Kids do the funniest things

Tonight while getting ready for bathtime, Jim and I witnessed a hilarious moment between Nicholas and Alexa.

Nicholas had gotten himself undressed and walking toward the bathroom nudie-patudie.

Alexa was supposed to be getting herself undressed yet was running around playing with a diaper wipe.

As Nicholas ran by Alexa, Alexa reached out to wipe Nicholas' privates, doing a dab-dab-dab motion which resulted in a indignant scream from Nicholas.

Hi.Larry.Us.!!!

Superbowl Wrap Up

Somedays I'm looking for an excuse to host a party. This years Superbowl was a perfect example. Well, it wasn't much of a "party". More so a gathering with a small group of friends and good food (hopefully). Here is how we spent our evening.
Football cupcakes.

Hanging with the crew.

Being goofy.

Running amok.

Laughing.

And just generally having a good time.

More pics at thepligpen.blogspot.com too.

Boston Children's Museum

I love our library. The kids do too. We go at least once a week. One of the many things I love about it are the museum passes. Two weekends ago, we got passes for the Boston Children's Museum and would have cost us $42 in admissions fees was only $8.

As soon as we entered the museum we encountered this.

It's a structure made out of floating platforms hung by wires all within a wire net which scales the entire three floors of the museum. One way in and one way out. Nicholas could not wait to get in on the action.

Due to Nicholas's polite disposition and reserved nature, he kept letting all the other kids move ahead of him, leaving Jim and I wondering if we'd have to go in to retrieve him. Thankfully he made it up and out eventually.

After emerging from the rope structure, we hit the construction room playing with toy trucks, and crawling through tunnels for a bit before spending some time in the toddler dedicated playspace.

Here the kids could not get enough of the trains.

From the toddler room we hit Peep and the Big Wide World. Here we explored light and dark, sand and water. Here is Nicholas testing out a light marker.

Nicholas enjoying the sand pit.

Alexa the Explorer.

Alexa successfully getting herself soaking wet.

While I think the Children's Museum is more playspace than museum, it was a fun day out. They've recently opened a new Curious George exhibit and Nicholas cannot wait to go back.

More pictures at http://thepligpen.shutterfly.com/ too!

Just because...

Playdate with Enzo

Enzo turned 2 this month and Eve invited us to a new playspace to celebrate his birthday. The Inside playground is a child's dream. They all had a fabulous time.

Birthdays galore

Nicholas has had a busy social calendar. Not surprisingly, with twenty some kids in Nicholas's classroom, all with birthday's within 5 months of each other, the birthday celebrations will seem never ending. This past weekend we attended two of his classmates birthday parties in one day alone!

Of course, as wonderful a photo opportunity a child's birthday party provides, I, of course, seem to forget my fabulous Christmas gift to myself and am forced to use the not so effective camera on my smartphone. Never wanting to hear the wrath that I never take pictures of the kids, I am sharing regardless of the blur.

First party of the day was Taylor's at the Gymnastics Academy of Boston in Acton. Gymnastics? you might ask. When it comes to three year olds, give them a bouncy house/trampoline, rope swing, and a huge foam pit, and you've got all the fun you need.

This photo is a true and accurate representation of Nicholas's actions during the party. He was a true blur up until pizza time.

Yummy pizza!

Party number two was Jonah's at Jellybean Junction in Concord for a dance party. Nicholas got into it and was dancing up a storm, especially enjoying the Hokey-Pokey. At times, he was the only kid actively dancing. Other parents noticed and commented. I didn't tell them we practice doing the Hokey-Pokey a lot at home. It can be a very effective tool for getting your stubborn child to get dressed.

After a period of 'practicing', the kids got up on stage for what seemed like their very first recital. Again, at times, Nicholas was the only one participating, and again, other parents noticed and commented. What provided much amusement to some of us parents was the stark contrast in which Nicholas participated and Nicholas' BFF Natalie (in the blue) refused to participate with a furious leer directed at her mother. Ah, I wish my smartphone camera had better zoom. It was priceless.

Luckily for Natalie, the recital portion was short and they got to eat pizza and cake for a second time that day.

Nicholas and Natalie enjoying cake.

Ski Lessons - Day One

Yesterday was Nicholas' first day of ski lessons. He's doing a special program for 3 year old kids at Nashoba where I do my Adult Team Racing.

The beginning of class was a bit chaotic. LOTS of kids, and because the class requires a non skiing adult, LOTS of parents but nothing burst this kids bubble of excitement.

Here's the big guy all geared up and listening to the instructor. We did some stretches to warm up, just like Fun-and-Fit at school.
Here we are marching in our ski boots. They are pretty heavy.

Finally we get to the good part. They have these new fangled thingamajigs called H-bars which let the kid focus on standing and lets the parents do all the work.

Nicholas loved this part. Insisting constantly that I wasn't going fast enough.

What's the best part of skiing? Apres ski of course. Nicholas agreed. Despite having made our own hot cocoa for the lodge, the class one-upped me and provides juice and cookies as a end of class treat. Doesn't get much better than this.

More pictures of Nicholas skiing and Alexa sledding over on our share site... http://thepligpen.shutterfly.com/648.