Easter 2011 (Part 1)

Marino is a very lucky boy. Being an only child and the only grandchild on one side of the family, he has a lot of people concerned with making sure he has as much fun as possible. Last week my mom and stepfather came to visit and watched Marino for us on Friday while daycare was closed. The took Marino on their first outing without Evan or I and it was a huge success. The three of them went to Bunnyland at Butler's Orchard. Believe it or not, it was THIS cold on Friday. By Sunday, it was 80 degrees. April weather is bizarre.

They went on a hayride, where spring things were decorating the forest.

I ride horses and Marino has been asking me for months if he can ride a horse. My mom let him go on 2 pony rides and he LOVED it!

New pony. My mom said he kept asking to ride the bigger ones.
Hiking the hill to the big slides with Gramma.
Playing on the train cars. I love this picture!

He had a lot of fun with Gramma and Grampa Ray - he was really excited to see them.

He and Ray did this 24 piece puzzle a couple times - I was impressed!

He LOVES my mom's iPad and is amazingly comfortable using it.

The Easter bunny came early this year and Marino was excited about all his new toys and candy! The Easter Bunny brought lots of fun things like an Easter Thomas train and "Action Chugger" from Chuggigton. And an Interactive Buddy from Dinosaur Train!

The Easter Bunny also hid a bunch of eggs. Marino open them and say "MORE CANDY" and search for the rest.

The Easter Bunny remembered fries and chicken nuggets, as requested!

I'll post about Easter in Hershey Park next!

5 on Friday

As always, here are 5 special reasons I am loving my boy this week:

5. Over the weekend, my stepfather was saying that Marino was beautiful. "I NOT beautiful" he said "I the handsome boy!"

4. Grammy Deb came over on Monday evening. Marino did not want her to leave! When we were taking him upstairs for his bath, he said "Gramma, you want to take a bath with me?"

3. The boy's imagination is so fun - I LOVE pretend play. The other night in the bath, he said "I'm in a boat. I need paddles! Mommy, get me paddles!" I said I didn't have any and he said "I know! I can use my feet! My feet are paddles" and started a rowing motion with his feet.

2. I'm not sure why, but Marino hates watching shows about nighttime when it's actually nighttime. Last night we were watching the Backyardigans and he shouted "NO! I don't want the night sky Backyardigans!!"

1. We went to Hershey Park last week (post coming) and Marino had a great time. He loved seeing the "characters" and kept saying "I want to say hi to that chocolate!"

5 on Friday

As always, here are 5 special reasons I am loving my boy this week:

5. Marino refers to candles as "fires", which I find adorable.

4. His new favorite phrase is "Okay, just be careful", which is generally used completely out of context. The other day he asked for Goldfish and I said I didn't have any. "Why?" he asked. "Because I can't carry around endless varieties of snacks" I said. ::Sigh:: "Okay, just be careful" he replied.

3. T he other day we passed a red bus on the road. "Look, it's a fire truck" said Marino. "No, it's a bus that's red" I said. "No, its a fire truck" he insisted. "Nope, really, its a bus." "Yeah, okay, it's a fire truck" he said.

2. The other day at dinner, Marino was very enthusiastically eating his vegetables. I asked him if he liked a particular vegetable he was eating (green bean). "Yeah! These are sticks!" he said.

1. I asked Marino what he thought the Easter bunny would bring him. "The Easter Bunny bring me presents...and candy...and fries...and chicken nuggets!" he announced.

Fun on a Rainy Day

Saturday was an awful weather day here; we had awful storms all day. Marino and I went to visit friends and had a great day indoors!

First we went to visit my friend Monica, who I haven't seen in almost a year! Her boys are getting so big and her oldest, Kanye, is the sweetest child on earth. He is amazingly good with Marino and he even drew a lovely portrait of me! He is a great big brother and says the funniest, most grown-up things. I hope Marino is this sweet at 7!

Vincent (20 months) and Kanye (7) - sweet brothers!

Monica was pretending to fall when they boys "hit" her...they thought it was the most hysterical game ever!
Hopefully we didn't teach Vincent any lasting bad habits, because he was really enjoying the game, too!

Later, we went to visit our friends Kristal and Gabby. Kristal is having her baby girl on Thursday morning! Gabby and Marino played well together (until Marino got crabby, as usual). She is such a doll - I love her little poses!!

I love this, even though the boy's eyes are closed!

Hoping for lots of playtime outside in the near future!

5 on Friday

As always, here are 5 special reasons I am loving my boy this week:

5. The other day I was using a straight iron on my hair and Marino said "You're catching your hair, Mommy?"

4. I disciplined him the other day for kicking the seat while I was buckling his car seat and he said "Stop madding, Mommy." (as in stop being mad). Then he rubbed in between my eyes while I was frowning.

3. The other day we were watching an episode of Dinosaur Train that was about moms and how great they are. I said, "Aw, moms are the best." Marino said "I a mom, too."

2. Daycare has a special music class once a week. This week, when I asked Marino if they had music class that day, he said, "Yeah! We did rock n roll!" and started dancing. I mentioned it to daycare, who said rock n roll was never discussed. Who knows where he gets this stuff?

1. As I mentioned before, Marino is in love with the show "Dinosaur Train" and requests to watch specific episodes of it. The other morning, he got into bed with us around 5am and was very animated about the dream he just had. Apparently, a dragon was breathing fire on Mr. Pteranodon (picture below) and Marino was unsuccessful in his attempts to help him. He was very upset about it. I had to laugh at what a "boy" dream that was!

5 on Friday

As always, here are 5 special reasons I am loving my boy this week:

5. During dinner over the weekend, we sang "Old McDonald." Evan and I always pause at "and on this farm he had some..." to let Marino pick the animal. This time, he shouts out "CATSES". Evan and I just looked at each other ::crickets:: "Cactus?" we asked. "NO, catses! Meow" he said. Evan explained the plural of cat is cats and we went on with the song. The next animal he called out was "Sheepses".

4. At bedtime one night this week, Marino said "Mommy, I so proud of you." "Why?" I asked. "Um...because...you so big like the Backyardigans." ::gives me a big kiss on the lips::

3. The other day in the car, Marino and I were listening to music. I started dancing along and said "Dance, Marino!". "No, no, Stop dancing! You need to drive!" he said.

2. Thursday after work we started digging up the old dirt/mulch in our front yard so we can plant flowers this weekend. Marino LOVED digging. He was so serious about picking up the dirt and throwing it in the yard bag...he was working hard!

1. Marino has been spending a lot more time with little boys lately, and its effect is obvious. The other day, we went to the playground and met a new little girl and her dog. She asked Marino what his name was and he said "I SuperMino. I fly like Superman" and put his fist in the air to fly.

Low Key Weekend

We had an unexpectedly low key weekend last week. We spent lots of time snuggling, reading, playing with trains and cars. It was nice enough to go for a walk both Saturday and Sunday. Marino LOVES being outside. When I tell him it's time to go in, he always says "I want to stay outside. I don't want to leave the park!"

We got a chance to see Aunt RiRi before she headed back to college after Spring Break. It was great to see her, as always, and we are really proud of how well she is doing at Brown. After she left, Marino said "I want Aunt RiRi again." I told him she had to leave and he said "Aw, man!".

Looking forward to seeing her in May!

5 on Friday

As always, here are 5 special reasons I am loving my boy this week:

5. While we were having lunch with friends last week, Marino called "Hey, Buddy!" across the table to Tony.

4. At nap time over the weekend, Max was in bed with Marino and I. Marino was petting him and he said "I don't want to be mean to Maxis. Max is a good boy. I want to be Max's friend. We're a team" and put his arm around him. "You be on our team, too, Mommy?"

3. While wrapping presents the other day, I finished the roll of wrapping paper, so I put the empty roll with the paper recycling. Marino saw it in the morning, held it to his eye and said "Look! It's a telescope!"

2. The boy is very into dinosaurs right now ("Dinosaur Train" is his current favorite show). He calls a T-Rex a "Team Rex". It always makes me laugh.

1. Marino was sick on Tuesday, so he and I stayed home together. Around 5pm, Evan called and I was sitting in the kitchen talking to him on the phone. Generally, Marino gets very irritated if I talk on the phone, so I was impressed with how well he was playing by himself in the living room....until I went in there. He had emptied half a bottle of lotion and had swirled it all over the end table and driven his cars through it. There was lotion every where! When I asked what possessed him to do that, he said "My cars needed soap. You rinse them off now, Mommy?"