Monday, October 6, 2014

Chase and Nanaw spent a quiet day at home, playing with trains upstairs and downstairs. Chase brought along Victor, his new train that Mama bought for him. He wore his skull shirt and his skull hoodie. Mama sent along two Halloween books and a stuffed pumpkin. Halloween and skulls are Mama’s favorites and now they’re becoming Chase’s favorites. Nanaw put up the pumpkin lights in his room. She had planned to put up the Halloween decorations but didn’t get around to it. Maybe she’ll do it tonight or maybe tomorrow. Mama says Chase really likes the ghost lights she put in the bathroom and the pumpkin lights she put in Chase’s bedroom. Chase took Cranky Crane home with him for a sleepover tonight.

Sunday, October 5, 2014

Mama had a football watching party today with Uncle Mike, Aunt Becky, Lindsey, Mike Jr., Joe and his girlfriend Brittany, Nichole, Natalie, and Aunt Becca. Uncle Stan and Daddy came after their golf tournament was finished. Nanaw came when she got home from Warrenton. Chase spent a lot time digging in the sand by the patio, with Daddy, Lindsey, Uncle Mike, Nanaw and Mama participating at various times. Chase would fill a bucket with sand, then have his playmate turn the bucket over and Chase would say "Sand castle!" Then Chase would take various tools and destroy the sand castle. Daddy let Chase play with his phone, and Chase watched a Thomas the Train video about Cranky Crane.

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Nanaw went to visit the bugaboo first thing Saturday morning. When she got there, Chase was running around the kitchen, entertaining Mama. He spent a lot of time running up and down the hall, and then started playing in Mama’s closet, opening and closing the sliding doors. Everybody was getting ready to go on the day’s big adventure: a chili cook-off in Belleville with Jackson, Aunt Jen and Uncle Joe. Mama said Chase seemed to have a wonderful time with Jackson. Jackson’s Aunt posted a video on Facebook showing Chase and Jackson running in and out of Uncle Joe’s and Daddy’s legs – very funny. Chase ate popcorn and crackers but no chili. Mama says that tomorrow Chase’s Uncle Mike cousins are coming for a party – Chase will like that.

Friday, October 3, 2014

Last night, Mama e-mailed Nanaw a photo of Chase painting at the kitchen table – very cute. Mama said Chase seemed to have a really good time painting and didn’t want to quit. Friday’s adventure was a major one: Mama and Daddy took a day off work so they could go to the train house with Chase and Nanaw. It was Daddy’s first visit there, and Mama hadn’t been there since she was a little girl. Everybody had a wonderful time. First, they visited the caboose, then went to see the circus train and then they went to the Thomas table room. Chase ran from table to table playing with the trains, with Mama and Daddy following closely behind so they could watch what he was doing. Chase went around the room to all the various toy areas and played with almost everything, something he doesn’t usually do – he must have wanted Mama and Daddy to be sure to see everything. Next, they rode on the train; Chase sat with Daddy and Mama and Nanaw sat together. Then they walked up the new curving path to the train area. They went into the gift shop, saw the birthday cake, went to see the boat and airplane, then went to climb on the trains. Back at the gift shop, they bought popcorn and a Thomas coloring/sticker book for Chase. All in all, it was a very successful day at the train house.

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Chase and Nanaw’s first adventure was going to Chase’s house to see if one of Chase’s Thomas battery-operated trains would run on his train tracks. It does so Nanaw left it there for Chase to play with – because he had two Thomas trains at Nanaw’s house. Next, they went to Walmart for the weekly grocery shopping. Chase rode on horsey and Elmo and had some "bones" and "fish" out of the candy machines. They also visited the Christmas trees displays at the back of the store. Chase looked up at the inflatable decorations on a high shelf on a far wall and said, "Robot." Sure enough, there was an inflatable Christmas robot there. Nanaw didn’t know Chase knew the word robot. Mama and Nanaw are learning all kinds of things that Chase knows that they don’t know how or where he learned – probably from watching television—quite the mystery and a little scary.

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Chase and Nanaw went to Powder Valley again today so that they could walk on the long trail. Nanaw took her walking stick that Pawpaw bought for her and gave Chase his stick from yesterday – which turned out to be a bad idea because somehow he scratched his face with it, close to his right eye. There were two school buses at Powder Valley and lots of school children that must have been there for a field trip. Chase and Nanaw went on the long trail and had a great time, just like yesterday. Chase seemed to enjoy climbing on the rocks that were on the side of the trail, saying "Big rocks!" They met lots of hikers on the way, and Chase always said "Hi" and gave everyone a big smile. Chase and Nanaw didn’t go into the Nature Center because Nanaw thought it would be really crowded with all the school children. In the afternoon, Uncle Mike came over to Nanaw’s house to cut the grass, and Chase seemed delighted to see him. He showed off for Uncle Mike, chattering and singing songs to him and running around the house and trying to get him to play trains. Mama came to pick up Chase, and she stayed and visited for awhile. While Chase was running around the house, he fell and hit his chin and scraped his arm. So Mama had a scraped up Chase to deliver to Daddy. Daddy had bought more train track for Chase, and Chase seemed very excited to have his track in the living room expanded. Mama sent Nanaw a photo of the expanded track.