preschoolers reanbean Tiny & Buba: first film kiddie party library shopping snow
by reanbean
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Just the Highlights
Last Monday, T and I had planned to take Buba and Tiny to open skate at our local ice rink and let them try out the new skates that Santa had brought them. Unfortunately, it seemed that everyone else had planned to spend the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday at the ice rink as well. We couldn’t even find a place to park, so we had to tell the kids that we’d have to break in the new skates another day. They were horribly disappointed, so we drove around trying to find a pond that was frozen enough to skate on. No luck. Just hasn’t been consistently cold enough (not that I’m complaining). So instead, we drove to Grammie’s and invited ourselves to lunch. The kids always enjoy visiting with Grammie, so it was a great distraction and a nice visit.
Monday night we got a few inches of snow, and Tiny and Buba were beyond excited to see the yard and street covered in glistening, white snow when they woke up Tuesday morning. They wanted to go out and play immediately, but I insisted that we have breakfast and get ready for school like we always do. However, I told them if we could all get ready quickly, which requires a great deal of effort and cooperation on their part, we could go out and play before they had to go to preschool. Then I had the brilliant idea that we should skip playing in our yard and go straight to school to play in the schoolyard. Both Tiny and Buba were extremely motivated to get ready and out the door, and we had a great time playing outside at school. There weren’t any other kids there when we arrived (about 30 minutes before the start of the school day), and the yard was pretty much untouched. Buba immediately began making snow angels and Tiny soon joined in. They cleared off all the swings and slides, and we made a small but happy looking snowman right outside their classroom door. And the best part was, when it was time for school to start, we were already there! No whining or complaining about having to stop our play to get in the minivan and go to school. They just walked right in and got on with the day.
Thursday morning, we found ourselves without plans and decided to head to the library for storytime. We had been regulars at storytime for the past two years, but we hadn’t been once since the kids started preschool. Our days have just been so busy. But Buba and Tiny jumped at the chance to go and had a great time listening to their favorite librarian read and sing songs with them. Afterwards, I dragged them shopping with me so I wouldn’t miss out on spending some Kohl’s cash. I didn’t really plan to be there long, but five minutes turned into 15, which turned into 30, and before I knew it, we’d been there almost a full hour. But the reason I hadn’t noticed all the time passing by was because Buba and Tiny were so incredibly well behaved the entire time. They stayed right by me as I looked for things we didn’t really need, and in the end, I bought them both new Color Blast picture books. They totally deserved it.
Friday night, we got a few more inches of snow, and Tiny and Buba were all ready to go for another fun day of snow play. They went out for about an hour in the morning, and then went out for over an hour after quiet time.
They slept really, really well Saturday night.
Sunday morning, T headed out to Foxborough with Grammie just after 10 to get ready for the big playoff game (Grammie is a longtime Pats fan), so Tiny, Buba and I had the whole day to ourselves. It was only in the 20s, so I opted for indoor activities. We did a bit more shopping and then watched the first part of Mary Poppins (Tiny and Buba’s first feature film!). We’d watched a few clips on youtube, so they were psyched to sit down and watch the real deal. I popped some popcorn and watched them watch. It was so fun to see the excitement on their faces. We stopped the movie about 30 minutes in so we could all get ready to go to a party at an indoor kiddie playspace. Buba and Tiny had a great time running around (burning off energy) and had their first face paint experiences.
Before going to bed, we watched about 20 minutes more of Mary Poppins (at their request), and by the time I turned it off, they were already talking about how they would play a Mary Poppins game and who would be which character. We probably won’t see the next few scenes of the movie until the weekend, but they seem to be okay with that. For now, they’ve got all they need to keep the film alive for themselves. And it really is fun for me to see them loving a film and characters that I loved so much as a child.
Incredible!
Last Friday, we had a big snow storm that led to over 600 school and program cancellations.
T, Tiny, and Buba heading down our street.
Tiny getting ready to slide down the snow.
I knew the mailbox was in there somewhere.
As if we didn’t have enough snow, today we got another 12+ inches.
Tiny and Buba playing between the huge snow piles surrounding our walkway.
our front yard
Tiny and Buba attempting to climb the four foot snow wall built up at the end of our driveway by the plow trucks.
With temps predicted to be in the upper twenties and lower thirties over the next week or so, a thaw seems pretty unlikely. And there’s already talk of more snow on Saturday. Fortunately, Buba and Tiny love playing out in the snow. So, we’ll continue to do our best to make lemonade out of all the lemons being thrown our way.
Blustery Snowy Day
In case you hadn’t heard, it’s been snowing in the northeast. We got a robocall from a local police officer yesterday afternoon letting us know that a blizzard warning was in effect and that we were to sit tight at home until the roads were cleared (estimated by 6pm the following day). Although it started snowing yesterday evening, the bulk of the snow came over night. Tiny and Buba were excited to see “a lota lota snow!” when they woke up this morning and couldn’t wait to get outside.
I’m not exactly sure how much snow we ended up getting (the weather forecast had predicted 12 to 20 inches), but the kids were roughly knee deep when we plopped them into the snow in our front yard.
Last year, it took Buba a while to feel comfortable in the snow. But he was pretty much okay with it this time around…
Tiny was pretty happy too…
except when the wind picked up and blew snow into her face (which, unfortunately, was pretty often)…
Still, I’d say we lasted a good 30 to 40 minutes playing outside in Tiny and Buba’s first blizzard. And it looks like the snow will be around for us to enjoy again and again while T is home on winter break.
First Snow (winter 2010)
T still has three days of teaching before the winter break begins, so I was on my own for the first snowy day of winter. Our street is pretty quiet, but Grammy and Grandmpa’s street is even better, so we headed over to spend the morning with Grandpa, Aunt D, and the California cousins. Tiny and Buba (but mostly Tiny) were beyond excited to get to play out in the snow. We’ve been reading The Snowy Day for weeks, and they were so happy to finally be able to play outside, “Just like Peter.”
Ready to sled down the driveway…
Shoveling “like Daddy”…
Making tracks…
Building with the California cousins…
Tiny’s first snow angel…
When I asked the kids what their favorite part of the morning was, Tiny said it was making snow angels (she made about 15 of them and was very insistent that nobody step on any of them). Buba also said it was making snow angels, but then quickly changed his mind to sledding. Both agreed that they had a ton of fun and and can’t wait to get “a lota lota snow” (we only have an inch or so) so they can build their own Frosty.