Our Backyard Just Got Super-Duper Fun

Sometime before the free swing set, we got a free sandbox. (Thanks Lisa!) 

And sometime between the free swingset and the free sandbox, I bit the bullet and ordered a backyard play castle.

Here's a little tip.  WD40.  It saves you a lot of time and brute strength when putting together these plastic play structures. 

Noah loved the castle and kept referring to it as the Magic Kingdom.

He was really excited about the slide coming out of the back.  I hate to tell him that he is going to outgrow this way quicker than we thought.

Noah is a fan of doors being closed.  Daddy may have to come up with some way to close this from the inside.  Fingers are bound to get smashed otherwise.

Oh yes.  This is turning out to be one fun backyard.  Anyone want to come over and play?

Want Night-Night Please

Naps are officially a thing of the past.  It's been about nine days since he's actually slept during the day.  I will spare you the boring diatribe about how it happened, but I will say that true to form, every afternoon he says, "want milk... want music."  And, every afternoon, I put him down for about 45 minutes.  In the last nine days, he stays quiet for as long as his Baby Einstein playlist and then is ready to get up.  His bedtime has been anywhere from 5:30-6:00 PM, which is bad news for Daddy, but good news for Momma time in the evenings.  6:00 PM is really pushing it too.  Last night around 5:30 PM, he looked at Dean and said, "want night-night, please..." which brings us to the reason for this post.

Want.  Four little letters that are spoken at least 1,000 times a day lately.  Note to our speech therapist. W-A-N-T.  We got this.  So far today, in no particular order:

Want jellybeans.

Want Wonder Pets.

Want lollipop.

Want outside.
Want bubbles.
Want Momma come in.
Want music.

Want draw something. 

Want Wonder Pets.

Want apple juice.

Want numbers.

Want chocolate milk.

Want Old McDonald.

Want hot dog.

Want Wonder Pets.

Noah has also been throwing around these phrases to help bridge the gap when I don't quite understand the words following the want:

No not this one.

No. No. No.

Want that one.

At this point, I am so happy that he finally has some functional language, but I can see where this want, want, want has the potential to wear me out during the day.  Especially the part about the Wonder Pets.  Have you seen this show?  I am so not convinced. 

There's a Little Girl in our Neighborhood

If you've met Noah, you know that he likes to move.  Constantly.  He's not necessarily daring, but he likes to move and things in constant motion definitely have great appeal.  So, he has most of his OT's stumped as to why he doesn't like to swing.  And, the thing about it is, is that he used to like to swing.  He used to like to swing a lot.  And, lately he has been wanting to try it again, but only on Momma's lap.  I am hoping that our new swing set in the backyard may encourage him to try it out solo on the basis of familiarity alone.  So far, he's gotten as far as this. 

And, during our playdate at the park this week, things started to look pretty promising.  This was right after Momma scooted out from under Noah and off of the swing, and Noah was none to happy about it. 

However, it is amazing what peer pressure can do for a kid.

And, I think having his best bud M helped a ton.

Never underestimate the power of a boy trying to impress a cute girl. 

We love you little Miss M.

Old McDonald's Farm

Tonight during bath time, Noah kept saying, "Want Old McDonald."  Want Old McDonald."  A little background - He wasn't really asking for the song to be sung, but more like the game on my IPhone to be played which he has requested over 150 times today.  I've created a monster.  So, since IPhones and bathtime don't really mix, he had to make do with singing only.  So, off I went...

Me: "Old McDonald had a farm"

Noah: "EIEIO"

Me: "And on this farm he had a "

Noah: "A what?"

Me: "A what?"

Noah: "A what? A what?"

Me: "A what?"

(Sometimes this goes on a bit longer, but I'll spare you the redundancy.)

Noah: "A red wolf."

Me (smiling): "EIEIO.  With a"

Noah: "Ruff, ruff here. And a ruff, ruff there."

You get the gist.  I love that he thinks wolves say ruff ruff because they look like dogs.  I am happy to report that the other animals that Noah envisioned on Old McDonald's farm were sea lions that went "ROAR," parrots that went "parrot, parrot, parrot," crawfish that went "pinch, pinch," and a turtle that says nothing.  Aside from the crawfish, pretty sure that is one farm I don't want to visit.

The Easter Bunny 2010

Noah loved looking at old pictures him and the Easter Bunny, so I asked him if he wanted to go see him, and Noah said, "uhhhh huuh."  So, off we went to the mall, and we before could get in line to wait our turn with EB, Noah was already saying, "unhh unhh, unhh unhh."  So, suffice it to say, there will be no Easter Bunny picture for 2010.  Despite Noah's wishy washy feelings toward the EB, the bunny still showed Noah some love on Easter morning.  And, he must have been paying close attention lately because Noah's Easter basket was filled with a ton of his favorite things.  Jelly beans, Easter eggs filled with chocolate, a Woody doll from Toy Story, some new ELMO pajamas and a bathing suit (don't know if Noah was too psyched about this one, but I hope he will be when swimming lessons start in a couple weeks).

Toy Story 2 is a hit in our house, and Noah loved his Woody doll from the EB.

Opening every egg to see what goodies are inside.

Yay, Easter!

Our Backyard Just Got Super Fun

I was included on a random, mass email from a lady in one of my mom's group who was looking to get rid of a backyard swing set as soon as possible.  I emailed her back, "we'll take it."  And, sent Dean to pick it up yesterday afternoon from the nice couple standing in their backyard staring at a large pile of wood that would soon be their new, bigger, and better play set.  Dean arrived home late afternoon with cast off after giving it a quick run through the car wash.  Noah was super excited.

Noah couldn't wait for Daddy to put it together.  He sort of got in the way during the assembly process, so I had to corral him in the house.

And, Daddy luckily got it together in time for a quick test run just before dark.

Today, despite the so-so weather, Noah spent a lot of time outside breaking in his new play set.  Here it is.

And, if these faces are any indication, I think my impulse to give this play set a new home where spot on.

Even Daddy said that all the hard work getting this thing in our backyard was so worth it.

Easter's On Its Way

This morning I got Noah all dressed in his new Easter shirt for his school Easter party.  He looked so cute that I had to get a picture, so I grabbed my camera, but the battery was dead.  Bummer.  Left to rely on my trusty IPhone, I knew that I had only one shot to get it right.  We walked out the front door, and I told Noah to sit right on the C on the doormat.  He did, and then in my best Luciano Pavarotti voice, I gave him a "La, La, Laaaa!"  This is what I got.  And, I love it... ritz cracker teeth and all.  Wishing everyone a Happy Easter weekend!