Cultivating Childhood

My oldest is already three and a half!  Buddy is such a joy to our lives, and we couldn't imagine our lives without him. Here is a little view into his life right now. He is a great big brother.  For the most part, they share pretty well and just love spending time with one another.  Of course, they have their squabbles, but it usually ends up with a hug (with some parent interaction!). He is also super cuddly.  We always have our morning hugs and you can usually find him in one of our laps to read a story or have a tickle.  He absolutely loves to laugh.  We recently had his grandparents here, and he was just as cuddly with them. Buddy's energy level has increased ten-fold since his birthday.  If he's not in someone's lap, you can usually find him doing a handstand on the couch.  Legs are usually going every which way.  He's also doing summersaults and he has learned to swing himself on the playground. We've also just started ...

For the fourth of July, we headed out to Monroe to do some strawberry picking.  We've never done it before, and it was a lot of fun.  The organic strawberries taste  amazing. Afterwards, we went on a little nature walk at a local park along the river.  It was such a beautiful day. Happy 4th!

For a fun Sunday afternoon family time, we decided to go see the film Rio  at the cheap theater down the road.  Buddy really enjoyed it, and Button almost made it through his first movie in a theater except he got bored near the end. The movie itself was a fun kids movie, although not one that I think we'll want to watch repeatedly the way we've recently enjoyed Tangled  or How to Train Your Dragon.   It was nice to get a family date and a relaxing afternoon. The real reason for this post, though, isn't to give you my impressions of Rio.   Really, from a psychological standpoint, I was far more intrigued by the " short " that was played immediately before our movie began.  It portrayed Scrat the Squirrel from the Ice Age movies trying to find a place for his beloved acorn.  He ends up dividing the earth and being plunged into the core of the planet while still chasing his acorn.  Everything goes wrong, and he still can't keep track of his acor...