2014 Sochi Olympics (Indoor Play)

 After seeing an idea for strapping some pop-sickle sticks (skis) on some little people and creating a ski jump competition, I was all about setting up some Olympic play activities for the boys.  Making an ice rink was pretty simple, I just popped a pan of water in the freezer.  But making a skeleton/luge track was going to be a little more work.  Luckily I have been saving empty wrapping paper tubes for a while now, and with a little painter's tape I was able to set this up for the boys.  The only thing small enough to fit down the track are counter bears, but they don't seem to mind.

 We also did some sensory play with a bowl of snow this week.  It was pretty awesome how long they were interested in this, and Theo even did some investigations with salt and snow.  I'm thinking I should put a few extra bowls in our deep freezer before it all melts.  It would be awesome to pull out in July.

The Snowy Day

I think my new favorite book this season is the simple, beautifully done, "The Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats.  It is a simple tale of a young boy's winter day, and one that is very easy to act out.  Today, after a light snow fell here last night, I decided to go ahead and have a "Snowy Day" of our own.  After reading the book we got all bundled up and went outside to play in the snow.  We didn't do everything Peter does in the book, because Eli is just not up for everything yet, but the kids enjoyed themselves for sure (once we fought over getting out of pajamas... going back to school next week is going to be rough on Theo).

Making snow angels seemed to be the favorite part.

 And of course, Eli also wanted to bring out the shovel.  We can't keep the brooms and vacuum away from this kid, he always wants to be pushing something around.

*I am guilty of collecting Caldecott award winners, so when I saw this one in the latest book order I had to get it for myself.  The Snowy Day was the winner of the 1963 medal!  I'm surprised it has taken me this long to stumble across it as it is a very popular children's book.*

Another Day at the Zoo

Here we are congratulating the panda daddy on his baby's birth.

 Theodore is in that stage where he asks questions about everything, so taking him to the zoo is a bit of a different experience now.  But his statements are just as interesting as his questions.  The things he comes up with are just so amusing to me.  I never know what his little brain is thinking.  My three favorite conversation snippets from yesterday:

Mama:  See the big orange fish in the koy pond?
3-year-old:  Yes, can we eat them next week?

Mama (reading from sign):  The big bad wolf (gray wolf) eats moose, deer, beavers and rabbits.
3-year-old:  And bacon.  Pigs are bacon.

3-year-old:  What is he doing? (When they let the elephant out into the walk area.)
Mama:  The elephant is going for a walk for exercise.  Like we walk the dog.
3-year-old:  Elephantses don't need leashes.

Walking on the elephant's footsteps.  All of them.

We also seemed to be very lucky today because without really trying we stumbled across four different zoo-keeper talks/demonstrations today.  They were each really interesting, and I hope to plan a whole trip around catching as many of them as we can sometime.  This time we saw:  Sloth Bear Talk (10:30), Elephant Training (11:00), Seal Feeding (11:15), and Meet a Naked Mole Rat (2:00).

And I even got a chance to play with my new (and already broken and repaired) camera today.

Always a successful day when we leave with one asleep, and one who soon followed.

First Day of Pre-school

Before

 

After

I thought it would be cute to book-end Theo's first day at pre-school with photos.  Afterward I asked him to tell me what he learned and all he would say was, "how to eat cookies!"  I went ahead and edited it to say crackers-since I know that was what I packed for his snack.  He did practice opening the zip-lock bag on his own before he left, so maybe that's what he meant.  Not surprised that the highlight of his day was snack time.

Making Parents Laugh

During these times of extended periods of time at home (maternity leave, summer vacations, etc), I have often found myself getting hooked on parent humor outlets.  I checked out some books from the library, found Honest Toddler on twitter (joined just for that reason), and now, I have another outlet.  Last night I discovered "Convos with my 2-year old".  These are short clips of the conversations between a two year old daughter and her father.  But, the daughter is played by a grown man.  It is pretty funny.  And a great way to get some giggles and stop taking life so seriously.

As the school year approaches, I keep considering finding a full-time teaching job, but I am just slightly leaning towards staying home.  I'm going to need to find a lot more comedians to keep me sane with these two little boys if I do. 

Timely Tuesday

Just "read" (skimmed, since I have two boys under four) a mothering blog about enjoying the small things and keeping your cool, and look over to find my ten month old paging through a board book on the floor and the three year old quietly having a goldfish snack on the balcony.  My heart fills as I enjoy the peaceful moment.  Then the big one sees me looking and starts yelling for more orange juice, and the little one takes off for my computer cord.  Sigh. I had a moment.

Theo's Plans

Having a pre-pre-schooler is enchanting.  This was the start of a discussion today.

Me:  What do you want to do today?

T:  I want to go to the moon.

Me:  I don't think that's a one day trip.

T:  First, we need jackets to go to the moon.  You need jackets to...

Hoosier Driver

Recently, Theo's grandparents got him a little radio flyer to ride around at their house.  While driving, Theo keeps yelling at the "stupid deer"that (in his imagination) run across their patio.  He really hates the stupid deer.  So do I.  We passed at least three different sets of them along/on the road coming back from Chicago a couple weeks ago.  This was never a problem in Delaware...

Sweet Dreams

Theodore seems to wake up on the right side of the bed every morning.  "The sun is up!" is his good morning greeting to us most days.  He is just always so happy in the morning.

Today, he told me that he had a dream.  I have asked him before, and he has never had one.  This time, he said on his own that he had a dream.  About a birthday cake.  A pink one.  That no one ate.  Not sure if he's having sweet dreams or just dreaming of sweets...

The Lion and The Mouse

Since college, I have been slowly collecting all the Caldecott (and Newberry) award winners (and some of the honor books).  I bought this one, The Lion and The Mouse, (the 2010 winner) a few years ago. 

It is a wordless, illustrated book retelling one of Aesop's fables.  I was reluctant to add it to Theo's library since it is so gorgeous, and I haven't actually spent a lot of time with this book yet with Theo, but someone has, because this was what happened during playtime today.

Theo (to Eli): 

"You mouse.  I a lion.  ROAAAARRRRRR!

Don't wake me up!"

It was too cute for words.

Toddler Momments

I haven't posted in a while, so I just wanted to record some moments that have made me smile.

#1  Theo is pretty good about naps.  We go in, read a few stories, and he settles right down.  A few days ago though, he wasn't settling, but I left him in his room to get to sleep on his own.  He started jamming out to some of his CDs (I should NOT have shown him the volume knob) and I kept checking on him.  I heard him yelling after a while, and didn't know what was going on.  I go in, and he's reading "Duckling has a Cookie" to himself.  In this story, pigeon is very upset that duckling got a cookie just by asking.  It is a lot of fun to play/act out, and we normally do so with mama and dada taking a roll.  Hearing Theodore read/yell through the book was adorable.  He just looked up at me and kept reading, like it was totally normal that he should be yelling in his room during nap time.
#1b  He also really likes the "Meatball Book" right now, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.  He is way too silly reading it.  It combines some heavy machinery (they have to "clean-up" the food) with all sorts of food, so he likes it.  Similarly, he liked the silly story "Sheep in a Jeep" that we found at the library recently.  We must have read it at least three times and I'm glad we did not check it out b/c I'm really not a big fan of repeating the same story over and over, though Theo loves it. 

#2  I'm afraid he is going to have a hard time with the baby having his own things.  Theo loves his little sleeper that has trucks on it, and carries it around all the time.  He even put it on his baby doll and practices with that.  We picked out some fabric the other day for a blanket.  A red print with gold owls, and a gold fleece for the back layer.  Since Theo helped pick it out, he things its for him.  He keeps stealing the fabric and using it like a blanket. 

#3  Lately when he gets hurt, he asks for a kiss every time.  This was started by day care I believe.  Recently, he has started asking for an ice pack.  I have no idea where he got that idea. 

And the whole time I've been typing this, Theodore has been walking in circles around the "boat" (laundry basket) which I think is a signal he's ready for nap time.  Despite throwing him self on the ground when he doesn't want to leave places, the biting, and using his chair/stool to get anything he wants at anytime, this is really a cute age.  He is still circling...

(My) Child's Play: Board to Ramp to Bridge

                I have loved watching the moments when I really see Theo play.  He is an expert at playing by himself.  He’ll chatter along, ad keep himself occupied for long periods of time.  Lately, I have been watching how his play with a wooden board has developed. 

                Recently, Theo was playing on the patio with some cars and fire trucks.  Brian brought out a board and encouraged Theodore use it as a ramp.  This simple act provided hours of play for Theo.  Over the next few sessions of play, I watched him advance in his understanding of the activity.  At first, he started putting everything down it-balls, large fire trucks, anything that would slide really.  Gradually, he realized that the small cars and trains actually would roll down the ramp the best.  He then started experimenting with the steepness of the ramp.  He put it against the door frame, and then the stairs, and then a patio chair.  After a few more sessions of sending cars down the ramp, he was playing inside and started using the board as a bridge for the cars between the two footrests in our living room.  Eventually, it became a bridge for himself, as he practices his balance (and surf skills on the rocking foot rest).  

                I think a lot of people worry that they need to teach their child everything, but I think if we just let them play, they’ll figure it out.

Baby On Campus

Today we took Theodore in to be a lab rat.  The infant research lab at UD has ongoing projects where they are researching language development in children.  I've heard plenty about these kind of studies in my undergrad studies, where they'll track children's attention as they show or hear different things, so I figured we could spend a half hour participating.  Theodore of course loved it, because he got to play with toys, meet new people, and be the center of attention.  When he was done he got this cute certificate and awesome t-shirt!  Brian commented that this is the first of many free t-shirts he will get for doing things for a college.  I was interested in all the presentation posters they had around the lab, and could have stayed and read all day if Theo wasn't with me. 

Then dada met us for lunch at Chipotle.  They need to make baby burritos, because Theodore really enjoyed his bites of Brian's.

After we left, we stopped at the UD Creamery to pick up some pints to go!  We've been talking of trying it for months, and it was finally a convenient time to stop when they were open.

The whole trip made me really crave my undergrad days on campus.  The heat wave we are going through probably helped create the Arizona nostalgia.

Swinging & Pears On a Last Summer Saturday

Theodore finally got to taste his first fruits this weekend, as we started him on pears. He didn't make any faces at all, just wanted to eat them as quickly as he could. He bangs his hand on his high chair between bites to show his angst.

He also had his first taste of a real swing-we walked the path near DBI down to a park and let him swing away. It was a nice relaxing summer Saturday.

Saturdays

So our weekends look a lot different than what they used to before we had Theodore.

Today we headed to Babies R Us first thing in the morning armed with coupons, and bought 408 diapers. That should last him through next month.

Then we headed to Main Street, so we could try one of the TWO new burger places that Newark is getting (we're also getting a Chipotle, and recently got a Cheesecake Factory, so the restaurant situation here is really looking up). Main Street Sliders was okay, between us we got five sliders, drinks, onion rings, and old bay fries for less than $13. It wasn't the best ever, but a cheap alternative to Jake's Hamburgers, which is about the only other option around here.

We also stopped in Bing's and got some desserts. Always a fun place to go.

Then we came home and took a ton of pictures for Theodore's three-month birthday tomorrow. See the next posting for those...

Cupcakes and Cocoa and Coffee

On Wednesday I wanted to see my husband during the daylight. I leave before the sun comes up, and he is normally not home until the sun goes down. The only time I see him in the sunlight is on the weekends. So to lure him away from his laboratory I met him at DBI with cupcakes and cocoa and coffee. To do this I had to face two experiences I normally don't encounter. Ordering cocoa and ordering coffee. I traditionally don't drink hot chocolate, but I was thirsty, it was cold, and the worker at the cupcake shop really made it sound good, so I ordered some. With whipped cream. It was very odd for me, but it was really delicious. I think Brian's love of chocolate is alive and well in his son, because I've never wanted as much chocolate as I have during this pregnancy. Then I had to go across the street to Starbucks and order coffee there for the first time ever. I don't drink the stuff, but Brian is an addict and has at least a few cups a day, so I went through the torture of ordering there so I could bring it to my husband. Apparently I overestimated in getting him a large (I refuse to say Venti), but other than that he had no complaints.

And apparently that might have been the last time in a while we could have sat outside comfortably to eat. It has been freezing and raining most the rest of the week.

Lots of Bs

Last Friday night I got the idea that we should focus on only picking activities for our Saturday outings that starts with the letter "B". Don't ask why, I know it was a pretty dorky idea, but it worked out well during the morning.

First-we Biked into town. My first time on a bike in a while, realized how uncomfortable they are. We ended up going about 7 miles.

We first made a stop at Bing's Bakery. I was in the mood for my first ever Black and white cookie, and we otherwise just wanted to check it out. I loved the shop, and got lots of ideas for Brian's Ph.D. celebration in a couple of years.

Then, we went to a Bistro, for lunch. The Adrian Bistro was a coffee shop at the beginning of Main Street with some really good food. I had a delicious BLT, and appreciated the quiet, personal atmosphere.

After that we thought about going bowling, but the lanes were already packed at 11:30 in the morning due to some kind of tournament, so we did a little window shopping and then headed back home.

Later that day, we aborted the B-theme to attend a couple of festivals. All the shops and organizations of Newark came out for the annual Newark Night, which offered lots of food offerings for my hubby. We then headed up to town for the Wilmington Greek Festival, my first foray into Greek culture. I certainly enjoyed the fest, which had a good crowd of happy people eating, drinking, and dancing. We enjoyed the pork souvlaki, baklava, ouzo, and Aris, and will definitely pencil in the festival on next years calendar right now as a must-not-miss.

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Keeping with the B-theme, I was able to try another bagel place today, and think it was definitely my favorite so far. The Sunshine Bagel place in Middletown has a great turkey sandwich (especially on onion bagel).

Memorial Day Weekend 2009 (including book recommendations)

I thoroughly enjoyed this weekend. We ended up not going camping, and decided to avoid the crowds that are descending upon the East Coast beaches at this moment. We basically stayed around home, and just decided things on the spur of the moment. Nothing was planned.

Friday night we continued our hunt for a good pizza place in DE. We tried Ciao's Trolley Pizza &  Grill based on good reviews I had found. It turned out to be a little more casual restaurant than we were expecting. It reminded us of Slices in Tempe. We ordered slices at the counter (though you can order a whole pizza) and ate outside on the patio in the beautiful weather. It was pretty good pizza to try if you are in the area, which was a quaint beautiful little part of Wilmington. Just be careful what you sprinkle on your pizza. Brian ended up seasoning his with garlic powder that he thought was Parmesan.

We then headed to the nearest theater to see the new Night at the Museum movie. As D.C. and the Smithsonians has quickly became my favorite DE getaway, I enjoyed seeing the familiar sights in the movie. It wasn't quite as entertaining as the first, but definitely worth the time to see.

On Saturday morning we went for a 2 mile walk in the warm weather, during which we tried Fresh Hot Bagel. The bagels were good, and not too big, but the service needed work (they were out of my desired spread and gave Brian a regular bagel when he ordered an everything bagel). We'd rather stick with one of the Main Street places.

Brian made a great lunch for us-Pasta Carbinara from the Rachel Ray Summer 2009 issue (he suggests adding balsamic vinegar).

We also finished off some cupcakes from Sassy Cupcakes in Newark. Though overpriced, the boutique offers different flavors daily and are good enough to merit a return trip. My favorite is the red velvet variety, while Brian has really liked the Baily's and triple chocolate flavors.

The rest of the weekend has been spent napping and reading and enjoying our time off. I've finished the following books:

"Mrs. Kimble" -is a book about a man told through his three wives. Each wife comes from a unique background and time, with very different expectations for their husband/children's father. ****.5

"American Girl" -a book set in the radical times of the 70s-it took a while for me to even understand the main plot of this book, but it ended up being interesting. It prompted me to wonder about the teaching of the Japanese-Americans internment during WWII in the US (CA and AZ mostly). I found out about this while in AZ-and I wonder how many people remember learning this in school-whether it's found it's way into the history books yet? *** Susan Choi's book was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and after describing it to my husband he informed me it was loosely based on the Patty Hearst story.

"The Devil in Massachusetts" -this was one of the books I was assigned back in my Human Event class freshman year of college. I finally finished reading through this non-fiction book, and enjoyed the historical understanding I gained. ****

Day Trip: Getting out and Around

I wanted to get out of the area for a little bit, so we drove up north and went on a few shopping excursions. As always, I want to chronicle the places we visited.

Before we even got out of town, Brian wanted to stop for coffee, so we stopped in at Newark (Deli and) Bagels. For a Saturday morning in a college town, it was packed! I assumed it would be deserted, but it was quite crowded. I had a very salty "salt bagel" and they slathered on plenty of cream cheese. I would definitely make a return trip.

Next we stopped at that favorite cheese shop of ours in Gap, PA. We got some Spanish cheese, New Amsterdam Gouda, and the mango dessert cheese.

]Next, we went to an antique mall. It was our first time at such a place. Brian found a lot of cool old books, but didn't get any. I brought home a couple old mason jars, buttons, and quilting squares. It was very interesting, almost like a museum-without all the reading. :)

Then, we stopped at a farmer's market in Bird-in-Hand. It was a little more market than farm-and Brian just grabbed some pie and dismissed the rest of the place. He was getting hungry for lunch.

After getting back to Newark, we grabbed lunch at Jake's Hamburgers. This popular place is order-at-the-counter fast food that is pretty good. We haven't tried their milkshakes yet. We will definitely be back to try them.

And that completed our Saturday.

Upcoming

I have always been a make-a-calendar and mark off the days kind of person.  So, I'm eagerly looking forward to the following:

• Memorial Day Weekend Camping Trip (May 25)
• End of school (June 11)
• Mariah, Ashley, and Moms weekend (June 11-15)
• Weddings Weekend + Trip to Put-In-Bay (July 3~...)
• Next Harry Potter Movie (July 15)
• Trip to MONTREAL! (Apx. Aug 8)