When I woke up this morning it took a few minutes for things to come into focus. I had to think hard about what day it was and when I realized it was Thursday it all came rushing back to me: we are busy!

After weeks of being in the house, we are suddenly busy with appointments, playdates, and other excitement. Yesterday we had Mom’s group and a doctor’s appointment, so Fuller had a full day of playing with other kids. Today is going to be similar, with us going to a friend’s house for some sewing help and then we will go to another friend’s house to watch her four kids so she can get a hair cut. And later I am meeting another friend who will watch Fuller while I get my own hair cut. And then I will be going to knit wits instead of watching Lost tonight. Are you exhausted yet? I am!

Last week I was sick of being stuck in the house. And now, I am thrilled that tomorrow I have a day of laundry and cleaning just so I don’t have to go anywhere.

Never thought I would be happy to do laundry. My how times have changed.

Technorati Tags: schedule, busy, friends

A few weeks ago Damon and I were binging on watching one of the Dexter DVDs. It was almost midnight. Suddenly we heard a very loud thud and the house shook, rattling the windows. We immediately jumped into “What the heck?” mode, sending the dogs outside to check for invisible predators. We saw our tree was still intact and not on the roof. I was dispatched to the attic to see if something fell (nothing amiss there). And D went into Fuller’s room to check the electrical panel. Fuller was barely awake, wandering in his room, and muttering, but quickly he was soothed back to sleep. We figured he woke up due to the sound or the dogs imitating ferocious attack dogs.

We just couldn’t figure it out.

A few nights passed and one morning Damon told me, “I know what made that loud bang the other night.”

Instantly curious I asked, “What?”

“Fuller.”

Wha?

Damon explained the noise had happened again the night before, which at first I was surprised me since I slept through it. He went and checked Fuller’s room and there was Fuller asleep on the floor. I guess he is a heavy sleeper.

No I didn’t go into hysterics about Fuller falling out of bed because is bed is just over 15 inches off the ground. And Fuller doesn’t do it often. I think the last time he fell out of bed he was… well, I can’t remember!

Mystery solved, and no one got hurt. Well, except my throat which was a little sore after dislodging my heart from it.

Technorati Tags: sleeping arrangements, sleeping patterns, things that go bump in the night

Tonight Fuller and I spent some time in Wal-Mart. It wasn’t an awful experience mainly because we had used the umbrella to get into the store only slightly wet (as opposed to soaking wet) and Fuller couldn’t stop talking about it. It also helps to have him contained in the type of shopping cart meant to accommodate two kids.

In my experience (all three years of it), Fuller’s reaction to shopping varies from tantrum inducing hatred to a tolerable acknowledgment he is in the store. And on the tolerable end of the scale, Fuller tends to get fussy within five minutes of being in the store. He is now of an age where he can help so the more I involve him in the process of “shopping.” This doesn’t work when I am looking at shoes in Target (which I don’t need to be doing anyway), but it just shows me how I need to keep Fuller involved to be happy.

Recently a friend of mine wrote about the shopping carts (NOT BUGGYS) that cater to kids, specifically the ones resembling cars. Now Mr. Fab’s take on the carts wasn’t very favorable, but then again he did call children “screaming spawn.” (Mr. Fab does like kids- I believe he let his nephew give him a cold a little while back.)

But the post prompted me to think about all the time Fuller spends in shopping carts. I’m actually thankful for the car shaped shopping carts (even though I hate them because they are very difficult to steer) because they allow Fuller the room he needs to be comfortable. He no longer fits in the standard shopping cart seat.

Last Friday I had to run a lot of errands and I took my camera along to document Fuller in the different shopping carts- Target, Wal-Mart, Lowe’s, and Home Depot. He did really well during the long morning (popcorn from Target helped), but I must say, I know I can’t keep him contained forever.

Technorati Tags: shopping, shopping carts

It is no secret our family loves Lego. After giving Fuller his inheritance, Lego is a pretty much a daily activity around here. From regular Lego bricks to the bigger Quattros we still have, Fuller likes them all.

Today is Lego’s 50th birthday, so Fuller and I had a little Lego birthday party this afternoon. First we had Lego fun snacks for desert and then we built our own structures during the afternoon. We still have a mess to clean up (as all legos mean mess), but it is worth it for all the fun we have.

I think later we will watch some Lego stop action animation. And you can enjoy this one again:

Technorati Tags: Lego, Lego birthday, Lego 50, stop action animation

On Friday a package arrived on our doorstep addressed to Fuller. We were delighted to find two new Ikea train sets (expansions for his current set). The tracks and new trains were packed away in a cool drawstring bag made by Aunt Stina.

Fuller immediately merged the three sets and started coming up with track configurations that were both impossible and improbable. He didn’t care. He had more trains!

Saturday morning Damon and Fuller worked hard to configure the tracks into perfectly normal patterns, allowing the pretty wooden trains to move through imaginary fields, meadows, and whatever else trains travel through. The track expansion had bridge extenders, a tunnel, and more trains to add to the fun (and make a bigger mess).

This afternoon, in the lull between church and Sunday lunch, Fuller wanted to play trains with Daddy, but Damon wanted to take it up a notch. Damon quickly whipped up a digital drawing of blueprint of train stations and some train passengers.

After printing, Fuller colored each station house a different color. Then he colored the people corresponding colors. Damon then cut the houses and people out, and they folded the houses into 3-D little structures. With the help of some tape the people were able to ride the trains through our living room, going from station to station.

Damon turned the fun into an exercise of color matching by telling Fuller to take the people to the stations that matched their color. Fuller would call out (with some coaching from Damon) “All aboard for station number 2!” making the connection between the color and number of each stations. It was even cuter when Fuller’s passengers would tell him “Thank you!” After delivering all the paper passengers to their paper stations, the station houses moved to new locales along the Crumley Railroad. Fuller and Damon were having so much fun they never once bothered me to ask how long until lunch.

After naps Damon made a new page of stations and people, adding two shipping containers to the mix. Fuller colored them, I cut them out, and then Damon and Fuller collaborated on folding efforts. We had family fun oozing from our fingers, with Fuller giving us a running commentary of actions. “Fuller color, Mommy! Color circle. Mommy cutting with scissors! Daddy, look! Mommy cutting! Daddy fold right here. Now open. See Mommy cutting, Daddy?”

Trains and little kids is not a new concept. The magazine Wonder Time had a a fun article about trains and different age groups. Fuller being in the preschool group is unleashing make-believe.

“Along tracks, kids can roll out the first department if the train crashes, or ferry passengers from toy store to ice cream parlor Choosing where to place stop signs, trees and other landmarks gives them an introduction to the abstract concept of mapmaking.”

When we added the paper stations Fuller worked on coloring, matching, and problem solving. Plus, we had family fun oozing from our fingers as we created.

I thought it would be fun to offer the paper train stations on pdf for you to download. I know we aren’t the only ones with a Lillabo train set that could use train stations. Heck, it could even be used for other train sets as well. So, I hope you and your little ones get some enjoyment out of them too!

(Click here to see the entire flickr set.)

Technorati Tags: train set, lillabo, ikea, ikea hack, parent hack, family craft, coloring skills, matching skills, problem solving

We had fun at the Creative Discovery Museum, but the trip ended in tears because Fuller refused to share and didn’t want to leave. The museum had at least two (there may have been a third) field trip exploring the hands on offerings, so it was crowded and hectic.

After exploring the new exhibit, Moneyville, I corralled him in The Little Yellow House. TLYH is a gated section for the four and younger set. And it has a train table Fuller was extremely interested in. Never mind that Fuller has a great train set at home, he just gravitates toward anything “choo choo” oriented.

While we were there, Fuller chose to act rather rudely to a few people. I made him apologize (he even hugged one kid) but it kept up. Fuller just had no interest in sharing the train table with anyone. Normally a spanking would be in order, but it just isn’t something I am comfortable doing in public. So, we ended our morning out a little early.

We still had fun, and am greatful for the diversion in this time of wintry boredom. I’m still hoping the weather warms up.

Technorati Tags: parenting, boredom