sidewalk chalk activities

sidewalk chalk activities

So you have that box of chalk and are stuck in rut writing your kid's name in block letters or doodling pictures of the sun and flowers.  Here are some quick activities that gets your toddler moving and {bonus} learning at the same time. 

Numbers

I wrote 1-20 in circles and she practiced counting while walking/jumping/running through the circles.  I would call out a number and she had to run to that circle.  And then Solis called out numbers for me to run to.  She told me I had to practice my numbers too.

Shapes

Tons of variations for this one.  I drew simple shapes in different colors and gave her directions such as, "Run to the green circle!" or "Skip to the pink star!"  She loved this one.

 Letters

Same concept as the numbers and I told her to run to different letters.  She also sang the abc's and found each letter in order.  I would ask her questions like, what does dog start with?  And she would run to the D.

Squiggly lines
I drew tons of lines on our driveway in different colors.  I told her to walk/skip/jump/run on different lines.  Solis thought this was good practice for the balance beam at gymnastics.

Have you ever tried drawing with wet chalk?  The chalk becomes so much more vibrant, brighter, and colorful.  All I did was put chalk in water for around 8 minutes and then they are ready to use.  They do break more easily and you will go through it 10x more quickly but it looks so much nicer!  And if you want to try this inside, have your child paint a piece of black construction paper with water and then use the wet chalk.

 This picture doesn't do the colors justice but trust me, they were so much more brighter than dry chalk.

9 & 10 weeks [babywise]

9 & 10 weeks [babywise]

Rogue is double digits!  The weeks are flying by (hence why this post is a few days late) and our baby is getting sweeter by the minute.  We had some rough reflux days which quickly put us back at the doctor's.  I nursed Rogue there and she said he definitely has reflux. (insert not-again-sad-face!)  She adjusted his meds and this past week we saw significant improvement.  He hardly woke from any of his naps from spit up and doesn't seem to be in as much pain.  It's amazing what medicine can do! 

Eating: Rogue continues to eat 7 times a day.  Nursing takes anywhere from 8-15 minutes per side.  He gets a bottle at lunch and dinner which gives me flexibility to take Solis places and it gives daddy time to bond with his son.  As far as his reflux-he doesn't seem to be in pain during eating (Solis was so this is a big plus).  He's in pain afterwards while trying to burp him.  And he spits up a ton.  But the medicine has helped reduce it.

Waketime: Rogue's waketimes are becoming so much more fun.  He's so happy, smiley, and loves to coo.  He is getting good at holding his head up high during tummy time and keeping it there.  He's still around 50 minutes for waketime (including feeding).

Naps: Week 9 was rough b/c that was before we had the proper meds.  He woke early from a lot of naps with spit up.  But week 10 was amazing.  Took all his naps (4 a day) on his own and I had to wake him up from a lot of them.  He hardly cries anymore, maybe less than 20 minutes a day.  Complete opposite of Solis at this age.  We feel super blessed that his reflux is under control with meds.  Rogue still gets swaddled, shades are down, and white noise is on for every nap. 

Night Sleep: In my last post (weeks 7 & 8), I said Rogue was still doing 5-6 hours at night.  He was sleeping 5-6 hours for weeks so I was a little worried he would never get over that hump (I should have kept the faith in Babywise!).  But just like that, he got over his hump.  Week 9, he started doing 7.5 hours a night and on week 10, he continued but with a few 8 hours in there! And some mornings, he even woke up happy without crying for food.  I love when a baby starts to do that. 

Sidenote-There were 2 nights last week when he woke after 5 hours.  We rocked him without feeding and he went back to sleep.  But if he still were to cry, I would have fed him.  We came to the conclusion that maybe it had something to do with turning our air off and opening the windows.  B/c those were the only 2 nights all summer we did that.  Who knows though?

Schedule:  Our schedule has changed a bit with Rogue's new night sleep.  Our goal for waketime is 8am but that won't be solid till he's sleeping all the way through the night.  After the dreamfeed, he now sleeps till around 7.  I'll feed him at 7am, 9am, noon, 3pm, 5:45pm, 8:15pm, 10:45 (DF).

Solis: Still loving on her brother!  I know things will probably change once he's mobile but for now I am loving their interaction.  Solis gets SO excited every time I get him up after nap.  She loves to make him smile, exclaiming, "He's smiling!  He's smiling!"  One time in the car I heard her say, "I love you, Roguey" completely out of the blue.  She loves to read to him and he is smitten with her :)

2 month checkup: At 2 months, Rogue is 24 inches and 12.12 pounds.  He took his shots like a champ and slept great after them.  Complete opposite of Solis at that age!  If you follow me on Instagram you saw this picture and know Solis told him, "It's ok Rogue.  It won't hurt.  I will hold your hand."  I'm sure she'll remember that when it's her time for shots. ;)

par-tay

par-tay

Every year we celebrate Solis's birthday with an outdoor party in our backyard.  It's always hot and always fun.  Solis had the best time this year, running around with her cousins and little friends.

I was a weeee bit stressed though.  Throwing a party for 25 adults and 9 kids with a 9 week old will do that to you.  If only our guests had seen the scene an hour before they came.  Rogue had a hard time staying asleep for his afternoon nap so I put him in the Moby Wrap while moving tables and setting up decorations. (And of course it was a 90 degree day so I was sweating bullets.)  Then I nursed him while finishing last minute details.  Nothing like running around the house with a kid attached to your girls :)  It was hectic but it all came together nicely. 

Solis's third birthday colors were hot pink and orange.

Tissue tassel garland Project Paper 

Pink & orange bow SolaBowtique

"Three" applique Olive and Birdie 

Pink & orange tutu Lucky Clover Boutique

(Not shown: mega food table!  We had pulled pork from a local place and my husband grilled hot dogs for the kids.  Our moms graciously made the side dishes.)

I went super simple on the cupcakes this year and Pillsbury did all the work.  I got the mini cake from the grocery store and made the cake topper myself.

Party favors for adults was kettlecorn from a local orchard.

 My hubby made the stickers.

Tissue tassel garland Project Paper

I filled the kid's favor bags with little Dora items from Party City.

Drink canister (pink lemonade) and beverage tub (booze :)) from Target last year.

Flowers from the local florist

I made sugar cookies from cake mix and dyed them pink and orange.  My husband called them heavenly and he's not a dessert guy so that's a win.  And these cookies are pretty much the easiest thing ever to bake.  Just mix, roll, and bake!

 Sugar Crinkle Cookies

Ingredients

1 box white cake mix

1/3 cup oil

2 eggs

food coloring, powdered sugar

Directions

1. Mix cake mix, oil, and eggs in a bowl.

2. Add food coloring and mix through with a spoon.  Batter will be sticky.  If you are using 2 colors, divide the batter in half.

3. Form the batter into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap.  Place in freezer 15-30 minutes or until firm.  I did this overnight and the dough was still soft enough the next day to form into balls.

4. Roll dough into balls and roll in powdered sugar.

5. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet.

6. Bake for 10 minutes at 350.

The Dora pinata (Party City) was a big hit.  Solis couldn't bust it for the life of her but her 4 year old cousin took off Dora's head in one shot.

I'm sure all the parents loved that their toddlers were getting a bag full of candy :)

I love this picture because my dad was getting chased by 7 little girls.
They were having the best time!

Totally kicking myself for not getting a family picture.  Rogue was only outside for an hour and he was passed around from person to person that we didn't have time to get a picture.  And of course Solis isn't smiling!

Tissue pom poms Sweet Tea Paper

My dress Kohls

Birthday banner Little Peanut Gallery

solis turns three

solis turns three

And just like that, three years have flown by in a blink of an eye.  My baby girl is three and she now tells me that "I'm not your baby, mommy."  Cue waterworks.  Solis is such a happy little girl.  She has so much enthusiasm for life and shows such excitement for everything we do-whether it's making a craft or going to the park-she always exclaims, "This is the best thing ever!!!"  Solis is also a big lover.  Shaun and I tuck her in together every night and she has to have group hugs and "both kisses" at the same time and WILL NOT let us leave without "I love you's."  She's a people pleaser and at every activity we go to, she must be near the teacher....yikes, teacher's pet in the making.  She loves her brother so much (for now) and is so proud to be a big sister.  Solis is truly a gem of a daughter.  Her speech has always been really good and doesn't throw many tantrums.  She does get upset when we tell her no but when we explain why and redirect her, tantrum avoided.  She starts every prayer with "Dear God, thank you for this BEAUTIFUL day!" which still makes me smile every single time.  She LOVES books, Peppa the Pig, and imaginary play.  She's so excited to start preschool in the fall....which I still cannot believe. 

We planned a jammed packed birthday for Solis.  It was tiring-even more so with Rogue in tow-but worth all the smiles, jumps for joy, and the 100 thank you's.

Solis woke up to balloons in her room, a tradition we started on her 2nd birthday.

Up next was birthday pancakes.

Then we packed everyone in the car and headed to the splash pad.

Using her new water toy and spraying daddy in all the wrong places.

Little Roguey hung in there on a hot day!

Back home for more presents, lunch, and naps.

After nap, Solis had her first gymnastics class without us.
Three years old means no more mommy & me classes.
(You best believe I had a tear in my eye while watching from up above!)

Then we went to Red Robin for dinner.  Shaun and I wanted to go to the BYOB hibachi restaurant but decided to go to the place where Solis would get sung to and get a balloon and dessert.  And when we asked her the next day what was her favorite part of her birthday, she said when the bird sat next to her.  So mission accomplished.

Flowers from daddy :)

And of course no birthday is complete without a cupcake.

She loved us singing happy birthday so much that she asked for it 3 more times.

Happy birthday, sweet Solis!  We love you to pieces!!