The Nursery is Done!

Woo hoo! The nursery is done! It's a good thing too because the little baby girl will be here in less than three weeks! Now if we only had a name for her.....

The only thing I still want to do is to paint a quote above her crib that reads, "Love like you'll never be hurt, Sing like no one is listening, Dance like no one is watching, Live like it's heaven on Earth." This may not get done before she arrives but I'm working on it on figuring out how I'm going to do it. That's a lot of words to try to freehand in a straight line with a paint brush!

Here are some pictures of the nursery. I've tried to explain the perspective of the shot for those of you who haven't seen this room before.

From standing in the doorway, a view of the right side of the room where the crib is. The two floral shadowboxes above the crib were given to me by Mom many years ago. They had a dark cherry wood frame but that was too dark for the nursery so I painted the frames ivory with a burgundy trim. There is a small bookshelf next to the crib with all of Nicholas' baby board books and baby toys on it. He is enchanted by all of the baby toys that he doesn't remember ever having. If he gets the chance, he will always go in there and play with the baby stuff!



A picture of the left side of the room with the window, glider rocker, baby quilt and a piece of the open door.



This picture was taken from where the window/glider is located looking at the back right corner of the room at the dresser/changing table and closet door.



This room used to be our guest bedroom and as you can see we don't really have a place for guests in here anymore. For Granddad Owen and Grandmother Chance who both plan to visit at different times during October, we will move the glider into the office and set up a twin bed in it's place. The baby will be in a bassinet in our bedroom so you won't have to share the room with a baby crying at 3 am but it will be a little crowded in there for you :)

Preschool Pals

Here is a cute shot from our Monday playgroup. These are just some of the friends in Nicholas' preschool class.

Playing and Sharing with Friends

This morning we went to meet up with our PTA friends at the park. Nicholas had fun climbing on the playground, watching ants, and playing in the pine needles and dirt. He is all boy, isn't he?





When it was time to take a break, he headed over to a blanket where Mrs. Deb had laid out lots of books and games for the kiddos. Nicholas learned how to play the game Perfection and he really seemed to enjoy it (Keep that in mind, Santa Claus).



Then we found a table and got out our picnic lunch. Nicholas said he was so hungry but when his friend came over and said she was hungry, he didn't hesitate to offer her half of his sandwich and then he shared his strawberries with her. When there were only two strawberries left, Nicholas said that they could each have one and he let his friend choose which strawberry she wanted. When she picked the smaller of the two, Nicholas said, "Oh, I was going to let you have the bigger one." I'm so proud of him for being so generous with his friends and for understanding the importance of sharing.

More Jumping on the Bed?

I don't like Nicholas jumping on the beds. I don't care about the beds so much but I worry that the little daredevil will hurt himself with his lack of fear. However, as I was going through pictures on the camera I found several that Stuart apparently took of Nicholas jumping on our bed! Hmmmm. Yes, the jumping makes for cool pictures but now I'm going to be the "mean mommy" for telling him no jumping on the bed!

The Great Trash Bash

Our PTA group sponsors a trash pickup at one of our local parks. Each year we pass around a sign up sheet among the membership and moms sign up for one day to go pick up trash at the park. It's a great way to teach our little ones the importance of keeping our environment clean.

This week is our week for cleaning the park. We went to the library yesterday and found the perfect book to read before our expedition. It's called The Great Trash Bash by Loreen Leedy. In addition to teaching the importance of picking up after ourselves, it also touches on the 3 R's - Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. So we read our book last night and talked about our agenda for today.

I picked Nicholas up from school and asked if he wanted to stop at a convenience store for popsicles/ice cream to eat when we got to the park. He said no. Huh??! Whose child is this in my car? And more importantly, how can I stop for a popsicle if my four year old isn't wanting one? I finally managed to convince him that we should stop so we got our treats and headed to the park.



Yummy treats. Ok, time to get to work. Nicholas was excited about cleaning up the park although the park is always really clean so I knew we didn't have much work to do. Nonetheless, I came prepared so that each of us had a plastic shopping bag for our trash (REUSE!) as well as some disposable gloves to keep our hands clean. Nicholas loves wearing gloves so he was all excited to get his gear. We walked around a while finding little tiny pieces of trash and one piece of an aluminum can. It was so clean that Nicholas got bored with the lack of activity and ended up running off to play on the playground.





I'm not sure what these little plastic pellets are but they can be found at every single park in our area. They may be some kind of little BB gun pellet but I never see any kids playing with such a thing. Anyway, today Nicholas called them treasure and collected a bunch of them along with the help of another little boy who showed up to play.

Your Bedroom Makes a Four!

We were sitting at the dinner table tonight. Nicholas was talking about the running broad jump that he had been doing in our bedroom a little earlier. Suddenly he said excitedly, "Your bedroom makes a four!" It took us a minute to understand what he was talking about. However, if you think of the layout of our bedroom you can see that it makes the number four.



We were impressed at this. Even though he's never seen our bedroom from a bird's eye perspective, Nicholas was able to use spatial skills to imagine that looking down at the walkways in our bedroom would form the number 4. Amazing!

Loving His Baby Sister

Nicholas is going to be such a great big brother. He is always hugging on my belly and telling his little sister how much he loves her. He kisses my belly good night and prays for his sister at bedtime. I asked Stuart to try to take some pictures that captured this sweetness. He did a better job at it than I could have ever imagined.







Of course, it is tedious to try to have any sort of posed photo shoot with a four year old boy, especially when it is outside where there are sticks, bugs, and leaves all around that are just begging to be played with. All things considered, Nicholas did a great job of posing for the pictures. He seems to have fun at everything he does. Take this picture for example. I'm not sure what he was doing but he just looks so happy and carefree!



Once we got back home, Stuart and Nicholas played outside for a little while. They checked out one of my rose bushes and even picked the perfect rose for me. What sweeties!



They quickly headed back outside and Nicholas enjoyed playing with the sword he got at Six Flags and digging for worms.







When they were too hot and tired for any more play time, they made their way back inside where we made sno-cones to help cool off.



Nicholas usually gets a "cold headache" when he eats cold things like this too quickly. He always runs to me to cuddle so I can warm his head - he thinks it makes a difference. But this time, I got the cold headache so he ran over to me and squeezed me with all his might to try to help me feel better.





I sure do love this sweet little guy!

Handyman Nicholas

Stuart had to replace a set of blinds in our bathroom window today. Of course, Nicholas was ready and willing to help with his own little tool box in tow. He is so cute. He just loves helping Stuart on all of the various projects around the house. Today he insisted on putting this pencil behind his ear and I had to get a quick picture because the pencil kept falling.

Girl Scouts Garage Sale for a Great Cause

I haven't posted an update about all that has happened since I won the $5,000 award from Pantene to add educational components about nature to a local playground. Well, I've spent a lot of time speaking with some members of the parks department and have been working to get a large all-inclusive (aka handicap accessible) wooden fort-like playground built on some undeveloped property that the town will be developing soon. I've attended several public hearings before the Parks, Arts, and Library Services board as well as Town Council to promote my idea and explain the reasons why our children need an exceptional park to help draw them outside, away from the television and video games. I'm excited to say that the final approvals have been granted for the concept drawings for the playground. Now I'm working on getting the community involved to help contribute time and money to help make the playground something really exceptional.

One of the ladies I've spoken with is the leader of a group of Daisy Girl Scouts. They are mostly 6 year olds and they want to do something to help contribute to the playground. I met with the girls last weekend at their first meeting of the year and talked to them about the efforts that have gone into getting the park to where it is and what we need to do next. I already knew that they would be learning about seeds and growing plants this year so I talked to them about the literal planting of seeds but also how we can plant seeds with our actions. We talked about how the seeds have been planted for the playground but now we need others to help water it to help it grow into something beautiful that we can all enjoy.

They decided to have a garage sale and donate all of the money to the playground. I worked with them to help get people in the community to donate items to be sold at the garage sale and made several trips around town picking up items for them.

The garage sale took place this morning and we all went over to show our support (and shop!). Nicholas' favorite part was the lemonade and donut stand. He was proud to do his part to contribute to the fundraiser by eating as much as he could.





Nicholas was also proud that he had gone through his toys and chosen some items to donate to help raise money for the playground. However, I did get in a little bit of trouble with him when he noticed a few more of his toys for sale at the garage sale that I had thrown in on my own. Oopsie! I hadn't thought about him catching me like this :)

I'm so proud of these little girls and what they did to get the fundraising piece of the project rolling. They have started us off with the first donation of $170. Way to go, girls!

Six Flags!

Again this year, Pepsico had their annual party at Six Flags. It is always so much fun and Nicholas looks forward to it all year long. The entire park is closed to the public so the crowds and lines for the rides are small. Pepsico provides stations throughout the park where you can pick up free Aquafina, Gatorade, Pepsi soft drinks, Fritos, Doritos, Lays, Rold Gold pretzels, and Sun Chips. Plus each person gets some free Daffy Dollars that can be spent on food or souvenirs at the park. What an awesome family event for a company to put together! Thank you, Pepsico!

We ended up with an extra ticket so Nicholas got to invite a friend along with us. We went to McDonalds for a quick bite to eat before because we were all hungry.



The boys got Batman toys in their happy meals and Stuart helped them figure out how to make Batman shoot his batarang.



Then we were off for the real fun at Six Flags!



The boys had so much fun on the rides. I loved watching their smiles and laughter. I don't think either of them were ever worried or scared on the rides.













We got some great pictures until the sun went down. Then we enjoyed a special treat of cotton candy. Who can resist cotton candy?







We got each of the boys some souvenirs with the Daffy Dollars and headed home about 11:00 pm. We are all exhausted except for Nicholas who was too excited to just sit quietly. He just kept talking about all of the fun he had. But as soon as we were home he passed out in bed...and so did Mommy and Daddy.

Meet Bumblebear

This morning we went to a PTA party at the library. It was fun and there was an instructor for Noah's Ark Animal Workshop there to help each child make their own stuffed animal!. Nicholas chose to make a Bumblebear which Mommy thought was the cutest of all the options to make.

The first thing Nicholas noticed was that the bear had an embroidered star on his foot. He said, "Look Mommy! This must be some kind of new Webkinz!" For those of you who are not Webkinz-savvy, the Webkinz stuffed animals have a little embroidered "W" on them.



He was given the bear and a bag of stuffing. The instructor taught the children how to make just the right size "snowballs" out of the stuffing to fit into the bear's arms, legs, etc. Nicholas make lots and lots of stuffing snowballs then the stuffing began. He was so cute as he stuffed because he was already talking to the bear as he worked on him.



Once Bumblebear was well stuffed, the instructor gave Nicholas an embroidered star. She told everyone to hold up their star and make a wish.



Nicholas wished for "all of the Star Wars toys ever made". Then he kissed the star and put it in the bear before we permanently closed him up. And voila! Meet Bumblebear! Isn't he a cutie!

This Week at Preschool

Nicholas had a great week at school. Here's some things he worked with and learned about:

Montessori works: Nicholas practiced using the pink tower and brown stair extensions. He learned how to measure and cut flowers for the height of a vase.

Language: Nicholas practiced nursery rhymes, finger plays, and songs to help learn the pattern of sounds for reading. He has been using muscial phonics to learn about letters and he enjoys singing his phonics songs around the house.

Math: Nicholas enjoyed counting everything. He used Math Mats which helped him to listen carefully and cooperate.

Good Shepherd Lesson: Altar and flower cutting

Spanish: He has been learning to say various colors in Spanish.

I'm proud that Nicholas' school promotes a Developmental Point of View. Here's an excerpt from an article that was recently sent home:

It is highly unlikely that anyone without a Developmental Point of View can really take part in a successful Readiness Program. This is not a program for those who feel that a child is like a piece of clay which can be pushed and pulled to fit a pre-determined form. Nor is it a program for those who feel that a child is like a computer for which information is broken up into little pieces and fed in bit by bit, to be retrieved at a later date. It is a program for those who have faith in the orderliness of nature and trust a child to know his own needs.

The Developmental Point of View means understanding that growth is orderly, structured, predictable. Because a child is a living organism, he is subject to the same laws of growth as every other species in nature and has a cycle of development peculiar to humans in general. In this way he is like every other child.

The Developmental Point of View means respecting the fact that every child has his own rate and pattern of growth peculiar to him. In this way he is different from every other child.

The Developmental Point of View means accepting the child as a total action system; his physical, social, emotional, and intellectual components depending upon and supporting each other. These components are not separate, and one cannont be stretched ahead of the others without upsetting an intrinsic and intricate balance.

The Developmental Point of View means appreciating that readiness for any given task has its roots in the biological-maturational make-up of the child. We can neither produce it, hurry it, nor ignore it. When a child is ready, he will be born, walk, talk, and read.

The Developmental Point of View means promoting educational programs for children in terms of development as is is, NOW, not in terms of what one thinks it ought to be.

The Developmental Point of View means walking hand in hand with nature. It is a respect for the total humaness of children.

The Power of a Pen

I picked the boy up from school today and we went to the park at the duck pond to spend some time outside and enjoy the awesome weather we've had.



I let Nicholas play on the playground for a little while but when he was ready for a break I told him that I had a surprise for him. I handed him a small package that came in the mail today for him from Granddad Owen. He excitedly opened it up and was glad to see an LSU pen (notice from his shirt that he had strawberries for lunch today - why does he think his shirt is a napkin?)



Nicholas loves LSU Tigers and even asked yesterday if McDonald's might have LSU Tiger toys in their Happy Meals someday. Anyway, this isn't just a regular old pen. No. This one plays the LSU Fight Song! How cool! Well, Nicholas had to run back to the playground and show all of the kids his new pen that plays music.

Then he had to go play the music for the ducks who were trying to take their afternoon siestas by the pond. Well, of course the ducks didn't appreciate a little four year old boy running up to them with a music-playing pen so they ran away. Hmmm, what do you think happened next? The four year old boy loved the response and created a new game - "Chase the Ducks with the LSU Fight Song Pen".



I let Nicholas play for a little longer on the playground before we left. At one point he was playing near the fence and bent down to pick something up. He came running over to me and said that these were for me. Sweet!



Thanks for the pen, Granddad! Nicholas loves it and has been playing that song over and over and over and over and over again ALL day long. He even wanted to bring the pen to bed with him tonight. I love the song but it's stuck in my head now and driving me crazy. You are so thoughtful to send this to us - how can I ever repay you? :)

Playtime at the Park

Nicholas likes the new friends he has made in his class this year. The moms have started a little playgroup so we can get them all together to play once a week. This morning the weather was great so we all met at a park. Nicholas was pretending to be a dinosaur and making weird animal noises. He loves doing that - as much as those animal noises drive me crazy!