Snow Play

Fun in the white stuff--I'm grateful for a backyard where David can go outside for 10-15 minutes of play and I don't have to be out in the cold with him.

This boy was built for the arctic climate. No matter how cold it is out there, he never wants to come in and get warm.

Brawl Baby

I'm going to make a confession. Our little guy isn't perfect. And here's how I know.

At the very end of nursery today he started pulling on another little boy's coat--he even went so far as to unzip it for him and try to take it off of him. Poor little friend--he was very confused why he was getting all of this abuse when all he was doing was standing there, ready to go home from church. From across the room I saw the problem and ran over to intervene. By the time I reached him, David was in tears--heartbroken and even angry. I started to explain to David that this little boy had a coat just like David's--and that David's coat was still hanging up in the coat closet in another part of the church building. David wasn't consoled until he was snuggled into his own identical coat as the one he tried to rip off of his little friend.

Coats are serious business in Alaska. You can't just passively watch someone else leave the building wearing your coat when the wind chill factor is lingering around 0*. Since coming home from church, David has grasped that this little boy has the same coat as he does--because several times he has said his little friend's name in a sweet voice, and babbled on about his coat. So I think now he likes the idea that they share that in common.

But this wasn't David's first time in a tussle today. While he was in nursery, I stepped in to deliver the copies for the wee ones to color after their lesson. David didn't know I was in the room, and I heard, "David don't push C" I looked over, and sure enough a little boy was sitting on the ground and David was standing over him with a guilty complex. I chose to watch for a second. David let the little boy get up, then he looked him squarely in the eyes and said, "Sorry" in the most sincere voice. Then he hugged him.

I was so glad that I hadn't intervened--because I got to see what my boy is made of. All those times of taking David through the motions of feeling remorse somehow paid off when I watched him do it by himself. He did his best to make things right.

And I was so very proud.

I take that back. My little guy is perfect.

In David's defense, he generally is not a hitter or pusher. I dont' know what provoked the pushing incident today--it is completely uncharacteristic of our tender hearted boy. Having said that, I cannot think that my little guy is never at fault for the typical pushing and shoving that happens at this age. David felt challenged twice today, and he responded accordingly both times.

Heart Day

I waffle back and forth on whether or not Valentine's Day means anything to me. When I was growing up, my dad would leave a card on the hearth for mom--with a sticky note inside that said "Happy Valentine's Day 1994." Then he would take the note off and reuse the same card the next year. Of course all of this was in jest for a holiday called a "Hallmark holiday" at our house.

The other side of  me says, "Hey, if it's a day to share love and feel loved, then I'm on board." So I think I'll eventually establish all kinds of fun traditions with our family. Our first year married, I prepared a heart-shaped pizza picnic on the floor of our college apartment. So I can make it fun if I plan something.

This year we ended Valentine's Day with a family night around decorating cookies.

David seemed to like it.

Next year I'll ramp it up a bit and serve red food or heart shaped pancakes to my family.

Music Time at the Zoo

Anchorage is a town that knows how to entertain residents. I have never lived in a community with so many opportunities to get out and do things. We have outings every day, since David is a little live wire right now. Often we'll run into the same group of moms and tots at the gymnastics arena and the zoo, or at the library and the pool. It makes it easy to entertain our little guy.

Sometimes we'll walk through the zoo to the greenhouse, where they host a half hour of music time for toddlers and preschoolers. You can see the lady in the background who leads the singing--she has a bucket full of small musical instruments for the kids to participate and she takes requests from the crowd. After she leads singing for a half our, she has an "open mic" session where any aspiring starlet can perform.

 At first David wasn't too sure about the singing time--he held onto a "clapper" and seriously looked around at everyone else singing along, dancing, and making noise with the instruments.

During "open mic" he loosened up a bit to experiment with more of the instruments.

Music time at the zoo is a winning combination. David loves visiting the polar bears, wolverine, moose, musk oxen, eagles and alpaca on our way to the green house. The Alaska Zoo has cold-climate animals so they are especially active during the winter months.

Music is really David's thing. He has his own set of musical instruments at home, and he likes to dance to music. Our no-fail trick to get David to be patient in the car for a few more minutes of driving is to offer to sing another song. He has learned his ABC's--because it is a song. (Well, mostly. He skips LMNOP, but he has the rest in perfect order.) If you ask David what song he wants you to sing, he will reply, "Ummm, a Jesus song." So those primary songs are well loved in our repertoire.

At the end of every piano lesson I teach (I go to my students' homes) David takes a turn on the keyboard. He has down the "one note, one finger" mantra so it sounds a little better than just banging on the keys.

I love our little musician.

"Do Bow-ing"

One particular date night turned family night was a real hit with David. He loved the lights, the ball, the fact that we "take turns," the special shoes--he's been begging for more since we introduced him to "bow-ing."

A few times we have improvised by setting up plastic containers in our family room and using a big soft ball to knock them over. It holds the little guy over, but David is very excited for the next time we head into a bowling alley.

Family Night

Family Night is something that we have consistently done every Monday--a tradition we started when we were first married. Of course since David has been in our family, he has been part of this night. And he loves it.

Here's the order of a typical family night:

Daddy welcomes us, we have opening song and opening prayer. (1-2 minutes)
We have a lesson. (2 minutes, now that David is 2)
We have a special talent. David counts to 10, identifies colors, "jumps too high" or says his ABC's--anything to get another round of rousing cheers from Mom and Dad. (3 minutes)
Sing primary songs. (3-4 minutes)
We  have a closing prayer. (1 minute)
Then . . . and this is our favorite part . . . we play games. Rousing games like ring around the rosies, wash the dishes dry the dishes throw the dishes away, tickle fights and a game that David invented called "stand up sit down." (This is when David leads us in standing up or sitting down, each in our respective chair. He loves having command of whether his parents are standing or sitting.) The games portion of family night lasts as long as everything else we do, combined. So it's about 10 minutes of sitting still and 10 minutes of playing games.

Recently David has been asking for "family night" every night right as we finish eating dinner. And we are more than happy to oblige.