Snow time

Today we played outside after lunch. It was the first official time we have gone outside all geared up with the intention of playing in the snow. Usually she tries to play in the snow every time we go out, but she is never dressed properly, and the weather isn't always very nice. After getting her out of the snow before and after our play group I promised her we would go outside after lunch. We were out there for a very long time. Since it was sunny, it felt quite warm.

Oh--we made a small snowman out in the backyard (the biggest I could with not being able to bend over very well to roll the snow!), which was full of bunny poop. Attractive!

Video Game

Paige is getting freakishly good at Nintendogs. We have been playing this quite a bit, I hate to admit. She knows how to do most things herself, but often tries to give Abby (the dog) multiple baths and overfeed her. She also buys tons of stuff at the pet store.

Me: Paige is getting really good at this game.

Mike (technologically inclined): Good. I want her to keep playing it.

It reminds me of Mike's business partner Jules who has a teenage son. He said he doesn't discourage video games and says, "Keep playing son, it's the way of the future!"

haha.

Basement fun...

Mike works from home quite a bit (the office is in the basement), but when he snuck out to randomly lease a new car (??) Paige and I went to the basement to practice riding the trike. Right away she was better than she ever was in the fall.

Mommy's little helper.

Helping tidy up toys? Forget it. Helping with meal preparation? oh yes!

Paige asks to help whenever I make anything. This involves pouring cereal, spreading peanut butter, putting frozen strawberries in smoothies, etc. Sometimes it is a real stretch to get her to help when it involves meat or a knife. For instance I made coconut chicken the other night and obviously did not want her to bread the raw chicken. So I got her to help "spread out" the french fries on the pan. She would not leave me alone until she could help with something. She just prances around saying "I want up up up up up!! I want to help you!!" So I just make something up that I pretend is a big help.

In the pictures above she opened up the peanut butter jar and spread globs of peanut butter on the bread and stuck the 2 halves together (yes they were cut into hearts...I copied this from my mom who would do things like that for me when I was in High School...how mortifying).

I'm happy that she is getting into the helping mode now before the baby comes. It's nice having someone pass you a towel after a shower. She likes to do things like that.

Quiet afternoon fun...

We played NintenDogs on my Nintendo DS for about 20 minutes. In the top photo she is brushing the dog's fur. We also gave the dog a bath, threw a frisbee around for it, and took it for a walk. She obviously thinks this is fantastic.

Tummy update!

EEk! Let's get this show on the road!

Quiet time not working...

I have come to realize that quiet time is not working. "Quiet time" has turned into "loudly playing with all toys in bedroom". It's almost completely pointless. We have evolved through 3 stages:

Stage 1: Quiet time implemented. Read nicely in bed for about 20 mins.

Stage 2: Needed to play with a few toys on the floor, maybe 3 or 4 at the most. Sometimes music listened to on the CD player.

Stage 3: Needs to hand pick toys, and bring in "lots of them" into the room. The aftermath is an extremely messy room. (see paige's "cheese" picture below taken after quiet time)

Through every stage I have brushed her teeth and then read books before she reads or plays with toys. I am debating just reading books now and not bothering with leaving her in her room afterwards. I have been trying to research quiet time, and the problem I have just realized, is that with quiet time you are often dealing with a 3 or 4 year old who can understand the concept. With Paige it is probably just doesn't make any sense, which is why it has evolved the way it has. I still need time to myself, but maybe I can try to do this while she plays independently, rather than try to have that 30 minutes and then have to clean up the huge mess. Also, I am thinking that once the baby arrives I will need 20 mins here, 20 mins there, etc etc. where she will need her to occupy herself when I tell her I am busy. A 30 minute scheduled time may not work so well anyway. I think it may need to be abandoned.

Paige's "Cheese!" face...

We only get accidental smiles on camera...all posing ends up the same...this face.

Ouchie.

My stomach grew 2 inches this week. No wonder I felt so wiped out and uncomfortable at the end of every night. And no wonder my pants all felt tight.

An imaginary friend...

Paige appears to have an imaginary friend named "Me". Although when she says the name I think of it more as "Mii" because of the characters on the Wii. When we are downstairs she often says that she has to go to Mii's house. This involves finding Mii in the basket of winter accessories. Apparently Mii is a girl and is a monkey and is "just small" and is her friend. The winter things keep her warm I guess. Paige then puts on the winter things and goes for a "sleigh ride".

I'm sure for a 2.5 year old, the correct term is not "imaginary friend", but I am not sure what you would call this.

Lately she has done very well with playing on her own. Give her a bucket of My Litte Ponies, and other little figures and she can play for quite a while, making up little stories with them. It gives me a bit of a break, as she goes through phases where she needs me all the time, and then not as much.