All in a Wednesday

Did that really happen?

This morning was so glorious that I decided to take C Monster out to the playground instead of staying home and taking care of some tasks. He loves going to the park; he loves playing with the other kids; he loves the slides; he loves the swings; he loves the sand box - the only part he does not love us leaving.

When we were at the park a dad I know was there with his twins ( they are close to C Monster in age ) We were chatting all while keeping an eye one our kids when suddenly one of his boys (twin A) fell and started to cry; at the same time a group from a kindergarten was getting ready to leave when one of the women watching the group opened the gate twin B took a run for it. I had my back turned and did not really see what happened but the dad yelled at his boy to stop (all while trying to console the other one) twin B did not stop. I quickly asked him is that your son and said I'll go get him - and promptly retrieved him. My problem with this situation is that the 3 women that work the kindergarten did not notice a 2 year old walking threw the gate they were holding open without an adult - or worst they did notice and did noting about it.

Sometimes I wonder what people are thinking.

Rewards

I made a sicker reward sheet for C Monster last week. We wanted to find a way that he could see his good behavior to encourage it more often. He gets a sticker for the following things: brushing his teeth, trying a new food, taking his vitamins, tidying up, sitting on the potty - or anything else that he did that was extra helpful or special. I have not yet decided if it is working to entice him to do these things but it's not hurting and well he loves getting a sticker.

To make the sheet toddler friendly I made a large grid - one square for one sticker. I also made some rows and at the beginning of each row is an image of the task he needs to do to get a sticker. Last but not least I print them on old paper that has already one side used.

Science Center

Once again we made it to the Science Center today here is little clip of my favorite moment - C Monster practicing his motorcycle stunts.

C Monster Space - Living Room

We have a small house it's probably around 13' wide by 28' long - I am not kidding. Needless to say we do not have enough room to designate an area for C Monster alone - so his space is our space and we need to make it work that way. The biggest challenge is to keep the space clean that is were lots of storage bins come in play. As you can see these are the same bins that are in his bedroom that way I can easily rotate around his toys.

That being said he does have corners that are his in all our rooms. I have an old little table and chair set up beside our couch - I use this space to set up different activities for him. One day it might be puzzles the other crayons and a book or his abacus. The table and chair itself have history. My mother got the set plus one more chair from an old school in Moncton that was closing down (needless to say it is extra sturdy) the set was my sisters first; then passed down to me. My dad refinished the table and one chair (not the one in this picture). My mother kept the table all this time; the missing chair is at my sisters (she refuses to part with it) and the little white chair that is in the picture was my grandmothers chair for many years. My grandmother was a very petite lady and disliked all the chairs in her home because her feet could not reach the ground however this small child's chair was perfect for her. When she passed away last year we took the chair home with us - above the table is a painting of my grandmother this way she is always watching over C Monster while he plays in the living room.

I need to rant

Ok so an idiot cut me off today and I almost crashed into him - license plate BJBE 057. I was making a right hand turn unto Greenwood and well they decided to make a right hand turn from the middle lane right in front of me. I was frustrated - C Monster on the other hand though it was funny that mommy honked the horn and wanted to do it again.

Looking Forward To

Tea with my friends tomorrow and Grandmama visit on Friday.

Nursery No More / Toronto Life / Grandpa

Nursery No More

One of my readers requested a peek in C Monster's space how it is set up and so on. I though a great way to start the series on the Monster's space would be with his room. In the next few days I will follow this up with another post about his play areas in our home.

I uses the title for this section as Nursery No More because well his room definitely is no longer a nursery; the crib is long gone and so is the rocking chair and baby mobile. These have been replaced with a big boy bed and a reading corner.

I have to say if we ever have a second baby we will probably not use the crib; C Monster ended up co-sleeping with us until he was old enough to be on a mattress on the floor. When we first got the mattress he rolled off a few times and then that was that - he seemed to understand were the edge was and now pretty much never rolls out of bed. I have to say he is a pretty lucky boy this is a premium bed: all natural organic cotton mattress an sheets with shredded rubber pillows (matching mom and tot). The main large blanket is mine from childhood my grandmother made it; the knitted blanket at the foot of the bed was a gift from my sister and the 2 little throw pillow I made from 2 cloth bags we received with pj's from grand-mama.

I have to mention that the little rocking chair in the picture was found on the side of the curb - it was too cute to leave there.
















I use the same bins in C Monster room; the kitchen and living room to sort his toys; that way once every two weeks I can rotate the bins so that he does not always have the same toys downstairs. However we make sure to keep an abundant supply of books and puzzles in his room as these are his favorite before bed activities. The rocking horse was a gift from my mom and travel to Toronto all the way from Moncton - she found it at a yard sale for 2$.

As you can all see for yourself his nursery is now a little boys room...

Toronto Life

During my blogging hiatus I kept busy - and I also got interviewed for Toronto Life. If you want to take a look at the article - http://www.torontolife.com/features/totally-freaked-out/?pageno=1

Grandpa Roy

C Monster was trilled today to spend the afternoon and evening with his Grandpa. I love watching him interact with other members of the family - I think it's so important for him to know his grandparents. Maybe this comes from the fact that I probably spent more of my childhood at my memere's then any-where's else.

Grandpa also brought us to Mahar one of the locale Indian restaurants on the strip. C Monster is getting a bit more eventurous with food - typically he would have only eaten naan but today he had some samosas and barfi along with his naan.

Looking Forward To

Music Class.