Marching on

I'm going to toss a ton of photos on this post so that I can quickly say goodbye to March before June shows up.

Our one and only room that has carpet often finds Frak sleeping there, in the sun. It also finds us up there since it is our play room. This is one rare time when Logan left Frak alone.

We've been trying to do a "letter of the week", although lately it is more like the "letter of the month". For each letter, Logan goes through the process of writing the upper case and lower case letter. Then we go through each room in our house to find words that start with that letter. Then at the end of the week, we do a craft around that letter and put everything in our alphabet book.

After Logan's birthday party, Grandma Neel came home with us for a short visit. She played with Logan at Costco while I loaded up the cart with much needed supplies. Logan loves to serve people food. We could not have asked for a better play structure to be out at Costco.

Enjoying some after-birthday-party presents.

Dinosaur excavating

Watching a dinosaur egg hatch

Then we needed an ice cream break.

As the birthday party excitement wore off, normal life returned.

Logan went up a climbing wall by himself.

He grew a bigger nose.

Then he went to a new dinosaur excavation site.

He took Frak for a walk in our back yard.

Frak decided against the walk.

We decided that one letter a week was not enough and added all the letters to his room in one day.

He keeps trying to modify Mom's daily list.

We continue to go to the library for music class.

Then on March 25th Kyle, Logan and I went to revisit another school in town. We are so glad we did. We were there from about 10am to 1pm. We got to watch Logan play with the kids, do crafts, have a snack and play outside. It was such a huge improvement for him over his other school. So we decided to take the plunge and move him. He had to wait a little bit before he could start at his new school, but it turned out to be a great decision.

On his first week of school we were invited to a "soccer" group of 4 other moms with a total of 8 other kids from his new school. I wouldn't say that a lot of soccer happened, but a lot of fun did.

We have been having fun with that group ever since. They are a fantastic group of women and kids, and we are so thankful that they have included us in their group. After almost 3 months at his old school, we had not had a single play date. It had felt so isolating. His new school has really helped both of us turn a corner. We are so much happier now.


Our final activity of the month was his first class at the Natural History Museum in Albuquerque. The class was all about day and night skies. In the first class we learned about shadows, how the earth goes around the sun, and so much more. Here was the song we sang in class:

"The earth spins around.  The earth spins around.  Once a day, every day, the earth spins around."

"The moon goes 'round the earth.  The moon goes 'round the earth.  Once a month, every month, the moon goes 'round the earth."

"The earth goes 'round the sun.  The earth goes 'round the sun.  Once a year, every year, the earth goes 'round the sun."

"The sun shines on the earth.  The sun shines on the earth.  On top, middle, and the bottom, the sun shines on the earth."

Enjoying the puppet show.

Making his own puppet show with Dad.

Painting the earth on a tilt. Also known as Tilty, a character from the puppet show.

 

   

Heading outside with H. for a shadow game.

He really enjoyed the shadow game. Then afterwards, I ran errands and Dad took him to Explora!, the kid's science museum. Lucky little kid.

The end of March also saw the end of our dinosaur theme. Here are my favorite books from this theme:

Here were a few books from that month that I was not as impressed with for a 3 year old, at least my 3 year old.

Let's-a-go!

The second week of March brought more dinosaurs. These skeletons were great! We played hide-n-seek with them around the living room many, many times. We also got information cards for each dinosaur from the PBS Dinosaur Train website. So there was some learning going on.

Though we had multiple snow events, it melted quickly each time, so we were able to enjoy a relatively warm afternoon outside.

Many parents might be upset if they walked into their son's room and discovered him writing all over the wall in chalk, but Logan's purple wall is meant for chalk, so no worries.

Again, some parents might get upset to find their son getting himself, and the bathroom, completely wet. I just went to get my camera. Of course, this is the bathroom that has half the wallpaper off the wall and a worn out vanity. Perhaps I would be upset if this were my bathroom.

Finally, the main event for March! We had Logan's 3rd birthday party on March 13th! It only took 2 months since his actual birthday to hold his party. We drove to Albuquerque to meet up with a few of his friends, Grandma and Grandpa Neel and Uncle Lee for a bowling party. 

It wasn't perfect, but his Bowser cake turned out pretty well.

Mario even showed up.

Oops... someone tell Logan he can't walk up to the pins.

E. enjoying his pizza.

H. was Logan's other friend who came to celebrate.

These three had a blast together.

Logan giving E. a hug when E. was upset.

We are singing "Happy Birthday"

The bowling face trio:

Come on!

COME ON!

Oh.

 I wonder how much cake Logan ate.

Then they discovered the hand fan by the bowling ball return.

A little love between Logan and Mario.

Let me help you H.

Back to the fan, blowing up the shirts.

This is when the sugar from the cake truly came out to play. Bowling was over, but sliding and rolling around on the floor began.

Time for gifts.

And hugs.

One last Mario moment the day after. 

Okay, one more. 

It was a fantastic party! Thanks to everyone who kept rescheduling with us and finally came to party with us.