A visit to the park

Today was Riley's first time on the swing. It would probably be an understatement to say that he loved it. He didn't want to get out the swing. Cameron liked swinging with Riley and would squeal "Higher! Higher!" Riley liked having Cameron next to him because when she would fly next to him he would just giggle and giggle.

When we did finally get him off the swing we encouraged him to try the slide. This made him nervous but Cameron was very supportive. She would say "See Riley! See! Its fun" and take off. Cameron, of course, had a shovel. We took off Riley's socks and let him explore sand. He wasn't really sure what the point of sand was so he just ate it. He would grab handfuls and just shove it in his mouth. Its days like this that I'm happy I have two. Its so fun to see them support each other as they play.

The jumpy house is full

Its been raining all weekend. Cameron and Riley have been really good but we knew this President's day would be a challenge. We decided to go to Pump It Up Jr for Family Time. We even made arrangements with Sonya and Hannah to join us. The plan was to leave at 9:30 so we were sure to get a spot, but we were running late and when we arrived the place was full. This did not go over so well with Cameron. We had been talking about it all night.

She was devastated. We thought we would try and take the kids to the mall, but she just cried "I don't want to go shopping!" Hannah was tired so she went home and we scrambled trying to figure out where to take her. Finally I called the Jungle and they were open. Cameron cried "I don't want to go to the jungle!" but we went anyway.

I let her look in the window and asked if she wanted to go in and she said "okay." She was hesitant at first but soon really got into it. The balls were a big hit. She would jump in, swim across and then get out and do it again. She was doing cannon balls which totally cracked everyone up.

Riley liked the balls too. He would get in and swim around but stayed close to mommy for protection. He would look a little nervous and I would pick him up and he would push me away and try to get back to the balls. The rest of the time Jeff and I took turns taking Cameron through the rope mazes and play structures. This is not a place for anyone with claustrophobia. There were times I thought I was going to get stuck.

Luckily there is a Red Robin, Cameron's favorite place to eat, in the same shopping center so it wasn't hard to get her to leave. We had a really nice lunch and then headed home for a rest. Riley was so tired he fell asleep in the car.

Valentines for Grandmas

Tonight we decided to make valentines for our Grandmothers. Both kids enjoyed painting and making footprints. Hopefully mommy will remember to send them even if they are going to be late.

We painted with Red, White, and Pink. It was great fun, but the most fun was had after all the painting was done. Riley was covered and Cameron who is obsessed with her paint brushes these days (she sleeps with them) decided to try it Riley's way and did some finger/hand/belly painting.


Cleanup was the most fun. Daddy decided to speed things up tonight and just plopped them both in the sink. They had fun trading the faucet back and forth. This is why people have double sinks. It was awesome!

Bang my drum!!!

The weather is so good that the Song Sparrow classroom has been spending lots of time outside. Riley is extremely mobile so he is exploring the entire yard. He has visited the sand box (not a big fan) and the water feature (empty thank goodness), but his favorite find, was the silver tub.

He started to bang on it, and got really really happy. He stayed there and played music for all his friends on the blanket. He had it all to himself because many of them are only just figuring out how to be mobile but they were squealing with delight which only encouraged him.

After the concert he decided to see what else it was good for. He got on top of it which caused the teachers to run to his rescue. He gets them so scared because he is really fast and usually does thinks they don't expect.

Whew! Outside time is good fun.

Superbowl Sunday

How do you talk two kids into letting you watch the Superbowl? Pizza!!! We typically have people over for Superbowl although its less about the game and more about the friends and food. Its a day we reserve for completely pigging out.

Cameron can have pizza of course, but Riley is not quite there yet. To make up for it we gave him a pizza plate of cheerios instead. He wouldn't sit in his own chair, he wanted to be right next to Cameron. She didn't mind as long as he stayed away from her pizza.

He is getting pretty good at picking up his cheerios. When he misses it looks like the sign for "eat" and so we repeat "eat" and give him a cheer. He isn't signing yet but he is acknowledging words that he knows. Here are some of the words he knows: mamma, cameron, eat, milk, dadda, peek-a-boo, bird, pj, go, paper.