Sunburst Pageant

Sunburst was holding a local pageant at the mall near my daughters house. I've put my daughter and sons in pageants when they were little. Of course it was more for me, but they really enjoyed it. By the time they turned 2ish I stopped.

My daughter and her husband decided that it might be fun for their son to be in it. He LOVES other children and  has the most outgoing personality that I have ever seen in a child. They decided that we would see how he felt the day of the pageant and if he wasn't sick or tired from having a bad night then we would go. Also, when we would get to the mall, if it seemed to be too much for him then we would leave. 

The day came and he was as happy as ever. They put him in his outfit from Christmas and off we went. When we got to the mall we walked around for a bit and he loved watching all the kids that had entered in it. He was just having a blast. He was in the 4th group to come up to the stage. When it was his turn to go on the stage he was a little shy at first but after about 10 seconds his personality really showed. He waved at each judge and starting waving to the whole crowd. Then he started blowing kisses while twirling around. He was just having so much fun being the center of attention. His father and I were standing behind the judges because we thought maybe it would help him see us and wave at us, but he didn't even notice we were there!! 

Toddler Dreams

How do you explain to a toddler their dream is not real? The first time my granddaughter actually remembered enough of a dream upon waking up, her parents had a hard time explaining in a way she would understand that it was just a dream and not real. When she woke up she was so excited she exclaimed that the fairy Tinker Bell was visiting at grandma's house. She insisted she wanted to visit grandma right away. This would have been simple if they didn't live 7 1/2 hours away.

My son, his wife and I finally were able to explain to her that dreams were like a story or cartoon in our minds when we are sleeping. This explanation seemed to work at the time.

Last week my husband received a call from our granddaughter. "Grandpa, thank you for mailing me a sandbox!" Not sure what she was chattering on about, grandpa just responded, "yes, thats great! Your grandma wants to talk to you." He then hands the phone to me while mouthing the words I don't understand what she said but, I just agreed with her.

My granddaughter was so excited I could barely understand what she was telling me. I heard the words: grandpa, sand and mail. My mind was trying to grasp what was it grandpa had agreed to. Finally I asked her if I could talk to her mom.

Her mom and I pieced together this scenario.
Granddaughter had a dream that her grandpa had sent her a sandbox in the mail. When she woke up she immediately called her grandfather with her moms phone. Her grandfather not knowing what she was talking about just agreed with her and handed the phone to me.

By the time we figured out what was going on, it was too late to really explain to her that it was just a dream. Especially since grandpa actually agreed that he had sent the sandbox. Her parents did try to explain that it was a dream, but because she had dreamed about her grandfather, and he was real the previous explanation that dreams were like stories or cartoons just didn't cut it with her.

Grandpa and I went ahead and bought a sandbox for her, and a gift for each of our grandkids and shipped them out. I never encountered things like this with my kids because technology wasn't what it is today.

Any tips you have would be greatly appreciated since I know we will be encountering this again.

Toddler Entertainment During A Blizzard

Keeping a toddler busy when we can't get outside is not a simple task. After being snowed in for a few days we get tired of the same old things. Young children get bored even quicker than we do. So during this last blizzard we had to come up with a few ideas for a bored toddler. 

First, we started with a messy idea. Put a kettle of warm water on the kitchen floor (on a towel). Add a slotted spoon and some floating toys. You can also use a soup ladle and another pot or bowl to allow transferring water. We stayed with the slotted spoon and toys because it seemed to be less messy. This activity kept my grandson busy for nearly an hour. The only disadvantage to this activity was the water got cold. We changed the water when needed to prevent him getting a chill. 

Coloring was next. A toddler and crayons is not always a great idea. The obvious drawback is your walls make a great drawing surface. One minute with a crayon and his paper was abandon with glee. His little toddler feet ran lickety split to the nearest wall. We quickly put him in the highchair and let him enjoy marking each page in his first coloring book. The not so obvious problem might be a toddler wanting to eat the crayon.

My grandson does not normally put non food objects in his mouth. But, the crayons must have looked yummy. He tried to taste them which we of course interrupted.  It may have been the fact that he was in the highchair where he is used to eating.     

Then we tried puzzles and books. This was not very entertaining. 

When all else fails make cookies. We had a blast. I mixed a batch of sugar cookies while mommy and son played mixing flour, water, and salt (play dough). Armed with a rolling pin and plastic cookie cutters made this a great hour of fun.

Hope you had fun and kept warm during the blizzard.