Chronicles of Summertime: Day 19

Day 19:
Today was library story time for both toddlers and babies. Aunt M came with us. We had lots of fun and read books about clothing. Then, we went out to eat at BW3. Snugglepuppy took a nap amazingly, then I took him to the playground, where we played with our new air rocket. Mostly, I shot it and Snugglepuppy ran after it.

Later on tonight, I worked on getting more of my children's books into my database. This has been a goal of mine for a while and when I heard about an app that scans the UPC of the book and puts it into a database, I was on it! This is the best invention ever. It is called BooksApp and it is available for Android for free. So, far, I am getting close to 400 books. Really had no idea I had that many. I am so excited because they are organized by category and it will be a great resource for doing lesson plans.

Chronicles of Summertime: Day 11

Ok, first of all, I would like to change Squeaker's name to Ladybug, so from here on out, baby girl will be referred to as Ladybug!

Over the weekend, we went to visit my mom and dad for Father's Day. My husband couldn't come because he was on call for work, but we had lots of fun with Magaw(Grandma) and Quit That(Grandpa). They got Snugglepuppy some sidewalk chalk eggs, and got Ladybug a swing (Snugglepuppy already has one), so they played outside a lot. We also went out to eat and grandma and grandpa took him to the river to see boats and throw rocks in.

Before he went to bed, Snugglepuppy had to take all his little people (the ones I played with as a kid) and put them to bed face down on the cabinet beside his bed. How sweet!

Day 11:

We were still at grandma and grandpa's house. We played in the big back yard a little and grandpa let Snugglepuppy ride on the riding mower with him. Then he rigged up the wagon to the back of the mower and let him take a ride. I would recommend that you DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. 

We also went to the park down there and Snugglepuppy played while Ladybug just wanted to eat. Snugglepuppy mostly wanted to swing, but he also climbed on the playground. I was impressed at the size of the rock wall he climbed up. It was so tall that I couldn't reach him at all when he got to the top, so he was all on his own. But he did it! We also saw some bunnies and a cat. My mom is set on letting Snugglepuppy see a train, so we went to this park. It is near a railroad track and also has 2 old train cars on the property. Unfortunately they are blocked off by a fence, but you can still look at them. Snugglepuppy liked the trains, but even though we kept hearing running trains whistle in the distance, we never actually saw one go by. 

Afterwards, we went to get a bite to eat and then shortly afterward, we had to head home (2 hour drive). Both kids slept the whole way home. They had a pretty busy weekend. When we got home, they were excited to see daddy and Snugglepuppy was happy to get back to his night wrestling with daddy before bed. Everyone was pretty tired, so we really didn't do much the rest of the evening but relax.

Chronicles of Summertime: Day 5

Day 5:
We had a lot going on today including taking Squeaker to the doctor for her 2 month check-up, the internet installation people came, and I had a few chores to take care of, so we didn't do too much in the way of learning.

Snugglepuppy colored with crayons and then we looked at his Highlights magazine. From it, we cut out an accordian book and folded it up. He also played some of his games on the iPad.

We did make it to the park for a little while and Snugglepuppy made some new older friends. They played "lava monster" with his ball and included him in the play even though he didn't actively participate. They danced with him as well.

When daddy got home, we had our Pizza Pizza Party in the basement. These usually consist of eating pizza and watching TV, playing Wii, or just letting Snugglepuppy play down there.

Snugglepuppy has regressed a little in his potty training over the last couple of days. He has refused to sit on the potty at all, but tonight he wanted to put on the big boy underpants and he stayed in them for quite awhile until it was time to go upstairs for bed. We asked if he had to go and he said yes and at least peed in the potty. He still isn't using it to poop (he wants his diaper on for that) but at least it's something!

Chronicles of Summertime: Day 2

Day 2:

Today we played outside in the little swimming pool and sand box. Snugglepuppy liked exchanging the contents of each one, putting sand in the pool and water in the sand box. We made nothing in particular and Snugglepuppy decided shortly after we went out that he was ready to come back in.

We ran some errands and I decided to take Snugglepuppy to a nearby park with a playground. At which, Squeaker promptly decided she was hungry and I realized I didn't have the cover I use to nurse with us, so I went to the car and got the only blanket I could find, a thick, soft, fuzzy one. Even though it was hot, it wasn't long before Snugglepuppy was ready to come home anyway. (Maybe this kid has ADHD, jeez)

Snugglepuppy got a chance to work on his fine motor skills as well with an activity from a blog I recalled seeing long ago. I can't remember exactly which blog. We stacked cheerios on skewers stuck in a lump of playdough.

(Sorry about the quality, it's a photo of a photo.)

Not a very exciting day, but I did end up finishing up my baking projects, cake pops, candy coated pretzels and M&M rice krispie treats. Wow, my house is full of too much sugar!

Oh yeah, we also played with a few new apps we found for the iPad: Team Umizoomi Zoom into Numbers, PBS Kids, Crayon Hello, Balloons, and ABC Magic. Pretty sure Snugglepuppy is going to know how to use this thing better than me!

Hope everyone's summer is starting off great or will be starting soon.

Chronicles of Summertime: Day 1

Hello Friends! I know I have been away a LOT recently. I feel I have been so busy that I haven't done anything worthy of blogging about. But, I have decided to chronicle all the things we do this Summer and hopefully somewhere in there will be something that is useful to someone or at least you may enjoy following along with our journey. So, here goes. Me trying to entertain the 2 1/2 year old (Snugglepuppy) and the 2 month old (Squeaker) by myself with a little learning along the way.

Day 1:
Today we went to a local metro park. We decided to play on the playground and visit the nature center. Snugglepuppy had lots of fun looking at the animals and playing with the interactive nature board (see photo below). We also worked a floor puzzle of butterflies and insects. We had to leave there pretty fast as Squeaker had a poop-splosion of epic proportions. It leaked out into the car seat and down through the car seat onto the wagon and everything in it including the umbrella and Snugglepuppy's feet! Ughh, it was pretty gross. Needless to say, that ended our trip.

After cleaning all that mess up, we ate lunch and I put Snugglepuppy down for his nap (which he actually took!) Meanwhile, the free iPad arrived in the mail! We are currently searching for awesome free apps for kids. Leave a comment if you know of any. We took a walk later on that evening. Snugglepuppy made another attempt at riding his tricycle, but once he got started pedaling, he forgot to steer and ended up in the grass. Oh well, just needs more practice.

We made it through day 1, thank goodness! Mommy was exhausted after putting the kids to bed and then working on my cake pops and chocolate dipped pretzel sticks. Finally got to bed after 1 am. Hope tomorrow's more relaxing.