Synapse Checklist check-off

As the boys were turning 2, I started thinking about what kinds of things I wanted them to do and experience before they turned 3. (Since everyone knows that birth-to-3 is like the ONLY time kids ever learn anything ever and after that, if they haven't learned it, they're screwed for a lifetime. :-) )

So I created a Synapse Checklist, which is really just a list of fun things I want to do with them.

The boys hit  the 2-and-a-half mark yesterday, so here's where we are on the checklist:

• Go to the beach. Build sand castles. Watch the tide come in and out.

• Pick some fruit at a real fruit orchard. Bring it home and help Mommy make something out of it.
• Fly a kite.
• Ride public transportation.
• Have a picnic.
• Dig for earthworms after a good rain.
• Go to the State Fair. Ride some kiddie rides. Eat funnel cake.
• Sleep in a sleeping bag.
• Go to the zoo. (We've done this a bunch, but I think they're old enough to really get it now.)
• Play with Play-Doh.
• Finger-paint. (Ditto.) Does it count that they've done this at school? Yes, I think it does!
• See a real rainbow in the sky.
• Go on a hayride. Help Mommy or Daddy carve a pumpkin. On second thought, I think this knife-wielding activity is a "next year" task.
• See a parade, complete with floats and marching bands.
• Ride on some kind of boat.
• Participate in at least one, maybe two organized activities (music class, soccer, swim lessons,etc.) Music class is humming along!

We did go to the beach but the boys refused to help build sand castles. We watched the waves come in and out -- but not the tide -- because I did not think hard enough about how long you have to sit on the danged beach to watch the tide come in AND out. So watching the waves is good enough for me. (Is this cheating?)

We didn't go to the State Fair this year, but we did go to a bunch of festivals. We had apple fritters at the apple pick, which tasted a lot like apple-flavored funnel cake, but no actual funnel cake.

We have time still for riding on public transportation (Lester thinks the trolley at the beach counts, and I'm willing to concede that point if I get too lazy to actually take my sweeties somewhere on the city bus between now and May).

And if push comes to shove, I can pull out a sleeping bag and let them sleep in it any ole time, even if it's on the night of May 10th.

But now that the weather is cold, I don't think we'll get to the kites, earthworms, rainbows or boating situations anytime soon. So that means we will have to be on it in the spring! On. It!

Looking at this update, I'd say so far, so good! Countdown to May 11, 2013 begins....now!

P.S. Just for some perspective about how far these two boys have come, take a look at this picture, taken when they were both just a little over two weeks old! Look how scrawny!

Dean on left; Cary on right

And now look at them -- driving already (LOL!)

Taken at the Unbalanced Mommies meet-up yesterday at Oregon Ridge. Just a small part of our whirlwind weekend (all done while Mom is sick as a dog!) which you'll hear more about in another post. Perhaps.