Category Archives: preschooler

Yum!

I’ve been hearing about it forever and wondering if service would ever come to area, and finally we were able to try Blue Apron. There really couldn’t be better timing as I’ve been in a major cooking rut lately. The fact that we have two very picky eaters right now doesn’t necessarily help things either. I’m sure it’s just a phase, but it’s been all too easy to just sigh and make them things I know they’ll eat over and over and over again. Easy, but so boring and it’s not going to help them overcome their lack of adventurousness when it comes to food.

(Excuse the poorly lit photos… it was cloudy and late).

We’ve had several deliveries so far, but this one was the first meal we made. Turkey Sloppy Joes. The flavors were great as have been all the meals we’ve had so far. The kids haven’t been huge fans of everything, but I’ve loved the new ideas – especially when it comes to making veggies, even by making very simple changes. Instead of making the corn the way we always do, I now have some new techniques that I really love and Phoebe especially enjoyed it. I can still count on Enzo to always eat green beans, so now we just have to see if they’ll be tempted by anything else.

One way I’m trying to get Enzo to be adventurous is to have him help me in the kitchen, but so far that only seems to work with sweets. Ha ha. We had friends over this past weekend, so both kids helped me make a pasta salad. Phoebe helped me stir and dump ingredients while Enzo helped me do some chopping with his own little knife. He did great quartering olives and dicing bell pepper with me and I’m enjoying giving him some new tasks to help out with. He’s been such a great helper lately in general and while he may fight putting away toys, he really likes helping with other chores like mopping or taking care of his sister. I’ll take help where I can get it. 😉

Camping: Part 2

Paul Bunyan Land is one of those kind of over-priced, small-town amusement parks that you go to because it’s random and there isn’t a whole lot else to do. It’s kind of cheesy in a fun way, really only has a handful of rides for kids (most of which aren’t running all the time), a petting zoo and some wacky dioramas. It also has This Old Village, which is kind of fun, but we didn’t have time for it with the kids. Right away Enzo saw a few rides that he wanted to go on, and a few more that he stared at for a while, but said, “Maybe next time when I’m bigger.”

Phoebe was fairly nervous and since they wouldn’t allow parents on the rides with small kids, we took a gamble putting her on a ride alone with Enzo after previous experiences. She held on for dear life, but I think she was okay because her big brother was next to her having a blast. They both loved the train (of course) and the boat was also a big hit, which sort of surprised me. I figured Phoebe would panic when the ride operator picked her up and plopped her in the boat rather than me, but she thoroughly enjoyed it.

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Things They Say (and Do)

There is never a dull moment… well, okay maybe there are a few here and there, but count on a kid to say or do something to end whatever quiet boredom you may have been experiencing.

Enzo has been talking a lot about birthdays lately… his in particular. I can only assume it’s because a friend had one at preschool? He will randomly bring it up, though, and change themes. Most often he is having a boat birthday and “you can come to my boat birthday if you want to!” However, sometimes you’ll hear, “Phoebe, if you don’t stop, you’re not coming to my birthday party.”

His imagination is also thriving and the other night he kept having fake phone conversations on a TV remote that he was pretending was a phone.

“This is Paw Patrol, what’s wrong?”

Another thing we often hear him say is, “One day when I’m so much bigger…” or “One day when I’m a really big strong boy…”

As for Phoebe, she spends a lot of time singing still and also talking about Paw Patrol since her brother has gotten her hooked on it. Her devotion to Minnie remains, however, so that is her main request. You can also count on her to ask for chocolate milk upon waking in the morning, but woe to you who puts it in the wrong cup because her shriek of disdain is ear piercing.

Since we’re working towards potty training her, she does talk about going potty and “poopin” rather frequently. The other day when I was at the table in fact, Enzo came over and suddenly said, “There’s poop on the floor, Mama.” Huh? I looked down and sure enough, there it was. And acting as innocently as can be was Phoebe who pointed at it just as surprised, even though her diaper was also discarded next to her. Nice try, Phoebe.

With both their language skills progressing more and more, they seem to play much better together. Granted, Phoebe refuses to ask nicely when it comes to them playing with him, so there’s still a little bit of sibling rivalry, but for the most part they have a really good relationship. Both Josh and I had one of those heart bursting moments at the mall not too long ago…

Phoebe was playing on a toy and got off of it only to have another little boy climb on. She tried to get back on and fussed, and we explained she needed to wait her turn. After a minute he got off, and suddenly Enzo ran over (to take it we assumed), but then Phoebe ran over after him and he motioned her on it and said, “Phoebe, here you go! Quick!” and then he totally stared the other little boy down and held out his arms to block him when he tried to get too close. I believe Enzo said, “You leave my Phoebe alone!” while throwing some major shade and protecting his little sister.

Ack! So darn cute. It’s moments like these we always hoped for.

Through Enzo’s Eyes

A while ago I went ahead and let Enzo play with some of our cameras. He had a lot of fun, even though he has a hard time holding onto them due to his hands being fairly small. Most of them are blurry, but it was fun to watch him play. I think we need to get this boy his own compact camera, though. I’d love to see more of the world through his eyes.

And some fun shots he took with the Instax that I need to re-scan. Ha ha.

Another Big Boy Bed

On one of our more recent trips to IKEA with the kids, we decided to make a completely random and unplanned purchase. This particular idea was all Enzo, and Josh and I were hopeful that it would be a game changer. His idea was… a loft bed. We couldn’t help but agree that it would be a fun setup for his room, and would actually free up a lot of floor space. More importantly, we hoped that it would make bedtime easier as he has never been a big fan of settling down for the night.

As you can imagine, both kids wanted to help put it together, so I did my best to keep them amused while Josh did the easy work *wink*. I let them play in the rain for a bit and then both decided to strip down and run around… a fairly common occurrence in our house. The funny thing is that Phoebe is usually the one requesting to take all her clothes and diaper off and if anyone takes an article of clothing off – even if just to change into something else – she will start trying to take all of her clothes off and demand that you disrobe her so she can be free.

Anyhoo, the more the bed came together, the more excited Enzo got and he was thrilled when he was finally able to give his new bed a whirl. We had picked up sheets on the way home from IKEA and the quilt was made by his great-grandma and was the perfect size. Josh and I high-fived and Phoebe may have pouted a tad since she’s too little to climb up top by herself.

As for whether or not it’s actually improved our bedtime routine, well… sort of? It improved for a while, but we still have those nights where it is really hard to keep Enzo in his room and get him to go to lay down. Part of the problem could be due to the rain we’ve been getting that has meant less outdoor time that usually wears him out. I know the rain the past few days has been messing me up as well and I’m a tad stir crazy since I haven’t been getting as many walks in. You can only wander Target for so long, you know?

Overall, Enzo really does love his new bed, though, and he and Phoebe often play in the nook area together. It may not have completely changed his sleep habits, but I’d still say it was a good change and something that was fun for Enzo to be a part of choosing.

Dino and Bunnies

Every day adventures