A Few of my Favorite Things in West Seattle

Keaton definitely has some favorite landmarks in West Seattle that he likes to go by daily, multiple times during the day if he's lucky. 

As mentioned previously, he became obsessed with totem poles during a Spring trip to Victoria BC.  There is a big one in West Seattle that he LOVES and he was very excited to have his picture taken next to it (even though the weather was horrible and the Seattle skyline is no where to be seen in the background like it is on a sunny day). Keaton showed me the smaller version of this totem pole at the West Seattle Trader Joe's. I would have never spotted it but he did and now we look at it every time we are there.

 

He also LOVES this peacock that is right up the street from us.  Yes, I realize it's not a peacock but that's what he calls it.  I'm a little worried the owners may request a restraining order since we drive by their house a lot...but these are the things you risk for keeping your kids happy.  A lady at TJ's work has a small statue of this (why I don't know?????) so it is possible for us to get Keaton his very own but I'd rather look at it in someone else's yard than my own yard.

 

Keaton is also really into scarecrows right now.  There is one down the street (but currently broken from the crazy weather so no picture of that one) that we walk by daily when walking Manny.  He loves it and has been lucky enough to get 2 for his garden (we didn't have much luck this year, next year we're sticking to strawberries and pumpkins).  He also got a scarecrow window hanging from Nana Tarr that he loves and moves from window to window around the house.

 

On the lookout for his favorite things in West Seattle....or maybe looking for the "BOOM"! He still talks about the BOOM and is trying to find it...the thunder from a few weeks ago!

 

 



First Day of School!

Last week was Keaton first day of preschool at the Admiral Mon/Tues Two's co-op preschool.  We did co-op preschool last year but started mid-year so it didn't feel like a first day of school.
He goes two days a week for two hours each day.  I work in the classroom one of the days.  Co-op preschool means parents are involved and help run it.  At first that sounded like a great idea but now that I have number 2 on the way (and just assumed new baby could tag along) I'm not sure what we are going to do.  Trying to convince dad to go to work late that day each week so he can watch baby or work at preschool...we'll figure something out.

I have been very lucky that Keaton is one of those kids that you can pretty much drop off anywhere and as long as they have fun kid stuff he's happy.  So I had no worries that he would do great by himself and he did.  He is actually much better behaved at school than at home (doesn't stand on chairs while eating, follows directions, is more mellow, etc.). 

It is fun to ask him what he did at school and see what he says.  When I would ask him what he did at his babysitters/daycare he would always say "Eat ice cream cones".....I was a bit suspicious and asked one day and was of course told "do you think I'm crazy, I'm not going to feed all these little kids messy ice cream cones full of sugar"....but I did find out she has pretend ones that must be pretty good!

I resisted from being the crazy person who photographs their child's every move (well I resisted this time but have done it many times before) but did take a few pictures on the first day of school.

The house across the street had decorative stones in the yard that he was very interested in.

 

 

A few more years till the real thing!  And then about 13-14 more before he can drive (which he is already very excited about) and then, fingers crossed, college in about 16 years.  

Over and Over and Over....

Keaton is definitely at the age where he likes to do the same things over and over and over.  For the past month or so he has been obsessed with playing cars on his car mat.  He likes to have someone pretend play with him, his cars and little characters (like smurfs from McDonald's, little people, etc.).  He could do this all day long if he found someone willing to play with him for that long.  I'm SO tired of playing "cars" and even tried to hide the mat yesterday but then he kept asking for it so it came back out.  It does keep him very happy and he has quite the imagination.

 

There is a lot of construction action going on at our neighbor's house today so I'm hoping that will keep him distracted from wanting to play cars.  When he's not playing cars, he's looking out the window to figure out "what that noise is" and then wants to go find the firetruck, ambulance, garbage truck, etc.  Or if he hears tools (like he will today) he will become focused on wanting to get his chainsaw to cut down branches or tools to build a dog house or need to fix something.  And he's very quick to correct me on what the sound is "no mom, that's a drill, not a hammer".

 

He is a busy little guy with so many interests and is always telling us that he needs this or that and has so much to do!