Let the Games Begin!

Perhaps I spoke too soon when I said we'd had an easy transition to the toddler beds. Maddie & Aidan have clearly realized that they now have "options" during the sleeping hours. This past week has been an interesting study in human nature. Here are some of the things we've found the last few mornings...


Apparently Aidan decided to have a midnight read-a-thon and piled half of the bookshelf into his bed:




Not sure how he squished himself in there, but he did!

Oh Maddie...Where are you??

Hmmmm...Aidan's there:

Oh, THERE she is!

And yes, those are shoes she's wearing whilst sleeping on the floor at the foot of Aidan's bed. Most girls become obsessed with princess shoes - Maddie became obssessed with her crocs. Of course they ARE cotton candy pink crocs!

We've (and by we I mean Kurt since he so kindly lets me sleep in a bit) also found Aidan in Maddie's bed with her one morning. A few times we found Aidan in Maddie's bed and Maddie laying on the floor beneath her bed - apparently she got fed up with him and decided to let him have her bed!

I must say, throughout all of these night time shenanigans, they haven't once cried, screamed, tried to get out of their room, or otherwise disturbed my and Kurt's sleep. So all in all I'd say we really have been pretty lucky. Now we just need to figure out why Maddie seems to prefer to sleep on the floor (found her there again this morning)...

Perfect Afternoon

I can't believe it hit 74 degrees here today - in New England - in MARCH! Can't remember the last time that happened. So we took full advantage and planned an "off-season" visit to the beach. We drove down to Scusset Beach in lovely Sandwich on the cape (it is on the cape cod canal just before you go over the Sagamore bridge, so I'm not certain if that technically counts as part of the cape).

Maddie & Aidan hit the ground running and were so excited to build sand castles. And I found that a springtime visit to the beach was actually more pleasant than a summer one. No traffic and no sticky, sweaty, salty mess to deal with. Just a lovely breeze, the sun shining and a very relaxing time (doesn't hurt that M&A were in a FABULOUS mood the entire time and never once attempted to run off on us).

The second we arrived, Aidan took right off for the water. Poor Kurt had to endure the frigid temperatures with him. I put my feet in for less than a minute and nearly frooze them off. But Aidan didn't seem to notice one bit! Maddie immediately began digging and pretty much never stopped (except at snacktime). We had what I would call a perfect afternoon...

Chillin' in Mommy's PURPLE sunglasses:

Doesn't he look like he was just born to be at the beach??

AHHH...smell that sea air:

Burying himself:

I swear, someday I WILL get a photo of these two where they are looking in the same direction!

She's VERY serious about her work:

The freezing your feet off part:

Snacktime:

Nothing like YoMelts and sand for a hearty meal!

It will be rainy and in the 50s early next week, but we're holding out hope for a very warm spring and lots of future visits to the beach!

Ahhhh...Freedom

My initial instinct was to keep Maddie & Aidan in cribs as long as possible. Why mess with something that works so well, right? Then we thought twice about it and figured we have to do this at some point and since we plan (hope...please) to potty train them this summer, we better make the big move. So yesterday we (Kurt really) took the rails off of their cribs and turned them into toddler beds.

I had heard a few horror stories about kids going wild at bedtime - tearing their rooms apart and refusing to go to sleep. But we bit the bullet and it couldn't have turned out any better! They both went immediately to sleep and stayed in their beds no problem. They really seem to enjoy the freedom that comes with being able to get in and out of their own and each other's beds. Let's just hope we are blessed with MANY more nights like this one! I really don't like anyone to monkey with my sleep schedule :)

So Simple...

Maddie and Aidan's favorite activity at their weekly Early Intervention (EI) playgroup is, hands down, the sensory table. What's a sensory table? A big vat the EI people fill up with a new item each week that is intended to challenge the kids sense of touch, etc.

We figured it was worth it to try and recreate this at home. Who knew that a couple of $.99 bags of Wheat Puffs, dish buckets & my old measuring scoops would provide 30 plus minutes of completely focused enjoyment. Next up...Lentils!!!

It's always the simple things that have the most impact!

Doorknobs

Well the time has come where our previously "child proofed" home is no longer. I knew this day would come, but was hoping we could hold off on it until they were 18 or so. Aidan has figured out how to turn doorknobs. He's opening closets left and right and he's been seen around the house with items ranging from my swiffer duster (not such a bad thing really) to dirty underwear. If he wants to jump on Mommy & Daddy's bed, there's no stopping him. Thank goodness we have a lock on the toilet since he's been know to splash around in there! Time to run to target for some doorknob childproofing things...

He looks innocent enough, right??

Easton Children's Museum

We spent our Sunday afternoon at a lovely little children's museum inside an old firehouse. The kids had a great time discovering all the things the museum has to offer...



Super cool train set:



Selling tickets for the 'Aidan Express':

The ball dropper - Aidan must have done this a hundred times:

"I see you Mommy":

Taking a little break to admire herself:

Firegirl Maddie:

Driving the lobster boat:

I'm sure we'll be back for more visits!

Eccentricities

The "terrible twos" is by no means a myth! But I believe that two year olds are given some amazingly adorable qualities to counterbalance the havoc they can wreak. It seems you're angry at some inappropriate behavior one second and before you know it, they've melted your heart with some sweet little thing they do or say. And since I fancy this blog to be an online memory book of sorts, below are a couple of examples of these endearing qualities. I hope never to forget these sweet little eccentricities...


The missing letter 'F'

Despite many months of speech therapy, Aidan still has a bit of trouble with certain letters. Nothing to worry about as he'll outgrow it. In the meantime it makes for some really adorable words. Each morning when we ask him what he wants for breakfast, he usually chants "Wapple, Wapple or Muppin, Muppin". One of his favorite Mickey Mouse Clubhouse characters is "Goopy". And lately he's been crawling around the house pretending to be a dog and saying, "Woop Woop". Really, does it get any cuter than this?





The Hoarder

Maddie is a collector (much like her Grandma & Peepa and much to her mommy's dismay). While most children have a comfort item such as a blankie or stuffed animal, Maddie has THREE such items. She carries her THREE stuffed pigs (named "piggy", "two" & "oink") around the house. There have been many a night frantically running around the house at bedtime trying to locate a missing pig lest she sleep without a member of her crew. I've also noticed that when she plays with the train table, she holds what she considers the 'good' trains in one hand while playing with the less desirable trains with the remaining hand - ensuring Aidan doesn't get a chance at one of the prized trains. And the most obvious example of her hoarding can be found underneath the seat of her pink princess car. If anything is missing inside the house, the first place anyone looks is inside Maddie's car. While this is still in the endearing quality stage, I am keeping an eye on it to make sure we don't end up on that TLC show in the near future!

Exhibit A

Gotta love those 2 x twos...