Our neighbors built a chicken coup over the past month. Two weeks ago the project was finalized and the four hens were purchased and brought home. Annika and Marlena were super excited to show off the new hens. Here Axel is petting Kermit. Kermit, Hermione, Little and Mac were a bit timid since they had just arrived at their new location. You might think the names are a little funny, like I did.You may not be surprised that the only person to give a female name to her hen was Elizabeth, Annika's mom.
Speaking of Kermit. Axel watched the first 40 minutes or so of the new Muppet movie. He was excited to see what Marlena was talking about when she said she named her hen after Kermit the frog. Axel never finished watching the movie because he is just too busy at nights these days. The tradition of playing with Rishaan and Max each night has continued. Before we go out we eat and bathe and after he plays it is a quick teeth brushing and book and then it is bedtime. It is a little sad that the days are getting shorter so quickly, since that cuts down on the boys playtime each night. We are trying to figure out what we are going to do when it is completely dark out at 7pm. We are thinking about rotating backyards so that the kids can play at a minimum from 7-730pm each night, since all of the parents enjoy chatting while the kids get some playtime before bed.
Axel's sleeping is all over the place. He can go days without a nap and only sleep 10 hours at night. Other days he can take a two hour nap. Last night he slept 12 hours for the first time in months it seems. He wakes almost every night lately because he is uncomfortable and itchy. He wakes for aquafor despite the fact that we apply is 4-6 times per day, or despite taking a dose of Zyrtec. He has had a bad rash all over him for a couple of weeks and it doesn't seem to want to go away. I am a bit frustrated with his difficulty falling asleep and him still waking at night and the fact that his skin doesn't seem to be improving. I keep putting off going back to the dermatologist because the end result is no new ideas or more 2.5% hydro cortisone or trying the medication that Grandpa Bruce uses.
Axel is really into building things. He is extremely creative and comes up with cool designs. Here he built a "super tall Christmas tree".
Here is one of my favorite creations; a long Lego train.
Last Friday we went to the annual celebration of the JW House which is a house on Kaiser's campus for kids going through cancer. J.W. was a patient at Kaiser who died of cancer at the young age of 16 after fighting the disease since age 4 years old. He dreamed of building this before he died and was able to witness the project's opening before his death. Each year there is a big party with amazing food and fun for children. Here Axel is in the playhouse that is in the backyard of the JW House.
Keith raced his last two official races of the season this past Sunday in Oakland. Axel and I watched the first race with Touis and his new owner Ia. Axel and I then headed to fairyland while daddy raced his second race. Kids are funny.... Axel associates Oakland and fairyland with Auntie since she lives there. When we were headed over he asked if Auntie was going to be there. I told him that I didn't think so, but that he could call her to ask. He called her and left a message and then proceeded to ask me when she was going to arrive. After being there for 30 minutes and asking a total of five time he finally realized that Auntie was not going to come. Hopefully, Auntie was having fun settling in to her new place.
Axel was in a daze the first 30 minutes until we rode the Jolly Trolly and ate a snack. All it took was his favorite train ride and some sugar from a fudge bar to perk him up for the next two hours.
He ran around like a crazy man climbing up and down things and running around the park until 4pm. At 4pm they have the last puppet show of the day. Here he is completely engrossed in the show.
Axel has finally reached the climbing phase. Most kids climb from a young age, but Axel got the bug just about a month ago. He climbs up everything and then likes to swing or jump off. He mastered climbing up the slide as well as the climbing structures at the play ground across the street from our house. He has also mastered jumping off benches and other objects that are higher than I like :)
I was going to give more updates on Axel, but we need to head to the library to check out stunt birds. Apparently, we are going to witness singing birds who can ride bikes and skate boards! Have a nice weekend!
