Mommy Group Update

Awhile back the kidlets and I started going to a mommy meet up (I talked about our first visit here).  A friend on mine commented on how it takes 3 times to be part of the family, so I was determined to go at least 3 times.  Today was the third time for us (yes, I know I started going about 6 weeks ago, but we didn't go for the last 3 weeks for various reasons). 

Lynden was looking forward to the library part more than the play place part for some reason.  That's all he talked about and once we got to the play place all he asked for was to go to the library.  So, he sat next to me on the bench for the first 20 minutes while various children came over to talk to him.  He did let me talk to some of the other mom's without demanding my attention (big step), and the other mom's were quicker to talk to me and we had more to talk about now that we've been to a few.  Yay!  And there are a few more new mom's in the group too, which helps since I'm not the newbie anymore.

At one point the tent was empty and I pointed it out to Lynden and asked if he wanted to go in, he did so off he went.  That was the last I saw of him until it was time to go.  He ran with the other kids, went down the slide and had a great time. 

We headed over to the library for story time after playing time was over and Lynden was so excited.  The host sings songs the kids dance to, reads a story or 2, does some sort of magic and ends off with bubbles and stickers.  For the first time Lynden got up and danced to the songs, yelled out answers to the questions, oohed and ahhed during the story, popped bubbles and was in a great mood (despite getting up around 6 this morning on his own).

After story time and stickers it was time for us to head home for lunch and nap (one of my favourite times of the day).  While I was getting Lynden buckled into his car seat he said "that was fun, we do it again?". 

I am super glad he's now enjoying these activities, makes it so much easier and rewarding to participate.

Out and About: Vancouver Aquarium

On Wednesday the kids and I met up with another mom from my mom group and headed downtown to the Aquarium.  I had been telling Lynden for a few days that we were going to go on the skytrain to go see some fishes, I think he was more excited for the Sky Train than anything else.

At 10am we arrived at the sky train station and waited for the other mom and son.  Every time a train passed over our head Lynden got more and more excited and kept saying he wanted to go on the train.  He was almost vibrating when our Aquarium buddies arrived and we headed upstairs to catch the train.  Once on all he wanted to do was go.  Thankfully my grandpa has taught Lynden this train game where they go "ding ding people off.  Ding ding people on" so at every station we said "ding ding people off, ding ding people on". 

As we passed by Rogers Arena (I still want to call it GM Place) I tried to show Lynden where Kessler plays hockey but we couldn't see it too much until the ride back.  Then into the tunnel to get off the train, he likes tunnels. 

The second highlight to the day was the bus ride to the Aquarium.  I didn't tell him we were going on a bus so he was quite happy to get to go on one. 

At the Aquarium Lynden started to get tired, one of the downsides to getting up at 6 so we can have the car for the day, so there was a lot of cranking about wanting to do something other than what we were doing at that exact moment.  The other little boy and his mom go monthly so he was all gung-ho about seeing certain things (the sharks were his favourite) so we followed their lead. 

one of many butterflies

We started off by sweating our butts off to see the butterflies, which were very neat.  Poor Alyssa was sleeping in her sweats when we went in and woke very quickly from overheating in her carseat.   But she was good and was quite content to frown at the world.  They had so many butterflies just flying around the room, it was quite pretty.

alligator

Then off to see the alligators, monkeys and tarantulas (still give me the heebie jeebies).  Lynden liked the alligators.  Once we were content we went to see the sharks and the huge turtle - that thing is Huge!  While Lynden and his new buddy looked at them I went and gawked over the seahorses, are they ever cool looking.  Lynden then announced he wanted to go home, so it was a lot of talking him down and explaining we were there with our new friends and mommy still wanted to look at the fishes.  I tried to get him to touch the glass where star fish were but that was a little too much for him.  After a while we wandered over to see the octopus, which Lynden was dying to see, but it was hiding in the back of the display behind a rock so we could only see a tentacle.    

beluga

 We decided then the kids were probably hungry and to go eat lunch.  I also decided it was time for a potty break for Lynden, who I had stuck in a pull up for the day as I didn't want to be carrying around wet pants and underwear if he had an accident (he surprised me and made it all day with a dry pull up).  I have to give him a lot of credit, he didn't pee in the pull up and went when he sat on the potty.  We ate our lunch next to the Beluga whales and the kids were very excited to watch the squirrel beg for food from the next table.  After we were done eating Lynden ran back and forth from the table to the whales while the other mom and I chatted some more. 

see, Alyssa was there too

Just so you don't think I was neglecting my daughter all day, she was quite happy to observe from the carseat.  After lunch I popped her into her sling (which I love and will tell you about later) and continued on our day. 



soooo damned cute

We wandered over to the otter show (I think otters are the most adorable thing EVER and if I can find a way to have one as a pet I'd be thrilled), which was quite boring, and showed Lynden the otters.  Then down to see the dolphins and listen to the sea lions bark, they were quite talkative.  There were a few "kids" there barking back to the sea lions so Lynden joined in too.  By this time Lynden was done.  He just wanted to stand next to the stroller and hold Alyssa's hand.  We decided to make our way out, walked past the belugas just as they were about to start their show but neither kid had any interest so off to the gift shop.  Lynden chose a dolphin and orca toys (I'd like to Thank my son for managing to find the cheapest thing in the whole stop - they were on sale for 49-cents each.  Made it super easy to say yes to both toys). 

Back to the bus stop, Lynden was very unimpressed we had to wait for the bus, but was thrilled when it showed up.  Then back to the skytrain station.  I showed Lynden, again, where Kessler plays hockey and the ball that Yaya is working on (his yaya is my mom and she's not working on Science World, the company she works at is working on Science World, but we just say she is) and promised him we would go over the "bridge up high" after the tunnel.  It took about 4 stops before he was out, so he missed the tunnel and bridge. 

I think one of these days we may just do a transit day - take him from one end to the other on the skytrain and take a ride on the sea bus too. 

All in all, it was a good day, Lynden enjoyed the skytrain, buses, parts of the Aquarium and we made some new friends (we're going to get the kids together again to have a train playdate).

another butterfly

Lynden & his new buddy looking
at a stingray



tarantula

seahorse

I can't help but think of Nemo

lion fish, that'd be creepy to run into

Lynden & his buddy "taking turns"

Lynden holding Alyssa's hand

Lynden's bud checking out the beluga

our new friends

sea lions

checking them out

** I wasn't able to take too many pictures, as usual my camera, that I just charged, died shortly after we got there so I had to limit my pictures.  Think it's time to invest in a second battery.

First Mommy Meetup

I should start this and say Lynden is not as bad as my last post made him out to be.  I was having a BAD day and so my post came across a lot more harsh then it was meant to.  He's a good kid, he really is, just yesterday was a really bad day.  He usually has a bad moment every so often (yesterday it was more and I was tired and Alyssa decided she really didn't want to nap even though we both needed her to).

Today's been better, despite getting up at 6:15 to drive Danny to work (only to have him call me after I pulled away to say he forgot his work boots at home and needed me to get them and come back).  Once we got home it was a rush to get the kids fed, dressed and get Lynden to go #2 on the potty before we had to leave for our first mommy meetup at the play area at Guilford Mall and then story time at the library.

As I've posted before I don't like walking into preformed groups, they're hard to get involved in since everyone knows everyone already, but I want and need to get out there and meet new people.  It was good.  Lynden played shy and didn't want to play with any of the other kids, although I tricked him a few times by saying "can you catch them?" or after he handed me back his juice "ok, go play now".  I'm hoping he'll get a little more comfortable the more we go.  The other mom's were quick to introduce themselves (I think I've forgotten everyone's names already) and start a quick conversation.  But it was hard to talk much with Lynden attached to my side and wanting me to play with him and not talk to the other moms.  At one point I had to tell Lynden it was time for me to go and talk to the other mommies and I went and sat down and started a conversation with... umm... ya... her daughter's a month older than Alyssa but I can't remember her name (there were about 10 moms with 1-2 kids each).   

We then went off to the library and did story time.  Sadly, Lynden was getting tired and was done about 5 minutes into it.  I managed to get him to stay for the whole thing and he loved the stickers at the end of it.  He said he had a good time and would like to go again, so we'll go again next Tuesday and work on our friend making skills :-)