Fun in the Snow

Samantha: 45 Months, Week 1
Aedan: Week 43

The week of February 17-23 was characterized by snow days and cold weather, which cancelled preschool and caused us to spend more time at home than normal.  So on Tuesday morning, instead of taking Samantha to preschool, we played at home while Aedan took a nap, and then went to preschool story time at the library.  It was a different librarian than normal, and there was only one other family there, but having a smaller crowd was kind of nice.  This librarian did a great job of reading the stories in an engaging way, using voices, and engaging both Samantha and Aedan in the telling of the story.  We had a good time and at least got out of the house for a little while.  Here are some pictures from our time at home that morning.  I love seeing their love for each other grow.

Tuesdays are always tricky days with nap time because of ballet starting at 4:15.  However, even though Samantha didn't nap, she did pretty well listening and following directions at ballet.  She was narrating for Daddy what she was doing, making sure he knew she was following directions.  The week before when I took her to ballet, she didn't listen very well, so Samantha knew that Daddy would just take her home if she behaved that way again.

While Daddy and Samantha were at ballet, Aedan and I hung out, had Cheerios for a snack, and got dinner ready for when they would arrive back home.  These pictures were all too cute for me to just pick one.  I love his facial expressions.  What a goofy guy!

On Wednesday we had our first real play date since we moved to Oxford.  I hadn't really felt comfortable inviting anyone over yet, but I want to make new friends and get to know people here, so I decided to invite Beth and her boys over.  She has a boy about the same age as Samantha, as well as an almost two year old.  Aedan napped the whole time they were here, so we just had a chance to talk while the kids played.  Sometimes it's difficult to really have a chance to talk during play dates because kids interrupt you or you have to watch behavior, but it was fun, and I'm glad I stepped out of my comfort zone to invite them over.  Samantha had fun playing with Ezra, did a good job sharing, and played really well.  I was glad to see that because in Bloomington when we invited a few friends over, Samantha had a hard time getting along with our guests, wouldn't want to share her toys, or would just sit in the corner and sulk rather than try to include her friend and play together.  It's great to see the amount of growth in this area.

Our friends left just before lunch time, and after we ate lunch, both kids had time to play for a little while before nap time.  Aedan is now rolling everywhere, exploring new areas of the house he has never seen before from that perspective.  I tried to get a picture and video of Aedan pushing up on his knees, but I couldn't get a good one.  Especially when he can push against something with his feet, he will go up on his knees and rock back and forth for awhile, then falling back down on his tummy.  However, it's great to see him beginning to figure it out.  He can get around pretty well by scooting and rolling, as you can see in the video below.

The other characterization for this week was more frustration in nap time with Samantha.  Just like Tuesday, on Wednesday, Samantha was acting so tired, yawning, rubbing her eyes, and complaining about how tired she is while eating lunch.  However, she still refused to nap.  It seems like she knows if she lays still and quiet that she'll fall asleep and so does everything possible to keep herself awake.  I just don't get it, especially when she clearly is so tired.  It's hard when I know she needs it, but I can't make her nap.  I can't control whether she naps or not.  It seemed like nap time was better for awhile in that even if she didn't nap, her behavior was still okay in the evenings.  However, now it seemed like she was back to not being able to handle herself when she hasn't napped.  I would rather it just be one way or the other, either that napping is continuing or that napping is officially over so that we can move on to establishing quiet time instead, not this floating back and forth between napping sometimes and not napping other times.  Just when I'm ready to call off trying to get her to nap, she'll start napping again.  Or, just when she starts napping again and I think the not napping was just a phase, she'll stop napping.  Ahh!  Kids are so unpredictable and confusing sometimes!  It's hard for me to know how to handle it during the day, and it's hard to not get overly frustrated at Samantha when she acts tired, when I know a nap would help her, but when she refuses to let herself nap.  I know it's probably just a way to assert her independence, but that doesn't make dealing with her being overtired, grumpy, and cranky in the evening any easier.

We got some snow and the high on Thursday only reached 9 degrees, so preschool was cancelled again.  Samantha and I decided to have a relaxing morning, staying in our pajamas, and watching Cinderella while eating popcorn.  We don't do this very often, normally watching a show is a treat tied to whether or not she takes a nap, so this was a big deal to Samantha.  We got to watch the WHOLE movie together while Aedan took his morning nap.  :)

That evening, since Samantha actually napped that afternoon, (I just had to be a little stern to get her to calm down, but it didn't take long for her to fall asleep.) we had some dress up time before dinner while waiting for Daddy to get home from campus.  Even Aedan got in on the dressing up!  Samantha didn't want him to miss out on the experience. :)

It's so cute when Samantha wakes up from her nap because as she walks down the stairs, she looks out the window to see if Daddy's car is there or not, meaning Daddy is home from campus.  Well, Daddy actually took the Santa Fe on Thursday so that way he didn't have to clear the snow off the Saturn and could drive around in the snow more easily.  Because of that, Daddy's car was still outside and Samantha got SO excited thinking Daddy was already home.  Daddy coming home is always the highlight of her day.  She greets him with a giant hug and kiss, definitely a great way to be welcomed home at the end of a long day.

On Friday, some Oxford moms planned to meet up at an indoor play place called Jump and Jacks.  We were tired of being cooped up inside due to the cold and snowy weather so we took advantage of this morning outing.  The place was basically a giant playground with many areas to climb on, slides to go down, the perfect place to get out lots of energy.  They even had a special baby area where Aedan could roll around and watch other babies.  It will be a great place to take him when he actually starts crawling and climbing on things.  You could still see the older kids' area when in the baby room, but it made me feel a little nervous to leave Samantha there while I was in the baby room with Aedan.  The kids were fairly well contained and there were many eyes watching the kids, other parents and employees, but I would have hated for something bad to happen, for Samantha to get hurt or something, and not be close by.  However, it wouldn't have been too fun for Aedan to just stand and watch the big kids play all morning.  There were a few other moms there as well, so Samantha was able to play with a couple friends (when she could find them in the maze of the playground).  We all ate lunch together and then went back to playing.  Samantha was having so much fun, that we stayed until close to 1:00, the time we normally get ready for a nap.  However, Samantha was being such a good listener, and we rarely go out and do things like this, so I figured it was worth it.  We had a fun, fun morning.  We will definitely have to go back there again.

Samantha almost fell asleep in the car on the way home, and it took a little bit of work to get her to settle down once we got back home, but both kids were wiped out from the morning and took good afternoon naps that day.  Here are my sleeping cuties.

Friday night, we went out to eat as a family since both kids napped so well, and we knew there was more snow coming overnight which would keep us inside most of the rest of the weekend.  Samantha did a wonderful job of amusing Aedan in the back seat on the way home, making silly noises and making him laugh.  It was so great, I had to take a video even though it was dark so that I could capture the interaction between the two of them.

And just because they are not precious enough already, when we pulled into the garage, Samantha and Aedan were holding hands.  Man, the love between them is so strong.  She is such a kind, loving, caring big sister, and he looks up to her so much, adores her more than anyone else.  

Overnight Friday into Saturday, we got quite a bit of snow, so Daddy decided to go out and start shoveling the driveway in the morning while Aedan was taking his morning nap, before the snow piled up too much.  It actually wasn't as bitter cold and made it above freezing, so it was perfect for Samantha to go out and play.  Poor Daddy had to keep shoveling while Samantha and I played, made snow angels, she got pulled around in the sled, and we even found a small hill to sled down a few times.  Aedan took a nice two hour nap that morning, giving us plenty of time to play outside together.

I think we got a total of about 7 inches of snow that day.  It was pretty, fun to play in, and definitely a good excuse to have hot chocolate (which Samantha always takes advantage of.)  We have a beautiful little girl.

Once Aedan woke up from his nap, he enjoyed rolling around the floor and playing with a balloon.  He's getting much better at getting up on his knees and rocking back and forth.

Here are some pictures of the snow on our back patio.  It just kept coming down all day.  

Since Aedan took a longer nap on Saturday morning, his afternoon nap was not quite as long.  Here he is playing on the floor when he woke up.

The rest of the weekend went like normal with church and small group on Sunday, and then the start of another busy, somewhat stressful week with sleeping issues all around, but more on that in the next blog.