Curious George Redeems Himself

I have not been a big fan of Curious George in the past. Nathaniel is strangely drawn to the little guy, so I've put up with him on occasion, but I didn't make putting the show on the TV a habit. I limit TV to a half hour to an hour every day and I'm more inclined to tape Thomas the Train, or Bob the Builder, or my favorite, Sesame Street. My main gripe with CG is his lack of speech. He uses squeaks and grunts to communicate, and while Nathaniel was learning language skills I wanted to use every opportunity to encourage his vocabulary development. Also, CG is notorious for getting into mischief and although there is usually a resolution and moral of the story at the end, I feared the misbehavior would be really attractive to a toddler. However, lately I've been getting on the treadmill for a half hour every day during Mary's morning nap and needed something I could really count on to hold Nathaniel's attention during that time. So I've been turning to CG for help.

That brings us to this morning. For his snack, I sat Nathaniel in his booster with a bowl of yogurt and a cup of water while I ran to the bathroom. As I was washing my hands, Nathaniel barges in and grabs the hand towel off the rack, and then runs back out yelling, "I'll clean it up, Mama! I'll clean it up!" I groaned, imagining yogurt all over my table and floor, but when I got to the kitchen I saw the water cup tipped over. Nathaniel expertly finished mopping up the floor and grinned up at me, clearly proud of himself. I stood there in surprise for a minute, savoring the sweet success and knowledge that I had finally taught my son to clean up after himself without my prompting. That was when he said, "Curious George spilled on the rug, Mama". And I remembered... a few days ago was an episode where the little monkey spilled on the rug, and then ran around the house devising ways of cleaning up the spill.

So much for my own patient persistence for months on end making him help me clean up any mess he made.

Maybe Curious George could adopt a sibling and learn how share his toys with her so I could get some help in that area?

A Star Is Born

I went to a huge multi-family garage sale last weekend and one of the things I picked up was a Fisher Price Star Station for $10. I considered buying this for the kids last Christmas, but didn't want to pay the $60 retail so I was excited to find it for such a deal. I was a little nervous about buying it because there was no way to tell if it actually worked until we got it home, but it DOES work and it's already provided a couple of hours of entertainment for both kids. Basically it's a camera that attaches to the TV and plays fun dance music. The cartridge that came with has songs like "Wheels on the Bus, This Old Man, and If You're Happy and You Know It". There are a couple of wireless microphones that are also hooked into the TV so the kids can hear themselves sing and see themselves dance. Nathaniel LOVES it! Here are a couple of silly blurry pictures of him playing with it this morning.

On the Move

I guess if you want something to happen, post that it's not happening on your blog! Mary is now officially crawling. She's not too quick yet, but she is slowly making her way to things from short distances away. Her main attraction: Nathaniel's toys, of course. I've been anticipating this moment for months now and so Nathaniel is sufficiently trained in saying "No thank you, Mary" when she grabs a toy he's playing with. Of course, he still yells it at her in frustration... but we're working on it. :)

Damsel In Distress

Mary is not quite crawling yet, but she can definitely get around. She scoots and spins around on her bottom while sitting, and she pushes herself backwards while on her tummy. She will get up on all fours and propel herself forward a teeny bit to get to a toy, but she just hasn't put together all the mechanisms of crawling quite yet. Because of this she gets herself stuck quite frequently and then cries to be rescued! She is our little damsel in distress!

Little Jeff Clone

Nathaniel was messing around the other day and wanted to try on Jeff's glasses. I gasped when he put them on. He looks just like his Daddy, don't you think?! He ran for the bathroom to look in the mirror, and proceeded to almost run into the wall. Which reassured me that his eyesight is just great!

Muffin Tin Monday

I heard about this idea a long time ago and then yesterday stumbled across it again on one of the blogs I check daily, and I just knew Nathaniel would get a kick out of it. Basically the idea behind it is to have some fun with a meal and separate everything out in a muffin tin. Some people get REALLY into it, and there's a blog out there that posts a new theme every Monday... click here for more info. I don't have a "tin" per se, but my silicone muffin pan worked just as well. Nathaniel was at first a little confused, but he really liked it. I may actually try this for dinner at some point instead of lunch, because that's the meal I have trouble getting him to eat.

Happy Easter!

I hope you all had a joyful Easter Sunday yesterday! We had a lovely day. This was the first time Nathaniel sort of "got" the Easter Bunny concept... even last Christmas he was still unsure as to what the Santa business was all about. We try to downplay Santa & the Easter Bunny in favor of the Christian reason for the celebration, so it's not surprising it's taken him awhile to catch on. On Holy Saturday I joked that tomorrow we would find out whether the Easter Bunny thought he had been a good boy since Christmas. Jeff added, "Yes, Nathaniel. Think of it as your mid-year review". Ha ha! He went to bed quick as can be with the promise that E.B. wouldn't come until he was sleeping! First thing when he woke up he wanted to see if anything was indeed in the baskets we had set out the night before, and what a surprise that E.B. knew he wanted the movie Wall-E above anything else... and also brought him the yellow automoblox car he'd been hoping for!

After checking out the baskets we had a mild struggle to get dressed and to Mass, but the rest of the day went perfectly. Mass was without any major catastrophes, an Easter gift from Nathaniel, or possibly Jesus, or the Holy Spirit. Whomever it was, we're grateful! After Mass we had lunch and then naps, and then headed over to Grandma & Papa York's house for an Easter Egg hunt and dinner. Here are some pictures from our day:

Nathaniel discovered E.B. is almost as lame as his parents - only fruit snacks in his eggs, no candy!

Mary got baby goldfish crackers and freeze dried yogurt snacks in her eggs. She also got some much needed jammies and a pair of fake crocs for the summer!

Racing outside to find the eggs.

Mary examining her loot.

Nathaniel showing off his colorful eggs.

Opening a few Easter gifts.

The lamb cake was a family group effort this year. Nathaniel and Daddy baked the cake. Mommy iced the cake, and Daddy put the coconut and other details on.

We coudn't resist continuing the nakey baby in the basket tradition. Here's Mary in her Easter basket, and a similar pic we took of Nathaniel almost exactly two years ago:

Here Comes Mary Cottontail

New Side Dish?

Apparently some matchbox cars are so special they must be chilled before being enjoyed.

Conversation with God

What we heard from the backseat while passing our parish on the way home from dinner & errands two nights ago:

"Hi, Jesus! How are you? We just ate dinner, Jesus. Now we're going home for night-night. Wuv you Jesus, Bye!"