William the Artist

I've been trying to do more craft projects with the kids lately, especially since I got a big box of projects from the Oriental Trading Co. co-op that I participated in. We got lots of craft projects and supplies!

William made the above poster using Crayola Color Wonder paints. These paints come in a tube that you push out as you paint with the brush, so they are self-contained. They also do not color anything except the Crayola paper, which is a plus. See the proud smile!





Another fun project that we did recently were construction paper scenes using stickers. Both William and Violet completed this one, and it was a lot of fun putting all the stickers on the paper to make a fun picture (although there were way too many stickers, if that's possible!). Both kids did a great job on this one, and here is William's finished picture:



So far, William's favorite project is using watercolor paints, which he is currently requesting to do several times a week. Usually he paints a rocket ship. He is actually very neat with the painting!



We're looking forward to doing many more projects out of the craft stash!


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At the Nature Center

Last week, we went to the Nature Center with Oma. This is a nature preserve on a river that has an outdoor area with caged animals (a skunk, fox, a couple of owls, and a bald eagle). The animals have all been injured and repaired, but they are permanently disabled, and so cannot be released back into the wild. For example, the beautiful bald eagle only has one wing. We usually run past the skunk cage first, as it is usually a bit...musty. :-)



After checking out the animals outside, we went into the building. On the left side of the building is a great area for kids, and everything is local animal/nature related. William's favorite is a fishing area, where you can fish for plastic and cardboard lake and river creatures. There is also a bald eagle's nest in a loft, with a fox den underneath. Violet likes climbing the stairs to the eagle's nest a million times. They have a cute puppet theater with birds and other wildlife, but the kids are not usually interested.




On the right side of the building are all the indoor animal exhibits. There is a black squirrel, a small hawk, an owl with one eye, two different snakes, tanks with local fish, a bee hive (which is really hopping during the summer), a tortoise, frogs, turtles, tadpoles, and a mouse. I like the squirrel the best, but he is usually asleep in his hammock. But on this visit, he was awake and running around! One of the workers said he's usually not that active, because he's an older squirrel, but he appeared spry that day!

Dress Up Day

Today we broke out the dress up box. Even though it's sort of William's claimed costume (he wears it to bed sometimes), Violet picked up the Spiderman suit with the muscles (because of course he has more than one Spiderman suit) and wouldn't let it go. She wore it for a couple of hours, repeatedly touching her muscles.




Since William had been wearing his Superman suit all day (he wears it as pajamas, but sometimes I let him wear it during the day over his regular clothes), he was already in costume. He really likes the yellow 'belt' (he usually tells me several times during the day that he's wearing a belt, heehee!).

Next, Violet changed into a Cinderella costume, which was very cute on her, although probably a little itchy with all the glitter, which is why I let her keep her clothes underneath. She liked it, but not as much as the Spiderman suit.




William put the dinosaur costume on for about 5 minutes. I think he just wasn't feeling the hood. Violet also tried it on, but she wasn't crazy about it either. After she'd had her look at herself in the mirror, she promptly asked for it to be taken off.

Snow Day

Right before the weekend, it snowed nearly a foot over here. The kids finally got to try out their new sled in the yard! William and Violet got in, with Danny pulling, but they seemed a little dubious about it. So instead, they ran around the yard throwing snow, crawling around like puppies, and jumping on Daddy.



William had a blast, and Violet more than anything just wanted to walk around (she tried to get me to walk down the block with her, she waved when she saw people coming home in their cars). I thought William was going to make a snow angel with Danny, but it seemed like he was enjoying Daddy get snow all over his jacket and jeans more.

Being A Parent

I realized something the other day, as I watched Danny and William dancing in the living room last night for over a half an hour. Our main purpose, Danny and I, is to be good parents to William and Violet.

Danny comes home from work every day, and literally the minute he gets home from work until Violet and William go to bed for the night, he spends it playing with William or holding Violet. Danny and William take hour-long baths together just about every night, playing with toys and splashing each other. Since Violet is 2 months old right now and not sleeping through the night, sometimes Danny will keep her with him until nearly 1am while he's watching tv or on the computer, so I can get a bit of extra sleep.

I think the most important thing a parent can do for their child is just to listen to them. Sometimes kids just want to be acknowledged. William talks to me all day long, and he does actually have things to say. Everything he observes, he wants to tell me what he is seeing. Whether it is an airplane out the car window, or a squirrel on the tree when we are taking a walk. If I am busy when he is trying to tell me something, I do my best to explain to him what I am doing at the moment, and that I will help him with what he needs or what he has to say, when I get the chance. It's funny, because a lot of the time when he says something, maybe a new word, he waits for me to repeat it and confirm to him that he was correct. Sometimes I don't understand what he's said right away, but if I listen a couple more times, usually I can pick it up (he is usually right, it's just that his pronunciation isn't always 100% for being a toddler!).

And even though she is so little, Violet looks so smart and inquisitive. The sleepless nights get easier as she responds more to my face during the day; she looks, laughs, and I bet she will be trying to say things or make little sounds any day now. At the beginning I was always having a hard time figuring out what she needed when she cried; but now I am doing my best to take the time and whenever I don't know what to do, I just hold her and that usually does the trick. Sometimes she just needs to relax before she goes to sleep.

It's great being a parent. Some days are a challenge, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.