Water Beads and Light

So the other day we played with water beads on the light panel and this was one of my favorite indoor activities that we've done.  It's really crazy how different the water beads looked on the light panel vs. off of it.

Water beads feel so cool, I could play with them for hours and they always keep L busy.  This was a lesson in science, color recognition, and geometry all wrapped up in one.  It also tested L's patience while he waited for them to get bigger so that he could really play in them.  He even learned a few new words.  :)  Of course after he played with them for a really long time he had to get in them, I wasn't sure  the light panel could hold his weight so we took it off for that.  He had a great time squishing around in the water beads haha.

We have had some really nice days lately so we've been getting plenty of outdoor time.  I have a love/hate relationship with it though, as long as we bundle up we don't get very cold so we can stay out for several hours, but I had some cool snow activities planned for this winter so I'm really hoping for some snow!  One of L's favorite things in the world is to push his little lawnmower all over our neighborhood.  All of the elderly neighbors love it too, and he always stops to chat with them :).  I've found it to be almost therapeutic to follow him around the neighborhood.

The Light Panel

L got so many things from our families that I'd be writing all day if I wrote about all of it, so I just picked the 2 gifts he plays the most with to write about.  :)

The first one is the light panel.  This thing really is so cool and the pictures don't do it justice.  He's painted on it, used play dough on it and put beads and other things on it to play with.

It makes play dough look extra vibrant and colorful and makes his paintings look really neat while they are lit up.

His second favorite toy from family seems to be a big cardboard train.  He loves trains.  :)

Baby J's favorite gift so far seems to be this cute little Montessori mobile.  He can stare at that thing forever and if someone walks by it or a breeze catches it, the little shapes spin and it looks really cool.

Christmas Morning

We had to delay Christmas morning a few days because one of L's presents didn't arrive in time.  It was still a ton of fun.  I was so excited last night as I wrapped up all of the presents and put them under the tree.  When I told L that I would be wrapping his gifts for him to open in the morning he told me that he wanted a present in the tunnel of the tree.  That's what he's been calling this huge gaping hole near the bottom of our tree haha.  Luckily I had a present that fit there perfectly!  I think he was the most excited about his books and a set of small cymbals.  He has never seen cymbals before and had no idea how to use them but when he opened them his face lit up and his eyes got huge and he said, "SEERCULS!!" which is his word for circles.  He absolutely loves circles lol, he draws and paints circles often and even makes orange circles he calls the sun and blue circles that he calls bubbles.  Pretty smart kid :).  Anyway he was mega excited about his circles lol.

He also got the DVD "Cars" but about 15 minutes into it he asked to turn it off and watch the "Fish movie" that's "Finding Nemo" which is his all time favorite movie ever.  ;)  So that's what we did.  We also got him a little punching bag, a bow and arrow, and some more books, candy and water beads in his stocking.  We got him a whole bag of marshmallows (his favorite food) and he was pretty excited about that.  His big gift was a Waldorf Rocker Board and that thing has gotten a lot of use today!  He wasn't that enthused about it at first (it's just a curved board..what kid would be?  lol) but after he figured out a few things to do with it, he loved it.  It's a very open ended toy that can be used as a balance board among about a million other things.  Just today so far it has been a baby cradle, a boat on the ocean, a tunnel for his cars, a tunnel for him, a slide, a mountain to climb, something to jump off of, a bridge for his cars, and a fort when we set it up long ways against his toy box and covered it in play silks.  It's been a lot of fun to play with him!

Baby J had a great Christmas too.  He got a few little hanging toys to play with, some play silks, and a couple books.  He loves the play silks and so does L, if I had known those would be such a hit I would have bought them for L sooner.  J tries to mostly eat the silks but L has a great time throwing them in the air and he and J watch them float down.  I couldn't have asked for a better Christmas!  This evening I put string lights shining on the inside of a cardboard train L got for Christmas...it was a huge hit!!

Oh and did I mention they were in matching Christmas pajamas?  They are almost impossible to photograph together though lol.

Bubba

L recently got a new best friend.

He has absolutely loved cats ever since he could walk and one of his first words was "catty.....mow."  So we decided to go to the shelter and get him a kitten.  L has named him Bubba.  Bubba is a really chill dude and purrs even when L is holding him like in the picture above lol.  They are pretty much best friends already.  They play a lot of games together and Bubba loves to snuggle with L.

L always makes sure that Bubba is under a blanket when he's laying down and he brings him toys to play with from time to time.  Earlier L was playing with play-do and he wanted to be sure that Bubba had plenty of play-do too.  Bubba seemed a little freaked out by the smell but I'm sure he appreciated the gesture lol.

Update

Baby J has really been coming to life lately and he's a ton of fun.  He is the happiest person I've ever met and he never hesitates to return a smile!

Since he started rolling over he's become really interested in toys.  Earlier today he squished a big chunk of play-do in his hand while he watched L play with more play-do.  He really likes to stare at this red ball we have, I think he's trying really hard to figure out what it is lol.

Merry Christmas!

Mud Skating

Today my husband was able to come home from school early and the weather was nice so we headed out to a local park.  There is normally a lake at this park but it had mostly dried up and left a ginormous mud pit.

We started out by throwing sticks and rocks into the mud pit.  L loved this.  After walking around and exploring for a bit, L headed straight into the thick of the mud pit.  He asked me to come so of course I did!  We had an absolute blast.  My husband was wearing J in the Ergo and was reluctant to come out at first, but he was easily talked into it :).  We eventually got smart enough to take off our shoes and socks....that made navigating the huge mud pit quite a bit easier lol.  I started to "ice skate" on the mud and it worked perfectly!  I used the same motions as ice skating and just glided through the mud.  L thought this was hilarious and kept wanting me to do it over and over.  We ended up being covered in mud and having a blast!  We definitely want to make this at least a yearly tradition because it will only get more fun as the boys get older.  :)  I snapped a few pictures with my phone before we left.

Guess Who's Rolling Over!!

Baby J rolled over this evening for the first time.  He was a little scared the first time it happened, but he quickly got the hang of it and seemed to really enjoy being on his belly.  He kept trying to get his knees underneath him and kept reaching for a toy.  He was so determined and got so frustrated when it didn't work out for him!

I think he really enjoyed getting to see the world from a whole new angle, and I sure was excited to see him roll over!  He's been working on this for a month or more!