Peaches,Yum!

We headed to Eckert's on Saturday morning to pick peaches. Max had a great time. From the tractor ride out he was in heaven. While he did like picking a few, he loved eating them! He had three before we got back from the field! He is a little peach eating machine!

We are already thinking of apple picking this fall - at least then it will be cooler!

Our Little Picasso

Gymboree has a summer special where you can add an extra class for just $10 a month, so Max has been going to art class in addition to his play class. I wasn't too sure how it would go since Max often likes to do his own thing, but he really loves it! Today we made teapots. He loves to use the paints and does a pretty good job.

At the end of class they read a story about the topic. Max gets out his little cushion and joins the group to hear Ms. Emily read the story. My only complaint about art class is that they want the kids to put glitter on everything! My minivan sparkles like you couldn't imagine.

Museum of Transportation

Since Brian worked all last weekend he took the day off today. This morning we headed off to the Museum of Transportation. I don't know which of my boys liked it more! We began at the Creation Station. Max thought that the magnetic trucks were pretty neat.

He also liked the cardboard ice cream truck. He found a key on another table and before he climbed into the truck he ran over and picked up the little blue key he found. he was a bit upset that he couldn't find a key hole to put it in.

The highlight for Max were the trains. He enjoyed the train ride - although mom and dad thought it was a bit weak. He also loved wandering around the train yard. Too bad it was so hot! Overall we had a great time and I'm sure we will return!

Grant's Farm

What a wonderful morning! We met another couple and their two kids to explore Grant's Farm today. We were there when they opened, so we didn't have to wait in line for the tram - which of course Max loved. There were tons of animals out today too, the tram came within a foot of a buffalo.

Of course of one of the highlights of the farm is always the goats. We tried the goats last year and it went okay. We didn't want to take Max inside, so we jsut fed through the fence. Last year Max also thought that the bottle was for him and not the goats. This year we went into the fenced area and at first Max thought it was pretty fun. With a little help from mom he was happy as could be feeding a cute little goat.

Then Max wanted to be a big boy and feed the goats by himself. This probably wasn't the best idea. These goats were aggressive. Before we knew it about 10 goats were attacking Max demading his milk. Poor guy got a bit overwhelemd and this is how our trek to the goat pen ended.

Max recovered pretty quickly from the trauma of the goat pen and we enjoyed the rest of our mornign at the farm. While he wasn't too wild about sitting in the stands for the elephant show, he did enjoy watching 'Bud' do his tricks from the sidelines. Overall it was a wonderful morning spent with great company. It really doesn't get any better than this.

Clear the Roads

Max is a man on the move! Last year one of Brian's coworkers passed on a motorized Jeep for Max. We finally think he is big enough, so we took the Jeep out for a spin tonight. At first he wasn't doing too well. He just wanted to press all of the buttons - he really liked putting the Jeep in reverse. Then he realized that by pressing the gas peddle he could make it go. Once he had that figured out, he kept trying to press it with his hands. After 20 mintues or so he finally figured out how to use his feet to work the gas and he was off! We chased him up and down the alley for almost an hour. It was too cute! I think his favorite part was trying to run down dad. I have a feeling the Jeep will be coming out again soon.

Library

Max and I have been making treks to the library every week this summer. While he isn't a fan of story hour - I swear there are like 25 kids there - he loves to play with the puzzles, color pictures, and pick out books.

He will sit in the rocker in his room and read and read and read. I think his favorite author is Donald Crews - what little boy wouldn't love someone that writes about trucks and trains? Uncle Tim came over for dinner tonight and Max wanted him to read all of his library books. I think Max takes after Momma on this one.

We also had a big appointment for Max this past week. On Tuesday we went to a neurologist to discuss Max's speech delay. I have been thinking for a while that it is something a bit more than just a typical speech delay and the doctor confirmed. He believes that Max has something called Apraxia of Speech. Basically he knows what he wants to say, but the message just isn't getting from his brain to his oral muscles the way that it should. It makes if very difficult for him to produce sounds and put sounds together. The doctor we met with was wonderful! He really took his time to get to know Max and help us piece together what is going on with him. He reassured us that we are doing everything right, but that Apraxia is not something that can be fixed over night. We are looking into changing some of Max's speech services - in fact we have an evaluation at the Center for Hearing and Speech on July 15th. We have no doubt that Max will get there - he will speak. It just might take a little extra help.

Summer Fun

I haven't posted in forever! Things have been really crazy around here. I'm taking 12 hours worth of credit this summer, we are looking into some changes on Max's therapy, and we are preparing to put the house on the market Sept 1st. Lots of changes in the Dull household.

Max continues to be his fun little self. He is loving all the time we are able to spend outside. He loves going for walks around the block, either on his bike or with his golf clubs. He usually makes it all the way around, but the other night he got a little too hot and made me carry him the rest of the way. We haven't ventured any farther than one block because he gets really, really heavy!

Since it has been getting really hot, we have also been spending some family time inside. We had 'doh' time at the kitchen table tonight. He had lots of fun making bananas with Daddy. He even pretended to feed the bananas to the pets. Sierra and Chewy weren't too sure. So fun. We really are lucky!