On Saturday morning we went to a butterfly farm called All-A-Flutter, where they grow butterflies for weddings and such. It was interesting, though Carter was a bit young for it, it turned out. He didn't have the patience to sit through the very well-done demonstration of the butterfly life cycle, and when we went in the butterfly enclosure he was a little too rough with the butterflies. Fortunately most of them were beyond his reach (which really frustrated him), but he did manage to damage one of them. :-(
I had to take him out finally, and he was not happy about it. But somehow I still managed to get some good pictures. He loved the butterflies.
Here Papa is showing him some butterflies.
We had brought a picnic lunch along and it started raining just as we sat down to eat. There were sun umbrellas over the picnic tables which basically just slowed the rain down, but it was actually sort of fun to eat in the rain.
It continued to rain off and on that day, so we ended up playing inside a lot, for the first time in nearly a week. This morning Dad cooked up a breakfast of biscuits, country ham, and eggs from their chickens. Country ham is a really particular taste and I wasn't sure if Carter would like it, but he totally chowed down.
We spent a lot of time outside again today. One of the great things about staying at my dad's house is that we're on a farm, and Carter can run around on his own quite a bit. He opens the door and runs out, and I know exactly where he's heading: to the barn to play on the tractor. At home we keep the doors deadbolted, and if Carter ran out unaccompanied I'd completely freak out. But here we're so far from the road and from anyone else's house that it's not a big deal. After the first couple of days here, he knew where he could go and where he couldn't, and stayed away from the rooster and the horses. It's been really refreshing to be able to watch him run around outside and not have to worry that he could dash out into traffic or something. He just loves it too, and gets so dirty I have to wash his feet in the sink every time he comes inside. When I can get him to come inside, that is.
This is a funny picture of Carter from this afternoon. He was running around in the woods and his pants kept falling down. They're 2Ts, but they're too big.
He's been having a lot of fun with the dogs, as I mentioned in the last post. Here is a video of him playing with Topper. Topper has learned to fetch, but not give the toy back to the thrower. The command for that is "give", and Carter was following Topper around and saying "Give!" He was starting to get frustrated at the end here, but it was still cute.
It's so fascinating to watch him explore and process everything in a new place. You can just see him processing things and working out what it all means. He's spent a lot of time lately pushing around Dad's muck bucket cart, and he's really learned to steer it around pretty well. He's learned to lower the lever and push hard to get it over rough ground, and to pull it over a big bump one wheel at a time. He can control it when it's going pretty fast down a hill, and turn it on a dime to avoid a collision. It's pretty cool!
He says things every now and then that sound like they're coming from a six-year-old. For example, this evening he was sitting with my stepmom and looking at a National Geographic article about puffins. She was pointing at the pictures and he said, "Looks like a penguin." She said, "Yes, it does look like a penguin," and then he said, "Actually, it's just a kind of bird." We were both like 0_0 at that!
He and I walked all around in the pasture today and he splashed in puddles and looked at bugs and chased Topper. It was really fun to follow him and watch him look at everything, but also fun to see him have so much freedom. I need to find a way to give him more freedom at home.
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