A Day at the Museum

Today we had the fun of visiting Impression 5 for the first time.  We met a good friend of mine there and let E explore.  The First Impressions room was a huge hit.  It is designed for children 0-4.  There was a huge water table to play in, a kitchen, a slide/climbing/tunnel apparatus, a tower to climb and a book corner.  There was an area sectioned off for infants, too.  It was great.  (and I'm sure that I'm forgetting things, too.)

E loved the water table.  When we arrived, there was only one other little girl in the room and she wasn't at the water table.  So, E was left to decide how she was going to play in it.  She pulled out all the plastic fish and sea life toys and lined them all up on the floor.  It didn't surprise me because that is what she always does with all of her toys at home.  However, the girl working in the room made the remark that she'd never seen the water table played with like that before.  My crazy little girl and her OCD tendencies.

But, she also enjoyed using the nets to catch the fish.  She hasn't lost her love for dumping water out of watering cans.  It was fun to watch her play.

E then moved on to play with the other things in the room but I don't think that she thought that any were as fun as the water table.  However, A got a bit over-stimulated in the room as more children arrived and so we left to explore the rest of the museum.

E loved the music section.  She had a great time playing the xylophone and tapping on the piano, but her favorite other exhibit was the bubbles.  Another little girl and E played together with one of the exhibits.  The bubble made a wall-type sheet and the girls would blow into it at each other.  It was funny to watch.  She enjoyed the bubble encircling her also.  It was a good time.

A couple of the exhibits scared E.  She didn't like the sound of the heart beat in the body section.  Nor did she enjoy the giant eye.  When I asked her if she wanted to go back, she replied, "Maybe we just stay home."  So, I guess we'll have to let some time pass before we go back.

But, it was a fun day.  Plus, we went to Clare's and got to eat lunch in a train car.  What a fun day!

Eisms...

Jut and E were eating a Zinger.  E was really enjoying it and A started making noises.  I said, "E, A is jealous of your zinger.  He wants some."  To which E replied, "He can't have the zinger.  He has no teeth!"

I told E that I thought that it was bedtime.  She replied, "I am not sleepy.  I am happy!"  She will also state this when tears are falling down her cheeks...I'm not sure if she understands the word, "happy". 

Making Cookies

I wanted to make cookies with E this year, but decided that it would be virtually impossible to maneuver with A. But, G'ma decided that E should make cookies. So, G'ma and Aunt Stacey picked E up one morning and they went home and made cookies. Aunt Stacey decided that the cookies needed frosting. E got the fun of frosting and sprinkles. However, her favorite topping for the cookies was the red-hots.

Notice the angel cookie. E pronounced to G'ma and Aunt Stacey, "Look the angel has a belly-button!" Then she added two more red-hots and declared, "Now, it has two n*pples!" Don't all angels need to be anatomically correct?!

The cookies were a hit! Both by those that made them and those that ate them. It was scary how quickly the cookies disappeared.

The family

Eisms...

E was playing with a toy in the other room.  She came in and told me, "Mommy, the floor hit my head!"  I just hate it when the floor jumps up and smacks me.

E and I were sitting on the couch while Jut was changing A's daughter.  E aid, "Daddy has a butt crack sticking out." She then proceeded to pull down the back of her pants...to which I replied, "No honey, it is not nice to show people your butt-crack". 

"Maybe I get out now?!"  The phrase we hear numerous times a day while she's sitting in time-out...

My days...

My days are filled with two wonderful little ones. E is 2.5 and full of zest for life. She gets more articulate every day. Today she was getting in trouble for being naughty at the dinner table (she only got sent to time out tonight 3 times during dinner...). I was discussing her actions with her after one of the time-out sessions and she replied, "I being polite. I am Santa Claus." How do you argue with that?!
Life is getting more challenging with the addition of A. E's attention seeking behaviors get extreme at times, but she gets more fun to be with all the time too. She loves to come up put her arms around me and say, "Are you my friend, Mom?" I reply, "Am I your friend, E?" She says, "Yes" and gives me a big hug. She's such a sweetie when she's not being a stinker!

She loves spending time reading. We go to the library and sit and read books for at least an hour. At home, she spends lots of time sitting next to me reading while A is eating. I love my little reader!

E is also learning that letters are connected to sounds. She loves to give me a word and ask what letter it starts with...(thank you PBS for teaching her the letters and sounds). Yesterday, she asked, "What letter starts with 'Eeyore'?" I replied, "'E', 'E', 'Eeyore' starts with an E." To which she replied, "E not starts with 'Eeyore'. E starts with me!"

A is my wonderful little 7-week old. It is hard to believe that he is 7 weeks old already. He's a good little baby. Spends too much time crying but we are figuring that out slowly. It is usually because he's tired and for some reason feels the need to scream for awhile every time before he goes to sleep. He's on a fairly predictable 3-hour routine. He wakes up, eats, hangs out, and then goes back to sleep. During the day, he's sleeping 45-minutes to an hour. At night, he does 3-4 hour stints. He's growing quickly. I put the 0-3 month clothes away a week or so ago.
He's getting more of a personality all the time. He's really starting to 'coo' and talk to us...or any object that catches his attention. His favorite thing is the fish mobile above his changing table. He loves to stare at it and talk to it. Even if he is fussy, the fish usually calm him down.

He spends lots of time on the activity mat. We didn't use it too much with E, but the bars over it act as a semi-protective barrier from his big sister. He loves the mat. He coo's at the little stuffed bug and bird. He's quite content on it. He spends lots of time in the bouncy seat, too. He's started this week really cooing at the stuffed bee on it. E loved the swing but A doesn't really like it at all. It is interesting how their differences are showing up so quickly.

That sums up my days, but they are almost always good days with a few frustrating moments thrown in to keep things interesting.

We have so much to be thankful for through this holiday season. The two things at the top of my list are my two precious little ones...and their dad that keeps me from going insane when toddler antics and infant screams start wearing on my nerves. ;-)

The Christmas Tree...

E is so excited for Christmas this year. We've read the bible story numerous times since Thanksgiving. She'll tell you that baby Jesus was born just like baby A.

She knows that she'll get presents for Christmas and if she's asked what she wants for Christmas, she'll tell you "presents!". She's very excited. (However, I think she thinks its been Christmas since A was born because she just keeps getting presents...and she loves every one of them!)
She has been so excited to see Christmas lights outside of people's houses and decorated Christmas trees. She loves how 'beautiful' everything looks.

So, I decided that we needed to get a real tree this year. I came up with a plan that included Mom and Dad so that we could use their truck to get the tree home and have the manpower to cut and haul a tree back to the car and still take both kids with us. However, I did not get the plan executed before the cold struck. I decided that it probably wasn't a smart idea to take both kids out in the cold and E was getting impatient for a tree. So, one night when Jut was gone, I pulled our 6-year old $20 fake tree from Tar*get.

The whole time I was putting it together I was ranting in my head about how ugly and pathetic our little tree was...and wishing I would have been able to get that perfect real tree for E. E, on the other hand, was running around. She was yelling, "Happy Christmas!" or "Merry Christmas" the entire time. She was so excited to be putting together the tree! It was about halfway put together and she put her arms around me and said, "Momma, our tree is beautiful!"

So, I decided to put my grumbling away and just looked at our little tree through E's eyes. I cheerfully put up the rest of the tree and when Jut got home, he put up the lights. E was just thrilled with the tree. A couple of days later I pulled out the ornaments and we started decorating the tree and she had more fun pulling out the ornaments and looking at them. She hung them all on the same couple of branches, so I did redistribute some of them. It was a lot of fun to decorate with E. Jut isn't much into decorating the tree (shocker, I know..a guy that doesn't enjoy decorating Christmas trees) and it was fun to have E's excitement and enthusiasm to help me out.

E also LOVES playing with the decorations or 'treasures' around the house. They are getting a little worse for wear...a shepherd lost his hand and a couple of snowman lost their noses...but the joy she is getting out of them is worth it. (Besides all of my real 'treasures' are put up very high out of the reach of little hands!)

Seeing Christmas through little eyes has really helped me enjoy the season. It is much easier to see the magic of the season when you experience with little eyes! ;-)