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We picked apples with the boys this weekend at the County Line Apple Orchard.  It’s a little early in the season for Pumpkin Days, but Chrissy and I wanted some of their fresh baked donuts, an annual tradition in our household.  Aiden had never picked apples before, since we usually come to the orchard to pick pumpkins for Halloween.

We showed up as soon as they opened in order to avoid the petting zoo crowds.  It’s nice to be able to see each animal up close, and Aiden got to pet a few.  There was a baby goat that looked like it wanted to hop the fence and go home with Aiden.  Then we rode a tractor to the corn maze.  Those aren’t as fun as you would think…

This was also the first trip to the farm that Gavin was awake for, since he spent last year’s visit asleep in the Baby Bjorn.  He got to play in the petting zoo a little, and he rode in the stroller while we picked apples in the orchard.  Gavin loved the donuts!  We all had a good time, and we might stop in again before Halloween.

Aiden made his first trip to the dentist.  Unfortunately, Chrissy and I were unable to take him ourselves, so Grandma took him for his first checkup.  Aiden got the same hygienist that cleans my teeth, Mike, who is a real nice guy.  He took good care of Aiden and there was no crying or complaining at all (from either of them).

Aiden was very good the whole time.  Mike checked all of his teeth and  noted that they were in pretty good shape.  The dentist also took some X-rays to make sure that everything was all right in there.  We make sure that he brushes his teeth every day.  He has his own electric toothbrush, and he loves to use it.  Man, we got a good kid!

We got sixth row balcony tickets at the Holiday Star Theater for the Imagination Movers  “Live From The Idea Warehouse Tour” on October 25th.  We could have gotten better tickets, but we waited for a bit until we could find out if Aiden would be interested in seeing it.  Well, Aiden loves them, almost as much as Mickey Mouse.  Too much Disney Channel, you say?

Aiden has some assorted musical instruments around the house: a drum set, a play guitar, a karaoke keyboard, some tambourines, etc.  It wasn’t until he started watching Imagination Movers that he paid any attention to them.  Now he’s up and playing whatever instrument is closest whenever they’re on.  He even sings along, which is amazing to us.  “Hey! What’s the big idea?!”

Aiden brought home the first of (hopefully) many school crafts today: a paper tambourine.  It’s two paper plates, painted on the bottom of each and held together with staples.  It’s just a few strokes of color on each one, so I’m assuming that it was Aiden who painted it.  There are beans between the two plates, and then they’re stapled together at the edges.  It’s sorta like a big rattle without a stick.

This is Aiden’s first craft item.  We used to take Aiden in for social time at the Lincoln Center called “Mommy and Me”, and there were crafts there as well.  But those were mostly put together by the moms, like putting beads on a pipe cleaner or putting stickers on a cutout from a coloring book.  Cute for little kids to do, but Aiden was too young to get much out of it.  He’s got the hang of it now though.

I love his tambourine.  I want to glue a magnet to one side and stick it up on the fridge for the world to see forever.  Not sure how long such a thing will last though.  This is pretty much the first item that Aiden has crafted on his own.  He’s actually making something by himself that we can stick on the fridge and admire.  This is really pretty exciting!