Let's go outside!

I'm so glad it's cooling off now - Megan wants to be outside all the time. And I'm totally ok with that because when she's outside- she's happy. We always come up with fun new games to play outside. Last week our game was - collect acorns for the squirrels. It came about totally by accident. Megan would pick up an acorn (she can spot them from a mile away) and I'd have to remind her to not eat the acorn because it's for the squirrles. Then she'd try to chase the squirrls to give them the acorn she had found. This frustrated her... so I made a "squirrel feeder" (which is a pile of acorns in the grass) and now she goes to find acorns and put them in the squirrel feeder so they can come eat them when they are hungry. She's a smart cookie - scares me a little bit.

Our new game is "collect the sticks..." And put them on Daddy's stick pile!
This is a fun never-ending game and by the time the "yard waste" truck comes by each week we have a nice little stack going.

And on SUPER AWESOME days - we find a friend!
"Hey, Coop.... do you know how to get over this thing?"
On really really super awesome days we even get to go play next door... with 3 boys, they have what Megan considers a heavenly stash of toys.... this is her favorite...

Lord help me if she ever figures out how to make it go.

Nap update.... we made it through day 3 of one nap.... barely! She didn't take a long nap today and wouldn't go back to sleep and that made for a rough night. I feel like we hit a discipline wall and somehow I'm the one that is feeling battered and bruised. UGH! Prayerfully tomorrow will be a better day!

Nap update...

Let's just say I didn't hear the same song this morning.....
Back to a 7-7:30 wake up... but I did keep her up (grumpy as she was) till after 1pm.

Of course, during that time I did also learn to scale up the Chick-fil-a playground, all in an effort to keep her happy. You know those almost vertical twisty slides... who knew Megan would actually be able to climb up it... all the way to the terrifying top. She wasn't terrified - she loved it. As a matter of fact she clawed and screamed the whole way down. But imagine my terror when I realized she wasn't coming back out of the slide - and low and behold there she is peeking out the top in the cargo net area... Oh Lord! Up I go - with parental gasps occuring all around.

She's napping now... and I wish I was too! It's been a long day for mommy.

Did you hear it?????

Did you wake up this morning and hear that amazing Alleluia chorus?

Was it not the most beautiful sound of angels singing?

At our house it was like an entire Heavenly chorus....

Why you ask?????

Because Megan slept until almost 9am!!!!!!
Oh are you hearing it now.... what a sweet sound to my ears - makes me want to join on in!

My little napper has been getting between 3 1/2 to 5 hours of sleep in naps every day (2 naps).... BUT, she's also started waking up super early... like 5:30 on many days. So in an attempt to re-distribute that sleep and get the pumpkin to sleep longer at night, we are going to try to transition to 1 nap. Here's the problem..... how do you go to 1 nap when at 9 am your little cherib is trying to climb into her crib because she's so tired???? After all, in her mind she's been awake since 5 am.... even if I don't get her out of bed until 7am..... she's been awake. So by 9 - she's wiped out. It's a horrible double edged sword. To complicate the issue a bit... bedtime isn't really an issue here... if she goes to bed at 7pm - she's up by 6-7am. Ugh. If she goes to bed at 9pm - she's up by 6-7am. What's a mom to do???? This is her father in her! If it was her mother, she'd be happy with sleeping at every possible moment. I'm a firm believe that sleep is one of God's greatest gifts to us! :^)

At any rate, Sunday's are already hard on us because she's forced into 1 nap due to our Sunday morning church schedule. So Sunday I made the executive decision that it was going to be day 1 of our new schedule (or attempt at it). Then today, she slept in which made 1 nap super easy! So wonderful!!!!!!

2 days down.... only a lifetime to go!
Now I'm just praying (and praying hard) that she'll sleep in later tomorrow to keep the new schedule going. I know that this is going to be a major transition... but I'm praying for it to be as smooth as possible. So, say a prayer for us!

On the move...

Megan really dislikes being in her carseat. It's not the seat really, it's the being hindered from going where ever she wants to go. So car rides can be interesting. Fortunately, lately she's started to show interest in "reading" her books in the car. It's so cute to listen to her talking about her books and reading to Snowball.
And when she's not belted in.... She's off to explore whatever she can. This week I broke out the sidewalk chalk. Let's just say we still have a lot of work on teaching her to not eat the chalk.
And if she is somewhat confined.... as long as she has something to mash and squish - like her playdoh, she's a happy camper.

Happy Birthday

In spite of all the gas issues - it's been a great birthday weekend. Megan has had lots of opportunity to learn to blow out candles. She'll be a pro by her 2nd birthday. Last night we had fun with my family and of course had to celebrate with cake and ice cream.
Megan really wanted seconds on the cake and ice cream.
Tonight we had a last minute gathering with some friends. Megan's little friend will was so sweet to share his applesauce with her.
Thankfully we don't think either of them is sick. :^) They were so sweet - Will shared his applesauce and Megan shared her animal crackers and who knows whatever else they handed each other when we weren't looking. There you go baby, train up that younger man!

After dinner we headed to our house for some cake. Megan really helped blow out the candles - I was shocked that she got one blown out.
On the blowing out thing... have I ever mentioned that she can whistle? No joke, we'll be in the car and I'll be humming and such and she'll start whistle - very basic and one little whistle, but I can't even whistle. Where did she learn that?

Illustration in Picture

Gas Line...
I took this on the way home last night when we were looking for a gas station. Note that you don't even see a gas station in the picture. That's because it's way around down the road. We are a mile away at a stop light.
Crazy!

Whispers of love on your birthday...

It's my birthday... and this morning I woke up to sweet whispers of love from my husband.

They went something like this... "Honey, Happy Birthday.. I just woke up and I'm going to go try to find some gas for the car." It was 5:45am....

Ok, so is anyone else just screaming - where is the gas?
They lifted the fuel requirements so that we can use any gas, not just the special low emission gas... so where is it. This is the gas they said would be here by last Tuesday.... Not seeing it. If you aren't from around here, you probably don't know what I'm talking about. If you are - then you know. If you are like me you've wondered how desperate those people are to sit in hour (or more) long lines that are blocking all the main roads in order to fill up.

Last monday we went out at 11:30pm and filled up with no lines. Last night we got together with my family for my birthday and on the way there and on the way home we saw a total of 4 gas stations with gas... ok, we crossed through 3 counties - pass a multitude of stations - but only 4 with gas. AND, those 4 had lines that required police to keep traffic flowing around them... they were at least an hour or two long - and two lines were literally about a mile long (yeah, those were the ones near our house). At 9pm they were just as long, if not longer. At 11pm Tom went out to see if the lines were better... they weren't so he came home and we developed a morning game plan.

So back to my birthday morning....
Tom heads out at 5:45 AM.... at 6am I get a call that he can't find gas anywhere. The station near our house does still have gas, but the line is literally a mile long with 2 police cars directing traffic and keeping tempers at bay. So he drives... we had worked out a deal that if he found a place he'd call and I'd bring the van to the station since I was on empty (therefore didn't have the gas to drive around looking for a station or to sit in that line). Finally at 6:20 AM he calls... His side of the conversation goes something like this.... "the Shell station near us just got a tanker - it's in the station now... and I'm in line!".... IN LINE. What's up with that. People it's 6am on Saturday.... It's my birthday... why aren't you sleeping??????? I want to be sleeping!!!!!! But no... I'm heading to the stinking gas line.

Thankfully our friend Natalie is staying with us and has allowed us to go on these crazy hour gas runs. Of course, although I left the house at 6:20 AM, I had to call her at 7:10AM to say - Natalie, I'm not home - I'm in line at a gas station and Megan is probably awake.. if you hear her start getting irritated, will you get her up. Obviously at our house, if I can't sleep in on my birthday, nobody is sleeping in on my birthday!!!!!

So after waiting in line for almost an hour (which I said I'd never do... but you do lots you say you'd never do when your car is on empty), I once again ask the question....

Where is the gas???
And when is it coming to my gas station???

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to school we go...

Earlier this week we got to head to my old stomping grounds (aka - former school) to celebrate with my friend Amy. Amy's expecting a little girl in about a month. Megan had fun at her first baby shower. Although I haven't worked there for 2 school years, we are always welcomed back to the ESOL team. After the shower, Megan and I got some catch up time with Amy and Carol. There have been lots of changes since I left, but being back in the "outdoor learning community" felt like coming home. I used to eat my lunch right there at that table, with Amy, every day. And at some point Carol would come in to catch up and encourage us.
I miss you girls and am looking forward to dinner out in a few weeks!

Home Sweet Home

Megan decided to move out...
Our niece and nephews passed on their Little Tykes playhouse. I don't think I even need to describe how much she loves it...And we were all glad that it has one all important safety feature...
A fire escape. :^)

Now I'm just waiting for the first time she actually does go head first all the way out the window.


On a side note - we hit a major milestone last night. And it was a milestone for me more than Megan.... Megan ate a new food (which she loved and devoured a ton of) and evidently it didn't agree with her - because at 2:30 this morning she was vomiting it all up... UGH. In case you didn't know it about me - I am a reactionary vomiter... "no one throws up alone" is my motto. She isn't sick - her bed was just covered in that one food that she ate - nothing else from dinner - just that one thing. I'm just being vague because really, just knowing it happened is enough of the details. The milestone... for the first time in my life - I didn't join in on the fun (if you know what I mean). Anyone who says, "it's different when it's your own child" if flat out not living in my world. It's no different... but at 3am - hey, you just survive it, clean it, hug her, and try to think of your happy place. And this morning, she woke up in a great mood, none the worse for wear. So no more of that food for her for quite awaile!!!!!

Oh what a find...

I came across a great find! A Little Tykes outdoor picnic table. I have wanted one of these for Megan since she started walking. And I finally found one - at Goodwill no less. Woohoo for my $6 find! And Megan is really liking it.

We put it to good use this weekend with a watercolor activity. One of Tom's old shirts is our "art smock" and she loves wearing it around the house. It's so big on her that she steps on it but for some reason she thinks it is so fun to wear it. I guess it's our intro into the world of dress-up.
We had fun painting.

It was a first for Megan but she's been trying to get to the paints ever since. So we'll definitely pull them out again soon. These were fun and much better/easier than the To-Doodles (see last post for my review of that).

Our masterpiece:
It's really a get-well picture for Grandma - but I keep leaving it here whenever I head to the hospital so for now it's hanging on our frig.

And Megan thinks one of the best parts of her new picnic table is to use it to play a game....

Peek-A-Boo!

Tadoodles

Megan is getting into artsy things so we are breaking out some fun materials. One of the new things we have been trying out are TaDoodles markers. We've used the TaDoodles crayons before but this was a first for marker use. I have to say - not my favorite thing. Consider this my own personal product review... They are cute and Megan loves them. They are "chunky" so that little hands can grip them (they say they are good for 18+ months). My issue.... if you don't hold them just right, then you don't mark on the paper. I love that they don't have caps and don't dry out.... BUT, it's hard to teach a child that you have to hold them a certain way to use them.
At any rate - we had fun making doodles together. But for anyone out there thinking about getting some -just know they aren't as easy to use as they might seem. They are fun, but it takes a lot of work to help them learn how to use them.

It's a Grand day!

Megan I got to go visit Grandma and Granddad this week. Grandma has been under the weather and needed some good lovin from a grandbaby! Megan was so happy to lend herself to the task. Grandma gave her a piano lesson. That piano has been plunked on by 4 grandkids. It takes a lickin and keeps on tickin.

Megan got to love on Cinnamon a little bit.

Then Cinnamon got to give Megan some kisses.

Megan loves to give the dog's some treats! And she's proud of herself when she's brave enough to do it alone.

Daisy had to get in on the action. She's a litle more "frisky" and would jump on Megan so she had to stay in her part of the yard. But Megan gave her some yummy doggie treats through the fence and got lots of finger licks.
Then, Granddad pulled out the good ole Radio Flyer and Megan got a wagon ride. It was as fun as going to visit the geese at the pond. I didn't have my camera out for that one - I was concentrating on keeping Megan out of goose poop and the pond. But as we were leaving, the geese came out to say goodbye.

Oh what a day!

We had a rough day earlier this week. Megan was as sweet as could be - which was a huge blessing since I've been playing the single parent for a few days. But she sure has run head first into becoming a daring no-fear little 1 1/2 year old. Note the large scratch on her left cheek (your left), the somewhat blackened right eye (with the large scratch too), the red and squished nose from her face plant, and the swollen bottom lip that finally stopped bleeding.

The wierd thing... she didn't shed a tear on any of these injuries. She's go down and pop up and just keep on playing and then a minute later she'd head my way (or I'd finally catch up with her) and I'd think - oh my gosh, what did you do? The only one that slightly irritated her was the black eye/scratch (it looked worse in person than on film).... but I think she was more irritated that I finally caught her as she ran away from me and down a hill, into a roll, and face first into a little fence and sticker bush. But I did get her in the car after that. :^)

And so I've been told, the fun is just beginning.

What cha got there?

Acorn anyone?
How about a mouth full of teeth?

It's official - all 4 of Megan's eye teeth/canine (what ever you want to call them) are finally through. If you look closely you can see the bottom ones. That means at 18 months she has 16 of her 20 baby teeth. Wow. Only 4 to go - and those are the 2nd molars. Ugh.

C.I.T.

That would be our Cook In Training....I've so wanted to get Megan a little kitchen. I found a great deal at a consignment sale last week and have debated about giving it to her now or waiting until Christmas. Well, we had it in the garage, turned around backwards and Megan kept trying to get at it. We had to move it for our annual termite inspection and Megan found it and was in hog heaven. I only got out a few of the utensils and foods for her - but she was a pro and knew just what to do to whip up a yummy treat!


It is so sweet to watch her pretend to be cooking. She loves opening the refrigerator, stove, dishwasher and microwave. Of course she's realized today that perhaps she could use those as footholds to climb to the cabinet over the frig..... hhhuuummmm. It's all still outside in the garage for now, but that doesn't deter this little chef.
And note the little John Deere lawnmower behind that face of concentration... my other fabulous find!

Soccer!

This weekend we got to go join the family to cheer on Justin in a soccer game. While we were there, Megan got a few soccer tips from her cousins. Daniel, who scored his first goal at his game on Thursday, was coaching Megan on a few throw-in tips. Anna was also helping with technique.
Aunt Kelly even got in on the action and was throwing in her pointers on kicking the ball.
Megan also got in some practice as a cheerleader. GO TEAM!
It was quite a hot day out so we finished off the game with Megan's first juice box. Needless to say, she loved it! Soccer may well be in her future!

Homemade Instruments

So I had this bright idea (it's the teacher wanting to burst forth) to make some fun little homemade instruments. Not a new idea - we've put things in old peanut butter jars and baby food jars for little shakers, it's fun and Megan loves to see how different things sound.

Megan has an old take out container in her "kitchen toy box" and was shaking it and hitting it and kept pointing like she was trying to figure out why it won't make noise. So I thought... huuummm, what can we put in there that isn't a choking hazard (since she could probably figure out how to get the top off). I found some things and Megan had a great time shaking (and trying to figure out how to get the top off) Until she finally realized how to open the container - and she ate all our "shakers" (aka: goldfish and cheerios)
I think she liked the snack more than making music!

AM explorations

This morning was one of those mornings that I have yearned for.... It felt so nice outside. A little breezy, very cloudy, but the perfect fall feeling. Megan and I spent some time out there after breakfast and before her first nap. We walked out to feel the temps to decide what to wear - so she's still in her pj's.

Yesterday I went to a consignment preview sale and picked up this cute John Deere lawn mower. It was a hit.

While we were outside, we took a walk (normally we stroll in the stroller in the morning, but I was worried it would rain so we stayed close to home) and Megan explored the sidewalks... a fun bird that followed us down the street (then realized it had met it's match when Megan wanted to chase it)...
some big leaves....
pinecones....
and some sticks (always a favorite).That look on her face (with her mouth wide open), is Megan making dog sounds when the dog across the street started barking. Her dog sounds isn't a "woof" or "ruff", it's a dog panting.

And have I mentioned how much I love those little curls.