arts & crafts

(click it for bigger)

as fall arrives and cooler temperatures hit us, i'm starting to think about things to occupy us in the house. soon the standard head to the park or beach won't be an option for long periods of time. i've been on pinterest watching for toddler activities and pinning things i know finn might like.

i'm pretty artsy so i tend to gravitate towards those activities and it seems finn doesn't mind :) i had collected some non-toxic paint on clearance (29 cents each!), a plastic paint try, and some plaster dog and cat figurines for a painting project and was surprised to see him totally "get" it.


to prepare, i stripped him down to his diaper, taped paper bags to the surface, and slid an intact one over the back of our chair. he's now at a ($10, made-from-receycled-materials, fully dishwashable, from walmart) booster seat so this was easily done at the table. not that this is rocket science, but i showed him the materials first. i squirted the paint and demonstrated brush strokes on a figurine. i gave him a brush (he's painted before but it was a mess and he ate most of it) and he put it into his mouth, so i told him no and he seemed happy not to do it again. (who is this kid?) his favorite part was dipping the brush into all of the colors repeatedly. this made for some cool swirling and when he did paint his cat figure, the paint remained uniquely swirled. a true visionary, i'd say. my budding artist sat and painted for about 25 minutes before he took to his ear (no, he didn't chop it off) with the paint brush and i called it quits. he was upset to finish but enjoyed the subsequent (extended) hand washing.

and now we have this lovely hand painted cat figurine to display on our bookshelf. bring on the cold weather crafts!

first bike ride (take two)

mr. h3b is an avid biker and has been searching for a gently used bike seat for months. he finally found a great one and was able to take finley for an evening bike ride a few weekends ago.



he was unsure at first. he didn't mind the helmet because he wears it outside when he rides his trike, but he wasn't so sure about being strapped into the seat. he didn't cry but remained pensive (typical) rather than excited.



but then they were off. a quick jaunt and he was fine, so they set off for an evening cruise. admittedly i was nervous because his precious skin was exposed but he came back free of injury (of course) and happy to have had the wind in his face.

tomorrow he's 19 months...

oh this lunch-faced kid? yeah, he's more than a year and a half old. these pictures have nothing to do with this post, but posts should include pictures, right?

i did have his 18 month dr. visit and wasn't surprised to find that he is small and tall. 23 lbs 2 oz (10-20%) and 33 1/2" (75-90%). he was having a small reaction to has chicken pox vac so we had to skip the flu vac because i didn't want to put 2 in the other (healthy) leg. i'm beyond pro-vac (is there such a thing?) but i also want to consider his bump-laden thigh and how much he should have to tolerate in one visit.

he is doing everything he should be doing at his age (pointing, running, knowing his body parts, and responding to a variety of prompts), but he is still not talking. he says mama (for everything) and occasionally dada, but does not mimic sounds/words or even attempt to speak. he babbles and can make a variety of consonant sounds but he doesn't seem to connect those with words. because of this we're meeting with early intervention just to see if he qualifies based on this behavior. i'm not overly concerned because i know he will talk, but since he has almost zero words (not even "hi" or bye" or "ball") i'd like to know if we can do anything to help. we read to him everyday, do flash cards (for fun), practice animal sounds (he repeats none)...he just doesn't seem interested.

click on that to see larger lunch action. or don't if food on faces bugs you. i don't mind a bit of neutral colored crumbs here and there, but spaghetti face? no way.

overall, he's a healthy, happy kid (yes, kid!). he'll be 19 months tomorrow. it's not a huge milestone, but from here on out people will care less and less about age in months and more that he's "almost two". um, what?