Graduation Day

In a month's time, Court will be moving on from the wonderful nursery school where he has spent the past ten months growing and learning while Mom and Dad were at work. The school, the Infant-Toddler Center (ITC), is a small program housed in a church across the street from the State Capitol building, and we feel so fortunate that Court was able to spend part of his year there. Sadly for us, the ITC provides care for children ages two months to two years so Court will be moving on this fall before he turns three.

Court's teachers and program director put together a lovely graduation celebration for him and his classmates, where they performed a few songs and received graduation certificates and photo memory books. We had a great time watching him perform and we are so fond of the community at the school.

Court with his lead teacher, Minnie



Summertime Swim

Pardon the three-month hiatus from Holding Court!
We had a very busy late spring and early summer, with lots of travel to wonderful places to visit and celebrate with dear friends and family. We hope to settle back into our home and our regular routines by mid-August, after a few more trips to fun and far-away places (including Court's birthplace, NYC!).

Despite all of the travel, we have found plenty of time to enjoy all of the wonderful summer programs that Raleigh has to offer, including a series of swimming lessons at a city pool. We started with a parent-child class earlier this summer, at which point our *advanced* swimmer was given the go-ahead to move onto the first level of preschool swimming classes (usually reserved for children ages three and up!). Court is loving this six-class series and he has the added bonus of a good friend, Monty, to join him in class every day.

Mickey Mouse Invasion

Court has developed an extreme fondness for Mickey and friends during the past many months and we are regularly greeted by pleas to "watch Mickey." We are probably still years away from a visit to Disney World, but in the meantime, the Disney store at our local mall provides plenty of satisfaction for this guy!

Easter with Court

We had a lovely Easter holiday with Court, complete with multiple eggs hunts, cookie baking, egg dyeing, and a visit with the Easter Bunny (which went shockingly well following a not-so-great season with Santa). One of our favorite moments was the egg hunt hosted by his school on the front lawn of the State Capitol Building. The lawn is beautifully maintained and it was a thrill to watch 20 one- and two-year-olds discover the treasure trove of candy-filled eggs.

Egg hunting at the State Capitol

Egg hunting at the home of his good pal Libby Boyne (on the occasion of her birthday)



Sporting bunny ears and his fancy Easter outfit

Potty Training Party

While his mom and dad comfortably floated along in diaper-land, Court decided to take things into his own hands and recently started asking to use the potty and talking about big boy underwear. Many of his classmates are six months older than him and not one to be left behind, he took the lead on his own potty training. We decided to kick things off with a potty training extravaganza weekend, a three-day pants-off party. Court did amazingly well, supported by stickers and M&Ms, with only two accidents over three days. We're now two weeks into a diaper-free life and he's doing great!

 Pants-off party weekend coincided with Easter weekend, so we kept busy with lots of Easter projects like coloring Easter eggs.

Party on the top, pants off on the bottom!

Looking at some flash cards while hanging out on the potty.

Our cool cat.

Farm Animal Days

Once a year, NC State University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences opens up its field laboratory to the public for a few days. It's a wildly popular event attended by thousands of children, including our guy Court. When we visited the event in 2011, he was still a bit too young (at 15 months) to properly interact with all of the animals and farm equipment, but this year, he embraced every single part of the experience, from holding baby chicks, to petting a baby goat, to driving a big tractor, to enjoying some NCSU ice cream (truly, some of the best we've ever had).

Tutu Comes to Visit

Court recently spent a week with his Maui grandma, who he lovingly calls Tutu (the standard Hawaiian name for grandmothers). They played all over the city, including a lovely spring afternoon at one of our favorite outdoor spaces, Fred Fletcher Park.