Play-Learn-Grow-Repeat

From Wednesday Mom – Janelle:
The boys and I have been visiting family in Pennsylvania for a few weeks.  We are thankful that we’re able to visit for an extended period of time while Daddy stays back home to work.  He will be visiting us soon, and we can’t wait to share in the fun together.

I grew up within minutes from most of my extended family.  My husband and I want to make sure our kids get as much time as possible to visit with their extended family.  We try to make an annual trip back to my childhood hometown whenever we can.  My husband’s family also lives nearby, which makes it easy to visit both sides of our family.  I’m grateful my kids can visit with their great grandmother and great, great aunt who are going strong in their nineties.

The town I grew up in has changed drastically in the decade we have lived away.  Everywhere I drive there are new residential and commercial developments.  There is a lot to offer here for my children, much more than where we live currently.   It’s very important to my husband and me that we expose our kids to lots of opportunities.  I am trying to plan several activities each week while we’re in Pennsylvania with the help of Internet research and personal recommendations.  We have done simple things like going to the library and more adventurous things like visiting the Crayola Crayon factory.  We’ve also picked fresh berries at a farm, fed ducks at a quaint lake, played at parks, and stuffed ourselves with lots of ice cream.  Tate caught lightning bugs for the first time a few days ago.  He loved watching the bugs land on his hand and glow.  Often, the best activities are free.    The boys love discovering new things and I love being able to show them a good time.

From Monday Mom – Neetika:
Now that the weather is getting warmer where we live, Haley and I have been venturing out with the stroller more. Our favorite destination is the park. The community park near our house is much more than a simple playground. There are basketball, handball, tennis and shuffleboard courts. There’s a huge play area for grade school children. There’s an ice hockey rink, baseball and soccer fields, and running and biking trails. We are really lucky to have such a place in our town.

I have wonderful memories of this park from when I was growing up. I loved to go there to play with my friends when we were very young. When I got older, I was a regular at the tennis court. I don’t think my brother left the basketball court for weeks at a time in the summer! I attended a day camp at the park for several years, and was a counselor at the camp for two summers during high school. I know that place like the back of my hand!

I was tentative about putting Haley in the baby swings, because according to the posted sign, she is not old enough. But she didn’t show any signs of discomfort and was definitely happy swinging back and forth. She loved when her dad and I would suddenly stop her to give her a kiss. We took lots of pictures and made a video so we’d always remember her first time. Her favorite part might have been just getting to stare at all of the older kids.

It’s always nice when the days get longer and the weather improves. Having a child brings a while new meaning to the concept of getting out and enjoying the day. I hope everyone has a week filled with sun and fun.

From Friday Mom – Jaime:
Tonight I picked up Andrew from daycare. We went out and got ice cream. Yes, before dinner. No, I don’t feel bad about that. Sometimes dessert can come before dinner.

Then we went to the bookstore. I told him he could have one book. He somehow finagled his way into no books, three stuffed animals and 2 black and white cookies from the Starbucks connected to the bookstore.

We came home and he roped me into watching some of his favorite movies. You know, the ones I’m TOTALLY sick to death of? Like “Springtime With Roo” – though I suppose I should be thankful for small favors. It could have been Phineas and Ferb Across the Second Dimension…

And to top it all off, the little guy fell asleep in my bed tonight.

Gee… Think I’m feeling a little guilty about my upcoming trip to Seattle????

As you read this, I’m out in Washington, missing my boys. I’m out here for a conference and because my national editorial position requires it. But I’d kind of like to be back in Jersey arguing my motion right now. It’s a big deal. I’d like to win it myself. (But more likely, whoever is arguing it is going down in flames. If that’s you, hubby, sorry – but you know it’s true!)

I’ll be back tomorrow and I can’t wait to see my guys. But for now, I should get back to work. Have a great weekend everyone!

From Friday Mom – Jaime:
Hubby is out in California for work. I’m supposed to be in Toronto for a work-related conference of my own. But ultimately, I decided to stay in Jersey and hang out with my little man.

Sometimes it’s hard when it’s just Andrew and me… At the end of a very long day where I still have a ton of work to do at night, I have no one to rely on to entertain Andrew and free up my hands. If something breaks or isn’t working (currently, our internet connection), I can’t ask Hubby to deal with it when he gets home from work. If I’m totally exhausted, I still have to stay up long enough to make sure Andrew gets to bed, the lunch is made and he has everything laid out for daycare the next day. It makes you a master multi-tasker, simultaneously doing about 6 things at once seamlessly. Juggling that many balls is tough and can be pretty tiring.

But it’s also a lot of fun.

Yesterday, I picked Andrew up and we took a surprise trip to the bookstore. I had intended on buying him the Mr. Tickle and Ms. Bossy books, which are his current obsession at daycare. (The kid reads them everyday and even takes his naps with the books.) Unfortunately, the bookstore didn’t have them and he was thoroughly uninterested in any of the other Mr. and Ms. books, even though I’m sure he’d love them if they were given a chance.

When I told Andrew we were going to the bookstore he got really excited. Then he told me that he wanted to get me a book. A grown up book. He’d pick it out himself. When I asked why he was going to get me books, he seemed surprised that I’d ask. “Mommy! I have lotsa books. You only read one.”

(How cute is he?)

Tonight, assuming that I can get the DVD player to work, we’re going to watch Rio together. Andrew’s already told me that I need to close my eyes when the white bird comes on the screen because he’s scary. I’ve also been informed that if I don’t know when the scary parts are coming, I can watch him because he’ll be covering his own eyes. 🙂

Being the only one in town to take care of Andrew is a built in way for me to spend more time with him. I’m always saying that I wish we could spend more time together during the week, so this is a perfect way to do that. I’m really looking forward to us spending the next two days together.

Have a great weekend everyone.

When I realized that Brady’s preschool was closed for 17 days over the holidays, I had mixed emotions. Okay, maybe I even panicked a little bit. How would I get my work hours completed? Would he get bored? Would he get out of the habit of going to school? And other thoughts crossed my mind. We had a definite routine established.

Here we are past the halfway mark, with his birthday and Christmas behind us and I have to say I have a new child. I have heard many friends grumble about having their children home for extended vacations, and having to entertain their bored little ones. But Brady has been a slice of heaven. His entire demeanor has changed since out of school: he is more obedient, less anxious, less mouthy, my old “angel” has returned.

One has to wonder, is school causing Brady to misbehave and be mouthier overall? Or is it possibly the influence of other students? I am honestly not sure. There are so many other factors. I know his friends at preschool, and I really don’t think it is the school. I think the issue is more the home. The main difference now is downtime. My son seems to need an unusual amount of downtime. He still sleeps 12-13 hours each night and enjoys lying around and cuddling with books a lot.

Now don’t get me wrong, little man can have LOTS of energy also. But I think this week has taught me that one thing I need to provide Brady with, is simply more downtime to enjoy life, his home, his books, and his mama. I also wonder if 4 days of school each week is too much, at this point I can’t afford to change it: as those are my working hours. But at least I can work on slowing down his schedule before and after school. I guess we all need to take more time to stop and smell the roses. Not that roses are blooming in Pennsylvania in December, but take time this week to just enjoy the quiet (or noise) and spend some 1-1 time with your kid. You wont regret it – I promise!

Andrew has a fiercely independent streak. It shouldn’t surprise me, given the personalities of his parents. But Andrew must say “I wanna do it” at least 50 times a day. He wants to get himself dinner. Pour his own drinks. Feed and change himself.

One of Andrew’s favorite activities is making pancakes on Sunday morning with hubby. Andrew sits down on the floor in front of the big blue bowl, armed with the whisk. Hubby measures out the ingredients and tries to help Andrew with the stirring. However, Andrew sees it as his job and wants to take care of the mixing all by himself. He happily flings batter around the kitchen as he tries to stir.

Andrew begrudgingly turns over the bowl to hubby and waits (impatiently) for the first set of pancakes. Then he happily chows down on the first batch and races back into the kitchen with his empty plate for more. Several times, until he’s full.

Last weekend, Andrew and daddy decided to make cupcakes as well. Andrew had to be the one to open the mix. Fortunately, he let us crack the eggs. He worked the whisk and did a fair job working out the lumps. Andrew happily placed all the cupcake liners in the tins. Of course, he HAD to be the one to fill the cups with batter. What a mess!

Andrew let me frost the cupcakes, but had to hand each one to me and put it back. We had to convince him not to lick each cupcake he got his hands on. When all the cupcakes were frosted, he coated them generously with sprinkles. And the floor. And himself. And us.

Andrew loved his cupcakes. He proudly told everyone that he made them himself. It was a total mess, but sometimes you have to get a little messy to have a great time.

I can still remember when I was little, if snow was in the forecast, I’d wear my pajamas inside out. My sister and I would do a little “snow dance” in hopes that the silly gesture would somehow conjure up enough of the white stuff that there would be no school the following day.

Snow days meant sleeping in and relaxation. Especially if we could string together a couple snow days in a row. There were no thoughts about how the cars would get out of the driveway or who would shovel the front walk. That stuff just magically happened.

And now that we’re parents, snow days take on a whole new meaning.

Who gets to go in to work and who stays home with the little guy if day care is closed? Who has the honor of scraping 18 inches of snow off the cars? Who watches Andrew while someone shovels out the cars so we can move them before the plows come through?

But the larger challenge is, “How do you entertain a 2 year old in the middle of a blizzard”

After we got 18 inches last Saturday, we got another 18 between Wednesday and Thursday. Shockingly, the courts and my office closed (two things which very rarely happen), along with daycare. So we’ve all been home together for the past two days.

I can’t even count the number of episodes of Sesame Street, Thomas the Tank Engine and Bob the Builder we’ve watched. Andrew somehow got himself on a post-Christmas Santa kick and we’ve seen “The Santa Clause” no less than 5 times.

We’ve run around the house flying like airplanes, chugging like trains and jumping like rabbits, or “bunny puppies” as Andrew has dubbed them. We’re read stacks of books. Colored pictures until our crayons are worn down to the nub. We’ve eaten popcorn and drunk hot cocoa, played in the snow.

And I have to say, I’m actually looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. It’s funny how things change…

Have a great weekend everyone.

A few weeks ago I created a journal for Jack that reflects the little details of his life.  I thought it would be intriguing for him to read twenty, thirty or fifty years from now.  Every so often I write what he was up to on any given day, a funny quote or something i think he will find interesting .  I wish I had started this months ago, but it’s better late than never.  Below is an entry I made last week:

Today you…

are two years, four months and twenty one days young.

wore blue sunglasses while brushing your teeth.

ate Ritz cheese crackers for a snack and licked the cheese off the wrapper.

built a race track just to make the cars crash.

rode your scooter at record-breaking speed.

cooked up some yummy banana bread with mommy.

rescued a caterpillar and put him back in the dirt.

kissed the boo-boo on mommy’s hand and told her it was Okay.

talked about Daddy playing trains with you when he gets home.

wanted to play ball with Nathan, but he is too young (newborn) to play.

gave me a lot of kisses that are too sweet for words.

showed me once again of how blessed I am to be your mother.

It’s hard to imagine Halloween is just around the corner. With temperatures still in the low 80’s it just doesn’t feel like Fall has arrived. Although, last Sunday, when Jack and I were strolling through the neighborhood on our daily walk, we were fascinated by all the orange and black that seemed to take over our street. This is the first year of Jack’s life where he can somewhat grasp what Halloween really is. He pointed out every pumpkin, scarecrow, bat and witch he could get his eyes on. I’m sure he will quickly learn that candy is a large part of Halloween, too!

Seeing all the decorations from our walk inspired me to be a little festive and bake some Halloween cookies. Jack was my assistant and we had a blast making a mess in the kitchen. We turned on the iPod, listened to some “scary tunes” and started in on the fun. Jack helped me pour in all the ingredients and mix the batter. We made some yummy chocolate and vanilla sugar cookies with candy corn on top. It is a great kid-friendly recipe to help teach your little one(s) the joys of baking. I wanted to share the recipe with you so you and your little one(s) could experience the spirit of Halloween just like we did.

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, very soft
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• About 36 candy corns

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place butter and sugar in a medium bowl; beat with a wooden spoon until combined. Beat in egg yolk, vanilla, baking powder, and salt. Add flour, and mix until a dough forms.

2. Chocolate Variation: Reduce the amount of flour given in the recipe to 1/2 cup. Add 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder along with the flour in step 1, and proceed.

3. Scoop out level teaspoons of dough, and roll into balls (chill dough briefly if it becomes too soft to handle). Place balls on baking sheets, 2 inches apart.

4. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges are firm and cookies are dry to the touch (do not let cookies color), 10 to 12 minutes.

5. Remove from oven; gently press a candy corn into center of each cookie (surface of cookies may crack slightly). Let cookies cool completely.

Happy Baking….. ’til next time!