Daycare “Transportation” Party

Every couple of months the boys’ class at daycare hosts a party put on by parents. It’s a great way to see the kids interact, meet other parents & take an active role in your child’s learning!

This month’s party’s theme was “transportation”. All activities are planned & put on by parents – there is a “feature” presentation, snack, craft, book & physical activity. This was the second party we had been too & I have volunteered for snack both times – love being creative with baking & knowing that it is safe for Colton.

One of the little girls’ dad’s owns an auto body shop, so he was the “feature” presentation bringing in all kinds of tools from his shop – the kids LOVED it! I brought in the snack – car cut-out sugar cookies to decorate. Not healthy at all, but a ton of fun for everyone. The art project was super cute – the first letter of their name, made up with roads, with car/truck stickers to add on. The physical activity was also a big hit – one of the kids’ parents owns their own mini-bouncy house that they brought in. The boys had a good time & it was just their size.

Cory wasn’t able to make the last party (it was during prime hunting season, of course) so he was planning on coming to this one until he ended up getting really sick on the Thursday before (and was still just as sick on Saturday) – so it was just the boys & I again. We had a blast! I really love having the opportunity to meet/socialize with some of the other parents & meeting the boys’ “friends”.

Colton putting on some sprinkles.

Wyatt piling on the marshmellows.

Art!

Colton decided to stack his trucks!

Wyatt playing in the ball pit.

Climbing through!

Bouncy house fun!

Mommy’s new “toy”

I love photography, even more now that I have my kids as my “main subjects”. Cory surprised me years ago at Christmas-time with a new, fancy camera – my first digital DSL, a Canon Rebel Xsi. I loved it; it took much better quality photographs (even if I still shot in “auto” mode) and the delay time between shots was drastically reduced.

After doing a bunch of reading online, blogs & photography forums, I finally decided what I was going to purchase with the money I had received at Christmas this year – a flash! I personally prefer the look of “natural lighting” photography without flash, but in reality that is not always the setting you get to work with when trying to capture little boys driving their trucks in the kitchen or running around in their PJs. I knew the on-board flash of my camera is harsh and that if I upgraded to a Speedlight, I could remain shooting in “auto” mode and still see improvement in my picture quality. So I splurged!

I LOVE it! It is one of my best purchases yet & I can already tell the huge difference it is making in quite a few of my photos.

(I would love the chance to take a photography class one day & learn more about my camera and get out of “auto” mode – it truly is a goal of mine.)

Life at 2 ½

Since I don’t do monthly updates anymore, I thought it might be nice to do a quick rundown of what the boys are up to & enjoy at 2 ½ years old.

They are both very good little boys. They are independent, curious & have excellent memories. They are really big into ‘Jake & the Pirates’ right now but still love ‘Super Why’ just as much. They also LOVE playing the “matching game” on mommy’s new Kindle Fire. Both boys have a new phrase they are using a lot lately – “Don’t want to.” – which is becoming a little frustrating. They LOVE books & LOVE singing – we do a lot of both daily!! They are sooo cute when they do something together (ex: put their cups away in the fridge) and then tell me that they are using “teamwork” – they give each other a hug & kiss after they do that… it is just the sweetest thing. They do well at bedtime and settle down quickly (after one requested trip to the potty). They are going to bed around 7:30 PM and will sleep until 6-7 AM on the weekends (although it’s usually closer to 6 AM!). They are hit-or-miss for going down good for naps on the weekends and we’ve had to get strict with them because they were goofing around & making it into playtime when they both still really need naps.

Wyatt
Loves trying things “by myself” and is pretty successful at getting dressed (still with some help from mommy) and putting his own shoes on. He loves “fixing” & “cleaning” things – we have toys to aid in these adventures, but sometime his big imagination kicks in to help (ex: using the lawn trimmer as a hand-held vacuum). He likes to tattle on his brother a lot & we’re working on other options for him instead of running to mommy/daddy every time something happens. He loves baths & water so I’m hoping to make a couple of indoor swimming pool trips this winter.

Eats: most everything or he’ll at least try it before he says he doesn’t like it; he is still excellent on eating all fruits & vegetables (especially peas & carrots); doesn’t like to have fruit pieces in his yogurt; isn’t currently that fond of pizza (crazy kid!); current favorites: yogurt, cheeseburgers, pasta & sauce (but does not eat regular spaghetti noodles, they have to be some sort of shape), bananas, carrots, mac ‘n cheese

Potty training: Doing really good – has stayed dry all week & does most of the time! He’s not as excited about going on the potty as Colton & so far has yet to tell us that he has to go. I’m hoping he is motivated by Colton a little bit.

Colton
Very independent & plays well independently but still tries to have mommy do some things (getting dressed & putting on shoes) instead of attempting them himself. His best friend is his little stuffed “Curious George” he got for Christmas – he give him hugs & kisses and takes him everywhere he goes. He is very easy-going but when he gets frustrated, he gets mad fast. This usually ends up in hitting, which we’re working on with him. He is good at negotiating to get more of what he wants – more cartoons, more time to play with a toy he’s supposed to share, delaying a trip to the bathroom or delaying bedtime (needs to go potty, needs a specific stuffed “friend”, etc.).

Eats: very picky!, he’ll tell us that he doesn’t like something before he even takes one bite of it (although he’s getting a little better at least taking one bite of something if prompted by mom or dad); refuses almost all vegetables but would eat fruit all day long if you let him; isn’t currently that fond of pizza (crazy kid!); current favorites: grilled cheese, all fruit, yogurt, pasta & sauce (but does not eat regular spaghetti noodles, they have to be some sort of shape), biscuits, mac ‘n cheese

Potty training: Doing awesome – we are going on a full week of no accidents! He has gotten so good at letting us know that he has to go potty, even asking to go during mealtime. He even got to pick out some “Mater” (Cars) underwear to wear this week since he had been staying clean & dry so well – he was pumped about those!

Christmas #4 – Christmas evening

I know, I know…it would seem as though I skipped Christmas #3. I did that because it took place on Christmas Day over lunchtime with Cory’s mom’s extended family but I did not take any pictures. We still try to make a short appearance between our morning & evening festivities there, especially to see Cory’s grandma.

After lunch, we headed to my parent’s house. The boys fell asleep on the way there & continued their delayed-nap a little later than normal. Both of my sisters & their families were there as well, with the exception of my brother-in-law who was on-call for ambulance that day and had to stay home. We opened up presents shortly after the boys woke up for nap (although, I think we did it too quick after they woke up because neither of them were interested in opening up presents until we were almost done!). After presents, we had a yummy dinner of ham, cheesy potatoes, pasta salad & more.

Again, after dinner all the kids opened up some of their gifts & were happy playing with all their new treasures.

We are truly blessed and had such a wonderful Christmas spending time with our families & each other.

Family picture!

Checking in our stockings...

Daddy & Colton

Cooking up a storm with cousin "I".

Christmas #2 – Christmas morning

Starting another family tradition, which I had as a child growing up, we all went to church services on Christmas Eve night. The boys do very well in church & they were both (Wyatt especially!) so excited to get to sing “Away in a manger”. (Their little memories amaze me – they learned all 3 versus to that song from me singing it to them daily so quickly!!) Christmas is truly magical being able to see it through the eyes of my 2 two-year-olds – LOVE it!

We left milk & cookies out for Santa after coming home from church. They each got to pick a cookie to leave out for him. They put on their Christmas PJs (which we’ve been wearing since November) and went to bed.

The boys slept in pretty good Christmas morning (7 AM) but were really excited to see if Santa had visited. The first thing they noticed was the Curious George stuffy hanging out of the top of their stockings – they love Curious George books & were so excited, and ever since Colton has become inseparable from his “Georgie”! We unwrapped presents from Santa & each other as a family & took time to just sit & relax. The boys picked a couple toys – new drills & new truck/boat/trailer combos – to open up and play with. They received a bunch of new books (including a new Curious George one!), tools, a huge Mr. Potato Head set, Mickey Mouse socks (they don’t want to wear anything but these now!), Jake & the Pirates big boy underwear, PJs and clothes.

The boys had a blast playing with their new trucks & boat/trailer/4-wheeler for the rest of the morning.

Merry Christmas!

Wyatt opening presents.

Tearing into Mr. Potato Head!

Wyatt reading his "Jake and the Pirates" Look & Find book.

Colton reading "Bear is Scared" book.

Daddy putting batteries in the new drills.

Colton with his new truck/trailer/4-wheeler!

Wyatt fixing the tree.

Boys at play.

Christmas morning fun!

Christmas #1 – Sunday before Christmas

The Sunday before Christmas we got together with Cory’s immediate family at his brother’s house (which is conveniently located a couple blocks away from our house). Even though Cory’s parents are divorced, it’s so nice that we can all get together at one time for Christmas, especially for my niece & the boys.

We headed over to his house after naps and watched a little football before opening presents. The boys were definitely more into opening presents this year, and even more so than at their birthday last summer. They had fun & were amazed by what was inside every single present. Love this age! They got a chain saw, a hedge trimmer, guitars, clothes, footballs, a big monster truck, a big tractor, building bricks & Big Wheels (for next summer).

After all presents were unwrapped (and a few put together & played with), we had a yummy dinner of grilled turkey.

The boys & my niece dug into more of their gifts after dinner and we hung out until the boys’ bedtime.

It was a nice, relaxing afternoon and a great kick-off for Christmas.

Cheese!

Colton opening a new big truck!

Wyatt opening gifts.

New BIG building bricks!

Opening together - so sweet.

Hanging out in cousin "H"'s new chair.

Helping cousin "H" put money in her new
money-counting piggy bank.

Cousins!

Colton ready to do some trimming!

Wyatt ready to cut down some trees!

Christmas Catch-up: Daycare friends’ Christmas treat!

During my time off the week of Christmas & New Years, I mostly stayed away from technology and spent time with family & for myself (OK, so I had to play around with my new Kindle HD, but I’ll count that as time spent for myself!), so I got behind on posts. We’re catching up this week!

The boys’ daycare holds a “book exchange” every year at Christmas time, so we participated in that and got two new books to add to our collection at home. I still wanted to give all of their daycare “friends” a little something for Christmas (but slacked on preparation), so I used what I had in the house & came up with the idea last minute, of course! One of the boys’ favorite “treats” that they picked out one day at the store were smores goldfish – chocolate goldfish with mini-marshmallows. I created my own version of them with chocolate teddy grahams & mini-marshmallows (I have to be honest & say that the mini- marshmallow addition to the bags was actually Cory’s idea…I was just going to do bags of chocolate teddy grahams, so his “extra” idea put a really cute touch to the gift bags – thanks hun!).

(Their names were not supposed to be purple but my wonderful
printer keeps acting up like it's out of ink & prints wacky colors.)

1st dentist visit!

A couple weeks before Christmas, we schedule the boys to have their very first trip to the dentist. 

(I was actually going to put this off until next summer, but Cory’s insurance at work is changing & it was much more beneficial to have us make this first appointment before the end of the year.)

We pumped them up about the visit in the week leading up to it – telling them that they would look at & count their teeth and we had to show they how we brushed them every morning & every night. It also helped that another little “friend” at daycare just went for his first visit & they talked all about it at daycare too.

They weren’t the least bit worried & I loved it. We took them to a local pediatric dentist (recommended by our good friends) where the office is totally geared towards kids! They have a big play area (including a Wii!) to keep kids busy for hours. They boys got to try out the slide quite a few times before we were called back.

I filled out some paperwork while Cory started by taking them back for x-rays. (During this first initial appointment, they realize that some kids are scared & don’t push anything – they just try to do as much as they can, which was comforting to me.) Both boys were a bit cautious, but cooperated greatly! 

Next we went back to the exam room – we tried to see if they wanted to sit in their own chairs – and they DID! (They have another room where the child can sit on a parents lap for the exam, if needed.) I don’t blame them, they got to put on cool “shades” (to protect their eyes from any splash) and pick out a movie to watch. Yes, they have TV screens on the ceiling with headphones for the kids to wear while sitting through the exam – both boys chose “Cars 2”, of course! Neither was too interested in keeping the headphones on, but the show itself still kept them interested. They both got to be examined at the same time – their exam room has three separate chairs/spaces so it was great to sit with Colton but peek over & see how Wyatt was doing with Cory too.

Everyone at the office was super nice & so kid-friendly! The dental hygienists looked at both boys’ teeth & mouth and both boys cooperated (although mostly because of being distracted by “Cars 2”). Everything looked great and their spacing was perfect for their age. I also learned that both boys have at least 1 of their 2 year molars in, along with having a couple others close to breaking through (Colton has never showed signs of teething, but Wyatt is usually crabby when they break through – but I haven’t noticed a thing lately, although that might be because I blamed the whiney/crabbiness on typical 2-year-old behavior instead of teething).

After getting their teeth checked & cleaned (which they did great for too!), the dentist came in to take a peek. She was super nice and only had to try once to convince Colton to open his mouth up for her. She said both of their teeth looked great!

At the end of the appointment, each boy got a little token that they could take out to the waiting room & choose to put it in one of a couple small vending machines for a small prize. Both boys put it in the same one which got them both a small, rubber critter of some sort – Colton got a mouse & Wyatt got a lizard, I believe.

The whole experience was great for the boys & they talked about their visit to the dentist for quite a while afterwards. I’m so glad they saw the visit as enjoyable & not scary!

A successful appointment for all!

"Cool" Colton watching "Cars 2"!

Wyatt doing awesome getting his teeth brushed.

Colton being a champ for his check-up.

Totally awesome waiting/play area!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Wishing a very, Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to all!