Category Archives: preschooler

Happy Little Trees

We’ve decided starting sometime this weekend (either Saturday or Sunday) we’re going to have a week of no TV/Kindles/etc. and only limited smart phone usage (especially in the evenings). Since we’ve been cutting back anyway, I’m hoping the kids won’t notice it too much… except on weekends. That’s usually when games are played and the idea is to not turn it on at all. Thankfully we’ve got plenty of stuff to do, and the weather should be nice, so perhaps we’ll get out a bit.

The kids have both been on a painting and coloring kick lately, and for that I am eternally grateful to Crayola for making washable paint. While Josh and I were doing some rearranging, the kids very quietly got into the paints. Thankfully they were mostly painting paper, but the paint had also made it onto the rug and their clothes. They then moved on to stickers… which Enzo promptly started decorating the wall with.

The funny thing is that Enzo has never really been one to color or paint where he isn’t supposed to. I can usually walk away and trust that he’ll only decorate what he’s supposed to. Phoebe on the other hand? The world is her canvas. She will draw on herself, her clothes, the floor, the walls, you name it. Thank you, washable art supplies and magic eraser for the not-so-washable.

So, we’re mostly likely in for a lot of painting this upcoming week, but thankfully some warmer weather as well, which means it’ll be much easier to play outside and go on some walks. Perhaps we’ll head back to the zoo and let the kids run around some more when we aren’t tackling the many things that didn’t get done around the house this week or last weekend. Now that it’s warming up and the days are starting to get lighter, I’m feeling much more motivated!

Things They Say (and Do)

First, I’m ecstatic that tomorrow the high is supposed to be 55 degrees! I’d love to get out with the kids, but we have some stuff that needs to be done around the house and it’ll just be me in the afternoon through Sunday morning, so do I want to try and wrangle the kids by myself? I’d hate to go anywhere that needs a stroller otherwise I’ll just be chasing them around like a lunatic with a stroller and unable to keep them under control. Let’s face it… all children go nuts the first time it gets this warm after months and months of winter.

We’ve had a fairly mild winter, but the kids haven’t been outside nearly enough, which I only just discovered the other day. We also realized that this would account for some behavioral issues. We assumed they were being plenty active still and were probably allowing too much screen time.

I just found out from Enzo that there have been several days where movies have been watched and for Enzo that plus getting some screen time in the morning and evening is way too much. So, we’re cutting back and hoping his mood is better. I think even he realizes he’s had too much because he’s only argued a little bit and has been okay with more creative play. Now if we could just get Josh off his phone. 😉

Phoebe is really such a typical girl and loves playing with dolls and houses. Enzo plays with her houses and Minnie stuff as well, but the bad guys are usually destroying it and his super heroes need to catch them. They each have their own very creative ways of playing with the same toys.

Enzo is still very much wanting to read, so we need to get on that. The other day he wanted me to stop so he could try and read a sign, so we really need to work on helping him reach this next milestone. Phoebe likes to pretend to read books and when she can’t remember the words she’ll just make up words and sounds.

More than anything, though, they both have huge imaginations and play really well together, and by themselves. It’s pretty fun when they ask for someone to play with, although, with Phoebe I’ve found it’s safer to just watch her. She’s very particular with how she plays and I usually do the wrong thing. My bad, Phoebe, of course the toilet goes in the kitchen and we are most definitely not playing with that Minnie, but the other Minnie, my bad.

There is always a method to their madness when it comes to play. An absolutely adorable method. They do sometimes get frustrated with each other when their ideas don’t quite mesh, but overall they’ve found a pretty good rhythm and there have only been a few Jerry Springer moments to speak of.

My favorite Enzo and Phoebe sayings lately, though?

Enzo: Did a full on “Heavens to Murgatroid!” at dinner when Phoebe did a big sneeze. It was amazing.

Phoebe: “Daddy hit me!” Yeah… she thinks it’s funny to say so-and-so (usually her friends) hit her or bit her, but then we had to have the It’s-only-funny-until-CPS-gets-called-on-daddy Talk. The fact that she has zero grace and always has cuts and bruises would not help her poor dad out. Oh, kids.

Happy Friday!

Things they say and do…

I think Enzo has gone through a growth spurt, or I’ve been turning a blind eye to the fact that he’s growing – that they both are. All of the sudden his ankles are sticking out from below pant legs and while he remains skinny as a rail, we’ll have to go up a size to account for his legs being too long. He’s growing in so many ways and it’s fascinating to watch him in this in-between stage. The stage where he wants to hold onto some of his baby/toddler-hood, but on the other hand he wants to learn how to read and figures things out so quickly. I was playing a video game with him last night and he was showing me how to do certain things. He has a very serious and inquisitive mind and that combined with his… determination, shall we say? will take him far.

Phoebe is very much a toddler, and while she has her moments, I wouldn’t say her two’s are all that terrible. Does that mean we have drama coming in her three’s? Perhaps. We’re at that stage where she changes her mind fifteen times in 5 minutes and everything seems to fall apart if we haven’t guessed correctly what she will choose. She has epic pouts and the other day she did the full-on fake crying with fists on her eyes. It was fairly hilarious. She’s also that stage where more often than not she does not wish to get dressed, or is okay about getting dressed, but not in those clothes – definitely not those socks, and let’s make a game of it. Most mornings we’re okay with it, and since I’m usually getting ready myself while Josh gets them dressed (unless one of them demands that Mommy do it) he can probably add child/alligator wrangling to his resume under Skills.

Parenting is a glorious, chaotic, exhausting and rewarding thing.

Yummy yummy, fruit salad!

So, my mom (Hi, Mom!) bought the kids a Wiggles DVD. I have heard of the Wiggles, but never actually watched them. The kids… weren’t huge fans. There was some dancing, but ultimately they wanted to watch Paw Patrol instead. However, the next day out of the blue, Enzo asked for the Fruit Salad song and I had to wrack my brain to figure out what he was talking about. For whatever reason, it is the only song that stuck out to him on this DVD and he has found enormous pleasure in getting it stuck in my head. Out of the blue he’ll suddenly start singing “Yummy yummy, fruit salad” and he’ll look at me and crack that smile with the adorable dimple and giggle while repeating it over and over until he has it stuck in my brain. Now we go back and forth with it. Sometimes I’ll sit down next to him on the couch and sing it in his ear to get him to smile, and this weekend I wouldn’t be surprised if he wakes me up by singing it.

We’re supposed to get a nice storm early next week, and while the weather won’t be terrible this weekend, I think we’ll stay in and maybe do some more painting. Enzo asked to paint something besides paper, so I picked up a little project for them (obviously I can’t spoil the surprise). Otherwise Phoebe has really been into Barbie and princesses lately, so I imagine there will be a lot of that as well.

Oh, and for the curious… (Sorry) Oh, and my bad… it’s “Fruit salad, yummy yummy” not vice versa. 😉

Oh, those imaginations!

With the cold finally settling in, we’re having to get more creative with how we spend our time around the house, and even though we’re guilty of spending a bit more time in front of electronics than I would like, the kiddo’s imaginations are definitely not suffering. In fact, dare I say it, but their imaginations have actually benefited.

One game that Phoebe has been enjoying lately started somewhat by her brother, but ultimately was created after watching Paw Patrol. Enzo always insists on watching this one episode with a ghost (which ends up not even being a ghost at all), so we now have a new game that started up one day out of the blue. The other morning when Phoebe padded out of her room in the with the sleep barely wiped out of her eyes, she looked at me and her eyes went big and she yelled, “Ghost!” I continued with the game and said, “Oh no! What do we do?” So she continued with the mock surprise and yelled, “Run! Hurry! Hurry!” This morning Enzo pretended to be the ghost while chasing Phoebe who was first in my arms and then at one point in Josh’s arms while Enzo and I chased them both.

I wish I could remember all of what Enzo comes up with (because it’s awesome), but there are always a lot of details to keep track of. It was funny, though, the other day in the car when I realized he was using ideas from Beauty and the Beast, and episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and a Harry Potter game that Josh picked up for the PS3. See picture below:

It was a big story with 2 dinosaurs who happened to be brothers and then there was a spell and the big dinosaur was asleep so naturally the spell needed to be broken before the 3rd petal fell and he would be asleep forever. So, Enzo waved his magic wand and sang Twinkle Twinkle and poof! The spell was broken. Then unfortunately, another spell was cast and Enzo asked me to use my wand because, “You have the biggest wand I’ve ever seen.” I failed the first time and accidentally put the whole car to sleep, but after waving my wand and singing Itsy Bitsy, all was well.

They seriously just get more and more fun.

Dino and Bunnies

Every day adventures