Staycation

Dean took the last full week of February off from work, and we had a staycation.  We did a lot of home improvement projects (which I'll detail at a later time) that took up large chunks of time.  Since taking our home off the market, we've been reorganizing, unpacking all the stuff we got out of the way in order to stage the house, and building things that need to be built.  But we also made time for some fun stuff.

On Tuesday we went to the Zoo, which was nice since it's been a while.

Geese are scary.

On Wednesday, we went to the Museum.  We checked out Gems (Robin got bored,) Space, and the newer Health/Life exhibit--all ones we haven't been to in a while (or at all.)

Can you see Dean's and my faces in the giant pin board?

Robin age-progressed to 70.

Then on Friday we went to the Children's Museum.  It was a lot more crowded than the last few times we've gone--we had to wait a lont time for our turn to drive the fire engine.

Shopping in the kid-sized supermarket (it was stocked full of organic products, even!)

Bubbles!

We didn't get much chance to sleep in this week, what with making sure we left the house with enough time to enjoy these places before naptime, but we all had fun.  The only downside was that Robin picked up a cold from somewhere (Zoo or Museum, probably) and passed it on to Dean and I.  But we're all better now.

Oh Yeah!

For those whom I have failed to spread the word to, I am now a published author!  My story Night Terrors is in the anthology Doomology:  The Dawning of Disasters now available from Amazon and Barnes and Noble.  Please check it out!!!!!

February Fun!

A February update!

Robin is now tall enough to turn on light switches without standing on anything.  He is very proud of this ability, and is happy with how useful it is.  He has also started using a few limited three-word sentences!  They often lack a real verb (and a lot of his communication is still through sound effects and pantomime) but we know what he means.  He can manage "Robin help Mama" (when he helps me with something, "No Mama help" when he doesn't want help, and "More help please" in addition to the ones that aren't proper English yet.  I do find it amusing how I can figure out what he means (sometimes!) based on sound effects and context.  For example, he was playing with a ball of yarn in my office one day and I told him he was playing like a cat.  The next day he pointed into my office saying "Meow" so I knew he wanted to play with the yarn again.  Of course, anybody else would be totally lost on that conversation.  I'm really excited about the language breakthroughs he's made, but I'm still impatient for more.  But now on to some pictures!

Robin playing with the new legos he got for Christmas

Crawling under his train table to keep playing under there

Robin helping with the support bracket for the new microwave we installed

Play dough!  (A good freezing-weather activity)

I made Robin a fishing game.  So far, he lacks the fine motor skills to catch the fish while holding the stick and not the magnet, but we'll get there.

We went to the indoor amusement park Funtastic Fun for a friend's son's 5th birthday party.  Unfortunately the park will be relocating far away in June--it's really close now and we've been meaning to take Robin for ages.  He had a blast, and all the rides were kid-friendly--but not all were parent-friendly.  This whip ride was the first Robin's ever ridden without Dean or I.  I was worried that he would be worried at first, especially since he looked unsure when it started moving, but on the second or third time around he saw me and smiled, so I knew he was having fun.  (By the way, the birthday boy is the one in the car in front of him.  He's sitting with some random kid that we didn't know, because the entire ride was full.)

Gabe and Robin

Other fun party shots

Our Valentine's Day breakfast (Robin just had the heart-shaped toast, since he still can't have eggs.)

We tried making a snow bunny once it got warm enough to turn the freezing, dry snow into something packable.

Crikey!

We purchased a set of clippers and tried the new method of cutting Robin's hair.  I still need practice, but at least this haircut didn't make me ask "My God, what have I done???" like some of the other attempts have.

Click here to read about the crafts Robin and I did in February over on Science Fiction Mommy, and here to see our new sensory bin.

We've been super busy rearranging the house and making improvements lately.  We officially took the house off the market at the end of February :( because we didn't want to deal with moving (or selling) with an infant, plus we needed time to nest.  Eventually I'll post some home improvement pics--but since we're so busy I'll probably remain terminally behind.  See you all some other time!

(And please start commenting again!!!  I love hearing your reactions!)

Cookies!

Robin and I made Valentine's Day cookies this week!  They're heart-shaped cutouts.  I hadn't been sure how he would do with this--or rather, how much patience he would have.  He only made it through one tray when we made cookies at Christmas, but he made it through almost the entire process this time! 

 

We spread this over three days.  On day 1, we made the dough.  He was very proud to wear his daddy's apron.

 

He liked helping to measure ingredients

and using the mixer.

His patience lasted all the way until I had to start mixing the flour by hand, by which time he really wanted to lick a beater so I let him. 

On day 2, he saw me pulling my hair back before starting and wanted a ponytail of his own, so he got one.  He looks like Pebbles.  On that day we rolled out the dough,

cut the shapes, and baked them. 

He really liked the cookie cutters, though we butted heads a little as I tried to prevent him from making his cutouts overlap.  When we got to the end of the dough, instead of mushing it back together multiple times to get a few more cookies out of the scraps, I just let him overlap as much as he wanted and baked the strangely-shaped pieces.  It was much faster, fun, and easier on both of us, that way.

He also liked playing with the flour.

On day 3, we decorated.  I made white, red, pink, and purple frosting.  The white I left in a bowl and I spread it over the faces of the cookies.  I put the colored frostings in sandwich bags, sealed them, mushed it all to the bottom, and then

used a twist tie to hold it down.  Then I snipped off the corner to make my own, kid-friendly frosting bags (this way nothing could come out the back while he's squeezing.)  It worked really well.  The white guaranteed that all cookies have a uniform amount of frosting, and Robin got to make them pretty.  We only had to stop and wash Robin's hands one time after he put his fingers in his mouth, (though he also claimed three cookies as his own as we went, by taking bites out of them.)

He lasted until I was running out of white, at which point there were only about a half-dozen cookies left.  I took the bags away from him and told him it was okay to lick his fingers.  (Yum!  I've been waiting for this for a long time, Mama!)

Of course, it made a huge mess, but it was worth it. 

Crafts!

If you'd like to see all the crafts Robin and I have been doing to stay occupied while it's freezing outside, check out the post I made at Science Fiction Mommy.  Fun stuff!