2 year old speak

I have been wanting to record my son and his cute vocabulary for a long time. Today I finally got him when he was in a mood to talk with me. He says a lot of funny things, but these are some of my favorite for as long as I could keep his 2 year old attention.

Little kitchen

About 4 years ago I took a class about developmentally appropriate preschool curriculums. It was such a fun class. We looked at different cultural practices in countries around the world, the history of childhood education, about 5 different formal approaches to developmentally appropriate practice. I just loved, loved that class. Along with that class, came a list of things I wanted for my own kids and, one day, my own preschool program.

For the last year or so I have been looking for a little kitchen to check off of my list for my kids. But, I have had a few requirements. It has to be a wooden kitchen with a sink, moving knobs, a stove and an oven. I also wanted some little hooks to hang pots. And, as the family mantra goes, "never buy anything at full price".

So, last week as I was out looking for some bargain pants, I found a bargain kitchen (I did not find pants). I think I would have preferred a more natural color, but this kitchen fit all of the other requirements, and I have to say I'm excited about it.

Now for the food and pans.

I hade a couple of food items that I had found on sale from Melissa and Doug but... I was turned onto some felt food while reading a friend's blog. So, I started with her blog and found this fun website that sells patterns. I looked up her free patterns and tried them out.

It is an ice cream sandwich and strawberries. (If you couldn't tell) Antony likes them and so do I. I have been worried about the plastic foods and I think felt is a good solution, it is easy for the kids to work with and we don't have to worry about chemicals.

The free patterns didn't have the best directions and I'm hoping that I will find better instructions if I buy a pattern. Overall, I think she is creative and the food looks great. It didn't take me long to make the food and it was easier to make than I thought it would be. So, my quest for pants took me in a very different direction, but a fun one.

Smile

For the last couple of weeks I have been trying to capture my baby's huge gummy smile. She looks so very cute! But, she isn't interested in smiling when I pull the camera out. Her focus immediately shifts from my happy face to the big black thing that I can't seem to hide from her view.

After lots of coaxing, I managed to get something out of her. This was the closest thing I could get to her big smiles that she usually flashes very liberally.

Looking at the picture is cute, but it doesn't do her justice. Not only does she like to smile, it's an interaction. She coos and talks and has lots of very fun little noises as she smiles. I can't help but let out my own little laugh. I just love this baby thing!

Baby Weight

This last weekend I promised myself that I would start to actively work on loosing the weight.
My baby sleeps well at night and if I go to sleep with her I should be able to get up an hour before the kids in the morning and do something like exercise. I have actually been feeling motivated. But, my angel son has decided that he will now be getting up at 6:00 daylight savings time and all. I cannot figure out his motivation. He isn't his usual pleasant self either, he is also determined to wake the rest of the house with him, and does a good job especially waking his little sister. So this week I have been pleasantly arising with 2 small children at 6:00. So much for exercise.

Honestly I'm feeling a little depressed about the whole thing. Today I seriously debated going to buy some "larger" pants. The maternity clothes don't work as well without the belly that has substance to it, but I cannot fit into any of my "normal" clothes. So, I'm at an impasse. The real depressing thing is that these "normal" clothes I am not even close to fitting into were clothes I could wear soon after my son's birth. Ugh. So, now I am faced with the question of "to buy or not to buy".

My internal arguments go something like this: If I don't buy bigger clothes I will be motivated to loose the weight just to be able to wear my normal clothes. But, is it a question of motivation or fitting in the workout with my early risers cuz I sure can't muster up the energy at night, I drag myself to bed.

On the other hand, it would sure be nice to feel like I look good in my clothes. I hate trying on my clothes every week hoping that by some miracle I'll be able to squeeze into them and look good doing it. Hmmm. I will contemplate this issue further and report back on my decision.

Late Night

It's late and I should be sleeping, or straightening my very cluttered home, or something more productive that would ease my overwhelmed mind. Instead I am sitting here just enjoying some time to myself. The house is quiet and everyone is finally sleeping. I know that I would fall asleep within 5 seconds of my head hitting the pillow, but still I sit here just wanting to soak up the quiet.


Tomorrow I will start on my list again and probably only check of a couple things because I can never get the kids to cooperate with me so that I can even feel productive. Today I couldn't even get them to nap. So tomorrow I will wake up and try very hard to exercise then attempt to just straighten up and file and finally tie up loose ends with some phone calls. We shall see how far I get. I love my little angels.

Your Child's Growing mind

I pulled up my blog today and saw that it had been a while since I last posted. I reckon it is time to throw another one up here.

I have been reading this really neat book.

I bought it a while ago at the recommendation of one of my professors. Somehow it became lost in the daily grind of things and was shelved with the rest of the books. A couple of weeks ago I was cleaning out the book shelves and came across it, I had forgotten about purchasing it and was pleasantly suprised at my discovery. I love to read about child development, and am particularly facinated by brain research.

As I have delved into the book I have found that it is an easy book to read. It flows well and is very interesting. I just finished the section about infants and thought it was great fun. Dr. Healy explains the child's developing mind and recommends activities to optimize development or things to be aware of as the child grow. She goes all the way up to adolescence. If you are interested in stuff like this, I highly recommend this book!