Finally, I'm getting some down time....

This past week has been extremely hectic! I working six 12 hour shifts in the past seven days and yesterday was a much needed day of rest for me. But I couldn't stay in bed too long because on my days off, it's my time to "be up to bat" with Rufus.

Rhadi and I have a well-oiled machine going on over here....he takes care of Rufus most of the days and when I'm off, I take over and give him time to catch up on his blogs, on his research and his projects. Because I don't get to spend as much time with Rufus as I'd like to, I try to make the most of our days together. So since I had a few minutes alone in the office...Herman (our new house guest) is reading to Rufus in the living room....I was able to download some pictures of our most recent adventures.

Earlier this month, Rufus had his first visit to the dentist. The office staff was incredibly friendly and the place was decorated more like a playhouse than an actual dentist's office. Rufus was a star patient....I'm not just saying that because I'm his mother....the dentist actually said that this was the first time a toddler Rufus' age did so well during the whole cleaning process. To tell you the truth, Rufus just likes the taste of the baby toothpaste.

Here's a picture of Rufus coming home from his first dentist's visit.....the animal balloon was his gift for being such a great patient!

Rufus has five teeth now and can't wait to start chewing on something with a little more substance than mashed food.

Last week I knew that I wouldn't be able to spend any real quality time with Rufus....aside from feeding him dinner and giving him his bath before he goes to bed, so we took a trip to the Museum of Science and Discovery in Fort Lauderdale. Rufus was probably the youngest kid in the place but you surely couldn't tell. He had a ball. We started out in the ocean section looking at the tanks full of coral, eels, tropical fish and even sharks.

He's still in the stroller...just getting started.

He's actually watching some high school kids ride up the escalator.....

Then we went to the toddler area where he went from computer to computer tapping on the keyboards, climbed up stairs to chase after another older boy and even went orange picking in the grove. Here he is on his own very John Deere tractor---this brings back memories when I was growing up. I'd love to sit and watch as my grandfather drove his John Deere tractor across the lawn transforming it into a well-manicured piece of art. I still love the smell of fresh cut grass....well, that's the old country girl in me!

After taking a spin on the tractor, we headed to the science area where Rufus could literally see the sound waves transmitted through a vacuum of beads as he played on the piano, saw how the burning of our garbage can turn steam into an energy source to supply electricity and even got to see the sketelon of a T-Rex.

We ended the day with stroll in the air park where Rufus thought he was a fighter pilot behind the controls of a jet. I could have spent hours trying to navigate my jet off the ground...or trying my best to stimulate a smooth take-off. After about 3 tries I finally got the jet off the ground!

He was concentrating so hard to guide his jet :-)

Once I finally got Rufus in the car I knew he'd had a long day because even I was tired! When I turned around as I exited the garage, I had to take this picture....he played soooo hard and had so much fun that he just tired himself out.

Once we got home and I put Rufus to bed, he slept for the next 12 hours straight!!!! Now that was a great day!

We're going to be heading up to Maryland next week to visit the family so I'll be sure to take the camera along so we can catalog Rufus' trip.

Take care,

Traci, better known as Rufus' Mom

P.S. Downtime doesn't mean downtime from exercising because I'm still on my 3 days or more a week schedule to keep in shape. I've got to stay in bathing suit ready at all times. The Backyard Workout is what I do....it's hard but fast!