Sick

Everyone at our house has been sick for a while. I think we are finally out of the woods, but we're all still trying to kick the cough. Because we were sick N and I did not leave the house that much last week. I get "cabin fever" verrrry easily, so one day N and I drove around town finding and watching all of the construction equipment we could find. I think we hit a few drive through's for meds and food just to get out of the house. While we were at home we did some more crafting when we felt well enough. We also built just about everything you can imagine with couch cushions - ramps, forts and "the Olympics" as we call it. The Olympics thing started this summer when N found an interest in the Olympic gymnastic events. I gather several cushions, pillows and blankets and position them next to the couch. N and I then take turns climbing, rolling, and walking down the cushions. It's a fun thing to do together and it's good exercise for N.

We did a neat craft today that I found on the internet. I taped a piece of clear contact paper sticky side out to our sliding glass door. I printed out Thanksgiving themed clip art and bought colorful feathers for N to stick to the contact paper. After he was done sticking things to the contact paper I placed a second piece of contact paper on top of his little creation and made it into a place mat.

We don't have much going on tomorrow, but are looking forward to a play date with friends on Friday. I'm sure N will be extactic to play with his little friends again.

Potty!!

We just had a very exciting moment at our house! N went pee in the potty!

We bought a potty seat last weekend and set it out for him to see. He has been sitting on it with his clothes on to get used to it (as reccomended by the book that came with it). We have been reading a couple books about potty training, but have not been pressing the issue. This morning N went into the bathroom and pulled out his potty and said "go pee on the potty, Mommy. " So he did! He went potty then sat there for a while as I read him some books. Then he put his potty away and went down for his nap.

I will say, I can already see that this is going to be as much of a learning experience for me as it will be for N. Teaching a boy to go to the bathroom may have it's challenges. Either we need to get a larger training seat or I need to learn how to teach him to sit on the seat so "it" doesn't squirt everywhere! We have a pair of wet pants, some wet socks and a wet floor to clean up as a result of our first time going potty, but that's not hard to fix. N got upset when he got everything wet and I said "that's okay, honey. It's just potty. We can clean it up. Don't worry about it..." I didn't want to discourage him in any way... But, in my head I am quietly thinking "Uh, how do we do this so we don't make this kind of a mess every time he goes??" If anyone has any tips please email me. :)

Art Work

N has reached the age where he will sit down and do an art project. The amount of time he will spend on a project depends on the day and his mood, but he will at least attempt any craft I present. His favorite thing right now are the paint stamps with the knobs on the top. He loves them because they are fairly easy to do and I like them because they create less of a mess than other paints. N also does craft and art projects at school that he brings home each week. Storing all this art work has presented somewhat of a challenge. I recently read in one of my Mommy magazines (okay, they could be Daddy magazines, too. Let's not exclude the Dads.) that one Mom takes pictures of her kids holding their pieces and saves the picture on the computer. That way she can eventually throw away some of the pieces and she can save the really treasured pieces. I took that Mom's advice and took pictures of N standing next to the fridge when it was covered with his art. Then I took pictures of each piece individually. Since so many of you who read my blog do not get to our house to see N's art hanging on our fridge, I thought I would post some here for you to see.

Summer Summary

It's hard to believe that summer went by and I did not post a single entry on this blog.. Time flies!! N and I spent lots of time outside, so I wasn't at my computer a whole lot. It's hard to be on the computer with a toddler around because any time I log on he wants to play games on his favorite kid websites. Therefore, I end up saving my computer usage for nap time and after the little one has gone to bed. This summer was exciting and this fall has been, too. I have posted several pictures to recap the past few months.






We got our front door painted red.







N and I passed the time by cleaning his outdoor toys with buckets of water, soap, and wash cloths. He loved it!

N also saw his first display of fireworks (or "fire spiders" as he called them) on the 4th of July, but the pictures did not turn out so good, darn it.








N's birthday! I can't believe he's another year older!








N and I ate as many lunches outside as we could. N calls them picnics. I brought his little table inside now that it's cooling off. We still eat at it quite often and N still calls them picnics even though we are eating indoors.







My sister came home for her final wedding gown fitting and her bachelorette party. Good times!!





















Unfortunately N came down with a terrible ear infection and was sick while my sister was here, so he had to stay home quite a bit. J and I tried to keep him occupied and as happy as possible by crafting with him. After twenty four long days, two rounds of antibiotics and three trips to the doctor he finnnnnallly kicked the ear infection!!!




N started a one day per week school at a local church in early September. These pictures were taken on his first day. It's funny because he insists on carrying his backpack to school every day. He does verrrry well at school. One of the best parts of the day (for me anyway) is seeing his face light up when he sees that I am there to pick him up. He always says "Mommy" with a big smile on his face and runs to me with his backpack on his back. Too cute!!




In late September my family went to The Netherlands for my sister's wedding. The trip was fantastic and the wedding was incredible. Congratulations again, Sis. You two are a wonderful couple and you were a stunning bride!!! My husband took the week off of work to stay home with my son while I was on the trip. Although I enjoyed my travels, I missed "my guys" immensely. D was good about emailing me daily updates and he took lots of pictures. They actually had a very active week. D even made a decorative cement block with their hand prints in it to commemorate the week.











































N is currently very interested in pretend play. He loves his kitchen. As I said above, I have our picnic table in our dining room which is located right by "N's kitchen." N "cooks" us pizzas, pancakes and noodles all the time. He is very good about serving me my diet coke with everyone meal!! Ha!!







N was Bob the Builder for Halloween, but I cannot find the pictures at the moment. I will post pictures when I find them.









This fall will be busy with household projects. D got a ton of stuff done outdoors while it was still warm outside. He built landscaping walls all around the house that will be ready to be filled with plants next spring. He closed in the underside of the deck and built a little shed under the deck to store our patio furniture, etc. He did a huge renovation of the creek in the back yard and was able to grow a pretty nice yard of grass... He is struggling to push the crab grass out of the yard, but it all looks great to me. Our big project this fall is finishing our basement. We've already got our belongings stored in various places of the house and D has framed in all that walls that can be framed in at this point. With some help from the professionals who built our house, we hope to have the basement finished by Christmas!

Take care,
C