Lego Creations

Remember those Duplo legos that Owen found stashed in the garage? For several weeks, Owen has been building stack after stack after stack. And getting more and more frustrated that the towers seem to topple for no apparent reason. At 20 months, he hasn't quite mastered basic engineering principles like the need for a solid base or the proper use of support beams. The construction methods also leave something to be desired as one hand usually pushes the tower over while the other hand is reaching to put ONE MORE block on the tipply top of the tower. It's great fun, but the towers are getting old. Two engineers just can't leave those legos alone and more advanced objects - cars, airplanes, boats, etc - are emerging on a regular basis. The other day, I created a pretty sweet helicopter (no photo, sorry) - good enough that Scott asked me if I had looked up a pattern. Ha! Scott's creation below has been Owen's favorite by far.

Recent Adventures

We're still here. It seems like things are pretty low key around here lately, which is nice. I said that I am ready for spring, but still want the chance to play in the snow. I guess I'm getting tired of the constant "hat-gloves-jacket" routine for every trip in the car. It's just not worth the effort for the 5 minute drive to daycare... On the other hand, it is sooooo worth the effort when you actually get to keep those warm, snuggly clothes on and spend time playing in the snow.

Two weekends ago, we had a family sledding adventure. Last year, the forest service opened up this new sledding hill about 20 minutes outside of town. It's awesome. The hill is huge, so you're not running into anyone and there's a large enclosed shelter complete with wood stove and four picnic benches, so you can warm up and have a snack when the cold cranky whining starts. We were shocked at how quite it was...on a beautiful, sunny Saturday. We only really shared the hill with some families doing a photoshoot for playoutdoors.com. How cool.

Owen really did love sledding. I think he was sizing up some nearby kids in this photo and squinting in the sun, but we got lots of "more, more" replies each time we hit the bottom of the hill.

I'm not sure how we got nearly into March before going sledding this year, but we're making up for it. Last Friday, our Mom's group field trip was a snow day back at the same park. There was a TON of new snow - Owen couldn't even walk because he was sinking up to his thighs, but we had fun sledding with Michelle and Piper while a couple other moms hit the XC trail with kids in tow. Fun, fun, fun.


THEN, last Sunday, we all went sledding with two families from our playgroup. The three moms and kids spent the morning in the lodge while the dads went snowboarding. We did a quick kiddo hand-off at noon and sent the guys home with kids in tow in time for lunch and naps. That left the three of us moms to spend the afternoon on the slopes. 12 inches of powder overnight and surprisingly good visibility made for fantastic conditions, and Shannon and Julie wiped me out skiing some tough terrain (including trees!) when my feet haven't been in ski boots for 2 months. Scott and I were both sore, exhausted, and thrilled to have had such a great day with friends who aren't afraid to tackle the logistics and potential chaos of snow adventures with toddlers.

One of the silly little things that make me happy about snow play is that Owen gets to wear his snow bibs, and I think they are so darn cute. We got a size that should fit him through next winter and he was pretty unhappy about wearing them at first, but now he LOVES getting on his pants and boots, so he can get out in the snow. Imagine the fun next year when he'll get to try out the skis!

Winners!

Scott's company won their job yesterday! Hooray! Like Scott said, one job isn't going to keep them alive forever, but after all the bids they've put in over the last couple weeks, it's really nice to finally win one. And, of all the projects they've been going after, this was the one that Scott was most excited about from the beginning - a new technology center for the high school. Sounds pretty interesting. The amazing part: They were the low bidder by only $3K on a $4M+ project - that's less than 0.1%. It doesn't get any closer than that. Hopefully this project goes well and it will lead to more work for the school district in the future. For now, it gives everybody a little bit of breathing room and a reason to celebrate.

Independent Play

Owen had a good evening tonight. Not earth shattering news, but important because Scott's been working late it was a much needed relief on my end. Last night I made the mistake of trying to make a quick grocery store stop on the way home from daycare and that pretty much trashed our evening. Owen threw a total fit because I wouldn't let him unwrap and smash his fingers into the sticks of butter. At least the guy checking out next to me said, "rough night for mom" in a sympathetic tone instead of giving me the "can't you control your kid" evil eye.

Tonight was a different story. It probably helped that I didn't hit try to run errands during the witching hour (see, I'm learning) and we took a field trip to the mailbox instead - that kid loves the mail! Owen even played independently for 15 minutes(!) after his dinner without needing any prompting or focus from me. I made my dinner and got a little work-work started in the time before Owen went to bed. Normally, he needs one of us to be sitting within arm distance for him to stay focused on a given task. (And sitting on the couch doesn't cut it - you have to be paying attention.) I suppose I should cherish the fact that he wants us to be close all the time, but I keep hoping for the day when he can play downstairs while I'm working upstairs. I fear that day is A... LONG... WAY... OFF.

On a separate note, I would like to publicly say how much I love the DVR that I resisted getting for so long. Scott finally got home, and we are now sitting on the couch watching last night's Heros episode while recording Biggest Loser. We'll watch the interesting parts of that 2 hour show in just 30 minutes before we go to bed. Beautiful. =)

Okay, I take that back, Owen does have times when he can play independently without one of us in the room, but usually this is what happens:
Think good thoughts for Scott. He's been working late on a bids for new projects and they really need to win this one tomorrow...