Week Recap

We had a busy week this week.  I recently discovered the website seattleschild.com which has every activity for children on a calendar.  I spent a couple hours one night looking at everything and plugging it into our calendar.  It feels good to have some new activities to do with Thomas and Elin.

Tuesday night we went to zoo members appreciation night.  Members were allowed in after hours and there were special activities to do and see.  It was a mad house!  The zoomasium was jam packed with wild children of all ages.  Our 2 year old was on the edge of getting trampled so we took him out of the play area as quickly as we could.  This resulted in a major meltdown soon to be adjusted into seeing the animals and heading back to the play area 10 minutes before the end.  It was fun to see the animals at a completely different time than normal.  We got to see the hippos and lions closer than we ever have before.  Thomas also was brave and touched a corn snake with his daddy’s help.  Wednesday morning we got ready and headed into Bellevue to go to Kelsey’s Farm that was having a special seed planting activity.  After playing in the park for a little bit waiting for Dahlia and Whitney to meet us we headed up to the farm.  After seeing the animals we went and planted a flower and we were spent at the farm.  We then headed over to pick up Mike and head to lunch.  Lesson learned here was that with a  tired kiddo going to a sit down lunch is much easier than a serve yourself lunch at Whole Foods.   A major meltdown was avoided and Thomas and Elin were fast asleep before we even pulled out of the parking lot.

Thursday morning we attended Tug Boat story time aboard the Arthur Foss historic Tugboat.  After listening to stories and singing  a few songs we were able to tour the boat.  We were also able to see a police boat, some kayaks and a couple float planes take off.  Thomas loves all vehicles at the moment so he thought this was pretty sweet.  After story time we went over to the park and ran up and down hills until heading back for nap time.  Thursday night there was a bike parade at our neighborhood community center.  We walked over with the neighbor boys to decorate the bikes and then everyone rode in the parade. Thomas was pretty proud of his decked out patriotic wheels.  We in fact have yet to remove all the decorations at his request.  Mike and Elin headed over once she was asleep and she got to wear a princess crown for a photo opportunity.  After the parade we headed inside for a couple games of ring toss, bounce house, and popsicles.  Then it was time for the park and some tire swing fun before heading home. 

We are so excited to have such nice neighbor boys for Thomas to play with.  .   

Professional Photos

Jayme, a fellow blogger,  email introduced me to her cousin who is a photographer from NY who just moved to Seattle.  I got in touch with her, Jennifer Boyle,  before Elin was born and she was going to be out of town until the first part of May.  One thing led to another and by the time we were ready to have pictures taken, Elin was no longer a newborn, so we thought we would wait until later.  

Then a few weeks later, Jenny emailed and asked if we would be willing to do something a little different and take “a day in the life of” photos.  She wanted to build her portfolio and at this point I realized that I was wanting pictures that I don’t have the skill and talent to take.  We were game and Monday night she came over and took a look into our lives of imperfectly perfect chaos.  So much fun to look at the sneak peak, pictures on her blog.  I can’t wait to see the rest.

Thomas was a complete ham, Mike and I slowly warmed up and finally got “normal” after a 30 minutes or so. Elin was her easy going little sleepy calm self until she thought she should have been asleep 15 minutes earlier.  Jenny followed us through getting ready for dinner, dinner, a bit of playing in the basement, the ball field and then getting ready for bed. 

Here is the link, I will post our favorites after we get the complete disk.

Fire and Safety Awareness Day

Fire and safety awareness day was a huge hit for Thomas.  His eyes were about as big as saucers as he looked and got to see fire trucks, ambulances and other rescue vehicles up close.  He even got to sit in the drivers seat and drive his little heart out.  Elin also had big eyes as she peaked out from being wrapped up and under the umbrella.  Each “station” had a different sticker that they put on a passport for Thomas.  After he collected all his stickers he got a safety packet to fill out at home with Mike and I.  He was patient waiting his turn, following directions and using his manners to say thank you.  He looked at all the fireman, medics and rescue workers in their gear and was a little nervous at first.  After a few a few reassurances he was ready to hand out high fives and smiles.  He had a great time and was talking about it the whole ride home.

Same!

For the past 7-8 weeks Thomas has been very into “same.”    He picks someone and something and points out how they are the same.  He and Grandpa McConachie and Laschen would be same with “short pants” on.  He and Daddy are same every day with either their hats, sun glasses, shoes, clothes or what they are doing/eating.  He and I are the same when his Daddy or Grandpas are not around.   This morning same took on a whole new meaning.  He crawled out of bed, took off his diaper, said “Mama naked same like Stella.”  Then crawled up next to her on the couch until Stella got off the couch to go outside to go potty.  Thomas was right behind proclaiming he must be “same” as Stella.  Sure enough he went outside stood there stark naked and peed.  He then told me “Same Stella Mama pee outside.”  What a nut!

Maybe I am the nut too for letting my naked little guy outside.  It was a gorgeous sunny morning so what the heck.  Your only little once…

He continues to navigate the potty and also had a success making a poo on the big toilet this morning too.   No rushing though, with busy lives, trips scheduled and mama not having the energy to rush to potties while we are out and about we will try to keep him in diapers while we are out and let him do what he wants when we are here.  He is not ready (we are not ready) for a boy in big undies yet!

Busy weekend

Friday night kicked off by our adventure at the locks.  Then Saturday morning we were off to Edmonds, which is directly north of our house.   There is an off leash area for Stella to play in Puget Sound and a park that Thomas was able to explore.  After both of the “older” kids got their energy out we were headed home. 

Saturday night we headed over to Bellevue to meet Max and Amy for dinner.  We stopped at another park to kill sometime before we met up with them.  We  watched and fed the ducks and played hide and seek.  Then Thomas had a blast running around and continuing his game of hide and seek with a couple other unwilling 8-9 year old participants.  Like his dad said “some day those girls will love a guy that young chasing them.”   We then headed to our dinner and after eating and wrangling our 2 year old we were all ready for bed. 

Saturday morning we got up and took off to see the animals at Kelsey Creek Farm.   Thomas ran around and looked at, imitated, and pet the animals that were close enough to reach, all while Elin did what she does best slept.   

Sunday afternoon we made a family trip to see Madagascar 3.  Thomas was so excited about seeing the big movie that when we were at the park with Stella all he wanted to do was come home to get Mike and Elin to leave.   Thomas made it through all but the last 5 minutes of the movie enjoying his kiddy pack of popcorn and fun fruits.  Mike and I also enjoyed our family movie date and all the adult humor in the movie.  After the movie we grabbed some sushi to end our weekend of family fun. 

Unique trip to the Locks

After dinner on Friday night we headed back down to the locks to check out the salmon.  As we were watching the 2 biggest boats that we have ever seen go through the locks the boat captain of the Stacey Foss threw Thomas a hat.  He immediately put it on and thought he was pretty cool.   You can see Mike and Thomas standing in front of the boat, while the Captain looks out the window. 

This was also Elin’s first trip to the locks where she was awake for part of the trip.  She looked around at the boats and trees and then was back fast asleep.  Mike also was excited because there were quite a few salmon for us to see in the locks.  It was a great start to our weekend. 

Garden Tots

Thomas and I headed up for a fun new learning experience called Garden Tots.  It is put on by a local botanical gardens/nursery and this mornings theme was “piggy back plants.”  So they gave us a little lesson in plants that grow on other things and don’t need to grow in the dirt.  Then we went on an adventure to find more “piggy back plants” and ran around the gardens for about 30 minutes with a couple other little boys before going to create his creature.  Thomas loved using the magnifying glass to look at the different plants he found.  He also really liked following a couple month older boy, Kyle, around as he was talking about what he saw.  After a few minutes of Kyle leading the adventure, it would switch to Thomas, then back to Kyle.  It was so much fun to watch him meet his new buddy and then lead each other on adventures. Elin was a happy little gardener too, sleeping away the entire morning. 

A few of our favorite things…

Thomas’ current favorite thing to do is to take something with him on a walk.  Our walks have been lately things with wheels be it the wheel barrel, lawn mower, his truck, bike, or his suit case.  He has also been enjoying walking Stella and holding Elin.  He is such a big helper around the house too.  Helping to vaccuum, do laundry and washing (read playing in water making a mess) the dishes. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elin has been enjoying a few new things too.  She loves to lay on her changing table and talk to her toys, particularly the yellow duck.  She also likes when her brother talks to her, or anyone talks with her, her swing and laying on her activity mat.