Big Boy Room

 

I finally decided to transition Eli's bedroom into more of a toddler theme.  First, we switched out the baby furniture to a matching set we had previously in the spare bedroom.  Then, I picked out new bed sheets and then realized they didn't really match the sage green walls of his room anymore.  As much as I really didn't want to embark on the adventure of painting his room again after I just did it 2 years ago before we moved in, I decided to repaint in 2 different shades of blue on opposite walls.  

I placed coordinating scrapbook paper in 4 square frames for these.

 

 

 The "E" artwork was created by taping off the letter in the center with painter's tape.  Eli then painted the rest of the paper in various shades of blue.

 

 

Wall stickers from the movie Cars were also used to decorate his new room.  If you look closely towards the ceiling, you can see a mini version of a Pinterest-inspired mobile created out of paint chips that are various shades of blue.  I underestimated how many circles I needed, which is why it is so small, but I guess I could always add to it. 

Toddler Busy Bags

I came across the idea for toddler busy bags on Pinterest, and I also have seen ideas for these on Etsy.  Each bag contains materials for an activity to work on certain concepts, such as letter recognition, counting, colors, or shapes.  A few of them also help with fine motor development.  I put together some of these activity bags for Eli based on some of my favorite ideas I found while searching online.  

 

 Color sort

 Sticker color sort 

(Finally a purposeful use of stickers for him!  He LOVES stickers.  

Always with his tongue out for concentration.)

Sticker patterns

Build a pizza

The brown menu cards show how many of each ingredient to put on the pizza.

Using bingo daubers to fill in outlines of the letters

This idea came from a whole list of activities you can do with materials you already have at home.  This one uses Play-Doh on the bottom with a toothpick on top that you can use to build a tower of Cheerios (and count at the same time!).

Name recognition using letters attached to clothespins

Lego towers

The map shows which colors of Legos to use to build towers in order to reach a certain number

Color matching using paint chips

(As I was putting this activity together, I wondered how they come up with so many different names for all those shades of each color, especially when so many of the shades are so similar!)

Shape sort

Another idea involves creating an ABC book that includes pictures familiar to your kid, such as people they know or things they are interested in that begin with each letter of the alphabet and even pictures that include them related to the letters.  I created a photo book on the Shutterfly site (and used the 40% off coupon code!) based on this idea of the sample below, although I am still waiting to receive it in the mail.  

  

A Little Interview

We conducted a mini interview with Eli based on a series of questions of his favorites.  As Ian said, we probably would have received different responses if we gave him this survey multiple times, but here are his initial answers (along with my commentary for clarification on a few).

What is your favorite color?  Green

What is your favorite toy?  Puzzle

What is your favorite animal?  Zebra (Really?  A zoo animal?  I was expecting him to say dog or the cows he loves to see at Grandpa Sabers' house.)

What is your favorite book?  Uh Oh! Gotta Go!  (For all the other responses, Eli preceded his answer with a long ummmmmmm except for this one.  Without hesitation, he named this book and I didn't even recognize the title at first but later realized it is from his new potty book collection, which we read only once.  It is especially ironic he listed this as his favorite book since we are STILL struggling with the potty training process.)

What is your favorite TV show?  Octonauts (He has only seen this show a handful of times.  I was fully expecting him to say PAW Patrol, which totally captures his interest from the beginning to the end of the show or even Bubble Guppies, the first animated show he enjoyed that he still likes.)

What is your favorite movie?  Monsters (Monsters University; In all reality, Cars should have been his first answer since he has been in love with this movie for the longest time now.)

What is your favorite thing to wear?  Pajamas 

What is your favorite food?  A treat

What is your favorite drink?  Apple juice

Who is your best friend?  Colleen (I cracked up laughing at this one!  I was all prepared for him to go through the whole litany of names of kids from daycare like he usually does when I ask him who he played with that day, but instead he responded with the name of the children's librarian from our local library!)

What is your favorite thing to do outside?  Play with my motorcycle

What is your favorite song?  "Royals" (by Lorde; most of the time in the car, we listen to a CD with a mix of my current favorite songs.  This song for some reason always kept his attention, and he quickly learned some of the lyrics, most notably "driving Cadillacs in our dreams"...thought you would like that, Jamie!)

What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy?  Puzzles

What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy?  Play

Where is your favorite place to go?  Gasser's (a local hardware store that he just went to with Ian the night I asked him these questions; I'm sure this response would be different every day)

What do you want to be when you grow up?  I want to be really tall.

She Said Yes!

Congratulations to the future Mr. and Mrs. Sommerlot!

It seems like just yesterday I was creating little worksheets 

and scavenger hunts out of the advertisements for you to do, and now you're getting married?!?

The last Sabers sister to tie the knot; now let's get pinning!

Hero Up!

 

 

Today, we celebrated Liam's fourth birthday with a fun superhero themed party.  There were capes and masks for the kids to decorate and even a huge cityscape backdrop to take pictures of the little superheroes that looked like they were flying through the air.  

 

The menu consisted of superhero themed food as well, 

complete with hero sub sandwiches.  

 

Eli always loves playing with the boys' huge assortment of toys when we are there.  He spent a lot of time with little Finn, too.  

 

Lots of Spider-Man gifts were opened.  

 

 

 

 

Check out all the neat treats in the party favor bag!  Eli insisted on opening up the Spider-Man coloring sheet when we got back even after falling asleep on the ride home.

 

Happy Birthday, Super Liam!

Cruise on Over

We celebrated Eli's third birthday this weekend with a motorcycle themed party.  I'm sure some day he will want to be a fellow Harley rider like his daddy (and aunt and uncle...and grandpa).  When he was younger, Eli referred to a motorcycle as a "ca-ca", then eventually "go-go-go-go."  If you use your imagination and say it fast, you can kind of hear how it sounds like motorcycle.  Now if he says motorcycle slowly enough, it sounds more like the actual word.

It is always fun to see Eli and his cousins interact when they get together.  Even Finn arrived to the party in his Harley attire!

 Shea and Liam got busy right away with the motorcycle coloring pages.

The "Biker Burger Bar" consisted of grilled hamburgers with toppings and hot dogs, baked beans, potato salad, mandarin orange jello, and Oreo pudding dessert.

Eli really enjoyed opening the huge assortment of gifts this year.  Maybe I should have planned a Cars themed party...

 

Party favors for the boys:

Party favors for the adults: