Where to Park?

I tried to bribe my son today with a trip to park in exchange for a nap. I know, maybe not the best parenting technique but with his latest trends of screaming with even the notion of sleep, it seemed like a good idea. So after an hour of my future lawyer 'resting' - we throw around the notion of when and where to park.

Our resident source of family fun, my husband, has been holding onto the nugget that Newton's Southside Park is having Shakespeare in the Park at 5:00. AWESOME! Not only do we get to hold true to the bribe, but it becomes an excellent family adventure. So here we go to the southside and a little kid culture. Yeah, no. Due to the excessive rains we had the first of the week the park is CLOSED. I mean locked at the edge of the road closed. No Shakespeare, no park. We go to Plan B.

We drive to the other park in Newton with it's empty playground. Why you ask? That would be the blazing hot metal which burns you before you even touch it. As much as I love the Newton Recreation Department's offerings, should I question why one park is dead center of a flood plain and the other has NO shade trees around a full metal playground?

Plan C. Again, Stephen saves us. Let's go to Claremont park - it's not that far and gas just dropped down to $3.51. As you can see, my hopes for a pdf were not in vain.

Yo Gabba

I watch a lot of kids programming - a LOT. In fact, the majority of time that I spend watching television is spent on Toon Disney, PBS or Noogin. There are a few reasons for this. The first and main reason is I have a 3 year old. Secondly, I really feel like I should become familiar with the shows he's watching so I can gauge whether they are appropriate or not. Lastly and as much as I hate to admit it, some are down right entertaining.

One such show is Yo Gabba Gabba (http://www.yogabbagabba.com/). In the last two months, Jack has switched from picking what show he wants to watch off the DVR menu, to watching the shows that happen to come on a particular channel. Poor kid is watching live TV! As a result, he is widening his range of programs and I have more that I have to pay attention to. When I first saw Yo Gabba Gabba come on, I immediately turned the channel. I mean why in the world would I watch that mess. Of course, after the third day of me changing it, Jack decides he NEEDS to watch Yo Gabba and I, of course, give in and allow it.

You need to understand, if Jack watches it, I watch it and I'm not going to watch something I find annoying. This is why Sponge Bob, Barney and numerous other programs have been banned. Yo Gabba was on a short leash and then I watched it.

It opens with this retro black dude with lens-less glasses and a huge boom box, DJ Lance Rock. There is Bumo, a red, gumby looking character; Foofa, a tear drop flower child; Brobee, a green monster with excessively long arms; Muno, a cat/dragon sort of situation; and, Flex who is a robot. Yeah, I don't know what kind of drugs the creator was taking. So the first day, I'm thinking the show is SO not making the cut. The following day, I'm not so sure. Third show - hooked.

There is this funky music and weird shows-within-shows and its completely whacked out but its SOO entertaining. Jack is glued and I'm starting to be. It's hilarious and actually teaches some pretty good lessons such as not eating food that has fallen on the floor. It evens wraps up everything you've learned in a cool montage, free-style rap sort of deal at the end. We are on week two and LOVE it. I season passed it yesterday.

Adventures in Baby Food

Baby Kate doesn't like cereal. So, being the creative mom I am I tried adding bananas to said cereal to make it more appetizing. I even tasted it and it's really not that bad. But, Baby Kate doesn't like cereal.

Now Maddie (above), she doesn't really dig it, due to the texture in my opinion, but she's dealing with it. She's getting the hang of the whole spoon thing and she's doing her best. Kate, nothing. No effort, no compromise, no cereal. She turns her head, spits it out, makes awful faces and of course my personal favorite, gags. It's lovely. What thrills me even more is that as soon as I finish the cereal battle, she cries for a bottle. That's okay because, as I informed her happy little bottom yesterday - mommy will win, she always wins.

My Baby Bee

Jack likes to pretend. We of course encourage it because one, it is supposed to increase a child's intelligence, and two and most importantly, it is extremely entertaining. As I was changing Kate this morning, Jack woke up, walked into the girls' room and stated simply, "Good Morning. What animal am I today?" This morning Jack is a bee. A baby bee to be exact, who lives in a hive and makes honey for everyone to eat.

You see Jack not only pretends to be an animal, he is very specific. If he is a chicken, as he was yesterday, he is a farm chicken who eats corn. He has been a pontoon cat who lives on a pontoon boat, a jungle mouse who obviously lives deep in the jungle with the jaguars. Sometimes he is a bulldog, sometimes a frog. Sheep, puppies, mice - they are all in his repertoire. Last night, he chose to be a can-backed tortoise who was going everywhere very, very, slowly. No regular turtle for my boy!

The newest development is the people around Jack take on his chosen animal persona as well. It is a bit difficult to explain to a total stranger that Jack is not saying he has a "big mouth" but is calling him a "big mouse". Try that one sometime. Jack decides not only what animal the surrounding people are going to be, but where they live, what they eat and what sounds they should be making. So this morning as I left for work, my Baby-Bee gave his Mommy-Bee a big kiss and told me that he would watch after Katie-Bee, Maddie-Bee and of course, Daddy-Bee. But, he would have to do so while flying around.

No means No

I'm doing it until they tell me I can't. Yes, dressing them alike in ridiculous striped pants. The only thing that holds these outfits together are the rocking Sadie Priss original monogrammed onesies. They love the outfits - you can so tell. Just look at Maddie's expression (on the right). She's totally into it!