Tub Jumping and Feeding Connor

This afternoon we had Nick, Natalie, Chase, and Connor over to play. Pip and Natalie played "baby" for the longest time upstairs together which really perplexed us for a while. Pip said later Natalie was the "mommy" and he was the "baby" and she pretended to sleep in our bed while he pretended to sleep in the crib and then he would wake up and she would come in and get him out, read him books, play with him, and put him back to bed.

So it wasn't all rough play, but there was a lot of that too. The hot tub was filled with cushions from the old sofa and jumping commenced.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOgBAM5fUO4



Plus Vivie got to take a turn feeding Connor ... getting ready for MegaLou!

Building and Escaping

Today at Susan's Pip and Nick were scarce. But never in trouble. No fighting, no problems. Susan found them in the dining room -- dressed in their super outfits, working on this fabulous block creation. Lots of parking spaces for cars and trains. I was very impressed with their diligence!


Later, Phil and Pip were inspired by the snippet of Indiana Jones they watched last night and came up with this game. They had to grab a shoe from the sofa which would trigger the cushion (temple door) to begin falling and then run for their lives to slide out from under it before it crushed them!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqPLkuu-W84

Connor's baptism

This Sunday was a special day. Connor was baptised in Charlestown and I was so happy to be asked to be his Godmother. The baptism itself was very nice and Connor was a complete angel. He slept and cuddled all the way through it. Pip and Vivie had brought their "quiet boxes" which mostly kept them busy ... at least when they weren't climbing all over Phil adorning him with necklaces and sequined headbands (Vivie).

I didn't get any pics from the ceremony itself, but Mr. Chase got many of his own and maybe I'll be able to snag one or two from him.

Afterwards we did some playing at the Navy Yard ... on the anchors:





And in the park -- NO SNOW!!

Lastly we had a wonderful dinner ... where Katie sat Phil, Tom, and Jon at the kid's table with Pip, Viv, and Chase. Obviously, they had their hands full. There were two highlights for me -- one was when Pip spilled his glass of water and Chase was so truly and sincerely impressed and excited about this that he literally high-fived him and went over to every adult to tell them how Pip just spilled his water -- wasn't that awesome!!!! Second was how all the kids bonded with Tom so quickly. He was clearly a natural with kids and instead of stewing over being sat with the kids, rolled with the punches and talked Star Wars with a stuffed seal on his head throughout the dinner. Great to see him, sorry we missed Allison and their kids. They all but blocked his departure, poking and harassing him as he tried to leave the restaurant.

Curious Creatures

Pip's friend from the Y invited him to a birthday party this weekend. It was hosted in their church and a lady from Curious Creatures came to show them all sorts of creepy crawlies. First, though, a nice game of freeze dance (yes, that is Pip in his pirate hat, boots, and double shirt -- proudly dressed himself and don't you forget it!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aC0vodhegSU

Then we went on a critter safari and Pip found this awesome (plastic) beetle:


When it was time for the live creatures Pip sat right up close and watched it all but refused to touch any animal that didn't have fur, plus the tarantula whose fur was not appreciated. Snakes, no thank you. Frog, no thank you. Lizard, no thank you. Chinchilla, yes please! Skunk, yes please! Alligator, NO THANK YOU!

Indoor Tether Ball

I'm not sure who came up with this idea. I think Pip asked Phil to hold up the bouncie so he could punch it and Phil's eyes lite up with a grand idea. Shortly the ball was suspended from the loft by a few connected bungie cords and indoor tether ball was born. Great fun!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMOph6haLrk

Only downside is that the bungie cords can separate and cause lots of frustration. Plus you get whacked in the head with the ball often. While this would be a deterrant to me, Pip and Vivie don't seem to mind much.

The Doctors Balas

This week Pip woke in the night saying his ear hurt. He never does that so I gave him ibuprofen and called the doctor first thing in the morning. We switched to the office of our Pedi in our new town and were VERY happy with them. Got back to me quick, saw us right away, even gave us our first dose in the office. Very efficient and easy. Before we went Pip and I role played a bit what the doctor would do (check his ear) and would not do (give him a shot) so he would be at ease.

The next morning before school Phil reported that Pip and Vivie continued the doctor game with him as well. After some coaching, the new and improved game went like this: They sat him on the sofa and Vivie came out with a piece of paper with "DAD" written on it. Vivie would say "The doctor will see you now". Phil would go in and Pip would check his blood pressure, heart beat, ears, etc ... and eventually give him a shot. Very cute.

They night they played with me too and even Vivie traded places and was the doctor too. Here I am getting all checked out.

Toys in Timeout

Sometimes I run out of energy to convince Pip and Vivie to clean up their toys. When this happens, I go to the "Toys in Timeout" strategy. I warned Pip early in the day that whatever toys he got out had to be cleaned before he went to bed or they were going in timeout. Vivie got the same lecture.

I reminded Pip a few times during the day ... and he would all but turn and walk away waving his hand over his shoulder at me ... if he know the word "NAG!" he would have used it. Vivie takes his lead so her reaction was the same.

This is what I did when Phil took them to bed. The Clics, Legos, pirate ships, cooking toys, markers, remote car, shooter gun, and lots others were piled up on the sidebar with a little sign "In TIMEOUT until Thursday AM".



Pip missed them occasionally, but really didn't get too torn up! Whether it helped his cleaning has yet to be decided, he's still hot and cold about the idea.