Tonight I actually did something I wanted to do as a mom, but haven't. When I was pregnant I had all these glorious visions of doing activities with my child and spending quality time with him. But so often that has not not happened. And when he gets too tired in the evening it is all too easy to turn on the television to try to mellow him out.
So tonight, I pulled out my toddler activity book, which I recently got to try to get me started. I know I'm late he is over 2 now, almost 2 1/2. Anyways...I went to an activity which I thought would be easy to do. Peanut Butter play dough, and its edible. Honey and dry milk and we are good to go. I actually held Raffi's attention for 30 minutes. I made a dog and a cat in the dough then we made balls and tossed them into a bowl and counted. And after the peanut butter dough was successfully in Raffi's hair, we did coloring with markers on his big coloring book.
It was wild and crazy fun! And kept his attention and let his dad get some work done. He still was a bit hyper after but at least he wasn't leaping off the window cill to the bean bag!
Pictures: Raffi wearing last year's costume at Preschool. Raffi crying because I forced him to put on his super cool SuperMan costume with muscles. That he won't wear. Trick or Treating at local town street w/ friends. (Costumeless!) Hanging at the pumpkin patch on Halloween day.
We went to Disneyland! And really I must say it is the best thing to do for your birthday, if you like birthdays. I really don't mind them. So I had a blast!!! We are currently at my parents house hanging out. Raffi is running amok and running more amok. It is neat to see his discipline skills maturing. He responds to a possible or actual time out and I've actually seen it curb his bad behavior. So amazing! He is mimicking so many more words now. "Trash" is the most recent new one I can remember. When he hears a siren, he cups his ear with his hand and says "Listen." He is still obsessed with garbage trucks and gardeners.
Back to Dland: We went on the Carosel 3 times. That was hands down Raffi's favorite ride, we also went on the Train 3 times. Also another big fav. We went on Snow White, Dumbo, Jungle Cruise, and Small WOrld. Raffi wasn't a big fan of the small world(see picture). Cried and danced almost at the same time. We went around Toon Town and near the end of the night we went on the Pirates of the Caribean. And he did great. I was soo impressed. He was shocked at the drop parts of the ride but didn't even cry. So crazy.
Raffi tried to say crocodile the other day after seeing one on his cup. He is saying bus clearly and pretty much loves the Garbage Trucks and the Gardeners. He seems to like the G words. He is anticipating the stories he knows on his favorite tv shows. Doug and Raffi were watching Johnny Quest and the dog was licking Johnny; so Raffi started licking Doug's face. Crazy kid!
I'm turning 35 this coming weekend. That age actually feels older to me and I'm starting to not like my gray hair again. I might need to start coloring my hair. I feel so tired when I see my gray hair.
Last week, I put our cat, Ronin, to sleep. He had been throwing up for almost a week if he ate too much. I could tell he was really sick and we weren't going to be able to fix him up this time. So I cried a bunch. So I miss him. I don't miss the stress that it caused Doug, but I miss my fluffy friend. He was such a good cat. So loving and gentle.
I was visiting family for almost 2 weeks in August. I spent some time at my parent's and then at a beach house in Southern California. My wonderful and generous grandma gets the family a beach house almost every year. And it is always a good time. Sometimes I feel a little trapped by my little guy and limited in the fun stuff I can do, but every year it gets better. And raffi enjoys the beach more and more as he gets older. Through this time he added new words, Moon, tried to say Grandpa, and others that are escaping me at the moment. He just chatters away and talks your ear off, but you just can't understand 90% of it.
Raffi loved the ocean, running amok in the house and being the center of attention. My cousin Kelly is pregnant, so it is neat to see that we will have two little ones in the coming years, to destroy everything. Two boys, even! There was a lot of firsts as well. I took him to his first baseball game, Angels vs. Tigers, Angels lost. And he did so amazingly, I thought for certain he would be crazy and running off the bleachers. But he stayed in the little area in front of my seat and wasn't bothered by the thousands of people and noises. It was great.
Raffi got skateboard lessons from his big cousin Scott. Of course, Raffi found the skateboard while no one was looking and fell trying to get on it. but he just got up and went back for more. So it was great that Scott gave him some assistance. He just loved it. as you can see. My brother and I took Raffi down to the shore one morning and we had fun building sand castles and then he destroyed them. As evidence I have video! Grandma-ma gave him a cool double wagon for his birthday in June and we were finally able to utilize it at the beach boardwalk. He loved to be taken on wagon rides up and down the walk. He slung his arm over the back rest like he was just chillin and cruisin! And since we've been home, I took him to our local paved trail for a walk/wagon ride and he loved it. He just lasts so much longer in the wagon than in the stroller. So I'm going to try to do it weekly. Good exercise for me.
The family went out for our annual dinner out and we were by the area with rides and such. I knew Raffi loves the Carousal so we headed over there. He caught one look of the Ferris wheel and it was pointing all crazy. He wanted to go on the Ferris wheel. Which I was thrilled, not really, I don't like heights. But we went on it and of course he loved it. There are so many other pictures and some more video, I'll have to post them later.
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