Dying Easter Eggs

Anthony was a real pro when we dyed our Easter Eggs this year. In fact, he pretty much did it all by himself. (I mixed the dye.) He did require a little persuading to keep the eggs in the dye long enough to pick up brilliant color. He put the eggs in the dye with a spoon, then lifted them back out and into the egg carton. I was impressed at how superfluous my help was.

He got a pretty good lesson at preschool. The Thursday before Easter he came home with a homemade basket with a truly beloved blue egg inside. Bob took him to the airport to pick up Grandma and Grandpa and the egg came along for every bit of the adventure. In fact, Bob had to repeatedly get Anthony to stop cuddling his egg and put it back in the basket for safe-keeping. He happily ate it for breakfast the next morning!

Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt

Clearly I'm getting caught up on pictures from Easter. Better late than never!

Anthony throughly enjoyed our block's Second Annual Easter Egg Hunt. Unlike last year he knew EXACTLY what it was all about. He collected a nice big bagful of eggs. He was a bit disappointed though that some of the bags had junky toys instead of candy. (I don't like the plastic toys either.) Really, if it wasn't candy, he didn't care.

You can see in the top picture that Anthony is finally learning to make an "A" for Anthony. He wrote some O's on the bag for good measure, too.

Three and a HALF

Yes, the half is important! I think its time for an update. Let's see:

1. Anthony is getting a LOT more capable and independent. He pours his own milk, puts on his own shoes and buckles his own carseat. Woe to the parental figure who accidentally does this for him.

2. He's a lot more mature. Its probably a mistake posting this, but he's generally stopped running away. When we were in Denver earlier this month, he did GREAT at staying with us. When we were unloading the rental car and repacking, he just sat on the bench and enjoyed a treat. In the airport security line (a nightmarish time to run) he just followed directions. Last Saturday it was just the two of us at the farmer's market and he didn't run once.

3. He claims he can pump by himself. He hasn't actually demonstrated that ability but we hope its in the future soon. The kid can swing for hours!

4. No more naps by parental decree. If he does take a nap, he's up until 9:30 or 10:00 easily! Occasionally we use this to our advantage, but generally naps are verboten.

5. His grandparents (who hadn't seen him in awhile) think he's a LOT more verbal. Basically he carries on much more sophisticated conversations than he used to.

6. He is WAY into pretend play. Easter Sunday we played "Wizard of Oz" for over 30 minutes, maybe closer to an hour. I've witnessed him twirling his space station around as caught in a tornado, too.

7. Physically he just LOOKS like an older kid now. His legs are long and skinny and he just has a more mature look to him. I don't know his height or weight, but 3T clothes fit him well, although he has a few that are on the short side. I have a mix of 3T and 4T for summer. The 4T are huge, but the 3T won't fit in August!

Easter Bunny

We're busy getting ready for Easter. We had our block Easter Egg hunt, Anthony carried his palm branch at church today and yesterday we visited the Easter Bunny. Anthony thought he was quite friendly.

(We have more photos to post, but are setting up a new computer so it may take a few days.)

Wizard of Oz

Background: Anthony has been SERIOUSLY obsessed with the Wizard of Oz for MONTHS now. When I saw that the American Family Theater had a production at Villa Montalvo, I knew we just had to go. I was a little nervous when the show started and I realized that the musical numbers were NOT the ones from the movie. It didn't matter, Anthony was enthralled. He was just enraptured through the whole show. Afterwards the cast came out for a meet and greet with the kids. Anthony had brought his "Wicked Witch of the East" action figure** and I'm positive he got extra time with the actors because of it. He was pretty nervous approaching the Wicked Witch, but eventually he came in for a hug. (Of course, I didn't manage to get the picture.) This evening he was asking to go see it again. Alas, it was a one day engagement. We might take him to see the Broadway touring production of Mary Poppins this summer. I think he'd enjoy it, though the show is MUCH longer. (This one was only an hour long.) **Dolls are cuddled and loved. Action figures get houses dropped on them. This one is an action figure.

Bounce Bounce Bounce

The last morning of our trip to Colorado we took the boys to a local bounce house/trampoline place.

Boy did they have fun. Anthony must have jumped for an hour and a half straight. Well, that's not completely true, after awhile he complained about his tummy hurting. (Can't imagine why!) We took a break and played air hockey for awhile. It was fun, though the kids did NOT understand the point.

(The bottom picture is Anthony doing summersaults on the trampoline.)

More snow pictures

These were taken in front of the condo the day we arrived in Colorado.

It was a warm day and the snow was lousy, but Anthony didn't seem to care.

The next day we got a foot of snow. The boys were having a great time playing until Anthony did a total face plant. Then he decided to be done for the day.

Snow Fun

I've got a bunch more snow pictures coming up, but this is a start. Saturday morning while everyone else skied we took Anthony and Joshua to the "Critterland" snow-play area. They had this great merry-go-round thing that moved the tubes in a circle, a small sledding hill (that operated under Daddy power), a playhouse and a jungle gym. The boys had a great time playing, then we had lunch with Grandma and Grandpa and back to some more snow play. It was a great day.

Spring Sing Pictures

Here are a few more pictures from the Spring Sing. In the first picture the kids are all making their little flowers, it was quite sweet. After the concerts parents go to the kids' classrooms for snack time. Today's special snack was "fishing" for goldfish using pretzel rods and blue frosting. They seemed to really enjoy it.

Spring Sing

Today was the Spring Sing at Anthony's preschool. This time he was actually trusted enough that he didn't have a teacher sitting directly next to him! Of course, he did plenty of waving (to Mama) when he was supposed to be paying attention to Mrs. Mead. Oh well. We were very proud.

In case you have a hard time finding him in the crowd, he's the one with the green shirt. (Second row, third from the left.)

(I'll have still photos coming soon, as well as the photos from our trip to Colorado.)