The Plug Fairy

The 4th birthday is a milestone in our house - it is when we get rid of the nighttime plug.  What is a plug, you say?  Well, it's the name that my husband so affectionately gave pacifiers and has somehow stuck!  At one year, we wean them down to having one just when sleeping, and then the day they turn four, they give it up for good.

We prepare months in advance, talking about how four year olds are Big Kids and don't use plugs.  We read the BinkyBaba Fairy Book (which I change to say Plug Fairy) and talk about how, the night they turn four, they leave their plugs in a box and the Fairy takes them to new babies who need them and leaves a Big Kid present to thank you.

Aurora handled it pretty well when she turned four.  She didn't fuss, although she did stop taking naps and started coming out of her room at night.  I was nervous about Alex, since he seemed quite a bit more attached to his than she was.

Finally, the monumental night arrived!  Alex put his plugs in the box and got a cup of water (Big Kids get water, he says), and went to bed.  There was no crying, no fuss!  I heard him whimper twice through the night but both times he quieted himself down.

When he woke up, it was clear that he had not slept well...he was pretty grumpy and rubbing his eyes.  But he did not cry or fuss!  And he was excited to see what the Fairy had brought him....

A Cars TV/DVD set for his room!  He was so excited!  Big Kids have TVs in their room.  We set it up and he was so proud of it.

Then nap time arrived....and Alex realized his plugs were gone for good and not just for the night before.  A meltdown ensued - it was not pretty!  But he eventually calmed down, especially after I mentioned he'd have to lose his new TV if he couldn't act like a Big Kid...and went to sleep.  

And he's been doing fine since!

Four Years Old!

My little buddy is four years old today!  I can't believe it!  Alex may be small for his age, but he has a BIG personality.  He makes me laugh several times a day with his comments, songs, and other goofy activities.  Sometimes he will randomly break out in song, and sometimes he will do a little dance and shake his bootie.  If you ask him what his last name is, he will tell you, "The Great!"  (Alexander the Great)

He's very sensitive and affectionate and likes to be held, cuddled, or hugged.  Several times a day we have this exchange:

Alex: "Hey Mom guess what?"

Me: "What?"

Alex: "I LOVE you!"

His speech is no longer delayed, he is learning his letters, can spell his first name, and he can count to 20 in English and to 10 in Spanish, Japanese, and German.  He is also day potty trained! 

Alex really is the sunshine in my life.  Happy Birthday Buddy!!

Birth

One Year

Two Years

Three Years

Now

Fun Fall Weekend

We had a fabulously fun fall weekend this past weekend!  I may have mentioned a time or two that this is my favorite time of the year!

On Saturday night we had Megan and her boyfriend Sean over.  We had dinner and made caramel apples!  Aurora wanted to make some this year and we had never done it before so we decided we'd give it a try!  The kids helped us pick the toppings, unwrap caramel candies, and put popsicle sticks in the apples.  

While the caramel was melting, they made puzzles with some of the popsicle sticks by taping them together, drawing a picture, and then untaping them.  It was something I had seen in a recent 'Family Fun' magazine.  

When the caramel was ready, we helped them dip the apples and coat then in sprinkles, nuts, or melted chocolate.  

It was tons of fun!   The results were pretty yummy as well!

On Sunday, we all met up at McCall's Pumpkin Patch!  

The kids rode the cow train and raced ducks with the old fashion water spouts.  

We also climbed a hay pyramid and pet some farm animals.  

The two favorite activities for both the kids and adults was the Pumpkin Pillow - a giant bouncing pad for everyone - and the gourd slingshots!  

Right as we were almost done with the activities, it started pouring rain.  We had perfect timing!

WSSP 2010

Josh is an amateur astronomer, and so every year we attend the annual White Sands Star Party (WSSP).  It's the only time of the year people are allowed to camp overnight in the White Sands National Monument.  This year was Alex's first time attending, and it was also conveniently scheduled over Aurora's Fall Break October 7-10, so we decided to leave a few days early and take the kids to Roswell and Carlsbad Caverns!  We have been visiting Carlsbad Caverns every couple of years since we met in high school and it is one of our favorite places to go.

We headed out on Wednesday and had a smooth drive to Roswell.  Along the way we stopped in Capitan, NM in the Lincoln National Forest.  It is the home of the original Smokey Bear, who was found in the Lincoln National Forest as a badly burnt orphaned cub.  It is also his current resting place.  The kids enjoyed seeing the exhibits, learning his story, and doing the activities.  We also liked looking at the plants and wildlife in the garden where he is buried.

Eventually we arrived in Roswell and, after dropping stuff off at the hotel, we headed out for food and to walk to main strip to check out the alien stuff!  Alex thought it was SO cool but Aurora was sure to keep telling him that it wasn't real.  We had fun browsing the shops and people watching.

Thursday we headed down to Carlsbad!  We had a beautiful drive up and then headed down to the natural entrance to hike to the bottom of the caverns.  We got all the way to the entrance and then Alex said he had to go potty again so we had to walk all the way back to the bathrooms and then back down!  But we got to see and touch two cool lizards on the way so it was worth it!

I wasn't sure if Alex would be able to make it all the way through the caverns but he did great!  He balked a little at the entrance because it was so dark but once we got in and his eyes adjusted, he loved it!  We made it all the way down without any complaining.  We got back to Roswell on Thursday with just enough time to go to the UFO Research Center and Museum.  Alex liked the UFO pictures and replicas.  Aurora was excited to find a collector's book to collect the flat pennies she has been making at each stop.

Friday we packed up again and headed to White Sands for the Star Party.  We signed in and got our packets and then headed to the dunes to setup camp.  The kids grabbed their sleds and immediately headed out to slide down the dunes while we talked with friends and set up our tents.  One of Josh's co-workers came along and brought his wife and daughter.  We all hit it off immediately and the little girl and Alex really liked each other!  They were even holding hands!  Friday night the astronomers setup their gear and checked out each others' setup, swapped ideas, and took pictures.

Saturday morning we woke up to a gorgeous sunrise and stumbled out into the cold to get some drinks and snacks.  When the sun came up and warmed everything we got dressed and headed into Alamagordo.  As part of the event we get free tickets to the IMAX and NM Space History Museum.  We got some breakfast and then went to the IMAX to see a show on Sea Monsters.  Grandma and Grandpa K had driven down the night before and met us there.  Alex loved the movie and talked about sea monsters the rest of the weekend!  After the show we went through the space museum and looked at the rockets and other historical items, and played with the space shuttle simulator.

Then we grabbed some food and headed back to White Sands for some events.  The director of the space museum came out and did some activities with the kids, including making paper rockets.  They held a raffle, which Aurora got to draw the tickets for and she was so pleased with having such an important task.  Grandma and Grandma won some shirts and we won some astronomy equipment and a signed copy of a book that is about to be published by a prominent astronomer in the community.  Josh was really happy!

The WSSP is also a community event so on Saturday night they invite the public in to learn about astronomy, look through the telescopes, and visit with the astronomers.  When they all come in they do a presentation and go over the Star Party rules.  Josh and Aurora gave a presentation showing some of the images Josh has taken and give some info on it.  It was so cute to see Aurora up there, all proud, next to her daddy!  Then the astronomers sat next to their gear and let the public view through them and answer any questions they have.  It's a really neat event!

The kids pretty much went up and down the dunes the entire time, sledding or playing with sand toys.  When the public was there in the dark, we set them up in the tent to watch a movie on the portable DVD.  They had a blast and slept hard all night long.

Sunday we packed up, happy but exhausted, and headed home!  It was a fun trip and hopefully something the kids will always remember!  I had so many pictures I wanted to share that I decided to do a slide show.

Catching Up

I'm a little behind on updating the blog!  This is the busiest time of the year for us, and definitely my favorite!  I love all of the Fall activities.  We just got back from a pretty cool trip, and I'll post more on that later.  But first I didn't want to forget some of the other things we did the first weekend of October.

The first weekend of October marks the opening of the International Balloon Fiesta.  On the first Friday, they do something called "Albuquerque Aloft," where the hot air balloons launch from various schools around the area.  We took the kids to Aurora's school first thing on the morning to see two balloons go up.  They got yummy hot chocolate and had an up close view of the balloon crews putting the balloons together, blowing them up, and taking off.  It was fun!

I'm really glad we were able to do that because the Balloon Fiesta was a bit of a bust for us this year.  Since we had our trip planned for the second half of the Fiesta, that weekend was our only chance to go and weather just didn't cooperate.  So at least they got to see a couple from her school!

This is Alex's impression of a balloon with his hands.  I didn't have the heart to tell him that it looks like he's doing the sign for 'poop'!

We also had fun decorating for Halloween.  I'm big on decorating for holidays so we had a great time putting everything out and playing dress-up with some of the old costumes.  Afterwards we watched "Spookley the Square Pumpkin" and read, "If You're a Monster and You Know It."  

Even Freddie got in on the fun!

Since Balloon Fiesta was a bust, we decided to go with Grandma S to see "The Legend of the Guardians."  The movie seemed a bit dark to me but the kids loved it and Alex pretended to be an owl for days afterwards!  It was pretty cute!

Overall it was a great weekend!  I will post about our awesome trip soon!