Thankfulness 2013: Day Twenty

All kids have it, mine just excel at driving me nuts with it.  Regardless, I am thankful for their curiosity and determination.  If they hold on to that natural instinct to understand things and figure them out down to the bare nuts and bolts, it can take a child so very far in life.  It is a combination that is crucial in any aspect of their lives and any path they choose to follow.  I hope that I do not stifle it even when I get irritated and end up at the end of my rope with the endless questions and messes.  From a toddler who opened the ziplock snack bags around the early side of 1 year old, to a 10 month old who topples garbage cans and climbs into cubbies much too small, this will always be a blessing in a very convincing disguise.

Thankfulness 2013: Day Eighteen

Honestly, I hate feeding kids.  It is entertaining for maybe a week worth of meals when they are learning to eat solids.  After that it is a messy and oftentimes inconveniently timed event.  Please don't think that I don't appreciate the ease of baby food and it is a fun kind of frustration usually.  Still, I am so much more excited by the finger food stage!  You're probably familiar with it.  That stage between baby food mess and their own spoons...

Mr. Wyatt isn't impressed with cheerios though.  No idea what he would've eaten before all these 'choke proof' foods out there, especially because he is really good at choking on them still.  Regardless, the better he is getting at these finger foods, the more thankful I am for these flavorful options of finger foods for babies.

Mr. Wyatt's favorite are those crunchies types.

Thankfulness 2013: Day Sixteen

Party Day!!

This afternoon we had our first HouseParty!  It happened to be a Lego Duplo event and it could not have been a more perfect event to be selected as hostess for.  I am thankful for the opportunity to have friends over for fun and in no little part am I forgetting the free products that the company gives us for having the party!

Thank-you House Party and Duplo for the chance to host this party!!

If you're not familiar with House Party, it is essentially a website that you apply to host parties sponsored by various brands (clothes, electronics, toys, food, crafts, etc) and the sponsors send you out a Party Pack.  This pack has the main pieces of your party.  In our case it was filled with six sets of Duplos (see the boxes in the photo?), paper crowns, posters, plates, napkins, stickers, coupons, etc.  You are required to share the items given at your party with your guests.  For this party, the kids come play with the blocks and take home the crowns, posters, stickers, etc along with a snack bag and coloring sheets that were printed off for them (to match the theme of planes and pirates of course).

Check out both House Party and the sponsors that they work with!  It is such a fun time!

**By the way....that pirate ship cannon actually shoots...and it is pretty fun.  I may or may not have played with it when I set up all the sets last night.**

Thankfulness 2013: Day Thirteen and Fourteen

Alyssa is getting pretty sneaky.  She can make two phone calls without my phone being unlocked.  She has learned to navigate to the ICE list on the emergency dialer in the lock screen. So while I contemplate how to teach her to utilize things like that in an emergency for real, I am thankful that we have the technology we do.  Beyond the complications that it can create for child proofing and safety, it is such an amazing set of resources.  We can look up thousands of questions that our toddlers demand answers to.  We can have endless entertainment options available at our fingertips.  The most amazing thing to me though is along with the transfer of knowledge, we can transfer virtual lives.  Our family and friends who may otherwise not get more than the Christmas card in a year, can keep up with our family including photos, daily rants, chats, and whatever else they may want to know depending on the tech form used.  Phones provide a few ways to talk to people quickly.  The Internet allows for video calls or photo swapping, and of course blogs share our stories easily.  Such a wonderful tool!

Related to tech in the general sense, my e-reader!  I absolutely LOVE my e-reader!  I am so thankful for e-readers (physical and app forms)!  Reading relaxes me and gives me a mental break from daily stresses like trying to leave the house with a toddler and an an infant.  I would be so much closer to full blown crazy if it weren't for my e-readers.

Thankfulness 2013: Day Eleven and Twelve

Though the military irritates me more often than it doesn't, I am still very thankful for the opportunities and family it has provided us.  The military background helped my husband find his great civilian job.  I don't love the way it is run but I absolutely love the men and women in service.

On those days where the incessant whining, cries, demands, and questions all pile upon my near-to-bleeding ears, I remember my great appreciation for today's luxuries.  I won't lie, I am very thankful for 24/7 kid television programming!!  Disney Junior, Sprout, The Hub, etc.  There isn't a minute that I can't find something appropriate for my toddler to gain five minutes of distraction if needed.  Pair that with DVD's, educational tablet apps, crayons, chalk, books, toys, puzzles, and food, one would think that this would all add up to a full and busy day without draining a parent.  It is never the case, but it certainly maintains parental sanity until bedtime...most nights anyways!

Honestly, any distraction of little to no risk to the health of my kids is appreciated.  I'm always looking for suggestions too!  *hint hint*

Thankfulness 2013: Day Four

I am so incredibly excited to have a 'waterbaby' now.  Mr. Wyatt loves his baths and playing with water!  His sister (soon to be a four year old) still cries getting her hair washed and won't actually go into the water at a lake.  She is so confident that it surprises me when she shows her fear of water getting anywhere close to her head.

Happy clean baby!

I can't wait to see where her confidence takes her, but I'm thrilled and thankful for the different personalities in my kids.  Wyatt will be my pool and lake buddy, while Alyssa is my little movie goer and game playing partner right now.  I am looking forward to seeing what other talents and interests our kids develop and we can share with them.

Halloween 2013

Momma and Alyssa

This year was a bit too cool out for Mr. Wyatt to join us during Trick-or-Treating.  We skipped the costume for him since he was going to be home playing with Great Grandma and Great Grandpa who came down to visit us and man our own ToT bucket.

Auntie and Alyssa wearing witches hats!

Alyssa however, was ready to get out that door with her Auntie and Momma and Papa.  She used her light-up wand (a Harry Potter wand from Barnes and Noble because I was sick of the umpteen breakable cheapies turning me into a frog or rabbit daily and splurged as the only required costume piece for her).

Unicorn Rider and Witch (who happens to be wearing a unicorn!)

We were just ready to get out the door and the big surprise showed up...FRIENDS!!!!  Now we had a Unicorn-riding costumed buddy to go trick-or-treating with so the night got infinitely better!  The adventures ranged from potty training requirement #1: Momma sacrificing pride and asking to use a stranger's bathroom (I did remove my mask before requesting entry to her house), all the way to a three-year-old totally 'burning' her father when he runs into something and she offers up her lighted wand "so you can see where you going"!

It was a great night and we were so happy to have our trick-or-treating buddies with us to make our night great

Thankfulness 2013: Day One

This is a year full of firsts in our house because we moved in less than two weeks into this year.  So for the day after Halloween:

I'm so thankful for the family-friendly neighborhoods we live in the center of!

We went from a college neighborhood (two blocks from the university and surrounded by apartments), that partied all year long and didn't participate in holidays in a way that the children could participate, to our new suburb filled with families of all ages who celebrate holidays with lights, decorations, and trick-or-treating even.  We were able to walk rather than drive last night to enjoy the holiday that is so fun for kids who want to show off their costumes and of course get treats.

It is just such a nice change to have such a calm area!

Pumpkin Patch Party

Our realty office that worked with us on the purchase of our current house sent out invites to join them for a small Halloween pumpkin patch party. It was held outside their office building and it was a chilly and windy day per MN luck.  Of course it was sunny but the event was in the shade of the building sadly which meant that it didn't help one whit.

It would have been a great event if the lines for things such as balloon animals (or flowers as the blurry yellow and green object in the photo is) or the wonderful face painting stand had been in the sunlight!  So while it was a fun hour of diversion, we stayed long enough to stand in the two lines, pick out the pumpkins for the kids and bundle back into the car and out of the biting wind.  Hopefully we get a warmer event next year!

...and then there were three.

It's that time of year again for this guard family.  Annual Training!  I am going two and a half weeks with a teething baby and a toddler milking the last half of age three for all it is worth in tantrums and stubbornness!  No backup.  My "battle buddy" is off keeping his skills honed for any future deployments.  So....

Day One:  Last coin lost at 5pm. I "ruined her birthday!" I was pretty sure I had a few months to plan that event but apparently I simply forgot what day of the year she was born AND forgot to plan a party.  Crap.  I look forward to the teen years when the storming to the room is accompanied by at least a half hour of sulking.  For now I get a 2 minute shouting from the door and then returning to sulking in my presence paired with the random fit over the same thing.

The Epic of Monday...

Some days are just too fantastic to be believed...those of us with toddlers can believe just about anything though.  Which is probably why this epic will resonate with your own experiences.

We haven't been able to take the gate down at night for our toddler.  She is too independent and headstrong to come into my room and get me in the morning.  It used to be that she would just go get into anything that she normally is not supposed to so we had to put the gate back up.  In our new house there is a flight of stairs that leads to a basement family room.  She isn't used to stairs from the old house.  I was a nervous Momma, glad to keep the gate up a little longer.  Now that she tries to potty train some mornings, I can't have the gate up if she is going to be independent like she wants to be with her potty training experience.  So......

8:15AM

*calling from a distance*  "Momma!!  Me went out in the RAIN!!"

Momma jumps from her bed and runs to the living room to see Alyssa taking off rain boots and coat in the dining room looking extremely proud of her adventure and being able to let herself back in without help.

"Me no get any wet, Momma."  Grinning and pleased at how well behaved she was to get all her gear on and play out in the wet morning with her chalk on the backyard steps.

She doesn't even remember that she is NOT allowed to go outside without someone.  She probably has forgotten that just last night she was asked to not color on the steps and to keep it to the sidewalk at the bottom of the steps instead.  She hasn't even realized that it isn't raining but just wet from the rain overnight.  She is so proud of herself and I'm horrified at what could have happened.  Wyatt slept in, she didn't wake me....she went out back instead of the front, thankfully!  She was able to get back in without help, thankfully!  She put on rain gear so that her sockless feet wouldn't get too chilled....

I tell her sternly in the split second that I've had to register all of what could have happened that she DOES NOT GO OUTSIDE WITHOUT ME!  I watched her proud stance melt a little.  She looked a little confused about why I wasn't so excited about her doing such a great job with remembering her rain gear and coming in dry and 'all myself'.  The next moment is where I realize that stern time is over. She knows.  She forgets.  She is three and did some really smart things while she was being forgetful.

"I'm glad you didn't get wet, Alyssa.  Can you pick up your boots and coat?  Next time you want to go outside you have to remember to come get me first.  I'm glad you were able to open the door all by yourself to come back in!"

I don't have any idea how long she was out there.  It scares me...there will be some new toddler-proofing today though I'm not sure what yet.

----A few minutes later, I'm mixing a bottle for the little guy who is just waking up to the voices.----


**WARNING: Potty Stories are rarely pleasant...and not for the weak stomachs.**



"Me have to go POTTY!"
"Okay, go in there."
*sounds of diaper being taken off and climbing onto the toilet*
*sounds of running out of the bathroom*
"Me already pooped!"

......ALYSSA!  Ughhhh, ew.

Has it sunk in yet?  Diaper came off but she already pooped?  Yup.  My bathroom has already met with toddler grossness and thankfully survived the event.  So, after cleaning up the tub side, the floor where it landed, and the toilet where she dragged her little gross butt across...

8:28AM

Monday has officially begun.

Vacation!

Never again.  Okay, maybe in a couple years.

We spent a whole week away from home.  With a toddler--who doesn't nap.  Yup.  Insane might be a little strong of a word but I'd think psychologically draining would be a minimum to aptly describe a vacation with two very young children.  Specifically a vacation that isn't touristy.

Water is so much fun if I'm dressed!

We went to my family's lake cabin.  Alyssa doesn't like to swim...or wade...or do anything with the water except sit on the dock and splash her feet.  Distraction and tiring activity #1...gone.  Oh sure, the rare moment of running through the waves splashing on the sand were there (I was given photographic evidence as I was not the one capable of getting her near water).  Too bad they were few and far between.

Sand playtime was a huge hit but unfortunately that is not nearly as energy spending as swimming.

Learning to Sit!

Wyatt decided to throw up between every.single.meal.  Not sick, not to the point where we were running to the doctor because he was under-nourished or getting dehydrated (no where close to this level thankfully).  Just a constant need for burp cloths to handle puddles of spit-up every half hour or so.  Laundromat--yay!

Walk of Flags 2013

The two vacation portions that were undiminished:  #1- Chris and I got the chance to go into town and see his veteran's flag finally.  They are put up by volunteers throughout the summer (daytime only) and the town is lined with over 1800 flags each time.  Each one represents a veteran and the sight of the town lined in these flags is gorgeous.  I grew up passing them and never thought I'd see one that personally means something to my family.

#2- We (adults) were able to watch the fireworks on the Fourth shooting over the lake.  Behind the treelines there are two more lakes.  I'm sure you can see in your mind a fraction of how amazing our show is every year.  My kids sleep like rocks.  Perfect! The only thing that would be better is if they could (HAPPILY) stay up to watch in awe and excitement the same show that I grew up watching.

Those kid's poles catch all the best fish!

From now on, our lake trips will be half weeks (four days or less).  I think our grasps on sanity and the toddler-ness adjustments will be preserved much better for this timeline.  Touristy vacations would be easier because there are places to go and distract them with....wear them out until naptime is back in the game!  (Dream on, Momma...)

Storytelling-- Toddler Style

Momma laughs.
Alyssa- "What is it?"
Momma- "The couch is eating Wyatt's legs."
Alyssa laughs- "Where Baby Wyatt's legs?"
Momma explains that he backed up under the couch and it just looks like the couch is eating him. - "Go tell Papa that the couch is eating Baby Wyatt."

Alyssa runs to back door and yells- "PAPA, IT A 'MERGENCY!"


My daughter is so smart.  If the couch was really eating us, she would know exactly what the situation should be labeled as....

Too Much Fun

Some days are full of fun!  We had a long day playing at drill (family day).  Our toddler had story time, art projects, and an obstacle course in the gym while the adults took care of some classes.  Then there was more playing (for everyone) after lunch.

After all this, we drove the hour home and went grocery shopping for the week.  After supper Alyssa really wanted to go outside so we took our little dog on a short walk.

Toddlers, full day of fun, tired, and won't hold hands....end result, a sad and hurt little girl.  Her face met the concrete after tripping over some invisible nothing.  Poor kid had too much fun.

Raising a Reader

Anyone know the secret?  People keep telling me that readers make readers.  If you read to your kid x minutes a day, they will love to read later on in life still...

Well, I call BS!  I am thrilled that my daughter seemingly loves books right now.  I have no idea if it will stick though.  I am a reader, but my parents certainly are NOT.  I don't know if I saw any books in our house besides the children's book collection that was available to me while growing up.  My mom has started to enjoy reading some books now that her kids are 16-26 years old.  It pains me to see how slowly she gets through a novel.  I used to rip through novels in what would be more accurate to count by hours rather than days.  I miss that.

Right now, I am lucky to finish one of my romance novels (300-400 pages) in a week!  If you're an addicted reader, you can feel the pain that accompanies the adjustment of pre-kids 2 days tops to a WEEK OR MORE for one book.

So, as a reader, I sincerely hope the amount of children's books that I am consuming in place of my novels will benefit my kids into a long and happy relationship with books in general life.  If not....well, I guess I'll be happy enough if they just realize the importance of proper English spelling and grammar. (Yes, I am 26 and already harping on that note.  I hate the texting language that I see being used in school papers or worse--job applications!!)

And just to show you a partial reason why I'll say I am a reader...here is part of my collection of books (most of which were collected prior to having children for my own personal enjoyment of a good fairytale):

Sadly, this really isn't all my books.  My collection ranges from (tons of) children's books and collection tomes, to a lot of romance novels, to informative Religious texts and commentary on said topic.  A bunch of interesting history books and a handful of old collector (looking) books found in thrift or antique stores make their way into my collection also.  Somewhere in the pile of unsorted totes are a few full of even more books.

Alyssa has her own shelves in her room.  Wyatt's collection has just started.

What it comes down to, is that I hope my kids will love books as much as I do.  If not, I hope they find a hobby that they LOVE.

Family Rooms

When we lived in our old house (starter house for us), there wasn't any extra rooms.  We had our room, Alyssa's room, the bathroom, kitchen, laundry/furnace room, and the living/dining combo.

Now we have all that PLUS a basement!  Oh, and a whole third bedroom (where the laundry/furnace was in the old house is a bedroom in this house and that was relocated to the basement here...seriously, it is funny how very similar layout this house is with a mere addition of a second level)!

What can we do with all this extra space?  Well, we definitely can fill it....They usually call it a Family Room nowadays.  The upstairs living room is considered the 'formal living room' and the basement is a Rec or Family room.  Here is the kids' half:

Yes, that is just under half of the family room filled with kid things.

The couch that you can barely see is the invisible barrier signal that toys SHALL NOT PASS (says Momma every night just after picking up the half of the room not shown).  There is a tv for movies across from the couch and the other half of the room is currently emptied of boxes but not furnished.  I have such grand plans...Momma plans....

In the meantime, I love our kids' side.

Did you see our Ikea storage for crafting/coloring supplies?  The chalk/colors are in lockboxes in those pop-out drawers so there will be less chance of wall coloring rather than table or color books.  I love these things and they just look so fun!

Regardless of what a parent thinks of the kids' play areas...they always enjoy moving out of there whenever possible.  Toys are like invasive species that way...they hitchhike rides from unsuspecting toddlers.  Notice the lacing boards beginning the trek from one end of the room, along the couch, and eventually they'll make it across there to the unfurnished area.  Sneaky things, those toys.

I'm still thrilled to have this extra space to spread out to on rainy days like this week has been and is continuing to be.

Rummaging!

I love this season!

Seriously, garage sales galore and weekends in which to sift through every offering...*bliss*  Now if only I could do it without the kids!

I was lucky last weekend to have a sale a couple houses down from us.  I got to meet those neighbors, spent some time outside, and bribed good behavior out of the toddler by offering up the park down the way after some rummaging.  I love that she is still young enough to not have figured out we would've been going to the park anyways because of the lovely weather.  HA!

Look at how perfect the condition is!  So beautiful even if I never improve my sewing skills enough to do it justice.

A few weekends ago was the ECFE hosted multi-sale at a local school.  We didn't score as big as I wanted to in the jeans department for a certain little man who is growing by leaps and bounds but we did find a treasure nonetheless.

That used to be a white and powdery blue Little Tikes table.  Now it is a purple, green, and CHALKBOARD spray painted Little Tikes table.  (Did y'all know that the amazing chalkboard paint is in spray cans now?!?)

Yup, we are having a load of fun with the rainy day chalk now and finally have a kids' table for all sorts of activities.  Now we just need another nice day with no wind to get the chairs from their powdery blue glory to updated and fun purple and green.

Do y'all frequent rummage sales?  Got any tricks when dealing with toddlers at rummages?

Product Review: My First Look and Find's

We have so much fun with these books that I needed to share them with you.

Did you ever enjoy the I Spy books or games?  So many kids love to hunt for things and when they find them they are THRILLED and so proud.  If your young child loves treasure hunts or spying things that you ask them to find, try these books out:

First Look and Find books are the I Spy concept for toddlers.  There are many options out there for characters from Pixar to Disney to PBS and more.  Here is our collection (though there are some we have on our radar for a good book buying day still):

Our most recent addition was the Pony version.  It is easily the favorite which is predictable when it is also the favorite TV show currently.

We highly recommend these books for your toddlers.  They can be enjoyed together or for some quiet time.  The covers are done in a semi squishy material over the hardcover to soften it up just a bit which is nice considering I dig at least two out of the toddler bed each morning.  I love that they all have different searches for each page in the back in addition to the pictures that they are supposed to match on each page.  If I'm not available to read those extras, Alyssa sticks to matching the pictures on each page.  Later we go back and do all the extras together!

Toddler Photobombing

End of Toddler patience (aka Book Repo)

**Edit** This is a completely unsponsored review.  We purchased every one of those books because we love them.  We got them at Barnes & Noble (they usually have more in stock than online oddly but they are all tagged as 'Bargain Books').

Clownin' Around the Playground

We made our first trip to the local playground at our new house finally (in between our multiple winters--melt, snow, melt, snow...SIGH).  It was a lot of fun even if our little man looks put out for only getting to swing.

Alyssa had fun being a monkey on some new things to climb...

Then there are the classics...

Driver.

Foreman and her worker.

...and of course, the swing?

Ummmmmmm....yeah.

Kinda creepy but I think it is the older part of the park that they kept.  The seats are neat though as they are baby swings with one side open to form an actual seat for that toddler who can't quite balance when swinging by themselves.

Fingers...they do tricks.

As you can see, we have hit a new milestone.  He is now grabbing and manipulating items that are given to him!  He is almost 3 months now so it was only a matter of time but I was thrilled to catch it on camera.  BTW--have you seen these stuffed animals?  They are "Breathables" that I spotted at Target.  I thought it looked strange with that meshy fabric (almsot looks like those sports shorts/jersey material) so I picked one up and read about it.  Then I tested it.  You can BREATHE through the fabric as easily as, well, breathing.  It is easier by far than breathing through a painters/dust mask and those give you a little room still.  It is meant to be safe for infants to play with ("crib safe").  They keep disappearing through clearances so have your eyes open and check them out...pretty neat things I thought.

In other finger related news....in an attempt at keeping this Nuk-less girl from destroying her fingers by chewing them off, we coated them in vinegar.  (I thought this might be a little more child-safe than the bleach that my mother tried with me and my nail chewing habit.)

Hands drying.

First taste...

This was the initial reaction.

In case you're wondering, it didn't work one iota.  In under a half hour she was sucking on her fingers again.  I don't know if it wore off--I wasn't about to try them to find out--or if she just thought they tasted like pickles.  In retrospect, as pickles are a favorite food group (did you know that cheese and pickles are part of the food group called Indispensable?), it probably was doomed to fail.  My husband thinks hot sauce is next on the list to try...Do you have any other suggestions that won't fry her tastebuds?