New obsession

http://www.treehousetv.com/kids/index.asp

We have spent hours on this site today.  Anonymous Husband is painting Eirinn’s new big girl room, so I had the sole responsibility of entertaining a finicky toddler with suspected ADHD.  We have watched Happy Feet, played AH’s drums, made Rice Krispie squares, eaten two square meals, snacked on Goldfish crackers and bananas, cruised the basement on various ride-on vehicles, had a (brief) nap, and played every single game on the Treehouse website.  All of them.  A couple of them we have played so many times I found myself begging her to pick another game.  But she loved them and they are good, clean, educational fun so we played until she ran upstairs to bother Anonymous Husband while he’s knee deep in ceiling, trim, door and wall paint. 

I should probably stop typing and go and rescue her him.

Easter for a Toddler

What are you doing for Easter with your toddlers?  Or, what did you do for Easter when you had toddlers?  Or, what would you suggest someone with a toddler do?  And of course I’m referring the whole Easter Bunny gift giving aspect, not the religious/non-religious part.  I don’t get into that kind of talk over here in Tornado Alley. 

I think Eirinn would really enjoy an Easter egg hunt.  She lawbs playing hide and seek, which is like an Easter egg hunt only hunting for humans.  That sounded more Wes Craven than I wanted it to, but you know what I meant.  And, if she ran things around here (which she almost does), she would be allowed to consume mass quantities of chocolate bunnies, run laps around the house while screaming like a lunatic (preferably clothes-free), slam head first into a sugar low, morphing her into a crazed, tantrum-throwing Mega Beast. 

Buuuuut…that does NOT sound like how I would like our Easter Sunday to go.  I’m picturing her dressed in her finest Sunday dress (note to self: buy Eirinn a Sunday dress), delicately tiptoeing around the garden (note to self: melt snow and plant a garden), finding sweet little decorated Easter Eggs that lead her to a chocolate covered salad (note to self: wake up and meet your daughter for the very first time).  Apparently my minds eye is in desperate need of a reality check.

What I think will happen, and what I’ve purchased thus far, is I will fill those little plastic eggs from the Dollarama with M&M’s, Skittles, and Gummy Bears, in reasonable toddler-sized portions (about 10 candies in each).  This way she can get what she wants (chocolate, preservatives, chemicals…sugar high!) and I can portion control her by telling her she can eat One Whole Egg at a time!!!  And promptly hide the rest.

I don’t think I would be neglecting her or depriving her of her Earthly Toddler Rights if I don’t buy her anything else (stuffed animals that would be ignored, giant chocolate bunnies that would transform her into a sweet [tasting] monster, clothes that she would unabashedly tell me she “no yikes”), especially since her birthday will have only been two weeks earlier and lasted a whole three (3!) weekends long.  Because that’s a lot of presents.

So, tell me.  What do your Easter festivities consist of?

Birthday Party #1

Eirinn and Lucy had their joint birthday party yesterday.  This was Day 1 of Eirinn Is Two celebrations.  I think it was Day Seventy Hundred for Lucy.  She’s an old veteran at the “this party is all about me (me, me, me) so just get your grubby hands off that cupcake already because I’m the birthday week month girl and I GO FIRST” deal.  Eirinn was the rookie, but she soon caught on.  Anything that involves a) cupcakes, and b) being selfish, sounds like an ok gig to her.

They went to a local indoor baby playground (totally awesome, by the way, and I would totally recommend moving near one as your sole reason to relocate) and invited a handful of their mommies’ own closest friends.  Pay no attention to Eirinn in the corner eyeballing me because, besides Lucy, she had never met any of these kids.  They were her closest friends, I swear.

The first half was spent with Eirinn being, by far, the craziest ADHD lunatic in the joint – running at full-tilt, yelling, jumping on anything that would allow her to bounce and anything that didn’t because JUMPING IS AWESOME, stealing Pooh Bear balls from unsuspecting younger boys, yelling, hanging with the older crowd, making a pact with one new friend to break at least one limb each, JUMPING, yelling, and making friends with everyone because she didn’t know the kids invited to the party anyway.  Needless to say, she had fun. 

The second half was in the separate room where Lucy’s mom Carly and I brought lunch and cupcakes to rudely interrupt the crazy feed the party-goers.  We stuffed their faces with sandwiches and fruit and veggies and sugar, spanked them all soundly and sent them to bed.  But not until the three two-year old girls engaged in a 1-2-3-GO! race to burn off the calories.  This ended in a massive head wound bumped head and one upset little Lucy.

Eirinn was a perfectly charming little angel, laughing and talking up a storm and being her usual social butterfly.  She only threw one teensy minor tantrum when it was time to go home.  In her defense, throwing tantrums when it’s time to leave is totally the cool thing to do.  Everyone was doing it. 

Now, enjoy the slideshow:

 

Yes, this blur of a flying little person is Eirinn.  This is what she looked like most of the morning.  And this was before the sugar.

This velcro wall was fun.  It was almost like a puzzle, only not so bossy.

There was a whole collection of vehicles the tots could cruise the room in.

More craziness.  Trust me, this is just about as good as the camera could get.  You should have seen Anonymous Husband and I frantically trying to figure out how the camera could capture even faster motion.  She was certainly testing the limits of technology.

Synchronized candle-extinguishing.

“What just one cotton-picking minute.  Hers has way more icing than mine.”

And the day ended as it began.  With running and crazy and yelling.  So.  Much.  Fun.