DH's actual name) 

DH:  "What do you call me?"   (Hoping for "daddy") 

TerraDactyl:  "The boss" 

DH:  ...  "OK" 

And we'll end this post on a video.  At the end of every episode of Mickey's Clubhouse, they do the Hot Dog Dance (the lyrics are basically "hot dog, hot dog, hot diggity dog" but there's a bit in there about "our problems are solved!").  The camera's a bit shaky because TerraDactyl insisted I do the Hot Dog dance with her, so it was hard to keep the camera steady.