Super Undies

Gideon insisted on wearing undies yesterday and this is what happened when I asked him to smile for a picture. Such a DORK.





Unfortunately we are still working on this potty training thing, but at least the undies are a big hit.

The Dallas Zoo

I grew up in this general area which means I was pretty sure the Dallas Zoo was awful and possibly dangerous.  My sister and I used to joke that we wouldn't go there because we were pretty sure an animal would escape and they would have to kill it and we would be traumatized for life.  Saturday I was DYING to get some housework done (number one sign you are an adult?  You are excited to have time to clean your house) so the husbandit (who is not from here) in his infinite wisdom volunteered to take the child out of the house for the day.  Their chosen destination was the Dallas Zoo.  When he arrived I got a text from him saying the parking lot was empty so I immediately jumped online to make sure there hadn't been some sort of animal escape or bomb threat that had shut the zoo down.  Turns out they just aren't very busy at 9am on a Saturday.  Throughout the day I got many more texts with pictures of my guys having a great time.  Turns out the Dallas Zoo is really nice now with lots of stuff for kids to do and see.  The husbandit has been singing it's praises to anyone who will listen ever since and Gideon obviously had a great time.  Now I am actually looking forward to getting to see it for myself, especially since the husbandit says (GASP) it is better than the Fort Worth Zoo (and half the price).

Check out pics from their awesome day out!

taller than 2 out of 3 penguins

Oooooooo

SERGIO!

there were people on that bench when that bird first landed.  apparently it scared a little child

Things are looking up at the Dallas Zaa

On the monorail, which I am told is the best thing ever.

He loved the elephants

Elephants are #1!

Giddy and daddy

Giraffe!

They got to pet that giraffe!

Petting the elephant

Brave elephant master

Like Big Bird!

Just sittin' in an egg

On the carousel

Awesome dinosaur on the carousel

My heart just melted...

A love of Legos

Gideon loves lots of things including mommydaddy, mommydaddy bed, Ellie, french fries, Plants vs. Zombies, the list goes on.  Two of his most beloved things are Star Wars and Legos, so of course he has been asking daily to play with "Mommy's Legos," which are kept out of reach but not out of sight in the art room.  Today he was so good and sweet I decided to let him play with the object of his obsession.

Look at that face!

He was actually really good with them, I was impressed.  Jabba's Palace was like the best dollhouse ever and the the sail barge became perfect masstransit for all of his "guys."  Then Giddy discovered you could take off their hats and hair and he turned into a little mad scientist.

I like to think that this means I am doing this parenting thing right.

  

Sticker Reward

In an effort to encourage Gideon to pick up his toys before bed and brush his teeth without complaint I created a sticker chart reward system.  Here is the chart:

The plan was that he gets a sticker for picking up his toys, brushing his teeth, and anything else we feel goes above and beyond the call of toddler duty.  At five stickers he would get a small reward (movies, museum visit, special time with GG) and at 50 he would get to select a toy from the box.  We have had to amend it to 10 stickers for a small reward because mommy underestimated his sticker earning ability.

I also have decided not to give him food rewards.  I don't judge those who are able to use candy or ice cream as a tool to guide behavior, I just have a really messed up relationship with food that I am trying to avoid passing on to Giddy.

Today Gideon earned his first small reward: a trip to the A.W. Perry Homestead Museum
 with grandma (GG) and mama!  Gideon was pretty excited if not a little surprised/confused.

I haz stickers

It started out as kind of a comedy of errors.  We stopped for bagels on the way and the bagel shop was out of bagels.  We are talking about a large, chain, bagel focused, restaurant.  And ALL OF THE BAGELS WERE GONE.  So we went to Chick Fil A, which turned out to be perfect because they had a toddler play area.

that must be the best milk ever

Then we headed to the museum....which was closed.

Is this not one of the saddest pictures you have ever seen of my child?

According to the A.W. Perry Homestead Museum's website, the museum is open Wednesday-Saturday 10a.m. - noon and 1 - 5 p.m.  We got there are 11 am on a Friday.  There was a car in the parking lot and the lights were on but no one answered the door.  So my mom and I stayed overly cheerful as we walked around looking in the windows and throwing around oohs and ahhhs for Gideon's sake but deep down I was beyond upset.  Gideon was disappointed for sure but then he realized he could run like a crazy person in the  field around the house and he felt much better.  By the time Giddy was done running it had gotten pretty hot so we headed home and made lunch.  Afterward GG asked mama for some help with Angry Birds which lead to Gideon's absolute favorite part of the day:

Gideon helping GG play Angry Birds

In the end Gideon had a really special day and that is all that matters.  And I guess that means I need to stop being angry at a museum, right?  And I shouldn't egg it or TP the trees or....ahem, yeah.

Gideon's Computer

Gideon loves our computers almost as much as we do, I blame Angry Birds and Plant vs. Zombies (which is probably my fault). We had a couple of old boxes lying around today and Gideon kept messing with them so I decided we needed to make a craft.  Of course, his computer is waaaaay cooler than mine, I mean my boring old machine doesn't have a dance button or a laugh button.



It was a surprisingly easy project, all I used was an old keyboard from the garage, Ikea roll paper (wrapped the boxes in it like presents), package tape (for the box wrapping), black construction paper (computer screen and disc drives), glue (for the construction paper), markers (for my lovely vertical handwriting), and stickers (I had some jewel stickers lying around). Oh and the "mouse" is a jello box with two stacks of foam stickers (pumpkin ones from halloween) for pressable buttons, wrapped in black construction paper. Giddy helped me decide what all the buttons do; his favorite is the "shhh" button which means we all have to whisper (I am so glad because I was sick of being yelled at by a toddler lately).

It's funny, the messier my house is the more likely I am to find inspiration for an activity. 

For some reason the last few days have ticked by very slowly, finding odd crafts to make has been a lifesaver.  Which is why we made these two odd puppets:

Gideon loves the tongues.

Rain, Rain

There is only one person who loves this recent rainy weather more than I do, and that's the husbandit.   BUT there is only one other person who loves it more than him and that would be Gideon.  He wants to just stand in it and bask in it's cool raining glory.  This morning I gave him the only umbrella I could find in the house to play with on the back porch.  In hindsight that umbrella may have been a little too large and heavy for a two year old.

  

Museum of Science and History

My sister and I took the kids to the Museum of Science and History today.  It was somewhat surreal considering this was a yearly fieldtrip destination for both of us all the way through elementary school.  Had I packed a lunch that included a fried pie and a coke can wrapped in aluminum foil it would have been like going back in time.  As it was the trip was a vague reminder of how long it's been since elementary school (20 years!).  It was also pleasantly unsettling to think of the fieldtrips Giddy and Liyah may take to the very same place in the future.  We had a good time and will probably be back (it is much closer to my sister's house than mine).  The pictures really tell the story here: Science and History Museum Pics.

Some of my favs:

Gideon is pretty good in an emergency

that baby needed a bath

sharing the driver's seat

"Thank you, thank you very much:

water time

She doesn't believe that these are real fossils

air+coffee filters = awesome 

giant lite-brite

Liyah the Brave

4th of July 2013

When creating the title of this post (a masterpiece of creativity) I almost typed 2012 instead of 2013.  It is July of 2013 and I still think it is 2012.  So there's that.

 The 4th of July at the Edwards' house was a bit of an impromptu extravaganza.  When I was a kid we used to go to the neighborhood 4th of July parade every year and I loved it!  Kids on bikes, a group of dads who did a routine with lawnmowers, and grammas who walked their dogs dressed up in festive costumes, it was perfect.  So at 11pm on July the 3rd I decided to scour the internet for local parades to take Giddy to (also known as looking for an excuse not to go to bed, so lots of things haven't changed since I was a kid).  And so early the morning of the 4th we hit Denny's for breakfast and then joined GG and Rock for a little parade nearby.  I won't lie, the parade was mostly cars (sponsored by Nissan y'all!) but Gideon really seemed to love it anyway.

waiting for the parade to begin

my sweet baby

My mom brought her own festive dogs

a perfect view

When the parade was over we turned around and there was a small carnival in the park behind us.  A local church had set up a free children's area with plenty of stuff for Giddy to do so we figured why not?

this was next to the line for the Olde Fashioned Root Beer.

Surprise!  he caught a laffy taffy

He finally gets this whole bounce house thing

"Weeeeeee daddy!"

Afterwards we went home for a much needed nap, then it was off to GG and Rock's house for a 4th of July barbecue!  We had a nice time swimming and catching up with old friends and just enjoying the moment, so much so that I barely documented said moment.  It wasn't until it was almost time to leave that my sister and I realized we hadn't gotten pics of the kids in the shirts they made together.  Trying to photograph two toddlers at the end of a long day is simply a comedy of errors.  If you don't laugh you might lose your mind.

Just before sunset we raced back to our house to watch fireworks.  We have only lived here a few years and those that were before Gideon we spent out on the 4th while those after we spent in, but I vaguely recalled being able to see and hear fireworks from a large hill down the street so we got a blanket, toys and snacks and drove over.  At first my sister and I were a little disappointed with only being able to see little tiny fireworks in the far distance.  We were close to calling it a night when the fireworks really started in earnest; at  one point we were watching 7 shows at once!  None were close enough to be a noise issue for the kiddos but you could definitely hear the pops and see the awesome colors.  Pretty thrilling.

I love my sister

the kids were really into these spinny wand things I got them.  they were a life saver 

magical

It's actually totally dark here.  Yay for not using the flash and light pollution!

cool guy

cool guy trying to put all of the glow bracelets under his chin

I like to call this "ready for bed"

After the fireworks everyone was exhausted and we all headed to bed.  All-in-all a great day and another holiday that gives photographic evidence of how much my child has grown:

On the left: 4th of July 2012, Giddy's first baseball game (in Seattle).  On the right: 4th of July 2013, Gideon's first parade