Lately

It's been quiet over here on the homefront. I guess routine is just chugging along, and we've been busy in other ways, and I devoured several historical nonfiction novels that have kept me away from blogging. Today is a hodge podge of activity updates. 

Ever since we got back from visiting family at Christmas, I've invited Kent to help me with dishes. I wash them and place them in the other half of the sink; he sprays them with the sprayer and proceeds to cry or whine when we're all done. Luckily, dishes are daily. He also likes to steal the vacuum whenever I need to clean, so we take turns. His turn lasts longer than mine, so I'm sure to have a novel nearby. Today, I went to fix some loose screws on his rocking chair and he took the other tool, going over my work saying "oh. It's broken. Lemme fix it. Okay. I got it." 

 There was a ton of snow for two days. We miss it.

We babysat our neighbor and Kent promptly got teary eyed and his bottom lip LITERALLY started quivering when the baby transfer happened. There was much convincing that I still loved him and that he was still my best buddy. Soon enough, Kent enjoyed playing with her, although at the end he came up to me, crawled into my arms (like a cradle rock) and told me: "I am a baby."

The loose rice is a big hit, and although we've had some serious messes with it, he also knows how to brush it up with his little dust pan and broom set. He loves scooping and dumping and bulldozing the rice.

This is another favorite: hammering golf tees into Styrofoam. We also use the tees in playdough and balance marbles on them.

 I broke out the water and bubble play because it's easy and fun. This time I used Dawn soap but I couldn't stand the smell. Ick!!

 Such thick bubbles!

 And then he laid down in it.

 Later that evening, he challenged Matt to some push ups.

I got the stomach bug one week after he fell sick with it and it was awful. Luckily, the yuckiest part happened overnight while both boys were sound asleep and I just dealt with it, but the hardest part was the following day: total body aches, headache and no energy + a cheerful toddler. I tried my best to get him to watch the Curious George movie but he was only a little bit interested. It was a long day, but that was it. The next day I felt great as if nothing had every happened. Plus, I got my flat stomach again :)  I had some bowls laying around "just in case" but they never got used, except by Kent.

 "Oh uh! I fell!" then a burst of giggles.

Finally, some colleagues of Matt's gave us ANOTHER big block set and we've been having fun building a castle for Jack and the Beanstalk (his favorite story). We use the little people to act out the parts. The green surgeon is our giant. 

I can't believe it's nearly February... then spring break!!!!