7 Quick Takes, Vol. 4

This week's "7 Quick Takes" all relate to a summer camp class that Jillian and I are taking at the local school district. The class is 1.5 hours long and for kids ages 12-22 months and their moms. I wish I had remembered my camera - I will next week!

1. Within the first few minutes of class, both the teacher and the teacher's assistant asked me if Jillian had any older siblings. Apparently they thought her socialness and curiosity would have come from watching an older sibling at home.
2. For the first 15 minutes of class the kids had free-play time. I left Jillian at a little table with buckets and shapes to sort and went over to the diaper bag to grab her sunscreen. I turned around (maybe 30 seconds after walking away from her) and she was sitting on top of the little table so that she could reach all the shapes and put all of them in her bucket.
3. Next up was outside time, she had no interest in the sand table or the sprinkler, but loved the water tray, bubbles and ball pit - all things she has at home.
4. Upon coming back inside, the next activity was crafts. There were 4 crafts to choose from, and I knew all were well beyond Jillian's experience with arts and crafts. We did 2 of the 4 crafts. The first was taking dot paint and dotting a paper plate cut into a fish shape. She didn't understand the dotting and wanted to suck on the dot bottle. I gave her a marker and let her finish her fish by coloring. I was trying to avoid the paint table but alas, Jillian saw it and wanted to play with the paint. The kids were to paint shells with paintbrushes. Jillian mostly just painted her mouth - she just really wanted to eat the paint.
5. Then it was time for circle time, but you know who was not at all interested in sitting on mommy's lap in the circle (I mean, why would she, the room is full of toys to play with). She ended up in the cozy coupe (which we also have a home) and I had to drag her out of it to bring her to the circle. After a couple of songs the teacher brought out a box of musical instruments and the kids each got to pick one. This got Jillian excited and she ran over to grab a shaker. However we only used them for one song and then the kids had to put them away. I pried it out of Jillian's hand and then she followed the teacher to the cabinet where she was putting away the box, pointing and saying "no no no no no no no no."
6. The last activity of the day was snack time. Jillian did pretty well with this one except that she dumped half her goldfish crackers onto the floor. 
7. We got home and she went right down for a nap (and so did I). The teacher says by the end of the 4 week class the kids get used to the routine, I guess we'll see what happens next Wednesday!
   

7 Quick Takes, Vol. 3

1. Last night I found myself explaining to Tom what zydeco music was (he brought it up). The funny part is that I had no idea what it was until the new episode of the "Fresh Beat Band" that aired on Monday!
   
2. Jillian got her first pair of real shoes on Monday. They are so cute and seem so tiny - but then I pulled out the shoes she wore at her baptism and those were about half the size of this new pair.
   
3. Jillian started walking just over two weeks ago - it's hard to believe it's only been 2 weeks, since she walks all over the place now, it's so cute!
   
4. I have really been enjoying watching Jillian start to interact with other kids. She likes to sit by other kids, but doesn't play with them yet. Twice this week (at a playdate and at the mall playground) she played the role of the "bad guy." The boys were pretending that Jillian was out to get them and they had to stay away from her, but she kept crawling and walking up to them to try to be next to them.
   
5. I love to see what item Jillian chooses to take to bed with her. Last night it was the Good Night Moon book. At naptime today it was a block.
   
6. It's funny how I look at Jillian and think she's so big, but put her next to older kids and she is so tiny still.
   
7. I am excited to get Jillian a big girl bed this weekend. I'm tired of sleeping with her, and this will allow us to have a more structured bedtime routine because I won't have to stay in bed with her like I do now, because we won't have to worry about her rolling out of bed with a mattress on the floor.

7 Quick Takes, Vol. 2

1. This morning I had to change Jillian's diaper when she woke up at 6:45 - I usually wait until we get out of bed around 8:30 to change her, as changing her diaper signals that it's morning and she won't go back to sleep after she nurses if I change her diaper first. Anyway, I didn't bother to put clothes back on her since we were going to be under the covers in my bed. The little stinker started opening the tabs on her diaper! Guess we won't be going around in just a diaper much anymore!
   
   
2. So what do you think about the Katy Perry/Sesame Street debate? We don't watch Sesame Street yet (she doesn't show any interest - but she loves the Wonder Pets and Yo Gabba Gabba on NickJr), but I watched the video and to be honest, I probably wouldn't have thought much of her outfit. Kind of sad as I'm so used to seeing this kind of stuff on regular TV that I don't think it would have jumped out at me.
   
   
3. Jillian loves touching things and has recently shown an interest in touching animals - this week we pet a dog during a walk one morning, and she has pet Chili the chinchilla a couple times now. Of course as luck would have it, the inlaws 70 lb golden retriever is scared of her! I am anxious to take her to the zoo and see if she shows interest in the animals there.
   
   
4. I just read yesterday that our trash collection company, Veolia has sold off all their equipment, trucks, etc, as of Oct. 1 to a different local company. Problem is that Veolia has contracted with the county, and the county won't switch the contract to the new company without bidding out the collection service which takes 60 days. I just want to know who is going to be collecting the trash for us next Friday (Oct. 1).
   
   
5. We tried the mesh feeder this week for the first time - Jillian loves feeding herself. We've done apples and bananas in the feeder so far. Check out the video below of Jillian eating an apple slice.
   
   
   
   
6. She's also really into Baby Mum Mum's (rice crackers that dissolve in her mouth) now, as evidence from the picture below. I have found these at Walgreens and Walmart.
   
   
   
   
7. Lastly, our kitchen has ants in it again. This usually happens in the spring but the huge rain we had a few days ago brought them in and it's driving me crazy!

PS - I know I haven't posted the 5 month update yet - it's coming, eventually!

7 Quick Takes

1. In an effort to blog more, I decided to try out a "7 quick takes Friday" blog post. I first saw this on the blog "So Much to Say, So Little Time."
   
   
2. I found a neat website today, www.stlexercise.com, which lists places to exercise in the St. Louis area. Turns out a lot of the pools near our house have "tot time" in the mornings at a discounted rate for an hour or two where they open the pool up for just kids under 5. Jillian is too young this summer but I could see weekly trips to the pool happening next summer. I also discovered that Ballwin's Vlasis Park has a splash ground which I'm sure we'll make lots of trips to as well.
   
   
3. I also read yesterday about a new organization - St. Louis Coworking, where you can rent space to do your freelancing. It's downtown, so I have no interest in participating, but it's a neat opportunity to have available in town.
   
   
4. I tried the new pretzel M&Ms. I wasn't real excited about the concept of pretzels and M&Ms, but CVS had them free (with $1 back reward bucks) so I figured it was worth a try. They were pretty good!
   
   
5. Moms will enjoy this one - Ridiculous Parenting Products. My favorite is the Plush Pee and Poo Duo. Seriously...who would buy a stuffed toy shaped like poop?
   
   
6. Jillian grabbed her toes today when daddy was changing her diaper!
   
   
7. Jillian is always doing silly things - and a couple days ago while we were at wal-mart, I unbuckled her carseat straps so she'd be more comfortable while riding around in the cart. A few minutes later I look down and see that she's found herself a new "toy" to suck on - the plastic clip on the carseat.