Activity Table

I have already referenced our new activity table, but figured I'd throw up some super cute pics of my super cute boys doing "aaht, aaht," which they love. The first day I got out a stamper and made the mistake of letting them keep it out, then discovered an orange stamped kitty cat on their rug. Haha! Oops :) But generally, they are pretty good at keeping it on the paper. They love do-a-dots (pictured) - Jack will dot a couple of times, then want to switch colors, but Ben will stick with one color for a while. We have all sorts of different kinds of crayons, markers, stickers, etc. They've outgrown the baby crayon-holder things from Crayola and now just use the jumbo crayons, which makes me a little bit sad! Sigh. Stop growing up so fast, little dudes! Oh, and they're actually pretty good at this art thing - last weekend we were at Chuy's and Ben colored in 3 bubbles on his picture they gave him. We were a little bit amazed, because I have not worked on coloring actual pictures with them or staying in lines, etc - I mean, it was scribbly, but he was clearly coloring the bubbles. Little toddler skills are amazing!

 

Cupcakes - mmmm, good

I made homemade cupcakes for a friend who just had a baby (plus a casserole, duh, but who cares about the meal when there's a chocolate dessert?) and was excited to keep a few for us. Jonathan doesn't really eat sweets, so if I make something it usually goes to waste or I end up guilt-eating it so it doesn't go to waste, then feeling more guilty for eating it at all. So one or two is the perfect amount to keep!

Anyway, it made me feel a little bit like a terrible mama, because other than muffins, oatmeal cookies, and some chocolate chip cookies here and there, I haven't really baked much for my sweet boys, and they LOVED the cupcakes! Jack was opening his mouth as wide as it would go and shoveling it in, so I grabbed the camera to snap a few pics. I guess this means more baking to do!

DINOSAURS!

If the boys had TWO obsessions, the second would be dinosaurs. This is why Dinosaur Train is the perfect show for them - they love it :) I loooooove watching them play with Dinosaurs, and it's an advanced play skill to play/interact with animals. They will pick up their dinosaurs and walk them around the train tracks or around the room and around the backs of their chairs. I especially love when Ben stretches the dino out as far as he can reach, then runs to the other chair to continue "walking" the dinosaur. They will also sometimes have their dinosaurs interact or hit at each other and roar. It's mild pretend play, but it's still precious.

TRAINS!

If the boys have an obsession, it would be trains. They love "choo choos" and they play with their trains sets all day and their favorite books are train books. Fair warning - if you come over to see the boys, you will likely read Freight Train (by Donald Crews - it's in my head, I don't even have to refer to the book because I read it so often) several times.

I love how Ben lays down to drive his "choo choos" around the tracks, and I love the look of concentration they get as they move their trains around. I don't love putting train tracks together a gazillion times a day, but that is the price I am willing to pay for their joy, I guess. We laughed with Luke & Sami about the recommended age range (I think it's 3), but I have come to appreciate and better understand that recommended age range. The boys can more easily put together the wooden train set than their electric train set, but they still struggle with the wooden bridge, and it comes apart easily. I also don't love how they both prefer the electric train that came with the set and is incidentally not available for individual purchase. It has caused many a tear, and I have heard "MY choo choo" more times than I care to count. But what can you do? (except hide that choo choo as soon as they go to bed and pretend you don't know where it is?) So we play trains a good portion of the day and it's pretty cute. Sometimes they even let the dinosaurs stomp around the tracks, so I imagine they are acting out "Dinosaur Train," their favorite PBS children's programming :)

This is our new activity table, and since we don't have room for a train table too, I'm making it double as a train table. I hadn't thought about it needing edges, and at first the tracks would just slide right off when the boys would push on it, so I added this rubber lining beneath it and voila! Hah! And J said it couldn't be done. Resourceful and (somewhat, okay, not really) thrifty mama.

 

Finally, we went to a train show in Plano with J's mom (Richard was sick, which is sad because it was his idea!) and grandparents. The boys loved looking at all the model trains! There was even a little train ride in the back, which of course we rode and they had a fun time. The boys were sad when their train hand stamps finally washed away :)

Goodnight Moon

We took the boys to see Goodnight Moon at the Dallas Children's Theatre this weekend and they had so much fun! It's definitely one of their favorite books, and they were really intrigued by the play! I would say it was a little bit long for not-quite-two-year-olds, but they did so well sitting in our laps and watching the singing and dancing and silly fun. We will definitely go back to see another show in the future!

 

Gigi & Poppy visit

The boys love visits from Gigi & Poppy :) Here are a few pics from some of their recent visits:

 Watching kids at the fountain outside at lunch - what little boys!

Nerve-wracking! But they thought this was so much fun when Poppy & Aunt La swung them in the laundry basket. :)

Scribbles & Dribbles

We LOVE the Perot Museum! We have a family membership and have been a couple of times to see the exhibits, and we are also enrolled in the Scribbles & Dribbles class, which the boys are crazy about. I am hoping to get a picture of them next time; but we were late to our first 2 classes so there was no time for pics. :) Silly me thought signing up for a 2:00 class would work out, even though the boys usually nap til 2:30. Anyway, we already signed up for the spring class -- even the instructor remarked on how much Ben & Jack seem to enjoy creating! They go straight to the easel to paint when we get there, and had to be talked into finger paints (they must be mine; I always hated to get dirty as a child) but now they dig right in, and know how to wash their hands off afterwards too! Jack loves making handprints and Ben likes blending colors. We also love that a couple of our friends from LECPTA are in the class so we get to see friends.

First day fun :)

Collage day - Aunt La came with us this day to help :)

The children's area is really neat and the boys enjoy running around checking everything out and playing.

They are also wild about the race track, where they can race a cheetah or athlete (we aren't brave enough to try the T-Rex - he's pretty scary). So far they haven't beat either one, but we have several years to work on their record. :)

We discovered the Engineering hall last time and the boys were pretty intrigued with the exhibits, like the wall that tracks your movement in color while you dance. So fun! They also love the dinosaurs, and Jack was able to spot a tiny reference to "Dinosaur Train" in one corner of the fossil room. Borderline obsession. 

Anyway, what a great place for family fun in Dallas to encourage learning and creativity. We're so lucky it's close and so glad for the opportunity to go so often.

Update: Jonathan went with us last week, so we snapped some pics!