Fun free toddler activities

I wish there was a fast forward button on the work week and a slow motion button on the weekends. Basically, what I am saying is that I wish that work weeks were 2 days and weekends were 5 days. How glorious it would be.

 

I am going to try to spotlight a toddler activity or two weekly and this weekend my spotlight is freebies! Ok, weekly toddler activities may be ambitious, but I am still going to give it a try!

Before I get started I would just like to spotlight that on Saturday morning Nolan had to get his flu shot. He surprised both Ryan and I and did very well. He cried when I laid him on the table and at the initial shot, but stopped by the time I picked him up and took 1 step to open the door.

 

Fun FREE toddler activities:

· Library class

· Airplane observation area

· Storyville

Library class: After running a few morning errands (spending too much money at Target) we took Nolan to the Saturday morning library class. The local libraries offer free classes to all different age groups throughout the week and weekends. The class we take Nolan to on Saturdays is called Play Partners for infant-23 months. We have started to make this class part of our weekend routine and it seems like he alternates his mood from happy to grumpy each week. Having the flu shot I thought it was going to be a back-to-back grumpy weekend at the library, but he had SO MUCH fun! At one point he even wandered his way to the front of the room listening to the teacher read the story and turned around to clap in front of everyone so proudly. It was adorable! After every story and song Nolan would shout “again, again!” He hammed it up 100% at the class. This means that this coming Saturday he will probably not be interested and trying to escape the entire class. Bonus, Ryan will be playing in a football tournament so I will be juggling Nol Nol on my own.

Dancing~

 

Fun with the parachute!

 

Feeling victorious for finding a ball...that happens to look like a dog toy!

BWI Airplane observation area: On Saturday evening just before sunset (ok I don’t even think the sun was out on Saturday) we went to the airplane observation area. There area is the perfect place to take your toddler. There are a few benches and a (very small) playground. The airplanes come through for landing every few minutes. Last Saturday it was very cloudy and so we could not see the planes lined up in the sky, but according to my husband on a clear day you can see them all lined up in the sky. It was still cool to see the lights appear from the clouds and then come in to sight. Nolan was in his glory. He had so much fun alternating between watching the airplanes and going down the slide. He is fascinated by airplanes right now and he can hear them and spot them from so far away. Sometimes he even finds them in the sky before me, it’s crazy! Had it not been so cold we could have probably stayed longer because Nolan was so content watching (and clapping) each time the airplanes landed.

 

Playground with daddy!

 

"airplane! airplane!" "again! again!"

He cheered every time they landed!

So excited to see each airplane!

 

Storyville: I have talked about Storyville multiple times in my blog and always refer to it as a hidden gem. We are taking Nolan to Storyville on Wednesday evenings this winter and it seems to be the perfect time to go. We feed Nolan his dinner around 5pm and then go to Storyville from about 6-7ish and meet up with some of his friends! I have yet to see more than 5 other children there when we go. I love to go at that time because Nolan can still have social interaction without being trampled by older children. For those of you that do not know what Storyville is let me explain; Storyville is part of the Woodlawn library and has a baby area (or as they call it “baby park”), a tree house, grocery store/market, kitchen/house, puzzles, books, puppets, musical instruments, blocks, legos, magnets and so much more for your little one to play with and explore! Nolan always has a great time playing when we are there and once again it’s free!

 

The best picture we could get of Nolan, Lily and Colby at Storyville!

Xylophone and a boat, what more does he need? :)

With the weather getting colder we will be taking more advantage of the library classes and Storyville this winter! :)

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Gymboree, Concert and Pump It Up!

On Saturday we took Nolan to Gymboree for the free trial class! His favorite part of the class was when the teacher blew bubbles all over the place. The kiddo is obsessed with bubbles!

Well, 10 years later and we finally went to a concert together. I have never been a big concert goer, but for Ryan's birthday (yes, back in July) I bought him tickets to the Streetlight Manifesto concert at the Baltimore Sound Stage. Ryan was so excited for this concert. Honestly, I was not, but after all is said and done, it was a fun show! I did learn at this concert that I am old. As we bopped and sang along I watched all the "youngin's" come out of the circle pit covered in sweat looking like walking zombies and putting their shoes back on. No lie. I seriously kept thinking to myself, well don't go back in there if you are going to come out feeling like crap. Nope, the next song would start and they would run right back to the pit. Crazy kids.

Thank you Aunt Lainy for babysitting Nolie last night so that we could have a proper date and go to the concert. You are the best and we love you so much!

Since I was off work today Nolie and I met Aunt Jamie and Lily at Pump It Up for a play date. I seriously wish I had a weekday morning every week so that I could continue to take Nolan there. This place is awesome! Children under 2 and adults are free. In case you are not following, it's free. Nolan took a while to warm up to the place, but after spending some time there he warmed up to it. Lily seemed to love it!

Scoping everything out!

And finally, Happy Movember!

Homemade playdough! Recipe: 2 parts oatmeal, 1 part flour, 1 part water.

 

 

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Dear Nolan - 17 Months

Dear Nolan,

Where do I even begin? These past 17 months have been the best months of our lives and they get better and better each day with you.

You are a little copy cat these days and we have to watch the things we say because not only will you copy, but you are talking clearer and clearer every day. We are actually able to have little conversations with you. There have also been multiple occasions where we are upstairs playing and I will shout “Hey Ry” to get your daddy’s attention. Well, you will copy me and shout “Ry…hey Ry!” and although I shouldn’t laugh and encourage it, you crack me up. You also don’t forget things because the other morning when you woke up you also proceeded to shout “Ry!” You know that daddy is “dada”, so although you say Ry to him every now and then, he can’t be mad at it. (He does like to get mad at me for it though.)

 

Then there is the eyebrow lift. Yes, the surprised look that you do to copy us is another one of the many hilarious things you do. You and daddy sit at the dinner table raising your eyebrows back and forth at each other cracking up. It makes my heart so happy to just sit back and watch.

 

Some other new things you do consist of riding in the car and we go over a bump, you say, “woah”. If you go down a slide or see someone going down a slide you will say “weee!” In addition to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse you are also starting to like Jake and the Neverland Pirates. The intro to the show has them all go down a slide and you love it!

Recently, you finally started to like mama’s singing voice. I am not offended that it took you this long because I will be honest, it’s awful.  When I sing to you now you will say “again, again!” We sing a lot in the car on the way to Aunt Ginnie’s and daycare every morning.

The recent development of your little attitude has also started to sprout. You definitely know what you want and you do not like when you don’t get your way. Sorry kiddo but even though you look at me with those big brown eyes I still have to say no at times. We have actually lightly started sitting you in timeout. You are not a fan of timeout, but that’s a good thing. No kids are. Maybe this will teach you to listen to mama and dada.

You love to run laps. You have a lap that you do around the dining room table and it keeps you so content. At Aunt Ginnie’s house you go around her couch. It’s so funny because you are entertained for so long going around and around. Occasionally you will pop out and say “boo!”

You are getting taller. The other day you were playing in the kitchen and dining room. Daddy and I assumed you were running your laps, but it got quiet. When we went to check on you, you came around the corner saying “mmm” and holding out a marshmallow with a little bite taken out of it. I quickly jumped out of my seat because I did not think there was any way that you could reach the top of the island. Well, you did. And you managed to dump out the bag of marshmallows on the floor (luckily there were only like 5 left) and in a little pile lied all the marshmallows on the floor with a bite taken out of them. Needless to say, your daddy and I couldn’t even be mad and we let you finish the one marshmallow. We thought you would be excited, but, you decided that Chuggins should have it instead and threw it to him.

 

You love to take baths and are obsessed with bubbles. You get so excited to watch them fill up in the bathtub. You like to put them on your hand and then we blow them in the air together. Every now and then you put them to close to your face and give yourself a bubble beard.

Then there is “GEEE YAAA” aka Mickey, Chuggy and Cookie. The word is pretty much your 3 favorite things. It’s funny because we think you talk pretty clearly, but for some reason those 3 words are “gee ya” and I love it. I hope that you call them “gee ya” for a long time.  

Last night you went trick-or-treating for the first time. I think you surprised many homes when you said “thank you” after they gave you a treat. We tried to teach you to say trick-or-treat, but you just say “tickle, tickle, tickle”. We also tried to teach you to say Happy Halloween and surprisingly you would say “Happy Wee”. I think that is rather impressive for being 17 months old. J

We love you baby boy.
 

Love,

Mommy

xoxo

Fall fun ~ Happy Halloween!

So many farms, so many friends! We have been fully enjoying the fall weather these past few weekend. We have been to a parade, picked apples, picked pumpkins, pet all kinds of zoo animals, went down slides, rode the cow train and even jumped on a giant jumping pillow! To top it all off, tonight is Halloween and we enjoyed the evening with the best of friends! Aunt Aunnie, Uncle Anth, Aunt Jamie, Uncle Matt, Quinny, Harper and Lily all came over tonight. We started a new tradition tonight of stuffing our faces with pizza and then taking the kiddies trick-or-treating. Watching all the "babies" really start to play more and interact together is so fun. It is exciting to think about all the fun ahead for them.

Gaver Farm:

 

 

Nolan's 1st Parade. He LOVED it!!
Parade in Old Ellicott City:

 

Picking apples and pumpkins at Larriland Farm:

 

Storyville, you will be seeing a lot more of us this winter:

Clark's Farm:

Lincoln's last tee ball game:

 

Happy Halloween:



Our little monster didn't like his costume at first!

Ryan's pumpkin is pumpkin pi

Showing me the craft he made with Aunt Ginnie today!!!!

 

I love the craft projects that Nolan and Aunt Ginnie do! How cute is this bat?! :)

 

 

 

Putting the apples we picked to use! I made a apple cobbler, applesauce and apple pie!