Category: Gage

Pinteresting with Gage

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I finally got on the Pinterest bandwagon, at least I jump on every few days when I have minutes to spare, and my favorite discoveries are the ones I’ve found to share with Gage.  As he gets older I am sometimes at a loss as to help him develop and grow and I have found some great fun ideas. 

Here’s the first one I decided to try (the pin here and the orginal post here), the alphabet box.  I did a few things differently, but the idea is the same.

I started by finding the perfect box (this part was easy since I’m a box hoarder. seriously, stop by if you need some and I’ll hook you up).  I put the letters on the top using stickers.  This week we have just started the alphabet over so I’m showing you my A and B box.  Every night I put the letter of the day, 3 or 4 items that begin with that letter and a notecard with each of these items spelled out.  I then place the box the designated corner between the kitchen and family room. 

Since this is our second time through I will be trying to add at least one new thing for each letter.

After breakfast we go to the letter box and I sing the alphabet song.  After I’m done I ask him to point out or say letters.  After just 24 days he can tell you about half of the letters.

Then we open the box and see what surprises are in store.  He loves the excitement of discovering new things in the box.

I can tell you that this letter box generates happiness all day long.  He will take stuff out and when I find it I just put in back in the box for him to find later.  Before his bedtime story each night we do the same thing with singing the alphabet and going through the box.

When I first tried this I couldn’t believe how much he got into it.  Now he is OBSESSED with letters.  Frankly I am so over Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, but I am amazed at the learning that has taken place in a short amount of time.  Gage is 21 months old but I think this would work with any toddler around his age. 

Because of my success with this pin I’ve decided to join in Trish’s Pin It and Do It Challenge, Round 2.  I’m signing up as a Timid Pinner committing to 1-3 pins.  I look forward to seeing what other fun ways I can help Gage learn.+

Sorry for the funky formatting of the photos.  WordPress does weird things with pics and copy, no matter how many times I try to fix it!

Sundays with Gage- Preston’s Hope

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When you have a toddler in the house it is sometimes difficult to find enough to entertain the ball of energy and a few weeks ago we discovered the coolest park for Gage.  Preston’s Hope is a $3 million dollar park made for ALL kids, including those with disabilities.  And it’s free.  Click here and you can see the overview of the park and how massive it is.  Then let Gage take you through the place 🙂  If you have small kids in Northeast Ohio this is a must see.  It’s easy to spend a lot of time there and I just love what the park represents – ALL kids playing together.  Seriously, click here to see how big it is.  We are very lucky to only be 10 minutes away.  A perfect place for a bored child.

Sundays with Gage – A Quest for Good Manners

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Gage will be 21 months old this week, can you believe it?!  Every day I see his mind working in new ways and it is exciting and fun to watch and encourage.  (The encouraging part is also exhausting, but that’s another post)  I see some toddlers his age doing the most amazing things, like listening to their mamas, drinking from a big boy cup, NOT throwing their sippy cups to the floor, not throwing most things on the floor from their lofty perch in the high chair…Anyway, Gage has a lot to learn about manners.  In the past week or so he’s started saying please (or peas in Gage-speak) with some encouragement and I’m very excited about that!  So, it was a no brainer when I was offered to review the book The Quest for Good Manners by Karin Lefranc and illustrated by Hannah Neale.  I read it to Gage while he was eating breakfast this morning and he was surprising engaged.  I thought there might be too many words, but he was captivated by the illustrations and listened to the whole book.  We took it on our morning walk and I took some pictures of his reactions to the story and pictures…

A Quest for Good Manners follows Princess Rosalind and her pet dragon, Sparkler, on their journey to find good manners.  From the wizard Percival she learns how to handle a fork, from the fairy with purple wings how to say please, thank you, you’re welcome and I’m sorry,  and from Lady Grace how to behave at the dinner able and showing kindness and consideration.

It was the perfect amount of teaching with the perfect amount of story and with a beautiful full-page illustration on every page, this is an easy one to recommend.  Gage and I both loved it. I liked the lesson and I think Gage really liked the pictures.  A fire breathing dragon that burps is going to be a hit with any little boy I think.

I suggest going to the website where you’ll find fun, printable activities for the kids that follow the story.  Placements, coloring pages, connect the dots, and a quiz (you all know how much I love quizzes.  Poor Gage).

A Quest for Good MannersA Quest for Good Manners by Karin Lefranc and illustrated by Hannah Neale.  Facebook page.  Website.

I’m giving this 5 stars!!!  Thanks so much to Karin for sending me a copy of her book.  It’s a hit in our house.

Sundays with Gage – Beating the heat

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It’s been sweltering here, like most of the US, and there are only so many ways to keep your toddler entertained in air conditioning.  Last Sunday we headed to the JCC (Jewish Community Center) and took advantage of a free week at the facilities.  Lucky for us being Jewish is not a requirement and they finished an $18m renovation two years ago so the place is very nice.  Gage got to go to the pool four times and loved this fountain pool best.  We’re considering joining for the summer just so he have this much fun every weekend.

 You can’t even see half of the fountains in this photo.  A total homerun for little kids. And all free!

We also had the grandparents here this week.  A storm took out their electricity last Friday and it didn’t come on til late Wednesday, so they packed up and spent some time enjoying their grandson, air conditioning, and TV.

Hope you are all finding ways to stay cool.

Sundays with Gage – Parties and Allergies

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This is Maddie, Gage’s first non-family babysitter and her graduation party was yesterday.  She heads to the University of Dayton in August.

I love parties.  I love to mingle.  I like to talk to everyone there.  Imagine trying to do this with a squirmy kid in tow who only wants to run wild.  And this kid cannot eat anything with dairy or peanuts.  Being only 20 months old he is likely to put anything interesting he finds on a chair, table or floor in to his mouth.  At our last graduation party I barely grabbed a m&m off the floor before he saw it.  Hard to be social when you are trying to be vigilant.

We stopped taking him to church in January because he had graduated to the next nursery (walkers) and when I dropped him off the first time there were kids walking around with their bottles of milk.  I scared the woman who signed him in by telling her that one sip of milk would mean a trip to the hospital for us and after a tense 45 minutes of a sermon I don’t remember we picked him up.  She was holding onto him, reading a book.  It really wasn’t fair to her or the other kids so we’re going to wait.  Wait for the allergy to go away.

Gage’s allergist and tummy doctor disagree on his diagnosis but both think that we should try milk again when he is two (October).  And both of them want him in the ICU hooked up to an IV overnight.  This is not something we want to do but it would be a relief to know if the allergy has gone away.  Maybe then a party would be fun again.  Someday 🙂

Sundays with Gage – All Boy

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Gage likes trucks, cars, planes, trains, picking up things that are too big for him and running with them as fast as possible around the house, hitting his head on the floor…basically only sitting still for more than a few minutes to watch Elmo.  So you can imagine how cool it was when we had some guys come this week to work under the deck.

We’d turn on Elmo on in the family room and he’d take breaks to come to the kitchen when the pounding or power tools got to be too much temptation.

 I know that some people think that boys learn to be boys and girls learn to be girls by the toys they are given and the way they are treated as babes and there is something to that I’m sure.  But I’m just as sure that when it comes to the love of power tools some things are just inherent.

Gage says Happy Father’s Day!

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Gage is blessed to have the best father and papaw and it’s because of them he will grow up to be the best of men.

The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.
~ Henry Ward Beecher

Showing love and respect (even if the couple is no longer together) is one of life’s early lessons.

Hope the day was full of love and fond memories for all.

Sundays with Gage – The difference a year makes

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Last May I wrote a post on my munchkin being so short.  At the time he was in the 7th percentile.  Jason’s dad isn’t here but I thought we’d see the difference as year can make…

He had a growth spurt this week and is now just over 32 inches (that’s over half of my 62 inches).  He’s somewhere in the 20-somethings for percentile, but more importantly, I think he’s starting to look more like daddy, don’t cha think?

Can you believe how big he’s getting?!

 

 

 

 

 

 

And I’m adding this one just because I think it’s cute…

Stay cool!

Sundays with Gage – Good babysitters are hard to find

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Good babysitters are hard to find and when you do find them, they are tough to keep!  When you live away from family babysitters become necessary.  Necessary if you want to keep your sanity and maintain a healthy marriage.  For the first year we mainly went out when my parents came to visit or we went home.  Then I found two neighbor girls to come once or twice a week for a few hours and in February I found a great babysitter who I trusted completely, but she stopped showing up last month.  And the neighbor girls couldn’t help out any more because they were both working full-time at Dairy Queen.

I was sad and back to feeling the overwhelming need for a break.  Fortunately, my prayers were answered by not one, but two new babysitters this week 🙂

When My Gym closed the manager needed to make some money before she moves back to Pennsylvania in  October.  Sign me up!  And then the daughter of a friend quit her job at Panera  and needed to make some money before she moves to Utah at the end of August.  I’ll take two, thanks!

Both of these are short termers, but I’ve come the realization that babysitters are a fairly nomadic lot, moving in and out of your life whether you want them to or not!

If you have family close that wants to spend time with your kid and give you a much needed break, thank your lucky stars.  You are blessed!

Lake View Cemetery with Gage

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Lake View Cemetery is a destination location for anyone visiting the Cleveland area.  Its 105,000+ graves sit on 285 acres, with over 700 burials still taking place each year.  Founded in  1869 when Cleveland was still one of biggest cities in the country, it is home to many recognizable people.

President James Garfield has his own monument.  He and his wife are entombed in the basement and the second story deck offers a geat view of the city.  You can see downtown in the middle and Lake Erie on the right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another notable is John D Rockefeller.   His monument is made of one piece of granite, the largest piece ever quarried for memorialization purposes.  His grave is directly in front of the memorial and his family is buried in a circle around the monument.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are many other notables buried here, Eliot Ness, Harvey Pekar, Charles Chesnutt to name a few.  I consider this a must see for anyone in the northeast Ohio area.  If  you are a history buff or a cemetery enthusiast you could spend days walking around this beautiful, park-like cemetery.

Lake View Cemetery website here.