snow shoveling

Yesterday we had the biggest snowstorm since we have moved to our current house. PJ was very excited to help shovel with the children's shovel we have. His eagerness didn't surprise me; the fact that when he wanted to he could actually manage to move snow from the sidewalk to the pile did. He was also very disappointed when it was time to go inside and take a break. He was busy clearing the snow off the car and wanted to finish, even though he had wet socks, pants, and mittens.

dentist

PJ had his first dental cleaning today. It wasn't (unfortunately) his first visit to the office. Last time we went (6 months ago) he was scared and wouldn't let them do more than count his teeth, though the hygienist looked at his teeth and said that we had been doing a good job brushing.

This time I was very proactive and I took out every book about visiting the dentist from the library and read all of them to him several times over the past two weeks. We also pretended to clean his puppets teeth and brought his favorite stuffed animal with us and a DVD to watch (the office has screens on the wall.) He was on his best behavior- I am very proud of him. He was a bit shy and at first didn't want the hygienist to put the suction in his mouth, but she showed him what it did and that it didn't hurt and he warmed up to the idea. The highlight of the visit was when the dentist said his teeth look excellent. He was so excited about it and when I left him at school he was excitedly telling his teacher about it. I am curious to ask her tomorrow what he might have told her.

Party for grownups

Last night my huband's company had a end of year party celebrating 13 years since it was founded. We left the two boys with a sitter, who came early to help the baby adjust, since he has been in a stranger anxiety phase. While I was getting ready and the sitter was watching the baby, PJ was watching me get dressed.

PJ: Where are you going?

Me: A party for grown-ups at Abba's work.

PJ: Can I come?

Me: No you weren't invited. And there won't be any other children there. Just grown ups standing around and talking.

PJ: I want to come anyways. Please?

Me: No.

After speaking to my husband, he had a very similar conversation earlier with PJ, describing how there wouldn't be food he wanted to eat (PJ :I'll eat it) and lots of speeches (PJ: I'll listen.)

He cried for two minutes after we left and then played nicely and was asleep when we returned home.

Counting and adding

Last night, on my car ride home, I was listening to a program that spoke about numbers and mentioned that around age 3.5 children start being able to understand integers.

As an experiment, I started asking PJ simple addition and subtraction questions at dinner. He easily did the add one or two, had trouble adding larger numbers and refused to do any subtraction problems. (I think some of that started when I asked him is he had jelly beans and I took some away... At least I was able to appease him with raisins for dessert instead of the requested jelly beans.)

Busy Sunday

This Sunday I spent more one-on-one time with PJ than I have in a long time, which was wonderful. We went for a "bike" ride (he rode his balance bike, I walked.) We then walked to a birthday party for a friend at his house. There were about eight children there with a parent, a cute arts and craft project making "balloon buddies," homemade pin the tail on the donkey with tape and streamers, frozen reheated pizza, and a cake made from a mix. Low key, but the perfect four year old birthday party. After PJ's nap we went to a fundraiser organized by the local crime watch organization and police with inflated jumping toys for the kids. I was concerned that PJ wouldn't go, because he was very quiet, but when I asked him, he shyly nodded that he did want to go and did get on when we got to the front of the line. The highlight was looking at the police helicopter and watching it take off at the end of the event. I have a feeling we will be hearing about the helicopter for a while, as watching it take off seemed to make a real impression on PJ.
My one dilemma I am left with is from the birthday party. The invitation said, no presents and we didn't bring one. However, I did take a number of pictures at the party (and I think I was the only parent doing so). Would it be better to just e-mail them to the parents of the birthday boy, or have them printed and put them together in a album to give to them?

Caught!

When PJ was born, his Bubby knit him a baby blanket that quickly became his comfort object. Because I was terrified that something might happen to it and we would be stuck, we asked his Bubby to know us a spare which she graciously did. We did not tell PJ about the existence of two blankets and would switch them to launder periodically. I took his blanket to wash it the other day, and put the one that had been in his bed in my room, to go into the delicates load, replacing it with the clean one. Before I had a chance to run the load- PJ was in my room and discovered the second blanket. I explained his Bubby gave us two so he would always have one to sleep with if one was dirty but he could only have one at a time. So far he seems to accept that as ok, but he gave me some skeptical looks, and I would not be surprised if he insists on only one of them soon.

new van

We bought a new Honda Odyssey last night. My husband had told my son yesterday that we were trading in the Buick but the new car would be a surprise. PJ was so happy and excited this morning he literally was dancing outside my door when I woke up.

everything is yellow

When PJ was about 20 months old, his group at daycare started working on colors. The first color they introduced when he was there was the color yellow. As my son is not shy and loves attention, he learned that the correct answer to "What color is this?" was yellow. Even when they moved on to the next color, he still thought the color of everything was yellow. It took a while before we had other colors in the rainbow.
It was a temporary phase. For the past few months his favorite color has been declared to be red.

What's my name?

When PJ was first learning to talk, I was surprised, for through he said Abba and milk nicely, he didn't seem to have a name for me. At least that was what I thought...

Then I took him on a trip to my parents. While I was taking a nap and my mom was watching him, he was looking at a picture of me holding him that my parents had put up on the fridge. He was eagerly pointing at it waying something that sounded a lot like my first name. That's when we realized he did have a name for me- just not what I was listening for. I had to convince my husband to start calling me "Mommy" though he wasn't thrilled with the idea.

My guess is that this is a first child only phenomenon.

Pushing boundaries

This past weekend was a time for both children to work hard and expand their boundaries...

PJ is a very socially outgoing child, however he tends to take a while to warm up to trying new challenging physical experiences. We went to a friend's 3 year birthday party at a farm, where they had a petting zoo, horse rides, hay rides, and other equipment for the children to run around. At first he was too shy to feed or even pet the goats, but by the end he was willing to pet the calf and horse. He was still a bit too scared to go on the pony ride.

AM is working so hard on creeping , but still backwards. He can now get up on his hands and toes- which just means he goes backwards faster! I saw him creep forward every so often, but not enough to go where he wanted. I need to get the baby gate up soon...
AM also isn't a big fan of the "summer vegetables" baby food I have in the house and we were having deli for dinner so I put a bit of mustard in to improve the flavor. A few intense expressions followed the first few bites, but then he eagerly ate the rest. I think he likes mustard.

Good morning

This morning, around 6:30AM we heard a tap on our door. Instead of the usual whine and complaints we hear when he is overtired, PJ came to give us a stuffed animal for AJ, who had joined us earlier to nurse.

What a wonderful way to start the morning!

independence

This evening both children expressed their desire to do for themselves in proactive, healthy ways, which makes me happy.
PJ was tired when he was done with dinner, washed his hands, used the bathroom and and went upstairs to his room by himself (and without being told). He turned his pajamas right side out, and put them on al by himself.
AM (who is seven months old) started to fuss while heating he jar of green beans. I tried feeding him sitting on my lap instead of in the high chair, which worked for all of two bites. He then tried to grab for my plate. I put him back in his high chair and put some rice on his tray. He gave me big smiles and had fun trying to pick it up. I think more ended up on the floor than in his mouth, but considering that this only the second time I have given him rice to feed himself, it was pretty good, and he had a good time.

Hebrew education?

This Shabbos, after lunch, as PJ was going up for his nap...

PJ: "Abba, I want to go to Areilla's house to play after my nap."

Abba: "We'll see."

PJ: "You should talk about it with Mommy in Hebrew now."

We use Hebrew to talk about things we don't want him understanding. We sort of know that at some point he may start to learn it- now we know that he knows what we are doing, though I can only guess how much of it he does understands.

"But I am going to be so sad Mommy"

Last night my husband and I went out together to run an errand, and left the children with a babysitter, which we haven't done in a long time. As we were about to leave PJ looks up from his empty dinner plate. "Mommy, when are you going to be back?"

"After you are in bed."

"Mommy I am going to be so sad. Look I am starting to cry."

I gave him a hug and kiss as my heart melted. (And then we left to do our errand.)

All for a jelly bean

Walking this shabbos to friends for lunch, PJ started complaining that is was "longer and longer."

I handed him a jelly bean to encourage (read: bribe) him to walk nicely, which he did holding the jelly bean the whole way to their house.

On the way home, about a block from the friends' house, he started complaining that his feet hurt. I gave him another jelly bean.

Two blocks later...

PJ: Its melting.

Me: So eat it.

PJ (after eating it): Can I have another one?

Me: No

PJ: Can we walk to another friend so I can have another jelly bean?

Me: No.

PJ: When can I have more jelly beans?

Me: Peasach.

PJ: I can't wait for Peasach!

I love the way his mind works.

Visiting an old age home

My husband and I took out sons to visit the nursing home next to Shul today. The baby smiled at everyone- the three year old was shy and took a little while to warm up. I think we will have to do this more often to get him used to it. It seemed to make the residents very happy to see small children visiting.

swimming lessons

PJ's school started weekly swim lessons today. He happily showed me how he blows bubbles in the bathtub. This was unexpected, since it usually takes him several weeks to show me what he has done or learned at school, but great.

deli is like fake meat

On the weekend I convinced PJ (age 3) to try the deli by telling him that "it takes like veggy slices." (the soy fake meat slices).

Nothing like being a mother to make life backwards!

Sitting

AM who is 6 months old just started to pick up his hands while sitting (tripoding). I cheered him on this weekend, which he found funny enough that I had to catch him so he wouldn't to fall over backwards.