August Misc.

Here are some random playtime pics from the month of August...

Nearly every day after naptime, Cody asks for "books in my crib" (even though, yes, he is obviously not in a crib anymore). His routine of flipping through a stack of 12-15 books is a perfect transition from naptime to wakeful time. Since Cody almost always wakes up earlier than Jaden, Mommy appreciates the extended quiet-time, too! :)

 

Lately, one of the boys' favorite pastimes is creating large piles (messes) in random areas of the house. They usually choose a bed or couch or closet (shown below) and make an enormous pile of books, stuffed animals, pillows, cars, toys, etc. The upside of this activity is that it keeps Jaden and Cody happily occupied for quite some length of time! The downside-- I'm sure you can guess-- is that the clean-up is not nearly as entertaining...

Another recent popular toy is our set of dominoes. Sometimes, Cody and Jaden will stack the dominoes in tall towers or put them on toy plates and pretend the dominoes are food items. Usually, though, they create wonderfully long roads or houses or other creations. In the picture below, the boys said they were creating a boat (can you identify the sail and the water line?).

We've been LOVING water play in our Texas heat! Our backyard is a shady place for playtime in the mornings, so one day we set up our water table and wading pool there.

 Since Jaden and Cody didn't particularly enjoy water-play last summer, we never even took this pool out last year. The pool certainly seems to have shrunk from the time our boys were one! :) Even though it's a bit small for our growing boys, Jaden and Cody devised a fun game of touching our back door and then running and jumping into the pool.

For Jason's birthday, Matt and Kim gifted Jason with concert tickets to see the Christian singer Josh Wilson. As part of the gift, they offered to watch our boys so we could attend the concert with another couple. What a generous gift! We had a great evening! During our absence, Matt and Kim bravely ventured out on a walk with all 5 boys. Look at this supermom! :)

The boys loved stopping to see some "wildlife" along the way. :)

Jaden and Cody LOVE their cousin time!

One day this month, I pulled out a number activity idea (modified from one I saw on Pinterest). First, I wrote the numbers from 1 to 12 on small stickers and had the boys place the stickers inside two muffin tins.

I didn't give the boys any specific directions about how to place their stickers, and it was fascinating for me to watch them! Jaden very methodically took his stickers off in order, counting the numbers as he did so. He also placed his stickers in neat rows in the muffin tins. Cody, on the other hand, had absolutely no order to his numbers or his placement but still carefully placed one sticker in each spot, as I had asked.

Next, the boys counted and placed beans into the muffin tins to match the numbers. They didn't quite make it all the way up to number 12 before they got restless and just started dumping piles of beans in. But, that part made for some fun playtime, too!

In our Montana home, we never had a specific toy room for Jaden and Cody. So, after setting up the boys' playroom here in Texas, I wasn't exactly sure how I wanted to decorate the walls. I finally decided to make it kid-centered by filling it with some of the boys' own art. We spent a few days working on these letters, using a different medium for each one (marker, dot painters, torn paper & glue, and paint).

Since Jaden's name has one extra letter than Cody's, I had the boys complete the N together by covering it with stickers. I was pleased with how their names turned out. The best benefit of this decoration is that the boys have looked at these so often that they each now can spell their own name.