Wednesday: home alone

I'm home alone today!  Since there is no school for the kids tomorrow, I asked if they could go today instead.  I feel like I've gotten so many things checked off my list!

1. I got some fabric for the back of a quilt.  This was a super fast stop and didn't involve buying giant smarties.

2. I didn't get Joshua's wall painted, although I did try.  I can't get the paint can open.  But...now I know what the next step has to be!

3. I cleaned the kitty litter.

4. I cleaned the inside trash can.  I am pretty sure there are no more fruit flies, and it's getting cold out, so it'll be nice to have an inside trash again.

5. I paid some bills, sent some emails, did some Christmas shopping.

6. I made of movie of Joshua's first year pictures.  I made a similar one for Isaac.  I'm obviously not a professional photographer by any means, but it's still fun to see.  Joshua was much more cooperative in staying on his back for at least one picture!



7.  I relaxed.  I ate a quiet lunch and took a nap with no one around to wake me up.

8. I took pictures of a quilt. (And hope to post them soon.)

9. I rearranged Isaac's room for his new quiet time.  I think we'll have a drawer with a few activities that should only be opened during quiet time.  I also printed out some more mazes for him to do.  I also looked at the pictures of towers he made from a set of Duplos during the last rest time.  They're great.  Why am I making the towers for instructions when he makes such cool ones?

Monday: the time has come

The time has come to help Isaac not take a nap during the day.  At least, not when he's at home.  I've noticed that if he does take a nap lately he is then up for several hours in bed, unable to fall asleep.  So rest time is changing to quiet time.  He only has to stay in his room and we'll slowly accumulate more options of things for him to do.

It worked out well today.  He did some mazes.  He colored on the white board.  He built some duplo towers and took pictures of them.  He may have played with his marbles, although those have been out for a while.

Afterwards he still gets his screen time.

So overall a success, although kind of sad.  It was always nice to hope that everyone would take a good nap.

Sunday: changes

1) I got a haircut yesterday.  I mostly like it.  I chopped off about seven inches.

2) I moved the nightlight from our bedroom into the kitchen.  I know, it feels like an odd thing to mention.  But makes so much sense!  It makes our bedroom darker and lets me better see as I stumble to a child's room.  (It also lets Isaac see better if he needs to use the bathroom.  I'm pretty sure I don't wake up when that happens unless he calls me.)  I should have made the change a while ago, but didn't think of it.

3) Our winter lights are up.  Lights are my favorite part of the Christmas season, but this strand is really to help light up a corner that has no other great lighting.  The odd thing was that we received the package today...Sunday.  I guess the shipping season has started, but for some reason it makes me a bit sad that you can receive packages on Sunday.

Saturday: first snow

It snowed today!  Not as much as predicted, but it was nice and wet.

The first time we were not out for very long...Isaac seemed more excited about playing with the snow inside than about being outside.

For the second time I clothed Isaac much better and got out the sand toys.  I really need to remember to not put them away for the winter...I always end up digging them out of the garage when it snows out.  Joshua was complaining that he didn't get to go outside too, so I bundled him up.  He can't walk all that well to begin with, so the boots and snow pants were just too much.  He was out probably about four minutes.  Isaac was out a bit longer.

Friday: hmm

Hmm.  I had something profound to say...but I can't remember it now. :p

We went over to Betsy's house.  Isaac and Ethan had a good time playing...and there were only a few tears.  I'm still not sure what the tears were about, but the dog barked which made Isaac laugh and then everything was ok again.  I had a wonderful time too...it is nice to be with other people and makes the day go by so much faster.

I was going to put up our winter lights today but then they were completely dead.  How??  They were working when I took them down at the end of the winter.  It frustrates me.

Thursday: life lesson

Don't start a routine in which your young child gets a few minutes of Ipad time first thing in the morning.  They may wake up at 5am and then scream for a bit because they think it's Ipad time when it's really sleeping time.

Wednesday: trying things

This morning we tried a new activity: can we put all the Duplos on the Duplo table?  I find it an interesting question, especially since you can't attach Duplos to some Duplos (i.e., they have to go on top) and there is a toddler.  I also started a time lapse video, but the angle was poor so I won't be showing it.

We didn't get all the Duplos on before lunch time and the youngest members of the activity were done with it.  However, Joshua did better than I was expecting, only taking a few off.  Once we got some windows on he played with those pretty well.  Isaac didn't put a lot on, but did bring a lot over.

There was a lovely rain storm this afternoon followed by an incredible rainbow.  We could see both legs and half of a second rainbow.  And the primary rainbow was so bright!  I don't think I've ever seen such a bright one before.  Ben managed to see the whole arc...lucky him.

We also tried hamburger enchilada with chicken.  It wasn't as good.  Not bad, but not as good.