Toddlers Rule the World

What do you do when your toddler insists on something that you really want anyway? I knew I should wash more dishes one morning but I really wanted to go out for a drive and a walk. Then my walking buddy woke up and brought me his shoes and his socks and got really upset when I put my sandals away so I could go get my own shoes and socks.

We went for a walk at Bridal Veil Falls and he was so happy to push the stroller around. 

He was not so happy when I tried to get a picture of the two of us.

He just wanted to be moving.

It was a beautiful morning to be out in nature and he was content to be indoors again by the time we got home.

Win for everybody.

An Expotition

Winnie-the-Pooh Day became a two day event this year. The actual holiday was on January 18. Since Monday, January 17, was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the kids didn't have school that day so we did some of the celebrating that day.

The kids watched "Piglet's Big Movie" then we went on an "expotition." It would normally be an expedition to the North Pole (Nichole even got our Winnie-the-Pooh book out to compare the A. A. Milne stories to the mini stories in the movie). Instead of going to the North Pole, Lucky wanted to go to the South Pole because... you know... penguins.

So we bundled up, got in the van, and headed South... to Spanish Fork.

I took the kids to a place I hadn't been to in many years. Dripping Rock. You can walk along the trail and the river/stream is below. Across the river/stream there are overhanging rocks that have water dripping/pouring from them. I found out recently from Utah's Adventure Family that in the wintertime if it's been cold enough, there are icicles hanging from the rocks. I never would have thought to go there in the Winter. So that is where we went on our expedition... to see if we could find any icicles at Dripping Rock and get some "fresh" air. We've been cooped up so much with sickness and Winter and the kids had online school on Friday, we needed to get out and get some exercise.

 

It was good to get out. We had a good time. Jet was especially happy to get out... after he woke up. He's been cooped up more than anyone.

There were definitely icicles hanging from the rocks and foliage at Dripping Rock. Jr. Jr. got really excited to see them as we walked along and with his imagination, he could see shapes in them and started thinking about stories to go along with them. 

Besides the icicles there was also plenty of water dripping from the rocks. It was neat to see in some places both together.

After the Dripping Rock area, we continued on up the path, going over some bridges then up some switchbacks (all paved, though. We saw several families pushing strollers) to the end of the trail where it met up with a road and some houses next to the golf course. We definitely got exercise. We even got to see the wind turbines since we were so close to Spanish Fork Canyon. I like wind turbines.

While we were walking along we were singing, "Sing Ho for the life of a bear. Sing Ho for the expedition." Jet was even getting into it. I'd sing, "Sing Ho," and he'd sing, "For the life of a bear," in his cute little voice.

Being a toddler, he did want things to be a certain way. He wanted to be held, he wanted to hold someone's hand while walking, he wanted to look through my binoculars, he wanted to let go of our hands and run off and he would throw a tantrum if he didn't get his way. Toddler.

It was still fun, though. Some of the boys started kicking pieces of ice down the trail as we walked. Jet wanted to be like his brothers so he was kicking ice on the trail, too.

Lucky was happy to have kicked this piece of ice all the way to the van. Way to go, Lucky.

We really did have a good time out and the kids are in agreement that we should come back sometime in the Spring or Summer to see even more dripping water at Dripping Rock. Jr. Jr. suggested we come back when it's even colder to see more icicles.

Later at home the children watched "The Lorax" because January 17 was Betty White's 100th birthday and she did one of the voices in that movie. Sadly Betty White passed away just a few weeks before she would have turned 100 but she had a long life and career and we can still celebrate that.

January 17 was also National Hot Heads Chili Day so we had chili and the kids ate spinach because it was also Popeye's birthday. Good job, kids. I made lasagna for dinner the next night because we didn't have enough time Monday. And hey, if we can celebrate Winnie-the-Pooh Day both days, we can celebrate Popeye's birthday both days, too. 

On the actual Winnie-the-Pooh holiday, the kids watched more Winnie-the-Pooh movies. They had at home school that day and a couple of the kids were sick anyway.

One of Those Days

We were preparing for our at-home potluck in October. I was helping Nichole with french bread (since I've made it once or twice or ten times) for her garlic bread when Jet got into a cupboard and came running with a mini rolling pin to help even though I was patting out the dough instead of rolling it out.

Later when we were going to make pizza dough, Jet grabbed the measuring cup of sugar, Jr. tried to stop him, the sugar went flying, and as Jr. got Jet away our glass bowl got knocked off the table and shattered. After time spent cleaning it up, Jeremy brought out a box we got for our wedding. It was a repeat of another set of mixing bowls and measuring cups and spoons. We've been using the one set since we got married. We lost one large glass mixing bowl and a 1-cup glass measuring cup years ago but we've been using all the other items until the smaller glass bowl broke that day. Jeremy just got everything out of the box since we know we're going to use them all (and it will be nice to have a 1-cup liquid measuring cup again since we can't measure out just 1/4 cup in all our liquid measuring cups). 

Anyway, I also cleaned up the sugar. I was going to have the boys proof the yeast in that mixing bowl originally then I figured they could just do it in the measuring cup. They put the water, yeast, and sugar in but took too long gathering the other ingredients so the yeast mixture just kept growing and growing and growing. Ha Ha Ha Ha. It was October, right? "It's coming to get you. Bwah ha ha ha." I'll make sure the boys proof the yeast in the mixing bowl next time.

I think that was it for the disasters that day. The food turned out well.

Speaking of food disasters, I love that Jet wants to be my baking buddy and my dishes buddy. As a toddler, though, he's quick. A few days before the at-home potluck. I decided to make baguettes.

I had a cup of flour out for putting a bit on the table at a time to work with the dough. I took the dough away to put in the baguette pans so Jet decided to dump out the remaining flour and work with that by itself.

Yes, I resorted to putting on a kids' show to distract him while I cleaned up. After I took him out of his clothes and cleaned him up with the sink, of course.

On a different note but related to him wanting to be a helper, Jet likes to help feed the birds. He takes a handful of peanuts to put out for the scrub jays. While we were out one day, the scrub jays came down while he was still laying out peanuts in different places. They used to do that with Jr. Jr. in the summertime.

What She Missed- August 11

Wednesday, August 11-

Play in the Sand Day. After doing chores again, the boys convinced me to let them play more video games- either sandbox games or games that had sand in them.

We didn't have any real sand so the toddler had to make do with what he could find while Mom wasn't looking.

Good thing I hadn't put the eggs in yet. 

I'll say my reaction was good, though. He's a toddler. It's not like he would understand if I gave him a talking to about what he did wrong. So I let him play and took pictures. I figured the mess to clean up wouldn't be different if I stopped him as soon as I saw or if I waited until he was done. There would just be less screaming if I waited so I did then moved him over to the kitchen sink where I could wash him off. Then I gave strict instructions for people to watch him and keep him out of the kitchen while I cleaned up and started a new batch of cornbread.

This isn't the first time I've handled a messy situation with a toddler and managed to get pictures. I even blogged about some of them, especially when I kept my temper. When Jr. was little, he drew all over his face with a sparkly pen. I blogged about it in September of 2009.

When Jr. Jr. was little, he got finger paint on our new bed. I blogged about it in July of 2013.

There are others but sometimes I'm pleased with how I handle situations. I think it helped that I was already in a good mood when I found Jet with the cornbread mix.