Little Screaming Drummer Boy

Here I am secretly recording his drumming, death rock singing performance:


death rocker from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Library Books

We always have library books in our house now. It's fun to throw new stories in the mix. Stan B will often sit down and let me read to him but he's also been going through this stage where he says, "My turn. I read it." He flips through the pages and talks about the story or sometimes just looks at the pictures. Sometimes I'll sneak-read a sentence. In the video you can hear him say "library" and "the end" - which sounds more like, "be end."
library books from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Having a Ball

We finally blew up the exercise ball and it is endless fun for the Bear. Here he is falling down and getting up, laughing and rolling and having a ball!


ball from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

The After Dinner Crazies

Stan B usually gets this surge of energy after dinner and right before bedtime. It's like his body is telling him to use up the rest of his gas tank before the day is through. It makes for some good dinnertime entertainment and an extra splashy bathtime followed by a big crash.

Here he is pretending he is a digger and a dumptruck. It's pretty hilarious:

after dinner crazy from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Pizza! Pizza! Pizza!

Here he is being busy as a bee making "food" out of books and trucks and such.


pizza from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Yarn Monster

Someone got into the yarn:
 
yarn 1 from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

I Dunno?!

One of my favorite things that Stan B says is, "What happened? I don't know!" (which sounds more like, "I dunno!") He asks and then answers his own question as if to say, "Hey, Ma, ask me what happened to the (fill in the blank)." So I will respond, "I don't know. Where is the construction man?" To which he will respond, "I don't know!" with his hands up in the air. And then, a second later, he will say, "Ta da!" and pull out whatever it was he was hiding. (I couldn't find a pic of him doing this so I posted this very conversational looking picture above...we were probably talking about the deliciousness of a good molasses cookie.)

Acrobatic Frog

strength from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Screen Time

Stan B watching Daniel Tiger

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no more than 2 hours of screen time per day for children. Now, after having a toddler that watches T.V. programs and sometimes DVDs/VHSs, I have been able to observe what screen time does with my own two eyes. Even if some days he watches less than one hour or nothing at all for that matter, I can see what it does and what I would have done differently before introducing him to certain programs or movies.

Just because a movie is rated G doesn't mean that there aren't scary parts. There are pretty intense scary moments in movies for small children who have never seen a scary thing in their lives. From the library we checked out three different movies that were all rated G but had some scary moments or scary characters. They were all animated movies. The first movie we checked out was called The Little Engine That Could (2011). The premise is basically based off the book of the same title but the trains live in a place called Dream World or Dream Land or something in which they deliver dreams to the children who live in the Real World. The scary part is that there is also a very scary Nightmare Train. I remember when it first appeared I had an Oh-crap Moment. I knew it was too intense for the Bear. I've learned that the best thing to do is to make sure that the Bear felt safe talking to me about it and explaining to him as much as I could. He told me right away, "I don't yike that train." I told him that he had good instincts and that I didn't like it either but that it was just pretend. The second one was Tale of the Brave which is a Thomas the Train movie. In that movie it talks about fear of the unknown.  In this case the unknown is a dinosaur's footprint fossil that Thomas thinks is a monster's footprint. From that begins talk around the rail yard which causes fear in other trains. Then pranks ensue and one train makes a scary looking train monster (made of scraps and trash) to scare another train. The train monster is back lit, at night, so you just see it's silhouette. All the talk of monsters and such really stuck in the Bear's head. The last one we watched was The Secret of Nimh. For some reason the scariest characters are actually good and wise. But they make them big and dark with red or orange or green glowing eyes which is really creepy. Stan B said, "Scary? Bad?" I had to explain that yes, they looked scary but that they were actually good guys. He still said that he didn't "yike" them. I understood.

So, now he is afraid of monsters in dark places, especially closets. He wants lights on in his room at night. I took down his fabulous foot painting that was hanging above his crib because I think some of the brush strokes resemble something scary, especially in the dark. We explain to him our imaginations (which is so abstract and hard to explain) so we use the term "pretend" a lot which he gets. He has woken up crying with nightmares (a hand full of times) from which he usually settles down quickly and simply needs a hug and some reassurance. I don't indulge his lights-on-at-bedtime request. He does have a night light that projects the planets onto the ceiling (although it is still fairly dim) and sometimes he sleeps with an additional bunny night light. I'm pretty sure that if he hadn't watched these movies that he would not be talking about monsters and being afraid of the dark. If I could turn back time (read that like Cher would read it), I would not have let him watch any movies because one, he can't even sit through it. Twenty to thirty minutes in and he is off playing with his cars or legos or wanting to read a book. Secondly, he would not be so fearful of things. To take a positive spin on it, it has allowed us to practice our communication; we get to talk about make believe, fiction, fears, and imagination but I hate that he is afraid of the dark and monsters now.

I have decided to no longer rent DVDs from the library unless they are particular ones that I know, like Sesame Street, Bob the Builder, Max and Ruby, etc. The best shows that I have watched with him are all PBS Kids shows (even PBS cooking shows!) Mind you, we don't have cable so we only get about 10 or so channels. But PBS Kids shows are always a safe bet. His favorite is Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood - which is a Mr. Rogers production. Sesame Street is also usually a hit along with Arthur, Curious George, Peg + Cat, and Dinosaur Train.

Every parent is different and it's such a fuzzy line to walk...what to let your child watch and how much to let your child watch. Just like every parent is different, every child is different. The Bear might be extra sensitive...he also may not have as long of an attention span when it comes to screen time as some other kids. From observing him with screen time I've learned that 30 minutes at a time is probably enough because he tends to move on to another activity on his own. I also learned that if I want to censor any too-scary parts of movies that I need to research the movies or programs before he watches them (which seems like way to much work for me - especially with movies.) This world can be a horrific place to live in, he'll learn that for himself eventually but he's a child - a toddler. I figure, why not show him the delightful world, free of horror, for as long as realistically possible without sheltering him too much? No need to hurry his childhood. We only live once.

I Wuv You

Monday morning we were sitting on the couch. Stan B looked at me, brushed my face gently with his little hand and said, "I wuv you." My heart melted right there into a little heart shaped puddle on the couch.

Image from Twist My Armoire

Happy Valentine's Day!

Bath Sounds

The Bear still loves a bath.
Here he is listening to the underwater noises.


bath sounds from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

My Milky

Milk = Almond Milk
Milky = Breast Milk

That's how you can differentiate what type of milk the Bear is talking about. He also has observed that he has nipples just like Mama but I explain to him that only Mama's make milky. Papa doesn't make milky nor does he.

But this kid has got a sense of humor. He cracks me up.
My Milky = Him trying to drink milk out of his own nipples. Ha!


my milky from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Music

Stanley likes fast music. He doesn't really like slow music. When we're at home dancing, if he doesn't like the song that is on he will say, "Different!" If we are in the car he'll say, "Louder!" If I turn it up really loud and he still says, "Louder!" then I know it means he means to say, "Faster!"

Some of his favorite bands are the Pixies, AC/DC, he love this children's CD by Jerry Garcia and David Grisman called "Not For Kids Only" (I like it too), he likes the fast Beach Boys' songs, and loads of other stuff too!

Here he is dancing to the Pixies, drumsticks in hand:

pixies from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Dancing With a Dog

Here he is "dancing" with the neighbor's little dog:


dog from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Airplane

airplane from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

First Idaho Snow

This was taken back in November or December.


first idaho snow from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

This was taken at the park near our casa.

Sweetness

Having a super treat at the Co-op. A hot chocolate and his favorite Molasses Cookie.

Stan B's language has been skyrocketing lately and he says the sweetest things!

Here he is eating frozen peas.

Just last night I was sitting on the couch when he climbed up on the ottoman in front of me and said, "Mama, I scared. I need snuggles, there's a dinosaur." How can you resist that?!

Playing Peek-a-Boo in the tub

We were walking down the street yesterday when he saw a man coming up the sidewalk behind us. Stan B stopped and then suddenly turned around and said to the guy, "Peek-a-Boo!" It scared the crap out of ME.

Every night when I tuck him in I tell him good night and that I love him. Last week, for the first time he said back, "I wuv you!" and then the night after that he said it before I even said it. He even goes through the entire household: I wuv Papa. I wuv Mama. I wuv Dickie. I wuv Stanley!

Having a smoothie at the Co-op

When I was sick and couch-bound last week I said to Stan B when he woke from his nap, "Would you like a smoothie?" He climbed off the couch, turned to look at me, put up his hand and said with earnest, "Stay there, Mama. I make it. Stay right there." And then he ran to the kitchen and flung open the fridge. My heart melted.

Hockey Stick Tail

Here he is using his hockey stick as a tale and trying to hit something on the ground with it. He does a sumo stomp at the very end.


tail from erin kawamata on Vimeo.