Southwestway Park

We went to try out a new park the other day. Erick wanted to play disc golf, but we couldn't figure out where it was, so we just played on the playground and then took a hike. In my opinion, the playground was really intended for big kids. The actual slides were very challenging to get to, but Piper persevered and climbed up the chain ladder with a little help.

She did make a friend however, and had fun running around with her, and then blowing bubbles with her and her little brother. Erick and I were debating about how old the kids were. Piper was all about playing with the girl who appeared to me to be about 4-5. She was barely taller than Piper, but her speech was more sophisticated. The little boy I guessed to be barely 2, maybe younger based on his movements and speech. Piper wanted nothing to do with him, when normally she likes to play with the boys, and I attributed it to him being younger than her. Erick thought the girl was about 3 and the boy the same as I guessed. I finally asked their father how old they were, and he told me the girl had just turned 5 in January which confirmed my suspicions. The boy as it turned out, was exactly the same age as Piper, which really surprised me.

Afterwards we took a hike through the woods to "look for bears", but of course we didn't find any. Piper collected her usual stash of sticks, and pointed out all the flowers and bugs to us along the way.

Pictures from the Park

Tea Party

Grandma bought Piper a tea set and she has been having fun pretending to make and serve tea.

More Easter Pics and Kite Video

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Piper had lots of fun on Easter. She found all of her Easter eggs and her basket. I think she was more excited about about hunting for eggs than she was about the stuff in her basket. Afterwards, Grandma picked her up for church. She's only been twice before, but she has the routine down, and knows exactly where to go and what to do. Grandma says she was really good.

Erick, Stella, and I met them at his parent's house for lunch. The kids played in the backyard in the sandbox, and Piper and Colin flew their kites. I was glad it was such a beautiful day again.

Coloring Eggs

Water Bottle Music

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Egg Hunt

We took the girls to grandma's church for an Easter Egg Hunt. I was disappointed that it was rainy and we had to do it indoors. Piper had a great time collecting her eggs and mangaged to fill her basket until it was overflowing. She received so much candy that I'll probably have to throw most of it away or else she'll have rotten teeth. She did not win the special prize, because Mommy stupidly gave the egg away to someone else that had the ticket in it. Oh well, she still had a great time. She was very cute during the lesson too and kept raising her hand like the other kids even though she had no clue how to answer the preacher's questions. Thankfully he didn't call on her. She loved playing with the other kids and running around on the stage. Most of the time there was this little boy who was chasing her trying to grab her wings. I'm happy that she is finally at the point where she enjoys playing with other children.

General Update April

Age (in months, or years and months): almost 31 months

Physical abilities: Is doing better at jumping over objects and is also trying to jump rope. Has been very interested in using scissors this month and is actually doing quite well with them. Mostly doing small cuts and not long ones yet. Discovered the corkscrew apparatus at the playground and enjoys twisting around it from top to bottom.

Speech/language: vocabulary, sentence length, etc: The girl talks non-stop and is driving us all crazy. She narrates to herself all the time, as well as demanding our attention and acknowledgment when she is speaking. Vocabulary use this month includes: terrible, exquisite, and interesting. She now declares certain things as her “favorite” now, and her new catch phrase is “Let me share that with you” as in I have something she wants and now I have to share with her. I’ve heard several Spanish and Chinese words this month also, and she obviously memorized certain vocab from t.v. and her Dora books such as “sigue” “vamonos” and “abre”

Reading/pre-reading: nothing new, still reads tons of books and enjoys “reading” to the baby. If I have to read Snow White and the Seven Dwarves one more time I might go insane though.

Number stuff: I am starting to hear more correct rote counting 1-5, although it is still hit and miss. She has a new sudden increased interest in money and knows all the coin names, although she does mix them up at times.

Other cognitive stuff: puzzles, reasoning, etc: Is making connections between everything, especially if it relates to something she has seen on Dora. Another catch phrase is “that’s just like…” She told me the other day that I must have taken a shower while she was at the playground because my hair was wet. We have begun attempting some very simple mazes and thinking skill type activities such as looking at a picture and trying to decide what’s wrong with it or what’s missing?

Creativity: Has started drawing tadpole people this month, and carries around this little notebook she loves to write and draw in. Still prefers pens to other mediums right now. Cuts out snowflakes using her scissors and attempts to fold paper into airplanes with limited success.

Imagination: Still very involved in pretend play

Social: I’m seeing more interactive play with other kids. Likes to play tag- her version of running around and screaming “you can‘t catch me!”. Declares other to be her “best friend” and this changes by the minute and often includes me

Character/personality: Has adapted well to the arrival of Stella at the beginning of the month. Was a little whiny at times, but is doing better. Still figuring out her new role and position in the family. She is working out how far she can push us and whether or not I will get up to discipline her while nursing. Definitely pushing her boundaries to see how far she can go. I’m seeing arguing from her lately rather than compliance and following directions. We are working on expressing our emotions, and she can be so funny at times. She told me at the store the other day with such expression in voice and body “I am NOT happy Mommy!” The lady behind us was cracking up. I feel like she has grown up sooo much this month, even more than I thought It doesn’t help that I get weekly comments from people who think she is at least 4 years old. On a positive note she is pretty much potty trained now and has not regressed yet.

School Updates: n/a

Garfield Park

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The weather here has been beautiful and we have been trying to go outside more. The last time we went to Garfield Park was to go sledding, but this time Piper enjoyed playing on the playground with her cousin. We also went to the conservatory. It was the last day for the tulip exhibition, and they smelled wonderful, although I never really thought of tulips smelling before. Piper loved the waterfalls and looking at all the pretty flowers and plants.

Tadpole People

Piper has been obsessed with drawing lately. She has a little notebook she carries around and writes in all the time. I finally broke down and bought her a four pack tonight at the Dollar Store. The other day we were coloring and drawing together in her room, and she started drawing a face. She said she was making a smiley face, but it was much more detailed than other ones I had seen her draw. These had eyes, nose, ears, mouth, hair, and four legs. :) I asked about arms, but apparently she's not ready for that yet, so I'm happy with just the legs. I can't wait to see what she draws next.

Twisted in the Head

Masterpiece on the Floor

Look what happens when Daddy isn't watching me! Magic Eraser cleans up permanent marker fortunately.

Mommy made Daddy clean it up.

Playdoh

Piper played with her playdoh for at least an hour tonight. She had tons of fun cutting and rolling her dough into shapes.

New Sandbox

Piper enjoyed the beautiful weather we have been having here these last few days. It's supposed to get colder this weekend though. Boo! Grandma bought a sandbox for her house and Piper had a great time digging and playing in it for several hours.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

We went downtown today to watch the St. Patty's day parade. Piper had a lot of fun collecting beads and candy. She was not impressed with the loud guns and cannon shots though. Everyone told her how cute she lo0oked today in her mismatched green outfit. Daddy dressed her, but it actually looked okay for the event.

Afterwards we went and ate at The Old Spaghetti Factory. It was naptime and I guess we should have waited. She didn't eat much and was whiny most of the time. She did like the Bread Man that Daddy made to entertain her.

Build A Bear

We took Piper to Build a Bear the weekend before I had the baby. Of course she ended up choosing to make a stuffed dog. I think that brings the total to 5 dogs that she sleeps with at night, and one cow. At any rate, she had fun picking it out and stuffing it. It has not only the heart but also a shamrock sewn inside it. Not surprisingly, she chose ruby red shoes for it to wear, and then picked out a pair of jeans. I found a red shirt and hat to match the shoes and Daddy picked out some sunglasses. It is one stylish dog.

General Update March

Age (in months, or years and months): almost 30 months

Physical abilities: regularly climbs out of her crib every morning. She’s been able to do this for months, but fortunately it was containing her psychologically until recently. I guess I can try to take the side off again. The last time we took off the side rail she would not stay in her bed though at night. She also pulled herself up on the counter the other day so she could stand on top of it…crazy upper body strength.

Speech/language: vocabulary, sentence length, etc: It’s hard to believe she’s not older at times. Vocabulary is amazing and sentences get more complex every day. She talks non-stop and is intelligible to others most of the time. Vocab examples: delicious, disgusting, perfect, snow plow (that one threw me since I have no idea where she picked it up) beautiful, difficult. She will tell you her first and last name now. I’m not sure why I never thought to teach her the last name before now?

Reading/pre-reading: We still read lots of books every day, but not as many as we used to. She would love to do more, but Mommy is tired, and she gets mad at Daddy because he changes the story and mixes it up on purpose to be silly. She has a lot of books memorized and often reads them to herself.

Number stuff: I think she’ll be the last child on here to rote count past 1-2-3 correctly even though she can identify the numbers in print. Loves the number 18 for whatever reason.

Other cognitive stuff: puzzles, reasoning, etc I can’t remember any examples right now, although I had a really good one the other day. If I remember I’ll update.

Creativity: loves to draw with pens now in her journal. Tells me what she is drawing, but I have a hard time visualizing it. A lot of her writing is still scribbles, but it is more focused and not completely random. Still enjoys playing with stickers and painting. Will pretend to paint if I tell her we can’t right now.

Imagination: Plays dinosaurs with daddy a lot of the time, which I find ironic. She has a love/hare relationship with them just like she did with bugs last summer. She is scared of her little robotic dinosaur she got for Christmas, bvt talks about it and shows it to people all the time. She just won’t touch it. Loved watching Jurassic Park a while back when it was on t.v. Knows many dinosaur names and what they eat. She continues to pretend play with her dolls and stuffed animals a lot of the day.

Social: has been having play dates with a new little friend who is about a year older than Piper. Gets along fairly well with her and plays well together. Can be a little aggressive and demanding at times about what she wants them both to do though.

Character/personality: Wild child this month at times, loud, boisterous, and extremely full of energy. We also began potty training seriously this month. She has been doing extremely well except for the last couple of days she has had accidents during the day. She is very proud of herself, especially when she poops. We have also gone two nights dry so I am optimistic t

School Updates: n/a

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Princess Mirror Craft Project

Piper received this Melissa and Doug craft kit for Christmas from Uncle Greg and Aunt Rory. We finally got around to doing it today. She thought it was lots of fun and has a blast using the glitter glue. It was very messy though. I was impressed that she kept the glitter off the mirror part and put all the stickers on except for the first one that I did. The finished product is god-awful and garish, but she loves it. When you're two more is more, not less. :)

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Puppy Chow

MMmmm!

This is her "Say Cheese!" face.

Tonight we made puppy chow. I had made some last week for work, but I wanted to do it with Piper too. Last week I bought her a chef's outfit at Macy's that I needed her to try out. :) She was very willing to participate and help cook. We practiced our measuring and counting. She still can't rote count, even though she can identify all of her numbers up to 12. She's getting better though.

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Here's a link to the puppy chow recipe.

Sledding

Not as cold this day, and I forgot her hat and extra socks at home. :(
She absolutely had to bring this stick home with us.

We took Piper sledding on Monday and Tuesday. The first park we went to was Garfield Park. It had a good hill to start off with for her. She had a lot of fun, and fell off only once. She didn't even get upset when she got snow in her face. She went down the hill a couple of times by herself, but most of the time she was with Daddy. That night it snowed more, and I had the day off from work for a snow day. This time we went to Paul Ruster Park, after hunting for it for quite some time. It was a taller hill, and even had a small ramp that Erick and her tried out once. It was really cold the second day, and she was bundled up very warm. She never complained about being cold though and loved it every time. Poor Erick had to climb up the hill so many times. Me, I just froze at the bottom. It was enough of a workout to walk to the hill. We met an older couple who were sledding too. They had to be in their 60's, but they were trooping up and down the hill with all the kids. Very inspiring!

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