Aqueduck Faucet Extender//Small Stuff

Oh Pinterest, you never cease to inspire me - to embark on fun creative projects, cook yummy dishes and buy lots of fun stuff.  Key word here being 'inspire' - ahem, I've definitely only done a small percentage of the things I've pinned.  I'm just being real. 


I pinned this a while ago.  Now that my little guy isn't so little anymore, it's harder to carry him each time he needs to wash his hands.  Even with a stool he can't quite reach the water.  


I ended up buying 2 of these gadgets. One for each of the sinks he uses most.  I just got them today and the picture above is our 1st test run. So far so good!  What I love about them is that they're portable, so they'll be coming with us on weekend trips along with our mini foldable stool. 


What is it? The Aqueduck Faucet Extender by Peachy
How much is it? $12.99
Where can you buy it? I bought mine on Amazon and since I bought 2 and spent at least $25, I was eligible for Amazon's free super saver shipping.  I think you can also purchase it on Peachy's website. 

I Want to Remember this Summer's Getty Trips

When I look back later at these days with you as a toddler and us as newish parents...

I want to remember our two trips to the Getty this summer to check out their Garden Concerts.  

I want to remember that these days you're all about your cereal snacks.  I want to remember that they kept you plenty occupied while we waited in line to ride the 'train' up the hill to the Getty. 

I want to remember that you love to be 'kawa' aka carried and will ask for this pretty frequently.  

I want to remember the awesome bands that we saw.  I want to remember how much energy they had.

I want to remember how many people were there before us and how that was okay because we went straight to the foot of the stage because we wanted to dance!

I want to remember how it takes you a little while to warm up to new surroundings.  I want to remember the look on your face while you take it all in - how focused you look.  I want to remember how much I love that look because I love to see you thinking.  

I want to remember that after you warm up, you're a different boy - one without inhibitions.  

I want to remember that you always ask to take off your own shoes when you see another boy or girl walking around barefoot.  I want to remember how excited you get when this happens.  I want to remember that you asked me to take off my shoes when you saw another mommy without theirs.  

I want to remember how you danced and danced and danced and danced.  I want to remember how much you love music and how much you love to dance. 

I want to remember how happy I felt to see you having so much fun.  I want to remember how happy I felt to know that you were comfortable enough to dance with other kids you didn't know.  

I want to remember how happy I felt that you were having this experience.  

I want to remember the atmosphere - the perfect weather, the great music, the energetic bands, the other cute kids running around, the lovely blankets that the Getty provided for everyone to sit on, the green grass that felt cool to sit on...

I want to remember our picnic dinner after the concert on our second visit.  I want to remember how much you love fruit and bread and carbs and how I have to remind you to eat the rest of your meals. 

I want to remember how you gravitate towards other people having fun.  I want to remember you following other kids around because you heard them laughing.  I want to remember you running up and down the hill and touching this wall because that's what other kids were doing. 

I want to remember you deciding to roll down the hill because you saw other kids doing it.  I want to remember how much I loved that you did that.

I want to remember that I love watching you observe and that I often wonder what you're thinking about. 

I want to remember that we made these masks at the Getty after the concert.  I want to remember that you look at them often at home and say "Chase made this one. Mommy made this one." I want to remember how proud I am every time I hear you say this.  

I want to remember how much I love you and how much joy you bring me and your dad. I love you, Chase! 

The Current Soundtrack of Our Lives

Just dropping in for a quick hello :) and to share music that Chase and I have really been enjoying these past few weeks.  We are sharing 3 albums from 2 bands. 

We found both bands @ the Garden Concert for Kids, which are a series of concerts hosted by the Getty during the month of August. We had so much fun going last month and already can't wait until next year. 

Without further ado...this is the current soundtrack of our lives: 

Oh Lucky Day! by Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band

Such a fun, fun, fun album to dance to with a toddler. The music is energetic and upbeat and the lyrics are so adorable! We like all of the songs, but especially Say What?, Race Car and Like Never Before. 

The band was so much fun to watch - highly engaging which is great with the toddler group.  You can purchase/view their album via the link above, get to their website here and check out their tour schedule here.  It looks like they have shows coming up in San Francisco and around Los Angeles.  We may find ourselves checking them out again!

Mind of My Own by Frances England

Our favorite songs from this album are Red Balloon and Bicycle.  We actually ended tonight with strolling and dancing around our living room while pretending to hold balloons and ride bicycles as we listened to these faves. 

I don't know if Frances typically performs with the same band all the time, but the group she was with at the Getty she met through her son's co-op preschool.  All of the band members had kids at the same school.  I just thought that was so adorable!  How can you not love a band that came together that way?! You can preview/purchase this album via the link above and check out her cute website here. 

Family Tree by Frances England

Our favorite song from this album is I Scream, You Scream. We play this every day during our car ride home from day care.  I sometimes use it to bribe him to leave the playground. Though today he started to ask for actual ice cream so this may magically disappear for a while. j/k...maybe ;) 

Hope you enjoy these albums/songs as much as we do! If you have other kid bands/songs you recommend, please leave a comment as I'd love to check them out. 

100 Posts

photo by lizzi @ lizziphotography.com

It's official. I've written 100 posts. You're actually reading #101. Weird. It doesn't feel like I've written that much and while 100 is not a lot in the blogger community, it just doesn't feel like I've even reached that number.

I thought this milestone would provide a nice opportunity for me to do a brain dump of why I blog. Here goes...

• I like to write. I used to write my own monologues for fun back when I was taking theater classes. I had forgotten about that interest. I can't say that writing is a passion of mine, but it does give me some sense of fulfillment.
• I like capturing memories. I used to scrapbook, but there's just not enough time for that in my life these days. What with a toddler and all...
• I like to reflect - to look back on something I had written. Reading something I had written a long time ago allows me to see how priorities change. How life changes. How interests change. How my writing changes. But even reading something that I had just written 5 minutes before gives me a chance to think about what choosing to write those words say about me.
• I like to analyze. I'm such an analytical person. Each post I've written has given me a chance to ponder a thought or interest or significance of something more so than I probably would have had I not blogged about it.
• Blogging holds me accountable. It's a documented account of things that I am interested in and value. Those documented events, activities, interests, etc. remind me of how I want to spend my time.
• I've learned a lot from mommy bloggers who have been willing to share their experiences. I've been inspired by them to do things that fulfill me as a mom. It seems fair to share my own experiences and learnings with others through the same vehicle.

Happy 100 bloggy blog!

I'm a believer

Ever since I was pregnant with Chase I've read a lot of parenting books, blogs,e-mail feeds and magazine articles. One piece of advice I come across often is to talk to your baby even when you don't think they can understand what you are saying. This is something I've tried to do with Chase ever since he was born. I narrated most of the things I was doing with him. "Let's take a bath. Mom is turning on the water now. The water is too cold. Let's add some hot water so we can warm it up." What's neat now is that he's talking more and more and it's through this new found chatter that he's confirming that he's been listening this whole time.

I've gone to the drive through ATM 3 times with Chase. Each time I've gone, I've told him that we're going to the ATM, that I'm going to put my card in, push some buttons and take out some money. He also 'helps' me at the supermarket and at the store by swiping my debit card each time we pay. There's a point to this, I promise. ;)

One day, after going to the supermarket I set up a pretend grocery store in our living room. When I found him swiping our old Mervyn's card on the calculator, I asked him what he was doing and he responded 'ATM.'

Yes, I know that the card reader at the check out is not an ATM. Well, not a standard ATM at least. But what I love are the connections he made. I've never called the card reader an ATM, but he connected the label to something you use to swipe your card and that was certainly what we were doing at the grocery store. In his mind, they must be the same thing and, therefore, the contraption at the grocery store was an ATM.

Yes, I wrote this post partly as a gushing mom proud of her little guy's accomplishment. But, I also wrote this as someone who, as a mom, now has a deeper appreciation for how powerful a little one's mind can be. I'm finding myself stunned each day at how much learning is happening in there. I'm a believer of just how much listening has been happening this whole time. I'm a believer that although he hasn't always been able to reciprocate through dialogue, that he did in fact understand what I was saying. That he was making connections. That he was storing all of this information to use for when he was able to talk. My advice to all the new mommies out there is to listen to that advice you've been reading about - talk to your beautiful babies! They really are listening and processing what you're saying. It may seem silly to talk about things they don't yet understand, but eventually they will. Eventually, they'll prove it to you and you will be THRILLED!

Sweeping Gems

I've been reading about the Montessori method of teaching lately, in addition to other types of education. While I don't think we'll end up sending Chase to a Montessori school, there are certain concepts about the approach that I want to infuse at home. One philosophy is the idea of providing opportunities to allow your child to learn and practice (through repetition) doing daily living activities and introducing these activities to your child in an interesting way.

I found a cute mini dust pan and brush at a local Japanese store and decided to try my first Practical Life exercise with Chase. He was excited the moment he saw me coming into the living room with the tray and got even more excited when he saw what was on top of it. It's all about presentation folks. ;)

The idea is for him to pour the gems from the tupperware onto the tray, which makes a great sound. Then, he'll need to sweep the gems into the dustpan. Finally, he'll transfer them from the dustpan back into the tupperware.

I think this was a nice little challenge for him. It was neat for me to watch him try out different ways to hold and angle the brush in order to get the gems into the dust pan. With Montessori, when needed, you can first demonstrate how to do the activity the right way and then step back to let the child do it themself. But, Chase is very much in a stage right now where he wants to figure out and do everything on his own so there was very little listening to/watching mommy demonstrate.

The little guy did pretty well for his first go at it, don't you think? There's quite a few gems in that dustpan - great job Chasee!!!

Dinosaur Book and Sensory Bin

I mentioned yesterday that Chase's current favorite bedtime story is How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night.  It was gifted to him by his Ninang Ruby, his Godmother. He looks forward to reading it every night and often wants to read it multiple times.  I discovered last week that he's actually memorized quite a few lines. It's so awesome to watch him 'read to himself.' He has a little twinkle in his eyes when he reads because he's well aware of me watching him in awe. I love this age. :) 

To extend his learning, I embarked on creating some dinosaur related activities, starting with this sensory bin. 

What it contains: 

• 3-4 (?) small bags of small rocks (Dollar Tree) and 1 small bag of medium sized river rocks (Michael's). 
• 3 mini plastic dinosaurs (Party City).
• 2 wind up dinosaurs (Dollar Tree) - I ended up taking these out because he can't wind these up on his own quite yet. 
• 2 rubber monster finger puppets (Target). I tried to get away with passing them off as dinosaurs, but I don't think he bought it. He's even smarter than I thought. ;)
• 2 trees, which I made out of popsicle sticks, felt and fabric glue.
• Leaves pulled from a fake plant (Dollar Tree). 

What he's done with it and what he's learning: 

• Stands/balances the trees in the rocks, then knocks them over so he can do it all over again
• Buries the leaves and dinosaurs with rocks using a scooper or his hands
• Scoops rocks into bowls and other containers, then transfers them back into the bin 
• Plays with the finger puppets and uses them to tickle me

We ended the night walking around on all fours roaring and pretending to be dinosaurs. He loved this! Stay tuned because I'll be sharing other dinosaur activities soon.