The St. Patrick's Day Post

Since I blogged about it last year and the year before, I feel like I should post about St. Patrick's Day, even though it wasn't too exciting. Here you go...

Cat, just before school.She woke up pretty early, so I decided to paint her nails green. Green is not a color I usually encourage, or even allow, for her nails. But it's only once a year, right? Cat is also showing off the sparkly pom-pom and cut-up straw necklace she made. It turned out pretty cute!

Cat was excited all week because their "class leprechaun," Flash, had been causing all kinds of mischief. Of course they all tried to catch him, and there were even a few sightings by some of Cat's quick-eyed classmates, but he got away. Oh well! Maybe next year.

Of course, for dinner we had green shamrock waffles.
But no green eggs and ham. Just the regular colors for those things.
I was out of green food coloring, no doubt from the last two years' dinners!

And that was about the extent of our celebration this year.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Bins o' Fun

For Christmas, I finally bought myself (er, Ben bought me) a book I've been wanting for a few years called Unplugged Play. It's full of simple games and activities for children, using items you have around the house and no electronics. I've been reading a little here and a little there and trying to do a better job of creating fun activities for the kids when I need to try to get something done or they are itching for something different.

I've also been doing a lot of organizing and cleaning things out recently, so we have a few empty bins around our house - that's a first! Therefore, the theme over the last several weeks has been BINS BINS BINS. Here's a glimpse of some BIN play and the spontaneity that ensued:

Beanbag Toss...

turned hideout...

turned baby cave...

turned baskethead.

Kitchen Containment Center

Reading Nook
Cat has been doing a lot more reading to Jack recently. She always wants to have time to play on the computer, so I've started allowing her 15 minutes to play computer games for every 2 books she reads to Jack. Sometimes they are longer books such as "Green Eggs and Ham" but sometimes they are short books like "Personal Penguin." But she's practicing her reading and Jack is having fun, so I'm not picky.

Aquatic Fun Zone

On the way home from school one warm day recently, Cat asked me what we were going to be doing that afternoon. I asked her what she would like to do, and she said, "How about go to the beach?" No, we are not going to go to the beach. "How about the pool?" No, we are not going to the pool. I was thinking something along the lines of sidewalk chalk or playing on the swing set... but - maybe we can still have some water fun.

The gnats had been pretty bad around here (they are better now) so I opted for a semi-outdoors location. We recently reclaimed the back porch off our our master bedroom (which used to be occupied by a large weight set... thank goodness someone took it off our hands). I swept the pollen off of the porch and put a few inches of warm water from the bathtub (remember, we have COLD hose water) into 2 bins. We pulled out some bath toys and old food containers and medicine droppers and went to town.

Oh, and J & E were au natural the whole time,
as you may recall from this picture.
Why not?

Fiddlin' Dan

I took the kids to the library to see a special guest artist, Fiddlin' Dan the Mountain Man. He was not only a fiddler, but a storyteller and very good with the kids. There weren't very many kids there, though, so Cat and her 6-year old friend Makenzie benefited from most of his attention. They were the first to volunteer and the first to assist, even when Fiddlin' Dan didn't need any assistance. But they had a blast.

He called up almost every child in attendance to help him form a jug band. Jack was one of the first up front, and I was a little nervous when Fiddlin' Dan handed him a stick and moved on to the next volunteer, leaving Jack unattended with a weapon. Jack did pretty well, though. He proceeded to bang on each "instrument" he found...

and there was only one close call with a sweet little girl next to him.

Cat played the washboard...

and sang back-up.

Once the show was over and the other children had dispersed, I released Eliza.

She decided she needed a turn too.

Proof she's a toddler.

1. She leaves no trash can left unturned, no drawer left unopened, no cabinet left unexplored.

2. She thinks she should be eating or drinking what ever you are eating or drinking. And she's not satisfied with just a sample. She wants all of it.

3. She taste-tests everything she sees (see #2) and leaves tooth-marks when possible.

4. She has fits throughout the day. Getting in the car. Having her diaper changed. Getting dressed. Getting out of the bath. Being wiped off after eating. Being saved from choking (see #3).

5. She can stand independently.

{Explanation of above picture will be provided in a forth comoing post.}

So far, she only takes 1 step independently, but that doesn't stop her from showing off. The other day some friends were over and we were all sitting in the living room together. She would stand up, look around for a few seconds, clap when we clapped, then lower herself down, crawl to a different spot, and repeat. I could imagine her saying, "Look guys! I can stand here! And I can stand here! And I can stand over here!"

Jack's trying to grow up on us.

Big Boy Car Seat
Jack's car seat was falling apart, so we decided it was time for him to get Cat's old booster seat. He thinks it's really cool and loves sitting in it, until he gets bored. At which time he wiggles out of the seat belt and stands up. And it doesn't matter if we're driving 20 mph on our road, or 70 mph on the Interstate. We're thinking about reverting back at this point...


Using the Potty
About a month ago Jack started asking to use the potty. I didn't think he was quite ready to be potty trained, but we figured letting him use it once in a while would be good for him. So he asked to use the potty several times over the next few days, but has hardly asked since. Oh well, at least he's been introduced to the basics.

A few days later he picked up the little potty seat that was next to the toilet, placed it on top of his head and said, "Wook. I'm a hat."


Using a Big Boy Cup
When I told him that you have to be very big to use a big boy cup he said, "But I'm vewy vewy vewy big." How could I argue with that? So we let him use them more often, but soon learned that "vewy vewy vewy big" doesn't necessarily mean "vewy vewy vewy mature." We had to discontinue use of the big boy cup when he insisted on using it as a dunking booth for food, toys, and our phone.


Learning Mommy's Methods
A few weeks ago I started doing some Simon Says with Jack. He wasn't catching on to anything except doing fun actions when ever I told him to, but still had fun with it. When it was time to go to the library for story time, he was pretty slow-moving and wasn't obeying when I told him to come with me to the car. So, I said, "Simon says MARCH!" and we marched for a little while, toward the car. Then I said, "Simon says HOP!" and we hopped toward the car, eventually getting all the way in. Once we were on our way, Jack said to me, "Simon says GO TO THE LIBRARY."


Whispering
Jack has two methods of whispering.
#1. The Imitative Whisper: Moving his mouth but not letting any distinguishable words come out.
#2. The Excited Whisper: Fluctuates between #1 and yelling. It goes kind of like this: "We can have a cookie. We CAN have a cookie. We can HAVE a COOKie. We can have A COOKIE. WE CAN have a cookIE.


Reasoning
"I want to watch a movie. Because I'm hungwee."

"Because I don't wike it."

(a conversation at about 9am)
Jack: "Can we watch a movie?"
Mom: "No. It's not time yet."
Jack: "I want to WATCH a MOVIE."
Mom: "No. You can't watch a movie."
Jack: "You make dinner and I will watch a movie."

Mom: "Do you want a banana?"
Jack: "No. Because I'm scwatch."

Mom: "What are you doing??"
Jack: "I hitting Wiza."
Mom: "No. That's not okay. Don't hit Eliza."
Jack: "BUT I WANT TO HIT WIZA!"
(We have a similar exchange usually at least once a day, but sometimes we substitute "sit on," "kick," or "push" for the word "hit.")


Big Boy Bed
Over the last 10 months or so, Jack has had trouble limiting his sleep to his bed. He has changed bedrooms a couple of times, which may or may not have helped. But recently he went back to having his own room again, and sleeping on a big double bed. We really hoped this would get him back into a routine of sleeping by himself, but he still comes looking for company in the middle of the night. We even try getting him all psyched up about sleeping in his own big bed. When he says "I want to sweep in Mommy's bed," at nap time or bed time, we respond with, "Jack, you get to sleep in your big boy bed!" At least he usually falls asleep in his bed. Even if he doesn't always stay there.


Puzzles
Jack hasn't spent a lot of time putting together puzzles, since our collection of puzzles has been out of his reach for a while, and we didn't get them out very often. But when we moved Jack into his own room, we decided to get the puzzles out, and he's had a field day with them. He's also getting really good and putting pieces back where they go and doesn't need any help.


Obsessing
Jack has obsessed over lots of things over the last few months. For most things, such as books and songs, his obsessions only last for a few days. He asks for the same songs in the car over and over again until he chooses new favorites. Same with books at story time. But one obsession that has lasted for over a month now is the fact that Grammy has a copy of the movie "Dumbo" at her house. He loves the song "Baby Mine," which I think he mostly knows from me singing to him. And he asks me at least once a day, "Grammy has Baby Mine?" and I have to confirm that she still possesses a copy of the movie.


Haircut
Until a couple of weeks ago, Jack had always had haircuts courtesy of Mom or Dad. I was curious how it would look (and how he would behave) if we took him to a barber shop for a few haircut. He did a great job (I'm sure the promise of a lollipop helped) and the haircut turned out pretty cute.

When the hair cutter was doing this, Cat thought it was hilarious that Jack's hair was spiky.

The celebration continued.

The weekend after Eliza's birthday we headed up to Columbia to hang out with my family and go to the temple. It also worked out well that Ben, who had been in Utah for a few days (did you notice he wasn't in any of E's bday pics?) was flying in to Columbia that weekend.

Saturday morning my sister Megan and I took the kids to the Columbia Marionette Theatre to see Aladdin.

We had a lot of fun, until about 5 minutes before show time.

You can kind of tell in the below picture that Jack decided this was not for him.

Shortly before it started, Jack began crying inconsolably. I tried in vain to calm him down and get him excited about watching the puppets, but ended up taking him out for all but the last 5 minutes. And it was a double-blow for me because I have a hard time being on time for things, and not only were we not late, we were actually early. And we had really good seats. Which meant that I had to walk through almost the entire theater with a crying Jack and a stuck-on-my-hip Eliza. Of course, I was sure that it was not going to last long and we'd be back in there soon, so I didn't think to bring my purse with me when I made my escape. Oops. Jack had a very full diaper and I didn't have anything to change him with or keys to my car. Nonetheless, he still talks about the puppet show. So I don't think it was a completely horrible experience for him. I guess it would have been worse to torture him and make him watch the marionettes against his will.

Side note: Cat did the same thing the first time we took her to the circus. She hated the clowns. I have a hilarious picture of Ben and me holding her near a clown and she looks completely terrified. I can say it's hilarious because she doesn't mind clowns now. But I'm not sure it was the marionettes that bothered Jack, anyway. He just bursts into tears unexpectedly sometimes... like when I take him to our little post office that's inside a quick-e-lube/car wash place. Anyway...

After the puppet show we drove down to the river to pick up Ben and Suz, who'd been kayaking while I was not torturing Jack. It was a beautiful day and the kids enjoyed hanging out until their aunt and uncle arrived. (My sister also married a Ben, in case anyone is confused.)

On Sunday we celebrated Eliza's birthday. E's nickname around our house is Liza Bug, because it just popped out of my mouth one day when she was wearing an outfit that had little ladybugs on it. And the name stuck. So of course she got a ladybug cake, and I was fortunate enough to have a decorating assistant on hand.

We ate a yummy lasagna lunch outside after Church, and the kids tried hard not to get too wet, since we don't swim on Sundays.

Eliza enjoyed her 2nd birthday cupcake (the ladybug's head) and we had a great time just watching her.

And she opened a few more birthday presents.

Again, receiving assistance from her ever-helpful older sister.

That afternoon we all loaded up and headed home.
Eliza's birthday celebration was finally complete.

How to celebrate your UNO birthday.

Begin by getting a good night's sleep the night before.

Wake up feeling refreshed and excited for the start of a new year.

Do some exploring.

Play some cards.

FYI - This photo was NOT posed. She found the Uno cards and started playing with them.
While wearing her Uno t-shirt. Love it.

Humor your sister and allow her to pose while holding
you during your Eeyore photo shoot.

Play outside. Or play in the house. Or, both.

Go for a drive.
Try to enjoy it, even if your brother is sad because he wanted a turn in the car.
Remember - it's your birthday.

Relax in the swing.
Go ahead, chew on your shoe if you feel so inclined.

Open a couple of presents.
Be sure to tell Mema thank you!

It's okay if you need assistance from your big sister.
She won't mind helping out.

Enjoy the thought of yummy milk coming from brand new sippy cups.

Before partaking in any birthday "treats" be sure to have someone
thoroughly inspect them so that you can avoid eating any misshapen sprinkles.

Start slowly. Sample just a bit.

Contemplate if it's worth the calories.
When the options have been weighed, commit to your decision.

And dig in.
Give the table some love.

And don't forget to share a winning smile with your adoring audience.