Dancing, parks, and piñatas…

"The world is a playground, and life is pushing my swing."
-Natalie Kocsis

It’s nice to live in a home where impromptu dance parties can break out at any moment.  The pictures below were from Rock n’ Roll Elmo™ seen to the right of the pictures.  James’ moves primarily involve him turning around in circles over and over, which doesn’t put him too far off his Dad’s dancing ability.

As Halloween approaches, we are in the inevitable back and forth answering of the “what do you want to be for Halloween” question.  James, for his part, really doesn’t care.  Ashlyn picked out a Snow White costume, but when she saw James in the Yoda costume that Mom bought him, she changed her mind and wanted to be Princess Leia from Star Wars.  You’ll have to check back after Halloween for the end result.

But what about food you ask?  You didn’t ask?  Well, I’m going tell you about food anyway.  Ashlyn and James are both progressing in their eating.  Ashlyn is now self sufficient in making and preparing food several meals for herself, including sandwiches.  James is getting better at using a fork to eat chicken nuggets.  Both are very proud of their accomplishments.

In addition to his cutlery skills, James is also improving his vocabulary.  He still has trouble pronouncing them, but he knows around 17 words in total.  The full list is at the bottom of the blog post.  The pictures below were the result of James pulling us outside to ask for bubbles.  Ashlyn then taught him the joys of pouring.

Mom has been perusing Pinterest again in preparation of Ashlyn’s upcoming birthday party and Party City is appreciative.  Below is the beginnings of a themed piñata.  To see the final version, tune in next week.

The weather turned out to be great on Sunday, so when PePa came over breakfast we spent a lot of time outside running around and jumping on the trampoline.  Ashlyn did her best to send James air born, but James stubbornly refused to keep both feet in contact with the mat.

After naps we took the kids out to the park to enjoy what turned out to be a picture perfect day.  Both the kids had a great time going up and down the playground.  James enjoyed exploring the park and trying to fall into the creek, and then after a juice box break he showed his commitment to the juice box by taking it with him on the swings.  Ashlyn ran, slid, climbed, and jumped on almost every inch of the playground.

The many words of James…

• Mama
• Dada
• Hot
• Cat
• Dog
• Cracker
• No No
• Uh Oh
• Banana
• Eye
• Elmo
• Tickle
• More
• Bubbles
• Fish
• Foot
• Bowl

Signs

• Milk
• More
• Help
• Eat
• All done (this is done in two ways, the actual sign and by throwing food all over the kitchen)

Family fun, bounce houses, and a playdate…

"When my kids become wild and unruly, I use a nice, safe playpen. When they’re finished, I climb out."
-Erma Bombeck

Ashlyn and James are both discovering new things.  Ashlyn has learned that she can do puzzles without Mom and Dad and she’s getting better at making her imagination come to life with Playdoh and other art materials.  As for James, well, he’s learned that wearing glasses is funny.

The weekend started off with a visit to Nina and Papa’s house for a family get together.  James got to say hi to his cousin Lilly and had fun flying off the back of the treadmill.  Nina and Ashlyn played dress up (twice) and Ashlyn enjoyed looking at pictures of Dad as a kid.  It’s always fun when the family gets together.

At the end of the evening we tried to take some family pictures.  The first attempt was of the grandparents and grandkids.  This did not go well.  All the kids were crying, with one key exception.  While the world cried around him, James held strong and laughed.  Good job buddy!  The big family picture went slightly better.  Nobody cried this time anyway, and Loki sneaked a kiss from Fonda as the flash went off.  Good times!

We had a birthday party to go to on Saturday, and we went to Pump It Up in Arlington.  Ashlyn went once before for a different kid’s birthday party, but this time she really took advantage of the place and had a blast.  James, despite his age, had a great time and didn’t want to leave (see the top right picture of James running off when it was time to gather up for the next room).  Both of the kids really enjoyed going up and down the slides and climbing over everything.  Mom and Dad had fun as well, and we both were sore the next morning from chasing the kids around.

While there, Mom was a good role model for the kids by strictly following safety rules.

Later in the evening the Wofle clan came over to the house.  Ashlyn and James had a great time pestering Uncle Brian with some of the party birthday party favors, and of course James got some "hold me” time with Grandma.

Sunday we took few pictures.  We were worn out from all the activities over the past few days.  It’s worth noting that Ashlyn had her first play date on Sunday.  We’ve hung out with friends and other kids before, but this was the first time that Ashlyn and a friend from school put their heads together and decided that it would be fun to meet at one of their houses.  So we went to Mia’s house and the two girls had an incredible time together.  Their parents were nice too, and we’ll definitely do it again.  We may take pictures when it’s at our house, but we felt awkward asking if we could take pictures of the two girls together at the first visit.