Nick Jr. Storytime

This weekend Daddy and I took Noah to see Nick Jr. Storytime at the theater.  I point out that it was at the theater because the use of electronic recording devices was strictly prohibited.  Translation.  Limited picture taking opportunities.

We did have good seats.  Orchestra right.  Row B.

Right by behind our good friends Aidan and Olivia.

Photo taken from Nick Jr.

I can't really say that Noah loved the show.  He liked it ok.  It started off with Kai Lan followed by Backyardigans.  After intermission was the Wonder Pets and then Dora.  It was a lot more story than singing/dancing, hence the name of the show.  Noah watched a few parts behind closed eyes. 

By far his favorite part was the map on Dora.  He got really into the music that he recognized and danced along.  It was glaringly obvious that his least favorite part was when the Wonder Pets came out.  He burst into frigthened tears.   

Photo taken from Nick Jr.

 I guess these guys do look a bit scary.  It sort of seems like the humans are attacking the Wonder Pets.  A bit confusing for a 3-year old. 

Overall, it was a great family outing.  And, we really enjoyed catching up with our old friends. 

Happy Birthday MaMa Gladys

There is longevity among the women in my family. Need some proof. Today is my grandmother's 90th birthday. Nine-zero.  And, I know at some point today, she'll get on her computer, check my blog, read this post, and probably check my grammar. Oh yeah, she's online.

MaMa (at 88) with a newborn Noah

She does a ton of stuff at ninety.  She drives, plays cards with friends, watches all the Saints games, does crosswords and sudoku, reads.  She even takes road trips to visit Noah.  Last time we talked, she was telling me a story about how she was having a craving for ice cream, so she stopped at McDonalds.  She went inside, ordered, and sat down to eat her ice cream.  For her, the point of the story was that she spilled and a nice young woman helped her with some napkins, but for me, I thought... how awesome to just be driving and think, you know what I want so ice cream, so I'm going to go get some, and I'm not going to eat it in my car just because I'm by myself.  I'm going to sit right here and enjoy it.  That's my grandmother.  She's indepenedent and strong and smart.  And, I am proud to be her grandaughter. 

According to reports from back home, she's starting off her 90th year with a bang, dinner out, lunch, cake. Lots of family and lots of celebrating.  As for me, I hope her birthday is filled with a win at the casino, a yummy lunch out, a win from the Braves and maybe a good book.  Happy Birthday MaMa Gladys.  I love you!

I Know You are Dying to Know What Happened Next

Due to the exterme length of my last blog post, I will spare you and keep the follow-up short and sweet.  Because there is a follow-up.  I would be remiss if there wasn't.  If I just let you believe that Noah has indeed transitioned to a toddler bed with that much ease.  And, if parenting was easy, Noah would have spent the entire night in his toddler bed.  But, it isn't, and he didn't.  What actually happened was, he woke about 12:30AM and wandered the house a bit. Daddy found him and attempted to get him settled back in the toddler bed.  In the process, Daddy fell asleep on the floor next to his bed and Noah got up again and wandered a bit more.  Daddy found him in the kitchen playing with some mixing spoons.  After a bit of trial and error, Noah returned to his crib for the remainder of the night.  If I'm being honest, I kind of like him in his crib.  Not so much a fan of the house wandering.

Asleep in His Toddler Bed

I guess now is as good a time as any to tell the story of the toddler bed.  Since as we speak, Noah is fast asleep in the toddler bed. 

But, I'm getting ahead of myself.  I am not sure why I decided to make the jump to the toddler bed.  It suprisingly didn't have anything to do with this.

Noah's nose dive out of the bed back in March.  I was pretty sure he didn't really mean to fall out of the crib.  That it was done in a fit of anger, and that after experiencing first hand the consequences of falling, it was not something he would be attempting again.  And, he didn't.  To appease my husband, who was ready to take apart the crib that night, I started to think about moving Noah into a big boy bed.  I asked my sister, who responded with an "I wouldn't if I were you."  I asked my mom's group, who were more than happy to share their individual stories of how they moved their little on into a big boy/girl bed.  So, I thought about it.  And, then summer came...

I had big plans for summer.  Start thinking about potty training.  Encouraging more independent eating.  Getting rid of the milk before bedtime.  Moving into a big boy bed.  I am hear to tell you that all of the above worked out... umm, not so much.  I did buy the big boy bed back in mid-June.  And, as much as I would like to say that I was thinking that this was something we were going to do... transition into a big boy bed.  It more came about because, well... he needed new crib sheets.  The ones on his bed were the same shiny and new ones he had as an infant, and they were becoming threadbare.  I guess most kiddoes don't use their crib sheets for three years.  So, I went to Target, and I found some super cute rocketship crib sheets.  And, I pumped them up because my kid likes consistenancy, threadbare crib sheets or not.  I told Noah in my best cheerleader Momma voice, "Do you love your new sheets?  Outer space!!  Rocketships!!"  And, it worked.  Well, on the same aisle as the rocket ship crib sheets was the rocket ship toddler bedding, and it was super cute.  I couldn't justify buying it, unless we had a toddler bed to put them on, so I bought the toddler bed too.  The problem was I didn't have a plan. 

So, here I am with new super cute rocketship sheets and a toddler bed with super cute rocketship bedding that I have no plan for transitioning my "I am not a huge fan of change, Momma" son.  So, off the cuff, I decided to just put the bed in his room next to his crib.  Well, I had a little input from Daddy and Grammy about where exactly the bed would go.  But, the final verdict was just to scoot his crib over and put the toddler bed right next to it.  And then, give him a choice.  You want crib or you want bed?  Well, of course he wanted bed.  He loved the bed.  But, he wouldn't stay in the bed.  And, he didn't want to get in his crib.  I know this is probably normal three-year old behavior, but have I mentioned that I did not have a plan, and I was not ready to fight this fight with an exhausted child.  So, less than two hours after the toddler bed ended up in his room, it was moved out.  Clean break... start fresh another day.  The toddler bed was moved into one of the guest bedrooms, and it took Noah about a week to find it.  Crib sleeping resumed, and the toddler bed in the guest bedroom became a little place for him to go and hang out during the day. 

Fast forward to today... if you are seriously still with me, you are a very loyal blog follower.  Noah didn't nap today.  He is not feeling great.  A bit of green snot, so he went to bed early.  6:30ish.  About 8:00 PM, I hear some crying and kicking.  Noah is not a cryer.  He doesn't cry in the morning for me to get him out.  He doesn't cry when I put him down.  So, I went into his room.  He was crying and soaking wet with sweat.  I'm thinking bad dream.  He wants to rock.  Noah is not a rocker.  But, I sit in the chair in his room for about 20 minutes and listen to his deep breathing thinking he is asleep.  But, then I hear, "want bed."  So, I stand up to put him in his crib, but he cries.  I am so not thinking about his toddler bed because we haven't talked about him sleeping in it since June.  So, he doesn't want his crib, and now I know he is awake, so I figure that I'll just let him down.  He gets down, walks out of his room, through the kitchen and straight into the front guest bedroom.  Climbs up in his toddler bed, and looks at me and says, "want chocolate milk."  Oh yeah, on a sidenote, not only did I not get rid of the milk before bed over the summer, we've added chocolate syrup to the cup.  No judgement please.  So, he's in the toddler bed, covered up, patiently waiting for some chocolate milk.  I have my doubts but as of 8:45 PM.

And so, here I sit with no plan for this.  But, if there is something I am sure of it's that when Daddy gets home, he is definitely going to be sleeping in the guest bedroom.  To be continued...

There Once Was a Doodlebug Whose Name was Seth

This week we had a last minute visit from Noah's youngest boy cousin, Seth.  Also known as, Seffie, Seffie-Do, Doodlebug.  Noah loved having Seth at our house evidenced by the fact how bright and early he woke him up every morning.  (Sorry about that Seth.)  And, Noah was really, really sad to see him go.  "Nooo... not Seffie." he cried as Seth's drove away.

Here are a some pictures from the visit.

We hit a couple neighborhood pools trying to beat the heat.  Seth was so sweet hanging out with Noah and me in the baby pools.

Here Noah and Seth are enjoying some snacks during a pool break.

We spent some time indoors and broke out RockBand.  Noah loved dancing along, and Noah's friend Henry is so ready to be a rockstar.

Rock on, Henry.

During Noah's naptime, Seth asked me if we could do something "not electronic."  So, I pulled out a game of Scattergories.  Seth did a really good job.  Insect that starts with G?  Grasshopper.  Famous Female that starts with H?  Hilary Duff.  Strong work Seffie Do. 

We also spent some time in the backyard.  Luckily, there were no injuries involved during the use of the bonzai slide, but it was not because of lack of trying. 

Seth told me his number one favorite part of the trip was Rainforest Cafe.  Noah calls it the jungle, and I think he sort of has a love/hate relationship with it.  The thunderstorms ever 20 or so minutes... he definitely doesn't love.

This yummy volcano may have something to do with Seth choosing Rainforest as his favorite activity. 

Thanks for coming to visit us, Seth.  We can't wait for the next time.

Happy Boy

I love how Noah is starting to develop some conversational language skills.  Last night during dinner, I was prompting him with "Momma likes gumbo.  Noah likes..."  "Sausage,"  he finished.  Then he said, "Noah likes backyard.  Momma likes backyard."  Awwhhh... so sweet. 

Here is a video I took last week on my IPhone that I completely forgot about.  I know he is eventually going to grow out of the the "nooo... not xyz," but it is so stinkin' cute.  And, I love how all the expressions he shows me are all really just a variation of happy. 

Take Me Out To the Ballgame

Today Dean and I took Noah to his very first baseball game.  The Astros were playing... hmmm... somebody.  And, the winner was... hmmm... not sure.  We didn't make the end of the game.  OK... so we are not true fans, but we had the opportunity to go, so we went.  I think Noah enjoyed it.  He didn't want to leave the stadium and kept saying, "Nooo... not home.  Want baseball."  Here he is sitting outside Minute Maid Park.

Before the game, I decided to again print him out a few pictures... of the stadium, the mascot and of course, the train filled with oranges.  When we got to the game, I think the earlier picture preview gave him a good idea of what he was going to see.  Noah really enjoyed looking out onto the field.  He did the best sitting at the top of the steps, but unfortunately he ended up being in the way, so he had to move.

What is a baseball game without yummy park food?  Daddy arrived from the concessions in the nick of time with hot french fries and cracker jacks. 

It was a fun afternoon at the ballpark.  It's definitely something we need to try again.  And, maybe get a redo on the family picture.