iMonster

Our 2-year-old is better at using the iPhone and iPad than I am, probably.

You'd be amazed.  She will walk up to Chris' phone or the iPad (if we forget to hide it), unlock the screen, scroll around until she finds You Tube or Netflix, and start up Dora or Mickey Mouse or Frosty the Snowman videos.

We've kind of created a little bit of a monster though.  A genius little iMonster who loves apple products. 

So we have had to start enforcing some ground rules.  If she asks (and it has to be nicely) to see the iPad or iPhone, we usually are able to get away with setting the kitchen timer for 10 minutes or so before actually letting her at the electronic of choice.  In the mean time, she is FORCED to play with her gazillion toys.  Poor baby.

When she hears the timer go off, she knows it is time. And off she goes, getting herself into Frosty or Dora or Mickey with a few touches of the magic screen.

Then, in order to avoid a major yelling-screaming-dramatic-freak-out-session when we say time is up, she has to be the one to push the circle button and turn it off.  It's all about structure and consistency when it comes to toddlers, right?

Even though she's our little iMonster, she is still happy playing the "old fashioned way" most of the time...non-electronic toys and all!

Weekend Wrap-Up: The 25 Month Old Edition

It is the 22nd. A certain toddler is now 25 months old!

We had a fun weekend. We also continue to get used to this terrible 2-year-old phase.  It comes with SO. MUCH. DRAMA.

Friday
Speaking of drama, this sums up my Friday morning.

Sometimes you just gotta laugh and take a picture.

I had already planned to drop Callie of at my mom's a little before nap time so I could have some "me" time.  She was, of course, just fine for my mom.  I got coffee, a pedicure, and some new clothes.  It was a lovely few hours for everyone involved.

Friday night we went to a carnival that Mari's boyfriend Josh recommended we go to.  It was great.  Callie got to dance a little bit, play a "snowball" game, and make a penguin bookmark.

Saturday
We headed to the condo on Saturday morning.  We went on a little outing to the Guthrie, so Cal could run around and be the well-cultured toddler that she is.

Endless bridge with Bops...brrr!

Hanging in the Guthrie

 That night we went to G-ma and G-pa's house and did lots of playing and reading...and even some tapping.

Playing with Lami

Reading with G-ma

Reading with G-Pa

Bandana hats with Daddy and Kona

Sunday
We had a SUPER fun outing this morning to the Como Zoo and Conservatory.  We got there shortly after it opened, so it seemed like we had the place to ourselves at first.  Callie had an awesome time seeing all the toys for the animals.  Did you think I was going to say animals?  Nope, she was way more excited about things like the balls in the penguin exhibit.  Or the toys in the monkey exhibits.

Daddy talking smack to the monkey

Hello Seal!

Big Polar Bear

The Zoo in the Winter

Callie and the Red Poinsettas

The rest of the day was spent relaxing at home.  We had a successful potty chair experience!  Nothing spells motivation for a toddler like Mickey Mouse on the ipad (while on the pot) and a sucker (reward for pee in the pot!).

Look Mommy.  I peed in the potty!

 Auntie Cat came over for dinner, so they had fun being silly together.

And the evening ended with the most gigantic blowout we've had in a long time.  (Back story: Toddler hadn't pooped for like 4 days.  So today I had the *genius* idea to put baby food prunes in the freezer and call it ice cream.  Toddler loved it.  3-4 hours later...success.) 

Tired

I haven't been home much (2 nights of conferences) to have enough material to blog this week...and now I'm tired.  And cold.  I know we have been super spoiled this winter, but dang.  It is cold out there.

Anyway, here are couple cute pictures of Callie with my principal's daughter, taken tonight when Chris and Cal stopped by to see me at work.

That's all I got. Hopefully my blogging writer's block will end with the long work week. I have another 3-day-weekend, so I'll be back to spending time with my muse.

Weekend Wrap-Up: The "How Do You Ask Nicely?" Edition

We are in the phase of I WANT WHAT I WANT AND I WANT IT RIGHT NOW!

It is fun.

So, we spent the weekend hearing a lot of "JUICE! JUICE! JUICE!" or "FROSTY SNOWMAN!" or "BOOK! BOOK! BOOK!" and we did a lot of "How do you ask nicely?"

Other weekend highlights:

Thursday
We had a fun birthday dinner for Grandma.  Callie enjoyed not being in her high chair most of the time.  She went on a lot of walks around the restaurant with multiple people at this table.

 

Friday
My first experience with a public toddler melt down.  We went to dinner with Dave, Cherilyn and Sydney and had a lovely time.

Then raisins were dumped on the floor.  Then a certain toddler didn't want to be in her high chair any more.  Than a certain toddler wanted to eat a raisin off the gross floor.  Then a certain Mean Mom said "No" and took it away.  Then a certain toddler screamed "Birds! Birds!" and FREAKED OUT.  (Backstory: Over the summer if we were eating outside and something fell on the ground, we'd say "It's okay, the birds will eat it."  It has stuck for anything that falls inside as well.)  And the freak out continued. Fun times.

Saturday
We laid pretty low.  Did some choo choo riding at southdale...and some playing at home.

Flying with Mr. Bear and Uncle Dan

Sunday
I wanted to try something new this morning.  So we went to Midtown Global Market, and it was so fun!  Lots of beautiful goods to see and food to eat from all over the world. And we also ran into Callie's pal George, who lives next door to G-ma and G-pa.

After a (short) nap, we stopped by G-ma and G-pa's house.  They found Chris' old Curious George toy!  We love Curious George!

The best part of of this weekend?  It isn't quite over yet!  Yay for Mondays off!

Multi-tasking

The question busy mothers struggle with all the time (at least, I do) is how to get it all in.  The mothering.  The work.  The laundry.  The exercise.  You get the picture.

I think I do a pretty good job with the mothering and the work.

Today I came up with a solution for the laundry and the exercise.

Step 1: Do a GIGANTIC load of toddler laundry (probably because you haven't done it for at least a month)

Step 2: Realize that you don't want to go outside for a run (too cold) or do a workout video (takes too long).  Realize (BRILLIANTLY) that you could bring the laundry up to toddler's room (2 floors up), a few at a time, and get exercise AND laundry put away AT THE SAME TIME.

Step 3: Go for it: Run those stairs, still wearing pajamas.

Step 4: Halfway through (while SERIOUSLY sweating) change into a running skirt. 

Step 5: (15 minutes later) Bring up the last few shirts and laundry basket.

Step 6: Bask in the glow of just burning approximately 221 calories, grab a Powerade Zero and look at your handiwork.

Try and ignore the fact that vacuuming will be in your future.

That, my friends, is what I call multi-tasking.

Happy Birthday Grandma!!!

We love you, Grandma!  Have a fabulous day!

Toddler Brain

My friend Melissa found this blog post:  approximately-3-minutes-inside-the-head-of-my-2-year-old a few days ago.  I don't know who that blogger is, but he hit the nail on the head when it comes to short-attention-spanned toddlers.

So I decided to use his idea but change it to:

Approximately-3-Minutes-Inside-the Head-of-Callie Joy

Here you go:

Each of these “emotions” lasts about 3 seconds.

1. I wanna play with Daddy’s phone.
2. Heyo-oh?
3. PLAY FROSTY SNOWMAN NOW! Pease.
4. I wanna play with choo choo set.
5. I wanna destroy choo choo set.
6. Is there anyone here with a phone I haven’t played with yet?
7. I WANNA TO PLAY WITH IPAD. Pease Ipad. PEASE!
8. I wanna hug Kona.
9. I wanna ride Kona. Horsey Kona.
10. I AM HUNGRY!
11. CHEDDAR BUNNIES.
12. I HATE VEGETABLES.
13. I want out of my chair.
14. Mickey Mouse. Ipad. PEASE!
15. I wanna go outside. No, I wanna play the keyboard piano really loud.
16. I wanna take my shoes off.
17. I don’t like the socks I’m wearing. TAKE THEM OFF!
18. I wanna play with Mommy's phone.
19. Tooters. No poopies.
20. Juice!
21. Not yellow cup! Pink cup!
22. Yes, perfect, pink cup. I’m gonna turn this upside down and get all wet and sticky.
23. Where’s Mommy?
24. Where’s Kona?
25. Hide and Seek!
26. Daddy hide!
27. Ca-yee count. One-two-free-four!
28. Ok, there’s Daddy. I want to play with his phone.
29. Dora! There's Swiper!
30. I just remembered I need puffs. PUFFS!
31. NO SOCKS NO SOCKS!
32. Wow, I’m starving. I want cheese.
33. Poon. No fork. No poon. Both.
34. WHY ARE YOU PUTTING MY SOCKS ON???
35. Oh look, a new person. I'm going to avoid looking at them at all costs.
36. I’m tired.
37. I’M NOT TIRED!
38. I wanna go for a walk. I mean run. Mommy chase me!
39. NO HAT! NO HAT!
40. Mickey Mouse! Ipad! Super Why! Ipad! Dora! Ipad!
41. Hee hee hee. Tooters.
42. Poopies. No potty. No poopies. Yes.
43. COOKIE!
44. STOP TRYING TO PUT MY SOCKS ON!
45. Hi Kiki. Hi Elvis.
46. Books! Elmo book!
47. I’m tired.
48. No sleepies. Passy sleepies.
49. Where’s that drum and saxophone?
50. I want my passy. BYE BYE PASSY. SEE YA YATER. **crying**
51. Put on my favorite song. No thank you. No thank you. No thank you. Yes that one.
52. Where’s Kona? Where's Kiki and Elvis?
53. I wanna dump out all my little toys Mommy just cleaned up all over the room. Again.
54. Ooopsies!
55. OW! OW! OW! OW!
56. I wanna see Daddy.
57. Sleepies. Passy. God Book.
58. I wanna play with Mommy's necklace.
59. Ipad. Super Why. DORA!
60. I yuv you Mommy.

So there you have it.  Three minutes inside the head of my 2-year-old.

Now, just for fun, here is 48 seconds of my 2-year-old having a jam session with her drum.