Play Kitchen

Serving me a plate of fluff.

Grammy and Gramps [Stan B was calling Grandma, Grammy or Granny over the holidays :) ] got the Bear a play kitchen for Christmas.

He loves lining things up by color...Here he is prepping his meal.

Here is one of his delicious meals made from carrots, lego pirates, signs and utensils.

Here he is cutting an actual apple while watching the cooking show, A Chef's Life. He's really good at cutting food.

The kitchen was and still is a big hit. He loves play cooking so much (in fact, he made me some "eggs" on Sunday morning). Here he is going to town:


kitchen from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

MESSY

Messy but talented.

There were a couple of weeks...who am I kidding, MONTHS....where there seemed to be toys EVERYWHERE.

In his room.

It was getting really annoying. So I took action. I got my hands on some large rubbermaid bins as well as some smaller containers and organized his toys. I put musical instruments in one container, train stuff in another, legos in another, automobiles and trucks in another container, balls in another one.

Living room mayhem.

I also took all the books off of his shelf that seemed more appropriate for an older child and even got rid of some books that he doesn't seem so interested in anymore. I put all the containers of toys down in the basement except for his books that we've kept, his legos, autos and play kitchen stuff.

Celebrating his supreme mess.

I have recently brought up his train stuff with the intention of moving one of the other things down in the basement but he likes to play with the trains and legos at the same time, sometimes.

The contents of a dumped basket.

My idea is to bring up a new container and move the legos or cars downstairs for awhile just to mix it up. I'm not doing that great of a job as I just realized his doctor kits are upstairs now because last week he was listening to my heart with his stethoscope (he did this by petting me with it, sometimes on my chest, sometimes on my leg. Ha!) ...and he was saying, "I'm Dr. Seuss!" Ha! So, I think I need to do another massive clean up.

"I'm Dr. Seuss!"

But I must say that organizing things in containers and not putting them all out at once really helped with keeping the mess a little bit more in control. Toddlers  just love to dump stuff. So, imagine a box of blocks or legos or cars...they usually end up getting dumped ALL OVER THE GROUND.

My friend Kristen shared this on facebook with me:
Want to know what it's like to have kids?
1. Gather everything you own.
2. Throw it all on the floor.
3. Pick it up.
4. Repeat for infinity.

Here is a 12 second video of him playing amongst the mess:


mess from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Teapot

Here he is being silly in the tub and saying the word "teapot":


teapot from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Puddle Season

Lots of puddles at the start of the year:
puddle season from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Here he is being a delightful contrarian:
NO from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Wintertime Visitors

My parents came for a visit at the end of February...which meant: DATE NIGHT! But of course we are tired and old and poor and don't know what to do with ourselves so, we were back before the Bear was even asleep. Haha. Dinner was delicious and uninterrupted though! When we got home we saw a bathed and pajama-ed Bear reading his counting book with Nana:

counting with nana from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Cute Bather

Some funny and cute bath moments:


cutebath from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Putting Crayons Away

This was cracking us up. Stan B and Mike were drawing with crayons and when they were done they were putting the crayons back in the box. There was only one left but the box seemed full to the Bear so he would pull a crayon out to make room for the one in his hand. He would do this over and over again. And then a crayon broke!


crayons from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Baking Soda & Vinegar Play

Here's a little activity that we did with baking soda, vinegar and food coloring. I placed a bunch of baking soda on a cookie sheet and I filled 4 small containers with vinegar. I let Stan B help me put food coloring in each container which turned the vinegar into pretty colors. Then I let him play. First I gave him a small eyedropper which came from one of his herbal supplements. Then I gave him a syringe. Then I gave him a big baster. So, not only was it fun to watch the fizzing interaction between the baking soda and vinegar but he got to work on his motor skills as well. The color mixing was fun too.

We did this when my parents were here so you can hear my Mom in the background - so it sort of just sounds like two of me (or two of her) talking in the background because our voices sound so similar. :)


baking soda from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Third Christmas

Stan B's third Christmas was a big one. LOTS of gifts. Here are some of the biggies that he got:


3rd christmas from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Big, Medium, Small

Stan B has been saying that he is a "big boy". I tell him that, yes, yes he is. The other day he was on the swing at the park and he says, out of the blue, "Papa's big. Dickie's little." I asked him what size I was. He said, "Big." I told him that since Dickie is small and that I am big that must make him medium. Now he says that he is a medium boy. "I medium boy." he says. Delightful.

Whenever we pass by the high school (which is in between our house and downtown) he says, "When I big boy, I go school there." Sometimes he will say, "I grow big. Bigger than Papa. Bigger than Mama." I tell him that he will definitely be bigger than me and he will be able to give me piggy back rides - he gets a big kick out of that and laughs and laughs. I tell him that perhaps he'll be bigger than Papa (but he's got my short genes to contend with, so we'll see.) We did the height predictor at Baby Center dot com a while back and I think his prediction was 6'1" by age 18.

Here he is saying that he is a medium boy:


medium boy from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Winter at Lake Pend O'Reille

First of all, I am wayyyy behind on videos...still in 2014!

We went to see the Grand Ps at the lake for Christmas and also spent time with Auntie Jen and family! Cousins!

Here is a compilation of the lake before the snow fell. So pretty. You can see the frozen parts of the lake, the broken ice at the shoreline, Mike skimming rocks on the frozen part of the lake (listen for the whistle!), throwing rocks in the water, geese and feet sinking into the rocky mud of the lake bottom (they let water out of the lake during winter so it is lower than usual!)


winter lake from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Placing Objects on Top of Us

I don't know what it is but he really loves putting stuff on us. It seems therapeutic for all of us. It's like a toy acupuncture or something.

Things He Says

Stan B and I were eating dinner the other night. It was just the two of us; Mike was still at work. Stan B says, "There are two people in the house." and then points at me and says, "one" and then points at himself and says, "two". I asked him how many animals, at first he said none, so then I was more specific,
"How many cats are in the house?"
"One Dickie, two people."
"How many people will be here when Papa gets home?"
"A lot."
 Ha!
"Well, there are two people now, me and you, what happens when Papa comes home? How many people will be here then?"
"All of them." Hahaha!
"Mama is one, Stan B is two, Papa is........."
"Big!"
I guess we're not ready for addition.

We made cake a couple of weekends ago, just because. That night he was eating a piece as if he hadn't eaten in months. He was thoroughly enjoying it. Mike asked him, "What do you love more, cake or Mama and Papa?"
Without hesitation he said, "Mama Papa," while still audibly devouring his cake. I totally thought he was gonna say, "Cake."

Uncle Sean got him another recordable book - the kind where anyone can record themselves reading the book. So, Stan B can have Uncle Sean read to him every night even though the Pacific Ocean separates them. The first recordable book he got Stan B (a while back) was a Toy Story one called You Can Count On Me.  Stan B was not at all familiar with this movie or these characters; he still has never watched the movie. So, when Christmas rolled around cousin Henry passed on his well loved Buzz Light Year and Woody dolls. When Stan B opened them he held them up and said, "Uncle Sean!" Adorable.

The second one he got for Christmas is called Under the Same Moon: A Story for Loved Ones Near and Far by Suzanne Berry. This book is so sweet.  One of the Bear's favorite pages reads,

I hear an owl hoot, "who who who?"
asking who I love and who loves me, too.
I smile as I answer, "It's you, you, you,"
you are the one I love. 

I also like,

Over the mountains and over the sea,
together with you I wish I could be.
Please let the light that shines on me
shine on the ones I love.

The first several times I read it, after each page, I would say, "Awwww." Now, when we read it Stan B says after each page, "Awwwww." and looks up with me with a sweet smile. It's so cute.

Some times when I drop him off at daycare he says, "I want you." Because he doesn't want me to leave. He some times says that right before bed too.

He tells me that he loves me on a daily basis now. "I wuv you," he says.

Usually when we get home from daycare we take a break to settle back at home. We sit on the couch, he climbs on my lap, embraces me and says, "I want to snuggle you, Mama." Oh my, that made me well up just typing that. He's just so sweet (sometimes).

Making Bread

A while back we were on a bread making kick. I figured that Stan B loved playing with play dough and helping me make and mix things so I thought, in the middle of a cold winter, that we could mix dough and make bread! So, we did:

Understanding Time

The other evening there were some playdough crumbs on the dining room table from earlier that morning. When Stan B got home from daycare he pointed it out and said, "Playdough. From last night." I told him that it was playdough but that it was from this morning. He repeated me, "This morning."

One day he left his mittens on the fire pit cinderblocks (that my dad made) and a week later Stan B sees them, runs over and says, "My mittens, from last night!" I said, "Yes, you left them there last week!"

Several months ago Stan B fell in the grocery store parking lot. Every time we go to that grocery store he talks about it. Last week we were there and he said, "Last night I running and fall. In the parking lot. Last night." I told him that that was a month or two ago but that he had a good memory.

We have started talking about the days in the weeks. He knows Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and then he starts counting: "Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, eleven, twelve..." We talk about how daycare is closed on the weekends, or Saturday and Sunday and how he goes to daycare Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I think he kind of gets it...or at least we are getting there.

One of the easiest ways to explain to him time is using the term "sleeps" i.e. we have 5 more sleeps until Nana and Tuka arrive or you have two more sleeps until Saturday. That, he seems to grasp more easily.

I have never had to analyze time so much until I made a human. Fascinating.

Screen Time Update

I have cut out checking out movies I've never seen before, from the library. It was actually easier than I thought it would be; I thought he would fight me on it. I have also cut out watching things on the computer. We had a near computer disaster during one of the Bear's more spastic moments/hyper moods, so we decided to keep the laptop away. That was also fairly easy to do. He doesn't seem to miss it. When he says he wants to watch "Tayo" which is only on the computer I tell him, "No more computer," and he accepts that as an answer. Because of this we watch less T.V. - it's nice. We rented a Max and Ruby DVD from the library last week which is a very safe thing for him to watch. Max and Ruby are sibling bunnies. Their parents seem to be out all the time. Ruby, who is the older sibling is the caretaker and she can be kind of annoying because she is always telling Max what and what not to do. Max is little and doesn't really talk except for one word statements, like, "Friend!" or "Firetruck!" He's also kind of annoying but is the ultimate baby/toddler. Stan B loves him. The episodes are no more than 15 minutes long. Nothing scary happens in Max and Ruby.

Bedtime seems the same but I think in the last several weeks he hasn't mentioned being scared, or telling me that there are monsters around. So, perhaps less screen time and being more selective in my choices is actually helping. A couple of nights he even said to me right before I closed his door, "Mama, I not scared!" Hallelujah.

Worms

Showing me an earthworm.

Ever since we lived in NC he has loved digging in the dirt and getting messy. When we moved to ID he was not only older but had easier access to our compost pile. He got lots of compost lessons from his Tuka too. Because of this easy access to the compost we have found many earthworms and he loves them. Last fall we were raking and found so many worms just hiding under the leaves on our driveway! I remember loving looking for worms when I was wee too. Like Mother, like Son.

Little Pixie

One of Stan B's favorite bands to dance to are the Pixies. Here he is enjoying himself:


pixies 2 from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Mimicker

One night Stan Bear was entertaining us while we were eating dinner. I don't remember exactly what he was doing (maybe he threw something he wasn't supposed to be throwing?) I don't know, but whatever he did Mike said to him in a stern, you-are-being-naughty-tone, "Stan Beeeee." Stanley smiled looked at Mike and said in a stern tone, "Stan Beeeee." and then in that same tone, "Papaaaa." and followed it up with a big grin. It was so hard for us not to laugh. He is quite the mimicker.

He also will do something kind of funny or just entertaining and then he will say, "Me funny." He does not lack in self-esteem, that boy.

Papa Bear and Baby Bear

Here they are before bedtime making the next day's breakfast plans.

I love watching Mike and the Bear together. Now that the Bear is older and better able to communicate Mike gets more Papa time. They love drawing together:

 This particular morning I caught them reading on the couch together:

This video cracks me up. So much happens in it. It's mostly them in the kitchen making dinner but Stan Bear is so goofy and high energy and Mike is trying to make sure that Stan Bear's fingers don't get cut so he moves the stool away causing Stan Bear to practice his balance. You can hear Stan B laugh; say the words, carrot, broccoli (bocky), compost, chips, fire; you can watch him catch his balance as Mike pushes his stool away from the knife; you can hear Mike's stern voice; and Stan B pretending to talk on the phone. Mike is not a great multi-tasker so this is kind of amazing. You may not be able to tell, but I can (and that is partially why this video cracks me up) that Mike's blood pressure is rising throughout these 2 minutes. Enjoy:


papa and bear from erin kawamata on Vimeo.

Daycare Stories

Here he is one day after daycare, near their parking lot.

One of my favorite things about Stan B's daycare are the anecdotes from his day that they pass on. I never really had that with his two previous places of care. (Actually I did with the first place but the drama that came with that place has overshadowed any positive aspects of it.)

First of all let me just say that when I pick him up he is VERY enthusiastic. He yells, "Mama!" and he comes running to me for a big hug. If he is behind the safety gate he jumps up and down or does a little jig. Lovely, lovely, lovely. I can tell he is very happy there. Once he hugs me he usually then says, "Mama, come." and drags me to one of the rooms to show me something.

While I sign him out I get the stories of the day from his teachers. Here are some that I can remember:

One of his favorite teachers, Brittny, who he loves, will sometimes start her shift just as the kids are waking up from their naps. She poked her head in one day and Stan B saw her, lifted up his head, reached out his hand for her and said, "Bittny!"

On Halloween, he dressed up as Dickie the Cat. When Brittny came in he walked up to her and said, "I kitty cat. Meow."

Whenever he sees the infant teacher, Rebecca, come out of the infant room he shouts, "Becca!" and runs to her.

One day they were folding laundry and Stan B showed interest in helping, so they let him help. He was doing a great job and showing them how he could 'fold' laundry. His teachers told him how impressed they were with his folding skills and all of a sudden he started flinging laundry everywhere. I think he gets this from Mike. Not the flinging of laundry but the terrible way in which he takes compliments. Just say thank you, boys. Anyways, it made his teachers want to laugh hysterically.

When I picked him up from daycare on Monday he was extra chatty. He kept saying, "I'm happy." and "I yike daycare." and "I happy. I yike everything." So I started asking him things like, "Do you like _____?" and "What do you like?" He went on and on. Then I decided to ask him if he liked things that I know he doesn't really like. When I asked him if he liked carrots he said, "I yike carrots...at daycare." Ha! He also named names of classmates that he likes. It was adorable.

At night as he is in bed he will sometimes say that he is scared. When he does this I tell him to think of all the people he loves and then we list names. He always says at the end, "I think of daycare friends?" It's sweet.

So, we like daycare. They even work with us on the potty training. OOoh. I need to write a post on that. Nothing big but we have a little Poo-Poo Train Chart going with stickers and everything.