Fetch

Uncle D made a pit stop at our house this past week. He was on his way to hunt in South Texas, and he brought his fresh, out-of-training camp lab, Cole. The last time Noah met Cole, Cole was much bigger than little Noah. And, now even with Noah being much bigger, he is still not as big as Cole.

Uncle D showed off Cole new fetching skills. Ready, set...

Go!

Look Noah. I've got it. I've got it.

Wait a minute. I was playing with those.

Oh, ok. You can have it.

What a fun time catching up with Uncle D. Cole was such a sweet house backyard guest. We are so glad you guys stopped by for a visit.

Benched

When I dropped Noah off at school yesterday, I had a quick minute to ask the teacher how he was doing.  One of the things she asked was, "Does he often run into the bathroom at your house?"

Me: Hmm... I thought.  "Not really."

Teacher: "Well, we have a stool in there, and..."

Me:  Lightbulb goes off.  "Ahhh."   

 Here is Noah after bath.  He is brushing his teeth in his very own bathroom. 

Is this the cutest thing ever or what?

 These are the cleanest front teeth you've ever seen.

Time to rinse.

On a side note, I love the story behind the bench Noah is standing on.  All my high school friend blog readers might recognize it.  It's made from the old bleachers from our high school gym.  Dean lived and breathed basketball back in the day, and he definitely logged some hours into that gym.  I, on the other hand, was cut from volleyball freshman year, so my gym time mainly consisted of PE class and mass on Fridays.  The benches came about because the gym bleachers were being replaced, and it just so happened that Dean's grandfather worked for the construction company that was handling the removal and new installation.  The bleachers were made of cypress, and I am pretty sure the wood now graces the floor of someone's home, but there were a few scraps left behind.  So, PaPa Russell made them into little benches.  I love that we have something made by Noah's great grandfather's hands.  Very sentimental on a so many different levels. 

Deck the Walls

I am super excited about the wall decor I found for our soon to be finished play room. I am a huge fan of the TJ Maxx companies... you know TJ, Marshalls, Homegoods. I think it's genetic (thanks Mom). So, while Dean was out at Ikea on Saturday, Noah and I checked out some decorative items at the nearest Homegoods.

I found these cute square canvas art. Noah is already pointing them out by name. Except he keeps getting stuck on teacher. When he does, he either looks for me to fill in the blank or grabs my finger, points to it, and waits for me to fill in the blank. He actually gets out astronaut. It is precious. And, anything that teachers Noah new words, I would say is an excellent buy.

The other canvas I bought is kind of, sort of similar to one I have been eyeing on Land of Nod. I spied it on a random aisle in the store with no price tag. I brought it to the front, and the young checkout girl said it was 19.99. Really?!? Umm... sold! Don't you just love a good deal!

You Don't Have to Tell Me Twice

Or in this case, about 30 times. Since Noah has been in therapy, each and every therapist has recommended to me at some point or another to put his toys out of reach. The point being that if the toys are not as easily accessible to him, he will 1. Stay with an activity longer, and he won’t be distracted by other toys, and 2. he will actually have to request toys instead of just getting them himself. This always sounded like a good idea to me, and at one point, I halfheartedly attempted it.

In our new house, we have a dedicated game room on the second floor. Getting it organized with cabinets to put away all Noah’s things was on our long, new home, to do list, but on Friday when another therapist suggested (again) that I make his toys less accessible, I decided the game room needed to move to the top of the list.

Here is where Ikea comes in. Since we’ve moved back, I have been doing some web searching­­­­ on Ikea’s online store, horribly difficult to navigate, and I also made two trips to the store. One solo and one with Dean.

Both trips resulted in Noah pretending to nap on this pink bed in the kid's section, which is only about an eighth of the way into the store. And, an eight of the store is not very much. And, the way the store is set up is that once you enter, you have to continue through the entire 10,000 square feet to get to the end. So, both trips also resulted in me carrying a 35-pound toddler kicking and screaming through a 10,000 square foot maze of bedding, bath, and textiles empty-handed… well, except for said toddler. Did I also mention that Ikea is a madhouse? And, that’s on a weekday. On the weekend, well, let’s just say, it’s completely insane. So, this weekend after a frustrating hour of creating a shopping list on Ikea.com, I sent Dean on a buying mission. Noah not included. Dean survived, and we spent part of the weekend putting together part of our order, since Ikea is all assembly required and not everything was in stock.

I was planning to post some great before and after pictures, but it seems this is going to be an ongoing project. So, this is before. Clean and empty.

And, this is the first edition to Noah's new playroom.

It is along the back wall. We also bought two eight foot cabinets with doors to put on either side of these shelves. Eight of the smaller colored bins fit inside the cabinets, but I think we will be returning them. Amazingly, I don't think Noah has enough toys to fill them. Instead, we will probably be investing in a couple more of these units to fill out the back wall.

My plan for the wall between the windows is some little tables with baskets underneath to hold the bigger toys. I found the idea here. Pretty cute, right?

Gotcha

Our new house is slightly bigger than our previous three bedroom apartment in Miami. I may have mentioned before that Noah is constantly on the go. Well, in our much bigger home, once he gets out of my sight, he is not always easy to find. He is into closing doors, so most times I can follow the sound of a slamming door, but sometimes he is a bit quieter. It is hit or miss whether or not he will answer when I call his name, but today, I came up with a great solution. If I am unsure of what direction he is headed, I will shout out a... "One!" Then, I listen very closely. I can usually hear a quiet "two." A little bit louder, I shout, "THREE!" I can usually find him before I get to "FIVE." That boy sure loves his numbers. I am sure one day he will totally catch on to my trick, but for now, it works every time.

We ♥ Outside

I cannot reiterate enough how much Noah loves being outside. The one consistent note on all his papers from school is, "Noah loves the playground!!" He has finally ventured out onto the grass in our backyard, which is still in the growing staging, so it is a bit prickly and also a bit soggy from all the rain. We are running into a small problem at home since apparently a family of mosquitos lived here before us, and are not to happy about us invading their turf. I picked up a family size can of OFF today, so we are ready for them this afternoon. We have also found a couple great parks around town, and now that the weather has cooled to a comfortable 90 degrees as opposed to 102, outside is where he wants to be. Here is some fun that Noah had yesterday.

What a great park!

Got sticks?

Whee! Noah no longer likes to swing, but he does love to slide.

He kept coming back to this picture saying "tree, tree, tent, slide." I was also saying something for the man on the end, but I have no idea what.

The park is called the "train park" because of this play structure. Noah kept walking by it saying "Choo choo. All aboard."

Sidewalk Chalk

It is sad to say, but my child has never played with sidewalk chalk. So, this weekend, I decided that it was time to remedy the situation. Our new back patio seemed to be the perfect spot. I think it went over well.

By the time we were finished, Noah was covered in chalk from head to toe.

Sidewalk chalk is so much fun.

Never to young for hopscotch!

Grammy and Pa Pa

This weekend we had a visit from Grammy and Pa Pa. We loved having them here, and they both came to do what they do best. Grammy came to organize, a skill that I am sorely lacking. She organized our closet, pantry, laundry (um... pretty much all the unorganized spaces). She did an awesome job. Everything has a spot, and it should make straightening up a cinch. Pa Pa came to cook, a skill that I am actually pretty good at, but it is always nice to have someone else in the kitchen. I introduced him to HEB, and I now have gumbo and roast in the freezer, wine in the cooler, and staples in our pantry. We had a great time visiting with you guys, and maybe next time, you won't have to work so hard.

Thanks Grammy for all your hard work in getting our house in order.

Thanks Pa Pa for all the yummies and for making the trip.

We can't wait until you visit again!

Truck Car Yellow Red

We are in the process of getting Noah set up with the state early intervention program in Texas. All of the therapy is done in house with the idea that by coming into the home not only provides therapy to the child in his environment but also encourages parental involvement. We've talked a lot about specific goals for Noah. Since he is saying anywhere from 70-80 words, one of those goals is for Noah to be able to put those words into two word combinations. For example, since he knows the word sun and he also knows the word yellow, the goal is or him to say yellow sun.

Here is the new nightlight I bought for Noah's room. Noah really likes it, and Dean caught him pointing out all the circles on the stoplight. Daddy decided this was a great opportunity to work on two word combinations. He decided to redirect him by pointing out the truck and car. His thinking was to get Noah to go from saying truck and car. To saying yellow and red. To finally saying yellow truck and red car. The end result. Noah goes up to the night light points to the truck and says truck. He points to the car and says car. Then he points to the truck and says yellow. Then he points to the car and says red. So instead of yellow truck, red car, we get truck car, yellow red. Hmmm... sounds like two word combinatons to Momma.

Catching Up

Since we've been back in Texas, we have had the chance to catch up with some old friends. Today, Noah became reacquainted with his old friend Claire. It has been quite a while since they've seen each other, and what a difference a year makes. We met up at a coffee shop/play zone for some caffeine and fun. What a great way to spend an afternoon.

Here is Claire looking like such a big girl in her cute piggy tails.

Come on Noah. Follow me.

Time to slide.

Monkey see. Monkey do.

Wheee... this is fun!

Five Things Friday 9.4.09 - School Days

We are drowning in boxes over here, but I couldn't let the first week of school pass by without an update. So, here is the preschool edition of "Five Things Friday."

1. I cried on Noah's first day. But, it wasn't when I dropped him off. And, it wasn't when I got back to the house and realized I missed him so much. It wasn't even when I called to check in on him, and the office lady told me he was having a "good day." Nope. It was when I was picking him up and found out that Noah needed a little extra attention on his first day. His high activity level, lack of understanding, and bigger than the average 2-year-old size, made him a bit of a handful on the first day of school.

2. If nap mat cuteness could induce sleep, Noah would have been the first little one asleep. Sadly, it does not. Noah did not nap or rest. Although strangely the "rest" box was marked on his daily sheet, but I guess the teacher had to check either rest or sleep since there wasn't a box labeled "bobbing and weaving around two-year-olds resting on nap mats." A joint agreement was made between teachers and Momma that Noah will be picked up before nap time.

3. Noah really loved motor skills on the first day. No further comment.

4. The teachers told me several times (and it was checked on his sheet) that Noah was happy throughout the day, but he had issues with following rules. I knew that day two would be true test whether he liked school or not. We held hands as we walked from the car to his classroom door, and as I bent down to give him a kiss goodbye, he took off like a flash and jumped right into playing. I am so happy that he likes preschool. Yay!

5. The rules. From the feedback I am getting from his teachers, it seems Noah's biggest issues are not staying with his class and not sitting during snacks and lunch. Looks like Momma has some homework over the weekend. I am really looking forward to when that staying with his class sinks in, and I am hoping that translates to staying with his Momma.