Tent and Tunnel

The first present Ryan opened was from Uncle Andy and Aunt Kim. He had a great time tearing off all the paper, but he thought sitting on the box would give him the best leverage to remove all that pesky paper and tape.

After all the presents were opened, we set up the tent and tunnels and let Ryan have at it! He loved them! At first, he insisted on going in through the window, Dukes of Hazzard style, but eventually he found the door and the tunnel entrances. He loved looking out the window and waving to everyone and giving Grandma kisses through the other mesh window.  This tent was very easy to set up and take down and comes in a handy carrying case. He's already played with it several times and giggles the whole time!

Sorry for the sideways view, but here's a super-short clip of Ryan's giggly crawl through the tunnel.



I like the style of this Playhut lil Explorers Crawl 'N Play because the tent is tall enough for kids to stand up completely and Ryan loves the windows! The tunnels can also either go on the two sides or be connected to make one long tunnel. It's available on Amazon and at Toys 'R Us.

Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk

Since Ryan is getting pretty good at using sippy cups, I stopped by Walmart to pick up a few more styles to try so we'd have some backups for when his go-to cup was in the dishwasher or left at daycare. He definitely could not figure out the Nuby Flip N Sip since he insisted on tipping it up to drink and wouldn't suck through the straw with it right-side-up. We'll save that one for later.

My frugal voice told me to just try the $0.97 Parent's Choice plain blue sippy cup. And my frugal voice talks louder than my "Oh look, cute turtles and molded hand grips" voice, so we took that one home as well. I optimistically filled it with milk, figured out the "rabbit=it leaks when you tip it over/ turtle=you have to suck it to get the milk out" hyroglyphics on the insert, and presented it to Ryan. He dabbled with it for a while on the floor but was more interested in whacking Nika with it than drinking, so I decided to dump it out and wait for later. The "snap on" lid pretty much flew off in my face when I finally pried it off and soaked my shirt, pants, and kitchen curtains with the remainder of the moo-juice. But, silly $0.97 voice told me to give it another shot at supper.

Things seemed to go fine at first and Ryan took a few drinks.  Towards the end of the meal he started the "I throw/you pick up" game and one particularly enthusiast throw resulted in the lid of the cup flying off (ref said the ground caused the fumble, so no turnover) and the virtually full cup of milk flew EVERYWHERE.  See below.

Wait, it's kind of hard to see the milk puddles/splatters/drips in this picture, so I'll go ahead and label them for you.

Much better. 

Also notice the detachable top to his tray (the one serving as his plate and holding all his beef/vegetable roll-up) has indeed become detached and ended up on the floor shortly after the Great White Spill. At the time of the picture, Nika had done her best to destroy the evidence, but my bucket of Lysol has a good memory. I did not cry or even get angry, which is surprising because spilling milk on the floor was a cardinal sin in my house growing up. I think it was because it makes the just-cleaned floor really sticky. I avoid that problem by not having a just-cleaned floor. Some people call it poor housekeeping, but I call it planning ahead.

So, $0.97 cup may never see the light of day again and I readily ripped open the cute turtle Playtex cups the next day.

Moral of the story: Always bet on the turtle.

Book Review: Trout, Trout, Trout

One of my consignment pickups was a book called Trout, Trout, Trout (A Fish Chant) by April Pulley Sayre, illustrated by Trip Park. Trout, Trout, Trout is a fun book filled with different names of fish found in North America, forming a rhyming chant. I love the illustrations because they have all sorts of interesting things going on, like a paddlefish playing ping-pong and a sunfish applying suntan lotion. The kid in the book is what I imagine my son will look like in about 4 years, feet dangling in the water saying "Fish, Fish, Fish! That's what I like."

The back has information about each fish: how they are named, where they live, what they eat, and how to identify them. I'm proud to say I could have probably picked out the sockeye salmon, walleye, trout, and northern pike! This is a great book for all ages because the rhyming chant is great at Ryan's age (6 months) but as he grows older he'll appreciate the funny fish illustrations and then become interested in the "facts" about each fish.

I'd like to check out Sayre's other books, Ant, Ant, Ant! An Insect Chant, and Bird, Bird, Bird!: A Chirping Chant.