We had Eve’s daycare teacher babysit on Sunday night and the kids were super excited. She walked in the door and Eve came running into the kitchen and dropped to her knees to do a fake fall. Eve is normally pretty good at fake falls, but this time she managed to do a face plant right into the floor. Mouth first. Ouch! She got a fat lip with two tooth marks on the inside. She cried for awhile, but she’s ok now, of course. Just silly.
Lex came home from school yesterday and told me that his favorite toy that day was the crystal building blocks. I asked why they were crystal and he he said, “I don’t know. They look like our blocks except they are lots of colors and you can see through them.” Hmmm… ok. I asked what he built with them and he said a house, a dog, and a person. This intrigued me because he normally builds cars and structures like towers and bridges. He’s built a house once or twice, but I’ve never seen him build a block dog or person. I was impressed.
This morning at school drop-off his teacher started telling me how great he is a copying things. A good skill, I hope! As an example, she showed be a bucket of blocks (called “Crystal Building Blocks,” of course) and said he was playing with them yesterday. She said she was admiring the house he built and then noticed that it was identical to the picture on the bucket. She showed me the picture and sure enough, there was a house, a dog and a person. He had just sat down and built everything he saw in the picture. She was super impressed :) I’ve seen him copy like that before, but I was impressed that he made a dog and a person :) He never fails to impress!
He is also getting really good at building his own ideas (without copying). His Lego vehicles are getting more advanced and yesterday afternoon he built a cool train layout. I think it’s cool anyway.
Train tracks
A block bridge. The top part is a covered bridge for cars to drive on (fitted for his largest matchbox car), but he is still thinking about how to get a road up there. I love the creative process.
Check out the awesome new toy shelves my dad built for us!! The kids were so excited and Lex was filling them faster than dad could build them :)
Toy closet / coat closet
Today is Alan’s birthday and we celebrated in style. At home! Chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, lots of family games, balloons, pure silliness, odd (but yummy!) cake, date night, and a James Bond DVD. What more could you want for your birthday! :) Happy Birthday Alan! We love you!
I hope he still loves me after this cake! (chocolate jello poke cake with strawberry/raspberry jello and raspberry cream cheese frosting). It tastes good, but definitely not my finest work. The chocolate chips on top were Eve's idea :)
The birthday boy!
We had A LOT of fun playing balloon volleyball. The kids didn’t quite get it, which just added to the fun! After things settled down I grabbed the camera, so this is just the tail end of the playing. The balloons entertained everyone for much of the day :)
Eve put the rolling pin under her chin this evening and said, “Oh, I have a very long beard!” She’s such a funny girl.
Lex opened an ice cream shop yesterday, under the dining room table. He has about five flavors (they change daily) and recently started offering fruit salad as well. It’s all very delicious, and you only have to pay when you remind him to charge you. Before my WW meeting yesterday, at 8am, I had two ice cream cones. Delicious! Eve’s baby prefers double chocolate :)
Eve buying ice cream
Lex's ice cream shop - he likes the shop but doesn't like the camera :)
Lex had no school today so we spent the morning with a classmate, sledding down the giant hill in front of her house. Giant, in my opinion, for a couple of 4 and 2 year olds. I found myself scrambling to find a store that still sells sleds this week. Apparently January is past the peak “shopping for sleds” season. I ended up with a pricey (-er than I was planning on buying) sled that’s designed for slightly older kids. It goes really fast and Lex loved it! We also brought along the LL Bean wooden sled. The kids all had a great time. Lex has done some sledding at daycare but otherwise it’s not something we do often. We probably should though.
Sledding - at the top of the hill... this is where he wanted to start from, but I wouldn't let him.
Coming down the hill... see that orange sled at the top? See why I didn't want him to start from there?!
Sideways sledding
The little girls did some sledding on their slippery snowsuit butts. (they took a few rides on the slower sleds too)
I am super proud of my kids today. We went to the dentist and they did amazing. I had to pick Lex up early from school for a 10:10 appointment and we waited in the waiting room for an hour! (unusual for this place) The kids played and we read and they were super sweet. When it was their turn, Eve sat very still and listened closely to everything the dentist told her to do. Since it was her first appointment he had her sit on my lap and she was very calm. Lex, big boy, went into the other chair all by himself with the hygienist and got his teeth cleaned. He let her use the electric brush and all the normal dentist tools that he has, in the past, strongly objected too. He even let her do a fluoride treatment. They are growing up so fast!!
To counter that last statement, here is a picture of Eve sleeping in the car this morning, something she rarely does any more. :)
Eve sleeping in the car
A new place opened up this is a neat little indoor play space. Eve and I went yesterday on their second day of being open. It was cute and she had lots of fun. :) I’m not sure how busy they will be during the summer months, but it’s a nice place to play during these chilly days.
