T Week!

Monday

We had a very pleasant Monday. The kiddos helped me dust and clean after we did our usual morning routine. I love how helpful they are. And also how OCD they can be. Every speck of dust that was in their eyesight was removed. And handed to me. We painted our Train T’s and played with our ‘snow dough’. After sitting over the weekend, it’s slightly messier, but I already had the broom out anyway! After nap, the kids played with the magnets on the fridge. They have become a new favorite toy, and they moved them from the fridge to the floor today to make a train for the letter T.

Tuesday

This morning was slightly rough. One, if not both, of them are getting some new molars so we’ve all been a little moody. We did our morning routine minus our songs. Instead, I put the Hit List music channel on and we had a dance party to dance our crazies out. It worked temporarily. We ate some snack and sang Mahna Mahna a few hundred times, all while cracking up. Today’s project was inspired by T week and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. I painted their forearms brown and their hands green and we made our very own coconut trees. I need to get some letter stickers for us to stick around the tree, so a Dollar Store trip might be in the cards for this evening.

Wednesday

Today was a laid back kind of day. I found some lower case letter alphabet letters while sorting through my supplies (which is something I need to do a little more often). They had so much fun lining them up along with their other magnets on the fridge. We tried spelling our names and recognizing how some lower case letters look different than their upper case counterparts. We painted some paper plates green and glued turtle legs and heads to them. They ran around like crazy people with those things once they were dry, making them swim and skate and fly!

Thursday

We forgot to do our calendar yesterday, so we doubled up on our dates today, and got back into our usual morning routine with some exercising and some freestyle dancing. I like to use the sound bar or the Music Choice channel to play music for them because most music videos are not kid appropriate OR Tristan and Lily start freaking out and yelling at the people in the videos for climbing on tables, jumping on couches, or hitting cars. It’s hilarious and cute but I’d rather just put the music on and let them dance. We did some fine motor tuning by building very tall towers out of blocks. We also worked on sharing, taking turns, and asking before we knocked someone else’s tower down. Sometimes that is a little tricky to understand, but we’re getting there! We played some more with our new magnets and practiced sharing yet again. 

Friday

Finally, Friday. Actually, this week wasn’t so bad. I feel like I started a lot of projects that I need to complete, but they’ll get there. I retrieved my Barbie collection from my parent’s house last night so we spent some time this morning playing with Luke (Skywalker AND Perry), MC Hammer, the kids from the Babysitters Club series, and Joey Lawrence. Tristan enjoyed setting up the furniture on the existing furniture in our house (ie the chair on the chair, the couch on the couch, etc). After we did our ‘songs’ and the calendar, we ate some snack and stripped down to our smocks. I find just wearing a smock is the safest way to paint with a toddler. Also a giant drop cloth (or old sheet in our case) also does the trick. We painted the top of our spaceship today! I cannot wait to complete this cardboard creation. We have been working on painting it for a few weeks now. I have to get some more glue sticks and add some fun details to it, but it’s about 78% complete and on its way to take off. Hopefully in time for a Photoshoot Friday next week!

S Week and a Mini Photoshoot Friday!

I apologize for the lack of posts lately! I have been slightly off my game with blogging and thinking of 3985 million things and projects at once. We’ve been keeping up with our letters and projects, but I have not been keeping up with my usual naptime write up of our day to day events. I am in the middle of creating a mock table setting for our very DIY wedding (which is coming along quite nicely if I do say so myself). This past long weekend gave me a chance to recharge my batteries completely and now I feel like I can conquer anything! Especially the rest of those cookies Lily and I made on Valentine’s Day!

Tuesday

Back on track this morning bright and early! We ate our breakfasts, had some nakey baby time (it’s a must in this house), and then got dressed to do the calendar. We played with blocks and took out a few toys we haven’t seen in a while. Then it was time for snack and projects. We painted our S Snakes with water colors and then used those same water colors to paint snow! Even though my batteries are recharged, I wasn’t quite feeling bundling us all up and venturing out just yet today (plus we’re all a little dried out and chapped). So instead, we brought the snow to us! They had fun using different colors to decorate the snow and it was just the right consistency to smush and mold and melt. It was a fun sensory project without the added hassle of layering, forgetting to go potty, un-layering, layering again, freezing, and back indoors.

Wednesday

Before we did the calendar today, I thought it was Thursday and panicked because I have a lot of things I would like to accomplish before Friday. But when I found out it was only Wednesday, I got slightly bummed. So that’s where I am at this week! Anyway, we did our usual routine up until we tried to do our songs and exercises. The cable and internet were being a little wonky, so I turned off the wifi on my phone and we did Bear Hunt and Walking Through the Jungle in our usual fashion of trampling around the house. We had a little more free play time then climbed in our chairs for a healthier snack of fruits followed by a not so healthy chocolate chip cookies. They need to go ASAP because I am giving up sweets for Lent. Or trying to! After snack we took turns scooping uncooked black beans into socks to make snowmen. It took a decent amount of time and they were cracking up doing it. I tried to tie off each section (using a rubber band) in Olaf proportions, and I plan on cutting out Olaf-esque faces, carrot noses, and buttons but we shall see how they turn out! The socks and the beans were a Dollar Store purchase so I am not sure how sturdy these things will be. They might just be a shelf decoration for now!

Thursday

Brr. I am giving up WINTER for Lent. Sheesh. I can’t wait to get these kids back outside! We had a laid back morning today. We did our morning routine with our calendar and songs, and then we just played. They were being so sweet toward each other and sharing so well, I just went along with it. We didn’t do a project in the morning, but after nap and lunch we tried a new sensory play! I found a ‘recipe’ on Pinterest for ‘snow’. You mix 2 cups of baking soda with ½ cup of conditioner (I used Suave Coconut because it was under $2 and white). The kids loved it! They had fun helping me mix the two ingredients together and then I gave each of them a Tupperware container and some utensils. Tristan used the utensils until I made him a ball to hold. Lily dug right in and got dirty. It is like the winter version of the Cloud Dough (baby oil/flour mixture) we made in the summer. It leaves some residue on your hands so it’s not quite as mess free as play dough is, but if you don’t work it around too much, it’s pretty easy to clean up.

Friday

This short week actually felt like a short week. We had another laid back morning. We did our routine but at a slow moving pace. We watched a few silly videos and had a little bit of a dance off. We even did a laid back Photoshoot Friday where the kids were superheroes! This was a simple but fun idea I decided to do this week while I’m working on building a big prop for the next one. Ash brought over some cute costumes for the kids to play with and I tried to come up with the simplest photo shoot I could do. The kids helped me color the action words and I made the buildings out of cardboard I had laying around. After we were done taking pictures, they played with the words and the buildings, making 'roads' and walking very carefully on them. I love when they come up with ideas like that on their own! It is also so nice to see them be able to entertain themselves and each other, even if it is just for a short period of time.

Hope everyone has a fun weekend! Here's a Flashback Friday picture to the first Superhero Shoot we did. Man, it was definitely a whole lot easy for this one when Tristan was just a peanut! 

Tiny Victories

This week has started out a little rocky. I am not sure if there is a full moon or some sort of barometric pressure change or my karma from all the things I put my poor mother through is starting to make itself known. Whatever it is, this week the past one and a half days have needed some extra caffeine, more patience, and a lot of belly breathing. When I feel myself start to drift off into that negative place, I try to think of things that have occurred in the past week or two that I consider Mom Victories. They are the little things that occur throughout the day that make you say to yourself in an almost cocky way, "Hey, I got this" before your child tries to prove you wrong. Whether it is bath time without a fight (to get in or out), or a successful trip to a store where no one shoots your a sympathetic look as your child sings at the top of her lungs with no means to stop, these tiny victories are not to be taken lightly. They are the fuel that keeps us going as parents. Well, that and coffee. Here are a few of my personal favorites that I feel sometimes deserve a trophy or a trophy or a cupcake. 

• Finally picking that monster boogie. You all know the one I am talking about. It is probably attached to some part of their brain and has been in their nose for 2 days. They have fought you on picking it for them despite constant nose itching and suddenly you notice their defenses are down while they are drinking their cup or watching TV and BAM. You use that pinkie nail and get it with one quick swipe, rejoicing in victory until you realize you have a booger on your finger and no tissues in sight.

• Peeing alone with no incidents. I breathe a sigh of relief if the kiddos are contently occupied and I manage to sneak off to the bathroom alone. Thank goodness one thing I learned in college was to pee super-duper fast because one of the following usually occurs. The first being as soon as I sit down, I hear one of them scream in distress about a taken toy or someone sitting to close or someone looking at them the wrong way. This will be followed by an OW and some crying or more screaming. The second is that creepy eerie silence that you know cannot be good. You pee with lightning speed and run back in the room to find one of two scenarios. They are exactly where you left them, zoning out to Elmo or Daniel Tiger. Or they are on top of the TV stand reaching for sharp knives while opening up all the cleaning chemicals. Well, not that extreme but you get the picture.
  
• Putting a child down for nap without seriously considering cutting an arm off and leaving it in the crib. We now don’t have these issues too much because Tristan uses a cot downstairs instead of the pack and play and Lily sleeps in her big girl bed, but I can remember a few times all I wanted was a shower and all one of them wanted was to sleep on me. They would be sleeping soundly, complete with drool and snoring and I would ever so carefully shift their weight and wait a minute, hold my breath and then lower them in gently, keeping contact as long as possible. Then just as I was bringing my arms back up, eyes would pop open and crying would begin. Sometimes my own.

• A meal time selection that everyone eats and does not complain. This is probably partially my karma for being a picky eater as a child. Every meal time resembled a diner. My brother didn’t eat cheese and I didn’t eat anything but the staples--hot dogs, nuggets, corn, and mac and cheese—so dinners were always fun for my mom. I usually try to plan out in the morning or at nap what the lunch menu will consist of. It usually is two different things but on some rare occasion, I will prepare one meal (usually soup or nuggets) and both children will not only willingly eat it, they will ask for seconds and watch TV without screaming at one another. I like these times.

• Making it up the stairs without making a noise. I oftentimes give myself a mental high five when this occurs. Moms of light sleepers know the struggle. You finally get them down/back to sleep without having to remove a limb and you happily prance away, forgetting how damn loud your house is and WAHH it’s back to the rocker or the floor for you. I have perfected sneaking up these steps like a teenager slinking in after breaking curfew. I know which stairs creak, the right foot placement to not make a sound, when to hold on to the railing, and now for fun, I skip steps and work on my glutes.
  
• Seeing either child read to, comfort, share a giggle, or just hug the other one. All jokes aside, I appreciate the opportunity I have been given to not only watch Lily grow and learn new things daily, but also for her to have her best buddy by her side doing the same thing. I know I am lucky to get to do what I am doing, but I also know it is not an easy task and not everyone could do this. We have really great days and some not so great days. We have time-outs and belly breathing mixed in with our projects and crafts and fun. They drive me nuts (and they know it). I lose my patience. I give them 3,052 kisses a day. Sometimes, I want to run away and hide in a closet with a bottle of wine and a ton of chocolate. But then I come back from taking a deep breath and counting to ten, and the two of them are sitting side by side, reading to each other or making each other laugh. And I then know I am doing something right.