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Austen gets extremely jealous when Mama tries to help out another mom by holding a baby. Huge tears and yelling is followed by clinginess after Mama returns the baby.

Uncle John is home from the hospital. Sadly, the cancer has spread and they’re stopping treatment. We saw him twice; he seemed to brighten up a bit when greeting Austen. He didn’t seem like he was in pain, just a bit lethargic and he liked to talk about “normal” stuff like the football game and his collections. Janet, Jo Anna and Gloria seemed very happy to have visitors, so we stayed for a while. We also saw Don, Kristine, Jason and Mark.

At Jeffrey’s birthday on Saturday, Austen had a wonderful time playing with the boys … and Grace and Julia (“the baby”). There were tons of fun toys and activities like Austen’s first piñata batting experience, a John Deere ride-on battery-powered car, and a indoor-sized air-powered jumpy castle. And chocolate cake! Austen was in her best mood, talking a lot and running around. Sometimes she would yell, “Pa! Pa!,” and run up to Grandpa, but he didn’t seem too excited by this.

Grandpa was busy hanging out with Dolly, so we left earlier than we’d planned although we did squeeze in lunch with Janet, Grandpa & Dolly at MaGerk’s in Bel Air and a visit to the scrapbooking store, where Mama went wild.

Austen had a blast at Cousin Jeffrey’s birthday party.

She enjoyed the jumpy castle with all of her cousins.

Jonathon took Austen for several rides in his John Deere truck.

Austen even got Grandpa to hold her for a bit (although it might’ve taken some coaxing from Mama).

Austen’s jammin’ on Jonathon’s guitar while her older cousins danced to some music.

Who says you can only play knock-hockey with two people?

After all the kids took many whacks at the pinata with hardly a dent, Uncle James decided to help things out by tearing it a little. Then, Jeffrey gave it a big hit and out popped all the candy.

Austen also helped Jeffery open his gifts and then sang into his microphone.

The other day, Austen asked Dada to write not only her name on her doodle board but ‘Dada’ and ‘Mama’ — and ‘Pop,’ ‘Grandma Mindy,’ & ‘Chacha.’ She’s realizing that objects have names made up of letters.

Thus far she hasn’t been as interested in letters; numbers have been more intriguing to her. She sings the alphabet song and can spell her own name, recognizing the ‘A’ ‘U’ ‘S’ ‘T’ ‘E’ and ‘N.’ But, up until now, the letters on a page didn’t mean very much to her: they were just a bunch of bending lines. Now, she’s starting to get that there’s some importance behind the strings of letters she sees all around her.

While visiting Grandma Mindy, Pop and Chacha, Austen also went to the Queens Zoo .

Feeding the goats with Grandma Mindy.

Chacha fed the sheep, even though Austen wasn’t around.

A team effort is sometimes required.

Austen also fed the geese until this guy bit Austen’s finger. Austen didn’t like that and got upset afterwards. Mama suspects it was because of the surprise biting and not so much the physical pain aspect, especially since Austen quickly moved on to the chickens afterwards.

Watching the big bunny rabbits in their enclosure.

Here are some alligators that didn’t move. Chacha and Dada wondered if they were fake.

After the zoo, Austen took the oppurtunity to go on a nearby merry-go-round with Chacha and Grandma Mindy. It went pretty fast so Austen held on tight.

Today Mama told Dada that she couldn’t find an Olivia book in “board book” format and Dada didn’t understand what she meant. “What’s a board book?” he asked. Clearly Dada doesn’t do much toy & book purchasing for his toddler. Hopefully Austen appreciates all of Mama’s lonely efforts. 🙂

Austen loves the Animal Hospital that Cousin Emma and Cousin Erin gave her for her birthday. She checks the kitty’s temperature. Points to the stethoscope and says “Austen’s a doctor.” And she gives the little birdy medicine. Mama and Dada aren’t too sure about the cramped quarters for the animal cages, but Austen sure loves opening and closing cage doors with the color-coded keys.

During Austen’s birthday party, someone christened Austen’s Boon potty. Uncle Tod?

Austen went to the Central Park Zoo in NYC with Devan. She really enjoyed seeing the sea-lions and the polar bears.

Mama bought Austen a stuffed polar bear and shortly afterwards, Austen fell asleep cuddling with it in her stroller.

Since it was raining, Mama and Dada decided to leave but even though it wasn’t a lengthy excursion, everyone still had a good time. We’ll have to go again soon to explore our old neighborhood but with a keen eye for toddler activities.