In spite of my best efforts to get him to go back to sleep, Sawyer woke up ready to play this morning. For the past month or two, Abby and I have put the gate up in his doorway. He goes to sleep with fewer incidents and generally wakes up with less desire to run amuck. I said generally. This morning he was like a caged lion just waiting to roar.
Abby let him out of his room while I shook the cobwebs. I came out to the living room a few minutes later and found him playing with his trains. Watch:
I think I showed him the “choo choo bats” trick almost a year ago, but I can’t find a single picture or post to prove it. Abby said he started doing it again yesterday, but definitely went all out this morning!
Saturday morning is a very big day for us. He doesn’t know it yet (mostly because he wouldn’t have been able to talk about anything else), but Abby and I are taking him to the circus! Expect a bunch of pictures and videos tomorrow.
On the morning of our last day in Columbus, and yes I’m still writing about a trip that took place over three weeks ago, the three of us joined Aunt Sarah, Mema T, and Pepa T at a nearby park.
Pepa thought we might be lucky enough to have a train come across the tracks, which would have more than made his day. Unfortunately there were no trains in sight, so Sawyer had to entertain himself with the playground alone. (Of course, Mema T and I saw three when we went to grab lunch just an hour later. Oh well.)
I love his expression in every one of these pictures, and the dog’s expression too:
After he wore himself out on the dog, he convinced Aunt Sarah to push him on the swings:
And then asked Mema to take over:
There weren’t any trains, but he did see a bing-bing-bing:
He was clearly bummed about the lack of trains:
This was an equal parts sleepy and wiggly goodbye to Aunt Sarah:
This was the beginning to a very, very long day. He didn’t get a full nap in, and didn’t sleep a wink for the entire ten hours of travel, that is until he was five minutes from home.
Sawyer has a new friend in town, and he hasn’t left his side since Uncle Kevin landed. He even has a song for him:
It’s now 9:30pm, and even though he’s completely exhausted, Sawyer still won’t go to bed. I know Kevin is excited to wake up with him in the morning, especially since he’s sleeping in the bed in Sawyer’s room. Here’s hoping he finally shuts down so all of us can get some sleep.
How appropriate that he began the day with his best bed-head in a really long time. I didn’t bother doing anything about it since he was going to get it cut today. Here he is taking his position in the chair and getting his cape put on:
Pre-cut happiness:
“Where the hair going?”
Awesome.
Sawyer and I needed to find something to do for an hour while Abby had her hair cut. Fortunately there’s a street car and several train lines right out in front. The one I wanted to take was using buses to get around some construction further down the line, so I opted for a different trip underground to West Portal. Sawyer loves tunnels, tracks, and trains, so this was an excellent idea:
Nice haircut, Sawyer!
Not even a minute later, one train came down the tunnel only to be joined by another from the opposite direction. Just look at his smile:
Out train came next. We rode out to West Portal, walked up the street for a bit, then hopped back on the train to go back to meet Abby. He was exhausted by the time we finally got in the car and headed for home.
I have to get video of Sawyer singing the verse of “Wheels on the Bus” I came up with for these situations. It’s hysterical. He’s always liked to sing, but now he’s starting to really string some verses together. That goes for his sentences too. Sawyer is growing up too fast!
On our last day in Columbus, Abby, Sawyer, my mom, and I went to the Conservatory to see trains and Chihulys. As you might expect, Sawyer took to the trains right away. “Choo whoo”:
In a fitting tribute to Abby’s friend Fancy Nancy, who we planned to see there too, Sawyer was dressed in his sharpest outfit:
Abby titled this one, “Two works of art.” So perfect:
There was plenty of running with Nancy’s son, Noah:
And of course his ever present tongue:
Sawyer loved the gigantic fish in the rainforest:
Thankfully he didn’t eat any of the fish food (no doubt from hours of reading his Yummy Yucky book:
Leaving the conservatory was easy because Sawyer knew he would get to see the trains again. Look at that smile:
Mesmerized:
Lastly, his second favorite sign in the world (I’m pretty sure he likes stop signs best, even though he usually ignores them):
Nothing will top seeing a real freight train and railroad crossing “bing bing bing” one night on the way home from the zoo. Prior to that he’d always loved trains, but he wouldn’t stop talking about them once he saw how big and awesome they were in person. Not a weekend goes by that he doesn’t ask to go see more trains!
On Saturday afternoon, the three of us went to an open house at one of the preschools Abby and I are considering for Sawyer. Unfortunately we had the wrong day, but since we were already half-way there, I suggested we go down to Burlingame for a bit. I also promised Sawyer that he would see some trains.
I knew things were going well when we were stopped for a red light and heard the bing-bing-bing of the crossing signal. We were right on the track, so Sawyer got to see his first big train up close (he and I watch videos of trains on YouTube all of the time). Once it passed we raced along side of it down to Burlingame Avenue. You can imagine he was thrilled, he talked about it all the way to the park.
Once there, he was far more interested in the wheel:
During dinner, I checked the schedule for the trains and saw that another one would be coming through soon. We paid our check and walked quickly to the station. Sawyer was speechless once it arrived:
Of course he then talked about “choo choo traina” the entire way home.
On Sunday afternoon, we went back to see the preschool. Sawyer wasn’t much for sitting inside so he and I went out back to play in the yard:
He would only go to school for four hours a day, two or three days a week, but judging from the 20 minutes we spent in the yard, it would more than wear him out:
I love that when I ask him to say “bye-bye, Sawyer” he replies “bye, Sawyer” as he runs away. He has no idea how cute that is.
Sarah and Kevin wisely decided to buy Sawyer a gift instead of one for me on my birthday. I couldn’t be happier, and given the fact that Sawyer played with his new animal choo choo train pretty much non-stop, I think it’s safe to say he’s thrilled too:
It’s hard to imagine how they continue to top their previous gifts. They’re responsible for the cars that he still plays with, the digger fork and spoon that he uses all the time, and the green grasshopper that gave him so many hours of fun.
Thank you for being so thoughtful, Sarah and Kevin!
On Saturday afternoon, after an all-too-eventful football game, Sawyer had his wig busted. It wouldn’t have been possible without that magical yellow car, but it kept him occupied enough for a whirlwind cut. He was rewarded with an extended stay at the park next to the train stop while Abby got her hair cut too. He definitely looks like a little boy again:
On Sunday, Abby and I decided to leave the cool and foggy San Francisco weather behind in favor of warm and sunny Sonoma. You can barely see the Golden Gate Bridge as we left town:
It was in the mid 60s on the bridge and low 80s in Sonoma, which is just about 40 miles away. Sawyer took a short nap in the car but he was ready to go once he saw the park:
And gucks!
Here’s a trick of his I’ve never seen before:
After lunch, we took Sawyer to Train Town. It had all of the charm of a low-budget county fair, but fortunately the “coo coos” more than made up for it (sadly, there was no sign of Engineer Kermit). Sawyer was in heaven:
The three of us even took an extended ride on one. Here we are waiting for the all aboard call:
Sawyer stood in between my legs and said “coo coo” and “woo woo” almost the entire time:
The train stopped about half-way through in this weirdo little, and by little I mean miniature, town with a petting zoo. Sawyer was more interested in the “ah boose” at the end of the train:
Before we left, we hit the merry go round:
It was tough to leave Sonoma, but Sawyer needed a real nap. Of course, the fog was waiting for us at the Golden Gate:
And finally, as if that weren’t enough excitement for one weekend, the three of us went to the beach on Monday. It was so sunny and warm that the ocean even felt good enough to be in for more than a second at a time. Abby and I took turns trying to keep him dry:
Note the lack of shorts, his one and only pair ended up completely soaked so he had to go the rest of the afternoon in just a diaper. Sawyer had so much fun in the water, he just couldn’t get enough. It was hard work trying to keep him safe and relatively dry. Look at him go:
Hysterical.
Tomorrow, the three of us get to celebrate Abby’s birthday! It looks to be another beautiful day in San Francisco so I hope we can get outside and take some more pictures. Happy birthday, Abby!
That’s “All Aboard!” to the rest of us. The other day, kind of out of nowhere, trains became Sawyer’s obsession. It really isn’t a surprise, as trains have wheels, which was one of Sawyer’s first words. The surprise is that it has taken this long. Scott has been reading “Chugga, Chugga, Choo, Choo” to him since he was a Woggy. He has been running around saying “woo-woo.” Sometimes it comes out “coo-coo.”
Even with a head cold, he still plays all day long.
His longest train.
This is all Sawyer’s doing. He’s got them coming and going. The mail trucks seem to have been in an accident. No matter train or car, they’re always pointed in the correct direction.
Well, except that the “ah-boose” is at the beginning of this train.
I love those little fingers.
The serious train engineer at work!
Sitting on the tracks.
