In the last week Kaitlyn and I have tried out two of the toddler classes at our local library.
On Thursday we went to the Toddler Play Group. We invited some new friends to go with us, a mom and her son who is one day older than Kaitlyn. There were lots of fun toys set out and lots of cute kids to watch. Kaitlyn was happy with both! The last 15 minutes we sang a few songs, but most of the time was free to play.
This morning we went to the Toddler Story Time. The first half hour the teacher read books and led us in singing some songs. Kaitlyn paid attention very well! She did run up to the teacher a few times and I had to grab her and sit her down again, but she was very interested in all the books and songs. The second half hour was time for free play, but the toys were not as fun as they were at the play group, so we got a little bored.
For free classes, these were pretty good! I haven't decided how often we will go yet, but I think Kaitlyn will enjoy them, and they will help her learn a few things. And the main thing is to just get us out of the house :)
Monday, January 9, 2012
Sunday, January 1, 2012
My New Years Resolution
It is January 1, 2012 and I have decided it is time to try something new. Today I ordered a few of these....
I have been thinking about cloth diapering since before Kaitlyn was born and have often read about them on the Cotton Babies Website. I have always known it would save a lot of money and of course be good for the environment. But I was fearful of how much extra time it would take, and how much mess I would have to deal with. I figured learning to take care of a newborn would be a lot of work and wasn't sure if I could handle dealing with cloth diapers on top of that. But I've never stopped thinking about trying it at some point.
Finally today I decided to go for it and placed an order. My friend Melissa wrote an excellent post about cloth diapers yesterday and it helped convince me. I won't have enough to go cloth full-time yet, but enough to get us started and see how it goes. If it goes well I can order some more and go full-time. Or maybe I'll be happy doing some of each. Or maybe I'll hate it. Hopefully it won't be option #3.
After doing some math I figure if I use what I ordered today for 3 months they will have paid for themselves, since I will be saving money on disposables. So I am committed to using them for at least that long. But hopefully they will work well for us, and when Kaitlyn is done using them she can pass them down to a little brother or sister and then we can really save some money by cloth diapering our next baby with what we already have!
So here we go on a new journey. I'm still kinda nervous, but kinda excited too. Now I just have to wait for them to arrive. Stay tuned to hear how it goes.
Happy New Year!
I have been thinking about cloth diapering since before Kaitlyn was born and have often read about them on the Cotton Babies Website. I have always known it would save a lot of money and of course be good for the environment. But I was fearful of how much extra time it would take, and how much mess I would have to deal with. I figured learning to take care of a newborn would be a lot of work and wasn't sure if I could handle dealing with cloth diapers on top of that. But I've never stopped thinking about trying it at some point.
Finally today I decided to go for it and placed an order. My friend Melissa wrote an excellent post about cloth diapers yesterday and it helped convince me. I won't have enough to go cloth full-time yet, but enough to get us started and see how it goes. If it goes well I can order some more and go full-time. Or maybe I'll be happy doing some of each. Or maybe I'll hate it. Hopefully it won't be option #3.
After doing some math I figure if I use what I ordered today for 3 months they will have paid for themselves, since I will be saving money on disposables. So I am committed to using them for at least that long. But hopefully they will work well for us, and when Kaitlyn is done using them she can pass them down to a little brother or sister and then we can really save some money by cloth diapering our next baby with what we already have!
So here we go on a new journey. I'm still kinda nervous, but kinda excited too. Now I just have to wait for them to arrive. Stay tuned to hear how it goes.
Happy New Year!
Friday, December 30, 2011
Christmas 2011
We had a great Christmas this year, celebrating the birth of Jesus with our family.
Having a toddler around makes Christmas way more fun, so of course there are lots of pictures of her!
Saying hello from inside her new pop-up tent!
Probably her favorite thing she got....a stroller to push around.
She had fun opening presents. She would pull off a small piece of paper and hand it to me or Paul over and over.
Opening her stocking at my parents house.
Checking out a new toy with her Grandma.
Playing with her cousin.
Being kinda silly.
It was so nice to spend time with my family. I'm already looking forward to next Christmas.
Having a toddler around makes Christmas way more fun, so of course there are lots of pictures of her!
Saying hello from inside her new pop-up tent!
Probably her favorite thing she got....a stroller to push around.
She had fun opening presents. She would pull off a small piece of paper and hand it to me or Paul over and over.
Opening her stocking at my parents house.
Checking out a new toy with her Grandma.
Playing with her cousin.
Being kinda silly.
It was so nice to spend time with my family. I'm already looking forward to next Christmas.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Peas Please
Kaitlyn has always loved eating peas. As a baby she loved her pureed peas. And now she loves eating whole peas. But somehow in the last few days she has developed a new way to eat them. She finds one pea that looks good, sticks out one finger and goes in for the smush. Once the poor pea is totally squashed then she gathers up the remains and eats them.
It is kinda funny to watch. Yes, it is playing with food. But she is eating them. And developing her fine motor skills at the same time.
Now if I could only get her to eat her carrots.
It is kinda funny to watch. Yes, it is playing with food. But she is eating them. And developing her fine motor skills at the same time.
Now if I could only get her to eat her carrots.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
The Nativity
This week I got out our toy nativity set that we recently got passed down to us from my sister and her family. I thought it would be fun to tell Kaitlyn the story of Christmas, though I know she can't understand it yet. I figured we would play with it for about 10 minutes and then be done with it, since Kaitlyn is still so young. Boy was I wrong.
Kaitlyn LOVES the nativity set. We now play with it for hours each day. She loves to set up all the pieces on our end table, and then throw them all back in the bucket. She can repeat this game quite a few times!
Kaitlyn's favorite piece is, of course, the baby. She does not understand who this baby is right now. But I pray that one day she will know the story of this baby as the way her Saviour came into the world.
Kaitlyn LOVES the nativity set. We now play with it for hours each day. She loves to set up all the pieces on our end table, and then throw them all back in the bucket. She can repeat this game quite a few times!
Kaitlyn's favorite piece is, of course, the baby. She does not understand who this baby is right now. But I pray that one day she will know the story of this baby as the way her Saviour came into the world.
Monday, December 12, 2011
We Moved!
We spent the weekend after Thanksgiving moving. We didn't move very far, we stayed in the same apartment complex. But we finally moved into a larger apartment, which we had planned to do more than a year ago after Kaitlyn was born.
While moving has never been fun in the past, moving with a toddler around proved to be even more painful. Kaitlyn was not so helpful during the packing stage. She would start taking things OUT of boxes while we were trying to put things IN. But somehow we made it. She did enjoy the huge pile of empty boxes that we made while we were packing though. Here she is in a box from McDonald's:
She did help her Daddy pack one box...
And here she is in our new living room on the day of the move with random furniture everywhere:
Another tough part about moving and cleaning our old apartment was that someone always had to be taking care of Kaitlyn. My parents were so wonderful to help us two days in a row with moving and playing with Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn was not so happy that Mommy and Daddy kept leaving her, but she was happy to get to know Grandma and Grandpa better.
We are slowly getting settled in. We don't have anything up on the walls yet, but we are sure enjoying having more space. Our living room has so much more room to play and for Kaitlyn to run around. Here is a picture of Kaitlyn in her corner of the living room. I love how the windows around her corner are really low so that she can look out them when the blinds are open.
While moving has never been fun in the past, moving with a toddler around proved to be even more painful. Kaitlyn was not so helpful during the packing stage. She would start taking things OUT of boxes while we were trying to put things IN. But somehow we made it. She did enjoy the huge pile of empty boxes that we made while we were packing though. Here she is in a box from McDonald's:
She did help her Daddy pack one box...
And here she is in our new living room on the day of the move with random furniture everywhere:
Another tough part about moving and cleaning our old apartment was that someone always had to be taking care of Kaitlyn. My parents were so wonderful to help us two days in a row with moving and playing with Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn was not so happy that Mommy and Daddy kept leaving her, but she was happy to get to know Grandma and Grandpa better.
We are slowly getting settled in. We don't have anything up on the walls yet, but we are sure enjoying having more space. Our living room has so much more room to play and for Kaitlyn to run around. Here is a picture of Kaitlyn in her corner of the living room. I love how the windows around her corner are really low so that she can look out them when the blinds are open.
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