Bah-bah? Bah-bah!

We had a double dose of Gymboree today.  We started in Music and then stayed for Gym as a makeup class.  In music class, Ms. Kim used Abby to demonstrate the movements to songs to the grownups.  I think Abby enjoyed the special attention.  Towards the end of class, BOTH Abby AND Shawn did the “Bah-bah” activity today!  Abby’s been doing it from the time she started the class.  Today was the first for Shawn, even though he loves to play at home, especially when Abby is there. 

Buenas Noches, Mis Chicos

The new toddler bed setup must have been really exciting for Shawn because he woke up early this morning (6:30 am).  He switched between being awake and asleep off and on until 7:15 am, when I had to get ready for Abby to come over.  I got out some of his toys, turned on some music, and closed the door.  Raj was impressed that Shawn could entertain himself, unsupervised, and not get himself into trouble AND that he didn’t melt down when I left him alone in his room.  (I think part of the secret is that Shawn’s still a little tired in the morning, so he’s not exactly bouncing off the walls!  We’ve also practiced having short time periods to himself for months.  We started with just a few minutes and then built up from there.  I think it’s important that kids have a chance to do their own thing without adults directing their play.)

In Spanish class, Abby and Shawn were super hyper.  (It didn’t help that their friend, Xander, runs around throughout each class and his mom just looks helpless as to what to do with him.  She's a very nice person, but I'm nervous that Xander is going to have trouble once he gets into a structured setting like school, unless either he matures and figures it out on his own or his mom steps in to help him get under control.)  Normally, both Abby and Shawn are very interested in Diego’s lessons and activities, but Xander must have been more engaging today.  It’s a good thing that we were just reviewing counting today and they weren’t missing new stuff!  On the other hand, maybe a new topic would have kept them more attentive! Hmm…  Diego’s project was simply a coloring page of a girl holding balloons.  Abby liked the balloons, but I don’t think any of the kids paid much attention to actually counting them. 

Later, Abby’s nap was about an hour and 45 minutes.  Shawn took his first nap in his converted bed.  He must’ve been happy with it because, I woke him up after 2.5 hours!  (Again, no problems with him escaping when he’s not supposed to, now that he’s able to.)

In the evening, Raj and Shawn went to Open Gym at Gymboree and I went to a Mothers & More board meeting at Cozymel’s in Wheaton.  When I came home, I found Raj and Shawn asleep in the rocking chair… awww…

Shawn: The Human Monkey!

Shawn has officially turned into a human monkey. This morning, he and Abby were playing in his crib. He climbed onto the railing, and perched there for a moment absolutely proud of himself. He announced, “I’m riding a bicycle! Look, Momma! I’m riding a bicycle!” I had to take pictures of his new stunt because I didn’t think Raj would believe me when I told him. It looks like it’s time to convert the baby crib into a toddler bed! (tear…)

Abby went home early today. While Shawn finished his nap, I cleaned house and opened all the windows. The weather station on my computer reported 47 F, but felt MUCH warmer. The windows are staying open!

When Shawn woke from his nap, I set him up in the basement with all of his toys so I could continue cleaning the rest of the house. I blocked the stairs with a puppy/baby gate and went upstairs to get to work. The next thing I knew, Shawn was standing next to me giggling uncontrollably! I thought maybe the gate fell down or something, but when I checked, it was still intact just as I had left it. Shawn demonstrated his escape artist's skills by sticking his toes into the little holes in the gate - up and over he went! Simple as that! He was beaming with pride, even more so than when he got out of the crib this morning! We're in trouble...

When Raj got home, he changed the crib into a toddler bed. Now, instead of a full height railing across the top, it has a half height rail that goes about ¾ of the way across. Shawn was so excited that he could climb in and out “all by MY self!” (which he practiced over and over again!), that he was extremely wound up with enthusiasm. He had a hard time relaxing enough to go to sleep, though climbing out of bed in the middle of the night didn’t seem to be an issue. When he woke up, he simply sat up and called for me as usual. I’m not sure if he’s awake enough at those times to realize that he could get out if he wanted to. (I wonder how long this will last!)

Shawn Von Leonberger

Shawn peed in toilet this morning!! This is getting exciting! I still think it’s more about timing than Shawn’s actual effort - but who cares?! This is great!

It’s a gloomy, rainy day. Good thing there’s a Pet Expo going on at Arlington Race Track today! Luckily, it’s indoors and not actually out on the race track. There were mostly dogs, a couple of cats, and one booth with reptiles. We watched a team of Frisbee catching dogs do some pretty incredible jumps and tricks. Lots of vendors came to sell their pet supplies, food, etc. There were many rescue organizations showing off their breeds and Shawn and I pet dozens of them. (If we had gotten there earlier, we probably would have pet all them at least once!) Shawn showed absolutely no interest in any of the dogs smaller than him - it was as if he looked right past them, looking for something more interesting. BUT, whenever we walked by a big breed dog, there was a magnetic pull that he/I/we couldn't resist! (He is his mother's son!) One of those magnetic breeds was a breed I'd never heard of before: the Leonberger. We met one that was just 8 months old who could easily have used Shawn as a chin rest. When Shawn walked up to him, he laid down as if to say, "I'll lay here for as long as you are willing to pet me!" So, Shawn nestled between his front and back legs and played in his fur. A few minutes later, another Leonberger came over to join the party and laid down on the other side of Shawn, who was now the middle of a great big Leo-sandwich! I think Shawn had the most comfortable (and the warmest) seat in the house! He was thrilled and, with one hand gently on each bear-like animal, grinned from ear to ear. I really wish I had taken a picture, but I was too busy enjoying the scene to even think about it until it was too late.

Could there be a Leo (or some other large breed dog) in our future? Shawn and I may have some work to do before Raj is comfortable with that idea!

Dinner at 2Toots

Shawn did not sleep well last night; therefore, I did not sleep well last night.  Ugh.  This morning came much faster than I was ready for it to.  Rats.  As Raj was leaving for work, he suggested that we skip Shawn’s swimming lesson so that we could both sleep in, since Shawn was sleeping soundly now.  Though it was tempting, I knew that would throw off naptime and probably tonight’s sleep too, so I rolled out of bed and braced myself for the start of the day.

Once I was dressed and ready, I went in to wake Shawn, who I found sitting up in bed with a giant smile.  “I had a good nap!” he announced.  Well, it’s a good thing, because Momma didn’t!  He saw our gym bag in my hand and said, “Shawn and Momma go swimming pool!”  With that, we got him out of bed and out of his pajamas.  Before I put his swimming gear on, I sat him on the potty seat… just to see what would happen.  It must have been good timing because after just a few seconds - SUCCESS!  Shawn peed in the toilet!  YIPPEEEEE!!  Despite my rough night, today’s starting look not so bad after all! 

We got to the YMCA half an hour early.  The lifeguard on duty let us get in the pool even though our teacher wasn’t there yet.  Shawn did great.  The water was slightly warmer than last week, but he still shivered.  I helped Shawn practice climbing out of the pool and then scoot back in.  His arms were much more relaxed today and he was more willing to climb out and “jump” back in again.  I was hoping that being more active would help warm him up and stop his shivering, but no such luck.  Gradually, a few other students arrived and Shawn grew more and more observant.  Our friend, Tanner, and his mom, whose name I still don’t know, were back to class today.  However, there was still no teacher.  A new lifeguard on duty came over and asked us if we were a part of a class, “Because all the classes are cancelled this week for Spring Break.”  What?!?!  Our teachers told us that Spring Break is NEXT week!  I guess that explains the small class size and no teachers!  Arg.  Luckily, the lifeguard didn’t make us leave; instead, he brought over a crate of toys and encouraged us to take advantage of the unintentional “open swim” time.  So, we did.  The parents joked that aside from acting out a few nursery rhymes in a big circle, we’d probably be doing about the same thing even if the teachers had been there.  We agreed that it was nice to get an extra day of swim time out of our class membership.  Shawn and I finally needed to get going because Baron had an appointment at the groomers, but I think we’ll try to come early next week and see if we can get in the pool early again!

We rushed home, grabbed Baron, and rushed back out to the groomers (practically the same area as the YMCA was).  While “Baron taking a bath,” Shawn and I visited a thrift store down the street.  We found a couple of outdoorsy toys and two shirts that I think/hope will work as smocks, if I can get up the guts to have Shawn and Abby do some artsy-crafty projects.  With the hopes of finding some “foodrink” to snack on until Baron was ready to be picked up, we stopped at a deli that I had never noticed before.  It turned out to be a Polish grocery store, with nothing we could munch on there (mostly dried and canned goods); however, I found the mother load of KinderEgg Surprises!  Like a kid in a candy store, I grabbed a handful of them to use at Easter.  (We’ll see if I can hold out that long!) 

When we got back to the car, I got the phone call that Baron was done.  Then it was home for lunch and then naptime.  Just as I was sitting down to read Shawn a story for naptime, Raj came home.  So, we came back downstairs and played with Dadda for a little while before trying for a nap again.  This time, though he had been running around like a hyperactive squirrel moments before, Shawn fell fast asleep. 

We went out to dinner to celebrate Raj’s birthday, though it was really with Shawn in mind.  The 2Toots Train Whistle Grill was on Main Street in Glen Ellyn, steps away from the train tracks.  (It was really much more of a greasy diner, but food isn’t what they’re known for.)  Each table in the diner was situated alongside the tracks of a model train, which delivered the diners’ meals!  Shawn was in awe from the moment we walked in.  Raj was able to feed him while he focused on the trains that surrounded us: on the model train track, on the wall décor, on the small tv in the corner, on the real tracks just outside window, everywhere!  Shawn was so enamored with the place that I’m actually not so sure he even realized he was eating!  We’ll definitely have to go back, even though the “old fashioned comfort food” wasn’t very impressive.

When our meal was over and Shawn regained his ability to blink, we headed home.  Mona was on her way over to spend the evening with Shawn, while Raj and I enjoyed a simple movie Date Night on our own.  Nice!

It's Finally Friday

Abby arrived at 7:30 this morning.  About half an hour later, we were playing and getting ready for breakfast downstairs when we heard, “A dump truck!  A dump truck!” being squealed from upstairs.  Shawn’s awake!  He was very excited to see a truck from the landscaping crew parked in the island in the center of our cul de sac.  (It was actually a pick-up truck, but who’s counting?)

At breakfast, I opened the front and back doors to let some fresh air in.  It was a bit wishful thinking though, or maybe just too early in the day.  We didn’t even finish the meal before I closed the doors again because it was too cold. 

Both kids had pants problems today!  Must not have eaten enough at breakfast!  They’d be playing and look down to see their pants on the floor.  Shawn was even running around without them for a few steps before he even noticed it.  We decided to change clothes (or at least put on different pants) before going to Gymboree – otherwise, they might have climbed right out of them!

Listening to CDs on the way to Family Gym, Abby identified Mickey Mouse’s voice each time he sang a song.  Though it was a CD of songs song by Mickey and his friends, it turns out that most of them are by Goofy.  At Gymboree, the theme of the day was ‘Construction Zone.’  The kids made ‘cement’ by putting scarves and air bags into a big barrel, they filled ‘holes in a bumpy road’ by stuffing toys into the creases of a mat, they ‘hammered and sawed a leaky roof & painted the house’ using plastic sticks on a climbing structure, they ‘fixed a clogged pipe,’ by retrieving a huge pile of scarves from a tunnel, and they ‘turned on a faucet’ by climbing through the cleared tunnel.  Later, both actually participated in Freeze!  Towards the end of class, while Abby was catching bubbles in the air, Shawn was trying to pick them up off the ground.  When that didn’t work very well for him, he switched to purposely popping them with his fingertip.  Much easier!  Of course, Abby loved dancing to the music, and Shawn danced a little on his own today.  When Gymbo (the toddler-sized clown doll mascot) came out at the end of class, both of them gave him big hugs.  There’s part of a song that gives directions of how to dance with Gymbo.  One part says Gymbo’s tired and goes to sleep, so everyone lays down on the mats and pretends to sleep.  BOTH kids did it AND BOTH jumped up when we realize that Gymbo doesn’t really want to sleep.  Usually, I have to give Shawn more than a little nudge to get him to lay down and then it takes him a while to get up again afterwards – he’s too busy watching everyone else dance along to the music.  We stuck around for a little while after class was over to play in Open Gym, but we still needed to have nap time, so we didn’t stay very long.  Neither of  the kids were quite ready to go when I was and they kept trying to go back to the equipment and play more.  Sorry, guys!  We’ll have to wait until Monday!  (I did manage to schedule a makeup session from when we missed music class to go to Kiddie Klub Lane.  We didn’t get another music class, but we have an extra gym class next week.  Next Wednesday we’ll start with music,  stay for a gym class, then come home for lunch and naps – perfect!  I think they’ll be happy to have gym after music class anyway.)

While both napped, I opened the doors again.  It was just shy of 50 F, but the fresh air was nice.  Abby woke up and Bill came to get her shortly after.  When Shawn woke up, he asked if the boys were playing games outside, like yesterday.  He also wanted to “ride the bicycle with Momma” again.  How could I resist that?  So, out we went! 

Unfortunately, the temperature must have dropped considerably by that time because by the time we got to the park (the closer of the two near us), I was already chilled.  Grant it, walking with Shawn isn’t exactly expeditious!  We stopped along the way to check out each “fy-ah hide-nt” (a.k.a. fire hydrant) and mailbox in our path, not to mention the occasional pinecone and stick too.  Plus, he had picked up a football from the garage before we left and was practicing throwing it (which looks more like holding the ball over his head and then spiking it down to the ground) at least 2 or 3 times on each block.  When we finally got to the park, he climbed the stairs and went down the big spiral slide a couple of times before I figured we better start heading back before it got much colder.  (At the rate it took us to get to the park, it very well could have been dark by the time we got home!)  Another boy at the park arrived on a small, neon green and black bike that captured Shawn’s attention.  When he and his mom were leaving the park in the same direction as our home, it was pretty easy to convince Shawn it was time for us to go, too.  We watched the neon green bike peddle ahead of us until it was out of sight, but luckily it helped keep Shawn motivated to walk forward – we even passed a fire hydrant or two without him noticing.  The combination of watching the fancy bike and my resistance to let Shawn investigate every landmark on the way made the walk home much faster.  Still, he was not happy that I rushed him inside to warm up and get ready for dinner, rather than let him play outside on his tricycle or in his Cozy Coupe car.  They will be there another (hopefully slightly warmer) day, little man.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Shawn and I dressed in green in honor of today’s holiday.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t a very green day outside though – it was nice and warm (low 60 F!), but it was grey and threatening to rain all day.  At least we didn’t need coats again today!  But, rather than risk getting caught out in the rain, we played inside and listened to lots of Celtic music!

The Drop-In Story Time at the library resumed this week, so we were excited to get back to it.  We recognized another mom and son from a Northwestern Suburban Families playgroup at the Elk Grove library a few weeks ago, though we had to re-introduce ourselves.  The other mom, Sandra, mentioned that maybe this could become an event for the NWSF members to come to, since free events are always nice to include.  I haven’t been a very active member, so it would be nice if this could be an NWSF event!

The theme for the next few weeks is ‘Going Places’ and today we focused on ‘Going to see Grandparents.’  I thought it was a little odd they didn’t do anything for St. Patrick’s Day, like ‘Going to Ireland’ perhaps! They observed Valentine’s Day and other holidays in the past, but we certainly can’t complain about honoring grandparents on any day of the year!  Anyway, Ms. Nancy read:

·         Grandparents are the Greatest Because… by Adele Aron Greenspun and Joan Swartz

·         Grandfather and I by Helen A Buckley

·         What Grandpas Do Best / What Grandmas Do Best by Laura Numeroff

·         The Grandma Book by Todd Parr

·         The Grandpa Book by Todd Parr

We learned two new rhymes:

Here are Grandma's Spectacles.

Here are Grandma's spectacles, (make circles around eyes)
And here is Grandma's hat, (place hands above head to form a hat)
And here's the way she folds her hands, (fold hands)
And puts them in her lap. (lay hands in lap)

Here are Grandpa's spectacles, (make circles around eyes)
And here is Grandpa's hat, (place hands above head to form a hat)
And here's the way he folds his arms, (fold arms)
And sits down just like that. (lean back and put up feet)

Do It for Grandma/Grandpa
(to the tune of Did You Ever See a Lassie?)

Let’s clap our hands for Grandma, for Grandma, for Grandma,
Let’s clap them this way, clap this way and that way,
Let’s clap them this way, clap this way and that way,
Let’s clap our hands for Grandma,
Let’s clap them this way

Repeat:  Let’s stomp our feet for Grandpa…

Ms. Nancy did a good job on the topic of grandparents, but I was still surprised that St. Patrick’s Day wasn’t even acknowledged!

Abby, Shawn, and I returned home to rekindle our Irish spirits.  We danced to some Celtic music and I found some books about Ireland, St. Patrick, and (of course) harps.  (Ms. Nancy, let me know if you need to borrow anything for next year!)  I even had Celtic music playing in the background while we had lunch.  After dancing our sillies out and then filling our bellies, it was nap time.

Abby woke up and was back to her home before Shawn even woke up.  I went into his room to wake him from his very long nap, only to find him already standing at the railing of his bed, “I had a good nap!”  (I love when he wakes up like this!) 

You could hear some neighborhood kids playing outside, so Shawn said, “I want to play game with boys outside!” and then asked for his football that was on top of his bookshelf, his shoes, and his Spiderman hat (which is in the laundry).  He was quite the determined little boy!  We went outside and he looked at the boys playing football, but didn’t go further than our sidewalk.  Instead, we tried out his tricycle, which has been waiting for him in the garage since he was born, but his legs are still a little too short to push the peddles.  I pushed him instead and that was just as fun.  When Raj came home, Shawn mentioned he wanted to play with the boys again, but this time he actually walked all the way over to them – by himself!  Luckily, they saw him coming and paused their game so Shawn wouldn’t get tackled.  He and Raj watched for a few minutes from a safe distance before getting the mail and delivering it back home, as their usual routine.

For dinner, St. Patrick returned!  I made corned beef, potatoes, and carrots and we drank Harp beer.  For dessert, we had homemade Shamrock Shakes w/ homemade whipped cream and green sprinkles on top.  YUM!