Hey, Y'all!

Our Top Five Childrens' Books

Alissa over at Clever Compass has stared doing the Friday 5, a list of five things in a different category each Friday.  This week is top five books for children.  This was harder than I thought--we read a lot over here.  I'm sure I'll leave a few favorites out, but here are our family's top five, some current, some from the baby days.

1.  Morris The Moose Goes To School.  This was my all-time favorite in grade school.   When we had quiet reading time, I made a beeline for the book rack and read this every single day of first grade.  I got a copy for Dean when I was pregnant. He likes it, especially now that he goes to school himself.

2.  Green Eggs and Ham.  This is my husband's all-time favorite.  He is the only one who's allowed to read it aloud in our house.

3.  Horton Hatches The Egg.  "He did what he said and he said what he meant .  An elephant's faithful, 100%."  We could all learn a lot from Horton.  I had the great pleasure of reading this to a class of fourth graders on Dr. Seuss Day this year. I got all weepy when they said that line with me.

4.  The Elephant and Piggie series by Mo Willems.  I can't pick a favorite.  None of us can.  I am a bit partial to There's a Bird On Your Head, but I have not found an Elephant/Piggie book yet that we all don't love.  I mean come on--the elephant's name is Gerald! How can you go wrong with that?

5.  Goodnight Moon.  Can't be beat.  Dean now "reads" it to us. (He's heard it so many times, he's memorized it.)

What are your top five childrens' books?  Head over to Clever Compass and link up!

 

 

It's In His Blood

Dean's preschool class toured the theatre where Marcus works/teaches today.  They crashed his acting class and got to go up onto the big stage, then backstage to see the costume shop.  After that, we headed down to the small studio theatre where they performed their very own play, The Gingerbread Man.

The set.

Dean portrayed one of several eagles. Here he is in costume:

Each group of animals tried to eat the Gingerbread Man, but could not catch him. It was a great show.

I love seeing Dean interact with his little friends and I adore his teachers.  He doesn't usually go to school on Mondays, but his teachers INSISTED we come for this special tour of the theatre and surprise performance.  I'm so glad we did.

Sometimes...

You just need to plop down in a pile of leaves.

Dean loves to play outside, something Marcus and I encourage with every fiber of our beings.  We both love the outdoors and want Dean to be inetersted in fishing, long walks and just enjoying a nice day. 
Lately, the ground is covered in fallen leaves and one of our favorite things to do after preschool is grab a juice box and lie on our backs under our favorite tree, known as the Bug Tree. (It was invaded by cicadas earlier this year.) 

At night, we all "step outside"as Dean calls it to see how big the moon is and to make a wish on the first star we see.  Dean always wishes for Spiderman.

Sometimes, the only cure for a preschooler's temper tantrum is a breath of fresh air, so I haul a little screaming body outside and let him breathe until he feels better. 

The great outdoors can work miracles, it seems.

Don't forget to participate in our game--see yesterday's post!

Tis Better To Give

I'm worried I've created a monster of sorts. You see, the Target toy catalog showed up in our mailbox last week, complete with boxes next to each item so that you can check off the ones you want Santa to bring you.  Dean has not put it down in 4 days.  He walks around with the catalog and a ball-point pen, then sits down and makes check marks next to the items he wants.

And he wants EVERYTHING.

I'm excited to buy him Christmas gifts and Santa presents.  I'm THRILLED that he's finally old enough to ask for what he wants, rather than leaving us guessing.  His birthday is ten days after Christmas, so it feels like a full month of Dean around here with a party every day. 

This year, something else needs to take center stage for a while.

At my mom and dad's church this weekend, I was reminded of Operation Christmas Child, which collects shoeboxes full of toys, prizes and necessities (think soap, socks, and undergarments) to send to kids who might not get any gifts otherwise.  This year, the boxes go to Haiti. There is a drop-off location less than five miles from our house.  Dean and I will be shopping tomorrow for items to fill a shoebox or two.  It is vital that he learn now that the holidays are about lots more than shiny decorations, gingerbread houses and presents.

We've already been planning what to give friends and family as gifts. Dean has said he would like to make something for one of his teachers and bake cookies for the other one.  Mommy and Daddy will likely throw in a gift card for them, since they are so dreamy.  I'd like to do some personalized ornaments for his little friends, mostly because some of the ones I got when I was his age still hang on my mom's tree and I like the idea of them having something that will remind them of this time in their lives.

How do you teach your kids the true meaning of Christmas? 

Disney...On Ice!

Last night was a very worthwhile splurge for our little family.  A couple of weeks ago, Marcus heard a radio ad for Disney On Ice and decided we should take Dean.  Never one to turn down a night out or anything with the word DISNEY in the title, I wholeheartedly agreed.  He poked around online a bit and found that there was a 20% opening night discount.  Then he bought front row tickets, declaring, "If we're gonna do it, let's do it right." And boy howdy, did we.

"Mama, what's gonna HAPPEN?"

(Also, LOOK! Actual photographic evidence that I go places with my family! Who knew you could just hand the camera to your husband and make that happen?)

Dean really didn't understand what we were going to see prior to the event.  He just knew he was wearing special clothes, big boy shoes and getting to eat dinner in a restaurant.  He enjoyed his cheesey pizza, declaring it "kinda good."  In true Disney form, you were immediately bombarded with souvenier options, most of which were astronomical in price.  We settled for the least expensive, but definitely the cutest, option:

Flounder hat and cotton candy combo for the win!

When the show started, Dean was very quiet.  He didn't really react at first, unless you count the fact that his eyes grew to the size of saucers when Mickey and Minnie entered the rink.  However, even Mr. Cool couldn't resist a squeal of delight when these guys appeared:

TIMON AND PUMBA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dean said, "Daddy, you see that?"  We enjoyed the Lion King portion of the show, except for the fact that adult Simba looked more like a Jellicle Cat than a lion.  We loved The Little Mermaid and Lilo and Stitch.  I realized around 3pm the day of the show that Dean had no idea who Lilo and Stitch were, so we watched some YouTube clips so he would recognize him.  Their rendition of "Burning Love" brought the house down. 

At intermission, we watched the zamboni:

I'm a sucker for a zamboni.  When I was in college, we hosted a Russian production of Swan Lake on ice, for which our students served as crew.  One thing they asked for were volunteers to stay overnight and make the ice stage.  I was ALL OVER that, mostly because I thought the job would involve driving a zamboni in the wee hours of the morning. Imagine my surprise when I was handed a pair of rubber boots and a garden hose and told to "walk the ice" every half hour. LAME. But I digress.

The second act was all Peter Pan.  Dean absolutely loves Captain Hook and Mr. Smee, so it was nice that they happened to spend a lot of their time addressing our side of the arena.

Overall, it was an awesome night and certainly money well-spent. I hope he remembers it forever.

Preschool

I just dropped this person off for his first day at Preschool.

 
He didn't have to be there until 9, but at 8:08, he was dressed and ready to go.  He humored me long enough to snap a few pictures, then off we went. When we walked in, he introduced himself to his teacher again, then spotted the giant mound of Play-Doh on the table.  And that was that. No "bye, mom" or anything.  Guess that's better than having to shake him off my leg, right? 

I can't wait to hear about his first day.

Good Morning, Baltimore

 
I've been to BlogHer. I've even met and talked to a few of my blog friends on my own, without the aid of  conference. I know the excitement.  I know how much fun it is to see the people you know only from their written words and pictures come to life right before your eyes.  I knew I'd be ecstatic to see Alissa today.  What I didn't know was how cool it would be to see our kids meet.

 
Um, mom, we're kind of on a conference call here. Could you check back later?

Alissa and I have speculated for quite some time that Dean and Liam would likely be great friends, two peas in a pod, and all such as that.  For two days leading up to our meet-up at the Maryland Science Center, these guys couldn't stop talking about each other.  Dean kept asking, "When we seeing my buddy? Wiam?"  When they first spotted each other, they made a run for it, crashing together in the cutest three-year-old hug ever.  Along with my four-year-old nephew, Adam, they were quite the fun bunch of boys. 

 
Whenever I read blogs, I always think, MAN! I wish I lived near THEM so our kids could play! But it's never been a reality before now.  I have to tell you--I'd happily forego any and all blogging conferences in the future if it meant I could spend that time and money hanging out with some of my blog friends and their families.  I think we sometimes forget how deep these friendships are, how much these people mean to us and how many things they get us through, even if we've never laid eyes on each other in real life. It was extremely cool to see one of these friends from this uber-important aspect of my life interact with my family.  Alissa and I talked about how much fun it would be to get the boys together every year on our annual trip to visit my in-laws in DC.  I hope that's a tradition that will stick.

 
The little guys had a blast in the kids' area of the museum where they caught fish and played in a submarine. They ran wild in the dinosaur hall and ate lunch at the Beaker Cafe.  After lunch, we walked down to a cute splash fountain where they managed to soak themselves.  It was great fun.  Alissa got to meet Marcus and his mom and dad, and we got a good amount of time to talk about Blogs and life in general.  I always feel so rejuvinated when I've seen one of my girlfriends and today was certianly one of those times. I feel as though my social battery has been recharged.  (Too bad I had to break out my "mean mom" voice when my child started acting a fool and tried to jump into the Inner Harbor.)

Super huge thanks to Alissa for making time to meet up with us and for taking us to the very cool museum.  I hope it's the first of many fun times together...for us and the little buddies.

 

 

Free At Last

DIAPER-free, that is!  We started potty-training Dean not long after his second birthday.  He went along with it when we'd put him on the potty. I think he liked the rewards (chocolate chips or stickers).  Then we had a setback. For a while, we had to completely abandon the idea of the potty, lest he end up in tears.  We started trying again after he turned 3.  No interest.  Bribes rarely worked. Wearing underwear or going naked didn't work. Enlisting the help of his teachers at mother's day out was a disaster. They found it much easier to stick to his diaper and pull-up changing schedule than try to get him to the potty before he wet.  Almost nothing we tried worked.

In order to go to the new awesome preschool in the fall, Dean has to be completely potty trained. No pull-ups. No diaper for nap time. Totally trained.  I began doing research and found the Potty Boot  Camp book. It claimed to do 90% of the training in 2 days.  I ordered the book on Amazon and read it quickly. (It's only about 50 pages long.)  In a nutshell, it was NOT the method for us. This approach has apparently worked really well for a lot of people, but it just didn't fit into our lives.  The 2 days of nakedness, the cleanup procedure and, especially, the "potty drills" seemed a bit harsh and counter-productive. Plus, Dean is a bit stubborn. (NO idea where he gets that, y'all.)  He would not have reacted well to punitive measures.

I was venting my frustrations to Andreaone night as we chatted on Skype and she asked if I'd heard of the 3 Day Potty Training method. She sent me a link to a site where you can download an e-book called "3 Day Potty Training."  You even get an online mentor who you can email with questions or concerns.  I read the 38 pages in no time flat and knew this was the method for us.  I'm not going to do a commercial for the product, I promise, but in order to tell the story, I need to tell you about the method. It uses praise and positive reinforcement. It allows the child to call the shots. He  learns from his mistakes, but he's not punished for them. 

The night before we started, we washed underwear. ALL our underwear.  We let Dean see ours and help fold them and pick out which ones we put on after our showers.  We also discussed the many types of cool undies that were available and he said he'd like some with Buzz and Woody on them. NO PROBLEM, kid. Your grandmothers sent you about 30 pairs.  After Dean was asleep, Marcus and I stuck some Buzz Lightyear wall decals all over the bathroom, cleaned the heck out of the toilet and put out his undies, some stickers and a reward chart.

 On day one (Sunday), we got up, had breakfast and read the paper.  Once Marcus and I were sufficiently caffeinated, we took Dean to the hall bathroom.   Once in the bathroom, we told him that he was now a big boy and that he no longer wore diapers. He took off his diaper and threw it in the trashcan, along with the 6 diapers and 2 pull-ups left in the packages.  He picked a cool pair of Buzz Lightyear undies and discovered his sticker reward chart. I borrowed an idea from Christy and made an underwear bowl. There's a big mixing bowl full of little boy briefs in his bathroom  and he can pick his own pair whenever he needs a change. He often picks new pair just for the heck of it, even when the ones he's wearing are still fine.  We told Dean to tell us if he needed to go potty. We said this about every 10 minutes.  He got extra cups of water and other liquidy refreshments throughout the day to provide more "learning experiences."  Each time he'd start to pee, he'd look at us and scream, "PEE!" and we'd all run to the bathroom to finish the "experience" on the potty.  By the 4th time, we were dribble-free and we made it to the bathroom with completely dry undies. 

Now when I say we told him to tell us if he needed to go every 10 minutes, I mean it.  We must have said those words a hundred times on Sunday.  We also did pop quizzes, where we all checked our pants to see if they were dry. If they were, we all got a sticker or a treat.  (Don't you want to hang out at our house?)  Anyway, the gist of it is, we made it DEAN's idea.  Now he tells us, either with words, by grabbing his crotch and running, or with "the look" that he needs to potty.  Sure, we're still having accidents from time to time, but he's woken up dry the last 3 mornings (we went cold turkey on the diapers--nighttime, too!) and he got up from his rest time yesterday to go potty.  Pooping is going slowly, but at least he will say, "Chock-o-lit?" when he feels like he needs to poop. I think all little kids are kind of freaked out by doing #2 in the potty, but we figure that will come eventually. We'll keep working.

We are SUPER proud of him and very, very relieved to be making huge steps in the right direction with potty training.   I know there are a ton of methods out there, but this one worked beautifully for us.  And it surely did feel good to break up with Huggies once and for all! 

Easter

 Admit it.  It's my catchy titles that keep you coming back.

It's been a while since my little family of three had (more or less) an entire weekend with just the three of us.  We had originally planned to go out of town for Easter, but those plans fell through, so I got to work filling our Saturday and Sunday with fun activities to do as a famiy.

Saturday morning, we headed to our favorite park for our town's Easter Egg Hunt.  Dean had a great time hunting eggs, seeing the extremely creepy life-sized Easter Bunny and playing on the playground.

 

 
After the egg hunt, we stopped by Panera to grab a quick lunch.  Dean was in kids' meal Heaven. He ordered macaroni and cheese (which is GREAT there), a fruit cup and juice and they threw in a yogurt as part of his meal. He ate and ate and ate.  After lunch, we headed to the movies to see HOP. This was only Dean's second time at the movies and he did pretty well.

 
Our movie theatre provides these dreamy booster seats. Dean tolerated it during the previews while he was enjoying his gummi bears, then stood up (on my foot) the second the movie started. He only tried to escape once, which I counted as Success!  The movie was cute, but had a bit too much live action and not enough bunny rabbit for Dean's liking.

Saturday night, Marcus grilled some amazingly good ribs and we played outside until the sun went down.

Sunday morning, Dean woke up and we went down to check out his loot from the Easter Bunny.

 
Kid racked up!  Not all that is from the bunny, though.  Some of it was sent by his Nana and Pop Pop, some by his GG. He also got a pre-Easter basket from my mom and dad last weekend when we visited them.  (Forgive the clutter behind the table.  It's our old pack n play and a Huggies box full of baby stuff for a friend who's having a little boy next month.)

Dean LOVED everything in his basket, with the dinosaurs taking a slight edge for first place in his heart.  We read all the books, stuck stickers all over ourselves and sorted through the edible things.  Then this happened:

 
This child done decided he LOVES the chocolate bunnies.  In fact, he talked about this one (which he devoured before breakfast) so much that Marcus bought him another one on Tuesday.

The rest of Easter Sunday was spent around the house painting, playing outside and eating a tasty brunch.  That evening, we went out on the boat. This was Dean's first trip out and he had an absolute blast!  He grabbed the little emergency paddle that you use if your motor gives out, declared it his Diego paddle and proceeded to sing the "rescue pack" song from Go Diego Go. Then he let the paddle go in the water and that was pretty much the end of that.

 
Marcus caught a couple of small bass while we were out and, as usual, Dean was stoked. He held the fish and told them they were cute.

 

All was dandy until we had to let the fish go back to his watery home.

 
Tears. GIANT SAD TEARS.  Marcus tried to gently explain how the fish couldn't breathe if he was out of the water and that he probably needed to get home for dinner anyway or his fish mom would worry about him, but still. Tears.  We had to go home shortly after this picture was taken.

Once everyone got home and calmed down, we spread out on the hood of my car, looked at the stars and talked about our favorite things we'd done over the weekend.  If it wasn't a perfect weekend, it was pretty darn close.

 

A Friday Vlog

If you ever wonder whether or not I love my readers, remember that today, I have posted a video of me without makeup. There ya go.