Winter Water Play

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have a very up to date blog if I didn't have Jared. When I stated blogging Mark told me that he thought it was funny that I didn't start when we were in Egypt and doing all kinds of adventurous things. Speaking of Egypt I am glad I am not there now. makes me appreicate all that I have here in the United States.  We didn't live anywhere near where the protests are but I am sure my school would have been affected to some degree. Or maybe not since all their parents work in the ministry and they have all the connections they could ever need to get a good job.  In fact most Egyptian kids went to AIS so they would be meeting and interacting with the "right" people from the start.  (I just clicked on my own link and it was so weird to see pictures of kids I worked with as 4th graders in middle school! And its weird to see people you know on business websites) But I am sure the Egyptian staff at my school would have had lower numbers that day as buses probably couldn't get through or they were at the protests.
Anywho.  Back to the subject of this post.  Jared loves playing with water but it is too cold to do it outside and when I let him do it in the sink he just gets soaking wet so today I had him play in the master bathtub.  He thought it was great. I put him in his swim trunks, filled up a plastic storage container with water and let him go.  Of course I also had a space heater plugged in so he wouldn't freeze but it was almost like playing in a little wading pool.  Here is the cute kid.

 

 

 

 His form is really improving. 

We are both really happy that Mark is back.  I did way better at night then I thought I would so that made me happy. Fortunately there are no foreseeable times that I will be alone again so no worries.

24 hours

Mark and I both got a 24 hour bug this week.  It was vicious! I went to bed Tuesday night feeling slightly nausea with a bad headache.  Then I woke up at 4:26 and ran to the bathroom.  Disgusting.  Enough about that. So I spent all Wednesday trying to find any energy to interact with Jared.  He was such a good kid and did an amazing job listening and entertaining himself.  So then I wake up (randomly) at 4:27 Thursday morning exactly 24 hours from the first time I first threw up and felt all better.  How does it happen?  How does the bug automatically get out of your system in 24 hours?  Anyway.  Mark woke up with the exact same thing Thursday so he spent the day in bed.  I know he was feeling awful (obviously since I felt the exact same way the day before) but I would just like to say that I am much better at being sick then he is.  I guess that is why I am the one who has the children. 
Now Mark is in LA at his IB training for school. He left Friday at 7:35, exactly 24 hours and 30 minutes after he got sick also feeling all better. ( HOW does the body do it??) He will be back Monday afternoon. So Jared and I have been trying to keep each other entertained. Here are some pictures of him entertaining me with his beloved blanket.

 This one is right after he (unknowingly) completed a very nice downward facing dog yoga move.  He will often take his blanket and just lay down for about 10 seconds then he is up and running again.  I love watching him run.  His little legs are so cute.

He loves to cover his head with it and then crawl or walk around. He has had a few run ins with the wall  or counter but it doesn't stop him from covering up again and taking off. He also has been doing an impressive job on the one nap schedule.  He has taken a 2+ hour nap each day since we started the longest being 2 hours and 40 minutes.  I love having him on one nap. It's so great.  He is so fun but we are pretty excited for Mark to come home. I am pretty sure church will be really LONG tomorrow.  Mark is having a great time eating In 'N' Out and finding all the Brazilian restaurants he can in LA.  The school gave him a decent amount of Per diem so I guess he figures he should use all he has since they will not be giving him a raise anytime soon.

15 months

Jared had his 15 month check up Friday.  He is a happy healthy kid. He weighs 23.3 pounds (33 %) and is 32.5 inches (88%). So he grew 1.5 inches in the last three months.  The one thing that he is not doing is talking a whole lot. He still says banana and blanket (or his versions of them but they are pretty clear) and occasionally says mama and dada.  The doctor said that hopefully he will get more words by his 18 month check up.  He sure is cute though.  He definitely loves the freedom of being able to walk and run around. He is pretty fast too!  He gets that well known mischievous look that I think all toddlers get when you ask them to do something or to stop doing something. They make the look and run the opposite way or do exactly what they wanted to even though they know they are not supposed to. So I think besides not talking much he is pretty normal. He also learned how to climb up on top of our ottoman so I know many things will no longer be safe.  At church today a bishopric member commented on how of all the kids in the ward Jared is the easiest to make smile.  He is just a happy easy going kid and we are so grateful.  I think we will try the one nap bit this week and see how he does.  I sincerely hope it will be longer then an hour and a half.

 

In other news I had the most amazing day in Primary.  Every single person who has a calling in Primary that they do on Sunday showed up and our kids were SO reverent.  It was fantastic.  I needed a nice day like today after last week.  We will hope there are many more.  I also have every single calling filled for the first time since August.  It so weird to not be thinking about who could fill one.  I am so thankful and  love it!

Hanging from the ceiling

I think the ceiling is a very underused decorating spot. In October I hang ghosts, in January I hang snowflakes and I am thinking I will start hanging stars in the summer.  Well, I have been reading this AMAZING book full of activities for your toddler.  It's called The Toddler's Busy Book.  There is also one for Preschoolers. I love that so many of the ideas are done with things you already have around your house.  One of the ideas was to hang balloons from your ceiling to let your toddler play with.  So I hung some up yesterday and Jared LOVES them.  I love to hear him giggling and laughing as he runs into them.  I borrowed this book from the library but will totally be buying a copy of it.  It's that useful.

 I love my snowflakes.

Jared loves to play with the snowflakes on the banister its a good way to remind him to be soft.

Yep, those are Valentines Day decorations you see up.  So I guess I hang hearts and snowflakes in January/Febraury. I figure Valentines Day comes pretty early in Februarry so I need to decorate early and then St Patrick's comes early in March so I need to dcorate for it right after Vaentines Day and then there is Easter so I have to do it early to fully enjoy the decorations. My house is always so boring from May to September another reason I don't think summers are that fun but I might like it more this year since Jared will be able to go outside all day.

P.S. If you remember could you let me know how old your kids were when they went from 2 naps to 1? Thanks so much.

New Discovery

After New Years I always love to reorganize and throw out stuff. Well I always love to organize but I really like to once I put away Christmas decorations and the New Year starts.  So we did some reorganizing. We took the leaf out of our table downstairs so it now sits 4 instead of 6 and we pushed it against the wall so we now have a nice open space for Jared to play in downstairs. Since we now have a smaller table we put one of our dining room chairs upstairs in our room.  This made me really happy because now I could open the curtains in our room. I LOVE natural light and was always sad that I couldn't open them.  Before if I tried to open them the rod would extend as the curtain slid over eventually falling off.  Now that there is a chair I can stand on it and open the curtain from the top without moving the rod. Now that the curtain is opened Jared loves to go into our room and peek through the blinds.  This side of our house face a somewhat busy street and Jared loves to be able to look down on it.  It's cute.

 

 

Snow Painting!

I read about this idea a long time ago and have been waiting to try it out.  Our backyard gets basically no sun during the winter so the snow from a week and a half ago was still there.  Today was a nice warm day with no wind so Jared and I ventured out into the backyard to try our hand at snow painting.  I had a lot of fun and thought it was super cool but Jared wasn't too impressed.  He has never really been in the snow before so I think it sort of freaked him out.  He kept wanting to drink the colored water not spray it.  We will try it again after he has been in the snow a bit more.  I totally recommend it though for older kids who actually like the snow.  Its fun and simple.

This was probably after I took the bottle away from his mouth.
Better luck next time..