The Hunger Games and Other Things

This is old news but I finally read The Hunger Games (like two weeks ago). Like everyone else, I couldn't put it down and I finished it in a day and a half. Obviously, I really liked it and found it to be very exciting/enthralling/thrilling/etc. Also, I'm such a name freak, my favorite thing about the book were all the awesome names of the characters. Rue, Prim, Thresh, loved them all! My only problem with it is that, while every chapter ended with a cliffhanger and basically made it impossible to not go on to the next chapter, the book itself ended rather un-climactically in comparison. Unlike the end of all the previous chapters, the end of the book did not make me have to rush out and buy the second book to find out what was going to happen next. (Especially since the second book is only in hardback, which I hate.) 

Do you get what I'm saying? I didn't finish the book feeling like the characters were in imminent danger and just wanting to find out if Katniss and Peeta end up together isn't motivation enough for me to hurry on to Catching Fire. So, there's my two cents about the cultural phenomenon that is The Hunger Games. I did really really enjoy it and I'm sure I'll read the second book eventually and I am looking forward to it but, unless someone physically puts it in my hands or I can download it to iBooks on my phone, it's going to be a while. 

I have other things to worry about right now, like teaching a certain someone how to properly use a spoon...

Besides one weird rainy day this week, the weather here has been gorgeous! Wilder and I have really been enjoying being outside as much as possible. On Wednesday we went to the zoo with Rachel and Lexi. We hadn't been there since before Wilder's birthday back in November so I was anxious to take him back and see how he would like it now that he's a few months older and walking. I took his trike for him to ride on and he had the best time ever. He was so interested in all the animals and being able to ride his trike from one exhibit to the next was the icing on the cake for him. Half the time he still had his helmet on when I took him off the trike and he looked so funny walking around with it on. 

He really enjoyed the petting zoo, especially now that he knows what a sheep and a goat are. He kept saying Baa at them and loved petting them and watching them eat.

The otters were the hit of the day. The last few times we went to the zoo the otters were nowhere in sight but this time they were totally showing off and Wilder and Lexi loved watching all their shenanigans. 

They also were pretty fascinated by the flamingos and ducks. Wilder almost went hoarse making his bird sound at them. By the way, I have to get his bird sound on video -- it's ear-piercingly hilarious. He really gets into it and will literally do it at anything that even remotely looks like a bird. Paul drew a dog with a beak the other day just to see if he would squawk at it and sure enough he did. He even squawked at a number 2 the other day because the point on the front of the 2 looked like a beak. It totally cracks me up.

Wilder is loving being able to (semi) keep up with Lexi these days. They ran all over the place and it was so cute to see him copying some of the things she did. Usually he just observes other little kids but he was actually trying to do what she was doing as if to prove that he's as big as she is. I think he may have a little baby crush :)

I've had several people ask me lately for feeding suggestions for babies/toddlers. I'm by far no expert on child nutrition but I guess it's pretty obvious that Wilder's a good eater. I think it mostly has to do with luck/his genes but there are some things I've done that I believe have contributed to his good eating habits. Although every baby's different and all kids go through picky phases, you might find some of my tips, recipes, etc. helpful so look for a post coming soon on the well-fed baby. 

We're headed to the Wild Animal Park tomorrow with some friends and I'm pretty excited about it! Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!