A busy weekend part 2

We awoke to Craig standing over us Saturday morning around 7am ready to head to the hardware store and start the construction project.  The gentlemen worked all day. I think their project was more time consuming than they anticipated. 

Eventually, Uncle Adam and Aunt Missy showed up.  We aren't sure what Adam's contribution was based on the pictures since no one is entirely sure why he wore a bike helmet all day. 

This picture shows the walls before they started.

Eventually walls were put up and Craig mudded them.  It looks really nice and isn't the danger zone it was rather now it's just a dusty mess. 

Miss M got to open her birthday presents from C, J and J this weekend.  When they arrived they had Miss M open her first present. 

It was a fish.  

A living, breathing, swimming fish.  

Yep. I said no animals and Craig felt the need to buy her a fish. The fish was affectionately named I Stuck since it is a favorite phrase of Miss M.  His name has morphed into Stucky for ease.  

The fish appears to be pretty low maintenance. I don't even have to feed him regularly because he's not eating. Miss M likes him. She likes to talk to him and tell him bye-bye. She also really wants to hold the container he's living in.  We have been able to prevent any major disasters with fish flopping around on our kitchen counter due to toddler handling. 

Miss M also got a new princess baby and a matching dress. She was so excited. She wore her dress most of the day and found her tiara since her new baby had a tiara on too.  Eventually she realized the baby had purple shoes on so she insisted she put on her purple boots. She was quite a sight with her lollipop pj's on under her dress. 

Jack helped Miss M open her present. She didn't mind his assistance. 

She gave her baby a big hug after she got her out of the box. 

Miss M got to spend some time with her Aunt Nessie this weekend since she stayed with us all weekend.  Here they are laying in the window playing with Miss M's Mickey Mouse cards.  Miss M loves to play with Aunt Nessie because she always has few and fun things to do.  

A busy weekend part 1

We had a busy weekend.  There were guests, birthday dinners, birthday presents, construction and games.

Uncle Craig, Aunt Jessie and Baby Jack came up Friday afternoon to help with the construction project in the garage and celebrate Andrew's birthday.  Miss M affectionately refers to Craig as Baby's Daddy, Jessie as Baby's Mommy and Jack as Baby. We heard a lot of "No Baby" when he was touching her or things that belonged to her. Overall, Jack and Miss M get along really well.  We shall see how things sort out when he is walking and really into her stuff.

Aunt Nessie came out and spent the weekend with us. We got a babysitter Friday night and went out to dinner for Andrew's birthday and celebrate National Margarita Day.  It was a fun dinner with plenty of laughter and no children to worry about feeding or entertaining for an hour or two!  Nessie even managed to get a free dessert for the birthday boy.

Desperation

The winter has felt so long and it's only February. 

We have officially broken out all of the ridiculous stuff.

I broke out the water table the other day to play with in the basement. It wasn't much of a success. Miss M likes baths but she wasn't into playing in the water. It turned into a huge mess when I realized the next morning the water leaked out the bottom due to my inability to not tighten the parts enough. 

Miss M was pretty excited when she realized she could watch Thomas on the computer.

We received a mini sandbox for Christmas. She likes playing with the sand, shovel, dump truck and tiny blocks. The problem is when she shovels the sand she flips it out of the sandbox.  The sand then gets on her feet and she then gets upset.

She didn't want to put her pants back on after I changed her this evening. I love her little legs. I have missed seeing them since they are covered up almost all day everyday. I can't wait until it's summer and she can show off her little baby legs again.

Round two...

Today Miss M and I had gym class.  If you'll recall when we went last week it was an utter disaster.

I was more than nervous. I kept talking to Miss M about how great and fun gym class was going to be today.

We arrived early. Miss M insisted we leave the house this morning and I think it helped let her warm up to the place.

She did amazing. She barely cried. She cried when she had to sit down for circle time instead of play on the equipment but she ended up participating.

I tried to take a backseat today and let her play with new things and interact with the other kids.  There were activities I didn't think she could do but other kids were able to do them so I let her go for it! She did so good. I usually don't get too excited about things she can do but I was pretty proud of her today. It might be partially because I was nervous she was just going to lay on the floor and scream again.

This was the activity I thought she couldn't do but she did it without much help! She knew to step on each rung and then climb up the ladder to get down.

She also discovered the uneven bars although she preferred the lower bar. She could grab hold of it and then swing herself back and forth.  

They have a trampoline. She has been on a smaller trampoline with a bar but this trampoline bounces her more than she's used to with no support. There were a few other boys who got on the trampoline with her and she kindly excused herself. I think she recognized danger before she got hurt.

I told her if she was good during class I would give her a treat. I had some M&M's in my purse that I was going to give her but we needed lunch before we went to pick up baby Jack's birthday present so we stopped at McDonald's. I don't think she is old enough to put together a delayed treat with good behavior but she enjoyed her fries and dip nonetheless.

It's finished...Miss M has a train table!

Andrew started working on the train table shortly after moving into the house.

We made a trip to the hardware store.

This is only the first cart. There were two full carts by the time we left.  We had to buy all the tools for woodworking which ranges from a level to a saw.

We should consider buying stock in the hardware store.

Andrew had the plans ready and started his work in the "baby house" (which Miss M calls it).  I don't know how to describe the baby house. It's essentially a nice shed...I guess.

M was helping sand the table. 

We learned that paint can't be left outside in the winter when you live in the Midwest due to freezing and once paint freezes it's unusable.  Therefore, we bought new paint and brought the table inside to paint and finish putting together.

Andrew brought it inside and realized it wasn't going to fit downstairs nor was it going to fit Miss M.  She wouldn't be able to play with her table or tracks if he kept the table at its original height. So the table went outside again and Andrew successfully cut the legs of the table down around four inches.

Then painting commenced.  Look at the focus.

After we came home from shopping Sunday we put the table together and Miss M was thrilled.  She was really tired and not wanting to play until she realized her train table was finally complete.

A proud daddy and a happy Miss M.  Perfection.

We can't wait to see what other wood working projects he has in store for us!

Valentine's Day

The day before Valentine's Day we had a wonderful day. There was no whining. There were no meltdowns. There was a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry (because it was free for IL residents) with some friends. Miss M ran around and listened and stayed close by while she learned and discovered all kinds of great things like weather systems (age appropriate right?!?).

I had such high hopes for Valentine's Day. I had scheduled her for a trial toddler gym class (she loves to climb and it seemed appropriate).  After the class I planned to take her to lunch and then to the cupcake store for a special treat.  In my head it was perfect. We would converse and laugh together and enjoy each others company.  I realize she can't converse with me but remember it was a perfect day in my head.

It was the furthest day from perfect. It was miserable. And when she didn't take a nap she just added insult to injury.

So...

We went to the gym class. It was amazing. The concept of the place. They had all kinds of equipment for the kids to climb on and jump on which is exactly what she wants to do. The structure of the class is a little like this: free play, group time where we sing and move around, organized activities ie jumping and monkey bars (with assistance obviously), different activities ie swinging on swings and zip lining, more organized activities...you get the point.

Miss M was a disaster. When we first arrived she was so excited about playing then we got into the room she froze up like I have never seen before. She just wanted to cower between my legs. Then at group time she refused to do anything but fight me because she couldn't play on the equipment.  She essentially cried 90% of the time. It was amazing. And defeating. And embarrassing.

At the end of class the teacher proceeded to ask me (innocently) if this was the first class scenario Miss M had ever been apart of.  And there I was embarrassed again. No. The girl has done so much stuff in her short two years of life.  I felt like she thought I kept her locked in the basement and threw food at her occasionally and finally decided to let her out since that is essentially how she acted.

Thus my plans for lunch and a special treat at the cupcake store were out of the question. I couldn't fathom dealing with parking or her attitude.  Therefore we came home. She ate lunch, refused to nap, and continued to cry/melt down/scream at me the rest of the day.  

I guess we can't all have good days but I was so disappointed. I know it's not her fault and she can't control her emotions but it was sad we didn't get to go to lunch or get a treat.

Things turned around when someone knocked intensely at the door over and over again. I have started ignoring the door during the day due to random solicitors. After I realized the person knocking wasn't going away I opened the door to find a Valentine's present from Andrew/Daddy.  He sent a balloon (which Miss M loves), a teddy bear (which Miss M loves), and a dozen chocolate covered strawberries (which Miss M and I love).

Miss M got her sweet treat after all.

 She has hoarding tendencies.

Oh yea and I think we've essentially adopted a homeless man named Carl.  He comes by occasionally asking to shovel our drive and asking for money for things like a replacement transit card.  Hopefully he comes by this summer and wants to mow the lawn for some money!

Bowling Birthday Party

We were invited to a fifth birthday party this weekend. It was a bowling party...at a bowling alley...with balls...with balls that weight more than Miss M can lift...when Miss M loves to play with balls.

Andrew agreed to the party invitation before consulting the family scheduler. We didn't have anything going on but taking an almost 2 year old to a bowling alley just didn't seem ideal.

It started out really bad because Miss M saw the balls and just wanted to play with all of them not realizing that 1) the lightest ones weigh 1/3 of her body weight 2) rolling the balls on the shelves will pinch her fingers and hurt.

I didn't pack her food either which was a huge mistake because the party started at noon so it was reasonable she was hungry and ticked that all I had was pistachios. She saw cupcakes and the tears started falling...uncontrollably.  The kids hadn't started eating cupcakes so I had to be the person who asked to break open the cupcakes so my hungry toddler could consume enough sugar to keep her going for the next year. She loves cupcakes. She loves the frosting most. It's reassuring to know she's a normal toddler (person) because who doesn't want to just lick the frosting off and leave the cake. I only know one person who prefers their cupcake without frosting and she's 6 and going through a life crisis because she doesn't like pizza either. I haven't lost hope for her that she'll get her act together before I take matter into my own hands and have a serious intervention. Can you have interventions with 6 year olds???

We did eventually get pizza and so she did get fed something other than a cupcake.  While the five year olds were breaking for pizza and cupcakes, Miss M had the opportunity to roll the ball down the alley with the assistance from Daddy.


As we were leaving she found her accessories basket.  She ended up with two necklaces, a bracelet, sunglasses and a bow that wouldn't stay in her hair because she doesn't have enough hair. I may or may not have put some hair spray in her hair to attempt to get the bow to stay. It may or may not have worked.

I think we'll assess the location of the next birthday party we're invited before committing or maybe prepare better by packing food the girl will eat like M&M's and sweet rolls.

Keeping busy

I spent yesterday afternoon Googling around ideas to keep Miss M busy.  I found a website that has a lot of ideas. There are a lot of ideas for outdoor play so our options are a little more limited.  There are a few I am excited to try with her. It's a little more difficult to entertain Miss M because she doesn't like to get messy. She doesn't like stuff on her hands or her clothes.  For instance, as we were walking to the car she got some snow on her shoes and about had a panic attack. I brushed most of it off but when she got in the car she noticed it was on her shoes and her pants. She wouldn't stop talking about it until I wiped it all off.

So I knew that asking her to play with shaving cream was probably not going to go well.  We have a mirror to be hung on a door (which hasn't happened yet) so I thought that was the easiest place to play since we could get it dirty and it wouldn't need cleaned immediately! I squirted the shaving cream on the mirror and tried to get her to play with it. She wasn't really interested until I got out brushes for her avoid getting her hands dirty. She still wasn't really amused but she did enjoy drawing with dry erase markers on the mirror.

You can see her train tracks in the picture too. She's obsessed with her trains. She wakes up talking about them.  I am happy she has something that will entertain her while I am working in the kitchen but I almost twist my ankle on her train tracks daily.

I cooked her some pasta noodles and gave her excess spices/seasonings to pour into the bowl.  She enjoyed making her own spaghetti concoction. It smelled interesting considering she had all the seasonings we don't really use or we have excess of like celery seed and chives. 

We finally got out of the house and made our way to the library that we've heard so many people talk about and it was amazing.  I was shocked with the size of the kid's library section as it was an enormous library by itself. There were separate rooms for story times, a fish tank in the wall, a boat to play on, train tracks, puzzles, coloring station, kid chairs/couches everywhere and more. Miss M loved it. She was so happy just to run around. I made her go to the story time today. She did okay. She wasn't really impressed with the singing and book reading but maybe she'll learn to enjoy it the more we go.

Winter Wonderland

We have gotten a bit of snow lately.  We own a sled and snow pants for Miss M so why not get them out and get some use out of them.

It took longer to get Miss M dressed than we spent time outside. I don't mind since I wasn't sure how else we were going to spend our afternoon.  I really wanted to see how she handled the snow since she had a serious distaste for grass.  She was okay with it. She didn't jump in it and play but I didn't expect her to do much with the snow. I just wanted her to walk in it and not be scared.  She wasn't scared until her legs got out from under her and she ended up in it and then she freaked out.  It was pretty funny.

I was going to try and shovel a little because we woke up with more snow than we knew was coming.  I blame our personal meteorologist (Grandma D) for not warning us.  I didn't shovel much because it was heavier than I expected and Miss M wanted my shovel. I got out the sled and buckled the girl in and pulled her along. She wasn't easy to pull either since she weighs around 25 pounds.  Luckily, she didn't want me to pull her very far.

She's dressed and ready.

We ran a few errands the next day (due to needing milk and our house being 49 degrees thanks to a furnace issue). I decided we only needed a few items so a shopping basket would be sufficient. Miss M wanted to carry the basket. She refused to put it down or to let me carry it for her. We ended up with two baskets. One with food in it (mine) and one with a bag of lettuce in it (hers).  The problem with the basket wasn't only that it was too heavy for her but also that it essentially drug on the ground. 

She is such a good listener and good helper (when she wants to be).  

We were in Iowa this weekend for a friend's birthday party. Miss M and her cousins play so well together. She loves to see them and play with all their toys.  It's unfortunate I don't have any pictures of them playing together. I usually let them play and entertain themselves while I enjoy not having an almost 2 year old attached to my hip! There's always next time!