Cuddly Kids for a Cuddly Kid

Aunt Ellen took us to the Animal Farm Petting Zoo in Manorville this afternoon. Alex had a wonderful time.  As soon as we walked out of the front desk area, we were greeted with the bleats of lambs and kids.  Hungry little guys they were.  They gathered near the gate and made it difficult to even get into their pen.

Alex was delighted. 

He didn't really like giving the lambs and kids the bottles.  He thought they were too pushy, as in literally, pushy.  The juveniles and adults kept butting us for milk.  He preferred to feed the piglets instead. 

As if they weren't aggressive about getting the bottles.  Perhaps the difference was that Alex much preferred being on the opposite side of the fence from them.  That tended to be a trend for him. He loved seeing the animals.  He loved the turtles.

When it came to feeding other animals, though, he wasn't so on board. Even after Aunt Ellen showed him how, he much preferred throwing the feed over the fences.

Then he got hold of the Feed bucket and that was it.  He became a regular Feed Dictator.

But that wasn't half bad compared to his resolve about remaining on the playground.  We gave him a few minutes and even played furniture delivery with him.  We talked to and fed a camel penned nearby.  (I tried what little Arabic I knew. He was more interested in feeding.) We asked Alex the species of the animal we were talking to.  Nothing moved him.  Eventually, we had to pursuade Alex off the playground only through the promise of visiting another playground in the distance.

We got to the Duck Pond, where Alex was content to give away the rest of the feed: through the planks of the bridge.  There was one enterprising duck staying under the bridge to catch all the feed Alex was pushing through the planks. It entertained Alex, so, I was all good with it.  (Besides, it was funny.)   He kept calling the ducks as he did it too. "Here ducky, ducky!" And quacking. Lots of quacking.

Mostly, he went about it like it was a job.

The best part, though, was visiting the baby animals.  He got to hold a baby bunny.  He kept telling it "Don't run away!", but at such a loud volume, we were sure it would do just that.

There were rides to be had too. He turned his nose up at the free pony rides, but was all about the train ride, even asking for the operator to drive it.  He took the opportunity to enjoy his juice box along the way.

Then we heard of a free turtle train ride.  When I saw it, it looked a little young for Alex.  That didn't stop him!  It did move really slow though. 

 

Our last stop was to revisit the piglets, lambs and kids.  Alex was thrilled to feed the piglets some of our remaining bottles.

And at the kid and lamb pen, he finally got the hang of feeding them the stock feed. He even got to hug a kid; an enterprising young goat who found freedom by crawling under the outside gate - provided someone let him get there.

A cuddly kid for a cuddly kid

As usual, Alex wasn't too thrilled about leaving.  Thankfully, the sherriff's badge I got him at the gift shop cheered him up well enough.

Captain Alex and the Trash Can Droid

We had to travel to Suffolk County today. The easiest way (for us) is by the Bridgeport-Port Jefferson ferry. The ride to Bridgeport was kinda long for Alex's taste, but the ferry ride was just right! He was all excited to see the ferry pull in at Bridgeport.

I headed straight for the front of the boat, which is where the lounge is. When I smoked, I used to sit here. Now, I just know that it's the best view on the whole ferry, from the inside, at least.

Alex thought so too.


We had a snack on the way. A turkey sandwich on a roll with some water.  In usual form, Alex has said he didn't want anything to eat and then proceeded to eat half of my sandwich.  Good thing I'm on a diet.

A surprisingly long time after eating and after having asked a million questions, Alex got restless.  He wanted to explore the ferry.  I took him to the rear of the boat where I know there's an outdoor part.  It was quite rainy that day.  I didn't expect him to want to be outside for long.  When he spotted the stairs to the upper deck, he asked me if we could climb them.  When we got up there, I found a huuuuuge wind, blowing us here there and everywhere, lots of wispy rain and an overjoyed Alex.

Alex wasn't too happy when I had him go back downstairs. But Alex is too little to be in such high winds for my comfort.  Besides, we were nearly at Port Jefferson.  Aunt Ellen met us at the ferry landing.  We got Alex's car seat into her car and went off to the funeral parlor.   I got Alex changed into his suit there.

 

There, he played with Codey, crawled on the floor, asked for his toys and got generally restless. He said he wanted this "grown up thing" to be over.  I hugged him and praised him for being such a good boy.  At the restaurant, he enjoyed his french fries and cake.  But he was tired and needed to get to bed. 

We went home with Tony and Donna that evening since Ellen has some..er..."challenging" dogs who aren't too crazy about kids.  We slept in the basement room adjacent to their new theater room.  

The next morning, Uncle Tony put the television on in there so that Alex could see cartoons.  I was really impressed with the theater room.  Alex was more impressed with the trash can he found there. It was a [near] life sized  R2 D2 that Tony had never used as a real trash can.   He asked Uncle Tony to bring it up from the basement.  He asked me to bring it upstairs so that their rabbit, Snowflake, could see it.  Then he asked me to bring it back down.

When Aunt Ellen arrived to bring us to the petting zoo, I had to move the car seat from Tony's car to Ellen's.  I asked Alex to stay in the house while I moved it and he went ballistic! He feared we were going to the petting zoo without him.  He apparently got his own boots on and managed to pick up the trash can and get it out the door.   It wasn't a fun scene when I had to tell him that the R2 wasn't coming with us.  (It had been a gift from one of the boys.)  I promised Alex that I would order him one.

Postscript: I should have made sure about what I found online before I made that promise.  What I found online for 73 dollars was a 10 inch desktop trash can.  The nearly 3 foot high one is now a collector's item worth approx. 250-300 dollars.  I found one on eBay with no minimum bid.  I put in a bid for 75 dollars.  I was outbid by nearly 200.  It sold for about 269 dollars.

With that, I had to explain to Alex that no R2 trash can would be arriving.  He took the news better than I expected.  Maybe that was because we had such a great time at the petting zoo.

A Sharp Knife

Mommy's 34 year old nephew (Aunt Ellen's son) Tristan died suddenly at the end of August.  The final report of the Medical Examiner was that he died of a seizure and that there were signs of a prior seizure. Mommy was really sad.  We were heading to Greenwich Point Beach when we heard the news.  That day, all Mommy could think of was Tristan as a little boy, since Alex looks so much like Tristan at that age.

Aunt Ellen decided to have Tristan cremated and to hold a memorial afterwards.  We promised that we would be there.  It was held in Center Moriches in Suffolk County.  The easiest way for us to travel there is by the Bridgeport-Port Jefferson ferry.   Our trip on that is covered in the next post.

Alex didn't really grasp what was going on at the funeral home.  He knows what death is to a point, but not fully comprehending its finality.  He wasn't sure of the relation to Tristan either.  He thinks of the world of his aunt Ellen and of his cousin Jason.   He didn't know that Tristan was their son/brother respectively.  He loves Codey too, but doesn't know that Tristan was Codey's daddy.

He just knows that he had to get dressed into his suit again, like he did in Brooklyn in the winter.  He knows that he had to wait for a "grown-up thing" to be over.  He knows that Mommy was sad at times during the week before and that day.  He wanted to cheer her up.

There are pains that just don't ever go away.  They just get familiar. Someday he'll understand that.  Later rather than sooner, I hope.

Busy Bees

Today was the first day back to our "normal lives", so to speak. (With some improvement in that Daddy doesn't have to leave so early for work any longer.) Today was the first day that Alex would spend in underwear ("Bye, Bye Toddler!" program) And today was the day that we registered for our fall classes. We would travel to Harrison for both of them.

What a day!!

There was some delay - working on Gradma's book and all. Then there was a call from the neurologist who saw me at Sound Shore, asking for a copy of the post surgical CT scan I had on the 18th. (He wants to show it for a conference.) Both would necessitate a trip to the Post Office.

After lunch, we packed up our gear and put on our raincoats to head out. We took the bus to Harrison and stopped at the Music School, Bruce Chung, CVS (for a card for Grandma), the Post Office, Dunkin' Donuts (of course) and finally the library.

Yup, we've had a busy day!

Tuesday, September 6

A Playland Adios

It was soon time to get to Playland. We walked from the library to the bus stop nearby.  We boarded the bus and rode it to Playland.   Alex was ready to show Abuela ALL of the sights and rides. 

First, it was the boats.  Then it was the Motorcycles.  Then he went on the train with Mommy. Then it was the Antique Cars. 

For some reason, he wasn't too into the "Macs" (Convoy ride).   He had another idea for a ride with Daddy.  The Race Cars!!

He was still turning his nose up at the Whip, but didn't have the least problem with the Roller Coaster.  While Mommy was made all sorts of nervous by the dips and turns, Alex was belly laughing through it all.  (Yet, he doesn't like the Kiddy Whip???)  We were soon feeling hungry. Alex was having too much fun to stop, but we overruled him. That doesn't mean he refused his French Fries and lemonade.

Then, we could finally catch a show. Alex loves the shows at Playland and will sit through an entire program. This one was "Rocknation" and he was even grooving along to the songs. He was SO excited to meet the cast afterwards too.

It was a hot day, so, after a trip to the bathrooms, we went on a boat ride on Manursing Lake.  Alex loved when the boat picked up speed.   We saw so many birds there, even a rare gray egret.

(He's saying that the log in the water looked like a "dinosaur poop".  Not that I'm sure how he would know what dinosaur poop looked like.)

Then, of course, it was time for some treats.  Normally, he  requests popcorn or ice cream.  This time, he took a chance on a rainbow lollipop.  It was yuummm-EE!

Mommy had to trade in Alex's prize tickets.  She knew that Alex loves the arcade the best, so she saved that task for last.  The prizes weren't so hot this year, but we still aimed for more tickets.  Alex got a bumpy-surfaced bouncy ball and a dinosaur ring.  Mommy had already gotten some key rings from the souvenir stand.  Alex didn't want a painted shirt this year.  Mommy found that they were out of youth sized sweatshirts too.  No matter.  Alex hasn't yet earned a "Kiddyland" T-shirt anyway.  Not until he does the Kiddy Whip anyway. 

A Step Back in Time

For Abuela's last day with us, we wanted a big, big adventure.  We travelled to Rye with the intention of eventually going to Playland.  Our first stop in Rye, however, (aside from the Country Store for some cookies) was the Square House Museum.

Alex was thrilled to show Grandma around.


He wasn't into dressing up, though.  (He never is.)  And he didn't much care to play the period games they have. He really wanted to go upstairs and explore the Hands On room.   There, he showed Abuela how to use a bedwarmer.  Daddy found that the compass there still worked.   And Daddy posed for some pictures reading his Kindle by candlelight.  (He kinda did that last week, didn't he?)

 Alex may not have been into the dress up part, but Daddy sure was:
 

 Daddy liked seeing the original version of the Kindle too.

Abuela loved seeing the Tavern Room and she even played at the loom in the Kitchen.

Alex showed her how to operate the spinning wheel though.  That guy knows everything!

We started to get hungry, so our next stop was for some coffee at the library. Then, it was off to...PLAYLAND!!

Splashdown!...(Well, Almost)

We visited Saxon Woods Pool again today, since Alex had had such a wonderful time and because Orquidea will be leaving on Saturday.  Alex was insistent that he did NOT wish to go to the pool...until he got there.   We didn't do Twilight Swim this time, being that it was so cold.  This time we went when the sun was bright and high. 

Alex dashed off to the splash grounds this time.  I could only get a few pictures in before a lifeguard asked me to stop. 

When it was time for a snack, Alex predictably stated that he didn't want any.  At least not past the ice cream cone that Abuela bought him.   When I returned from the snack bar with French fries, Alex insisted that we share them.  And by "share" he means I should give them all to him. 

It was a short day, though.  Alex had plans other than just the silly ol' pool.  He wanted to go to the playground too! So, after only an hour and a half, we dried off, got dressed and headed to Alex's favorite place in all of Saxon Woods.

He even made a friend there, going as far as to hold hands. The boy had a Japanese name, so I forget what it was. His mom said that he attends the Japanese preschool across the street from Food City.

When it was time to leave, Alex was NOT happy about it. Not in the least.  We had to promise that Alex that he could get more ice cream at the Mexican restaurant we would be going to for Abuela's night out. It didn't really sell him until he actually got the ice cream.