I’ll post tomorrow about all our fun activities, but wanted to wish everyone a happy Easter!
Easter Egg Hunt
The town egg hunt was this morning at ten. It was so very cold outside! The wind was downright bitter, so everyone was huddled in coats waiting for the hunt to start. Nobody even came out until about five minutes before it was supposed to begin because they didn’t want to stand in the wind. There was still a really good turnout by the time it started.
Isaiah was in the youngest group, three and under. There were actually quite a few kids in that age group, but plenty of eggs to go around. First, we stood around waiting for a long time while those in charge got everything ready to go. When they finally told the kids “go”, Isaiah was off, collecting eggs like crazy. He was so proud of his eggs! He wouldn’t let go of the basket for even a second.
Totally confused...
''Ok, now I get it!''
When all the eggs had been collected, there were prizes to give out. While they were doing drawings for bikes, Isaiah and I went over to see the Easter Bunny. He wasn’t too sure about that. He certainly wasn’t going to sit on the bunny’s lap!
This was as close as he was willing to get to the Easter bunny
When we got home, I showed Isaiah that there was candy inside his eggs. Once he knew that they could be opened, he was pretty excited about finding out what was hidden inside. He opened all the eggs, stopping to cheer in excitement any time he found a chocolate bunny.
Walking with Dusty
I decided to take Isaiah out for a walk, since it was warm and sunny. On our way out the door, Dusty kept trying to escape and come along, so, rather than let him cry at the door, I grabbed his leash and and brought him. Isaiah was thrilled!
Isaiah and Dusty, all set to go on a walk
I wasn’t sure how long Dusty would go along with walking nicely with Isaiah, so we took the shortest route to the park. Isaiah wanted to hold the leash, so I gave it to him, keeping close enough to grab it whenever I needed to. We encountered a stray dog and a few random kids along the way and I scooped Dusty up so he couldn’t try to run from them. (Dusty is quite the little wimp!)
Walking with Dusty
When we got to the park, it was full of kids. Many of them knew Isaiah and me and came running to see us. Poor Dusty tolerated being petted for about ten seconds, then started trying to melt into my arms, so we moved on. Isaiah wanted to go to the rodeo grounds, telling me “pitur, pitur”. We went over there and Isaiah immediately started posing with Dusty for the camera. He had so much fun!
Hugs for Dusty
They're both so stinkin' cute!
Soon, it was time to head for home. The announcement caused some tears, but we were soon headed that way, discussing what snacks may be waiting when we got there. By the time we got to the house, Isaiah was ready to have a snack and crawl into his bed.
Isaiah and a Truck
''Truck!!!''
Isaiah and I were out on a walk and ran into a friend. The guy was talking with one of his friends, who happened to have a semi truck. He told Isaiah that he could go see it if he wanted. Isaiah lit up and loved admiring the truck and even got to sit on it. I took some pictures of him by the truck, then passed the camera off to get a picture of both of us, so that he could sit up on the front of the truck. As we were leaving, he waved at the guys and told them “thank you.” They totally made his day!
Sitting on the steps into the cab
Me and Isaiah in front of the truck
Habitat for Humanity Service Project
Last week at Elevate, my young adult group, one of our leaders announced that we’d be doing a service project instead of our regular meeting next time. He gave us a list of four projects that we would be able to choose between so we could have some time to think about which we wanted to do. Our options were going to a laundromat and doing people’s laundry for them, buying food for a child who wouldn’t have anything to eat over the weekend (through a program at a local school), a “random act of kindness”, or working with Habitat for Humanity. I didn’t need a week to decide what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to work with Habitat. I grew up knowing about them because Grandfather worked with them for as long as I could remember.
When I got to the church last night, it wasn’t time for things to start yet, so I played a game that the leaders made up along with a few others. The game is a frame made of PVC pipes to create an elevated grid of nine squares. It’s generally explained to newcomers as “four square, but in the air”. It seems a fairly accurate description. We had lots of fun and discovered that one of our leaders has quite the competitive side, hidden beneath her cheerful, sweet demeanor. It was especially fun watching her try to get her husband “out”.
Soon, it was time to divide into groups and head to our sites. The Habitat group split in half so we could work at two different sites. One of my friends was in my group, which made it even more fun. Our group was almost all girls, with only two guys. We arrived at our site and were immediately put to work moving and stacking furniture that had been donated by a local hotel. It was all made with real wood, instead of plywood, so it was heavy! The guys lifted everything like it was easy and had heavy dressers stacked three high. I had fun jumping in and lifting anything and everything that I could, too. By the time we were done, everyone was exhausted. It was tons of fun and we made great progress in organizing things. I’d like to go back and work with Habitat more over the summer.
The guys wanted to jump up and grab the bar that ran across the room
Took a few tries, but both got it
Couldn't quite get it, so we faked it with the picture
The whole team
A Trip to the Doctor
Isaiah and I are sick… Again. We went to the doctor this morning. Isaiah has decided in the last couple of months that he adores doctors, so he was pretty excited about it. He played with toys in the waiting room, then chatted with the nurse when she called us back.
Isaiah wanted to help the nurse do her job. He chattered at her endlessly and tried to touch everything. He was a little concerned that the blood pressure cuff would hurt me, though. It took convincing for him to decide that I’d survive. When the nurse walked out of the room, he called after her, “doctor?” and she promised that the doctor would come soon.
When the doctor walked in, Isaiah grinned at him and said, “hi”. He watched everything the doctor did, quite attentively. He kept showing him the bunny he brought with him. When the doctor checked his throat, he gave Isaiah an extra tongue depressor to hold. Isaiah thought that was pretty great. As soon as the doctor walked out, Isaiah plopped his bunny on the table and gave it a full check up. He told it to say “aaahh” and checked its mouth, then checked its ears, eyes, legs, and hands. He promptly prescribed the sucker he got from the doctor as medicine for his bunny and helped it to “eat” it.
When we went to the pharmacy to pick up our medications, Isaiah met a nice lady who was happy to talk with him about his bunny. He thought she was amazing. She said he knew she was a grandma and that’s why he liked her. I think she was right. He knows who likes kids and latches on to them.
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Dr. Seuss Week
This last week was Dr. Seuss week. We had lots of fun with it at preschool. We read some of the books, had special dress up days and invited some special visitors.
On Monday, my mom and Isaiah came over to read “One Fish, Two Fish” to the kids. They had a little trouble sitting still for the story, as they all seemed to have a case of the wiggles this week. Isaiah liked getting to meet the kids and stuck around to play for a little while after the story.
Tuesday, we all dressed up as characters from the Cat in the Hat. We have hats and tails for all the kids to wear and the staff members came up with our own outfits. Emily had mentioned before that she thought it would be fun to dress up with someone as Thing 1 and Thing 2, so I made us shirts to wear. We would have dyed our hair, but couldn’t find anything that would do it effectively and wash out before the next day.
Paige (the teacher), me (teacher's aide), Emily (family service worker) and Natasha (the other aide) in our costumes
On Wednesday, we read Wacky Wednesday and all wore silly outfits. My dad let me borrow one of his striped shirts and a crazy tie to go with my capris and mismatched knee socks. Some of the kids had backwards or mismatched clothes, Emily’s wore several clashing prints, Natasha wore Hawaiian pants with a striped shirt and mismatched earrings and Paige wore inside out jeans with a neon shirt. Even Isaiah got in on the fun in backwards clothes with a striped shirt and camouflage pants.
Me and Isaiah in our wacky outfits
A better look at Isaiah's outfit
Along with the silly outfits, we had a visit from Dr. Seuss (my dad) on Wednesday. He did a bunch of fun magic tricks for the kids. They loved getting to see his pet rope that could do tricks! He made a picture of a butterfly in a book come to life and fly out of the pages for the kids to see. They especially liked the tricks that they were able to participate in, whether it was holding something for him or getting to do a part of the trick. By the end of his show, each of the kids had gotten to help him in some way.
The pet rope, standing on command
A butterfly flying out of a Dr. Seuss book
Thursday was pajama day. We all wore our favorite jammies to class. I forgot to have my mom take a picture of me to post, but I wore my Eeyore footie pajamas with two pony tails. Two of the little girls had their hair in pony tails, too, and were so excited to see that we matched! The kids’ jammies ranged from Thomas the tank, to Mario, to pink and neon green with flowers. Everyone was so cute! To add to the fun, we got to eat green eggs and ham for breakfast. At first the kids were afraid to taste it, but once they did, they loved them. One of the boys told me, “I like them! I like green eggs and ham!” We made our very own “Schlopp with a cherry on top” from Oh the Things You Can Think, too.
We had such a fun week. As fun as it was, we’re all ready for things to get back to normal, though. I’m sure we’ll have plenty of fun, even without all the silliness from last week!
**For privacy reasons, I can’t post pictures of any of my preschoolers. If I could, there’d be a whole lot more pictures in this post!
Crafting
Isaiah loves crafts of all kinds. Today, he got two chances to do some, first at kids club, then, later, at home. He was so happy!
Isaiah loves art!
At kids club, the craft was paper bag puppets. Isaiah colored the face for his puppet for quite a while. When he was finally done, I got scissors to cut it out. He wanted to help me, so I put the scissors into his hand and helped guide him. He figured out how to open and close the scissors in no time. I just had to guide the paper!
Me showing Isaiah how to cut
After his puppet face was cut out, Isaiah didn’t want to stop cutting, so I handed him another sheet of paper. He happily kept cutting the page until it was time to go home. He was able to hold the scissors correctly with just a few reminders not to turn his hand upside down. I guess we’ll have to add cutting to our regular craft activities.
Working away
This evening, Isaiah found some glitter that I’d left on the counter (oops!) and wanted to know what it was. I got out a pan, glue and some paper and set him up at the table. I put glue on the first piece of paper in the shape of a dinosaur and let him dump glitter on it. He was so excited! He dumped glitter on a dog shape I made for him, then started making his own designs. When his designs were finished, he told me what they were, a “choo-choo” and “puppy”, and I labeled the pictures for him.
Glitter!
Isaiah's artwork
Reading in Bed
I told Isaiah it was time to get ready for bed, so he raced ahead of me to his room to get settled. When I got there, he was sitting in his bed, holding his current favorite book. After a few minutes, I convinced him to put the book down long enough to put pajamas on. Once he was changed, he crawled back into bed and read for a while longer before asking to nurse and falling asleep.
Who needs sleep when you can read?
I love to read!
Peek!
Such a good book
The Doctor
Isaiah has never been a fan of his doctor. Even before he was born, he’d get worked up as soon as the doctor spoke. He was quite proficient at hiding from the heart monitor! Our visits are usually filled with lots of tears and nursing, just to get through. This trip was different, though.
When Isaiah was called back, we had to stop by the scale and weigh him first. He stood on the scale backwards and told the nurse all about the dog picture on the wall. He was so excited about the dogs that he didn’t even notice that I had let go of him!
We went back into the room and the nurse started her check up. When she started to check his heartbeat, he reached for her stethoscope, so she let him look at it before she used it. He was so excited about it! He let her check his temperature without even the slightest complaint. The only time he fussed at all was when she measured his height because he couldn’t be holding onto me while she did it.
When the doctor came in, Isaiah was still quiet and cheerful. He greeted the doctor, then watched everything he did carefully. I think it was the first time his doctor was actually able to hear his heart and breathing and get a good look at him. He sat quietly in my lap while I talked to the doctor, then waved “bye bye” when he was done. To make everything even better, he got a sucker on his way out.
The good news is, I have one very healthy two year old. He’s right at the fiftieth percentile on height and weight and progressing exactly how he should be physically. The doctor was quite pleased with his progress.
