Today Levi and I spent the better part of the afternoon and all of the evening until bedtime doing stuff together. We had a lot of fun!
A little after noon we went to the grocery store. Levi rode in the cart and gave commentary on the things in the store. He also held (at various times) the celery, the mushrooms, canned beans, and sesame oil. The sesame oil was especially fun because he pretended to pour it into the cans. He overheard a lady saying that she needed to get eggs, and he said, "Momma! We need to get eggs!" Coincidentally, we did need eggs :). The store--which doesn't play music--was graced by his enthusiastic singing. He even got a sticker! We also saw some friends from church. Levi noticed them first, and it was really fun for him to see another kid that he knew at the store.
Cecil slept the whole time (whew!)
After we came home and were putting away the groceries, Levi noticed the blender in one of the cabinets. He got really excited about it and got it out--he never really seemed that excited about it before--and put it on the counter. He asked me to make something in it, so after I finished feeding Cecil (who had woken up and was hungry), I tried out
a new hummus recipe that Becky posted on Facebook, and I like it better than the kind I had made before. Levi really liked it, too! He was very interested in the process of making it, as he always is when I cook or otherwise prepare food.
After that, Cecil needed my attention. I try to keep his bouncer close by so he can watch what we're doing and not be bored, so he was close by. He was hungry and tired, so after I fed him and got him to go to sleep, Levi "played on my legs" as he calls it. Basically I gave him leg-horsey rides. I laid on my back with my legs up and bent, he sat on my feet, and I bounced him up and down or back and forth. This game evolved into a tickling game. We had a lot of fun!
When I got tired, I suggested we play Uno, and Levi enthusiastically agreed. The particular flavor of Uno that we played went like this: the cards were dealt, then we took turns matching the color. When we both ran out of the color, we picked the next color at will and continued until neither of us had any cards left. Levi really liked the wild cards and would hold them up, look at them while saying, "I like....green!" and then play a green card. He didn't play the wild; he was saving it for the next color change. At the end of one game he had two wild cards next to him. It was very cute.
Every time we finished a game, Levi said, "Let's play again!" We played at least 15 games.
I dealt for the first 10 or so games, then one time Levi grabbed the cards before I could and--also enthusiastically--dealt out the cards, more or less evenly. Every time we finished a game after that, Levi dealt the cards. Finally I was ready for a change of pace and I told him that the next game was the last one. Levi's really good about believing me when I say things like that, so after we finished that one, he didn't deal out cards for another game.
As soon as we finished Uno, Levi said, "Let's play my game!" which meant putting together the 100-piece floor puzzle that Nathan got him for Christmas. Cecil was ready for undivided attention again, though, so we had a short break while I fed him. Levi got out the puzzle and spread it out on the floor while he was waiting. Finally, I was ready. This was probably the third or fourth time Levi had worked on the puzzle (with help, of course), and he participated much more this time than in the past! He did really well matching up pieces together, and put some together all by himself! Most of them, I'd tell him where to put them and then he'd put the piece where it went. I noticed that he no longer tries to match up pieces that obviously won't fit together (like two ins), but makes sure he aligns the new piece so that it might fit. He still doesn't really get that the picture is supposed to continue from piece to piece, but that'll come later. Levi ended up putting in most of the pieces. One piece was missing, but we found it near where he was spreading them on the floor and put it in at the end.
After all that, I
still had energy to do more stuff with him, so I got out a can of pumpkin puree that I'd been meaning to use, and we made some
pumpkin muffins. He licked the spoon and the bowl after we put the batter in the oven, at his own request. It went something like this:
Me: We're going to put the batter in this muffin tin.
Levi: And then, I can lick it!
Me (smiling to myself at his enthusiasm): Yes, you can!
Levi really enjoyed putting the ingredients in the bowl after I measured them out. He also liked "cutting" the batter--basically moving the mixing spoon up and down in the batter. We had the muffins with some leftover frosting, and they were SO GOOD. I like food. Yum! :)
That was pretty much my day from 12:00 pm 'til 7:30 pm. I'm really enjoying my growing, learning boy!
