X has a great time finding things for Joe and I to play with him. The other month, he found a book about teddy bears (by Build-A-Bear) and decided he wanted to make some of the "bear-y" cool stuff he saw in it, like the camping scene. So we made a tent out of a grocery bag, found two little bears, made a campfire out of rocks, twigs, and paper and X set up the bears with twigs for roasting marshmallows. I cut out some fabric to make sleeping bags and we had a blast doing this all while the baby was napping. It is so nice to be able to have quality one-on-one time with each child.
I've been rocking A a little extra some nights just for that one-on-one with her as well,
just reveling in her "babyness" and smelling her baby shampooed hair. Since she's getting more molars, she likes to bite and hold my finger on her gums to make it feel better. One of my favorite times with the kids is at bedtime when I get to cuddle and talk and sing with them, rub X's back, and listen to what he remembers about his day. His mind jumps around a lot like mine and I have to ask him to clarify so I can keep up with his train(s) of thinking.
This year, I tried to let Valentine's be a reminder of love on more than just Valentine's day. I listed 30 ideas of little things to show love to Joe and the kids after seeing (on Pinterest probably) the idea of "Love 'em up!" or showing love to your family for 30 days. I made it through the 14th or 15th and that felt successful to me! I did things like stick hearts on X's school shoes, made cinnamon buns in a heart pan for breakfast, decorated with crepe paper streamers (this was a hit!) and showed the family how to make heart hats out of paper plates for FHE.
I also got to help X get ready for Valentine's day at school . X loved this little Yoda card that Joe found so we printed off a bunch of "Yoda one for me" cards. Then we bought juju hearts and put them in little heart baggies which I had found brand new for 25 cents at a thrift store! I wanted to be there for X's school party, and even though I hadn't heard anything about a party from the room mom's or the teacher, I showed up. I figured lots of moms would be there but I was the only one. X's teacher really doesn't like having parents in her room, so she just doesn't invite them. If they ask to come help, though, she always says yes. Anyway, his teacher really downplayed the whole day and just had the kids one-by-one go put their Valentine's in each others' bags while they worked on various worksheets. Then we stapled them up for them to take home and open. It was a little dull to me, nothing like a room filled with moms, cookies, frosting, and hyper kids walking all over trying to find each other's boxes to put the Valentine's in, like I remember!
Valentine's at the elementary is also the day to learn about manners. The whole school dresses up really nicely and the kids go have a snack and learn about good manners from volunteers. The PTA did an Angry Birds theme (Valentine edition) for decorations this year. Why? I have no idea, but the kids loved it. A kind of funny/sad thing the night before the Valentine's Tea was when I was having my bedtime chat with X. He told me that he just wasn't going to drink ANYthing at the manners lunch because he'd been told that if they spilled the juice on their clothes it would NEVER come off. He took it so seriously he was almost in tears. I told him not to worry because I knew he would drink carefully and even if he spilled, I had a special spray that would take out any stains. It was really cute to see how relieved he was at that and he was very proud after the "tea" when he announced that he hadn't spilled anything!
The crepe paper streamers between the kitchen and dining room were a favorite decoration for both kids and my cute niece. They would all just run around and around through them and thought they were so much fun!
X wanted to help me wash dishes one day and when A saw him playing with water in the sink, she wanted to be a part of it, too! So I plunked her on a stool and they had a great time and were totally soaked by the end!
This is often how I find the baby girl during the day. Plopped down somewhere with feet stretched out in front and a big book on her lap. She loves to look through books now that we put a book basket down on the floor. Her favorites include the Humpty Dumpty part in a nursery rhyme book and a page about kids helping their parents find food at the grocery store in a book called Thank You.
Cute Valentine outfits on Sunday. X made sure to wear a red tie. August wore her red bumblebee dress. Both kept dancing and sliding around on the floor and doing funny poses.
Okay, this winter has been the mildest winter we've had out of the three here so far. The snow melts so quickly after each snowfall BUT we did get a couple of sled-worthy snows. For one of them, Joe made a sled run from the balcony stairs, which was great! The kids went down it a million times and I was sad it melted so soon after.
Once the baby girl was too wet and cold, we watched Joe and X sled from the window. :) Then we all had hot cocoa. Yum!
1 comment:
I love this! Kids make life so exciting. Remember when the coolest thing ever was to run through the streamers in a doorway? And btw, I'm still impressed that you're packing so early.
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