Memory

I had some lofty plans now for a bit of making Brady a memory game.  Luckily I came to my senses in Target the other night and just bought a Toy Story version, otherwise he might have turned 7 before I was done making it.  Sometimes I get stuff done immediately, and other times I spend so much time thinking and researching that I never end up doing it and this was one of those times. 

So I wasn't sure if he would
A. like it
2. be able to play it
D.  not drive me crazy "trying" to do it his way

But he did pretty well considering.  We only started with 12 cards total and he thought it was great.  He has been trying to play all weekend.  And it actually held his attention longer than 2 minutes, which is a big deal.

 

Showing Dad who's boss.

And a few more.... we made Toy Story magnets after I saw what a hit the Dora ones were.  I just used Toy Story print outs, laminating paper, and magnets.  Super fun and easy.

Then another day we were drawing on the window and he wanted to draw his own smiley faces.  Wow, those were some interesting faces.

I don't know if you can see them....

Letter of the Week - X

This past week we worked on the letter X.  We, or I guess I should admit I had a hard time getting back into real life after vacation.  It rained for 3 days and all I wanted to do was sleep.  But we did manage to get all the planned activities done.  I also started something new this week.... we went to the library one day and read books recommended to go along with the letter of the week ( found lots of sites that list books by googling).  One of those books was Fox in Socks by Dr. Suess, holy crap, that's a tough book to read.  Just ask Jim, I think he read it in parts because it makes your tongue numb reading all those tongue twisters.

We made X snacks

They were just breadsticks that we sprinkled cinnamon and sugar on.  Note to self:  don't give them "just one more minute" and then get completely side tracked because they will end up toasted and not so yummy.  Didn't stop Brady from eating them though.

We made an X out of bones. 

We made a xylophone (idea found here)

Another day we sorted our cubes and then I drew an X and he practiced putting objects on the line.  I noticed he has a hard time with this so we are trying to practice whenever possible.

Then after he put the cubes on the lines he stuck stickers on there.  He loved this, mostly especially the stickers.  They had all kinds of trucks, diggers, and such.  They were another Dollar Spot score.

Sand jars- 1 year in the making

We started collecting sand wherever we went last summer.  Since then they have been sitting on the work bench in the garage (which obviously gets tons of "work" usage) in plastic water bottles.  I finally got around to coming up with an idea and doing it.  I think they turned out great.  I am not exactly sure where they are going yet, but until then they are on a shelf on the way down to the basement, right next to the light fixture Jimbo plans on changing.  Yes ladies and gentlemen, my husband changed one light fixture and now thinks he is Bob Villa.  Anyway here are the jars....

I made those tags with cardstock, a Martha paper puncher, and a glue stick.  I did manage to score a tiny hole puncher on clearance for 49 cents, woohoo!!  On the back is the place and date.

And each jar has shells, rocks, etc. from the beach it came from.  So far Chatham has the best shells and Provincetown has the neatest sand, very grainy and cool colors.

We have Manasquan NJ, Rye NH, Orleans MA, Chatham MA, Provincetown MA, and Old Orchard Beach ME.

That sneaky fox....

Very recently Brady has begun to show a very imaginative side.  Its mostly done in whispers with just himself, we aren't really involved in the stuff he is pretending.  For example, yesterday we pulled into the garage and I closed the garage door behind us, making it pretty dark in there.  I am gathering my crap before hauling my fat ass out of the driver's seat and I can hear him whispering.  I stop to listen and he is pretending the dinosaurs were coming and he was telling someone to watch out.  I love this stage, you never know what new stuff he will come up with.  So today during craft/learning/art time I pulled out a pack of Dora magnets I bought in the dollar spot forever ago.  I gave him a cookie sheet and wasn't really sure what he would do with it.  Well, to my surprise they were a huge hit and he immediately started in with his pretending.  I heard him talking about Swiper the sneaky fox and saying watch out Dora.  He was moving them all over the sheet acting out an episode most likely.  It was hysterical.  We had been playing with our colored cubes right before, so I showed him how to cover Swiper up like he was hiding in a bush (which often happens on the show).  We built little houses for Dora and Boots to live in and then Swiper would come along and swipe the house apart.  This was all his doing.  He giggled and giggled and really enjoy doing this himself.  Its really hard for me to not interact, so luckily its super entertaining to watch him create.

Then he was inventive and decided to use the scrap part as a puzzle.  I didn't plan on this at all but he enjoyed putting the magnets back in the spots they came from.

A funny thing he has started to say is "coming right up" like in a diner.  I will offer him whatever choices for breakfast lets say, and he will make his choice, climb up on the chair at the table, and say "cantaloupe, coming right up."

He is big into "Brady no like it."  This could be about a food he doesn't like, something that is scaring him, or if he is being tickled and doesn't want to be.  He is very serious in his opinion of what he likes.

He has been bringing a Buzz action figure to the table the last few days.  Yesterday I gave him a bowl of peas while I was making our dinner and I could hear him offering Buzz some peas.  I asked him if Buzz liked peas and according to Brady Buzz loves peas.  He shared a pretzel rod with him today, he offered him the taco he refused to eat at dinner, and let him have some apple juice from his sippy.  He has quite the imagination.  Buzz is currently having a sleepover in the big boy bed, which is going amazingly well.  We have had no issues whatsoever.  He is sleeping and napping like a champ.  It still makes me sad to see my tiny baby, who isn't tiny or a baby for that matter, in that giant sized bed.  He loves to lay in there all snuggled up reading.  Yesterday, I looked at the monitor after he woke up from his nap.  He was laying there and must have dropped something off the bed.  So he slid off, grabbed whatever it was, and scurried back up on the bed like the floor was on fire.  It was so funny.  I am thinking he just doesn't know he can get down and I surely won't be telling him.  From his bed he can reach his books so he has plenty to entertain himself with.

Random picture:  someday I am thinking he will make one hell of a valet.  He lines these cars up so perfectly every single day.

I was in the kitchen today and I could hear him saying "cheese Zoe" and I knew he had his camera with him so I snuck up to see what he was doing.  He was sitting in the foyer taking pictures of the dogs.  How cute is he??

And lastly, I was taking my 33 week belly pictures and someone snuck in again.  I couldn't figure it out how to set it to just take one picture, so this is how I got the action shots of him walking into the picture.  It was set to take multiple pictures after 10 seconds.  The beeping must really be interesting to him.

I am gigantic, my whole body hurts, and I throw up in my sleep every night.  Pregnancy is so fucking magical. 6 weeks to go.

Christmas in August

We had talked about getting Brady something cool if he did well in the big boy bed.  Sometimes Jim and I disagree and in this instance we really disagreed.  I wanted to get him the new Little People garage (since the last version has been his all-time favorite toy), a new Pixar type movie (since he is currently loving Cars, Toy Story, and Nemo), and maybe a Leap Frog fridge alphabet toy (since we are learning our ABCs).  When we told Brady he could get any toy he wanted he said he wanted a new hotwheels car.  What kid picks a 98 cents toy when he can have anything??  Well this is what Jim wanted, and then in turn what he got him:

Jim was happy Brady woke up right before he was leaving for work so they could try out the table together this morning.

We never claimed to have our shit straight nor did we claim to make good choices all the time.  But boy was it fun, for Brady of course.  This is Jim playing, I mean installing, the train table last night after Brady went to bed.  He was like a kid on Christmas morning.

So, I guess I should add that he has done AWESOME in the new big boy bed.  I told you about the first night and then for the first nap he cried for 10 seconds, grabbed a book, read it, recovered himself with the blanket, and went to sleep.  And then last night, the second night, he didn't even cry and was asleep in no time.  He slept great the whole night like normal.  I am so proud of him, I can't believe what a great sleeper he is.  He is just like me, that's for sure!  Hopefully we continue on this amazing path, otherwise we just bought him a gigantically silly present for nothing.

Final day of vacation

Friday was our final day of vacation and we made sure to jam pack it with fun.  We had a great week and can't wait for next year. Things will be slightly different next year with us having a whole extra kid and all.


When looking for a house to rent we have a short list of needs:  Wifi, 2 bedrooms, and an outdoor shower.  This was the nicest part of our rental.  Jim wants to install one here at our house, but I informed him it would only get used for about 5 weeks a year while its warm enough.  There was a tub so Brady took showers all week and LOVED it.  Mostly because he could run around without it being too slippery and act like a loon.




So then we headed to the beach, and yes if you are wondering, the boys took showers each morning, afternoon, and some nights.  They were probably the cleanest people on the Cape last week.  Those shower pics were from about 8am the last day.

Anyway, the beach...... we brought the boogie board the last day to try out.  High tide was late enough in the morning that there was actually water near the beach when we got there. 






He was loving it!!  And then.....


he rolled off the board into the deeper water.  Oops!


It only took a week of beaching for Brady to willingly put his hands in the sand.  He enjoyed making giant holes all week and on Friday he climbed in and out a bunch of times and I was shocked that he put his hands in the sand.




He took his boogie board for a walk many times.


And then we did what all good parents do on the beach...... we set him up on the blanket to watch shows on my phone.  We got over an hour of peace and quiet that didn't involve us moving from our chairs or putting our books down.  That was worth any judging we may receive, not that I ever care about people judging me.




We brought the dogs with us, stupid decision on our part, but since the yard wasn't fenced they needed to be walked.  Jim and I did not enjoy this, but Brady thought it was great. 




We headed to the beach to try to get the pictures I wanted to get all week.  Lucky for us we beach the crowds who came to take sunset pictures.  But we weren't lucky enough to avoid being eaten alive.  Jim did a pretty good job taking these, huh?








He looked too handsome to not take a few of just him.






We finally snagged a spot on the rocks to take pictures.  Silly little dude!