Just the Five of Us

Bean Day

For National Bean Day, Emma and Owen made bean pictures. Owen actually covered himself in glue and threw beans all over the floor while Emma patiently picked each bean one by one to glue on her paper.

Owen's was rather . . . abstract.

Five Little Butterflies

All five butterflies have emerged! Even the one on the floor that we thought was a dud. They are busy pumping up their wings and climbing around the house. On tonight's menu--banana slices, orange pieces, and a couple flower blossoms.





And this is our "runt" . . . the chrysalid that was on the floor instead of hanging up. We're a little concerned that the cocoon is still attached and one wing is crinkled. We'll see what happens.

Waiting . . .

It's been eight days and no sign of butterflies yet. Hopefully soon.

Turn Off the TV Update

We made it until today.

Four days without any TV for the kids. It was a little rough, actually. Honestly? It was a lot rough. And I refuse to feel guilty about that. Owen has been cutting more teeth, so he's been miserable and not napping. Crying and clinging and generally more high needs than usual. And Emma had lots of great ideas of things to do, but she refuses to play by herself or even go up into her room to get things to bring down to play with. And my allergies are making want to live in a bubble. A rough kind of week.

We spent a lot of time outside. The house got really messy. We played quite a bit and ran a ton of errands. But I didn't feel like there was any downtime. Emma wouldn't get books for me to read to her, and she would want to talk and play pretend while I was nursing Owen and trying to get him to sleep. This only irritated me and kept him from calming.

TV has a place in our family. And that's okay. Do I use it as a babysitter? Yes, I do. When I need to get Owen down for a nap and have some downtime for myself, I do. Do I plop Emma in front of it instead of interacting with her? Honestly, every once and a while I do. I don't do well with the constant demands of her and Owen together . . . maybe I'm not a good mother in this way. Being "on" all the time and constantly giving wears me out. So if he actually stays in bed to nap and Emma watching a little TV gives me an hour to myself, I let her.

But I think we have good balance. We do lots of other things, and I limit the TV to an hour or two a day . . . given that we have 12-14 hours a day most of the time, I think that's okay. We do lots of other things too, and there are some days we don't watch any at all.

So while we didn't make it the whole week, I don't feel like a failure at all. A teensy bit guilty, but not a failure.

Painting

So yesterday, I decided to let the kids paint. Emma was overjoyed, as I just haven't been wanting to get into that with Owen lately. But we were all cranky, so we headed outside to make a mess.

Emma painted in the Owen Free Zone.

Owen began. I used to be more uptight about letting the kids get messy, but now, as long as they're safe, they're pretty much good to go. I did put on old clothes though, and I'm glad I did because Owen got me a few times.

He quickly decided painting himself would be much more fun.

And wanted more paint.

Because he didn't quite have enough on himself.

Missed a spot.

Then he wanted to check out what Emma was doing.

A couple times tiptoes weren't good enough so he tried to climb the gate.

"Owen, please don't go in the garden."

Because he's not dirty enough.

For the record, I did not give him the hose. I was washing off muddy boots, and Owen grabbed it when I had my back turned. He didn't seem bothered by the cold and enjoyed splashing in the mud. He loved playing in the water stream.

And he only shivered once when he pointed it at his head.

Owen's little painting/garden/hose/mud fest was followed by a nice, long, warm bath. That he refused to get out of because he prefers playing in the water and screaming every time I turn the faucet off.

Owen's first painting:

Emma's:

caterpillar and snowman

Squidward's clarinet playing notes

name and box (and yes, she paints her name totally backwards like that)

Turn Off the TV, Day Two

Kids: no TV or screen time
Me: some random computer time
Doug: watching the Flyers

Doug and I are hopeless. The kids are doing really well!

Turn Off the TV, Day One

Kids: No TV
Me: 30 minutes
Doug: 30 minutes

Jake didn't miss the TV at all, and Owen doesn't watch. Emma only really watches when I'm trying to nurse Owen to sleep, so today before he fell asleep at nap, she came in and whispered, "Now what do I do? This is usually when I watch TV?" She also mentioned missing it in the morning, but played Polly Pocket with Doug for a little bit instead.

Other than that, we went ran errands (and were home and done by 10:00), did some stuff around the house, played outside, and drew pictures together.

Turning Off the TV

Tomorrow is the start of National Turn of the TV Week. We're going to give it a shot--cold turkey. As I write this, the rain is pouring down and the kids are watching a movie to get in their last screen time until next Monday. We're also cutting down on computer time--no Internet games or mindless surfing for anyone.

Last week, we made up cards of things to do when they get bored and need a reminder of the million things they have to do around here. Here is what we came up with:

art project

Playmobil

LEGOs

build with KNEX

make a town with Lincoln Logs

play outside

go for a walk

read books

play Charades

go to the library

Playdoh

play going to the store with food

listen to music

make a zoo with stuffed animals

cut paper

build with ZOOBs

puzzles

take a nap (no one but me liked this idea)

do a science experiment

play dress up

go on a rock hunt

make rock sculptures and paint them

think

scoop and play with rice

sort beans

play with water

set up the Little Ponies

have a scavenger hunt

jump on the trampoline

look at scrapbooks

clean something

play with blocks

make a fort

pretend to be Transformers (this came from Jake)

ride bikes

dig in the dirt

play restaurant

play with the pets

count your money (this also came from the Bank of Jake)

catch butterflies (Emma’s wish)

draw

reduce, reuse, recycle (from Jake in honor of Earth Day)

We'll see how it goes!

Outside

Though it's been unusually cool lately, the kids have been loving their time outside.

Jake is often seen here.

He has also requested that we remove his training wheels and help him learn to ride his bike. And every whiffle ball we own is smashed due to his home runs in the backyard.

Emma is a biking nut. She LOVES her bike, and is doing really well on it. The other night, she biked around the whole neighborhood on our walk. She enjoyed biking through a huge puddle--until she fell in. A brief shrieking cry later and she hopped right back on her bike, sopping clothes and all even though she was "really uncomfortable" and "didn't like being wet." She then proceeded to run over Jake (he was teasing in front of her) which led to another brief meltdown. All was soon good however, and she biked all the way home.

Owen loves pretty much everything. Riding on his car, being pushed around on Emma's scooter, walking all over the place, digging toys out of the shed, and playing in the dirt.

And rain doesn't stop us either.

Burpy Update

photo taken 2/19

Legs are really visible and the tail is getting much shorter.

Jake also likes to look at the frog. Unlike Owen, he doesn't scream and cry about it (of course he wouldn't, being 8, but he looks a lot like Owen here so I went with the comparison).

four days later on 2/23--hardly any tail left at all

He changed a lot. Fast. So I ordered him his new house and food (you stop feeding them after their front arms appear). The stuff arrived two days later (impressive) along with Burpy's new friend Goosebump.

The company suggests a 48 hour introduction period. Basically, the cages sit side by side and the front stare at each other (in our case, they totally ignore each other). They are together now and still ignoring each other. And occasionally eating Stage 2 food. And enticing Owen, who is well aware that there are two things in there . . . and a much bigger house to scream for.