We spent a lot of time in Brooklyn backyards this past week, which is pretty rare. Over the weekend we went to two backyard picnics at friend’s houses, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. The photo above was taken from Jay’s co-workers backyard space. It was really nice and had lots of trees. They live in a 3 floor building and the backyard is shared amongst those tenants. There was a puppy there for Theo to admire. Theo loves dogs but he is still a bit apprehensive as far as petting and playing. He more likes to talk about it, and bark, and say, “doggy”. He flinched near the puppy and then knocked over a small table with plastic plates and cups crashing to the ground. He was a bit startled and a little scared of the doggy after that. Then on Sunday we went over to a friend’s for a little birthday celebration. Theo got to play with a kitty cat this time. He now knows the word, “party”. He really enjoys himself around adults like that. He entertains himself checking out this and that. This time it was a fascination with the screen door that opened onto their back deck. “All closed!”… over and over. “Flip Flop!” when Jay put his flip flop in the door to stop the annoying slam each time the screen door closed. He had a little pizza and a little taste of ice cream cake. He acted super excited about the cake and then was surprised (even though I told him it was ice cream cake) when it wasn’t actually cake, but cold ice cream. He really enjoys a bite and then that’s about it. We walked home in a little bit of summer rain and got to bed late, again. That seems common for our summer weekends.
Earlier in week we went to one of my Mom friend’s house for a little backyard pool party. They live in a big building that happens to have some communal outdoor space for BBQ’ing, gardening, and baby pool fun. The Moms (and one Dad) were able to sip a little Prosecco while the little ones played. Theo decided to help them sweep outside.
Here he is in action mode.
And borrowing sunglasses. Of course, he never wants to wear his own.
It is so apparent how happy Theo is on the weekends when Dada is around. It is this extra, fun bonus to his daily routine that he really only gets two days/week. Getting to ride on Daddy’s shoulders to the playground and having him around for meals and bath time is such a joy for him. It’s very sweet. Theo is singing his ABC’s really well. He often does a little dance with it that I have to capture on video soon. He is always repeating what we say and really getting used to stringing multiple words together. He says, “air conditioning”, and “Flatbush” (the busiest street nearby), which I find really silly for some reason. I guess there are always going to be words like that that are specific to where you’re from. He knows he lives in “3E” and he will tell you, and he loves to sit on our stoop before going inside the building every day.