Bedtime Book

I thought that I would share one of my toddlers favorite books. I was inspired to share this by my mother. On her recent visit, she saw the book for the first time. She was surprised that I would read my son poetry. Then, she looked through the book and wanted a copy for herself.  The book is Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost Illustrated by Susan Jeffers. The illustrations are perfect. My son likes to search for the animals hidden in the woods. It is a lovely way to introduce poetry to a child. I am curious if there are any surprising treasures on your child's book shelf?

Patricia

They Say the Darndest Things

I just wanted to share this..................as I was putting my three year old to bed last night, I told her that she could be or do anything she wanted to when she got older. Here's how the conversation went:

Mom: You know when you get older you can do or be anything when you grow up. If you want to be a ballerina or doctor or president - you can do it. You just have to set your mind to it.

My daughter: I want to be a elephant.

Mom: Okay anything except an elephant. :)

Fun with Food- a retrospective

Mealtimes are something that I never thought much about when I thought about what being a parent was going to be like. What I never considered was just how often infants and toddlers eat. My son and I have a lot of fun in the kitchen. He helps me cook, he sneaks bites of cheese, he tries to bite holes in the middle of the bread that I am trying to use to make his PBJ. It is a happy place. I hope that he remembers all the fun we had someday.

Here are some of our funniest food moments so far:

1. During the early days of learning to use a spoon, my little guy would cover himself in yogurt at lunch. The best time, I stripped him down to his diaper so that I could more easily hose him down. He was so covered in yogurt that it was even under his arm pits. You just can't have more fun than that at a meal.

2. When learning to use a cup without a lid my husband said, "Wow, those lids aren't just for keeping stuff in the cup. They keep stuff out too." While the little guy started dipping kidney beans that he had pulled out of his chili in his milk. (He then drank his "chili-milk" before we could stop him). He went on to dip many things in his milk including: eggs, grapes, chicken, and oranges.

3. The first time that the little guy realized he could open his PBJ and try to eat out the Peanut butter and Jelly without eating the bread. That was a fun mess.

4. His excitement when I showed him how to snap asparagus and throw them in a pot. Not to messy, but super fun!

I hope that toddlers everywhere are having so much fun with their food!

Patricia

Ravenna Playground is almost ready!

The parents living in the University Park, Ravenna/Bryant, U-Village and Blakely areas have been anxiously awaiting the new playground at Ravenna Park on 54th and Ravenna. The new playground has had a fence up around it now for months, but from a distance it looks completed. Every parent I've talked to is asking "What's Up? When is it going to be open?"

I don't know when the official "opening" is, however, I did walk past today and saw families playing on it. The fence was still up, so my husband and I were intrigued. How did they get in there? We saw the gaps in the fence, looked at each other and shrugged. I guess the less than moral choice won out, as even other parents can provide just the right amount of peer pressure for us to go check it out.

Its a great playground. After playing on it for a few minutes, we started seeing what was still incomplete. The bathrooms and community center are still under contruction. A pole topper is missing from one support of the playground. A section of fence needs to be installed (but better ideas include, another entrance to the playground or a shorter slides for littler people).

But the swings are great! The slides even gave me a bit of a tummy tickle on the way down. And the spinning things (don't know the name, but you'll know what I mean when you see them) are awesome! My husband got going on one too fast and experience some real motion sickness. Think a Tilt-A-Whirl meets Disneyland Tea Cup with more centrifical force, and you've got the recipe for some major dizziness.

So there's your sneak peek into North Seattle's newest playground. There a quite a few parents in the area looking forward to it. Cowan park on 15th and Ravenna is a long walk for many, and the Kids Club playgroun at UVillage is frequently very busy. Yay for a new playground alternative!

Now if only we could play on it legitmately.