A Weekend of Visitors

This year Jonathan, Michael, and I spent Thanksgiving by ourselves (Mom, Dad, Steven, and Stephanie spent the whole week on a cruise--jealous, yes I am). I think that any other week of being by ourselves would have been welcomed and even needed, but I was super, super sick AND it was a holiday week...and no holiday is meant to be spent without family. Our Thanksgiving dinner ended up being some homemade fried chicken compliments of Jonathan, mashed potatoes and of course green beans. Unfortunately Michael didn't want any of it...and I couldn't taste any of it...but I think Jonathan enjoyed it! =)

Anywho...we ended that uneventful Thanksgiving week with a weekend full of visitors. :)

On Saturday, the Andrews came by to visit for a few minutes. They were visiting their daughter's family in Fountain Valley. I don't think I personally have seen them since before Michael was born...so it was nice to visit with them for a bit.



Then...on Sunday, Uncle Hilton, Auntie Tammy, and Baba came by for a late dinner. They had driven from Arizona to San Diego to say goodbye and send off their son, Jacob, who is going to be gone for 6-8 months with the Navy. It was nice to catch up with them a little too. I hadn't seen Uncle Hilton and Auntie Tammy since Paul and Jennie's wedding and Jonathan had never met them. It was also nice to see Baba again. Of course, she didn't remember who I was, but she and Michael and fun playing together.







Happy Late Thanksgiving!

Take 2: "Stepping Up Storytime"

We almost didn't go to the Library this morning because Michael has been fighting a cold the past few days...but he seemed to be in much higher spirits and was much less boogery, so we went.

We arrived a few minutes late, but when I sat down on the rug, to my surprise--Michael decided he wanted to sit with me. For the first 10 minutes we were there he either sat in my lap or stood right in front of me and was very attentive to the lady leading the group. Today she read "If You Give a Moose a Muffin." After those first 10 minutes he decided he had enough though and made his way to the back of the room like last week.

Instead of making his way to either of the tables or wooden toys, he went to the shelves.



He selected a book and proceeded to sit on one of the soft chairs to read it.



However, that is when the balls came out and he quickly changed his mind about being anti-social and went over to join the fun.





After they put the balls away and did a wiggle song, out came the toys. He was quite the terror this week. Several different kids were playing with blocks around the room. Each one was creating a tower of some sort and Michael decided that it was his job to knock every tower he saw down...often doing so by diving into them.



I suppose this is my fault considering we build towers and knock them down at home--and we clap and laugh after doing so...whoops. We should probably stop doing that...

Anyway...take 2 of Library Storytime felt like a success. We'll keep going. :)

"Stepping Up Storytime" at the Library

I knew they had "Storytime" programs at the library, but I haven't really taken the initiative to actually go with Michael...shame on me. My mom brought home a flyer yesterday and I decided it was time for me to be a better mother and test this out. Michael loves books--particularly "The Nose Book" (thank you Auntie Diana)--and I figured this would be a good introductory experience to the library.

The storytime program they have for children 12-24 months is on Tuesdays at 11am. Michael is still adjusting to the time change and he almost fell asleep on the way over today, so I feared for the worst--a grumpy Michael who would be screaming and running around the library. When we walked in, he thought the fish tank was pretty cool. I think he would have stood and stared at that for a while had I not nudged him along to the next room. We took our seats on the rug and within a few minutes there were a good 25+ kids in there with their parents. Michael seemed to be immediately intimidated by the sudden rush of people and therefore DID NOT want to sit on the carpet or in my lap for that matter. So this is what we got...

Everyone else...



Michael...






I finally convinced him to come back to the rug (and when I say convinced, I mean I carried him back against his will) and he enjoyed himself for about 30 seconds and clapped along with the group as they sang a song.

But then...



...the cars going by on the street caught his attention.

And then...





He didn't even care if I was with him! He just wanted to sit on the cool little chairs and play by himself.

They later brought out a bucket of balls to play with and that's when he decided it was time to participate. He loves balls. And then for the last 15 minutes they played music and let the kids play with a bunch of toys. Michael kept going back to the bucket of balls of course.

So...the thing he enjoyed most about the library was playing with the balls. ;) I was a little surprised that in the 45 minutes we were there they only read 1 book to them. I guess it makes sense that they would spend more time with songs and rhymes considering it was geared towards 12-24 month old children, but I was surprised nonetheless.

In Michael's defense, being surrounded by all those kids and parents was quite intimidating--and chaotic once the toys came out. He's used to being around a much older and smaller crowd at the Peterson home. But being around other kids his age will be good for him...we're going to try it out again next Tuesday...wish us luck!

WW: Splish Splash...Takin' a Bath

Halloween and the Irvine Pumpkin Patch

At the beginning of the month of October, Claire told me about a nifty Pumpkin Patch they have at Irvine Park. I have been so jealous of Jennie and James these past few years... ;) Claire, Michael, and I originally planned to go on the 18th, but then the whole ovarian cyst rupturing incident occurred and we decided to postpone until the 25th. So...last Monday we ventured to Irvine Park. The Pumpkin Patch was just behind the little train station they have at the front of the park. We didn't see the entrance right away and we went all the way around the gated off Pumpkin Patch area before we ended up right where we started. Michael thought it was pretty cool that I let him walk without being restrained and rather than walk around he pretty much ran everywhere he went.





At first he had no interest whatsoever in the pumpkins. He did like the cardboard cut-outs and thought it was mighty fun to stand on a bale of hay and stick his head in the openings.



We finally found a little pumpkin that Michael could sort of lift and that we could afford. I assumed the pumpkins would be more expensive than the grocery store...but wow...a lot more expensive!






**Gotta love all my funny faces... ;)

We put the pumpkin in the car and then decided to go for a ride on the train. Michael didn't enjoy waiting for the train, but once we were on it, I think he thought we were at Disneyland because he sat in my lap and stayed fairly calm. He even pointed at tree and said "tee!". He's been doing that more and more often lately. ;)

After the train ride we went to the zoo. Michael wasn't quite ready to feed the goats...every time the goat's mouth came near his hand he pulled away very quickly. Maybe next time. Thank you Claire for suggesting going to Irvine Park and for taking so many fun pictures! I'm so bummed we didn't get any with you in them!

We didn't have time to carve the pumpkin until Halloween night...but we did it. I really thought Michael would be more interested in diving into the pumpkin guts, but like the birthday cake, he didn't really want anything to do with it. He finally stuck his hand in the bowl I was putting the seeds and such in and he quickly grabbed a seed and popped it in his mouth. I watched--anticipating the funny face he'd make as he spit the slimy thing out...but no...he ate it...and went in for more.

Gross...





The final product:





I know the post is getting long, but just a little more and I'll be done. ;) We had a ward Halloween Party on Saturday night and we decided to dress up as a family. Michael was a Zoo Keeper, and Jonathan and I were elephants at the zoo.





The funny thing is that Matt, Breanna, and Kaelyn Stevens had a similar getup...



Matt and Breanna were Aviary Keepers and Kaelyn was a parrot. :) Great minds think alike, right? ;)

Michael was still too little for most of the games they had for the Primary Children, but it didn't take him long to figure out how to trick or treat in the parking lot. He was so cute going from car to car with his cheesy grin!





Free candy...not that difficult to understand...

Happy late Halloween!