Happy Easter

From my bunnies to yours..... 

 

I hope you have a wonderful day! 

Happy Easter!

Gymnastics

Last week I had the pleasure of having a date with my little man at his gymnastics class. The last class of the session is a parent participation class and it was my turn to take part in this one.  Nana takes Grady to his weekly class and James got to go last time.

This first photo is right before we started.  I love how Grady wanted to be holding my hand, sitting on my knee or hugging my leg while we listened to the instructions.  I am taking it all in because we all know this won't last forever.  Right now, he is proud to show everyone that I am him mom and that he loves me, it won't be long before he is dropping me off down the street so his friends don't see me driving our mini van....

The class is structured to allow the parents to do everything the kids do.  Nana thought that the parents participated more the last session.  As much as I wanted to do everything Grady did, it was hard when the next 4 year old kid was pushing right up to Grady trying to get his turn in.  As the class went on, parents participated more and more which made me feel less out of place.

Note the little kid trying to bud me on the trampoline.  I was a nice mom and let him go.

The kids did wait long enough for me to do my super man pose.  I felt like an idiot doing it but I look pretty 'super hero-ish' in the pic if I do say so myself!

Some things were much harder than they looked.  Like hanging on this bar for instance.  I think I lasted 2 seconds. I am just such a weakling.  Then to watch my four year old son do it and he makes it look so easy!!

Aside from the foam pit, the trampoline is Grady's favorite.  I don't blame him, it is pretty fun!

Even though this picture is blurry, it is one of my favorites!  The foam pit was something else. It was my first time in one and once you are in it is VERY hard to get out.  Harder than you would think....

Grady has been practicing his handstands at home lately although I don't catch his legs like she does in the photo.  He just puts his hands down and kicks his legs in the air.  He has watched Grandma be upside down lots practicing her handstands so it is just a normal thing for him!

Finally it was 'award' time.  Grady got to stand up on the mat 'podium' and collect his ribbon.  As you can tell, he wanted off faster than he his little body could take him.

What just amazed me was how well Grady, and all the kids, listened to and followed the instructions.  It made me really proud of him and gave me a glimpse into how he really behaves when I am not there.....  

Thank you Nana and Grady for letting me take part in the class - I had a blast!

Drawing

Our oldest son is into two things right now 1) drawing and 2) angry birds.  Using you tube he has combined his 2 loves using an instructional video on how to draw angry birds.

I think he is doing a pretty good job. But I may be biased.

In the past month we have gone through a whole thing of computer paper as he only wants to draw on plain white paper and no longer wants to color in coloring books.  Even though we have about 30.

When I come home after work he almost always has a surprise waiting for me that he proudly runs to get from the kitchen before I have even taken my jacket off.

As of late, it is almost always a drawing of an angry bird in a homemade envelope with Mom written across it.

This kid can't get enough angry birds and he certainly can't get enough drawing.

I often wonder how long the 'phase' of loving to craft is going to last. I also wonder what I am going to do with all his art because apparently the recycle bin is not an viable option :)

Planes

Just the other week as we sat down to our weekly Sunday dinner at Nana's, Uncle Dave asked us if we had heard of the movie Planes.  We hadn't, so he grabbed the ipad and showed us the trailer.

Wow.

Disney sure really knows how to make money.  A movie that is essentially the same as Cars except about planes.  Some of the characters even look the same as the Cars ones....

Grady didn't show as much interest as I would have expected.  Cooper, on the other hand, watched it 10 times.  I fully expect that we will have one, if not two, Planes fans at our house and toy box full of characters to prove it!

I'm even thinking this may be our first family outing to the movies.....

Speech Update



I can't keep my mouth shut now!

After 'coming out' about some of the concerns we had regarding Cooper's speech I figured it was time to give an update on where we are at - and thankfully it is all good news!

R (our speech pathologist) has been coming to our house every 2 weeks.  Each week she brings new strategies for us to try and focus on during the 2 weeks between visits.    The first week she told us to count to 5 in our heads after asking Cooper a question to allow him time to answer.  When we started doing this he stared at least trying to respond. I am a talker.  So I needed to be reminded that I don't need to talk all the time.  I thought back to how I would have spoken to him in the past and it included a conversation of me asking these questions all back to back.

Me - Cooper, are you hungry?
Me - Do you want cereal?
Me - What kind of cereal?
Me - How about Corn flakes?
Cooper - yeah

I never gave him the chance to use the words that he was learning.

This week we are supposed to be working on asking fewer questions.  So instead of saying ' Cooper, do you like your lunch?'  I would say 'Mommy likes grilled cheese' and see what he says. It is supposed to teach your child how to have a conversation rather than just asking questions.  This one is much harder than I thought it was going to be. 

Our second strategy this week is to offer him choices.  So instead of saying 'What kind of cereal do you want?'  We would ask him ' Do you want Corn Flakes or Rice Krispies'.  That way he doesn't have to think about what the answers are, you have given him the answers making it less difficult to process. 

These are only some of the things that we have been working on. I love how when R comes she shows us how to use the strategies, because some of them feel really awkward.  For example, she says eye contact is really important and gets right down on the floor and put her face right in front of hers so he can how she says the word.  I have found it so helpful to watch her interact with Cooper and the words she chooses.  It has really made the transition easier.

The first week she came she didn't have a chance to interact with Coop much since she was busy gathering information and observing.  The next to sessions all the time was spent playing with the boys and teaching James and I the new strategies.  The kids have even started to look forward to her arrival knowing that it meant a full hour of play with 3 adults.  Lucky kids!

By the third visit, we could see a drastic improvement in Cooper's speech.  He has gone from one word to 2+ word sentences and we hear his little voice constantly.  I still can't understand half of what he says, but the fact that he is trying so much more is great news.

At R's first visit, Cooper's only 2 word sentences were 'Goodnight Dada' and 'Dada's Car' and variations of these by replacing the name.  Now, Cooper will say things like 'Dada Cooper bed'  Meaning that he wanted James to put him to bed. He'll also say 'I don't know' and the newest one is 'where'd they go' that sounds more like 'whered-eh-o', but I'll take it.  We now says cookie, cracker, boy girl, apple, truck, and the list goes on.  This kid is kicking it into high gear.

When R showed up for her last appointment and we said she was here he repeated her name and she heard it through the door.  She was so pumped.  I loved how much she praised him and got excited with us.   By that third visit she was thrilled with his progress and she noticed that he was using words more and screaming less.  I didn't really notice the reduced screaming until she pointed it out.  I have also noticed that Cooper bites less but I don't know if this is related or just coincidence.

I asked her if it was normal to see this much improvement in such a short time and she said when it is just an expressive language delay that it often happens fast.  That means that they understand everything and just can't get the words out.  I couldn't help but wonder if it was a coincidence and wonder if the speech path was really working or if this would have happened on its own.  I guess I'll never know, but in the meantime having R come to our house twice a month has been great!

R also told us that she was proud of us, like James and I.  That was a very nice thing for her to say as I openly tell her each week what I didn't do and what we could have done better.  I am the first to admit that these strategies aren't always easy to work into the day when you only have about 4 hours with your kid each night.  We do our best and I felt kind of funny accepting her words as I feel that there is so much more we could be doing.

At the same time, it was very reassuring to hear from someone else that they notice a difference.  As a parent, you wonder if you just want to hear it so bad that you think you hear a difference when really you don't.  One of my friends also commented that Cooper's speech had improved.  I could have kissed her.  I can understand how my friends may feel funny talking about Cooper's speech improving which acknowledges that he was delayed, but to me hearing that others can hear the difference means so much.

On the same topic, as part of the public speech and language program we had to attend a parent only class.   I was well aware going into this that it would be a review of what R had already taught us.  She is a public speech pathologist as her day job after all and essentially covering the same material.  I was still happy to go since I wanted to hear from other parents with speech delayed kids and just wondered how Cooper would compare.

Well..... Cooper was by far the oldest kid.  The others 3 families had kids between 17 and 20 months.  I was very surprised that a parent was concerned about speech at this young of an age.   I guess with Cooper I started being concerned at about 18 months and watching for words and paying more attention to it, but I didn't actually put him on the list until a few months over 2.  Here I thought we were potentially in the program on the early side, but I guess not.

The one mom I just wanted to hug.   They taught 11 strategies at this class.   Eleven.  Had I not known over half of them already from our sessions with R I would have been so overwhelmed and let there deflated.  I just wanted to tell her that it would get better.  I think her daughter was 20 months.

I have to attend part 2 of the class next week.  I was a little disappointed that there wasn't much open discussion. We all did introduce ourselves and talk about where our kids were at but beyond that, the other parents weren't all that chatty.  Just me I guess.  After this next session, we just wait until he is called to be assessed which I think will be before the end of June.

So far, with a little perseverance, we are making moves in the right direction.   I still light up when I hear him say a new word.  It just shows the progress that he is making.  Last night when I tucked him in and said goodnight and that I loved him.  He repeated the I love you back for the first time - 'uv you mama'.  That makes all the stress and frustration worth it.

A Day in the Life - Monday, March 18, 2013

I have been wanting to do this post for a bit.  Essentially you document what a day in your life is like on any given day.  I had planned to do it this past Monday and almost changed my mind when a play date got moved to Monday.  I decided that is how my life is these days and that it was no reason to change the date.  So with out further a due, here is a day in our life on Monday, March 18, 2013.

5:50 am - Cooper gets up. I have no idea why!  I laid with him until 6:20 when it became clear that this kid was not going back to bed.

6:50 am - Grady rises from his slumber and comes down stairs. It appears that he may have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed.

7:35 am - Grady is sent to his room for throwing our little toy story couch at his brother because he wanted to play on the iPad.

7:42 am - Grady is sent to his room for throwing our little toy story couch at his brother because he wanted to play on the iPad.  Again.

7:55 am - Breakfast is served.

8:05 am - The carpet cleaner guy shows up to clean the carpet and the couch that Cooper vomited on a few weeks ago.

8:10 am - The kids and I go upstairs to try and stay out of the way.

8:55 am - We face time my brother to wish my niece Taiya a happy second birthday.  She was a little shy and wanted nothing to do with our singing.  I thought we did a pretty good job!

9:10 am - We rush out the door to get Grady to school.

9:45 am - Cooper and I get back home.  He asks for chips, many, many times.  I stopped buying chips a few weeks back to curb Grady's junk food addiction. All we had was Jalapeno chips so I gave him one figuring he wouldn't like them.  Sure enough he did.  So I gave him a bowl and he munched on them on the couch while I did my think.  Chips before 10am.... oops.

10:00 am - I settle in to check my work email since we are really busy at work right now, I work on our vacation shutterfly book, I load the dishwasher, and do other random things around the house.

11:15 am - I squeeze in a chat with my Mom.

11:25 am -  Cooper and I rush out the door to get Grady from school.

11:42 am - I pick up Grady's crafts and notice that all the other kids drew 1 picture with chalk and my son drew 7. That is my boy!

11:45 am - Straight from school we drove to our play date.  We had a great lunch, bounced in the bouncy castle, colored, played some computer games, and enjoyed each others company.

2:15 pm - We loaded into the van even though Cooper did not want to leave.  I had to load him up with no jacket since he was not cooperating.  He was not a happy camper.

2:45 pm - Cooper finally falls asleep for a very late nap.

3:11 pm - I hop in the van to go to the class put on by public health once you are on the waiting list for your child's speech.  I know I am overdue on an update about this and hope to have one up really soon (It is all good news!).

5:40 pm - I pull up at home and check the mailbox to find a good mail day - meaning mail other than bills!  I ordered a camera to replace the one that broke in Hawaii and also found this cute necklace waiting for me:

5:45 pm - I am back at home and waiting for supper to come out of the oven while the kids bring out the slide... again.

5:40 pm - Deena calls and we get a semi talk in, while yelling over kids and trying to juggle the household solo.

6:05 pm - Supper is served!

6:30 pm - We get some puzzles out and spread them out on the carpet that is still damp.

6:50 pm - The kids hop in the bath with the promise they can play downstairs before bed.

7:15 pm - We head into the basement so the kids can jump on the couch and play trains.  I watch Sean Lowe and Kelly Pickler on Dancing with the Stars.  I was a little worried for Sean and thought he would be terrible. I actually smiled through the whole thing and enjoyed the part where they danced apart.  Peeta did a good job playing up his 'innocence'.  Overall, I actually agreed with Carrie-Ann and think he has potential.  Can't wait to see what this season brings!

8:00 pm - The kids and I head up stairs with a pit stop in the kitchen for a bedtime snack.  Today was cookies that the kids made.  

8:35 pm - Lights out for Cooper

8:45 pm - Lights out for Grady

9:00 pm - Biggest Loser, Wine, and Blogging for me.  Perfect ending to my day :)

Cooper's First Haircut (from someone other than James)

It is no secret that James cuts the kids hair. Grady went for his first hair cut at about 18 months at Beaners and it was a disaster.  We never went back until about 6 weeks ago and Grady did great.  So fast forward and it already time for Grady to get a hair cut and Cooper's hair is so long that I could probably put it in a pony tail.  Well, almost.

Last Monday, on my day off and after a play date was cancelled I decided to high tail it to Beaners with both kids in tow and hope for the best.  The kids ended up getting their hair cut at the same time.

Cooper refused to wear the cape so all the hair just fell right on him.  There was a lot of hair!  He was such a big boy and didn't even cry.  He chose the purple car to sit in watched a little of Rio, the movie they were playing on the TVs.

After the hair cut, Cooper took his shirt out and we shook all the hair on to the floor.

I was so proud of Grady for getting his hair cut to.  I didn't get to stand with him much since I was pre occupied with keeping Cooper amused.

Before you knew it, haircuts were done and I had a purple haired boy (color chosen by him).

And an orange haired boy.

I was a happy Mom.

And James was thrilled to finally be fired as the kids barber.

Menu

I've been seeing these chalkboards on pinterest (yes I am aware this is my third mention of pinterest in a week) and really wanted to make one of my own.  I headed over to Micheal's with Grady and picked up, among other things that Grady chose, a bright blue frame and some chalkboard paint.

I started off by painting the glass.  Big mistake.   Although the bottle says you can use it on glass it just peeled off when the kids started to color on it.  Grady was so sweet when he saw that the chalkboard was ruined, he said 'but mom, you worked so hard on your project'.  But I didn't give up!  I got out a diaper box and cut it just the right size to put in the framed.  I painted it with black paint first (tip from sales clerk), and 2 coats of chalkboard paint and put it back in the frame..... Voila!  I had a new chalkboard.

As you can tell, I wanted a cute chalkboard for our weekly menu.  I always have a menu each week, but it is nicely stored in my head.  This way, James always knows what we are having and I don't always have to remember what I decided on - it is right there in front of us!  Despite James asking me why I didn't just buy one, he thought that my idea was great and seemed to really like it!

You'll notice that this weeks menu is not in order and is missing a few days, that was NOT intentional.  It originally did start out in order and then I realized that James was out of town one day and he did not want Spolumbos sausage so we mixed the schedule around.  We also realized we are out for dinner one night and had to take it out all together.   We don't generally plan our weekend meals since we are fortunate enough to eat at Nana's on Sunday nights and we always order pizza one night.  Easy peasy weekend planning!

You may also notice that Salmon is being served at our house.  James went fishing twice last year and caught lots and lots of fish, mostly salmon.  I don't like fish per se, but after enjoying it in Maui so much I am trying to cook it once a week to try and learn to like it. Not to mention we have a freezer full that if not consumed soon will go bad, and to top it off Grady LOVES it.  Grady is not a good eater at all but if I say salmon is for dinner he is at the table before I've finished the sentence.   Just last week I had the following conversation with him:

Grady - When is my salmon going to be ready Mom?

Me - Soon, I'm just taking the bones out.

Grady - Are they dinosaurs bones?

You may also notice that salad is being served at my house often.  I just recently got on a salad kick.  No reason, just trying to eat a little more healthy.  This is the salad I ate this past weekend for lunch:

I sent this photo to my mom as I knew she would be proud of me since she has started eating very healthy in the last year or so.    In case you are wondering, it is spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, cranberries, almonds, and feta with a sweet onion dressing.  It was fabulous.  I could get used to adding salad to our menu more regularly!

Slide 2

In case you were wondering... the slide is still going strong at our house.  He graduated from going down on our butts, to using blankets, to finally on the weekend, using the toboggan!

We got this blow up tube toboggan last year for Xmas and had yet to use it and figured this past weekend would be a great time to get it out and blow it out.  Grady had an idea to use it on his slide.  I must admit it didn't work that well as it stopped at the bottom and the kids kept going.  Little, or not so little, Cooper needed to hold my had when he went down, but the smile shows that he didn't mind.

The kids went down together and didn't fight. Well, much.

All in all, the slide is still asked for every day. It is getting to be in rough shape and covered in duct tape but I think until that thing literally falls apart it will be stored in our dining room and used lovingly every day :)  Talk about cheap entertainment!

I take it back

Dear time change,

I had some cruel words for you yesterday. We were not friends. Well, I take it back. Part of it anyway.

When my I had to wake my kids at 745 because they weren't up yet..... I was kind of happy.

When we were able to play outside after supper because the sun was still up and it wasn't dark.... That was pretty ok to.

I am still not a fan of the whole time change thing but we are making the most of it.

Sincerely,
Christy

Time Change Day

Sunday was one of 2 days a year that I dislike (Grady gives me a hard time if I say H-A-T-E) living in Alberta.  I just don't get the time change.  I don't understand why we need it or how it makes our day longer.  Tomorrow when I go to work it will no longer be light out like it has been the last few weeks.  I will be tired because I went to bed an hour later and so did my kids.  Lose, lose, lose.

Saturday night, the night of the time change, we all went to bed at the same time as usual.  Grady got up at 3:30 in the new time and couldn't sleep because he had a bad dream.  After trying to lay with him on and off for nearly an hour I dragged him into bed with us.  Grady and shared 1/4 of the bed.  Can't say I got a lot of sleep....  Although I must admit it was nice to see 7:40 on the alarm clock when Cooper got up.  Even though I knew deep down it was only 6:40 in the old time.

The plan was for Cooper to miss his nap on Sunday since it would be too late in the new time to let him nap.  Then he went and messed up the plan by not napping on Saturday.  We had friends over for dinner and Cooper was something else.  Screaming, throwing, crying.... so we re-instated the nap for Sunday.

We had a nice day yesterday with tobogganing and a late lunch.  Grady had skating with James in the late afternoon (which is lovin' by the way), Cooper napped, and I had a chance to have an uninterrupted chat with Sara (from my end anyway!).  All in all a pretty good day.

We went to Nana's for supper like we usually do and stayed extra long since there was no rush to get home before 7:30 like we usually do.  Since Grady didn't sleep well last night and Cooper didn't nap yesterday it worked out well in some respects as the kids were nicely tucked into bed by 8:45, about 15 minutes later than usual or 45 minutes earlier than usual depending on how you look at it!

The real test will be when we put the kids to bed tonight.  Let's be honest, no time change has ever gone smoothly and I don't expect it to start to today!

Pinterest Told Me To

I found this blog a little while back called Pinterest Told Me To. It is a really neat idea where she takes outfits she finds on Pinterest and recreates them according to her own style and what she has in her wardrobe. I have been lovin' seeing what she comes up with.

I've started reading a lot more fashion blogs these days.  Not like super trendy, I could never pull that off, kind of blogs, but more like blogs where they step out of their comfort zone and where colored or printed pants and mix patterns on patterns.  I found it very helpful in choosing my outfits and has contributed to my change in shopping habits.  I notice what the mannequins are wearing and trends in the stores.  Remember I work very close to the mall and walk through it on average 2 to 3 times a week.  Lots of time to window shop and wait for sales as one as my co-workers is teaching me ;)

Back to my story.... I have quarterly meetings where I have to wear a suit, or at a bare minimum, a blazer.  I am not a blazer girl.  Not even a bit.  So when I was walking by Smart Set and noticed a navy and white striped 'blazer' with no collar I was intrigued.  A few days later I saw this pin on pinterest and really liked how it looked on her.  Next thing you know, I was in Smart Set buying the blazer.

When I look closer at this picture I realize that she is also wearing animal print shoes, which I have, but that is definitely outside of my comfort zone!  However, loved the look of the navy stripes with the colored pants so I pulled together my own version that I think turned out pretty well if I do say so myself!  My pants are actually a bright green although you can't tell from the iPhone pic I snapped in the bathroom at work :)

After seeing this picture, I realize I actually like the look with the white shirt instead of the navy one I chose.  Pinterest is telling me that white is better.

I just love the idea of using other peoples fashion to guide your own.  I certainly wouldn't put some of these outfits together myself and love that there are so many blogs out there devoted to putting ideas in our heads and pushing us outside of our boundaries.  I find that I often love the look on someone else, but feel really out there when I wear it myself.  Leggings and colored pants are 2 great examples of things that put me out of my comfort zone.  Me and my leggings are now besties, but I still feel a little self conscious in my colored pants but I don't let it stop me for the most part.

Kendi Everyday is another blog I have recently started reading.  I love love her style and only wish I had her choosing my outfits each day.

These pants are the reason I am even considering buying a pair of patterned pants this spring. Before seeing this outfit I would have never considered  them and here I am not admiring this outfit and wishing it were my own :)

I think the whole point of this post is that after 4 years of either being pregnant, on maternity leave, or anticipating being pregnant, I am really enjoying shopping again and wearing trendy clothes.  The past year has been super fun building up my work wardrobe.  I was able to justify my purchases as some of the work pants in my closet were over 5 years old.  Now it is time to curb the shopping and work with what I have - just like Shaeffer from Pinterest told me to.  Happy pinning!

Slide

This week Grady and I went on the anticipated shopping trip to buy a booster seat for the young lad.  We went a total different route than I planned to, but that is a whole other story!  Grady got 2 cup seats in his new big boy chair and that is all he cared about!  That is what I get for bringing a 4 year old shopping with me!

The result of the big purchase was an equally large box.  I had just seen on Pinterest the other day that you could make a slide out of a box laid on the stairs, so I thought it was worth a try.  James was skeptical as I got the box and put it down the 3 steps going into our family room.  What is the worst that could happen?

You can't tell from this ultra blurry iphone photo, but this is Grady cruising down the 'mom made' slide.  It was a huge hit.

Even blurry Cooper couldn't get enough.

They got creative and started going on their bellies, backs, and even backwards.  The kids had a blast with it.  The best part was that the slide was the entire width of the stairs so they had to run around the main level to get back to the top. The kids were sweating by the time they were done!

James wanted to put the cardboard in the recylcle bin that night but I knew better.  The slide was taped down first thing the next morning before I left for work and the kids played on it all day. It was still in the exact same spot when I got home.

Today we dragged the cardboard slide out again after dinner and the kids got out blankets to ride down the slide.   So far it has helped justify the cost of the booster seat we bought as we are getting our moneys worth just on the box!

Weekend

This weekend proved to be different than most of our other weekends.  We had no plans.  We didn't have dinner plans, play dates, or anything that needed to be around the house.  While it is not our 'norm' we embraced the weekend by spending some quality time together.

We started off the weekend by eating in and then heading out for ice cream at My Favorite Ice cream Shoppe.  That is actually what it is called.  It is so retro and we are sure to make a trip there at least once a season.  Grady always picks a pink or rainbow themed ice cream and never likes it because it isn't sweet enough.  He is his mother's child after all.  Since we were the only people in there, Grady had 3 testers before he settled on The Best Strawberry flavor.  I picked a Chocolate for Cooper and myself and James had Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.  Now there is a blast from the past!

Saturday morning always starts with Cooper's music class.  After, we headed home to pick up James and Grady to head to Bow Cycle to buy Grady a new bike.  This place was something else.  I have never seen so many bikes in one place - it was pretty crazy!  They brought out a 16" bike that they thought would fit Grady best and he never looked back.  Despite wanting a blue bike like Thomas, when I asked him if he wanted to get the red one, he happily said yes!

We decided since we were there that the boys really needed some new helmets.  We snagged a red one that happened to match Grady's new bike and Cooper chose a red one that was covered in monkeys and fire trucks.  And how can you buy a 4 year old a new bike and not get a new bell?

Grady insisted on riding his bike back to the van that was parked half a block down.  He was off, no hesitation, no fear.... just excitement.

When we got home, we quickly made some lunch and headed out for our first bike rides on our new bikes.  Helmets on - safety first!

With the addition of Grady's new bike, Cooper took to Cooper's 'new to him' bike that neither of the kids wanted to touch before.  Grady has had this balance bike for 2 summers and had no interest in it.  Zero.  So we are hoping that this summer Cooper will learn to ride it and it won't be a complete waste of money!

I don't have any pictures of Grady on our bike ride since he was going so fast you had to run beside him to keep up!  Biking with the kids was tough.  And when I say biking, I mean the kids on bikes and us on feet.  Grady was super fast and Cooper was, well shall we say, not so much.  So we ended up separated by nearly a block.  I kept asking Cooper if he wanted help but he was adamant that he would bike himself. Can't say I blame him.  After one trip around the block we went inside for Cooper's nap.

We took Grady out again on his own once Cooper was sleeping and he rocked it.  He waned to go around the route over and over.  We live in a very hilly area so there are lots of hills where I had to run to keep up.  He is still at the stage where if he gets preoccupied he forgets to steer or if he goes to fast he takes his feet off the pedals and then can't stop.  We have a bit of practicing to do but I can already tell that there will be lots of bike rides in our future!

If you know my son, you know that he loves to paint.  As we were coming up the drive way I asked him if he was enjoying his new bike and he proudly told me he liked it even better than painting!  If that doesn't show how much he liked it, I don't know what does!

I am thrilled that he is finally starting to love biking. I have great memories of growing up going on bike rides with my mom or my friends.  I biked to school every day and as I got older it became my source of transportation.  I hope that over the years it will be something that we do together as a family. Now James and I just have to get bikes!

After a great day full of biking on Saturday, we woke up to this on yesterday:

Needless to say, the biking turned into playing in the snow very quickly.  And that is exactly what we did :)

Every once in a while I find that a quiet weekend at home is just what the doctor ordered!  Now we are ready to return to our busy schedules next weekend!

Random Friday Facts

Cooper’s sleeping has been crap. He has been waking up in the middle of the night and after a long rocking session still will not go back to bed.  Cooper is still sleeping in a crib and a sleep sack.  With these recent waking we are considering moving him to a bed so I can lay down with him rather than sitting in the chair with him.  We are in no rush to get him out of the crib and were waiting for a sign from him that it was time… maybe this is his sign?

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Grady is a crafter.  He most certainly didn’t get it from me.  This kids likes, no loves, to paint.  We have a strict rule in our house that we only paint once a day as Grady has been known to ask multiple times.  At this exact moment he likes to paint rainbows.  Not just any rainbow but ones that are in the exact order that rainbows are supposed to be. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple.  If you are out of this order he will let you know. And for the record, painting at school doesn’t count.  He still needs to paint once at home as well.

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Cooper had a great speech session this week.  His gal is just fantastic with both boys.  We learned some valuable tips from just watching her interact with Cooper.  She emphasizes eye contact and getting at his level.  So I held the soap to my face and said 'soap' in the bath the other night.  At first he didn’t say it.  I touched my chin and said it again.  Eventually he did say it. She did the same with bubbles the night before.  It was so cute to see Cooper touch his chin when he said the word to because she and I had both done it.  She says imitation is a great step! So happy with how the speech is going.

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With Grady being home all day now, he often goes next door to have an unparented play date with the little boy next door.  What a big boy he is getting to be!  Grady has loved playing weekly with our neighbors.   The boys are 4 months apart and  seem to be into the same things.  Except crafting, his friend does not like to paint as much as him I’ve been informed.

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The weather is expected to be nice this weekend so we are finally heading out to get a bike for Grady.  After our attempt on the long weekend failed because the store is closed on Sundays I have it penciled in for tomorrow.  I hope he is still as excited to bike once we get him on a ‘real’ one with training wheels!

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I am so far behind on my shows and now Big Brother Canada is starting.  I really don't know how I am going to keep up!  Thankfully Biggest Loser and the Bachelorette are wrapping up here soon.  You guessed it... I'm a reality TV junkie!

Have a great weekend everyone!