Success at the aquarium

Thanks to everyone whom I tagged and responded! I can't wait to share some of their responses with everyone :).

Earlier this month, we went to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. I remember going here as a kid. I went with my family. I went with my 5th grade class because we were doing a whole series on some book we were reading about the sea. Here's a picture -- I was a big kid, with thick bangs.

Building blocks

Happy Tuesday! I'd just like to thank you for your support as I transitioned from blogging in 2 places (expandng.com and capturng.com) to just blogging here. You have allowed me to blog about both my family and my interests in photography. You gave me examples of your own blogs and how they also cover different topics and are reflections of who you are. We aren't one dimensional people, so why should our blogs be, right? So...THANK YOU for your support. When I have time later this Spring, I hope to get started on either redesigning expandng.com or designing a whole new blog.

And now onto today's topic: building blocks.

A boy and his puppy

Happy May!

When we first brought Jasper home, he was only a few months old. Our son was only a bit over 1 year old. Jasper immediately found a liking to our son since our son was small, on the ground a lot, dropped food, and had food on him at all times. Jasper loved to lick our son's face and toes. Our son didn't know what to make of him back then.

HUGE box

I ordered this laundry drying rack from Amazon (great rack, I might add -- sturdy and allows several sweaters and other delicates to hang at an angle. Here's a 2-rack version). Anyways, it came in this HUGE box. I was like "what did I order?" We order so much stuff from Amazon, it can be hard to keep track! Anyone else know the feeling?

Just the two of us to D.C.

First, just wanted to thank everyone who left comments on my last two posts about tantrums! Totally read the comments for some great tips like getting down to your child's level and using distraction! Also, here are two articles left in the comments about handling tantrums -- LouLouLoves shared an article by Penelope Leach, and Jen Kakio shared an article by Kat at Vodka and Soda.

So today's post is finally not about tantrums (yay!), but about how great our 20-mo (J) did on our trek to D.C. and also what I've learned from his past tantrums!

First visit to the zoo, tantrums and all

My mom visited us for a few days, so we planned several activities, including a trip to the National Zoo. It was Spring Break so everyone else was also there! I kinda hate crowds…Anyways, it was going to be our 20-month's (J) first time to the zoo. Since J's been learning all the animals and their sounds, we were excited!

Boredom - to fight or not to fight

The most unexpected objects capture our 19-mo old's attention. For instance, this empty diapers box. I guess I knew it all along, having heard the running joke that kids are more interested in boxes rather than the contents. He climbed in it. Tried to climb out. He wanted me to rock the box back and forth like it was some kind of amusement park ride.

Meet Baaaaab

Our 18-mo son (J) had a playmate with the hubby's friends' 16-mo son (K). And when they came, they brought the cutest gift for J! See how happy he is!

Day 31: Fun at the Please Touch Museum in Philly

For those that haven't been, the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia is the size of a serious museum yo (that's Philly talk yo).

Because I'm a geek, here are images of several museums to compare with Please Touch Museum.

Day 29: The missing puzzle piece

I bought this cool wooden puzzle from a nearby second-hand children's store, Emma's Closet. The pieces cover-up light-sensitive sensors, so that with each piece you put down, a phrase of "The Wheels on the Bus" plays. And when all the pieces are in their places, the song continues to "the driver on the bus..."

Day 27: Those aren't yours

Here are a few of the dogs' things that my son, J,
has just grown to love "playing" with.

The dogs' toy, the dogs' crate...

Day 24: LOOK. AT. THE. CAMERA

We traveled to Philly over the weekend for some family Chinese New Year time. Our 18-month-old (officially!) didn't nap Saturday, Sunday or Monday, except in the car for 30-min. Repeat, DIDN'T.NAP! A big thanks to the hubby's parents for letting us nap though.

Anyways, we got home around 9:30 pm on Monday, and after unpacking and having a bowl of ice cream, I was too cold and tired to post anything. Oh well. I'm not beating myself over it.

Since I won't have photos up until later, I thought I'd share a tidbit from our visit to the amazingly fun Please Touch Museum. If you are in the Philly area, I highly recommend it for young kids! When I post photos, I'll give a more in-depth review of the place.

 

On to the tidbit. We all love taking pictures of our kids, especially when we're in a fun place. But there was this one dad that was just hilarious and borderline annoying. He had one of those low, bellow-y voices that carry across the room no matter what volume he spoke at. But he was speaking loud when he said:

Maggie. Maggie. Maggie. Maggie. Maggie. Maggie. Look at the camera. Maggie. Maggie. LOOK. AT. THE. CAMERA. Maggie. Maggie.Maggie. Maggie.Maggie. Maggie. MAGGIE. LOOK. AT. THE. CAMERA!

At least he didn't cuss, right? Dude, it's ok if she doesn't look.


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Day 16: The shortest weekend since...since...

This past weekend seemed like the shortest weekend since...since...since before our son, J, was born. I mean, when you're the only source of entertainment for a little person with a really short attention span, time passes kinda slowly. But J's almost 18 months old, and recently he's been playing more independently. Some of his favorite activities include playing with Mega Blocks, playing with the puppy (Jasper), and carrying bottles between the kitchen and dining room. I can actually just sit back and watch. It's so much easier than having to carry him from room to room, upstairs, downstairs. And so much less tiring than bending down to support him as he went from room to room, upstairs, downstairs.

Also, it's amazing how engaged he is with his environment now! Before it'd be hard even to take him out because he wasn't really all that interested in the world. Again, we'd be his only entertainment. And of course he wouldn't be allowed to crawl around, so you could imagine how bored he was just sitting in his stroller and/or in our arms. I'm still not sure how we got through the hour wait at the department of motor vehicles a few months ago.

So now, we just need to brainstorm more ideas for weekend activities besides the play area at the mall. Luckily, we're around a lot of museums and a lot of them free. Woo! I'm just looking forward to warmer weather since being outside at the playground is one of my favorite weekend activities!

What do you like to do with your kids on the weekend?

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Day 6: Life-lessons from Dr. Seuss

The only Dr. Seuss book I've really read is probably Green Eggs and Sam.

I will not eat them in boat. I will not eat them with a goat.
I will not eat them here nor there. I will not eat them anywhere.
I will not eat green eggs and ham. I will not eat them, Sam I am.

Ok, so I may have made up paraphrased…

Anyways, we were at a local church's yard sale and picked up J's first Dr. Seuss book and it wasn't Green Eggs and Ham. Wah wah wa.

Oh, the Places You'll Go! 

Have you read it? I was surprised by the poignant lessons in it...

that Bang-ups and Hang-ups can happen to you...

Except when they {referring to good things} don't. Because, sometimes they won't

What a great book! It teaches that yes, the "world is your oyster" but sometimes it won't give you pearls. And that's ok because...

 Step with care and great tact and remember that Life's a Great Balancing Act.

If this book makes it through J's childhood, meaning it's not ripped to shreds, I'm going give it to him for his high school graduation...not that I'm thinking about that day already now or anything.

Any lessons in children's books you were surprised to find?

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Day 2: Recap of NYE in National Harbor, MD

Happy 2012 again!
Thanks to everyone who's been following our family on this blog. 

Hope you'll continue reading & sharing! 

[source: Gaylord Hotels]

On New Year's Eve (NYE), we decided to go down to National Harbor, MD since a few people in our lives have mentioned this place and I always think they're talking about Baltimore's Inner Harbor -- doh! Having only perused their homepage for a few minutes, I came to two conclusions:

1. The National Harbor is what Penn's Landing (Philadelphia, PA) wants to be when it grows up.
2. I figured that we'd check out the National Children's Museum Launch Zone and the Gaylord National Hotel & Convention Center since the ICE! exhibit was going on.

[source: Gaylord Hotels]

The National Harbor would have been a nice place to walk around in mid-morning on NYE -- what was it, like 50F? Too bad we had to be at home. The blower on our heat pump needed replacing, which was important since the temperature has since dropped outside. Needless to say, I'm eagerly waiting for warmer weather so we can go back!

We only got to go to the Gaylord because the Launch Zone was closed. Upon seeing the crowd inside and the line that wrapped around the entire length of the lobby, I thought to myself, Wow, this Gaylord must be a big deal! 

 [inside the Gaylord, taken by the hubby]

We visited the lower level where the "streets" were decorated with lights and garland. J's favorite part was the water show. We saw kids building gingerbread houses and taking pictures with the gingerbread man from Shrek. Cute, but for $79?! We did not go to the ICE! exhibit because it was $35 for adults! WHAT?! I'm guessing that ice-slide up there also costs extra. Pictures with the Madagascar characters also extra.

  [watching the water show]

 [enjoying the water show with daddy]

Man, really taking those parents' hard-earned dollars, huh, Gaylord?

Later that evening, the hubby and I watched Rise of the Planet of the Apes courtesy of Blockbuster Express. I can't believe I stayed up until midnight after all!

How did you and the family spend NYE?

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Mashed bananas

We now know what J was doing when he held his hands together and rotated his trunk in this video...

Mashed banana in The Wiggles' "Hot Potato"

Last night, my husband and I broke into this song after dinner (we're officially dorks now), and the biggest smile came on J's face! He clapped and spun around a few times. It was so heartwarming, I teared up (yep, dork again).

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[Video] Rocking out on the guitar

J is bouncing up a storm to the beats from the guitar. He also does this thing where he folds his hands and rotates his trunk back and forth. It's so cute and hilarious!

It was nice out

After J was feeling better, we finally got outside! It was so nice out even though there was no sun. There was no wind. The humidity was just right. And it wasn't cold (see, no jackets!). We went out once in the morning (picture above). And once in the afternoon/evening (eerie picture below). We love being outdoors!

P.S. Love my new iPhone and Instagram. Follow me at lisacng.

Being outdoors

For the past few weeks, J has been sick on and off -- runny nose, sinus infection, now scratchy throat, maybe also teething. It got chilly outside, so my husband wanted to keep J inside -- didn't want him to get even more sick. But I was inspired by a post on A Cup of Jo on being outdoors.

A friend of hers, who grew up in Copenhagen, said "You just wrap your babies up in whatever you have.You stick them in the stroller and take them outside. In Denmark, you can't be afraid of the weather, otherwise you'd wait six months to go outside again." Heck, babies sleep in their carriages outside! I've seen it!

Also, "being indoors is both overstimulating and boring at the same time". Indoors is boring because "they replace the exciting sensations of nature (the feeling of the wind on their skin, the brilliant sun, the soft grass, etc.) with an immense stillness (flat walls, flat floors, no wind). [The indoors] bombards them with jolting experiences that kids in the past never had to deal with: crazy cartoons, slick videos, clanging computer games, noisy toys, and bright colors everywhere...which can make many little children feel stressed." I do find that J is calmer and his attention span lengthened outside.

We have our entire adult lives to be indoors 90% of the time -- college classes, in our dorms/apartments, working at a desk -- so why not let our children spend their childhood outdoors -- even if they're sick, just for a breath of fresh air?

I wonder what my husband's rule will be in the winter. Can J go out and play with snow? Gosh, I hope so!

What do you think about children being outdoors?

You'll want to learn to surf after watching these vids

These videos of a 2- and 3-year-old surfing with their respective parents makes me wanna take up surfing just so I can teach it to J and post an awesome video of it. Too bad I can't swim!