Mother's Day 2013

Here's a quick wrap up of our mother's day.

I got to spend it with my two sons and my husband, who got me Ravinia tickets and some lovely flowers. Nick had this very special present for me that he made in school.

He even tried to write out his full name, Nicholas. The letters are all there. . . somewhere.

We ate Portillo's in the car. I think Portillo's is Nick's all-time favorite place to get lunch.

We went up to visit my mother for a little bit.

Both boys got some snuggle time and played outside.

Henry helped out by mowing the lawn.

We went to Grandma Toni's for dinner. Greg cooked the whole yummy dinner (meatloaf) for all of us, plus Aunt Sarah.

Henry entertained us with his antics. Yes, that's a bowl on his head.

Mother's Day Project and Pinterest Drama

Happy Mother's Day everyone! Each year, I've tried to make projects for Mother's Day that somehow ask my kids to be creative. One year, Nick painted plant stakes, and last year the boys made garden stones for each of the four grandmothers (and one great-grandmother). This year, we tried something different.

I found this idea on Pinterest, and decided to try it with the boys. They both love to color, and I know that tiles are pretty cheap, so I figured it would be a great idea. I wanted to add photos along with the boys' artwork, for an extra touch. My problem was that I didn't decide to start this project until around, oh, 9 a.m. Saturday morning. 

On Saturdays, my husband works a full day, and I have the boys all to myself. We always have a little date-for-three, and yesterday our date involved multiple trips. First, we had to go to Menard's to get the tiles. They were a steal at $0.12 each, but none of the other supplies were available there, so we also had to make a trip to Walmart to get Mod Podge, ribbon, scrapbook paper, tacky glue, felt hearts, paintbrushes, and art supplies. I decided to take the boys out for lunch in order to complete the drawing part of this project. In retrospect, crayons would've bled into the paper less, but I chose markers because the boys like them better.

Another big challenge was getting the boys to draw on command. Though I did get enough pictures, Nick pouted when I asked him to draw small pictures. Henry spent much of his time flinging markers and crumbling up his papers. Some of the pictures couldn't be used because Henry spilled syrup on them.

While the boys were down for naptime, I cut and glued the scrapbook paper and Mod Podged it down. Then I found pictures of the boys and cut out the pictures the boys had drawn. This is the part that took hours and covered our entire kitchen table. I added layer upon layer of Mod Podge. 

Around 11 p.m., I was finally ready to cover the finished coasters with acrylic spray. Then, early this morning, we added foam heart stickers to the back. 

The last step, tying on the ribbon, took an hour longer than Pinterest suggested, though I have to admit I'm not very good at tying neat knots.

I also made mother's day cards on the computer. Here's how some of them turned out.

Happy Mother's Day!

Chef Henry's Microwave Creation and Nick's Behavioral Celebration

I've been crazy busy this week, so when Henry offered to make me a microwave dinner at the Cafe N' Play, I was totally down with his plan. I sat in the kitchen area reading a murder mystery while Sir Henry cooked away.

He's quite thorough with the ingredients, though he got very frustrated when they all wouldn't fit into the toy microwave.

I took all of these pictures with my new Ipad mini. I spent all last weekend preparing for a speech I gave as part of a panel discussion of ELL Professionals over at North Central College on Tuesday. My preparations were really stressful, and I got very nervous once I realized that 60+ students had registered to listen to our panel of four presenters.  I think it went fairly well, and I received a speaker's fee. Therefore, I felt I deserved a little present: the Ipad mini. So far, I love it, though I'm still learning to speak Mac.

Henry's play is getting more realistic and structured lately, though he still loves throwing things. I'm also starting to recognize a few more of his words. This morning he treated all of us to a garbled version of "Five Little Monkeys, Jumping on the Bed." It was nearly understandable, and we were so proud.  :)

I don't want to leave Nick out of the glory. He spent three hours at the Cafe N Play and never once needed a time out. In fact, a little boy around his age came over and started pulling his hair really hard, trying to get in front of him on the slide. Nick just sat tight and yelled for me. The boy's mother got there at the same time and disentangled her son's fingers. I told Nick how proud I was that he hadn't hit or pushed the boy. I gave him a big hug because I want him to know that self-control is valued. Then I helped him put on this dragon/construction worker costume.

Another Nicholas triumph? Tonight, for one of the first times ever, Nick sat quietly and listened to the story. He didn't interrupt, yell, or get up once. He even asked a question afterwards.

I need to remember days like today when I get frustrated with my boys' behavior.

Henry jumped over the caterpillar!

I've been taking Henry to a parent-child dance class for the last few months. This class is usually pretty fun, but if someone were watching from the outside, they would be laughing really hard. The instructor dances, the mommies try to copy her, and the toddlers look at us like are we're completely nuts. It's really all about learning to follow directions and having fun moving around, and I do think Henry is doing that. He loves the class and he sure has fun! They wear hats, play with shakers, and try all kinds of dance moves.

Every week, the teacher puts a stuffed caterpillar on a plastic star. She wants the kids to hold up a furry flower and jump over the caterpillar. Then (if anyone makes it that far) they're supposed to turn in a circle and take a bow or curtsy. Every kid takes a turn, and there are differing degrees of success. I would say that none of the one and two-year-olds in this class ever follow all the directions, and some of them even stay attached to a parent's leg.

Sometimes Henry stomps on the caterpillar, sometimes he picks up the plastic star and runs across the room with it. Sometimes he tries to feed the flower to the caterpillar.

This week, Henry actually followed most of the directions. Watch this!

Henry was the star of our little toddler dance class, at least for a minute or so. Everyone clapped for him, and he wore a huge grin.  While I completely realize that this moment of glory is a tiny (and maybe rather silly) accomplishment, I am still filled with excitement when I watch it. Go Henry! 

We've Got Some Lego Ladies Up In Here!

It's official: Nick's Lego village now includes two lovely Lego Ladies.

I decided it was time to go co-ed after the following discussion the other night.

Nick: Mommy, what's another name for a girl Lego guy?
Me: A Lego lady, maybe?
Nick: Okay, then, we need to get some Lego ladies up in here. The guys are lonely in our skyscraper!

 I did think it was curious that none of Nick's Lego sets came with any female Lego people. It's not that I have anything against Lego men, it's just that. . . . a world populated only by men is kind of boring. And, as Nick said, his guys were lonely. Especially the one in the green overalls. He lost his head.

When I was in the store today, I ventured into the purple and pink aisle and found the "Lego Friends." Besides having better hairdos than their male counterparts, the Lego Ladies are also taller and have rounded shoes. I was afraid their kits would be too girly, but I was pleasantly surprised. I got Nick a jetski set and an ice cream cart, both of which we put together tonight. Note all three Lego men cruising on it in the picture above. I love how the headless man is, of course, the driver.

Although I only have sons, I try very hard to allow them to form their own opinions of gender roles. Nick and Henry love to wrestle and poke one another with sticks, but they also adore walking around in my shoes and sampling my eyeshadow. (They always pick the most expensive kind to play with, unfortunately.) Traditional gender roles don't really fly around here. For example, Nick once said something to the effect of, "Mommies don't clean! Only Daddies clean." In our home, this statement is more true than it probably is in most places.

Therefore, I made sure Nick knew that the lady in purple (she comes with a name. Emma, I believe) is perfectly capable of being the foreman (forewoman?) on the skyscraper-building project.

Nick was completely okay with this. I told him that Emma's friend Kate (the one who came with the jetski) needs to get something to wear other than a bikini top before she can come into the construction zone.

In the same vein, we had the disgruntled, bald gentlemen with the five-o'clock-shadow pull the bright pink ice-cream cart around.I was rather confused as to why jetskis and ice cream carts are only sold with the sets marketed for girls. Boys like those things, too! In my Utopian Lego World, the Lego Guys could get their hair done, eat ice cream, and then participate with their Lego Lady friends in the demolition of a small building. Strange how all of the boy-themed sets are all styled on either good vs. evil battles OR outright destruction. Nick has a mining set that comes with dynamite and even an exploding boulder.

Nick tried Emma's hair on the disgruntled Lego man with the five-o'clock shadow, and I think he looks a little more pleased with his life.

Nick is very happy with his new Lego Ladies. He put all of the male and female Lego People inside the skyscraper for the night. We'll see if some of my Facebook friends are correct and Lego Babies end up being born soon.

Clover-Diggers and Dandelion-Stompers

The unseasonably warm weather today inspired me to take the boys outside for some fresh air and exercise. They like to copy what I'm doing, so today we worked in the front yard. We dug up clover, which is slowly devouring my front lawn and landscaping.

Nick is actually heavy enough and strong enough to use the small shovel this year. He dug up several huge clumps of clover, then ripped out the roots!

I'm not sure how this much clover got into my landscaping, but by the end of last year it was everywhere. We dig it up and it just keeps coming back. This year, I'm determined to fight the clover.

"Insidious clover!" 

Nick listened carefully to my gardening chatter and asked questions. "Mommy, what does insidious mean?" I explained that clover is insidious because at first there's just a little bit growing slowly, but then pretty soon it takes over and kills the other plants. Nick kept repeating that word, over and over again, chanting it at the clover as he dug with the shovel. "Insidious! Insidious! Indisious! Innisious!"

Henry tried stomping on my shovel like Nick and I did, but he didn't accomplish much. 

While Henry is definitely bigger and more coordinated than he was last year, he's at a really frustrating stage in his development. He understands so much of what we're doing and talking about, and he wants to help and participate. But his speech is pretty delayed, so he can't talk much, and he's not really big enough to do much damage with a shovel. I still praised him for smacking the clover with his plastic shovel, though.

"Take that, evil clover! Whap! Whap!"

Actually, once we took a break from the digging, Henry ended up being very helpful. He likes to pick dandelions, and he picked every single one from the front lawn. We're talking probably 30 dandelions. Henry can't say flower yet, so he said something that sounded like "owwa!" when presenting them in a pile at my feet. He reminds me of how cats sometimes proudly drop a dead mouse in front of their owners.

Have a dandelion problem? Henry works cheap and he's cheerful when on the job. 

Once he got started, Henry didn't stop until every dandelion was picked. 

I forgot how much exercise I can get just from being outside with the boys. Henry-chasing keeps me pretty busy, and I usually can't sit outside for too long without plucking, digging, or weeding something. Today I was pulling out the old sticks from my autumn joy. The boys assisted and then used the sticks for poking.

"This stick would make a great light saber!"

"Hmm, this one looks just about the right size for poking my big brother." 

I had to explain the difference between tulips and dandelions to Henry. He really, really, really wanted to pull one of these pink ones.

"Come on, Mom, just one? You let me pick the little yellow ones and even clapped for me!"

When I'm feeling down, being outside in the sunshine is the best way I can think of to help myself feel better. Spring is such a hopeful season, and watching (or chasing) my kids around the yard almost always seems to improve my mood. Though I will say that they needed quite the bath tonight. Gardening is dirty work!

The Best Thing About Spring

In my opinion, the best part about spring is getting the boys outside more. We like to take little walks in the woods and let the kids explore. We went to Hammel Woods Forest Preserve, which has a beautiful trail by the river.

Climbing on rocks, looking for the signs of spring, and admiring the river all made our trip enjoyable. This spring has been kind of rough, with cold weather, flooding, and very few nice days. We've tried to catch the sunshine whenever we can.

The boys favorite pastime was throwing rocks and sticks into the river. Their socks and shoes got a little damp, but they loved watching the water and seeing what happened when things fell into the water.

Nick is particularly fascinated by bodies of water, and every time we see a pond, stream, creek, or puddle, he wants to throw something into it. 

Henry spent lots of time poking things with sticks. He was also interested in his shadow and how it moved.

I am hoping for some better weather in May, so we can have the boys outside a whole lot more.