Awestruck boys

Take two little boys, ages 4.5 and 2.5, and let them:

• sit in the back of a police car
• climb into an ambulance
• sit in the driver's seat of a fire engine and pretend to drive
• be hoisted up into a fire bulldozer by a real firefighter
• hop into two fire helicopters

and you'll score some serious WOW points. We took the boys to an open house at one of the Ramona fire stations this morning, and we had a great time. Thomas even hugged a firefighter and later said "I love you guys" to the fire station as we pulled away in the car. Jack did try to hide from Smokey the Bear (he put his hands over his eyes and I'm sure was thinking "if I can't see him, he can't see me" :) ), but I can respect that -- I've always thought there was something a little creepy about big costumed characters.

We saw a tiny 7-week old baby there, and I looked at Peter and realized how big he's getting, but it truly seems like he was *just* that size. Amazing. He likes rolling onto his tummy to play and is raking toys (and whatever else is nearby on the floor -- now I've really got to watch what the boys leave around!) to his mouth to taste. He also will spin in a little circle when he's on his tummy, and has been spotted trying to get his knees up under him and his rump in the air (he's got a little ways to go yet, but I bet he'll be crawling by the time he's 6 months old).

Peter has been sleeping in the boys' room for the past several nights, and it's going very well! We initially put him to bed in our room since Jack and Thomas tend to chat for a while before falling asleep, and then we just move Peter to the crib when we're ready to go to bed. So far, Peter has been sleeping soundly through the night and they've all been waking up around 6:30-6:45AM, which is respectable. Thomas, however, has not taken naps 5 out of the last 6 days (which is not good, since I think he really does still need that sleep in the afternoon), but I can only encourage him so much. He may be heading toward no naps, and it's just going to be a rough until he adjusts to less sleep. On the other hand, his potty training continues to go very well and I'm very thankful to have just one kid in diapers again!