Big Talk

While I was getting my Christmas cards ready to send out the other night, the Toddler slipped out of bed and curled up behind me on the couch.  He was looking up at our gallery wall of pictures, feet propped up on a pillow and chattering away.  He didn't want to go to bed, he wanted to " just stay on the couch with you forever" A boy after my own heart, after your head hits the pillow hundreds of thoughts come pouring out of your mouth, and you get a little cuddly.

I decided I would work on relocating Little Mr Anti-Bedtime to his own room later.  He was being fairly still anyway, and I didn't mind listening to him so I kept working on the cards and he kept chattering away.

Toddler:  That wasn't me in your belly, that was {the Big D} 

Me: Yes, Mommy had those pictures taken for Mothers Day with you before little brother was  born. Mommy wishes she would have had pictures taken when you were still in my tummy.

Toddler:  I wasn't in your tummy! {the Big D} was naughty and crawled in and then you had to get him out....giggle,giggle....that's silly Momma isn't it? 

Me:  mmm-hmmm (half listening working on my cards) 

Toddler: I say No No baby, don't crawl in there...but he crawl down your throat and you have to get him out.

Me: (awkward pause) You were in Mommy's tummy once too, I just didn't get pictures.  

Toddler: I not in your tummy, just baby was.  I not a baby.

Toddler: I am growing bigger.  I'm getting to be such a big boy and when I grow up I will be a Mommy....but I don't want to be a Mommy.  I don't want to turn into a little tiny baby either! 

Me:  Why will you turn into a Mommy? 

Toddler:  When I grow-up I will have to become a Mommy, but, but, but I don't want to be a Mommy...and, and I don't want to be baby. I don't want to turn into a Mommy!!

Me:  How about you keep growing and stay {you}? 

Toddler:  Oh yeah!  Being {the Toddler} is much better than being a Mommy!

A few days later while we were in the kitchen  and getting supper ready.

Toddler: Look, my toes grow soo big! 

Me: Yep 

Toddler: And my head is bigger! 

Me: Yep 

Toddler:  And, and, and my eyes are bigger! 

Me: ...(the better to see you with my dear?)

Toddler: I am great big like you Mommy!

Better than the big bad wolf from Little Red Riding Hood...though Great Big isn't a description any woman wants to hear herself referenced by.  I guess I will just have to make peace with my little boy growing up.

A Christmas Story, the Pirate Version

Sunday was the kids CCD Christmas program after mass.  We received a phone call personally inviting us to attend Saturday night, as they planned to dedicate the performance to the deployed military members of the parish.  They also had a small token they wanted to present the families. They gave us a very pretty wreath, and after mass we stayed in our pew for the much anticipated performance.

The Christmas story as told by a Grandmother mouse who apparently was at the stable where our Lord and Savior was born.  They are lucky that cute children played the parts of the mice, otherwise a story of vermin living for several thousand years wouldn't have been my idea of a great story.  Anyway, the costumes were adorable, one of my favorites was a little star.   Who I felt bad for, he had no lines and just had to stand there.  The Big D loved the sheep and immediately stood up to give them a standing ovation, complete with clapping, laughing and pointing....SHEEEP SHEEP! SHEEEEEP!

Most of the kiddos read their lines in that monotone-self-conscious-why-am-I-being-forced-to-do-this kind of way.  The audience was expected to sing along with the common Christmas tunes, but not understanding the low mumbled lines, and being Catholics, audience participation was poor (really you would think everyone would have caught on to the fact that Catholics don't sing...and if we do it isn't well.) My memory of some of the songs was rusty...my little family did a lot of humming along.  The true stand outs of this play were the camels though.  They came in with dark shades dancing and bee-bopping on altar stage..  They had no lines as a rap song version of we Three Kings was played and they danced, I laughed so hard.  It was cute, they were really the only animated and in-to-it characters...and it didn't fit with the rest of the play, but was so fun.

Not the actual KCs/Kings from our parish,
but a visual to help with the story.

Apparently there weren't enough child actors so three of the Knights of Columbus played the parts of the three kings.  I'm not sure if you have ever seen the KCs in full costume, but when they came into view the Toddler loudly shouted "I think those are PIRATES!!!"  At the end of the play when the procession of thespians marched by, he again was excited to point out them out. "Yep, those are three pirates! one-two-three!"

As a thank you to the CCD, I did truly love the play.  Thank you for the wreath and acknowledging our troops that won't be home for Christmas.  The program was cute, and I honestly didn't expect Gangsta Camels or Pirates. It was a memorable twist.

Party Crashing

Last weekend we crashed a 4 year old's birthday party.  I'll call him a quasi-cousin.  It's my sister's nephew.  She has the best inlaws, they are awesome and fun.  That sounds wrong, I am not implying my inlaws aren't awesome and fun.  We are just the first to start a family, so we have the only kiddos. Our boys get their cousin experience from my niece and nephew and a little outsourcing.

Another explanation, this many be normal for most families.  However to let you know what I am comparing to for cousin playtime expectations.  My mom was born #8 of 16 children.  The vast majority of those 16 had/are having children of their own....and some of those children are now having children of of their own.  I believe I am #9 of 56 grandchildren and 85 counting great grandchildren...and that is just my Mom's side of the family! And that's just counting 1st cousins! My point is I grew up with lots of cousins and I loved it.  In my family it seems to be be about 5 new babies each year, for my Grandma a mix of Grandkids and Great Grandkids.  My kids currently have only two first cousins, with one on the way that will make his/her debut in January! I'm getting off track, we adopted my sister's other nieces/nephews/inlaws. The more the merrier right?

What a creative momma Mr. T has! My boys were thrilled.  I think they were more excited for the new toys than the birthday boy!

Another shocking discovery: little children, no naps, and full of ice cream, cake and frosting - played nice together.  That really happened!

Cute little children, oh Lord, those eyes!  Right?

 How old are you today?

FOUR!

...Why is that silly?

The Toddler is still enamored with tool belts and that is all he wants for Christmas.  He needs a tool belt to put his tools in so he can "be a real Bob the Builder and fix it good as new!"

We had zero meltdowns until getting into the car to leave. I think the boys would have moved in the garage

Photobomb 32

Dear Hubby,

This week we had another infectious disease to combat in our house: ringworm. Which is the same as athletes foot or jock itch...just on a different part of the body.  Gotta love one more reason to not be able to go to daycare.  Not sure where it came from as we aren't a wrestling family and have no pets, but he is a boy and likes to play in the dirt, so I guess it could have come from anywhere.

I relied on a lot of family to get me through the week.  Monday I drove the boys to my sister's because she had the day off...and was feeling insane.  I owe her a medal, for real.  She ended up having 4 little boys in the 3-4 year range and 2  one-and-half-year olds, and that's before her two kids got out of school. Crazy award for being willing to watch them all, hero medal for getting them all to take a nap at the same time!

Tuesday and Wednesday your Madre took a shift, and Thursday and Friday my Aunt drove 4 hours to come stay at the house and watch the boys.  That is a lot of love!  I am so thankful for all the help, and loved having my Aunt here.  She attempted to teach me to crochet, but I was excited to have an adult to visit I kept us both up way later than necessary.  The Toddler deemed her his sister, then the pretty girl, and his best friend. Long story short, she was a huge hit at the house.

The Big D got on my bad side with erasable markers.  By the way, they don't erase off the wall as easily as a white board...

...it does wipe off the cabinets fairly easily though!

Not sure of Mom's new clutter control/toy basket idea.  

He approved of it after finding it was quite easy to empty.

The Big D lov'n him some hats!  And the Toddler loving his new "best friend".

The boys getting into EVERYTHING!

The Toddler looks upset...but he is just making sound effects.

My aunt also tried to help us take a family picture...

...it was hard to wrangle both the boys at the same time...

So after many takes and several different poses, we went with the one we are all in the picture at least 1/3 of us are looking at the camera.  You will see it on the Christmas card, just thought you might enjoy some behind the scenes shots.

And oh yeah, we also got the tree up and decorated. I played with some tutorials to get the glow-y beautiful Christmas tree picture...my camera is still smarter than me.  I was also lazy and in a hurry so I didn't fluff the branches on el'fako...next year I will take more time on that part...haha, maybe.

I'm not much of a photographer,
but I still thought the tree was pretty.

Package from the Hubby

My Hubby sent me a package!  He actually sent it a few days before I was able to get his Thanksgiving Care Package sent out (wayyyy after Thanksgiving was over).  He got his package first.  Mine was well worth the wait though.  He had said he hoped it would get here before Christmas...so when it arrived yesterday I did debate waiting until Christmas to open it.  That idea vanquished from my mind approximately 3 seconds later.

Inside were 8 pashmina/silk blend scarves from Afghanistan, a polished rock egg, and four recordable story books for the boys.

Four new recorded book for the boys!
We loving hearing Daddy's voice!

The boys now have a collection of 7 daddy books.

Am I spoiled? Yep
Do I appreciate it? Yep
Do I feel bad his care package only had nut rolls and shaving cream in it? Not really... but don't judge me its what he wanted!

Box Full of Fun

I don't know if you have heard of this company or not, but I had heard some good reviews.  I ordered one for a birthday present for a friend of the Toddler, apparently it was a great gift.  There was a sale going on for 75% off the first box for a monthly subscription or year's membership.  I sat on it for quite awhile, and then decided to go for it.

They are designed for ages 3-6, and I thought it would be perfect to help keep the Toddler active and help me come up with new ideas of things to do with him. Many of the reviewers also used it for their 2 year olds, so by the end of the year I expect both boys to be enjoying it.  There is a sibling add on pack too, for now we will just stick with the one though.

  Each box is supposed to contain four major components.

1. Create: 2-3 hands on projects with all materials included
2. Explore: themed project to engage your kiddo with their surroundings
3. Story tell: a new book in each box
4. Connect: prepaid interactive learning app to download

The starter theme is Sun, Moon, and Stars.

Scissors...yikes!

For the Create portion: a paper mache moon shaped nightlight and a star frame

For the Explore portion:  binoculars and lunar calendar, to learn about the moon phases

For Story Tell: A Twinkle Star book

For Connect: a fun app that lets the boys play twinkle twinkle little star on the piano IPad

Apparently every box comes with a parent gift, so I scored a wine stopper.

Info on downloading the app.  This one allows the kids to play with a virtual keyboard teaching them to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  Its pretty cute.

The Toddler's new favorite activity after we get home is to run outside with his binoculars and find the moon and then record it on the chart.  He has also been sleeping with the binoculars, they are his prize (surprise).  I'm hoping this will be a something we all look forward to every month, heading into the winter months more activity ideas should always be winning.

Progress on the paper mache moon
The Toddler was only interested in popping balloons and didn't want to get his hands dirty.

For a better review/wrap up, here is the video sneak peak of the box.  I love that before you even get it, an email tells you what to expect.