Play Dough

I made a big batch of playdough last winter. At the time Anthony was more interested in eating it than playing with it, so I stuck it all in the freezer. We got it out yesterday and had so much fun!

He can make "representational art". The yellow is a snowman with a volleyball on his head. The orange is all snakes, of course. He rolled them all himself.

Playdough is a regular fixture at Sunday School, I think that's where he learned to make the snakes.

We're (not) leaving on a jet plane

Today the San Jose airport had a free open house to celebrate the opening of the new terminal. Anthony reads about airports in all his books, we figured it was high time to come visit one. Basically, it felt just like a morning of traveling, except that we didn't actually get on the airplane. We did have a long wait to get through security, though!

We ran into one of Daddy's co-workers and her little boy. They had a great time playing together!

For those who ask when we're coming to visit, Jessica says it far better than I possibly can.

Bye-bye Bethie

Bob's cousin Beth left Wednesday to continue her adventure. But first, Daddy took her to Yosemite to visit the waterfalls. They only had one night in the park, but it sounded like they made the most of it.

Poor Anthony is still asking about "my friend".

Anthony Says...

Anthony (completely unprompted): "There's no poop in my diaper."
Daddy: "Do you need a clean diaper?"
Anthony: No thank you."

Anthony (describing his cookie): "With sprinklers"

Poop (as a swear word)
Makes Mama so proud.

When presented with breakfast: "No, I want lunch!"

"Open Sestane" (To lift the "gate" while playing with trucks)

Anthony and Robert are playing together in Robert's bedroom. His mom and I were in the kitchen.
Anthony: "Help, Help"
Robert: "No help, no help"
(Of course I went running, Robert had climbed out of the crib, Anthony was stuck inside still, still calling help.)
Robert (puffing out his chest): "No help, big boy"
(Okay, I guess that one was more Robert than Anthony, but it still cracks me up. He can finally climb out of his crib now. Today after nap he asked permission to climb out.)

"Oh Man" instead of "Amen"
Particularly amusing given how many times Mama broke the 3rd commandment upon discovering that the refrigerator was no longer keeping food cool. Fortunately, our neighbor had plenty of space in her fridge for us. Darn thing is only 3 years old. Everyone says they don't make appliances like they used to, and they are right!


There's plenty more, I'll add them when they pop into my head.

Anthony's Plant

Anthony planted a pea seed at Elkus Ranch. Much to our surprise, it actually sprouted! Anthony finds his plant fascinating, though he just might kill it with love. I've had to replant it twice already.

Chopsticks

Tonight we took Beth out to Chef Chu's, our favorite Chinese restaurant for dinner. Anthony watched us eating with chopsticks and insisted on using them too. He did remarkably well. We left them attached at one end. Bob would stick a piece of chicken or noodle in between and Anthony could then feed himself.

Anthony was quite well behaved, I was pleased. He had remarkably good table manners, didn't shriek and was pretty darn charming as he tried to learn to use the chopsticks. He even found the little candy dish on the way out. Mama didn't even know it was there. A nice red lollipop finished off the evening. We'll have to go there again!

Bethie!!!

Bob's cousin Beth is visiting us for a few days. Anthony fell in love with her pretty much instantly. This morning when I walked into his room, the first thing he said was, "Where's Bethie?" Then he started crying real tears outside her bedroom door because he wanted her to come out and play with him. (Un?)fortunately, she woke up and came out to play.

Vertical Challenge Airshow

Today was Hiller's Vertical Challenge Airshow, an airshow devoted entirely to helicopters. I think it was one of my favorites. It was really crowded, which was stressful. But the weather was nice (chilly even) and the acts were all really entertaining. My personal favorite (Anthony's too) was Otto the Helicopter. We only saw the first half of the show; the second half was from 2 - 3, during naptime.

While we were waiting for the show to start, Anthony got to play in the bounce houses. He bounced in one house for awhile and then played in the bouncy jungle gym. The top picture is him going down a slide.

Marshmallow Shooters

Sarah conned Bob into making marshmallow shooters for the kids. He put together a kit which includes all the pieces and a cartoon with a schematic of assembly instructions. As you can see, Anthony decided that marshmallows were a tasty treat. He enjoyed shooting them, too. Afterwards he and Robert would go running off to pick the marshmallows off the ground to eat them.

For this month's front yard Friday we assembled 10 kits for the neighborhood kids. They were a hit!

Trip to Elkus Ranch

Saturday we went out to Elkus Ranch for their annual "Sheep to Shawl" day. It was a great day and I was really impressed with their program.

Let's see... What did Anthony get to do?

Well, he got to grind corn to feed the animals. While we were waiting in line Anthony watched intently. By the time it was his turn, he knew EXACTLY what to do.
He fed horses (horse food, not corn), goats, burros, rabbits and chickens.
He made friends with a rooster. Anthony totally digs the chickens, all the small people do. I think its because they are all the same size.
He spent a LONG time pumping water
He got to water all the plants in the garden.

Bob and I really enjoyed watching him water all the plants. He figured out pretty quickly how to fill his little watering can and carry it over to the vegetable beds. Once we got him watering plants instead of dirt, we could just relax and watch him play.

Our Gang

Summer finally arrived a few weeks ago. That Saturday, Anthony's and Robert's Daddies went flying ALL afternoon. Sarah instigated a front-yard beach day. Anthony was all for changing into his swim trunks, but the active waterplay scared him, so he sat on my lap and watched. He happily joined all the other kids for popsicles after.

(This isn't even everyone who was there playing. I can think of at LEAST four other kids who didn't stay for popsicles. There are over 30 kids under the age of ten on our block alone.)

Rough Night

Last night was all about nightmares.

Background... Anthony is a little on the cautious side. He has a few fears, including large dogs and bugs. He was stung by a bee last fall and still remembers it.

Yesterday we were playing at Ciaran's house when C got stung by a bee. We took care of poor C and then went back to our play. I didn't think too much of it.

Then at 12:30 or so this morning, Bob heard Anthony screaming, he'd had a nightmare. It took a little while but he got him back to sleep.

Then at 3:30, another nightmare. This time I could NOT get Anthony back into bed. He was very insistent that there were bugs. His sheets had small polka-dots, which probably didn't help.

Finally I gave up and brought him in to our bed. Even though we'd been rocking for almost 1/2 hour, Anthony wasn't relaxed enough to go back to sleep. He demanded water, stroked my hair and declared it was soft, and my personal favorite, complained that there wasn't enough room for him. Mind you, he had a good half of the bed to himself!

This morning I woke up first and he and Daddy were so cute all snuggled together.

Hopefully tonight will be better.

(I promise, we'll get pictures up soon. Definitely not buying another Dell product!)

Happy Birthday Mommy

After dinner at Fiesta del Mar, we went to the bookstore cafe where I met Bob the first time for dessert. Mom had warned me that Anthony expected to blow out candles, so I made sure to have a birthday candle and a lighter in my purse.

Good thing!

After the boys sang "Happy Birthday" we gave Anthony a piece of cake which he completely ignored! Instead, he yelled, "Again!" Evidently he wanted to sing and blow out candles. He did it at least five times. (We had enough sense to keep the candle on HIS piece of cake which was pretty much covered in spittle by the time the candle was burnt down.)

Funny Things

While we were eating dinner last night, Anthony pointed to a piece of gnocchi on his plate and said, "It misses its mommy."

I asked him where its mommy was.
He replied, "I ate the mommy!"

Still no pictures, computer still broken...

We went to the water park yesterday to go swimming. We could have gone to the public pool a mile from our house, but I thought Anthony would be happier swimming in the lagoon. I was right, it took him a while to ease into the water. He started off splashing in the water's edge, running a foot or two in (ankle deep) and running back, etc. He ended up coming all the way in and having a grand old time.

We played on the kiddie water slide on the way out. It took him a LONG TIME to work up the nerve to go down. Like, probably 15 or 20 kids went ahead of him while he was getting ready. He thought it was great, even though he got a face full of spray at the bottom. (The slide was about 4 feet high and had an even gentler slope than a playground slide.)

Another funny, "I want to ride THAT one" he says, while pointing to the upside down roller-coaster. I'm not quite sure what to tell him. I'm currently sticking with, "You're not tall enough yet." Its the truth. He's very insistent that he wants to ride the big rides.

What does Anthony do all day??

Frankly, its a bit of a mystery to us.

He doesn't really talk about his day much and the days of full summary are long gone. Basically, we figure out what he does at daycare by what he does at home that we didn't teach him.

Example: he learned a bunch of songs including the alphabet song.
Basic manners (Kathleen INSISTS on please and thank you)
Ring around the rosie

And our newest activity:
Duck, duck goose

As we walked out of the house this morning, Anthony was patting himself on the head saying, "Duck, duck, duck" It was totally cute!

They spend a lot of time doing free-play. Kathleen has a jungle gym, tricycles, a play house and tons of toys. When I drop him off in the morning his pal William comes running over with a truck saying, "Here's your truck, PLAY with me!"

No pictures. Bob's computer is VERY ill and will be at the doctor all week at least.

Mom--we're not buying another Dell product either.