Monday, August 30, 2010

Video: Independent Climbing at the Playground


I love this video, because it shows how a 19 month can do things unassisted.   One day I showed Henry how to climb the rungs by putting his feet up one at a time, and a week later he was climbing like a banshee.  It takes a lot of will power to stand there and let him figure it out on his own (you can see Chris' hand almost give him a boost at the top of the ladder), but in the end Henry got up on his own.

I LOVE that he can finally play on the jungle gym all by himself.  So proud.  *tear* *sigh*

Monday, August 23, 2010

Stumpy Farmer = Ahcong (Grandpa)?


Henry thinks this John Deer farmer is a mini-Ahcong (my dad).  One day he started asking for Ahcong over and over again until he found JD the farmer.  I continue to find this hilarious as he seems to have made this connection on his own without any direction from an adult.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Keeping Him Awake in the Car!

I know I already used his photo, but I love it so much and it's perfect for the subject of today's post.  He's still holding his cars, bottom lip pouting, sweaty hair touseled, etc.

Sometimes we're en route home for a nap and Henry will fall asleep in the car.  The car nap (even if for just 5 minutes) translates into:  get home; I put him in the crib; he sleeps for an hour; he wakes up and screams for 30 min to an hour; and then sleeps for 2 hours.  It's challenging.  Of course, ideally we would be home before he's tired, but life is too short to be completely and totally wed to an exact time table.  The trick is preventing him from falling asleep in the car.  Unfortunately, singing, yelling, reaching back every 5 minutes, etc. doesn't work - AND it translates into reckless driving.

Last week, I found something that did work!  I handed him my iPhone, which is something he never gets to touch otherwise.  He randomly turned on the ipod app, and we listened to an assortment of Jay Z, Eminem and kids songs.  He held the iPhone as if he was watching a show on it and he stayed up the entire 15 minute ride home.  Eureka!  Now I open up the Cars Memory game (free app), and he'll play with it for 10-15 minutes, which is usually all I need to get him home for his nap.  If I need more than that, I try using a combination of cars, books, iPhone, singing, shouting, etc.  After the "safe driving" class I had to take for my new job, I've resolved to be a less distracted driver.  No more iPhone checking while driving...I hope you'll all join me in my crusade to stop cell phone talking and texting while driving.  ARGH!

Monday, August 16, 2010

The Goofy Face


When Henry wants to crack someone up he makes this face.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Babble's 30 Sweetest Parenting Moments on YouTube

Babble compiled 30 of their favorite parenting YouTube videos.  Some of these videos made me cry, and most of them made me laugh.  They're all great, but here are my favorites:

Majorly talented kid singing "Hey Jude" with a guitar.


Little girl BELTING out "Bleeding Love" with her mom. The mom singing is a little strange, but watching the little girl belt it out is worth it.


Dad getting into baby's crib. I can only assume that they are sleep training her, but trying to get around the rule of not taking her out of the crib. LOL. Nice try Daddy!


Baby with cochlear transplant hears his mom's voice for the first time. *tear*


Dad, who was in Iraq for 6 months, surprises his son at school. This made me cry - a lot.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

What to do with a Baby/Toddler in Chicago: Wagner Farm



............
Here's more for my series of posts on baby/toddler activities in Chicago and the northern suburbs.
1)  Chicago Botanic Gardens (Glencoe)  posted on 7/26/10
2)  Lincoln Park Zoo (Lincoln Park)  coming soon
3)  Peggy Nortebert Nature Museum (Lincoln Park) coming soon
4)  Kohl's Children's Museum (Glenview) coming soon
5)  Chuckee Cheese (Skokie) coming soon
6)  Shedd Aquarium (Downtown) coming soon
7)  Wagner Farm (Glenview) (see below)
8)  The Beach!  Greenwood Beach (Evanston)
9) Millenium Park (Loop)
10) Yet to be discovered ... please let me know if you have any tips!

Wagner Farm is our favorite place to visit on a breezy morning.  It is a working farm that also serves as a park.  There are no entry fees.  Henry loves to visit the horses, dairy cows, pigs, sheep, chickens, tractors, farm cats and vegetable gardens.  The interactive barn has a general store, a plastic cow for milking, etc.  There is also a little museum in the old farm house complete with the original 19th century furniture and an old lady dressed in a 19th century farm costume.  Last week we saw a calf being born!  Wagner has a farmer's market and family events all summer long.  You can also have birthday parties there.  It's a terrific place. 

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Gotta Love the suburbs

Last week an acquaintance discovered this bunny nest under the slide at the playground.  Unfortunately, she discovered it by accidentally stepping on one of these precious bunny babies.  We heard a "squeak squeak squeak," she looked down and screamed.  I won't say anymore about the bunny stomping other than that the poor thing was crawling around dragging its lifeless limbs.  Ugh, thinking about it makes me sick.  I agonized over the bunny nest for days, worrying that another unwitting mother would crush another pair of fragile bunny legs.

For the next few days, Henry and I returned to the park to check on the bunnies. On the day pictured above, they were peacefully nestled into the nest that had grown into a 6 inch high mound.  A few minutes a family of four children and mom arrived at the park.  They had been monitoring the nest for a week, and the mom had also been agonizing about the bunny nest.  She later had her kids draw up signs to alert park visitors to take care when near the bunny nest.

This is one of the great things about the suburbs.  We're not worrying about the homeless glue huffer in the back alley (we had one) or the prostitutes outside our door at 3am (we had those too), but instead we are ALL worrying about the 5 baby bunnies at our kids' park.  I LOVE IT!

Monday, August 9, 2010

Video: He Loves the Stage


On this day like most days, Henry copied his cousin.  Mia was up on the "stage" (aka. toy boxes) dancing.  Henry later climbed up, pointed at the casio keyboard, and started shimmying to the terrible accordion music.  In the background, you can hear his other cousin, Sam, banging with a hammer and my mom giggling.  I love being close to family.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Playing Pretend Emergency C-Section

This tiny 6 pound baby slid out of my sister on Wed in 10 minutes.  She was 3 days early.  Number 3 was a piece of cake.  I couldn't believe it.  12 hours later E was up and about, pooing, eating fruit, nursing like a champ and toting a mushy 6 month pregnancy belly.  Her 3 year old, Mia, said, "Is there another baby in there?"

My mom and I watched Sam and Mia on labor and delivery day.  I found them playing pretend emergency C-section.  Sam screamed, "We have to cut your belly open, Mia, because the baby is sick!"  I said, "What are you doing?  You know your Mommy didn't have to have her belly cut open, because your baby sister was perfectly healthy?"  And Sam said, "So the baby came out of the vagina?"  Mia said, "hahahaha.  Vaginas are funny."

AWESOME.   

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Video: Putting Cars in Pockets


Henry loves putting things in pockets.  The instance in the above video was initially done unprompted.  The video depicts a reenactment.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

New Polls Gadget!

I added a new Polls gadget to the right column of BITW.  I'd love to see what your opinions are on things like sleep training, diet, etc.!

Monday, August 2, 2010

Best Dish Towels

Scotch Brite 3M Microfiber Kitchen Cloth (6-Pack)Scotchbrite Kitchen Cloths are AMAZING. 
Scotch Brite 3M Microfiber Kitchen Cloth (6-Pack)

These are the most absorbent and efficient kitchen towels I've found.  I'm somewhat of a dish towel slut - that and sippy cups - and Crate & Barrel, Williams Sonoma, Sham Wow, etc. can't compare to these Scotch Brite towels.  I've been using them to soak up spills, wipe down toys, and dry dishes.  The ridges in the cloth are also great for scrubbing without damaging the surface of counter tops, high chairs and toys.  Plus, there are no special cleaning instructions.  I'm obsessed.