Great New Alphabet Book

Calvin enjoys letters quite a bit. He's always asking us to "make a W" with our hands, or "make a U" with the noodles at the swimming pool. A corner of his room is decorated with big purple V's and F's. So when I saw the book Alphabeasties and Other Amazing Types, by Sharon Werner, I had to get it for him. Each page has animals made up of hundreds of letters (like a huge giraffe that folds out and is made of little G's), letters in the shape of different things. There are letters in many different fonts, so kids can start to recognize different fonts.

It's a fun book that will give us plenty of ways to talk about the different letters.

Wanna dance?

We got an American Idol Dance Mat for a Christmas host gift, and everyone took turns trying to become an idol. But every time anyone got on it, Calvin would run up and start dancing like a nut. It was hilarious. We still have it out in the living room.

Tell me how you unwind and win a Baby Dino!

Hey guys! I haven't written in this blog in awhile. The holidays are coming up and I've been getting my house ready for out of town guests guests and trying to plan out fun activities that everyone will enjoy. But I think it's important, during this time when Im otherwise whipping myself up into a Christmas frenzy, to relax as much as possible.

And so I'm wondering how you guys are taking time out to unwind as the year comes to an end. Leave a comment (or an email at email@mandymarksteiner.com if the comment feature isn't working for you) telling me how you're taking time for yourself and I will pick out a winner, who will get this free Baby Dino! (I'll mail it to you!)

The prize is sponsored by CSN Stores, a website that sells nursery furniture.

San Antonio Children's Museum

If it seems like I'm just going from one children's museum to the next...Well...I guess I am. Visiting the children's museum in every town you visit seems like a wonderful way to travel. In San Antonio they had a program for toddlers (that started just when we arrived) where we played musical instruments, then played with play dough, then painted.

They had a little grocery store right outside the room where the program was and when we left all the toddlers grabbed a cart and started running around the room with them at once. Mayhem!

They have a front loader that kids can "drive" and an airplane and a huge tree. The biggest hit was the ball factory. It was a huge contraption with colorful gears and cranks and tubes. The kids feed balls into the machine and they get sucked into a ducts system that collects the balls and then drops them all on everyone's head. Good times.

Houston Children's Museum

Margaret and I took Calvin to the Houston Children's Museum. She hasn't been there since Ryne was a little baby. We spent most of our time up in the tot lot, where they had a lot of ramps and toys and little ball pits, and after playing for a couple of hours Calvin fell asleep, os we went home.

But downstairs there were a lot of things that looked like fun. There was an art studio with easels and paints set up, and a street that was like a miniature town with a police station, an ambulance where they could use all the stuff, a grocery store and a news station. We'll be going back soon.

Calvin and the Snowy J

Waking up from my musical hibernation

I don't know what's wrong with me (OK, I admit it, I can think of at least five things that are Wrong With Me) but it's been a very long time since I've played trumpet.

But I talked to some trumpet players in town and they said that nearly everyone in the Community Winds have had a time (5-20 years) where they put the horn down and came back to it. So they won't make fun of me.

And for a long time I thought it would be too hard to play with Calvin around. Because I'll wake him up if I play when he sleeps, and when he's awake he's always trying to get my attention. When I have a babysitter I usually want to make the most of it by writing, particularly if I might get paid for what I'm writing (because it's refreshing to know that I'm making more than the babysitter every now and again).

Anyway, I started practicing the other day and Calvin loved it. He was entertained. I played a song he likes from Fraggle Rock. Then he wanted to play. I think if I start to play my biggest challenge will be that I'll have to fight over the trumpet with Calvin.

But either way, the Community Winds is rehearsing tonight and I'm going.