Adam at Play

Adam's play has really evolved. He's quite ready for lots of "big kid" toys like:

Lego

He got a few sets for Christmas, which was great. He could, for the most part, even follow the instructions and do all the construction with just a little help from Mom or Dad.

Lite Brite

Another hit from Christmas. Lite Brite is even better than when I was a kid. The pegs stay in really well, so we're not finding them all over the house and then half the fun for Adam is that he gets to remove the pieces with pliers.

Quadrilla marble run,

which he shares quite nicely with Naomi and with the many adults who also like playing. Notice the construction paper funnel. That was Adam's idea.

recombinations of toys.

Here, he has taped some cardboard strips and train tracks to the pantry. 

and then combined those with off-the-shelf marble run components.

Arts and Crafts

To my surprise, Adam is also showing quite an interest in arts and crafts, which is, I think being well-encouraged at school, even though it's not really our thing. Part of our weekday routine is that, before I open the apartment door on our way home from the daycare pickup, I ask Adam and Naomi what they plan to do after tidying their shoes and washing their hands. I have found it very helpful for each of them to have a constructive activity in mind, otherwise they default to antagonising each other as soon as I have turned my attention (away from them) to preparing dinner. Anyway. Often, Adam has a craft in mind. Like the day he asked to decorate paper eggs. And why not? It took me all of two minutes to cut up some cardboard from the recycling box and plop a bin of markers on the table. It kept both Naomi and Adam occupied while dinner shaped up. 

Arts and crafts are also popular whenever there is a special occasion. Because special occasions call for decorations, which I have to say is quite delightful. I often have more fun than I expected when I get involved to "help." I can't figure out where the pics are but we made a pretty kick-ass mixed-media Chinese New Year decoration. I should also take a picture of the mixed-media ocean-side forest that bedecks the wall above his pillow.

Adam is also really into board games and card games - notably War, Uno, Snakes and Ladders,

checkers

on a home-made board, and 

chess

on the upgrade home-made board. We have a real one but this one is labelled for quick set-up. Adam often plays solo - generating helpmates in which black trounces white. He also enjoys solving and creating simple chess puzzles. The interest in chess is of great delight to Gung-Gung. 

 Of course, 

reading

- any time, anywhere. This is at a party, for example. I've also seen him reading at the daycare playground. He didn't actually mention it until months after the fact, but he even received his class's literacy award at a school assembly, where they presented a literacy award, a citizenship award, and a leadership award for each class. Very serious about reading. 

very serious about reading.

and now about writing, which was a spectator event until a couple of months ago. Luckily, the writing is usually in appropriate locations like on paper and chalkboards. Which isn't to say we don't find writing all over the house. It's just that he's taped little notes all over the place, labelling things like the finish line for races.

We do play outside too, but it's rare that I have my camera at hand because I've usually got all three kiddos with me. Earlier in the season, Adam tried riding his bike without training wheels. But he wanted them back on right away. He just finished up two 13-week sessions of skating lessons, so I think Dion is hoping he'll try hockey next year. He is signed up for soccer for the first time this summer.

Rub A Dub Dub!

 

 

Adam's First March Break

On regular school days, Adam goes to daycare across the street in the morning then he walks with his daycare group to and from school for the afternoon. For the March Break and other non-school weekdays, the daycare operates all day. So I thought, that as a treat, Adam could spend the mornings with me (and John who is more-or-less tethered to me) for some special excursions and then go to daycare for just the afternoon. Interestingly, Adam's requests got less-and-less elaborate as the week went on.

Monday: visit to the dinosaur museum, aka, the Royal Ontario Museum. Luckily, we got there before opening and the line for tickets moved really quickly. Adam's in a bit of a dinosaur phase, so he was delighted with all the skeletons.

Tuesday: a trip to a toy store to spend some of his Christmas and Lunar New Year money. That afternoon, he also got to go on a field trip to the library, where a magician performed. The magician might have upstaged the toy store.

Wednesday: a trip to the playground to ride his bicycle. It was such beautiful weather for it. Adam insisted on having the training wheels removed but then quickly changed his mind. Then there just might have been a cookie and hot chocolate at a coffee shop.

Thursday: another lovely day with a trip to the playground. We brought paper airplanes and landing strips of Adam's construction. Naomi got to tag along too. She wasn't very interested in the airplanes but did talk everyone into playing hide-and-seek. Adam rather enjoyed that, too.

It's interesting how even a trip to the playground with Mommy becomes a special treat after months of short winter days.

Friday: Adam spent the whole day on a field trip with his daycare class to Riverdale Farm. And they had yet another perfect day to be outside. I'm told that an uncaged chicken actually stole Adam's sandwich! His teacher reports that he was rather stoic about it and his response was little more than, "Silly Chicken! giggle, giggle." Some of the other children became unhinged and needed to move to the top of picnic tables lest the chickens be able reach even their feet.

Friday cont.: As a further treat, we got a visit from Jaclyn, Jacob, Norman, and Sarah for dinner. I went to curling so I missed most of the fun but I saw that there were clues and treasure maps galore. Pirates are competing with dinosaurs for the title of "Most Trendy Topic" lately.

Saturday: I can't even remember how he heard about them last year, because not many McDonald's sell them anymore. But he remembered about Sharmrock Shakes and was insistent all week that we would get one on St. Patrick's Day. So I did some research and let's just say that next time, while I won't phone every McDonald's in the city, I might phone more that just the one at Bathurst and Dundas, where the Internet claims to have spotted Shamrock Shakes. We had a little trip on the subway and the streetcar - entertainment in its own right - and we did procure Adam a Shamrock Shake. John soaked up the attention from many, many admirers.

On the way home, we stopped at the McDonald's across the street from our building for treats for Dion and Naomi, who was napping during our excursion. Well, lo and behold, the McDonald's right across the street from us, about 150 m according to google maps, sells Shamrock Shakes. D'oh!

Solid. And solids.

Here is John with one of his very first tastes of "solids." Of course, it was very runny, not very solid, rice cereal with breastmilk.

I think he likes rice cereal okay, but not much else. Sometimes sweet potato makes the grade but oat cereal and just about everything else I've tried has been poorly received, except as finger-paint. I'm most disappointed that he's not going for avocado. So mashable, nutritious, and calorie-dense. He is, furthermore, showing a bit of a stubborn streak about wanting to feed himself, TYVM. Though usually he can be fooled. If he has stuffed his own spoon into his mouth, I can usually get one in, too.

It was another clean bill of health and development for John at his 6 month well-baby visit. I was pleased to report that he was crawling and even pulling up to his knees. I usually try to think ahead of some questions to ask the paed. One, it helps keep him on/ahead of schedule (the man is proficient!) And Two, I feel like it makes me look like a diligent parent. *scoff*. But I was kinda at a loss this time. All I could come up with was a comment about how his last two DPT injections have left him with long-lasting bumps under the skin. (very normal when they're shooting blind into a muscle.

age	WEIGHT			HEIGHT
mos	lb,oz	%ile		in	%ile
0*	7,13	60**
2 d	7,10			20.25	80
8 d	8,6	75
1	11,4	80		22.75	94
2	13,10	80		23.7	80
4	16,12	75		25.5	65
6	18,4	60		27.25	75

Adam's Christmas Morning

I think he's showing off Harvey, the engine St. Nick brought him.

Christmas Morning Not-So-Candid of Dion

 

John's First Christmas Morning.

Naomi's Favourite Things. A Christmas Morning Candid.

I want you to remember ...

how much you luuuuuuuuved John. And how you always wanted to look at John, to hold John, to be with John, to cuddle John, to kiss John, to play with John, to bathe with John, and even to sleep with John.

I want you to remember. Because he's coming for your stuff! What stuff? Oh say,

OLGA!

and your FACE!

Looks like something fun over there!

Too bad I can pretty much only crawl backwards.

Ready or not, here I come!

Pinterest update

I forgot to include a link in the last post.

Click here to go to my Pinterest Page: http://pinterest.com/hololos/present-ideas/

Or

Click here to read what I'm talking about: http://lewfamily.blogspot.com/2011/11/present-ideas-pinterest-tutorial.html

Present Ideas. Pinterest Tutorial

It's that time of year when people are looking for present ideas, especially for the kids. First the easy stuff. For clothes:
Adam - tops 6 or 6X, bottoms 5
Naomi - 3 or 3T
John - 12 months

And favourite colours in general:
Adam - orange
Naomi - red most of the time, or purple

For other ideas, I've created a Pinterest Board with some ideas and images. Keep reading for a tutorial or go straight there to check it out by clicking here: http://pinterest.com/hololos/present-ideas/. Pinterest is a new social media tool that lets you record images you encounter online (like ideas for presents!), collect them all in one tidy place with your own comments, and show them to other people, who may also comment on those ideas (if they are Pinterest members). My Present Ideas Pinterest board looks like this:


It's a work in progress. As I think of things, I'll add them. Click on any picture to enlarge it. For example, if you click on the Scientific American picture, you'll go to a page that looks like this:


Once it is enlarged, click on the picture again to go to the website where I found the picture in the first place. That'll usually help you find out where to buy something and/or about how much it should cost. Clicking on the Scientific American picture again in the new page takes you to a new page.


See? There the picture is, in the top of the new page.

There is a possible problem with posting the present ideas, namely that more than one person will use the idea, resulting in duplication. So, may I suggest two solutions:
1 - put a comment under the picture or email me if/when you buy something
but that may ruin the surprise for me. If ruining the surprise for me matters to you, then
2 - keep your receipts, in case we decide to return something.

Uh, about that ...

After reading Aesop's The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg, Adam declared that the farmer who killed the goose was a "bad farmer because farmers are not supposed to kill animals."

Gina blogged for me!

There's even video. Thanks, Gina.

Click here to read of our play-date with Magnus and family.