Monday
Nov162015

Transportation Month + Transit Museum

For February tot school we did a transporation theme. Jaime loves anything that moves. Trucks of all kinds, air vehicles of all kinds, and emergency vehicles are his jam.

I found some vehicle matching games and puzzles to print off that he loved. We did lots of crafts including making trucks out of shapes and making egg carton helicopters. He spent a lot of time with his transportation sticker books and pretend play.

I planned two special field trips on this theme. One was a Fire Department education center that had a fire truck for them to play in and the other was the Transit Museum.

They had so much fun running pretend emergency missions. Jaime got a set of vehicles and played with them all the time.

And then the Transit Museum. It was a favorite for the kids and a good time was had by all. I mean what is not to love about running around empty trains.

 

Tuesday
Nov032015

Ellie's First Birthday!

How does a year go so fast? Babies will certainly show you just how fast time is moving.

I love those newborn days, Ellie was so good at being an infant. She would smile at you so charmingly and was so easy to snuggle up. If she woke up in the middle of the night she would go right back to sleep after I let her lay on my chest. She is pretty great as a toddler too, with her quick smile and laugh and how she loves to be goofy.

Elizabeth has brought so much joy and so much love into our lives. I look forward to watching her grow into a little person even if I will miss those sweet baby days.

Ellie, you are such a sweet and clever little girl. You love to explore, are up for adventures, are observant, and very capable. You work hard to catch up to your big brother and love him like crazy. You let us know if you don't like something but you are regularly pretty calm and confident about it. You are willing to try new things and new foods. You love to sit on my lap and snuggle.

My sweet girl, one is:

  • Walking as much and as fast as you can.
  • Chatting and laughing non-stop.
  • Eating as much cheese as I will give you.
  • Marching around shaking the maracas.
  • Playing with all of Jaime's toys. Playing with your babies.
  • Swinging for as long as you can get away with.
  • Reading non-stop from sun-up to sun-down.
  • Painting or coloring, preferably animals.
  • Snuggling and giving kisses.

We celebrated Ellie's birthday with some pink and sparkly decorations, cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery, and of course some presents.

She loved playing on the table for pictures and cupcakes.

 

Jaime was concerned about Ellie making a mess with her cupcake.

And of course, the kids' favorite part is playing with the new toys. Jaime was very sweet with his little sister, showing her how to do use her new toddler toys.

Happy birthday our sweet Ellie!

Sunday
Nov012015

January Weekends

January weekends were pretty low key, we all were pretty interested in relaxing and staying warm.

We mostly hung out in the neighborhood. Doing trips to the museum, out for breakfast, out simply to scoot 30 blocks to Columbus Circle, etc. And time spent indoors reading, cuddling, just hanging out.

One relatively warm Sunday we headed to Tecumseh playground for soccer. Jaime looooved it.

We got a bonus day because of a big snow storm. Dan was home in the morning as the subways were limited or shut down so we headed to Central Park for playing in the snow. The kids had been watching the snow all day on Friday hoping there would be enough snow to make snowballs.

Jaime was just unbelievably excited about playing in the snow. Kid has a game face. He would have played for hours.

Ellie was a little bit but also hated her snowsuit so wasn't quite as excited overall.

The upper west side is so pretty.

And that was our January. Lots of playing and lots of hanging out.

Sunday
Nov012015

Shapes Month, Museum of Math, and Winter Days

January kicked off our preschool homeschooling. It was pretty informal. But I wanted to be intentional about creating opportunities to learn and about raising life-long learners. I could see how our days might turn into a never ending rotation of the same old and uninspired. So I put together a plan of activities and outings for the weekdays throughout the month.

January's theme was shapes. The idea was to incorporate the theme and concepts into stuff we might already do and find fun. So lots of art projects, music, puzzles, books, etc.

We also did just the regular old tot school stuff like painting pasta noodles, tons of play dough, threading those painted noodles onto pipe cleaners, pretend play, building forts, and learning to play nice (ie share, take turns). We were regulars at the library, often going twice a week. My kids adore library visits.

We also regulary (I think every week) went to free music classes downtown. I became an expert at navigating the city by myself with the kids. I needed to get out of our small apartment and my budget was non-existent so  I maximized the amazing number of free events and activities but that meant getting out of our neighborhood (they were scattered around but we spent a lot of time in the Financial District, specifically the South Street Seaport).

And there is the just regular old goofiness that comes from being with a 1 year old and 2.5 year old.

January was pretty decent weather. We were able to get out to the playgrounds and on other outings pretty regularly. We were often the only people at the playgrounds but if it was above freezing and my kids were actually wearing their cold weather gear (mittens were a never ending battle, lol) then some outside playtime was good for all of us. If it was very cold our outside adventure might be limited to the library, walking to the Macaroon Parlour, or lunch at Whole Foods after getting groceries.

And of course, getting out meant dealing with my desire for a calm, easy, quiet walk at my speed to get directly to my destination at efficiently as possible versus the 2.5 year old desire to walk like a big kid, toss mittens and hats at me as we cross the street, stop and sit on a stoop to take in the beauty of the neighborhood, and basically not go as efficiently as possible. Ah, we (meaning I) sometimes struggled to keep our mouths shut and enjoy the moment/season but we did. We enjoyed it - the two toddlers point in time as well as the snow is still fresh and fun season.

We closed out Shapes Month with a trip to the Museum of Mathematics. It was so fun. It sounds dorky, but really it is cool. It was very interactive and while our kids were little they still found it engaging and interesting and had a complete blast.

At the end of the month both kids were better with their shapes and other developmental growth goals so I thought it was a win and was encouraged for planning the next month.

Tuesday
Jun022015

New Year's Day at the Brooklyn Bridge

Hello 2015!

We decided to welcome the new year with a little family adventure. The question of how long we will live in New York is constantly on our minds. So with not knowing if our move will be sooner or later or never we are making it a priority for 2015 to take advantage of living here and get out more. See the sights that we love more, explore neighborhoods we don't see as much more, etc.

We hadn't walked across the bridge as a family yet. It was freezing and a long train ride from the upper west side but that is okay. But starting the year off with a little exploring and enjoying our city sounded like a good idea.

Jaime had a great time. He is very into transportation and construction and architecture.

Ellie decided it was naptime pretty quickly and slept snuggled into the carrier. The benefits of being a baby - nap anywhere, cuddles anytime.

It was a good time. Even though we were pretty chilly (that wind!) it was refreshing to be out and about and the Shake Shack burgers before the train ride home were quite nice as well.

Here we go 2015!