My Superheros are 4 and 6!

Last Saturday we celebrated the boys' birthday with a superhero bash.  It was tons of fun, honestly.  I think i found the perfect birthday-party-at-home formula.  Drop-off for all the parents that aren't your closest friends so you can focus on the party and not entertaining other adults; add 6 family and friends that know their way around your house, pitch in without asking, and have lots of simple but fun activities.

After briefly flirting with a CareBears party a few months back the boys chose a superhero theme for the party.  I started doing some online research and compiled some great ideas that guided our party*.

It came down to the last minute, but the boys finally let me take their picture, outdoors, in decent light, in full superhero regalia.  I used this, along with picnik to create really simple invites which i printed at home on photo paper i found at the thrift store (4 in stack of paper for .80$!)

Guests arrived and their custom capes were draped over the back of their chair.  They could choose any color arm warmers they wanted, along with a mask.  I intended for them to color and decorate them, but not so much.  There was also batman coloring book sheets, word puzzles, etc. on the table which kept 3 kids totally occupied and happy.  The other 9 ran around like superheros of course!

The party started at 11 am and by about 11:30 we headed upstairs for the Superhero Training Academy.  There was the "batcave" of course, in which each child had to crawl through a tunnel and retrieve a glow stick from the inside of the cave (small tent in a closet).  Another spot was Spiderman's Web-Jumping practice and finally there was "spray the villians."  I think all a hit.  We put the kids into two groups-- the younger ones and the older ones and roughly rotated.

Then it was back downstairs for lunch at almost noon.   Hotdogs, fruit, veggies, cheese and crackers.  Nothing cute, just easy finger-food which provided something for everyone.  Because while almost all kids love hot dogs, Silas does not. ("They make my breath smell stinky.")

I believe there was a little free play and then an impromptu dance party which was a huge hit.  We played freeze dance with two songs and the kids had a blast.  Definitely going to work this into all future parties.  At this point i lost track of time but it was about time to head down for the pinata.

 The weather was really terrible and the only upside was that it was predicted that way well in advance, so we didn't even try to set things up outside.  The cape pinata was awesome, but i need to remember that all those kids are stronger than i think.  A few didn't get a chance to whack it, but all was forgotten by the time they were scooping up candy.
A visit from the cupcake thief who claimed to have eaten all the cupcakes, and then it was time to head upstairs for happy birthday and cupcakes.  We had about 20 minutes after the kids finished eating and i realized i had forgotten one activity.  So up the stairs we went again.  Each kid got a unique superhero card, they had to find 3 more just like it hidden all around the room.  I set it up as a cooperative game, there was no prize for finding them fastest, you just got to keep the cards, and help the others that couldn't find there's yet.  Sorry Owen, we still haven't found your 4th card!

Then back down for good and right on time the drop-off parents came to retrieve their precious little ones.  Everyone got a "goody bucket" with their glow sticks, gloves, mask, stickers, little superhero blank book, and their notecards.  They also got to take a balloon-- one or our birthday traditions.  And don't forget the capes!

*
Superhero images for notebooks and notecards
Goody bag idea
Capes, Hats and Arm Warmers
Invitation idea
Homemade notebooks
Paper bunting
Superhero Training Academy, including spray the villain



 

Right Now

:: celebrating Silas' last day as a 3-year old
:: anticipating his 4th journey around the sun tomorrow
:: planning a whole day in pajamas with nothing on the docket but playing with new toys, friends, and eating the birthday boys' favorite meal, pesto!

Travels

Tuesday when i was talking about my trip to Atlanta this week i told the boys I would take them to school on Wednesday morning and JT would pick them up in the afternoon since i'd be going to the airport. Henry said "i don't like it when you travel." It wasn't particularly emotional, but he said it and it was negative which both hurts a bit and is a turning point. Previously he and Silas both have been largely nonchalant about my travel. I know it's not easy, it certainly asks JT to shoulder a full-time parenting burden for a few days, but i also know the kids are in good hands. By all accounts they've done great while i've been away this visit. I now call and talk to both boys before they go to bed which tells me that Silas is definitely getting older. Nevermind the conversations seem to focus a lot on booboos and what they had for dinner, but the both chatter away-- Henry with his "Mommy i want to tell you something" and Silas with his "Mommy. Mommy? Mommy!" Even as i'm answering each request with a "yes Silas?"

I'm looking forward to being back Friday night and not travelling again until early August when i bring the boys with me and we go on vacation!

Three (attempted pool visits)

Summer is finally here. It seemed it would never come and then just in time for my aunt and cousin's visit-- we had 90 degree heat and the unrelenting jet engine of our air conditioner. We did get to take them downtown to see the Lake and some of Chicago's great parks. Henry had wanted to see Buckingham fountain ("big water" by Silas' naming) and they had a lot of fun in the Crown Fountain-- doing a bit of splashing. JT bundled them home for naps and the rest of us did some walking on Michigan Avenue and then took the Architecture tour on the Chicago river. It was hot and sweaty, but fun to get downtown. I do have to say that until Silas is another year or two older i think that was the one big "downtown" outing for the summer.

He wanted in the stroller, or out, or to walk, or to be carried, or none of the above. He had fun but he also was grumpy and he's just impossible to reason with. I can only presume he'll at least get more rational as he gets older but i guess i should be prepared that his stubbornness will not subside.

Today we took the boys to the park for a bit before Tammie and Morgan headed off to the airport. Then i took Henry to swim lessons (i'll write more about that next time) and after naps i took both boys to the baby pool. Now i'm sufficiently exhausted and ready to get the boys to bed, eat dinner with JT and catch up on a few tv shows and 6 enormous baskets of laundry!

Picture Roundup

I know i've been light on pictures lately so rather than relating much i thought i'd just peg some escapade retelling to what was on the camera.

Silas and Henry play together a lot now. Which means some cute moments like this and about 100 other hours of Henry pouncing on something Silas was just playing with and yelling mine, Silas countering with "mine!" ensuing tug-of-war and then Silas crying or whining. Seems like an age-old story doesn't it-- any ideas for changing the dynamic entirely, i.e. make this kind of interaction stop? If not, lets just enjoy the sweet brotherly love pictures. Oh yeah, forgot to mention Silas had an asphalt burn-- he fell at school. It healed pretty quickly-- it looked terrible but was pretty shallow. It went away several weeks ago but he still talks non-stop about his boo-boo and points to his nose.



We recently finished another round of sticker charts with Henry. The primary purpose was to "re-program" him away from the middle-of-the-night visits that were becoming routine. We also managed to throw in getting dressed on his own and picking up his toys at night. Ice cream (that he got to pick out) was the big end of week treat!



We had a lovely visit to the zoo with Marc and Jessica and Gabe. I never get good zoo pictures so here is Henry looking okay and a meerkat in the way background. In the same exhibit were the giraffes but Henry preferred the meerkats.



And finally, here is Silas enjoying two of his favorite things-- his house and blowing kisses. Currently the "guys" he play with in his house include an alien, an astronaut, a firehouse Dalmatian dog, and a dinosaur. I brought him two little people tonight-- a female mechanic and moses-- he threw them across the room and wouldn't let them in the house.

Babys and babas and george, oh my!

Very, very busy lately. That delicate balance between work and home was pretty much obliterated this past week. I traveled to DC Wed afternoon for a two day training. The days leading up to the training were frantic work days with many extra hours logged in the evening. I was stressed, i didn't get to work out, and in general it was not how i like to spend my days. We're still busy but i'm really hoping that things will be back to normally busy this week. I've got another training (and another trip) in two weeks, but it's one we do each year to there isn't as much prep for it.

The boys seem to be doing just fine. Brenda was closed Mon-Wed so they spent two days at another home daycare run by a woman i've met through the parent support group for our elementary school. All reports were that they were very happy. She's said to let her know if we ever need back-up care which is a great resource to have indeed.

Henry has thrown out a few funny sayings lately. Last weekend a few minutes into quiet time he knocked on his door. When i went to see what the problem was he said-- "what's that noise?" I told him it was the Cuisinart and he said "well i was curious about that noise." Later that day he came in from sitting on the porch with JT as i was drawing his bath and said something like "Mom, the point is, that i need to watch George after i take a bath." I assumed JT has used the expression but said Henry worked it into his dialogue all himself. He's a talker that one.

Silas is great; funnier and sillier than ever. But also really not liking going to sleep nowadays. I must take a picture of his crib. The "usual" includes his two life-size baby dolls, a small stuffed baby, his original lovey bunny and backup bunny, a small curious george doll, an oversize george book, 2 (of the same) kitty books, a small george notebook, and two other normal sized george books-- as well as the cat book he got for his birthday. Plus, on any given night he picks something else he *has* to have in bed with him. Last night we fought a major battle because he wanted to sleep with his school bag (!?) JT and i felt with it's handles it was just too much of a safety threat but the poor thing was crying and sobbing hysterically as if his comfort hinged on the school bag (something he's never, not once, mentioned at any other point in his life.) And don't forget, he has to be covered-up with two special "ba-bas" (blankets). Problem is he says "two" for everything and now he's up to 3-4 blankets for him to be satisfied. I'm worried he's going to be a hoarder later in life. Anyone think this is normal?

Almost Summer 2009

Last week i was reminded why the park by our house is really one of the best. Sure it has some bigger kids that can get out of hand on weekdays, but it has shade, lots and lots of shade. The bigger park we've been going to lately without the big kids and with a huge sandbox is lovely when it's 70. Last week when it was 82 i took the kids on the way home from work and after about 15 minutes Henry was asking to go home. They had spent a long day at the park at daycare and the water for the drinking fountain hasn't yet been turned on. So we played a bit, picked up sticks under the few trees at the park and called it a day. It was a good reminder to keep a bag packed in the trunk in the summer with sunscreen, hats, and water bottles (well those have to be filled fresh).

Today was day 2 of our 3 days of Memorial weekend BBQs. This one was at our house and very small. Even with just 3 families of us there were kids a plenty but they had fun, played well together and we didn't freeze even though by the early evening it was definitely cold enough for jackets. Henry and i sneaked out to a local carnival while Silas napped today and Henry had a blast! It was really the first time he's been on rides that i can think of (other than an odd carousel here or there). Some things were a little scary for him but in general he loved it and at the end of the day he said his favorite was the one he kept saying "was too scary for me!" It was a nice impromptu visit that we shoehorned into a busy and fun day.

One last vignette from the weekend-- unfortunately without any pictures. I've talked in the past about it being more of an "organized equipment rental" rather than a "class" but this time was totally different. There was a new coach and he actually led them in a class. He started out by hitting them balls, alternating where they went so that the kids got into the rhythm of waiting for a ball to come in there area rather than all running after the same ball. This was crucial for Henry. Previously he had hated "fielding" because he never gets to the ball first and this oftentimes prompts him to throw his glove and storm off the field (something we're clearly working on.) Next up was hitting until the coach realized the kids really needed to figure out the bases. So he made them line up and run the bases several times. Then back to hitting but he had everyone in the outfield and each child come up one at a time. He helped them with their stance and how to hold the bat. Really-- was this so much to ask from a class? I'm just hoping that guy is there next week. If we can keep him for the last few weeks of the class, i think Henry will really get something out of it. Next up are swim lessons that start in the middle of June. I've decided my philosophy right now is to try to have him try as many different activities as possible. I figure this way it broadens his skills and also lets him decide later what he really likes and wants to focus on.

Preschool Update

From April 2009

Around the last time that i posted i had almost figured out Henry's preschool for the fall. And then i went to register him and things started to unravel again. The temporary plan i had for Henry to have quiet time while i finished my work-day after his preschool session somewhat fell apart when the preschool aide that was registering me asked what i would do when i traveled. Hmm, what would i do when i traveled?

At this point i started reconsidering everything-- including Henry and Silas' daycare. I was feeling absolutely terrible and thank goodness finally got around to calling Brenda to talk about the situation. Again she proved she's the best daycare provider ever. She listened and pretty much immediately agreed to take Henry back and forth to school every day. What more could i ask for? So crisis averted and now come fall we're planning to apply for both kindergarten and preschool for Henry and Silas so that hopefully we have a few more options.

So now Henry is enrolled in the afternoon session of preschool and if there is an opening we'll get moved up to the morning session. He's excited about his new school and he'll get a chance to ramp-up his social skills which are okay but not amazing.

We had his 4 year appointment last week and i also realized that it took awhile but we really love our pediatrician. My two concerns with Henry were his social skills and his physical development. We got a recommendation for a Pediatric therapist to have him assessed. Socially she thought he sounded like a normal but shy kid. We're going to work on prepping him for more difficult social situations and if we don't see some improvement, especially after he starts preschool we'll see about getting him assessed in that department too.

Just a small whine

I really love being an adult. No really. I was never one of those people that wished for the good old days of high school or even college. The central thing i argued with my parents about when i still lived at home was responsibility (and independence of course) and i've never thought-- gee, i wish i was back to having someone take care of me.

And then Friday happened and i found myself secretly wanting to say-- "but no one TOLD me," or "how was i supposed to know!" WAAAAH.

It reminds me of a conversation i remember having with my dad when i was little about how "i didn't know" is not a valid defense when you're breaking the law (strangely enough i've had a similar conversation with Henry without any prompting of my own). At the time i was stupefied about the implication. Imagine that you're on a road trip and you have to know the laws of all the states you're driving through-- what an insane obligation! How on earth did adults do it?

Friday i found out that I had seriously underestimated the preschool registration process at our neighborhood elementary and the only slot that we had managed to land (by the hair on our chinny chin chin) is for afternoon preschool. I started with feelings of shock and denial and got stuck in pain and guilt for much of the weekend. I hope that i'm jumping over some of the more "rock bottom" stages of grief straight ahead to "reconstruction."

Our (only) plan has always been to send Henry to the preschool at our local elementary. They offer a very good half-day preschool M-F and Brenda agreed to pick him up after the morning session and bring him back to daycare. Ideal. I knew that registration was in April last year and that last year the slots didn't fill up until summer because the school is generally considered "undiscovered"-- especially compared to some of the high-profile public schools in the nearby very wealthy neighborhood.

Although i had been watching the marquis and had called the school once or twice i didn't get concrete information on when registration had started until it had been going for two and a half weeks. Fast forward to Friday when i got a call from the teacher who said that indeed there was a slot for Henry but it was in the "afternoon" session which runs from 11:45 to 2:45. The teacher was good enough to strongly recommend i register for the afternoon session and put Henry on the waiting list for the morning, which i will do on Monday.

After i got off the phone however, i was shell shocked and continued to feel worse and worse about the situation as the day and the weekend wore on. How did i miss this? HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW? How much is one person supposed to be on top of at one time? I messed up big-time and i was angry at myself and mad that i was the only one mad-- how is it that Mom's are the one's that automatically have this responsibility?

JT was helpful in talking the situation through and trying to brainstorm what we could do about it-- look into registering at some other schools, looking into some local private schools, working something out with the afternoon schedule, etc. That night i sat down to research application processes at other nearby schools and found out that for most public schools the registration deadline is December 19th the year PRIOR to enrollment. Woops. Not even any other options. I emailed a couple of schools to find out if i could get on their waiting list and one preschool teacher emailed me back to let me know that i could be added to the waiting list but that they had 200 families on the list already and our chances of getting in were slim (you think!)

I think there is a realistic chance that Henry will get into the morning class. I'll find out tomorrow just how far down the list we'll be but i think we're close to the top. The office ladies were joking about how you'd be surprised at how many parents pulled their kids out once it got cold. If he doesn't get into the morning class i think we're going to have to try out a situation that isn't ideal. I'll take Henry and Silas to daycare in the morning at 8 instead of 8:45. Brenda will take Henry to school at 11:45. I'll pick Henry up at 2:45 and he'll come home and have "quiet time" until 4:15 when we leave to pick up Silas. Again, really not ideal but i think it's workable-- especially as i've had time to come to grips with this.

The only upshot to this whole situation is that now i know how the system works for kindergarten and when it comes time to register Silas for preschool. From now on, i'm camping out for everything...

What to expect from parks district t-ball

I can't say all parks district' 3-4 year old t-ball works like the class Henry is enrolled in, but Welles Park in Chicago seems to have the loosest interpretation of a class this side of the river. We missed class last week due to a baby shower and JT's meat pick up (another score for the Mazda 5--20 chickens and a 1/4 cow fit in the way back.)

This week we made it to class although it was held in the gym due to very soggy fields. The class really doesn't have an instructor-- the guy was at the front desk when we walked in but never came into the gym. The parks district provides the equipment and since it's a "parent/child" class, i think the idea is that the parents largely control the experience.

For $20 for 2 months of classes i can't really complain and the loose nature of the class fits Henry pretty well. He loves hitting and is getting pretty good at hitting the ball and not the tee. He also likes scooping up grounders with his glove. He is not so good at trying to catch balls in the outfield. Along with most of the other kids, he gets discombobulated if he goes after the ball and someone else beats him to it.

There's a large playground at the park which we've started hitting on our way out. Henry has gotten much more adventurous at playgrounds in the last month or so-- walking up steep slides, climbing up chain link ladders, jumping on the suspension bridges-- stuff that even at the start of the spring he was hesitant to do.

We managed to get some yard work done today and Henry and A got to play together some more. I'm hoping that she comes over frequently this summer. They play great together and Henry will stay outside and play much longer with a playmate.

I hope to download pictures from the camera soon but thought i would post an update when i had the time.

Birthday Success

So i hope to do a rundown on the pirate party planning I did for those that might be interested. I found lots of resources for getting started on the web and made some variations that people might like to see. In the meantime i thought i'd just give an update on the actual party- a smashing success i think.

From April 2009

The guests started arriving right before 4 and Henry was already decked out in his full-pirate costume. Silas wouldn't let me get closer than a 2 foot plank so even though he had previously enjoyed dressing up with the necklaces he did not sport any for the party. As the guests arrived they got decked out in their pirate duds and made their way to the spyglass decorating table. Oma helped them decorate with gems and stickers and they seemed to enjoy this. As more kids arrived people congregated outside since it was 70 and sunny that day.

From April 2009

JT had the food ready to go so after people filled up on chicago hot dogs, small hot dogs wrapped in pastry, potato salad and cole slaw we rounded up the kids for games. First we did a treasure hunt which i think was probably one of the high points of the party. I wrote a few clues that were stashed around the yard and after the last clue they found the treasure chest. The chest was filled with individual little coin purses i sealed with wax for each child with gold coins inside. After that we did a little walk the plank game.

From April 2009

Then, cake time and presents. People loved the cake and cupcakes (which we made when the cake didn't seem big enough). Guests were very generous with the gifts and the boys have been having tons of fun since then. It's a little crazy with a whole bunch of 3-4 year olds attempting to "help" each other open the gifts. For those that stuck around we all moved outside and Cullen organized races for the kids. Next year i'm just going to have Cullen run a "field day" for the birthday party-- he doesn't know that yet though.

From April 2009