'Tis the season

for Christmas-y things!

While C was busy admiring the Christmas tree,

Hey, you!

 

 H was busy decorating gingerbread men with our neighbor Clara-Hartwell. 

 He had a great time and thought it was a lot of fun.  It's a good thing that he doesn't like cookies, he had no interest in sampling the gingerbread.  CH on the other hand was very interested and kept eating a bite out of her gingerbread men's heads. 

H alternated between calling the sprinkles pepper or medicine.  He was either cooking or playing doctor.  

 We just let them have fun and do all of the decorating with very minor coaching - so we have beautiful gengerbread men with bites out of their heads, piles of sprinkles, spotty icing, but we had a great time doing it!  Lots of laughs, and it kept them happy and seated for about 40 minutes!   

H is very excited about Santa coming tomorrow.  We will see how the day goes!

Merry Christmas to you! 

May your Christmas be filled 

with wonder and light!

Hanging out

As C has started reacting more and becoming a little more fun to interact with, H seems to be enjoying having a little buddy to play with. 

"Mama, we're watching a show together."

"We're switching!"

I think he meant that they are switching places.  C rolls and rolls and rolls all over the place, and H likes to get right by him and roll with him - like switching places.  

Sidenote - One of my favorite things that H has said is "Mama, I'm having."  I don't know what he was having, but I'd like to be "having" too!

"We're hiding!"

I was putting clothes away in the bedroom and looked over and both boys were under the bed playing with the bed skirt.

"We're 'pwashing!" 

"Mama, we're trading together!"

H was handing C toys, he would drop them, and then he would hand him another one.  H has also learned that if he takes a toy from C, to hand him another one to keep C from crying and himself from getting fussed at. They learn quick!

It is fun to see the boys start to interact and play together more, I am sure that they will have their arguments and squabbles, but I do hope that these little guys will be good friends.  It does feel good to have two little boys at Christmas time this year.

Pre-pre-school

I have felt like H has needed a little more stimulation lately, something to challenge him a little, and something that just he and I can do while brother is napping.  I was browsing on Pinterest for some Montessori or toddler school ideas and came up with some great ideas, many had free printables that you can use.  Here is a link for my collection on Pinterest.   Usually when I put C down for his morning nap, H comes to me and says: "Mama, you wanna do thumteen (something) wif me?"  How can I refuse.

Here are some pictures of H doing "thumteen" over the past week or two.

Matching colors/items. 

A little bag filled with wooden bowls, people and felt balls in matching colors.  Right now I was just letting him do what he wanted with them.  He matches the bowls and puts the people or balls in them, he mixes them all up, he puts one color on each kitchen tile... I've seen kids using tongs to put move the items around.  For now it is just primary colors (and green) but I was thinking that we could eventually put orange and purple and learn about color mixing...

Dominoes

He loves to stand them up and knock them over.  We've started matching dots a little bit too.

A daily schedule and weather

I will see H refer to this every now and again throughout the day (although some days he totally ignores it).  On Sunday's when we have family movie night, he keeps bringing me the family movie night card as if he hopes it will mean its time!

And he will change the weather card too (today it is "Sunday" (sunny)).

I should have taken a picture - last night I found all of the days events with the magnets taken off hidden in the book I'm reading!  Haha!  Maybe I should put them away for a little while...

Heads and Tails

Matching the head and tail of each animal or creating new strange animals!

(From Eric Carle's Brown Bear, Brown Bear)

Some little plastic frogs.  

Setting them on their noses was all H's idea.

Matching frogs by color and making a frog train.

Coins

Counting numbers and putting coins in the jar - there is a little slit for them in the lid.  

He found quickly that sometimes they get stuck and you need to shake them between additions.  It is fun to see how quickly he figures out how to manipulate things!

Matching

These have the picture of the robot/person/animal and then the silhouette to match it with.  He does pretty good with it and likes to stack the matches (these are on the lids of old tea tins).  Eventually we will play this like a memory game where you flip them over and have to remember where the matches are.

H does pretty good with all of these activities.  There are a couple that I prepared and thought he would be ready for but quickly realized that we will need to wait on them.  We also rotate some of these activities with coloring, playing with music, building block towers and playing with his farm animals or trains.   Sometimes I have to help him stay focused long enough to finish the activity, and I also have to try to not step in when he gets stumped... but I am enjoying our little pre-pre-school activities and I think he is too!

Funny boys

For bath time tonight, we tried C out in the Bumbo seat instead of the huge baby bath.  He loved being able to check out all of the toys floating around, and H liked having a little more room to play.  And they both enjoyed making each other laugh!

While visions of sugarplums

 danced through their heads...

Six Months

 I cannot believe that this little boy is six months old!  I know that I have been with him every day of those six months, but it has gone so quickly that I feel like I've missed some.  He has been such a joy and such a fun addition to our family.  He has been strong and chubby since day one! 

 He is very expressive and likes to smile. He will stare at someone until he gets their attention and then will grin.  No one can get him smiling and laughing like his big brother can, though. 

He has started sitting up on his own this week.  I love when babies can sit up.  They seem happier, and it is a little easier for Mama too!

 I love the rolls on this stocky little boy!  At his last check up, he was in the 90th percentile for weight (18 pounds) and 17th for height (24 inches).  We've got short and stocky down!  He is already in 9-12 month size clothes.

He's coming around to food (again).  He was very happy about his first couple of meals, but then decided food wasn't all that exciting.  But now he likes it again.  He likes sweet potatoes and apples the most.  Bananas are pretty good.  He doesn't really like peas or pears.  

 He is very curious and determined.  He will roll himself this way and that way until he gets himself close to what he wants, and then he will try to ooch himself up to it.

 

He is still very attached to his blankie - he must have it to sleep with.  He  needs his paci to fall asleep, but otherwise doesn't really want it.

(If you look closely, C is just on his hand and toes - his belly is off of the floor)

He has started getting up on his knees and doing the yoga plank pose.  I am glad that he is sitting and rolling, but I don't know if I'm quite ready for crawling.

C has a husky little voice.  I look forward to hearing what it sounds like when he talks.

C likes patting things - the floor, toys, whoever is holding them - anything!

Rolling a little bit.  

This boy likes to move! He gets really squirmy if you hold him.  He is happiest rolling on the floor.

Sesame Street and H cheering C on in the background.

A little before lunch art

We had a little impromptu art lesson today before lunch.  C is sitting up pretty well these days and H's little art tray is just the perfect height for C.   H thought it was great fun to teach brother the basics. 

 

Lesson One:  Don't eat the crayons.

 I felt like I was repeating this every few seconds.  

C is a little young to know this, and H thought it was funny that C kept putting them in his mouth, so he started doing the same.... 

 Lesson Two:  "Dis is bwue, bruver."

(this is blue, brother)

 H is really into drawing with multiple crayons in his hand at a time even though he may only use one of them.

 Lesson Three:  "Wook, dis is how you make spiwebs."

(Look, this is how you make spiderwebs)

Spiderwebs must be H's code for "scribble, scribble, scribble!

 Lesson Four:  Improv can be a lot of fun!

C started using the lid for the crayon tin as a musical instrument.  He was banging it on the tray and H thought it was hilarious!

Lesson Five:  Art is more fun with family

You wike corring wif me?

(You like coloring with me?)

University Museum

Today we went to the University Museum for a lesson and craft on African Masks.  We had another little date while C napped at home with Daddy.  We had gone to one of these before but H didn't do so well at that one - I think he was put off by the fact that they had to wear blue paper smocks to use the paint.  There were no smocks required this time, so participation was great!  

 

He was so excited that there were cool foam stickers!  In cool shapes!  Alligators, zebras, giraffes, sparkly stars and more!  Every two year olds dream!

  

They had some masks that the kids could try on.  

 He did great peeling the back off of the stickers.  I have always loved watching little hands work.  They get so focused and determined. 

H's work of art!  

I think he used every sticker and feather that they allotted him.  Some kids just used a few and seemed to have some sort of design in mind, but H wanted to fill up all of the space on his mask.  He was so proud to show it to Daddy when we came home.

Play!

Today the moms group had an open gym at the local gymnastics place.  Since Daddy is just about done with school for the semester, he and C did a little bonding while H and I went and had a date.  We had a blast!  H did a lot of playing and I did a lot of following and helping, but it was a great time for all.

 He did a little jumping

A little hooping

 A little hiding

 A little waiting

 A little hanging

And a little resting!  

We had a great time!  This was a perfect activity for a day too cold for playing outside.  H seemed to like having somewhere to run, jump, climb, swing, and more - and where he wasn't getting in trouble for climbing, running, or jumping on the wrong things (like couches, cribs, and beds!). 

Naughty or nice?

 Naughty or nice?

Definitely nice!

Ole Miss had a Gingerbread village exhibit and Santa came to visit today.  We went to take a picture with him.  He had a real beard and talked with the little ones.  Just what you imagine Santa to be like - jolly, kind, asking what you want for Christmas, reminding you to help Mama..... H was excited to see him and seemed great until the little boy in line in front of us started screaming when he was placed in Santa's lap.  Then H started to seem a little nervous, but he didn't cry, just became very stoic.  But we made it without tears from either boy!  H still seems a little foggy about what the whole Christmas deal is - presents, reindeer and such, but he likes the candy that seems to be associated with it...

Memories in the making!

Hello!

 Peekaboo!

I see you!

We're just hanging around here!

Story time

We went to Oxford's Christmas parade a couple of nights ago and H really enjoyed it - he waved and yelled "Christmas" (for Merry Christmas) to all of the passing people and floats.

This morning we went to story time at the local children's bookstore.

C kept himself occupied while we waited for it to begin.
(It has been cold again! We woke up to snow and a white neighborhood this morning - and 32 degree weather!) H actually thought it was neat this year, instead of screaming like he did when he saw snow last year.

Miss Jill reading a story in the white rocker. She is a lot of fun and often will pull out her guitar and sing after reading the story. One thing that we love about this story-time is that there are so many fun toys to play with. H listened to the stories and then would go play here and there.

H was doing some cooking. He brought me a tray of muffins and was having a good time making sandwiches with another little boy. He seemed to feel very good about the oven mitt he found.
It doesn't really show, but H was dancing to "On Top of Spaghetti" while cooking in this picture.

C liked the music a lot. Especially Old MacDonald, and especially when I let him stand up and dance.


Now you know where we will be next Wednesday!