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FFM slept in today, until just after 8am. Bliss. It's also a Friday off for Travis so it was bliss for all of us.
Travis fed him breakfast, so I got linger in bed a little longer. Then our Xcel Energy Auditor arrived and we all got distracted giving and getting him information so we can learn about how to make our house more energy efficient. Now it's 10am and I'm just getting around to my breakfast.
I normally have a bowl of cottage cheese with some flax seed meal tossed in (for my omega-3 since I don't like fish). But today I was extra hungry, schedule last night made for a light dinner, so I added a piece of peanut butter toast.
FFM comes scouting around and asks for a bit of my toast, so I gave him one. A few minutes later I hop up to check on the Auditor and come back to find FFM has swiped my toast and is sitting in his chair happily munching away on MY breakfast! I (nicely) swipe it back which causes much distress.
"Mommy, we can share?"
"No, F, this is my breakfast. You had your breakfast and snack."
"We can share? Please?"
"OK, you can have just one more bite."
FFM proceeded to take a bite that would have made his dad, King of the Really Big Bites, very very proud. HALF of my peanut butter toast disappeared into his mouth! And it was a big piece of homemade bread!
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Sofa Pillow and Blanket Forts
When I was growing up my brothers and I made forts. All the time. Creating our own hideaway space was the ultimate in imaginary play. Our forts were made of pillows stolen from the couch and various blankets Mom would let us play with draped over said pillows and occasionally an overturned rocking chair or card table. We moved a lot so occasionally there would be really big boxes, like new appliance boxes, to tunnel around in. I remember one move my Mom even taped a bunch together, got out the paint, and made us a cardboard playhouse.
But check THIS out (found on Cool Mom Picks today).
Perhaps a bit over the top, but what FUN! Custom made card table covers for your very own fort/play house experience. I also like the library version, complete with books you can check out and shelve...
But check THIS out (found on Cool Mom Picks today).
Perhaps a bit over the top, but what FUN! Custom made card table covers for your very own fort/play house experience. I also like the library version, complete with books you can check out and shelve...Find the nifty card table forts at Imaginative Play Toys.
On a totally separate note, FFM got signed up for preschool today. Back when we were in Perth still, but knew we were headed back, I contacted a local program that I thought was pretty good on 'paper' (the internet and my memory of the area) and negotiated a spot on the waitlist (even without any idea of when we'd be here, exactly where we'd be living, when we'd be able to start, etc). We talked about waiting since our elementary starts preschool at age 4, but F's been ASKING to go to school. And ride the school bus, which still won't happen for a few more years. Although after I told him today he'd have to ride the bus by himself, without Mommy or Daddy, the ride-the-school-bus demands have dropped a notch or two.
Anyway, he can start in June during their summer program. It's a nice flexible program and since we'll be gone for a bit in July we can take the month off without paying or losing our spot (yippee!) and then in August the 'school' term starts. Yikes! A true preschooler. Like everyone says, it just goes so fast!
Monday, March 8, 2010
One Heck of a Detour
There's a big hole in the road just west of here. It's not going to affect our driving anytime soon, but the way Colorado mountain roads go it's a bit of a hassle. 
There are some places in Colorado where there just aren't a lot of roads between cities/towns, especially when you get into the mountains. Today there was a big rock slide on a piece of I-70 in the canyon between Glenwood Springs and Dotsero. This is about 40 minutes west of where our family's mountain house is.
It's going to take a long time to fix this, up to a week, which is major. The detour is no laughing matter. Say you were staring at Vail, just a little ways east of Dotsero. Normally your drive to Glenwood Springs would be about 60 miles, or about 45 min on the interstate. The detour takes you all the way up and around the northern part of the state (roughly through Steamboat Springs to Craig to Rifle for those of you who know your CO geography). Now, according to Google maps, the drive will take you nearly 6 hours and is 234 miles long on mostly 2 lane twisty roads. Ugh.
And because Travis always likes a little bit of trivia - this stretch of I-70 was the last major piece of the originally planned (started in the 50's) Interstate Highway System to open to traffic when it was completed in 1992. Construction on the 12 miles through the canyon took 11 years (I remember the delays as we all took turns on the one lane that was open) and state university engineering programs had temporary classrooms out on site.
Friday, March 5, 2010
In the Woods
If you are the Mommy who gets to teach a toddler to pee in the woods because you're at the park and there's no potty in sight, don't forget to have him take his mittens off.
Lesson learned.
Lesson learned.
Monday, March 1, 2010
What We Do Between Appointments
Someday, someday, we'll have less PT to go to (already down to just 1x per week and it's made for more Mommy and F time) and fewer doctor appointments and less of the sort of crummy stuff that's cluttered our lives the last few months. We do manage to squeeze in some fun stuff every once in a while though...
Like our friend Haaken. The few who know how F and Lexie and Ava played will appreciate his friendship with Haaken. They have that easy play style where they just get along, no fighting or problems with sharing, have and lots of cooperative play. It's that dream playdate where as a parent you can sit back and enjoy watching a couple of kiddos learn from and teach each other. He lives farther away than Lexie and Ava did so we don't get to see him as often, but boy oh boy F sure hops around on days he knows we'll see Haaken.
It's still winter here. Snowy. There's a snow pile in our back yard that's been there since October. I don't EVER remember a winter like that. However, I hear stories that the winter of '06-07 was like this, we were off gallivanting around Ireland and Europe and missed it. Normally snow sticks around Denver for, oh, a day and then is gone. Over the last couple of weeks we've had a serious of little snows and I've just ignored the piles of snow on the deck. FFM asked if he could go outside and 'shobel.' Absolutely! Hmmm, in about two years I think I'll have a hard time getting him to go out and do this...
He also got a nifty hat from Grammie PenPen that he finally decided to wear. She picked it up on her trip to Peru last year and she kindly sewed a fleecy liner in it so it would be nice and soft.
Grammie PenPen is here again for a couple of days along with her friend Ruth Ann. We all went up north to the Butterfly Pavillion today. Two giant busloads of field-trippers unloaded just as we got there and they were eating lunches. FFM was POSITIVE he needed to sit down with them and eat his snack.
The Butterfly Pavilion is a pretty nifty place. There are exhibits with all kinds of insects, and they're all right at kid height or have step stools nearby so little guys can tap on the glass. The giant millipede was popular as were all the hairy spiders. FFM was disappointed that you had to be 3 to hold Rosie the tarantula, but was quickly appeased by the on-the-ball handler who gave him a giant sticker.
Of course the big draw at the Butterfly Pavilion is the tropical garden full of, yup, butterflies. This room is fantastic this time of year (it's REALLY dry in Colorado) because it feels sort of like you're suddenly transported to, say, tropical Mexico or Queensland. Nice and warm and humid. If you're lucky a butterfly will land on you, they flutter all around and everywhere you look there is a kaleidoscope of whirling color, and you feel like you've got butterflies in your hair there are so many of them.
Like our friend Haaken. The few who know how F and Lexie and Ava played will appreciate his friendship with Haaken. They have that easy play style where they just get along, no fighting or problems with sharing, have and lots of cooperative play. It's that dream playdate where as a parent you can sit back and enjoy watching a couple of kiddos learn from and teach each other. He lives farther away than Lexie and Ava did so we don't get to see him as often, but boy oh boy F sure hops around on days he knows we'll see Haaken.
It's still winter here. Snowy. There's a snow pile in our back yard that's been there since October. I don't EVER remember a winter like that. However, I hear stories that the winter of '06-07 was like this, we were off gallivanting around Ireland and Europe and missed it. Normally snow sticks around Denver for, oh, a day and then is gone. Over the last couple of weeks we've had a serious of little snows and I've just ignored the piles of snow on the deck. FFM asked if he could go outside and 'shobel.' Absolutely! Hmmm, in about two years I think I'll have a hard time getting him to go out and do this...He also got a nifty hat from Grammie PenPen that he finally decided to wear. She picked it up on her trip to Peru last year and she kindly sewed a fleecy liner in it so it would be nice and soft.
Grammie PenPen is here again for a couple of days along with her friend Ruth Ann. We all went up north to the Butterfly Pavillion today. Two giant busloads of field-trippers unloaded just as we got there and they were eating lunches. FFM was POSITIVE he needed to sit down with them and eat his snack.
The Butterfly Pavilion is a pretty nifty place. There are exhibits with all kinds of insects, and they're all right at kid height or have step stools nearby so little guys can tap on the glass. The giant millipede was popular as were all the hairy spiders. FFM was disappointed that you had to be 3 to hold Rosie the tarantula, but was quickly appeased by the on-the-ball handler who gave him a giant sticker.
Of course the big draw at the Butterfly Pavilion is the tropical garden full of, yup, butterflies. This room is fantastic this time of year (it's REALLY dry in Colorado) because it feels sort of like you're suddenly transported to, say, tropical Mexico or Queensland. Nice and warm and humid. If you're lucky a butterfly will land on you, they flutter all around and everywhere you look there is a kaleidoscope of whirling color, and you feel like you've got butterflies in your hair there are so many of them.FFM and Ruth Ann...
Electric blue butterfly the size of a saucer
FFM could not stay still, and I finally figured out he was actually chasing specific butterflies.
I remember when the Butterfly Pavilion was built and I thought it was a bizarre business plan. Really, how many people are going to want to go look at butterflies? But I've been several times now since it was new, this is the first time with FFM, and I'm happy to say it's still great, still going strong, and still full of bugs and butterflies.
Electric blue butterfly the size of a saucer
FFM could not stay still, and I finally figured out he was actually chasing specific butterflies.
I remember when the Butterfly Pavilion was built and I thought it was a bizarre business plan. Really, how many people are going to want to go look at butterflies? But I've been several times now since it was new, this is the first time with FFM, and I'm happy to say it's still great, still going strong, and still full of bugs and butterflies.
