Wake Up Call & Music Fun

Any mom of a toddler knows that, to a toddler, there is no difference between wake up times on a Monday - Friday compared to a Saturday & Sunday. Sleeping in on the weekends??? What's that??? To a toddler, whenever they decide it's time to wake up (no matter what day of the week it is), then Mommy gets a wake up call. Here lately, at my house, that wake up call has come at 5:00am each morning. For the last 4 mornings (so, yes, even on this long weekend that we had), I have been awakened by a wake up call between 5:00 and 5:05am. The wake up call comes sounding through the baby monitor with these words, "Mommy, open the door please." (a few seconds pass and then if I don't make it fast enough....) I hear again, "Mommy, open the door please." I hear this several times (sounding more desperate each time) until I go open Luke's door. As I open the door, there he stands, in his pjs, usually with the paci that he has found in his mouth, grinning up at me like he's thinking, "What took you so long? Aren't you ready to play?"

My sweet dear, Luke, yes, I'm ready to play but MOMMY NEEDS A CUP OF COFFEE!!! :) Together, usually with the little hand holding my finger because the hallway is pitch black, we go to the living room together to make the coffee. Thank goodness, I usually go to bed between 10:00 and 10:30 and because Luke is now consistently sleeping through the night, I am pretty well rested - after one cup of coffee, I'm ready to rock and roll. And, thank goodness, because Luke has been going to bed consistently AT 8:00, he's well rested as well. So, this early wake up time makes for some fun mornings filled with play time and laughter. Matter of fact, this weekend, I have thoroughly enjoyed our morning times together.

During these morning times, here are some of the things we have enjoyed together....

-breakfast while watching Chuggington (as you know, Luke doesn't watch very much television, but, this train show on Disney Junior is one of his favorites so I DVR a few and let him watch them a couple of times a week). On Friday, we watched Chuggington while we ate breakfast at the table in the living room. I eat my bagel. Luke eats his toast and jelly. On Saturday and Sunday, Luke asked to eat at the big table so that's what we did. We enjoyed each other's company talking and singing during breakfast.

-read books - this early time of morning seems to be Luke's prime learning time so I take advantage of this. We read and read and read. I let him choose what books he wants to read. He will name the books he wants to read and then bring them to me. This weekend, the favorites seemed to be "Guess How Much I Love You" and Eric Carle's book, "From Head to Toe." Both of these books have "movements" that we can act out, so we do. :) The first few times that I read the Eric Carle book, I would read the words and Luke would do the motions (clap like a seal, arch your back like a cat, thump your chest like a gorilla, etc.). But, then, Luke sat in the big brown chair and "read" the book to me while I did the motions. For the "Guess How Much I Love You" book, we take turns reaching HIGH like Little Nutbrown Hare and Big Nutbrown Hare.

-played with his train - Luke has the Melissa and Doug train that has the different shapes and colors of blocks on it. On Friday morning, he wanted to take all of the blocks off and then put them back on. The first time that we took all the blocks off, Luke looked at me and said, "The train is naked." Now, that's funny! I have to say - a great connection to what the word naked means - I had to agree - yes, Luke, the train is naked. :)

-colored and drew - we colored a few pictures in Luke's coloring books and then we practiced some handwriting strokes. I am working with Luke on making straight lines, curvy lines, and then also trying to teach him how to draw a circle (that's an easy shape because he never has to lift his crayon and it will help him form many letters in the alphabet later on). On Friday, he drew a circle for the first time. It was a huge one and the lines overlapped a little, but, you could definitely pick out the circle shape. I was proud of him. We also use this drawing and coloring time to practice recognizing his name.

-sang and sang and sang - Luke LOVES music and LOVES to sing. The child sings all day. Often times, as he plays, he will sing. Sometimes I recognize the songs and sometimes I don't. I know people who read this blog think I am exaggerating, but, I promise I'm not - he has already memorized the words to about 5 songs. He can sing Jingle Bells, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Zaccheus, his ABCs, and You Are My Sunshine. He sings phrases from about 5 more songs including the counting song "1, 2 Buckle My Shoe." Does he get every word correct every time on these songs? NO!! But, he's very close. The words are definitely recognizable - even the letters in the ABC song. It amazes me that he can already do this! Landis is one of those people that can hear a song 1 time and know half the words. I guess Luke inherited this auditory memorization skill from his daddy. He sure didn't get it from me - I still have to think about the words to Rudolph at times. :)

-dance - after our quick Chuggington viewing, I turn the TV off and the music on and Luke and I sing and sing and then when the time is right, we dance or do the motions to the songs - it's so much fun - the time passes so quickly

-take 100 laps around the house in the red car - as always, Luke LOVES his red car and every hour or so wants to ride in it, so we do - singing the whole time - I even found a song by the Wiggles called "The Big Red Car." We love to play and sing that song while Luke drives the red car. :)

-rode the riding toys - Luke takes turns riding every riding toy that he has, which is too many, I am ashamed to say. Lately, he rides the red scooter quite a bit. While he rides one, he asks me to push another one and I do.

-played with the dogs - we use this early morning time to let the dogs out one at a time and rub and play with them. The dogs and Luke love this! Then, Luke helps me feed them.

-tossed the balls - we love to throw Luke's different sized balls from one bucket to another - he thinks it's great when we both "score" :)

-snuggled - during this quiet morning time, I get a lot of hugs and snuggles. Often times it's after a quick tickle session or when I grab him up after finding him during "hide and seek" - no matter when it is, I cherish it. :) I love it when he runs up behind me, wraps his arms around my neck, and says, "I'm lovin on Mommy." That's great!!!

As you can see, we end up passing the time quickly. Before we know it, it's 9:00 or 10:00 and we can head out of the house for an adventure. (By the way, you might be wondering where Daddy is during this time. Landis is a night owl so he stays up until midnight most nights. Therefore, 5:00 AM is SUPER EARLY to him. He ends up staying in bed until 8:30 or 9:00 on the weekends. He is used to the noise in the other parts of the house - he doesn't complain - his only request is that we stay out of the bedroom and we do.) :)

Speaking of adventures, on Friday morning, I took Luke to a Kindermusik play date in High Point. A few months ago, I saw on the Kindermusik website that one day classes were being offered each month. I was super excited to see that one of those days was a day that I had no work. So, I signed us up and on Friday, we headed to High Point to sing and play instruments.

The class was a lot of fun! There were about 6 other kids in the class with us and every kid was super sweet. The teacher was a little scattered and not organized - she started about 15 minutes late and then during the class was much more focused on her own 2 children than she was the guests in her class. But, the Kindermusik program that she followed set her up for success as far as fun for the kids go. The songs are upbeat, include motions, and, most importantly, the opportunity for the kids to play instruments. Luke had the chance to play bells, play with drum sticks, clickers, scarves, teddy bears, and then, at the end, the instructor pulled out a huge laundry basket of instruments and just let the kids explore each one. In between the instrument songs, the children did an activity with a mini-parachute. Luke enjoyed shaking the parachute while the other kids were in the middle but he didn't like it when we put him in the middle. :) The hour long class was over before we knew it, and, at the end, Luke received his goody bag, which he was very proud of. The goody bag included a take home instrument, which was a small bell shaker, and a card for 20 downloads from the Kindermusik website. (Just FYI: the class cost $15 and this $15 paid for the hour long class, take home instrument, and 20 downloads.)

As we left, Luke was super proud of his shaker. When we got in the car, he wanted to hold it. He kept asking me if we were going to take it home. I guess he was worried that he would have to put it back like he did all the other instruments. The little shaker is still sitting on the table with the rest of his favorite toys. He got it out and shook it to the beat of some songs all weekend. So sweet....

I recommend everyone check out the Kindermusik website and find a class close to you. If you live around here and are interested in knowing the instructor that we had that you do NOT want to take from, email me at lnbumgarner@northstate.net and I will share her name with you. She was an instructor from High Point, NC....there is one more that we may try later that is from Greensboro.

Speaking of the disorganized instructor, Luke's 2nd birthday party is coming up and I had planned on booking this instructor to come to his party for some songs and instrument playing, but, thankfully, I waited to book her until after I tested out the class. After our visit, I decided to think of different options for his birthday party - I need someone more reliable and more focused on her task at hand. :)

Here are some pictures from our Kindermusik playdate...

Luke playing the bells - sorry about the closed eyes....:)

Playing with the scarves...

Carrying his goody bag...
Showing me his shaker that he was able to bring home...

Before I get to some more pictures from our weekend...here are a few random events that I want to document...

(1) As I previously stated, Luke is consistently sleeping all night. Even when he wakes up, for the first time EVER, he is able to get himself back to sleep without me coming into his room. I knew he was making progress when the following happened....on Thursday night, I heard a thud on the monitor - the light sleeper that I am, I woke up immediately, grabbed the monitor and began watching - I saw that Luke had fallen off the bed (onto the padded pallet that I make each night) - I thought to myself, "Oh no! He's going to be awake for awhile!" To my surprise, Luke stood up, crawled back in his bed, grabbed his paci, and went back to sleep. WOW! I was shocked and very pleased. I went back to sleep myself without my feet ever hitting the ground. That's a nice change. :)

(2) Luke is getting very "testy" with me and Landis and has gotten in trouble at school again. Last Thursday, he was put in time out 3 times for throwing toys. We are continuing to work on this at home and are making sure that we are staying consistent with the consequences. We hope for improvement next week. Luke not only tests us when it comes to throwing toys but he also tests us with climbing things. Luke loves to climb on his ride toys, which is obviously not safe. We have explained the dangers of this to him, and now that he knows this is off limits, we pop his leg with our hand when he does this. Well, this morning, I went to the refrigerator to get Luke some more milk. With my back turned, I thought I heard him climbing, so I turned around and saw him with one foot on the red wagon - he was obviously getting ready to stand up on it with intentions of then jumping to the couch that was close by. I put his milk down, walked over and stood beside him and calmly reminded him, "Luke, if you stand up on that wagon, I will spank you." He looked at me with a serious face and said, "Mommy, go back to the refrigerator." Oh me! We have a smarty pants on our hand - I mean, are you serious???? Instead of solving his problem by just listening to what I say, he would rather me turn my head so he can do it anyway. Man, we have some lessons to teach around here. :)

(3) Another example of his smarty pants ways - yesterday morning, Luke was in his room and I was in the living room. We live in a small house with a small hallway so I barely have to raise my voice to get Luke's attention in another room. I called into his room and said, "Luke, come in the living room so Mommy can put your shoes on." Within like 5 seconds, this little blonde head peeps around the corner of his room, looks at me in the living room and in his own raised voice says, "We don't hollar down the hall." What???? Are you kidding me??? Did he just correct me by reminding me of my manners not to yell down the hall??? And, should I tell him that he just yelled at me too??? My, oh my....how old is that kid? :) (And, by the way, I have never said that statement. I guess his mammaw Carolyn has told him that. The word "hollar" makes me think she has taught him that phrase.) :)

(4) Speaking of phrases that I haven't taught him but he says. Tonight, we were playing in his room and all of a sudden, he looks at me and says, "I live in Thomasville. I am 2 years old." Well, okay, where did that come from???? I have never taught him that. Did he learn that at school, from Carolyn, or is it possible that he picked that up from other conversations that he's heard? Who knows?? I was so in shock that I didn't tell him that he wasn't 2 yet. :)

And, now....on to some more pictures....on Saturday, we visited our friends (Clay and Sara) at their house. They invited a bunch of friends over for what they called the Fowler Fall Festival. Clay had riding toys, a bounce house, a slide, a sandbox, hotdogs, cupcakes, sidewalk chalk, and balls. The kids had a blast playing together! We were there for almost 3 hours. Here are some pics...

Luke with Ella in the bounce house....Luke loves Ella....I think it's a young crush. :)

There's Ella pushing Luke in the red car (No, that's not ours....they have one too.)
Check out Ella's pose...


This was a John Deere tractor powered by a pedal. Luke LOVED this! He loved it so much that Daddy says Santa may deliver one to Luke's house. :)


Sliding....
Eating some cupcake...

Here are a few random pictures from playing around the house....

Here's Luke trying on Papaw Dale's glasses...
And....some play time with Mommy during those early morning hours...check out these pjs....

Luke making a silly face....
Luke playing hide and seek...


Luke playing in the rocking chair...
Doing his surprised face...

"Reading" the book, "Let's Go On A Mommy Date"...

Enjoy these videos...

#1 - Luke reading the Mommy Date book....you have to listen closely to what he's "reading"....

#2 - Luke riding his red scooter.

#3 - I took this video after Luke's nap today to give you a small doze of the wake up call that I hear each morning. Listen closely and you will hear him say, "Mommy, open the door."

Wow! Thanks for hanging out for that LONG post. I'm tired and am off to bed! I hope everyone has a great week!

I will try my best to post mid-week. We went to Lexi's birthday party this afternoon at Pump It Up and had a blast! I have some cute pics but haven't downloaded them yet. Stay tuned.....

Toddy