Archive for February, 2011
Snow day
Thursday we woke up to a winter wonderland. Tim stayed home from work and we spent some family time outside reintroducing our son to snow.
Lex was definitely not a fan at first. Putting multiple layers of clothing on a child who despises wearing anything put him in a foul mood from the start. He kept trying to rip off his clothes, and he just wanted to go back inside to play with his cars.
But meanwhile Tim and I were excited for the rare opportunity to play in the white stuff. We even got out our new disc sled, which we bought last year and never got the opportunity to use.
The hill out back was a pretty good sledding run.
Here’s me attempting my “belly slide.”
Finally after much convincing, Lex agreed to ride with me starting halfway down the hill. He seemed to enjoy it, but he didn’t volunteer to go again.
The snowball fight is what finally won over the boy. He enjoyed pelting his daddy and mommy with snow.
On Friday we began “birdsitting” our neighbor Cindy’s cockatiel. We have the bird all weekend, and it’s been kinda fun so far. It’s sad that a bird in a cage gives us more interaction than our dog Apple (who purposely spends her days outside and away from the family).
And finally, here’s a picture of Lex and Bear’s latest mischief. Can’t leave those two alone for a second!
Play date with Jack, and Goodwill trip
Lex’s friend Jack came over to our house the other day while his mom went to an appointment. The boys played really well together.
I forced Lex to actually wear pants when Jack arrived, but it wasn’t fifteen minutes into the play date before the boy stripped them off again.
And after eating his Nutella-covered waffle, Lex’s shirt had to be changed as well.
Two boys and their fire trucks:
Lex showing off his train set:
My son is still very attached to his Bear and his sleepsack. (Yes, you read that correctly…his sleepsack.) So he always gets concerned when sleepsack has to join the rest of the laundry pile to be washed. Here’s the happy reunion that occurred after a clean sleepsack was returned to its doting owner (and yeah, this time Lex isn’t even wearing a diaper).
Later that day Lex and I ventured out to our local Goodwill store. And it was there that I had the scare of my life. I actually lost my son temporarily. I turned to get a shopping cart, and when I looked back, Lex was no longer in sight. I ran frantically through several aisles, and even asked a store clerk to help me before I found him again. (He was happily playing with some cars while hiding under a clothes rack.) Talk about a heart attack! I never want to go through that again.
But despite the scare at the store, we did manage to come home with some great bargains. Here’s Lex playing on his new Fisher Price trike. It makes motorcycle sounds and has flashing signal lights, and it was five bucks!
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Tonight Lex and I showed our love for Daddy by making him a homemade heart-shaped pizza, followed by a giant m&m cookie for dessert. Tim bought me the pretty tulips in the picture, and also a sampler box of Whitman’s chocolates (in memory of the gift my mom bought me every year).
In other news, Lex is sick…AGAIN. It’s just another cold, but he’s coughing a lot at night, and naptimes have been minimal at best.
Not a lot of new development on his potty training. We’re encouraging him to sit on the toilet daily, and we even bought him a special set of toys that can only be played with while sitting on his potty.
Last week our play group had a fun Valentine’s party. The kids exchanged valentines and the gal who hosted went all out with the decorations and food table:
Lex playing at the party:
We’ve had a few sunny days interspersed with all the rain lately. Lex and I took advantage of one of those days recently and tried out our newly purchased t-ball set at a nearby park.
Look at that stance! My boy’s a natural…
Two sick guys working from home:
On Saturday we took Lex to the Monster Truck Jam at the Rose Garden. It was his first official “ticketed event” and he was a little overwhelmed at first.
But seeing all the monster trucks was a dream come true for this three year old.
“Megasaurus” the fire-breathing car crusher:
New paint!
The most exciting development around here is that our great room/kitchen area is now freshly painted. We hired the painter who did the outside of our house last summer, and he did another great job. It’s given our house a completely updated feel, and Tim and I love it. Tomorrow our stairwell and upstairs hallway get painted as well.
A few weeks ago Lex and I met some friends at the Portland Children’s Museum for some playtime. Lex’s favorite area was the “dig pit,” which had plenty of dump trucks and shovels for everyone.
His face got absolutely filthy, but he was in heaven.
Next we played at the train table. Apparently Lex is a better conductor with his tongue hanging out.
We finished our morning at the children’s museum at their “grocery store.” The shopping carts are extremely popular and are usually in short supply, but Lex lucked out and got to play with one.
It was fun for me to see Lex actually involved in interactive play with other kids. He filled his cart with fake food and then took it up to a boy at the register for him to “scan.”
We’ve had many sick days around here lately, and we’ve been housebound a lot due to inclement weather. So I’ve had to stretch myself to be a little more creative with our entertainment. The other day I made some fake snow (a purchase from a craft show long ago), and I put it in Lex’s water table for him to drive his trucks around in. This project turned out to be a real winner, and Lex was enthralled for over 45 minutes (doesn’t sound that impressive, but believe me…for a three year old, that’s a long time!)
