Entries Tagged 'sleepy' ↓

We went to the playroom of the Westmont Yard and unwittingly entered an area being used by Abigail’s 6th birthday party. Ezri joined the twelve “big” girls who were having a dance party. The staff leader was inviting each girl to come to the center of the circle and teach the circle a dance move they liked. Ezri’s dance is holding up a peace sign with your right hand and a fist with your left hand and then doing small bounces double-time to the music. I am thankful to Abigail’s party and her mom for letting us crash the dance and bounce house portion. I am extra proud of Ezri for being willing to leave politely and let the party move on to relay races without us.

I have no photos and, really, I’d love a video of Ezri showing off her signature dance, but here she is sleeping because a post needs a photo.

The exhausted Ezri would not get into bed today for her nap.
So, I left her room while she shouted that she did not want to go bed.
In a few minutes her room grew quiet.
I peeked in. She had pulled her blanket over to the rocker to nap.
She meant it about not getting into bed.
Though, she didn’t really wake up when I carried her over and tucked her in.

Today was the first perfect Saturday of spring.

We spent the morning in Lyman woods at the “Raindrops and Rabbits” program for toddlers. We did a little reverse egg hunt and instead hid pieces of carrot in the woods in hopes rabbits will find them later.

We did some porch cleaning and Eric put the little slide out in our backyard. Look how green our backyard is getting.

Ezri had a good nap with slightly muddy socks.

A very nice day with long stroller walk, park, and fun in our own backyard.

I know there will come an age when it isn’t appropriate to take photos of Ezri while she sleeps. But, she’s just so darned appealing all snuggled up and I don’t think we’re there yet.

I let Ezri walk much farther ahead of me on the snowblown path along our block than I usually do. She could neither run out into the road nor run into the neighbors’ yards to play with their trash cans or lawn ornaments. She pretty much had to walk the straight and narrow with 20 inches of snow on either side.

I love how winter makes her cheeks rosy.
I also love that when I pick her up she will say, “shiver, shiver, brrr,” and snuggle in against my chest for warmth. I love it when she’s snuggly.
So, winter has some upside. Driving and shoveling – meh.
Snow stomping and snuggly, rosy-cheeked Ezri – yay.

The crib with its side removed allows me to take side shots of Ezri napping rather than the more aerial naptime photo.
I used to try to remove her shoes when she fell asleep in the car, but now I leave them on cause once the removal caused a needed naptime to be missed. Don’t miss with naptime!

I like what she’s done with her stuffed friends. They were lined up along the side when this nap began.

These are some we read today:

The Napping House by Audrey Wood
This classic has been republished as a larger format boardbook and after reading it twice at the bookstore I purchased it. I love it. Ezri asked for it to read AGAIN as soon as I finished. I hope it becomes an after nap favorite. For those unfamiliar, this is about a granny napping who is napped upon by a child who is napped upon by a dog who is napped upon by a cat who is napped upon by a mouse and everything is fine until the wakeful flea brings the pile of nappers crashing out of bed. The gentleness of the napping house and the excitement of the waking up resonate with Ezri who is into things being sleepy and aware.

The Dog House by Jan Thomas
When a ball rolls into the dark dog house, animal after animal goes inside to retrieve it and does not return. When only mouse is left outside the dog house, Dog pops out and says he is having duck for dinner. DUCK FOR DINNER! yells mouse. Luckily, he has made turnips for duck and mouse joins the bunch in the dog house for cake. I am not sure how much of the plot Ezri really gets, but she knows its funny and likes the page where pig is called stinky and the one where duck quacks ALOT. Jan Thomas is a new favorite author for me (and Ezri too). The books have plot and humor, but are short enough to fit in toddler attention spans.

Clifford the Big Red Dog by Norman Bridwell
Again I am not sure how much of the humor Ezri gets, but she is loving the Big Red Dog. Clifford goes out chasing cars and catches them. He plays fetch and returns with a policeman being dragged by his baton. He tries to hide for hide and seek, but is much too big to hide even behind a house. Though these concepts may not quite be grasped by my kid, she asks for this book again and again and sits through the whole reading.

What’s Wrong Little Pookie? by Sandra Boynton
Boynton is just the best for the toddler aged. Her humor and likable cartoon animals cannot be beat. The zaniness adds to repeat readability for the big people how will be asked for repeat readings. I think Ezri does identify with little Pookie who is crying at the beginning of this book but too upset to tell his caregiver what is wrong. So, she decides to guess and after each guess Pookie responds in a very small voice, “No.” The guesses start out within the realm of reason maybe Pookie is tired or hungry. They end in silliness with wondering whether Pookie’s shoes have been borrowed by a hippopotamus or if his cookies were taken by tiny-winged elephants. Pookie says in his tiny voice, “That’s silly.” By the end he’s forgotten what he was upset about. The story is a very loving interaction and very familiar to a toddler. I am working on a current top ten list of Ezri’s favorite stories and this one almost certainly makes that cut.

Ezri has also discovered the marvel of pockets. Here she’s put a dandylion in her pocket. Usually she puts the pom-poms I keep especially for the purpose in her pockets. She also likes to put in acorns (yes, it’s fall) and rocks. She almost got me to buy her a small stuffed owl by picking it up and saying, “Pocket owl!” and shoving it in. The I realized we have plenty of small stuffed animals for the purpose already – no need to purchase another.

Yesterday Eric transitioned Ezri’s crib into a big kid bed by removing one side. The results are mixed. She definitely is excited by the bed and the opportunity to escape her sleep space on her own. Too excited to sleep it seems. She spent part of last night sleeping on blankets on the floor near her bed. We’ll see how it goes tonight.

Oops! by David Shannon ( A Diaper David Book)
Eric has been reading this one at bedtime A LOT lately. Luckily, it’s short.
Each two page spread features the baby, David, doing something with one of his first spoken words and his reaction to the situation.
For example, there is a picture of him with his ball thrown through a low window that says “Ball” on one page and “Uh-oh” on the other page.
There’s an illustration of a dog covered in macaroni next to a high chair where the reader sees only one of David’s dangling feet. The word on one page is “Dog” and the other “Oops!”
There’s an illustration of “Bath” with naked David saying “Ahh!”
The last illustration shows a sleeping David nestled against mom’s shoulder with “Mama” on one page and “Zzzzzzz” on the other.
There’s a lot of attitude captured in the illustrations with just a few words. Ezri likes to say “uh-oh” and “whee” along with the book. We will have to check out the companion book Oh, David! soon.

Summertime and the living’s easy. . .

We went to a Memorial Day weekend gaming event hosted by our friends Mark & Angie at their home in Dearborn, Michigan.
The weekend included many board games, yummy treats, sunny trips to the local park, and frisbee throwing.
It was great to have friends entertain Ezri while we played games.

Ezri enjoyed her first night ever in a hotel.

She loves kissing the baby in the mirror. No low self-esteem there.

Here she is with a goose for scale.
She started the weekend calling the goose “duck,” but now knows they are “goo.”

Ezri thought the local park was great.

She really liked watching Mark do yoga.
This is her version of the downward dog. She still has a ways to go on her technique, but she knows what a yoga mat is for. Yoga balls are clearly for pushing around on the floor and bouncing on.

Eric set-up a play tent for her in the living room.

The weekend exhausted Ezri as she was bathed in attention and new sights and new people.

Ezri really liked the household parrot, Norbert, who she called “twee-twee” most commonly. Norbert was understandably wary of the toddler. Though, we tried to keep Ezri from breaking one of the 4 house rules of the event – namely “Do not torture the bird.”

Ezri was sent home with a Timmy doll who she napped with the entire drive back to Downers Grove. This made the car trip good for everyone else. Way to sleep, Ezri.

Good times with good friends.

Today Ezri is not napping except for 10 minutes after her library trip.
There has to be an easier way to get your canine teeth.
But, I fondly remember these naptime moments.