Look what we woke up to on Tuesday

 SNOW

It continued to snow for a couple hours in the early morning and then stopped about 8:30.  Ryan had a dentist appointment that morning and I offered to go out and play in the snow with him before the dentist, but he didn't want to.  Amazingly enough everybody didn't freak out and cancel or delay school, so off to the dentist we went. Ryan had an appointment with a new dentist and he was THRILLED that he as allowed to choose a pair of sunglasses to wear while they cleaned his teeth.

By the time we were done at the dentist the snow was almost all melted, so Ryan decided he wanted to go to the library.  His favorite thing to do at the library is this . . .

The computers have hundreds of games, but he usually chooses Dora.  He is getting better at controlling the mouse.  After playing on the computer for 15 minutes or so it we went to story time.  His favorite part about story time is the jokes that Daisy the dog tells.  Today's joke was:  What is on the top of a dog house.  A Woof!  Ryan thought it was hilarious.

Sometimes I wonder

This is the conversation that took place this morning:

Me: Ryan, do you want to go pick out your clothes or do you want Daddy to do it?

Ryan: First I need to call the stores and tell them I am not shopping at them any more.  I need to call Targ*t, Walm*rt and Kho*s and tell them I am can't shop at their stores any more.

Me: (Silence) I'm not sure what to say to that.  I guess he was planning a boycott in his sleep last night.

The Balloon Man

We went to the library last week to see the Balloon Man.  We waited in line a LONG time and when it was finally his turn Ryan asked for a magic wand with a heart on the end -- this is what he got.  I guess the balloon man wasn't into giving boys magic wands with hearts on the end, or maybe he was out of heart balloons . . . not sure.  Either way it is a good thing Ryan is easy to please!

Play, Grow, Learn

We went to the library for their Play, Grown Learn preschool program and Ryan had a blast.  They had some activities that he really liked. . . 

Spelling -at rhyming words.  He caught on that you only had to change the first letter and you could get lots of different words.  He thought that was cool.

Here he is taking my order at the Play Date Cafe!  He insisted on tracing all the letters in the words for each of the things I ordered rather than just checking or circling what I wanted.  It took a while to place my order!  Once he got it he had to go to another table and get a plate and collect all of the food I wanted and deliver it back to me.  

Reading Seals on a Bus using stuffed animals as props.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar flannel board 

Chicka Chicka 123.  He said that putting the numbers on this tree was his favorite.  Although when he counts he says twenty ten instead of 30 he recognized 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, and 90 when we got to that part of the book and he had to find the number.

Little Teacher

We have been playing a lot of this. . . 

Unusual Picnic

The other morning we went to a friend's house to play.  On the way home Ryan asked where we were going to go next.  When I answered that we were going home for lunch he did not think that was a good idea.  After a few minutes of grumbling, he said to me "I am not going inside to eat my lunch.  I am going to eat it in the car."  I said that was OK.  He added on "I'm not going to eat my lunch in my carseat, I am going to eat it in your seat."  I said OK.   He then added "And you're going to put my lunch in my lunch box, please."  I said OK.  I offered the suggestion of an indoor picnic on the living room floor, but he was not interested.  So, he ate his lunch out of his lunch box while sitting by himself in the car while the car was parked in our garage.  When he finally wanted to be let out, I opened the door and he said "Mom, that was the best picnic ever!"  Hmmmmmm. . . 

Photos By Ryan -- Dec

Ryan has become quite the little picture taker lately.  He takes a lot of pictures.  Here are some of his favorites . . .

One of his favorite Christmas ornaments

Our tree

Favorite present from Santa

Most recent favorite movie

Ryan's new clock -- which he LOVES

Ryan's art wall

Gingerbread House

For weeks all I have been hearing about are gingerbread houses and pumpkin pie.  My mom made a pumpkin pie for Christmas and fortunately, I haven't heard much about pumpkin pie since!  

In the weeks since Christmas he has still talked non-stop about making a gingerbread house.  I had bought one a few weeks ago at Trader Joe's, but I had been saving it for . . . I wasn't sure what and finally last week I knew.  When I announced that we would be taking the tree down tomorrow my statement was met with lots of tears.  Ryan definitely did not want that to happen, so the next day I pulled out the gingerbread house out as a consolation prize.  He was thrilled!

Here is the box.  Ryan had a hard lesson in advertising when he realized that everything pictured on the box was not inside.  His disappointment didn't last long!

We used pre-mixed frosting left over from decorating cookies, rather than the stuff you had to make that came with the kit.  Best idea ever.

Decorating the roof

Finished!

Favorite Books

We read A LOT of books around our house.  Some days I read 10 or more books (or, on occasion, the same book 10+ times in a day).  Here are some of the favorites for them the last several weeks.

 David Gets in Trouble -- David Shannon

The Gingerbread Man -- Eric Kimmel

Frosty the Snowman -- Steve Nelson

Vampirina Ballerina -- Ann Marie Pace

 Gingerbread Mouse

Grumpy Badger's Christmas -- Paul Bright

The Christmas Pumpkin -- Debbie Reese

Merry Christmas, Curious George -- Margret & H.A. Rey

 Fancy Nancy Aspiring Artist -- Jane O'Connor

The Eye Book -- Theo LeSieg

Mrs. Wishy Washy's Christmas -- Joy Cowley

Rabbit's Gift -- George Shannon

HappyThanksgiving, Biscuit! -- Alyssa Satin Capucilli

Chilly Mill Moo -- Fiona Ross

Lego Mania

Ryan got his first set of "big kid" legos for Christmas from his Auntie M.  He has been tinkering with them since Christmas and today discovered the "maps" (the direction booklets).  The set that he got is a vehicle set, so there are several different car/truck directions. The directions were a little hard for him to follow on his own, but we did it together and he was so proud of the tow truck and jeep he made.  We went on to make a red race car, a yellow car with a hood that opens so you can see the engine, a platform for the cars to drive up on so the mechanic can roll under them on his rolling board to work on the car, a green 4 wheeler and a few other things.  He played with this for a good long while and then discovered that at the back of each directions book there were two things . . . ads for other lego kits and more ideas of what to build  with this current set.  

tow truck and blue jeep

So, he has already started his Christmas list for next year and he decided we had to make all of the other things that were displayed.  The directions for 3 of these additional vehicles were on-line (thank goodness, I'm not so good at the free hand lego building).  Anyway, the directions were really hard to find on the lego site, but  I finally did find them and we went on to make a tractor trailer truck that had a steam shovel on the back, and then a green race car.  We then went back and made the tractor trailer truck again.  He did nothing else besides play legos today.  We built legos, ate lunch, rested with his legos, built legos, ate dinner, got ready for bed, built legos, and went to bed.  He took the tractor trailer truck and steam shovel to bed with him.  

tractor trailer truck and steam shovel

Happy New Year

Look what Daddy made for breakfast!

YUM!

Ryan's take on the new year -- "Now I get to have Valentine's Day, Easter, my birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and summer all over again!"