Five on Friday

I'm glad to say that Lucas is finally over his nasty cold from last week.  He's back to his usual exuberant self, and his appetite is back ten fold!  We have had a pretty quiet week around here since mother nature decided to rain on us all week keeping us indoors for the most part, but it helped me get some things around the house done that got neglected while we were sick, and rainy weather is seriously the best kind of weather for naps :)

ONE

Monday was the only sunny day we had all week, and after hibernating with sickness last week, both Lucas and I were raring to get out and play.  We hit the park pretty early in the morning and just ran around for hours.  Lucas is all boy when he's at the park, letting out his fearless little nature and always making the most of his time there.  On this particular day he was feeling more adventurous than usual and started climbing the ladder on the playground set.  He was so focused and I held him the entire time, and he was so happy when he got to the top; however I didn't let him attempt it again, there is only so much anxiety I can take while being pregnant!

TWO  

I try everyday to incorporate a learning activity with Lucas, usually they may be letter work sheets, or shape sorting, or colour recognition.  Although there are certain things we do all the time, namely reading (we do a lot of reading in this house, I recently read a study that says only 20 minutes a day with your toddler is enough to make a difference in a child's language and cognitive development, well we easily spend double if not sometimes triple that time reading a day, spread out at different intervals), we also do puzzles, and play with animals (their names and sounds), every day.  These are usually "games" that I will include in Lucas' playtime, and I find that doing them more often, and for less time during the day is easier on his attention span than doing it for a larger block of time.  This week I added a colour matching activity to his usual playtime since he got this puzzle for Easter and is obsessed with it.  He first seemed more interested in just getting the pieces in the slot, but is slowly understanding that they need to be matched in colour, and I usually get a good 15 minutes of learning time with him on this, and even when he gets it wrong I take the time to repeat often the name of the two colours.  So happy Nonna put this is his basket!

THREE

I have a whole post planned for my nursery plan for baby #2, but we decided that we are going with dinosaurs this time around.  We did a pretty traditional sports theme for Lucas, although we will be switching it up with some Star Wars when we move him to a big boy bed this winter.  I'm keeping the wall colour and furniture neutral and plan to add pops of colour starting with these prints from Etsy as the inspiration.  I really want to have a feature on the walls, but still debating how crazy I want to go.

FOUR

Mother's Day is just around the corner, and this year I told the hubby I don't want anything but a morning to myself.  I don't take time for myself that often.  Ok, let's me honest I don't take time for myself pretty much ever.  Its not that I don't have willing babysitters, or that my husband doesn't encourage me to go out and enjoy myself; I just have a hard time doing it.  I like to be there for my son, and letting go of the responsibility and carving me time is something I struggle with.  Being pregnant has made me evaluate the need to have me time every once in a while so this year I just want to go get a pedicure, have a coffee all on my lonesome, browse Chapters in the non kid section and feel free to sit and peruse a book I may want to purchase, maybe even go watch a matinee.  This will probably happen on the weekend after Mother's Day, cause on that day I want nothing else but to be with my little man, the person who gave me my most favourite job yet!

FIVE

I leave you with this too cute for words picture of my little man, who I realized after this picture squints his eyes in photos EXACTLY like his father!  As if they weren't already more alike!

Have a great weekend everyone.