The sweet sweet sound of mookie...

Bob got out this old keyboard that I had when I was a kid. Oliver just loves playing it! It has some buttons where you can change the instrument sounds and a setting where you can push a button and it plays a beat by itself. He's good at playing and dancing, too! I think he's figuring out that one end plays low notes and one end plays high notes...he goes back and forth with those busy little fingers and listens to the difference. I took a couple of videos that I may or may not post within a few days. (by the way "mookie" is how Oliver says music)

finger painting...fun?

I tried out Oliver with some finger paints. I really needed him to be occupied while I tried to tidy up the kitchen (see in the background?!) so I put one of my old T-shirts on him for a smock and got out some red and blue paint. He seemed to have fun, but all I heard the whole time was "messy! messy! messsyyyyy!"...I don't know where this boy got his neat-freakness from! He did paint long enough for me to get the dishwasher loaded and the counters cleaned. We got 4 good pictures, too. I'll have to get pictures of them and post them on here at some point.

This is how the trip ended...

Oliver fell asleep before we even got out of the parking lot!

We went to the zoo in Asheboro on day #3 of Mother's Day fun. We spent about 3 hours there, I think. We only went through Africa because Oliver was sooo tired and my legs were beginning to hurt. We saw lots of animals (see pictures below) and had a grand time. Oliver got this hat which looks oh so incredibly cute on him! It looks even cuter with the sunglasses we got him later on. Anyway, we had a great time! More to follow about the rest of the day but I'm tired and just want to go to bed.

The lion

When we went by the lions the first time they were both asleep but when we went back by on our way out the male was awake. I think he was still tired though because he yawned 3 times in just the 3 or 4 minutes we were there.

at the aviary...

Oliver waved at a lot of animals. Here he is waving at the flamingos. The next is a kingfisher of some sort, then a turtle, then a duck.

The helicopter at elephant station

We had the place to ourselves for a good while so Oliver got a very long turn at flying the copter. there were little red buttons on the handles and he kept going "pew pew pew" like he was shooting. It was super cute! Again Bob got some wonderful pictures of us playing together.

mim and Oliver

Walking down the path after we saw the elephants, taking a break to watch some birds - Oliver and I were talking and laughing. Bob got some cute black and white pictures of us.

animals at the zoo.

I don't remember what this first one is but it was so cute! I don't know what the second one is at all, but the third one is definitely an elephant! Bob got that shot and it was sooooo good!

what is it?

For some reason Oliver loved this eye. He knew what it was and then showed me where HIS eye was. What a clever boy!

animals at the zoo...

Oliver waved to this old chimp. He didn't respond, just sat there with his paint scraper (you can't see it in this picture). There were some chimps that were having a little picnic though. It was cute! Next is the Patas monkey - he was very cooperative with the camera and I got quite a few good shots of him. Next is the baboons - they were grooming each other.

animals at the zoo...

When we first walked in we saw the zebras, the giraffes and the ostriches. They were all together, but Oliver named them all...clip clop noise for zebra, rafffffe for giraffe, and peep peep for the ostrich...the one below looks like it has two heads! The last one there is a Red River Hog - we've only ever seen him twice!

Oliver at play

In his new car seat's box...notice the customization he did with his crayons. He's so artistic!