8 posts tagged “fam”

We're members of the Magic House Children's Museum, a great place for young kids to explore, learn and have fun.  We've been there more than a half-dozen times in the past year, and M really enjoys it.  It's been fun to see her evolution in a place she considers one of her hang-outs.  Early on she was all about the flowing water exhibit and playing with the dry sand.  Later it was all about climbing the stairs and sliding down the big, cushy green slide (over and over ...).  Last time we were there to play, she was mostly interested in climbing up the spiral staircase, shopping in the grocery store and fishing in the "catch and release" stream (with magnetic fish).  M really enjoys herself and it's a great way to give her a change of pace and burn off some energy, especially if the weather's bad.

Rae signed her up for one of the series of toddler education programs they have there - The Toddler Science.  One Wednesday a month (for the school year) she goes and participates in a fun, 45-minute program with various activities designed around a particular theme.  A handful of kids (something less than 10, I suppose) are there with a "special adult" (parent, grandparent, nanny, whatever), and after a brief introduction by a room facilitator, the kids are free to engage in whatever activity they want to do.  They activities are basic, and multi-sensory, and there's a little learning going on and a lot of fun.

Rae took her to the first few classes last autumn, but I got to take her to today's.  Today's theme was all about winter.  The activities included:

• A laundry basket full of mittens and gloves, that the kids were to find the matching pairs.
• A picture book about how some animals hibernate in the winter, along with a wooden display that had various stuffed animals hibernating, and a large box in which the kids could pretend to hibernate.
• A large block of ice in a tupperware, with a smaller container full of blue watercolor and large droppers, which the kids were to use to suck up the water and squirt it over the block of ice.  It was very cool how it soaked into the block and trickled down the sides.
• A basket full of different sized styrofoam balls (snowballs) that the kids were to sort into other baskets by size.
• A large container full of shaving cream (snow) with icecubes that the kids could touch, grab, squish between their fingers.
• A craft station where the kids could make and decorate their own snowflakes.

M had a blast with all of the activities.  She started with sorting the snowballs, which was interesting to watch her do.  She realized right away that the big ones were big and belonged together, but the medium and small were more similar and posed a challenge initially.  She was trying to do it visually, holding one and looking at the baskets to make the match.  After a few failed attempts, I suggested she pick up the snowball she was trying to match and compare them side by side.  Once she did that, holding them right out in front of her, she could see the differences and sorted them lickity split.  Once she "knew the trick" she was done with that game and it was off to the block of ice.

The ice block was fun.  After having me fill her dropper up for her a few times, she was filling it up herself and squirting it all over the block of ice (which was "very cooooold, papa").  She tried to dig a little hole in the top and fill it with blue water, but the ice was still pretty frozen.  After a few attempts at filling the dropper as full as she could get it, she was on to the next thing.

We made a few snowflakes.  They had different sizes, but she only wanted the little ones.  She smeared blue gluestick all over them and put on foil paper, construction paper and shiny dots of various blues.  She saw one mom using a pair of scissors and wanted "to practice my cutting" so I helped her start a construction paper snowflake.  (I think the mom was shocked that I let her use the scissors, even though they were safety scissors.) 

Next up was the container of snow.  She stuck her hand in (after pushing up her own sleeves) and felt around, finding as many icecubes as she could.  After a moment, I stuck my hand in to squish it between my fingers, and to moosh it around hers.  Side note, they do this sort of play with the shaving cream with the sensory table at her school.  There they are encouraged to clap their hands and "make it snow".  Fast forward back to today, M was looking at me with a questioning glance, though not really saying anything, and I could tell she was thinking about something, wanting to do something more than just feel around and collect icecubes.  So I turned my hand over and told her to put a big glop of snow in my hand and clap on my hand - POOF!!! - instant snow.  She got a huge hoot out of this, and kept putting more in my hand and POOF!!! shaving cream snow all over the place.  I realized that all of the other kids who had been at this station had been content just feeling around, and I wondered what the instructor was thinking, but she never said anything and M and I kept right on making it snow.  After a few short moments of this, we went to the sink and got cleaned up then went back to the station and cleaned up our mess.  M was very helful and I think even understood that we had been doing something special, and that we needed to clean up after our fun.

After that it was over to the hibernation exhibit to play with the stuffed animals and crawl inside the box.  At first she wasn't interested in climbing in there with other kids in it.  Once all the kids were gone, she decided it was okay, and climbed in and monopolized all the teddybears that were in there.  When one girl wanted in, it took a little coaxing on my part, but M eventually gave her one of the bears and made room for her to come in.  After that, she was fine crawling in and out with other kids in there with her.  Ahh kids.

The last thing we did was play with the mittens and hats and scarves.  She was quite the little fashion diva, even striking her "sassy pose" for some of the moms.  We collected our snowflakes and grabbed our coats, then sat out in the hall to have a snack (apples and graham crackers).  She had a real blast today, and I had a lot of fun too.  She was soooo excited to be taking papa to the Magic House, she was telling everyone in her class about it all morning before I picked her up.  When she got back to school, I got a few smooches and I was off to work with the image of a smiling and very happy little girl on my mind.  I'm glad Rae was busy today.  I have a feeling that the next classes will be a rock-paper-scissors contest (best 2 out of 3) to see who gets to take her.

Well, M sure threw a wrinkle into our evening plans when she hopped off her chair from the dinner table and announced "I want my big girl bed tonight!".

Oooooookay.

This isn't completely out of the blue, as we've been talking about this for the past few weeks (ever since she got to sleep on the floor on her "fun bed" at Great Grandma's at Xmas and Grandma's over New Years).  We've been talking to her about getting a new bed and rearranging her room, in anticipation of it happening soon, and gearing her up for the change.  When we first started talking about it it, her response was "for my birthday" (in April).  Then just this Friday we found out she's moving up to one of the preschool rooms in a few weeks, and so all weekend whenever she talked about it it was "when I go to preschool".  Then, out of the blue this evening, "I want my big girl bed tonight."

So, we spent all evening taking down her crib, swiffering her floor, rearranging her room, and putting up her new big girl bed.  She was really excited to see it happening and to be a part of the process.  She "helped" me disassemble her crib, "carry" her mattresses upstairs, and "help" me put her bed frame together.  While she took a bath I got her side rail thingy put together, and she "helped" us put the sheets on.  We let her do the obligatory bouncing *grin* and then she and I read books while Chloe curled up on the end of her bed.  After 3 potty calls (2 of which were procrastinating) and 3 "one more kisses", I think she's finally asleep in her new bed.

This is a big deal, and while we've been talking about this for a while, I don't think Rae or I was exactly ready for this quite so fast or in the manner it happened.  It was like pulling off a sticky bandaid - just do it quick before you have a chance to think about what you're doing and *poof* it's over before you know it.  I think we're both still in shock.

Her room looks great.  We weren't entirely sure if the new bed and all her furniture was going to fit like we wanted it to (it's a tiny room), but it really does work great and look great.  Tomorrow I have the day off, and I'll be putting together a cubbie/shelf thing and then her new big girl room will be complete.  I can't hardly believe it.

newbed6

I'm home today.  M's got a pretty nasty cold, she's been coughing, sneezing and sniffling since dinner last night.  Night time was atrocious, as she was coughing constantly, and no one got any sleep.  She had a serious coughing fit around 2a, and from then to 4:30 I sat with her in her chair so she'd be upright and help the drainage.  It did the trick for a while, as she stopped coughing and we both managed to fall asleep.  Around 4:30 though she started getting fidgety and tossing and turning in my arms, so I put her back in her bed and hoped for the best.  She managed to fall asleep again without much coughing and slept for another 3 hours.

I was supposed to have a dentist appointment this morning, postponed 3 times already from the original date in October.  Rae called them around 6:30 (she was up getting ready for work, she knew I'd stay home with her) to cancel and let me sleep until 8.  Called the office at 8:30 to tell them I wasn't coming in.  Been hanging out downstairs in the family room and the playroom since breakfast.

I'm dog tired, but fortunately M hasn't been that active either, so we've both been taking it easy.  She's having a snack of Goldfish and raisins right now, and we're getting ready to go back downstairs.  I think I'm going to make pizza rolls for our lunch today, and make homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner tonight.  Might also cook some chicken breasts for tomorrow's dinner, we'll see how that goes.

This morning, M and I are in the kitchen, she's feeding Miles while I gather things up to get ready to leave.

Me: *grabs wallet and work ID, and cell phone*
M: Uh oh, Mommy forgot her phone!
Me: No, silly, this is my phone (seeing only one, and Rae was already gone for a meeting)
M: No, silly Papa, that's Mommy's phone.
Me: Okay, kiddo, whatever you say *puts phone in pocket*

Later, after dropping M off at school, I grab the phone to call Rae to remind her of something ... It was Rae's phone. We have identical phones. Yeah. My kid spooks me when she does stuff like that, and it's not all that uncommon.

So, a while back one of my folks' cats died, Patches. M doesn't really remember her. They got Sugar shortly after, as a playmate for Sammy. Back then, I think Rae and I mentioned a couple of times (and only a couple) that they got Sugar because Patches died. Nothing more than that, and not much else was said. Then, just this week, out of the blue, M and Rae were talking about 'grandma and grandpa's kitties' and M says, "Grandpa got Sugar because Patches died, right mom?" Rae says, "That's right, sweetie, Patches died. She had been really sick." Suddenly, M seems to make a connection between dying and being sick. Not a direct link (we don't think), but suddenly, without any real concept of what dying is, but with a clear understanding of what it means to be sick, she suddenly realizes, to some degree, that being sick (which is a bad thing) and dying are related, and dying must be bad.

Then tonight, again out of the blue, she says, "Grandma and grandpa are going home to take care of Sammy and Sugar. And that one who died. What was its name?" So I tell her, then I pull her into my lap and ask her if she knows what it means when something dies. She says no. I say, "Well, sweetie, when something dies, it leaves us, it goes away." To which she asks, "Where does it go?" "I don't really know, sweetie. They just aren't physically with us any more. But they are with us in our hearts and in our memories. Grandma and grandpa really love Patches and have lots of memories of her, so she's still with us even though she's gone." "Oh," she says, and puts her head on my chest.

So yeah, I have no idea if I said the right thing, or what I should have said, or if what I said really made any sense to her or if I was just talking. Knowing M, though, and the way she seems to remember things, some bit of it stuck. And so I wonder if it was a good bit, the right bit, or just what you're supposed to say and how you're supposed to do this.

Rae and I have read stuff in magazines, that you're not supposed to say "Patches went to sleep" or "Patches went on a trip" or things like that, because they kids associate dying with sleeping or taking a trip, and they become scare to sleep, or when mom or dad take a trip, etc. And Rae's comment about Patches being sick, while true, and not really "wrong" in the sense of "sleeping" or "taking a trip" ... it still could have some of the same effect, in that she could associate being sick with dying.

And add to that the fact that both Rae and I have elderly grandparents and other family members, and we could be dealing with other situations of death close to home in the coming years.

So, parents out there, have you talked with your kids about death? When did you do it? What was the circumstances? How did you do it and what did you say? Any thoughts, advice, suggestions, encouragement? I really can't believe I'm thinking about this while M is only 2.5, but there it is. Thoughts?

(*whew* it's been a while)

Last week M started calling our boycat Miles MyMy.  Just out of the blue, Miles became "my friend MyMy".  Neither Rae or I have ever called him this, so it's a thing of her own creation, coinciding with her new fixation, and it's just adorable.   She wants to be the one to feed him in the morning and evening, she wants to be the one to brush him, and when we get home in the evenings she wanders the house calling "MyMy!" until she finds him.  If he hangs out with us in the kitchen while we're cooking, she'll lay in the middle of the floor with her head on him like he's a furry pillow.  We leave the house in the mornngs and she yells back into the house, "Bye, Chloe Anne!  Bye, MyMy!" 

This morning it was, "Bye, ChloeChloe!  Bye, MyMy!"  I hope for Chloe's sake M doesn't shift her full attention, as I have serious doubts about Chloe's ability to put up with M in quite the same way Miles does.

Just got back from Target.  Had to get some necessities and a string of lights for the tree, because one of our strings just wouldn't work last night.  Ended up walking through the toy aisles, at first as an inadvertent cut through to the xmas stuff, then to look for a few things for M's cousin.  Then on a whim I wanted to see if they had any of the cameras, and sure enough they had the "Target Only" red fisherprice digicam.  I showed Rae, then put it back, when I saw a little tag on the box "Free 32MB SD Card" .. huh.  And about $5 cheaper than the one we got at Kmart.  We decided to throw it in the cart and get it, and see if we can start working on her about wanting 'a red camera', maybe with the angle that it'll be different than her cousin's and "special" and they would be able to tell them apart.  We'll see.  If she doesn't budge, then we'll just give her the blue one and take the red one back, no big deal.  But it would be nice to have the free memory card and pay a few bucks less.  We'll see.

Got Chinese food early last week (didn't want to cook or have leftovers before the long feast holiday) and got the obligatory fortune cookies.  I juggled the three of them and had M tell me when to stop.  When she did, I took the cookie that was by itself in my hand and gave it to her to open.  All she wanted was the cookie part (it was her first fortune cookie) and I read her fortune:

An empty sack cannot stand by itself