keeping busy with a summer bucket list

I’ve been seeing summer bucket lists float around pinterest lately and was actively avoiding making one. M is now at the age where if you tell her you are going to do something, she tucks it away in her little memory bank and holds you to it. I mean, what if I don’t feel like feeding ducks on a particular Tuesday, right? Then I realized that’s crazy. June has just barely announced itself and we are already taking summer head on. We’ve been eating meals outside, spending most of our days with bubbles or surrounded by water and taking full advantage of the longer, brighter days. So, why not have a list to focus that attention on the days where I wake up reaching for activities to entertain my crazy girl?

I am already excited for M to check each activity off one by one and for a bucket list tradition to grow in our home. Bring it on SUMMER!

 

Enjoy! Melissa

toddler tricks

Right when I think I’m about to lose it lately, M comes through with one of her standard tricks to make me laugh.

Her go-to move when she knows she’s doing something wrong is to break into song and dance. ***Standing in the bath tub. Dance Dance Sing.

Other times, she just says something that I can’t help but smirk at. ***Wake up from her nap. Me: Hiiiii! Her: Elmo Bath

And, the last trick up her sleeve is just to flat our pretend to be sleeping. ***Me: M, get off that table. Her: Nigh, Nigh Mama. Nigh, Nigh. Puts head on table and closes her eyes. Moves her finger up to her lips. Shhhhhh. Mama.

I have a feeling I’ll be sharing similar stories through her childhood and into tween and teenagerdom. She’s a spunky little thing.

Enjoy! Melissa

 

 

8/52

“M, once a week, every week, in 2014″

Her deep love for books and reading is so natural it amazes me. She’s asked me to read some so many times she can open to a page and recite a few words. It sounds something like, “da beep beep beep ouside.” Translation, “the horn on the bus goes beep beep beep.” You got that right?

Also, if you are just coming in, you can find more information on The 52 Week Project series here. And a few posts you’ve missed here and here.

Enjoy! Melissa

 

 

a few friday pics

Just a few pictures of what went on around this place while I was gone. At 21 months, M is full of energy all the time and doesn’t play alone well so her grandma, aunt and daddy did a lot of entertaining last week. She baked cookies, got a new baby stroller to push her puppy around in and picked out some of her own clothes. I think a little change in routine was good for both of us but we’re happy to reunited (it feels so good). (Sorry, couldn’t help it!)

Enjoy! Melissa

 

music is her love language

Give me a musical instrument of any kind and you might get a few plunks, toots or loud untamed sounds. Nothing more. I’m not what you call musically inclined but I’m thinking there is still hope for M. Every few months we make our way downtown for a Tiny Tot’s  concert at the Seattle Symphony and this month it happened to fall perfectly on Valentine’s Day. Once we make our way through the city, find a suitable place to park in the madness and maneuver our way into the concert hall, M gets to try out a few instruments with the help of the patient staff and bang around on some sturdier music making tools in the lobby before the concert starts.

She was pretty mesmerized by the french horn on this trip. She stood next to the kind lady playing and watched child after child take their turn pressing the buttons and playing (don’t you worry, it’s cleaned between every attempt) but she wouldn’t dare give it a blow herself. But me, well I’m a daredevil, so I puckered up and tried. Surprisingly, a loud sound came from the horn and, more surprisingly, my little peanut gallery of one started cheering for me. “yeah mama, yeah” Adorable!

Then we marched her and a few of her little friends into a concert hall where we clapped, learn a little sign language and sang along for a concert that M loved. When we signed up, I wasn’t sure if a musical 30 minutes would hold her attention but it surely does. She bounces up and down and claps when the time comes. I’m telling you folks, we’ve got the musical hope of the family right here. I can’t wait to see what this develops into.

Enjoy! Melissa

gifting valentine’s love

I feel like the sweetest day of the year shouldn’t be reserved for fancy dinners and adult fun (although those are good too…wink wink). I’m hoping the day of love is exciting for M as well and that she feels the mushiness that fills the air on Feb 14th every year. Anyway, Ky and I have decided to pass on the Valentine’s gifts this year but we thought that M deserved a few little things to start the day out. Here are a few of the toddler themed things she’ll be receiving.

1. Chalk Marker: Thanks Target dollar bin! M has a small chalkboard she loves to color on but always ends up breaking about 100 pieces of chalk in half instead of writing. Here’s to hoping this solves the problem. More coloring, less mess.

2. Melissa and Doug Make-a-Face Sticker Pad: M is so into pointing out noses, ears, eyes (or more like stabbing you with her little finger in your nose, ears and eyes) these days. I’m hoping this small kit will let her channel that into a learning activity.

3. Felt Heart Stickers: Again, Target dollar bin score! She is obsessing over stickers these days and who could pass these up?

4. Dragons Love Tacos: I keep reading great reviews about this book but what actually drew me to it that I just have to know. Do dragons love tacos?

If you have any other ideas for Valentine’s Day gifting, send your wisdom my way!

Enjoy! Melissa

4/52

“M, once a week, every week, in 2014″

Last week, we had our first full blown in store tantrum that couldn’t be contained. I tried snacks, balloons, singing, and acting like nothing short of fool to catch her attention and nothing {NOTHING} worked. So,I waived the white flag, snatched up the few goods we had collected, paid quickly and back in the car we went to spend our cranky afternoon at home. Weird thing is, it wasn’t a cranky afternoon. She had a little snack, smiled and laughed with me for the rest of the day. What’s that about? I took these pictures to prove to myself that we really can survive these roller coaster toddler moments together. Thank goodness!

Enjoy! Melissa

2/52

“M, once a week, every week, in 2014”

I always enjoy when I open some of my favorite blogs and they are posting to the 52 week project . They usually write something short, sweet and share an image that puts my photography skills to shame. None the less, I decided I wanted in this year. So, a week late, I am jumping on board in hopes to be able to look back and watch my M grow up in front of our eyes at the end of the year.

She’s starting the year off on the same fast track she spends most of her days on. Even almost three weeks of various illnesses haven’t slowed her down much and her newest obsession is this doll, aptly named ‘baby’. She asks for baby several times a day and has a little fixation with her shoes coming off. Then, as she usually does, she tempts fate and tries to hold the dogs paw while she shoves “babies” shoe on her foot.  {And I run around like a clucking chicken screaming “we don’t hold the dogs leg up in the air. her leg doesn’t bend that way. she doesn’t like that.”}

I’m so happy to welcome 2014 and all it’s craziness. I feel like time just keeps a tickin’ and we just move with the flow. Nothing wrong with that!

Enjoy! Melissa

Friday Fun

Lately, M has decided that she should climb everything. EVERYTHING.

Not to worry, she gets a stern talking to about this table standing every time it happens. It is, by far, the discussion I have most in the day. But this one was just too funny. What’s going on here? “Mom, I’m packing my tiny suitcase and leaving unless you let me dangerously stand on this table”……..

Enjoy! Melissa

18 Months

18 Months.  I can’t believe it’s been a year and half since this little came home from the hospital with us. I just have to mom sap it up for a little while and tell you all about how crazy, sassy and warm hearted this girl is.

• She loves to say, “byeeeeeeeeeeeee” for extended periods of time. Like, gather your stuff and start moving out the door a cool 15 minutes before you really wanted to leave.
• Ms Sass reached her hand up in full, “no pictures please” mode a few weeks ago when I tried to scold her. Right in my face. Sass-a-Pants
• Her favorite toys are still books and any electronics she can get her hands on. Future programer maybe?
• M is a dancer. Unlike her mom, she can find a beat and drop it like it’s hot.
• She begs for “nacks” (snacks) pretty much all day long. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would have a child who cried when I didn’t allow the refrigerator to be opened.
• Ms Thing sleeps through the night at home but when we travel, nope! No such luck. So, what I’m saying is, it’s been 18 months since I’ve slept on a vacation. Do we still call that vacation?
• She is beyond spunky. Beyond.

That’s it from me. Just some little reminders that M has completely changed our life and times over the last 18 months and although sometimes, I text Ky threatening to put her on the doorstep to wait for his arrival home, I wouldn’t dare. (obvi) I think we’ll keep her!

Enjoy! Melissa

 

Oh and PS These are just some recent snaps. What I’m seeing here is that we never completely have it together. Crazy hair, wet shirts. Oh Well.