The diving board

For the last week or so Gideon has been talking about diving off the diving board in swim class on Wednesday.  Well Wednesday is finally here.  I won't lie, I was nervous, the idea of my little child jumping off the diving board made my stomach hurt so I chose not to think about it.  Gideon, however, was PUMPED to JUMP.  And jump he did!

I think th best part is the sound he made as he jumped, like a diving board ninja



The only downside?  He cried a little when jumping time was over.

Also shout out to the husbandit for getting off work early everyday for two weeks so he can take Gideon to swim class.  Best. Daddy. Ever.

Busy Day

Today I had an OB appointment where I took the glucose tolerance test (yuck), got a rhogam shot (hooray for RH - blood!), and was told to decide on a due date for our baby (a bonus of a repeat c-section).  After our appointment we picked up Gideon and toured a preschool that I have been really interested in and then ended up registering Gideon for school!  Time is really flying by and both of our kids are growing fast.  We really need to paint and put down new floors in Gideon's room because Batman Puppy Patrol will be needing the nursery in only 11 or so weeks.  Mind blowing.  

Project

I was still in bed this morning when Gideon came running in carrying a bag of clothespins he's found in his closet.  He ran to the bed and yelled "I have a project for you mommy!"  Since I'd spent this past weekend nursing a cold fueled by pregnancy insomnia my mommy guilt was running pretty high.  Gideon must have sensed this and known that he basically could get me to do whatever he wants today.  So we decided we needed to turn clothespins into crocodiles and headed downstairs to the craft box (temporarily in our office while we are working on Gideon's big boy room).  Daddy mentioned that he would love a clothespin crocodile with a magnet for the metal shelves in his office which Gideon thought was a great idea (cue me searching the boxes furiously for my roll of magnets) and thus our morning project was born.  After the crocodile Gideon said he wanted to make a sheep (or "weep" as he calls them) so I ran upstairs and grabbed some cotton balls.  After the sheep came a spider ("bider") and a caterpillar ("cadpillar") all covered in googly eyes, pompoms, and pipe cleaners.  This was one morning when I was grateful for my craft supplies hoard.

He wanted the spider to have a pompom head.  It's pretty fabulous. 

For some reason this looks like a snapping turtle to me

Won't lie, I find the sheep sort of creepy

The crocodile is my favorite

He's pretty proud of his "aminals"

I am going to get out the hot glue gun during naptime to secure some of the pompoms and add magnets but otherwise these guys are done.  They took maybe 15 minutes to make, we had a great time, and I managed to score some mom points before 10am!   I think it is going to be a good day.

More than meets the eye

I didn't sleep at all last night.  My head cold combined with pregnancy insomnia and heartburn giving me a feeling like I was drowning which triggered panic attacks until I finally got out of bed and watched Comic Con panels until the sun came up (ahh Comic Con, my happy place).  After I went back to bed Mac and Gideon went to the park.  When they got home Gideon presented me with some flowers (apparently they took the "spooky" path home and threw flowers they found on the ground at "bad guys".  It was nice of Giddy to want to give me ammunition against evil) and immediately launched into a lengthy description of his new robot transformation powers.  Of course I grabbed my camera.

  

(I found out later that Mac also turns into a spaceship and Gideon sits on his stomach and uses his hands to steer. It's pretty cute but I was forbidden to film it.)

Monster Box

We got a great idea from watching Pocoyo this morning, MONSTER BOX!

Monster Box was on a mission this morning to,

WAKE

UP

DADDY!

"It just me, daddy!"

Swim class

The first day of swim class has come again!

Kiwi Crate

A few weeks ago a mom friend of mine shared pics of her kids playing with something they had made using materials from something called a Kiwi Crate.  I headed over to the Kiwi Crate website and found this:

"Our Story

Kiwi Crate was built out of a passion for hands-on fun that encourages creativity and curiosity in children. I had a deep appreciation for these projects, but often found that my greatest intentions fell short. It was tough to find the time to come up with engaging hands-on activities, let alone get the materials.

So, as I started to develop creative projects with my kids, I thought, “why not share them with friends, who are also busy?” At playdates, the kids had a bunch of fun, and the parents appreciated having all of the materials and inspiration for the projects provided. Several parents mentioned, "I wish I could do this at home with my kids!"

Kiwi Crate was created to fulfill that wish and to celebrate kids’ natural creativity and curiosity. We want to make it fun, easy, and delightful to spend time building, exploring and creating together. Since its inception, the Kiwi Crate team has grown. We've added creative parents who dream up the projects, valued experts who review them, and a community of kid testers who keeps us on our toes and ensures the projects are fun and engaging.

We love working on Kiwi Crate and cherish the involvement that our kids and friends have in bringing the product to life. We're excited about the opportunity to help provide these types of experiences for your family to share too.

Happy exploring!

Sandra

Founder, CEO, Mother of Two"

As you all know, I love doing crafts with Gideon and I have been on the lookout for something he and I can share after the baby comes and this seemed like the perfect thing.  So I started a subscription and forgot about it within about 30 seconds.  The box arrived a couple of days ago so I put it on the couch and (again) forgot about it within 30 seconds.  This morning Gideon was bored and I walked past the couch and thought "hmmm, what's in that box?" so we opened up our first Kiwi Crate today and I am so impressed! It comes with all the necessary materials (even the glue!) for two adorable craft projects, an activity book full of fun games, a kids magazine with an at home scavenger hunt, and even two little cardboard puppets to cut out and play with in your box that doubles as a little puppet habitat. Best of all Gideon got his own pair of safety scissors. His face lit up when I told them they were scissors just for him (someone may have been wanting to use mommy's scissors for a while now). We made our first craft today (glowing campfire, it glows because you put a little flickering electric tea light underneath it (included in the box)) and I love that it was something we could integrate into playtime.  We took it upstairs to Giddy's room and turned his bed into a tent.  Then we roasted marshmallows, told spooky stories (he loves telling me stories, usually involving ghosts and superheroes), and even got out his star turtle so we could make constellations.  

unloading our supplies from the box

standing awkwardly next to the table

pulling off pieces of clay

putting clay on the cardboard ring

pressing stones into the clay

checking the instructions to see what we need to do next

gluing tissue paper to the cup

roasting "marshmallows"

"mmm cotton"

okay I may have snuck some real marshmallows in there

camping with our friends!

We are going to save the next project for another boring afternoon next week.  If anyone is interested in getting a Kiwi Crate of your own use my referral link  here  to get $10 off! 

Conversations with Gideon

Gideon: Is that a superhero?
Me: No that is a princess
G: What her name?
M: Pocahontas
G: That a weird name
M: You think so? I think it is a nice name
G: Maybe I just like Blueberryhontas, yes, Blueberryhontas.

Making coffee

"I made you a coffee mommy!"

*Note to self: hide the k-cups.

Hang in There

We went to the park today and while watching Gideon play I was struck by inspiration.

I crack myself up...

Imaginary Friends

So Gideon has two imaginary friends, Dr. Doom and Spooky Batman.  He insists that he can see them and they are real and they often carry on lengthy conversations with Gideon, especially in the car.  Batman got his Spooky descriptor because he is able disappear at will and then jumps out and scares Gideon (sometimes good, other times bad).  And Dr. Doom appears to be nicer than Batman and pretty great for a "bad guy".

These two characters have brought both Gideon and I much enjoyment over the past few weeks.  One day a few weeks ago Spooky Batman was riding in the back seat with Gideon as we drove to GG's house to swim.  Turns out Batman has a rainbow swimsuit with rainbow water wings, AND two mommies.  When we got home that afternoon for naptime I asked if Spooky Batman was ready for nap too and Gideon said no, he was in the batmobile but the batmobile was stuck in traffic.  I guess famous people really are just like us.

Last week there was a late night storm with lots of loud thunder.  I went and checked on Gideon and was shocked that he slept through it.  The next day he surprised us by saying he was not asleep during the storm but awake for the whole thing because Dr. Doom came out of the thunder, walked into our house, and went to Gideon's door, then it thundered again and he left.  He and I talked about how this was probably a dream because Gideon was in his room and unable to see what was happening outside.  Gideon said this was a bad dream but only because Dr. Doom did not give Gideon a hug.  In fact, he was so disturbed by the lack of hugging that he has told several people since about how much he wants to find Dr. Doom and ask for a hug.  Today during naptime it suddenly started to storm outside.  I didn't recall any mention of rain on the weather this morning and a quick check of the internet said that this was a totally freak occurrence.  I heard Gideon upstairs talking and went to check on him in case the thunder was scaring him.  Turns out Dr. Doom, having finally had some thunder to ride, was back.  I told him that I had just been downstairs and did not see the Dr. but Gideon insisted (pointing to his doorway (so creepy)) that he was there waiting for Gideon.  I told him to ask Dr. Doom to come to the bed:

Gideon: Come here Dr. Doom.
Me: Tell him he owes you a hug.
G: I am already hugging him! (makes snuggly hugging sounds)    
M: Alright, now tell Dr. Doom it is naptime and he needs to go.
G: Dr. Doom it is naptime.  Mommy, he not going to leave.
M: Alright tell him has has to lay on the floor and read books so you can get some rest.
G: Dr. Doom you lay on the floor and read my superhero books.
M (giving Gideon a hug and then walking out of the room): Goodnight Gideon!  Dr. Doom, you don't keep Gideon awake
G (as Dr. Doom) : Okay.

Of course the imaginary friends are not all fun and games.  There has been a lot of controversy lately around The Hulk, Bruce Banner, and some sort of relationship they have forged with ghosts.  And while I love that Gideon has a vivid imagination, sometimes it seems to keep him from getting all of the sleep he needs.  Case in point, apparently he and Batman spent an entire evening fighting crime in Villainville not long ago, I know this because we could hear it downstairs.

Anyone else have any experience with imaginary friends?

Playing with Daddy

Falling asleep next to a toddler can be risky...

*UPDATE

Mac is now awake and confused

Fourth of July

At the Denton 4th of July Parade with Auntie Maggie, Chris, Cousin Peyton, CC, JJ, Auntie Bethany, Cousin Liyah, GG and Grampa Rock 

Flag wavers!

patriotic pups

Siblings

More siblings

This boy loves a parade, especially when they throw beads and candy

relaxing in the shade while waiting for our table at lunch

Relaxation time = over

Getting ready for the egg race at the civic center

We told him he had to run around the red barrel, he ran around ALL of the barrels, it was adorable.

kicking a ball to win tickets at the civic center Jubilee.  BONUS, my baby belly.

Fourth of July Shirts

Last year someone got the great idea to make Fourth of July t-shirt with the kiddos.  They turned out pretty adorable:

Luckily I posted about it on facebook and an app called Timehop reminded me that it had happened and inspired me to do it again!

While the children's hands may now be bigger and their ability to assist in the painting greater, some things never change.  Like the fact that they run away from the table once they are done like wild dogs released from cages.  And that my sister Bethany likes to take her time and make the rest of our shirts look like back alley knock offs compared to her masterpiece.