C's Library Grand Opening - Please Come Soon!

C has been working hard setting up a library in our living room. He created a video tour of the library and asked if he could send it around the world. Here it is; enjoy!

 

 

writing a book

My son and I recently did a fun activity - writing a book! He created the illustrations and the story, and I wrote it down and glued the illustrations in the book. I was impressed that he was able to develop a story that was logical and linear. It turned out so great! Here are a few sample pages:

Interestingly, the witch's name was not revealed until the back cover, where it was displayed on a moveable flap (the rest of it is on the other side of the pink paper).



Daddy enjoyed reading the book, too!

bedtime

We took a road trip over Labor Day weekend. Since my son did this for 2.5 hours on the way home...

 

 

...he wasn't tired at bedtime, while my husband and I were totally exhausted.

 

"Fine," my husband said, "why don't you put us to bed tonight?" As you might guess, my son loved this idea. He had us put on our pajamas and brush our teeth, and then read to us (for me, he read/sang Real Simple magazine). He gave us hugs and kisses and then went off to "do C nighttime stuff." While my husband got back up to turn off the computer, my son put on his pajamas, brushed his teeth, and played quietly in his room with some building blocks. I turned out my light and fell asleep.

 

When I woke up in the morning, the house was dark and quiet, and my husband wasn't in our room. He came in a few minutes later and told me he had fallen asleep in the spare bedroom while waiting for the computer to turn off. We went into the family room and saw some items that our son had apparently been using the night before. We couldn't wait to hear what "C nighttime stuff" had included!

 

When my son got up, he explained that he had come into the family room last night and cut out the mini book that comes with his High Five magazine. He had also done some coloring in his Dora the Explorer coloring book. After that, he went into his room but remembered he needed to turn off the lights, so he got back up and turned them off, then got back in bed. Overall, he said, it was a fun night, but he was a little sad he hadn't gotten a story before he went to bed. We all decided that, normally, Mama and Daddy would put him to bed. But we were so proud of how responsible our little man was!

mystery

I recently did an escape game as a work activity, and I had a blast! A few of my coworkers and I were locked in a room and couldn't leave until we had solved a mystery. It was so much fun. When I got home, I told my son about it, and he loved the idea. My brain must have been working on it all that night while I was sleeping, because when I woke up, I had an idea for creating a mystery for my son in our spare bedroom.

After spending 30 minutes setting up, I gave the following photo to my son and his friend, who was at our house for a playdate, and told them that Paduba the Dog was missing! They needed to find out where he was and who had taken him.

Here are the clues they found (plus a few more, like a washcloth and spare credit card that weren't actually part of the game):

To get some of the clues, they first had to find keys / combinations to open locks for the suitcase and safe:

There were also clues hidden here (although not in the Kleenex box, as they discovered through their meticulous searching):

They spent almost an hour in the room! It was fun hearing them talk to each other and to see how well they had done when they finally asked for a hint. They had found almost all of the clues and just needed a little help to figure out how to use the clues to solve the mystery.

Here's what my son thought about it all:

He immediately got to work making more clues so that we could set up the room again, with a slightly different mystery, for Daddy when he got home from work.

don't try this at home

I recently decided to paint the red accent wall in our kitchen white. I started on Mama and Son Day. My son was super excited to help. We got supplies and started painting primer with brushes. This kept his interest for about five minutes. Then he played by himself and watched "Dogs with Jobs" for the rest of the time I was painting. I'm so thankful he is old enough to entertain himself for short periods of time!

 

 

 

P.S. Painting white over red took 2 coats of primer, 4 coats of paint, and 4 weekends to complete. 

P.P.S. I enjoyed this sign my son made to keep our painting a surprise from my husband. I'm not sure how much my husband enjoyed not being able to enter the kitchen...

 

why 4 is the new 3

I know I always say that whatever age my son is, it's my favorite age. Well, it's true of 4 too! I love the conversations we have, the things we learn about (space! water treatment plants!), the activities we do (Legos!). I also love the skills he has gained in the past few months: getting himself dressed, brushing his own teeth, and going to the potty by himself. Awesome.

Here's an example of how grown-up he is. The other day when I was home with him, we were getting ready for Family Movie Night. Our preparations usually include cleaning up the living room after "nap" time (the one downside to four is that no naps occur during naptime). This time, I made him take a bath, too. After his bath, I left him in his room while I went to take my shower. While I was enjoying a hot, uninterrupted shower (!), he got himself dressed. When I got out of the shower, he came to tell me he had started cleaning up the living room. By himself. Without me even asking him to. This guy is amazing!!

shields

My son asked me to make him a shield with one of the leftover pieces of cardboard from our appliance box house. Having just finished the second book in Game of Thrones, I got totally into it. Here's the one he made. It shows a picture of him in a castle, with a dragon below.

 

Here's what we did on the back:

 

  My art projects always pale in comparison to his, but here's mine. I call it "Red Lightning."