I KNEW it!

This morning I asked Alexander to please stop pretending to be a baby. His response: "Mommy, I am just doing it to frustrate you." Ah ha! He admits it! I have a witness, and now I am documenting it. I'm gonna get you, kiddo! ;)

Early Easter Fun

We had a gorgeous weekend, and took advantage of it by doing some special early Easter activities. Once again we found an instance where language proves difficult for Alexander. On Saturday I told him that I was hard boiling eggs so that on Sunday we could dye them. He asked if Sunday was Easter. I said no, and he asked, "So we're just doing to dead the eggs tomorrow?" I tried to explain to him that "dye" is different than "die," but he made several other comments before we worked with the eggs that indicated he still thought we were planning to somehow kill them. I managed to refer to it as "coloring" the eggs for the rest of the weekend.

Here they are watching the color tablets fizz, and here are our finished products, displayed and being eaten.

We also took advantage of a Easter festival put on by a Church that meets at the nearby elementary school. They put on an event before Thanksgiving, too, at the lakeside pavilion, and these events are free to the community, and both times we have been warmly welcomed (and, surprisingly, not proselytized to in any way). Alexander and I went while Jack took his nap. There was free food, a moonbounce, and an Easter Egg hunt. Alexander collected the most eggs in his age group, so he won a chocolate cross. Everyone cheered for him and he was extremely exited to have "won." Later, he graciously shared some of his spoils with Jack.

Stylin'

My kids are stylin'!

Mommy Wisdom 4-3-09

This time I'm offering actual advice as opposed to the sorry attempt at humor I usually display.

Drink your fruit. My kids, though not particularly finnicky eaters, are quite wasteful eaters. I can't tell you how often they will ask for a piece of fruit and then eat just a few bites. I always try to save it for the next snack, but obviously fruit, once cut or peeled, doesn't last very well. So a few times recently, I've looked at the half-eaten fruit about to go to waste and asked Alexander if he wants a milkshake. He always gets excited and says yes. I have a little baby-food mixer, but a blender would work well, too. I just throw the leftover fruit in with a bit of milk and sometimes a couple drops of food-coloring to make it exciting, and voila, my kids guzzle leftover fruit and milk happily through a fancy straw. We've had plain banana, banana-strawberry, and today an exciting mix: banana-apple-pear. The novelty may wear off at some point, but for now, we're all quite happy with our "milkshakes." (They're more like "smoothies," of course, but since Alexander isn't familiar with that term, I offered them up as "milkshakes.")

My child is wise

Today, while getting ready to go to Toys R Us so that Alexander could spend his hard-saved money, we had this conversation:
Me: Alexander, are you going to wear your flip-flops or your shoes?
Alexander: If I wear one flip flop and one shoe, it will sound like, "flip-shoe, flip-shoe" when I walk.

Some useful advice

Yesterday Alexander and I were planting some pansies near our one rosebush. Alexander cautioned me, "Mommy, watch out for the pricks."

Sage advice, Son.

Visit to Lego House

Last week the boys and I took our first extended visit to PopPop's new house in PA. We had been there once before when he was moving in, but only briefly. This time the house was all set up, and the boys got to explore, visit, and play! Alexander had been waiting to get his hands on Uncle Matt's old Legos ever since he found out that PopPop had them stashed at his house, and both boys spent a good deal of time playing with said Legos. If you look closely at Jack's hands, you will see a stack of Lego people heads. This is how he plays Legos- he beheads all the people he can find, then stacks all the heads onto one body. Do not attempt to distract him from this task; it is all-consuming. We also saw Mema (my grandmother), who lives next door, and Aunt Diane, who came bearing puzzles and games. We explored the large yard (and plotted where we should get PopPop to set up a swing set), checked out the local wildlife (and their droppings), and generally enjoyed ourselves. Next time I promise to get pictures of the actual house, or perhaps people other than my own kids.