The Forgotten Blanket

On Friday night Jared and I went to an orientation dinner for Wake Forest's MBA program . It was at the dean of Wake Forest's MBA program's house...and his house was the biggest house I've ever been inside in my entire life! I wanted to take a picture, but didn't want to look creepy/weird...so I didn't. Typically our date nights involve Netflix and ice cream at home. Not that there is anything wrong with that (I LOVE those dates!) but it was nice to get a babysitter and go out on a nice date.

Kyler loves babysitters, but we've never had one put him to bed before, so I was a little worried. In the middle of the party I got a text from our babysitter that said something like this:

" Kyler is looking for his green blanket and won't go to bed without it. Do you know where it is?"

Then I panicked-I knew exactly where it was.

*In his preschool classroom that was locked up for the weekend*

Kyler has never slept a night in his life without his green blanket! He was really upset, but somehow she magically managed to get him to sleep by the time we got home! I love babysitters!!

However, Kyler did wake up in the middle of the night crying for his green blanket FIVE times on Friday night (of course earlier that day I was just bragging to my friends about what a good sleeper Kyler has always been...apparently not so much when you take away his favorite blanket!). Yesterday I went through a box of Kyler's old baby things in search of a replacement blanket and found this blue one he used when he was a newborn. The fabric feels similar to his beloved green blanket, and blue is his favorite color, so I hoped it would work as a temporary replacement.

 Kyler was so excited to see his old blue blanket, even though it is much too small for him.

He gratefully accepted it as a temporary replacement, and napped soundly without crying at all :)

Saturday night he slept great with the replacement blanket. Hallelujah!  Before bed he informed me that: "Green key key (that's what he calls his blanket) at pweeschool an go pweeschool Monday!" I love how much he is talking/understanding these days...though I highly doubt he knows when Monday is.

RED MEANS STOP!

This week we taught Kyler that red stoplights mean stop and green lights mean go. Everyday since then he has been watching stoplights from the backseat and when he sees one he yells: "Green means go!" or "Red means stop!".

This little "know-it-all" boy wakes up with MESSY hair.

  I thought him telling us when to stop and go was cute. That is until yesterday... when I had to make a right turn on a red light. I got reprimanded hardcore by my 2 year old from the back seat. He yelled "NO MAMA!! RED MEANS STOPPP!! NO!!"  There was no way I could explain to him the laws about turning right on red lights much less the difference between right and left. So I just sat there... and regretted teaching him about red and green lights to begin with.

File folder games...counting and color matching

I LOVE file folder games. Not only are they educational, but they keep my crazy (but sweet) little boy entertained and quiet! The ipad/iphone is also awesome for a few minutes of quiet entertainment, but there is something about actually physically moving and feeling things that kids can't get enough of.

I recently made Kyler two file folder games. They aren't anything fancy, but they get the job done!

Cupcake Counting:

and....

Balloon color matching:

I found a couple free download file folder games online, but the colors and images were lame, and I wanted something that would grab Ky's interest. So, I copied and pasted these images (thanks google  coloring pages) into Microsoft word and made some file folder games myself.  After a little crayola magic, a lamination job, and some self adhesive velcro circles....VOULA.. I had quiet entertainment for my little one.

I know most people would never spend time making these, but if you are interested in a quiet time activity that doesn't involve the glorious ipad, I say go for it!  I would suggest finding images that your child is interested in... but if they happen to like cupcakes and balloons.... here ya go!

Embarrassing Myself

I'm probably the only one who does this, but every once in a while I look back at my old facebook status's and pictures and get SO embarrassed. I always say: "I can't believe I said that...or posted THAT picture..." then I delete like a million things (not that anyone even looks at my old facebook status's from 2007 hah).  I do the same thing on my blog sometimes...for example, the first 90 posts on this blog are ALL about my dog.... and I talked about him like he was my child! For example: "Bauer's potty training is going great...he is 12 week old!" haha

Now I wonder what I'm posting today that I'll look back on and make fun of myself for later. Probably..."WHY did I write an entire blog post about a stupid lunch box??"

So I thought today, I'd just go ahead and embarrass myself next year by writing a post about that poor neglected dog that became significantly less important to this blog once Kyler was born.

If you remember, Bauer had a bit of a weight issue earlier this year...he was 102 lbs and is supposed to be around 88 lbs.
Bauer had his second official weigh in last week....and he is down to 95lbs! I know, still giant, but he is only 7 lbs away from his ideal weight- thanks to his new healthy dog food....and lots of walks on my part. Go ahead, pat me on the back. haha