Yeah, I Really Wish I Had a Better Idea Than This

So I've gotten lazy since Brian went back to work and it's been just Lydia and me. I hadn't even started any laundry until today! And yesterday I put away towels that had been washed last week! What is going on with me? What I really hate about being lazy is letting Lydia watch all her TV shows....all at once! She'll have the TV on, a laptop on and have my iPhone....all watching her favorite shows. And then there's me, relaxing on the couch with my laptop. Plus, Lydia's gotten re-addicted to her pacifier! Enough is enough!

Tuesday during Lydia's nap I came up with a game plan....at least for Lydia....haven't figured out the laundry/cleaning game plan yet. I've decided I really want to start working on Bible stories with Lydia. She loves praying and hearing "Jesus songs", but I want her to know the stories. So, we started talking about Noah and the flood last week, but I only read the story from the Bible a few times and mentioned it here and there to her. I've decided to make simple lessons/activities throughout the week centered around a Bible story. I'm going to stick with the Old Testament for awhile, then move on to the New Testament. 

This week, we're still learning about Noah. I started the activities today (since Wednesday I worked until 2:30). Here was today's list of activities:

Read: Genesis 7 (Forgot to read the story today, but talked about it several times. I also have a simple story version of Noah, but forgot to read that, too....oops.)

Art: Paint a rainbow using water colors (I printed off a rainbow picture and set the paints out. She wanted to pour the water onto the paints and when I didn't let her, she threw about a 10 minute screaming fit. I had to rock her and sing to her - Noah's song, of course - until she calmed down. Then she started painting all on her own and did a great job.)

Cooking: Make rainbow cookies. (We used a bagged recipe for sugar cookies and added food coloring, making four different colors. I should have used more coloring so the cookies would have turned out brighter, but they sure are tasty!)

Snack: Eat animal crackers. (Almost forgot to pick these up at HEB, but remembered at the last second! I was worried Lydia wouldn't like them, but she loved them! I sang "The Lord told Noah to build him an arky arky" while she ate and she loved it! She liked talking about the different animals and watching me eat them too....yummy!)

Fine Motor: Sort Fruit Loops into color groups and string on a necklace. (I forgot Fruit Loops.....)

Outdoors: Go on a wagon ride, water flowers, play in the hose. (We went on a walk this afternoon....but nothing else. Didn't have time.)

I got to several of the activities, which is great for the first day! I'm glad there's a song that goes along with Noah....Lydia loves music and singing. Lydia was a bit fussy today (threw a fit at HEB) so that's partly why we didn't get to as many things as I would have liked. I need to get better at showering and getting ready faster so that we can leave for HEB sooner. Lately I haven't showered until 10:00 and just took my time, but today I wanted to be home so we could do activities before and after lunch. We managed the painting after lunch (and after her tantrum).

If I have a plan, I'm good at sticking to it! I also don't let Lydia have her pacifier during activities, which is great. And we didn't watch nearly as much TV today as usual, which is a plus! Didn't even turn the TV on until Daddy came home! Yeah!

Here are the pictures from today:

Painting

Animal crackers!

Rainbow cookies

Adding food coloring

Yummy!

Forgot to take a picture of the finished product

Love this!

Do Not Be Such a Crybaby....Hold Still!

It's amazing what a two-year old can comprehend, remember, and mimic. I promise (really, I do) that I never spent time tutoring Lydia on how to work my iPhone...she figured it out by watching me. She knows how to unlock the screen, choose Netflix, stop/play/rewind/turn the volume down on a movie, exit out of a program, choose her favorite game app, text and send the text, and how to answer the phone! She's seen me do it so often, she just picked it up on her own. One thing that she's recently been obsessed with is taking pictures. I just love it! I have taken so many pictures of her with my iPhone (one of the main reasons I wanted one - to text pictures of Lydia to Brian and family), it's about time that she's figured out how to do it on her own! She has even realized that there is lag time between the moment you hit the camera button and the moment it actually takes the picture (she'll hit the button, turn the phone to face her, and say "cheese" before it actually takes the picture). 

So, today I sent Lydia on a photo "scavenger hunt". I can justify this activity by saying that I was trying to see what objects she knew the names of - if she knew what I was talking about. But really, it was just cute to see her take pictures with the phone and to see how those pictures actually turned out. So, here are the pictures Lydia took on her photo hunt.

A picture of her Baby.

Her horse.

Her pajamas (we were in the living room, so she went into her room to find these).

Her drum.

Super Grover.

The oven.

The piano.

Her bed.

She told me she was going to take one of her baby's bed.

Her favorite book: Baby Dear.

Mommy.

She decided to photograph her potty trip.

Mommy...I'm sitting on the stool, not the potty, promise!

Herself...not a very attractive picture, though.

This is in the evening, but I thought it was a pretty nice picture.

Don't Move, eh, Don't Breathe, Don't Do Anything...Except Pray, Maybe...

It's been a rough day and it's only 1:30! I really don't need a rough day on my day off! 

Toddlers are so unpredictable. You think you get them down to a routine and you've mastered how to control their tantrums and how to convince them to do what you want....and then they learn other ways to get out of your control. It's an endless cycle. It's a good thing Lydia is so darn cute, or I'd have a hard time forgiving her today.

Yesterday was Lydia's first day of BSF (Bible Study Fellowship). She started going to BSF with my mom when she was only 3 months old! Last year, she went with Leah and Adah (Adah started when she was about 2 weeks old) and this year she's heading off to BSF, again, with Leah and Adah. I dropped her off at Leah's house on my way to the preschool yesterday. Despite waking up at 6:30 (after not falling asleep until almost 9:00), Lydia was in a good mood and ready to have some fun. Leah said she napped in the car on the way home from lunch at about 1:30....and decided that a 15 minute nap was enough for the day! I got home around 2:45 and Lydia didn't fall asleep until 4:00! We had to wake her up at 5:30! I let her go to sleep at 8:30 (we've been trying to get her in bed at 8:00), but she didn't fall asleep until after 9:00.

This morning, she thought 7:00 was a good time to wake up. Almost all summer she's been waking up around 7:30 or later....until now. She needs at least 11 and 1/2 hours of sleep...she does really well with that much....any less and we can have a somewhat rough day. Today is one of those days.

She has started screaming in her crib if we don't come get her right away. We've always had her stay in her crib until the time we want her to wake up (7:30 would be nice) to teach her to sleep longer....it worked during the summer, but I guess she's changed her mind. I remember the days when she would just play around in her crib until we came and got her....those days no longer exist - it's screaming and yelling "Mama!" over and over and over. You'd think that alone would wear her out.

We went on a 2 mile walk with Leah and Adah and the girls played in Leah's front yard while we finished chatting in the driveway. Then we headed back home so I could take a shower and get ready to head off to HEB. We left for HEB around 10:30 and got home at about 11:45. She was really good at HEB, even though we did forget to bring a baby doll, which caused a mini meltdown as we got out of the car. When we got home, I put the groceries away and made us each a sandwich for lunch. Lydia likes to "feed" her baby when she eats...keeps her busy, but she hasn't been eating much lately. After lunch, I put on Yo Gabba Gabba so she could watch a show while I picked up lunch and cleaned the front of the house and started laundry.

After Gabba was over, it was 1:00, so we headed to her room to read our Bible story (Noah and the Ark) and read some books (her new favorite book is Baby Dear by Eloise Wilkins). She refused to put on her pull-up and started screaming, so I sat her in time out for a bit. That convinced her to let me put on her pull-up. She wanted me to sing and rock her, but when we sat down in the glider together, she started playing around. I told her it's time to relax and cuddle, but, of course, she didn't listen. I put her in her crib without songs. She screamed and cried. I came back and rocked her - she sat nicely in my lap and enjoyed my singing. Then it was time for nap. I put her in her crib at about 1:15....it's 1:45 and she has screamed, thrown her pacifiers, asked to go potty, and I have walked in to cover her up several times! She is finally quiet now!

Let's hope that she naps at least 2 hours and is in a better mood this afternoon. Brian is staying late at school and I don't look forward to an evening with a cranky toddler!

Lydia and Adah on their first day of BSF!

In other news:

• I started teaching preschool music at the church on Wednesdays - yesterday was my second day. My first day went really well, but the new kiddos gave me a hard time. It's hard keeping 3-5 year olds entertained for 20 minutes! Yesterday went a lot smoother and we had a lot of fun. It's amazing how my lesson changes from the first class to the last class. My poor first class gets the "okay" lesson while my last class gets best one!
• Lydia's rash has gone away. We applied Cortizone cream for a few days and it's almost gone...you can sometimes see a hint of it, but it's not nearly as bumpy and red!
• I am loving my Fall piano schedule and my students! I had to get really creative with my new 5-year old, but he's doing great! And, I learned that I can convince him to do almost anything if I say he can have a stamp! Sweet!