Quarter, Quarter, Half Note

For the last few minutes of my piano lessons, my students work on music theory. One of the activities is clapping while counting out different rhythms on cards. Since Tyson leaves earlier for work now, I've had Grant with me in the mornings while I teach. He loves watching the students and his favorite part is always the rhythm cards. Now he tries to clap and count, and I caught a little bit of it on camera. (He's trying to say quarter, quarter, half note, etc.) I love it when little kids imitate something they see. But it means I have to be careful- his two little eyes are always watching me!

Cheeeeeese!

Grant loves to pose for the camera. He is such a ham lately and loves to show off for any visitors. I had a great video of him in my Sunday shoes saying cheeeeeeeeeeeeese over and over, but I took the video sideways and can't figure out how to turn it. So you just get the photo.
I love reading blogs to get inspiration to try things differently and get new ideas. (I've found a few new ones to add to my favorite sites!) And I'm trying to get my lazy self in gear. I'm feeling much better. Grant was pretty sick, but now his croup is mostly gone and I am no longer wiping his nose constantly. We've have two nights in a row without him waking up until 6:30. It's glorious. The house is clean, minus the bathrooms which might happen today, and I even worked out this morning. Boy am I out of shape! The sun is shining, and I say, "Bring it on, Winter!" I'm ready.

Winter Blahs!!

We have enjoyed playing outside lots this winter- ice skating, snowboarding, sledding, building snowmen, etc. I have loved all the snow even despite the fact that I've shoveled tons of it off the driveway. I've lasted a long time-- the whole month of January!-- without missing spring. But today is one of those days when it feels like "It's gonna be cold. It's gonna be grey. And it's going to last you for the rest of your life." (name that movie) Anyway. Grant and I both have colds and we're grumpy. And it's been a long and very busy week. And I'm tired. I have the winter blahs! But at least it's the weekend and I will have these cute guys to keep me company! And I have this totally cute, bright notebook to write my thoughts about spring in, thanks to Sharee! :)

No more Binky!

Thank you so much to everyone who commented about Grant's sleeping. I really appreciated hearing what other people do! We decided to wean Grant from his binky starting last Sunday night. He had three binkies and he "helped" us throw them away in the garbage. We talked about how he was a big boy now. (He kept repeating what we were saying, but I'm pretty sure he didn't quite understand.) Then I let him have a little treat before bed. :) We did the regular bedtime routine but that night I let him have his stuffed dog. (He calls it "Buddy.") He cried for about 20 minutes, but it actually went really well. Naptime on Monday was another story. He cried for 1 1/2 hours and never fell asleep!! I was practically crying, too. But each day got better thanks to lots of prayers and last night he didn't even cry when he went to bed. He held his little dog and went right to sleep. And the good news- out of the last five nights, he's only woken up once! It is so nice to have him sleep through the night! He's asked about his binky a few times, but he usually says "All gone?" He has done pretty well in the car and grocery shopping. He is just growing up!


Other news- we went to Kelly's last Saturday night with our ward. Tyson skied and I snowboarded. It had been 4 years since I'd been, and 10 years for Tyson!! We had SO much fun and I can't want to go again!! Grant stayed at Grandma's- thanks Mom and Dad! And I think some of you already know this, but Tyson took a new job, so we are moving. Well at least we are going to put our house for sale. It was definitely the right decision for us, but not necessarily an easy one. :) We really love our house and where we are at, so it will be an adjustment. Tyson starts in March and will commute (1 hour each way, on a good day) until we sell the house. I've been attempting to make our home look more decorated, so thank you to everyone who has given me ideas and helped us. It's coming along and maybe I'll post some pictures in awhile. Isn't that pathetic that I didn't do much of anything on our house until we decided to had to sell it!? Ha! Well, wish us luck!

Chattering Teeth

We took Grant to the Aquatic Center last night for our family activity. I forgot how COLD it is!! It brought back memories of swimming lessons where my lips would turn blue and I would shiver my way through the half hour or so of learning how to breathe under water, uhh...wait, that's not right, how to breathe while attempting to swim. Oh whatever. Needless to say, Grant did not last much over 20 minutes. He was wide-eyed and mute the whole time. However, it was fun to do something as a little family, and at least it was $2 night!
And now I'm going to expose my lack of parenting skills here. Grant uses a binky during naps and nighttime and sometimes in the car if he's screaming, etc. When he was younger, he would wake up a few times a night and all I'd have to do is put the binky back in his mouth and he'd fall asleep. Well that's continued up til now, and I'm going crazy. He still wakes up 2-3 times per night. Shouldn't a 19-month-old be able to sleep through the night? It's not like he's awake for very long, but he won't go back to sleep unless I come in and put the binky in his mouth. I realize I've trained him to do this, but how do I stop? Do I need to take away his binky? Advise please.

Typical Day

Watching the kids get on and off the bus in front of our house: Lucky for him, it happens four times a day!
Eating one of Tyson's chocolate chip cookies:His cookies are the best. It doesn't matter how hard I try, I can never make them quite as well as Tyson. So darn, guess he has to keep making them instead of me! :)

Trying on Dad's shoes:

What happens when I indulge in a movie and Grant is not napping:(This time it was Tuesdays with Morrie, a thought-provoking and poignant movie.)

After picking up Grant's toys yesterday, Tyson commented how it would be hard to stay home all day with Grant because I would constantly be cleaning up messes. It's true, having even one child creates more mess than seems reasonable, but motherhood is wonderful. I guess I have to love the messes because I love the kid that makes them!

Winter time

Last Saturday we went ice skating with the in-laws. The smallest skates were way too big for Grant so we carried him. It was a workout to hold him! In fact, I only held him for part of the time, but I'm counting it as my exercise for the week. Ha! We had lots of fun- thanks, Parkers and Jardines!
Today I shoveled the driveway and Grant played in the snow for the first time. I love his outfit- an colorful array of hand-me-downs. His little nose turned red, but other than that he didn't seem to mind the cold. Oh, and he just learned how to "say cheese" for the camera, and it's lots easier to catch him smiling now!
Grant attempted nursery again yesterday. It didn't go so well. Tyson and I both have callings that keep us busy the first block, but I think I'm going to have to sit in there with him until he gets used to it. He sure has become a mama's boy. It's funny, he would have loved nursery about six months ago but now he's scared to leave us. Anyway, here's a picture of him in his Sunday outfit. He must have been thinking about how we left him in nursery. Sad face!