Kids’ first time in a wagon! (At the St. Catharines EarlyON Centre)

Week 153 motherhood of 2 year 11 month old and 8 month old: 

• August 20:  Rounding out the last couple of days of our trip in St. Catharines – we visited to another EarlyON centre here.  This time, it was one that was located in a church and which had good reviews online.  Upon arriving, I checked in and was shortly greeted by a facilitator.  It was a big difference here compared to the one we went to the other day.  The facilitator was welcoming and nice.  She informed us that there were two play areas:  one in the gymnasium for kids to play with cars and obstacles and one in the classroom for toys and activities.  She told us where the washrooms were, where the changing table was, that the snack table was in the gym.
  • We enjoyed our time here so much.  The toddler played with some different toys than she is regularly used to:  Mr./Mrs. Potato head, matching colours, sensory shakers, lock toy, train set, playdoh, vacuum cleaner and broom, Plan Toys wooden dollhouse.
  • She loved the playdoh and spent the most time on it.  She was so concentrated too.  After having been exposed to it again, she is now familiar with it and knows how to play with it.  She used the rollers to flatten the playdoh and pressed the shapes into it to make flowers, stars, etc.  She knew to flatten the playdoh again with the roller after each time she pressed the shapes in to start anew.  One of the shapes was a tulip a stem.  I asked her what it was and she said it was a human.  I couldn’t argue with that because that’s what she thinks it is.  I let her imagination think what she thinks it is.
  • She was fascinated with the toy vacuum cleaner.  It looked exactly like the one we have at home.  She kept dragging it around the classroom like I do when I’m vacuuming at home. 🤣  Doing this though, she had to hold my hand because she didn’t feel comfortable otherwise.
  • The baby played in the carpet area, holding O-ball toys, a caterpillar toy, and enjoyed watching other kids too.  There were more kids here at this location too!
  • Next, we took the kids over to the gymnasium so they could explore that space.  It was such a great, large area for the kids to run around and play!  I loved this EarlyON and the way they set it up.  There were so many Fisher Price cars and vehicles and wagons for the kids to ride in.  The toddler immediately gravitated towards one of the red cars with a handle and I pushed her around in it.  She asked for her sister to ride in another one too.  We also pushed both kids in a green wagon around the gym lol.
  • There were other play things too like a basketball net, scoop and ball, hula hoops, tunnel to crawl through, and more.  There was a sensory bin too with dried kernels that the toddler enjoyed scooping.  This was the last activity before the facilitator blinked the lights on and off to signal that the centre was closing.  It was ten minutes to 4 p.m.
• It was funny because grandma told me later that there was a boy who kept wanting to follow the baby.  He actually kissed her hand once.  He was gentle about it.  He then tried to kiss the baby on the mouth, but grandma was fortunately fast enough and blocked him from doing so 🤣.  The boy’s mom apologized and said that they have a baby brother at home and so that’s why he was like that.
• After this, the kids both passed out in the car.  They were so exhausted and tired from all the fun.  I absolutely enjoyed this EarlyON location so much.  The gym with all of the toy cars and obstacles is a genius idea, especially for the winter months.
• So fascinating to be able to visit an EarlyON Centre in another city.  I can tell that the ones in York Region are much more established and varied.  There’s so many more classes and special events.  In St. Catharines, most of the centres were “Play, Learn & Connect” which meant just toys and activities for parents and kids to drop in and play with.  Almost of the toys and activities were similar in vein though.  The decor were also nice and child-focused.
• Unfortunately, we weren’t able to go for another dip in the swimming pool.  We didn’t have time and everyone was kind of under the weather too.  It would have been nice for DH to see the kids play in the water as well as for them to see him play in the water with them.
• At the Mandarin dinner buffet, the toddler’s picks are:  Mushrooms, noodles, breadsticks, shrimp, pizza.
• And just like that, the baby is now 8 months old!  Where did the time go?  We took her 8 month old milestone photos on the hotel bed.  She didn’t smile as usual and looked grumpy lol.
• We visited the neighbouring Toys R Us once more before we set off on our road trip back home.  The toddler enjoyed playing with the Mickey and Minnie Mouse stuffed animals, dinosaur stuffies (she knows to look at them, hug them briefly, and then ask me to put them back on the shelf).  We looked at the toy house, sat on the rocking chair, and then read 3 books before we went back to the hotel and left for home.
• It was really nice that both kids slept soundly during the entirety of the drive home. 😌
• It was nice to return home and sleep in our own beds, especially so that the baby could have uninterrupted nap times again.  She slept soundly for her naps once again.
• Unfortunately, everyone came back from the trip kind of sick.  The first to get sick was the baby a week ago when she had some pus in her eyes and her voice sounded a bit coarse.  Then it was the toddler who suddenly started having a hoarse voice in the afternoon and some coughing.  Then the next day, DH had the same hoarse voice, sniffles, and phlegm.  Grandma had a bit of the same symptoms with throat irritation the next day too.  And finally, I succumbed to it too.  My throat feels funny and I have some sniffles.
  • We think it had to do with the inconsistent fan system in the hotel.  When we set the temperature to 23-24 degrees, the fan would blow cold air into the room.  If we set the temperature to 25 degrees, it would stay warm and stuffy.  There was no in-between.  Sleeping like that and waking up to nurse the baby at night was a recipe for getting chills and sick.  Pair that in addition to me staying up at night on my phone made my body give in.  It’s a small cold though.
• Happy news:  DH no longer has to work three days in the office anymore!  He’s back to having to work just once a day in the week in the office and the rest from home.  Yay!!
• The toddler has been choosing me so often.  Maybe with DH back at home working more, she’ll be back to picking him more again. 🤣
• Cutting the baby’s nails continues to be easy.  She doesn’t cry and she’ll let me hold her hands firmly so that I can cut them with the adult nail trimmers.  Her nails are also so interestingly shaped because once they’re long, they grow outward.  We like to joke that they’re “tiger claws” (because she was born in the year of the tiger).
• During the hotel stay, the toddler wanted to press the elevator buttons whenever we were going up or down the lift.  We stayed on the fourth floor so we taught her to press the number “4” on the elevator panel.  She was JUST tall enough for it and had to stand on her tippy toes.  She wasn’t able to press them the first couple of times but then eventually got the hang of it.  The ground floor had a star next to it, so we taught her that when going down, we pressed that button with the star next to it.
  • Also, when we were waiting for an elevator, she wanted to press the button for that as well.
  • Also also, she wanted to be the one holding the hotel key card.  She liked to hover it next to the digital key pad in order to open it.  She learned quickly where the ice machine was, where the swimming pool was located, and where the breakfast area was.  When the breakfast area closed at 10 a.m. every morning, she learned that the barn doors would close shut.  She liked to look at the closed doors lol.
• The baby can turn around in a circle on the mat!  She has super strong legs and turns so quickly.  This is the beginning of crawling!
• The toddler recently has been enjoying the “I love you because you’re you” and “‘Cause I love you” books again.  She goes through phases of enjoying different books from her bookshelf and always asks us to read to her.  I feel guilty when I’m at the kitchen table eating and she comes to me with a book.  I really want to eat, but I also know she wants to be read to.  Sometimes I give in and sometimes I tell her that I’m eating and can’t read to her.  She usually tries again to get me to read to her, but depending on how hungry/hangry I am, I will give in or not.
• Interestingly, the baby is still not interested in reading or books…
• After reading the “I love you because you’re you” book where the baby fox in it draws a heart and cuts it out using scissors to give to his mom, the toddler also asked DH to draw a heart on a piece of paper.  She then tried her best to cut the heart out using her scissors and then gave it to me per the book.  Oh, my heart!  Swoon!  What a cute gift and how cute that she followed the book’s idea too!
• The baby is so used to grandma and DH feeding her solid foods and I’m like the “milk lady” that when I do try to spoon-feed her, she doesn’t respond as well lol.  It’s all fine by me.  One less thing for me to do haha.  She eats congee almost daily these days.  It’s good nourishment that keeps her belly warm and full.
• August 22:  We were supposed to an EarlyON for creative chefs this week (drop-in program) as well as CNE but grandma was feeling sick, the baby was still a bit congested, and the toddler had a runny nose that we shelved the plans for another day.  DH had a little bit of a cough too.  I had a dry throat sometimes and had a runny nose too.  We were out and about all week last week and now that we’re home, we’re homebound to recover.  Ah, such is life.  It’s nice to be a hermit again.  I needed this rest and recovery time.
• The baby started blowing raspberries this week!  She was doing it for a long time during bedtime one night.  She can also be so vocal and loud.  Grandma calls it her “tiger roars”.
• The baby is too cute.  Sometimes when I’m nursing her, she’ll turn and look at me and start smiling and laughing.  She’s the easiest baby ever. ^_^  This is such a cute stage.  She isn’t crawling yet, so is very cuddly and huggable.  She always smiles and giggles too when we talk to her and play with her.  She is responsive.
• The baby had steak again this week.  It’s such a great thing for her to gnaw on.
• The baby has started doing this head tilt thing this week — the same thing that her older sister did at one point when she was a baby too!  She tilts to the left and smiles lol (whether she’s sitting in the high chair or someone is holding her).
• This week, the toddler is teetering between going number one in her diaper and wanting to go to the toilet.  One step forward, two steps back. 🤷‍♀️  There’s still progress, I know.
• The baby loves holding items in her hand and slipping them back and forth or moving them between hands.  I also discovered this week that I can put a box of plastic blocks/random (safe) items in it and she can tip the box and “discover” all the items to play with.  She loves licking and putting things in her mouth.  She’s such a “typical” baby.  The toddler never put things in her mouth as much as this kid does.
  • On that note, the toddler can always detect when there are bones in her food.  I gave her some salmon that happened to have some small bones in it.  She could tell and told me about it and then spit it out.  I don’t know when the baby gets to that stage whether she’s be able to tell or not or just swallow everything.  The toddler, from a young age, already knew how to tell when there was something foreign in her mouth (like that time there was a staple in her mouth[!!])
• One thing too that happened at the St. Catharines hotel this week was the baby was on the bed while grandma and I were clearing things/doing some things around the room.  The baby had been crying for a bit because she wanted to be held but we were busy in our tasks still.  Then the toddler suddenly told us that she couldn’t see the baby’s eyes anymore (“tei mm dou hui jet an ah”).  That’s when I was alerted and looked up at the bed.  The covers had fallen on top of the baby!  I immediately pulled them away from her.  Oh, geez.  So glad that the toddler was paying attention to her baby sister and watchful. 😳  She was aware that not seeing the baby’s eyes was problematic and alerted us to it.