Monday, January 26, 2015

Chase had a major new adventure today: going to the "Movers and Shakers" program at the Columbia Library. The program turned out to be a version of Babygarten for older children. So Chase and Nanaw knew all the songs and stories and toys. Chase started off by running around the room, and Nanaw was concerned that he would continue to do that during the program. But amazingly enough, he came and sat on Nanaw’s lap and participated in all the songs and stories – it was wonderful. He seemed to have a great time. Riley, one of the little girls from Babygarten, was there. Chase seemed to especially enjoy the last activity, which he later called snow popcorn. The activity involved a sheet and a bunch of fuzzy snowballs. The boys and girls held on to the sheet and shook it up and down with the snowballs inside – they were making pretend popcorn and at the end, they bounced the snowballs all over the room. Nanaw thinks this is definitely going to be a good program for Chase. Unfortunately, Nanaw forgot to take pictures at "Movers and Shakers" but she’ll remember next week.

 

Sunday, January 25, 2015

Nanaw went to visit Chase around dinner time on Sunday, after her birthday shopping adventure with cousin Lindsey (grand fun buying her laptop with her birthday money from everyone). Chase was in his high chair eating blueberries and saying what Mama and Daddy called his mystery words – sounded like "tomatay tomatah" – Nanaw didn’t know what it was either. Mama said that Chase finally went number 2 on his Thomas potty chair – for the first time ever – and when he saw what he had done, he said, "I’m broken." What a hoot the little fellow is. Nanaw had some of the delicious beef fajitas that Mama made for dinner, and then Chase, Mama and Nanaw went to play in Chase’s room. He had lots of his cars, trucks and a fire engine in his bed – Mama says his "open bed" seems to be his new favorite place to play. Nanaw told Chase that their adventure for tomorrow is go to "Movers and Shakers" at the Columbia Library – and Chase said, "To run around," which is what Nanaw told him on Friday. He certainly has a good memory.

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Nanaw went to visit Chase on Saturday morning after Mama got home from the grocery store. Before Nanaw went into the house to see Chase, Mama had Nanaw take her to the Columbia Market to buy a cake mix. Mama was going to make a carrot cake for Aunt Becca’s family Christmas celebration in the afternoon. Chase seemed very excited to help Mama bake the cake. He got his step stool so he could stand next to Mama at the counter and help her – he helped put the cake mix in the bowl, helped Mama break the eggs and helped her mix the batter – it was very cute. Chase and Daddy licked the batter bowl, and Chase said yummy. He and Daddy also played kick in the kitchen – it’s a madhouse for Mama trying to work in the kitchen with 15 balls rolling around everywhere – very funny.

Friday, January 23, 2015

Chase’s first adventure on Friday was a trip to Walmart to buy things for Lindsey’s birthday celebration Friday evening. Nanaw bought Chase a new Thomas the train-related toy – Sir Topham Hat’s car Winston with Sir Topham Hat at the steering wheel. When they got home from Walmart, Chase and Nanaw baked Lindsey’s cherry chip birthday cake. Chase seemed to have a good time standing on the step stool and playing with his toy mixer on the counter. He also got to hold onto the Nanaw’s mixer – she got the Kitchen Aid out so Chase could see that it looks like his toy mixer. Chase spent a long time licking the batter bowl and said yummy. After his nap, Nanaw frosted the cake and Chase seemed to have a great time licking absolutely every bit of icing out of the icing can. The family came over to Nanaw’s for Lindsey’s birthday. First, they went to Cici’s for pizza, and then they came back to Nanaw’s for cake and ice cream. Chase was happy to see his Uncle Mike and all the cousins.

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Chase did a really cute thing this morning: He brought six of his big trucks and Mama’s hippy van out of his room and lined them up against the wall. Then he pretended like they were racing. He put Tee Tee inside the van so that Tee Tee could drive. Tot Time was today, and Chase seemed to have a really good time there. He played with the little boys and girls before the program began. During story time, he was about 50% well-behaved. He seemed to have fun doing the craft, which was making a snowman. He used the glue stick and with Nanaw’s help put the pieces of the snowman together. After Tot Time, Chase and Nanaw went to the reading room so Chase could play with the toys and boys and girls. Then they went to the playground next to the library. Chase didn’t want to leave so he said he was going to hide from Nanaw and he did – he went into the tunnel and told Nanaw he was hiding from her. Nanaw signed Chase up for another library program. This one is at 11 a.m. on Monday mornings and is called ‘Movers and Shakers.’ The brochure says it’s ‘A fun and interactive story time where we share stories, songs and movement.’ Nanaw also started working on the informational spreadsheet about pre-schools in Columbia.

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Chase and Nanaw played for a long while with the kitchen at Nanaw’s house. He also played with the box the kitchen came in and had breakfast sitting inside the box. Their adventure for the day was going to visit Union Station. First, they walked around the trains outside on the track. Then they went upstairs to the train museum. The workers are still working on the museum room but there are all kinds of trains and artifacts in the area outside the museum room. Next, Chase went and sat on the riding things – the police car, the police helicopter, the boat and the tow truck. Unfortunately, Nanaw didn’t have any quarters so he couldn’t ride on the things. Next time, Nanaw will bring lots of quarters. The man at the Union Station information desk Chase a coloring book and a little box of crayons – very cute.