In case you were wondering...

This is what a ballerina princes looks like, after her (rare, but glorious!) nap

Children's Museum (Vids)

This was hysterical. Parker REALLY liked the elevator.

Parker's FAVORITE. I thought I got two minutes of video of him doing this before I realized I hadn't turned it on. Shame you couldn't have seen that part. :)

Aunt Tara's Visit (The Children's Museum)

I took Friday off to spend with the kids and Aunt Tara. We were hoping to go to the Gardens or some place bigger, but our choices were limited by the rain.  So we decided to head out to the Children's Museum. This was the first time any of us had gone.  Maia started whining right as we got there, she was absolutely positive she did not want to go. Fortunately, the three-and-a-half year old doesn't make the decisions... and the moment we walked in, Tara and I got a chuckle about the amazed looks on their little faces. We got the typical emphatic nod from Maia and Parker's pointy finger was fully extended.

So what to do first!?!

Parker wanted to check out the trains...

... and they were both very excited about the bubble tables.

Parker sang me a song.

And Maia banged out a tune.

There were science experiments

This table helped us learn about gravity and axles.

Parker learned about gravity, too, by stacking odd shaped pieces of polished wood and letting them topple over.

Maia LOVED pretending in the Dentist's office.

And Parker thought this mirror tube was pretty cool.

Maia whipped up a tasty lunch while Parker did some grocery shopping.

But Parker could have played with this thing all day.  Video coming!

Maia explored a light table with transluscent building pieces.

And Parker ran through this barn approximately 15098 times.

At the end, when it was time for lunch and naps, we dropped a few pennies in the wishing well,

and Maia wished, Wished, WISHED that we could come back again!

Aunt Tara's Visit

Near the end of March, Aunt Tara came for a long weekend and we could not have been more excited about it.  The kids took off two days of school so they could play with her!  


Well, they did have to make a brief stop at school to get their school pictures taken... but it was a summery day, so the headed to the Parker after that. Just the three of them!  And it looks like they had their run of the place.

 Although I wasn't with them, I think there is some evidence in these photos of how BIG they're getting. How independently they can play, but also how cooperative they are with each other.  I LOVE that.

Dude.

 Parker is not quite as adventurous as Maia when it comes to swinging. She is always "higher! faster!"  Parker, not so much. "No! No too high!"

The Easter Bunny

We missed the annual visit to Santa this year (although he did visit them at school).  So I'd hoped to make it to the Easter Bunny, to make sure we could keep the streak alive. So far, both of my kids have avoided the gripping fear of large-headed Holiday Celebrities. 

On this particular weekend, we had a busy day planned. Ray was home recovering from a procedure, so the kids and I went to Grandma and Papa's house to play (pics from that in another post).  We'd come home to nap, and when they woke, we had a snack and loaded up in the car. They were in great moods, and it was the day before Easter, so I figured here is was: My shining chance.  And Momma Knows. 

We pulled up to the nearest door at the mall. Loaded Parker into the stroller. Maia helped me push (win for big sister, fun ride for little brother).  We get in line... about 10 kids long.  Maia's got gum, Parker's working on a tic tac or two.  Move up a spot, Parker and Maia switch: Maia in the stroller, Parker exploring.  We watch some kids contentedly sit with the bunny. We distract for the kids who don't.  Right before us, there is a 3-4 year old who has an absolute MELT DOWN, laying on the floor, screaming and kicking. The poor mother keeps trying to get that elusive pic, but it is not to be. 

My kids are getting antsy, but we're singing songs and making up silly rhymes.  Finally. Our turn.  They both walk up to The Bunny. Parker is fascinated. Maia says a shy little hi.  They're happy to talk to him (he doesn't say anything back. Bunnies don't talk, silly!) and Maia, big girl that she is, decides she will sit NEXT to him, but not on his lap.

It's always a challenge to get them LOOKING at the camera, and Parker wasn't interested in giving up his paci, but they really did just fine!  So here it is:

We chose our print, paid, got the pics and headed right back out to the car. No drama. No muss. No fuss. Yay for my kids! I was pleased with myself for orchestrating it right. I'm not always great with that.

And back to Grandma and Papa's we went!

Life has been a little challenging lately. Challenges new and challenges old.  But the fact that I have been remiss in keeping this blog updated continues to nag at me throughout. My most sincere apologies to Maia's and Parker's fans.


So tonight: the house is clean. The kids are bathed, in bed, and packed up for school tomorrow. Laundry is done (although not put away). And the last GR Symphony performance (for me) of the season wrapped up last night.  I have a LOT of catching up to do!   So bear with me, as the next few posts will be largely out of sequence. 

A Big Day!

I think I'll start with the big news...

Parker. Pooped. On. The. Potty.  

For the first time. At daycare.  He seems to do a lot of his firsts at daycare.

He hasn't even peed on it yet... and from the story of him telling them "not yet" when they asked him if he was done... for about 15 minutes, it sounds like he absolutely knew what he was doing. 

  

I know, I know. It's one of those things only parents of young children tend to get excited about. And I am excited about it. I'm also a little annoyed. I HATE potty training. Or, at least, I hated potty training Maia... So I'm not super eager to do it again. We're not really even done with Maia yet!

That said, Ray has visions of diaperless futures, while I'm content with "fewer" for the moment. 

 Parker's response to my excitement?   "Paci pees?"  and a begrudging high five. Whatever, mom.  After about the third retelling and the over-the-top excitement we all showed (me, Maia, Daddy) - he did start to grin and appear a little proud.

 Maia, on the other hand, had her first field trip today.  She asked me in the morning if I could go, but I took a lot of time off last week when Parker had pneumonia; I didn't feel like I could swing it.

After I got to work, however, my co-worker convinced me I needed to go. They went to the public museum, and got to ride a school bus there.  First major concern by this copper top?  There were no seat belts!

Since I drove down separately, I got the opportunity to watch them unload from the bus and then cross the entry way to surprise Maia. She was excited!

We got a little look around the old city, and Maia sat in the train station, and really liked the horse-drawn streetcar.

After a little exploring there, we went to an upstairs classroom to talk a bit about space.  The kids just completed a unit on space in their classroom, so this was the follow up.  The kids sat with the educator and talked about what they knew about space, gravity, astronauts, space suits, planets, the moon and the sun.

Then they made their own Alien Masks, tried on an astronaut helmet, and bounced around on moon shoes.

There was about a 2:1 ratio of kids to adults, and it was the preschool and pre-k classes... so there were a BUNCH of people there. And the curriculum was aimed toward the 5-6 year old set, so there were some, um... "maturity challenges" to things like direction following and paying attention.  But mostly they did great!

After the classroom, they headed out to one room of the "Mars" exhibit, where they got to stand on scales and find out what they would weigh on Earth, The Moon and Space.  They also got to see what the earth looks like from the windows of a space shuttle, make a magnetic alien, and try some space exercises.

After all the space stuff, it was down to the carousel for a ride, and back to the bus.  I got Maia settled on her horse and said goodbye to return back to work.