The boys had so much fun on what has become our annual fall visit to Walden Pumpkin Farm. They played in the corn maze, said hello to the farm animals, hugged the pumpkins, touched the sunflowers, road on the train, and played on the tractor. Yay for fall and for enjoying it with the little people!!!
Jonas didn’t have school today, so we were going to tour the Hatcher Family Dairy with our moms’ group…but he joined the band of sick brothers. So, while Roman took his morning nap, I decided to try out an activity with the boys that my dear friend, Honora, told me about…smashing cotton balls. I figured I couldn’t go wrong with messy art and hammers with little boys…haha!!! They had a blast.
In his thirty-second week, Roman is: trying prunes (a daily necessity for our little guy); crawling on his hands and knees; and pulling up in his crib, on buckets of toys, and on the dishwasher (we’ve had to drop the crib to the bigger baby boy setting).
Jonas’ art work is really changing these days, and I’ve been amazed. He’s doing Handwriting Without Tears at preschool, and I think some of the activities they’ve been working on (i.e. assembling Mat Man with all of his different shapes, etc.) have really started to come through in his art work.
Here’s one of his drawings that he put up on the refrigerator and hung with magnets, sounding out and trying to spell, “Jonas Seyfried loves volcanoes”.
My moms’ group had a Busy Bag Exchange that was such a great idea…a bag of cheap, easy, and educational entertainment to pull out for your toddlers and preschoolers at doctor’s offices, restaurants, etc…Jonas loved this one (popsicle sticks and velcro) and went right to work making letters.
We also watched a Caillou episode the other day where Caillou’s mom wants to get “real mail” instead of bills, advertisements, and such…so he writes her a letter. Here’s one that Jonas wrote for me and put in an envelope, complete with sticker stamps and my name…aw!
Poor little Xander has had a rough go this week…I took him to the pediatrician for pink eye on Monday and for croup on Tuesday…poor little friend can’t catch a break. So, we did some watercoloring this morning to cheer him up while Jonas was at preschool.
Where does he come up with them?
“Why do stores have lots of stuff that people don’t buy?”
“Do you know why flys go away when we try to smack them? Because flies don’t like to be smacked.”
“I always see when I’m swinging…theres an ‘A’ built with wood on our treehouse!”
At thirty-one weeks, Roman is: outing with his first consonant/vowel combination, “babababa”; doing his first sign for “milk”; trying peaches and avocados; pretty much refusing to be spoonfed (we’ve settled on a mix of finger foods and purees right now, though, because he’s still not quite ready for only finger foods even though he wants to be); and spending a lot more time playing sitting up instead of playing on his tummy.
In his twenty-seventh month, Xander is: still totally loving working on puzzles; asking for help on how to “draw (an) A” every time he sits down to work on a craft; finally getting the potty training thing (yay, Xan-Man!!!); and saying some pretty sweet and funny things (“I big boy not baby”, “I love du so much”, “Vitamins…they’re my favorite”, “Be nice to me, JoJo”, “I need some lone time”, “This my project”, “I want some oatmeal, Mommy…no raisins for me”, “Is that funny guys?”, and when Roman woke up crying from his nap, “I fink he needs me…he afraid of dark…he crying…I go get him”).
Xander, Roman, and I went to Pinkerton Park this morning after dropping Jonas off at preschool. Roman got a big kick out of the view from the Bjorn, and Xan-Man had a blast checking out all of the wooden structures and playing in the sandbox.
At thirty weeks, Roman is: trying pumpkins and pears; taking off his bib at meal times (really…already?!?); adding back in his late afternoon nap; starting to sleep a little better at night (“little” being the operative word); and going from a crawling position to a sitting position.
Roman needed a late afternoon nap, and Jonas wanted to stay home with Daddy. So, I thought it would be a good time to take Xander with me on a quick grocery shopping trip and let him give the little cart a spin. He was so proud and SO adorable…precious little buddy!!!
Lately, we’ve been working with Jonas on following directions. Every time he follows directions, he gets a pom pom in a small jar. When the jar is full, he gets a treat of his own choosing. For his first treat, he wanted to go to the frozen yogurt place we pass every Saturday morning on the way to the grocery store. We stopped off after our grocery shopping, but they weren’t open yet (we were about fifteen minutes too early). So, I told him that we could drive to another frozen yogurt place on the way home that was already open. He REALLY wanted to wait for the “happy ice cream” (see the sign below), so we ended up staying. He had a small amount of chocolate, vanilla, and cookies and cream all mixed together, which I thought might not send him spiraling into super-cranky-post-sugar-eating Jonas, being a small amount, but it did. Oh well…it was a sweet moment while it lasted.
The boys and I went out to Lucky Ladd this morning with our fellow neighborhood adventurers, the Pomerantzes. The kids had a BLAST running in the wide open space…feeding and petting the animals, digging in the corn box, sliding down the gigantic slides, pretending in the playhouse, playing corn hole, and sitting on the tractors. There was SO much to do that they didn’t get to see and do all of it. We will definitely be going back for another round soon.
Xander, Roman, and I went for a Publix run after we dropped Jonas off at preschool this morning. I couldn’t resist putting Roman in the “car car” beside Xander. He was so proud, and it was so sweet seeing both of my baby boys be big boys together. (I ended up taking Roman out right after I took these pictures because he was sliding from side to side, with a big grin on his face no doubt…he’s still just a little bit too little for it…but it was so cute to see.)
In his twenty-ninth week, Roman is: trying bananas and apples; squealing with delight when he sees his sippy cup of water; starting to cover a lot of ground with his army crawl…like an entire room…he’s becoming quite the explorer; and having a blast helping Mommy tuck his big brothers in for their afternoon nap (he loves to crawl under Xander’s bed while I’m reading books and then do peek-a-boo…he does it every day, and thinks it’s just as hysterical as it was the first time AND he loves to get super cozy and roll around in Jonas’ bed with all of Jonas’ blankets and stuffed animal friends while I’m reading books too).
We woke up to a rainy day today, so we spent the morning at Monkey’s Treehouse (Jonas’ favorite rainy day activity). The boys had a blast!!!
I took Jonas and Roman to see their cousin Val play soccer this morning. It was so fun to watch him play…he scored several goals and I can unbiasedly say that he was one of the best players on the team…go Val!!! Annabella was quite taken with Roman and he with her (it’s a kick for me to be around her because she’s exactly one year older than Jonas, so I’m always thinking…wow…this is what Jonas will be doing this time next year). I always love hanging out with my dear friend and cousin, Heather, and it was sweet to be a part of her Saturday morning family event. We brought Val his birthday present because we were not going to be able to make it out to his party that afternoon (I had to hit up a kid in the toy aisle at Target for help with BeyBlade BeyWheelz…ha). He totally surprised me by bringing two little envelopes for Jonas and Xander with two precious notes telling them that he loved them and two of his very own matchbox cars…I mean, come on! I hope my boys grow up to be as thoughtful and as giving as their cousin Val.
I was browsing around on one of my favorite blogs (Make It and Love It) the other day and saw a super fun craft idea…making your own crayons using broken crayons and silicone ice cube trays. So, the boys and I tried it out. It’s funny how peeling and breaking crayons is one of their favorite past times when it’s something they’re not supposed to do, but when it becomes okay and part of a project it’s not as exciting…haha…oh well. They still had fun, and the crayons turned out great!!!
In his twenty-eighth week, Roman is: continuing to be watchful of and smile at the signs for “milk”, “eat”, “drink”, and “change”; trying green beans and peas (he LOVES peas); developing an affinity for shoes (we have to be really diligent to keep them up off the floor because he has a homing beacon for them and they go straight in his mouth…yuck…it must be a texture thing); and starting to pat his knees, legs, and the floor (one of my favorite baby things).
