Workbox Wednesday: Daniel

Daniel is just a little toddler guy, but little toddler guys need to keep busy too! He also wants to be just like his big brothers and sister, and so for him we created Wonder Baskets!

Three baskets a day, and he can explore or not as the spirit moves him.

Monday

Danny Boy and a kidsling
A Peek-a-Boo Box with things to discover

A dustpan and brush for cleaning up messes

Tuesday




Farm animals, a farmer, and a tractor

A piece of paper and a bag of crayon rocks. The picture was drawn by big brother.

Wooden lego-type blocks, made by HABA

Wednesday
A wordless winter book.

A packed lunch.

Wooden dinosaurs and a green play silk.

Daniel and the gnomies!

Wordless Wednesday: Ready to watch them play ball!

Happy Halloween!

Katie Grace dressed up as Molly MacIntire from the American Girls books, Daniel was a kitty, and Nicholas was Superior Nick, a superhero of his own creation.

Superior Nick with his trusty sidekick, Superior Dog. The face paint is lame, we know.

Walking with Daddy.

Up a looooong (to him) flight of steps.

Trick or Treat!

Nick was digging this giant "snow globe".

Michael is not picture. He was too cool to ToT with us and went with a buddy instead.

Also, we may have created a monster with Daniel. This morning he said "I don't want to go church. I want go Trick or Treat!"

Wordless Wednesday: Chillin' with a Good Book

Starcatching

This week we're focusing on the fairy tale Star Money. Nicholas went searching for the letter A among the stars.

And of course, Daniel wanted in on the action as well.

"Mom, help!!! He just passed out right on my lap!"

Pease, Mama. Poon?

While I was making banana bread today, Daniel was going crazy trying to move the stool and get to the spoons. All the while he kept saying "Pease, Mama? Poon? Need poon!" At first, I'm ashamed to say, I was annoyed by the interruption and told him he didn't need a spoon. As I watched his determination in moving the stepstool over to the silverware basket, I realized what he wanted.

"Do you want to help stir the banana bread?"

"Yes, Mama!" And his little face lit up. (And yes, he really says "Yes, Mama." It throws me for a look every time!)

Well, what is a mama to do but to get a spoon and move the bowl down where he can help?

Banana Bread
5 very ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup raw sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce, no sugar added
2 eggs
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup chocolate chips

Mix all the dry ingredients except the sugar.

Mix the banana and the sugar. Beat the egg and add it to the banana /sugar mix. Then add the wet ingredients to the dry.

Grease 2 loaf pans and bake at 350 for 30 to 45 minutes (it really varied because one pan was metal and one was glass).

If you cut each loaf into 10 slices, each slice is 2 WW points. But the smile on the helping toddler's face is priceless!

Happy Webkinz Day!

OK, I'll confess. One of our dirty little secrets is that we have Webkinz. Lots of them. And most of them belong to me.

I tried. I resisted. I thought the last thing my children needed was another excuse to stare at a screen. When my mother-in-law asked if she could get my kids Webkinz for Easter one year, I looked down from my high horse and said "no".

Then when Katie Grace turned 7, she was given one for her birthday. We registered it and were hooked.

I get the arguments: the dolls themselves are dust collectors, the site encourages rampant consumerism, online relationships with pretend animals isn't healthy, if the tiger's favorite food is a zebra dog and you adopt a zebra, aren't you putting the zebra in a potentially hazardous situation... believe me, I've thought of them all. And yet here we are, proud owners of a herd of Webkinz.

Sigh.

My kids get 30 minutes of screen time a day. That's 30 minutes of computer time OR television OR a DVD OR a game. Frankly, I'd rather they spend it playing Webkinz than zoning out with Little Bear.

All of this serves to introduce our pictures from the Webkinz Extravaganza at Gustonian Gifts downtown on First Friday. The kids played tons of games and won tons of prizes. Daniel even won a coloring contest, which I find hilarious. But most of all, they loved the children's singer who came and performed. Michael, of course, was too cool for it all and hung out with Daddy at Otto's.
Here are Katie Grace and Nicholas, pretending to be fishies. Check out the awesome puppy face painting!

And Katie Grace loved playing the frog scraper.

Even Daniel enjoyed dancing (and drooling) to the music!

And since we had Mother's Day gifts, a birthday gift, and a baby gift to purchase anyway, we even got to buy one or two (OK, 4) of the special $1 Webkinz. Everyone wins!

Pssst! Your line is...

Daniel is entering the social contract stage of toddlerhood. At least that's what I call it in my own mind. When he sneezes, he looks around expectantly. If you miss your cue, he looks at you disappointingly and says, "Bless me! Bless me!" and then fake sneezes to give you a second chance. If he burps (or, even more amusing in his mind, toots) he looks up at you and practically shouts "'Scuse me!" and then follows it up by practically bursting a blood vessel trying to repeat the performance.

This new-found awareness of social cueing shows itself in ways that don't involve body functions as well. If he hits or bites and sees how sad he has made his brothers or sister, his little face falls. On his own, he walks up to them, pats whatever part of them he can reach. "Sowwy. Sowwy." And best of all, he will walk up to us, lay his head on our lap, and say "Wuv oo," knowing that it will only be a moment before we respond back to him-- "Love you too!"

It's amazing to me how quickly infants and toddlers pick up on the niceities of language and social interaction. They have expectations, both of being treated courteously and of being kind to others, even if that kindness sometimes happens after they've caused harm. It reinforces my belief that children who grow up being treated with love and gentleness and dignity learn to treat others that way in return.

And of course, there's also something in the way he gently gives me a do-over when I'm preoccupied and rudely forget to play the game. To a toddler, language is all about give and take, and there's no way he's going to let me get out of saying my lines.

"Bye bye, Mama. See oo later."

*leaves room*

*comes back*

"See oo later, Mama."

"See you later, Daniel. Love you!"

"Love oo Mama."

Wet-on-Wet Watercolor Painting: Brothers!

This week, Daniel turned two and also painted his first wet-on-wet watercolor painting. Nicholas enjoyed sharing table space with him.
First, a poem:
I told the Sun that I was glad,
I’m sure I don’t know why;
Somehow the pleasant way he had
Of shining in the sky
Just put a notion in my head
That wouldn’t it be fun
If walking on the hill, I said
“I’m happy” to the sun.
--John Drinkwater

And then, a story about a bright golden sun shining down and warming the earth.

And then, we painted.

The poem inspired Nicholas to sing a little song:


And then Daniel and I had a chat:

Happy Birthday, Daniel!

Hard to believe you've grown from this


to this!

Daniel, wearing an outfit Katie Grace picked out for him and sneakers Nicholas chose for him, and playing with the baseball bat Michael bought him.

Opening a gift from Mimi and PeePaw

He loved his car track.

And of course, cake!

Now you're cooking!

Whoo, whoo!

Learning to Love