Grandma and Grandpa Redfern Visit + Eleanor Turns Two

We had a wonderful visit with my parents, so many happy memories. Patrick is a little cuddler, his favorite part of the grandparent visit was never having to go without being held unless he was asleep. He may rival Eleanor with his need for cuddles, we've discovered that he can be soothed by holding his hand when he's upset on a car ride. What a little dear.

Patrick enjoyed Grandma cuddles quite a bit

Grandma made some playdough for the kids and was wise enough to bring both pink and blue, as well as some purple that was neutral territory and could be used by either child. Bradley and Eleanor operate on a pretty strict color system these days. If it's blue Eleanor will run and hand it to Bradley and pink items are unquestionably Eleanor's.

Pink!

We combined the playdough with dinosaurs which was a lot of fun as long as nobody touched Bradley's giant blue egg! We literally got hours of entertainment out of the playdough and Bradley would have a little bit of a meltdown the first few times we had to put it away.

Grandpa is so silly with playdough mustaches

Going to the park with the grandparents is a blast, especially now that Eleanor likes to climb everything and scare her poor grandparents.

Grandpa had to hover nearby in order to save the fearless girl from herself

But we had such a good time, I don't know that we'll ever get tired of going to the park, the activities will just change a little.

Grandma pointing out hexagons to Eleanor. Yes, I'm serious.

Silly Eleanor on the walk home

Bradley getting carried - dreams do come true. Grandpa may have signed on for more than he bargained for, I figure he got to walk for about a quarter of a mile with a large Bradley boy on his shoulders.

We've yet to hear any complaints from grandparents about watching tv with the grandkids, you get the most amazing cuddles during the shows.

Which brings me to a new Bradleyism. The kids were sitting on the couch and had to wait for me to turn on the tv for some reason. Bradley turned to me and said "I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is: we're sitting on the couch. The bad news is: no show is on". He was sitting by my dad when he said it and we both started cracking up. Bradley then started making up more good news and bad news involving dinosaurs and being inside and other things that are important to three year old boys. What a little ham. I guess I had been saying things about good news and bad news here and there and he picked it up and ran with it.

Smiley Patrick!

We made it over to Barnes and Noble for some reading time and discovered that they have the best background for photos ever with a cute little stage they use for storytimes.

In other news, with child number three I've pretty much lost any feelings of shame for where I have to breastfeed. It has to happen, we have to get out, I cover up so people really shouldn't feel too bad about me doing it in front of them. So I fed Patrick on a stage in the middle of a bookstore.

And then we read stories together!

Eleanor celebrated her second birthday while my parents were here and after a comedy of errors on my part like scheduling her party on Father's Day at a pool on an overcast day with a storm forecast (whoops) we ended up having a pretty good time at home with a few friends and water balloons.

Waiting for water balloons. So happy!

It's hard to pick which part of the party Eleanor enjoyed the most, but My Little Pony ice cream cake ranks pretty high on the list!

Pony! Pink! Ice cream! All of Eleanor's dreams are coming true.

Opening presents.

Eleanor got hyped up about jumping off the fireplace during the party. Should I be concerned that she wouldn't jump until people told her NOT to jump?

My parents got the kids giant stuffed toys which was a huge hit but has also backfired a bit. Guess what happens when you give a dinosaur obsessed three year old a giant t-rex?

"He has sharp teeth! He eats everyone! Rahrrrrrrr!!!!"

And poor Eleanor already had quite the job carrying around all of her favorite toys, now she looks like this when she's getting in or out of bed.

The best photo I currently have of Eleanor carrying around: two penguins, three lovie blankets, and a giant pony.

Eleanor has realized how difficult her task is and has started foisting off carrying duties on whoever she can. Even grownups can have a bit of trouble carrying all of Eleanor's stuff.

Eleanor is so cute about her new toys. She sings the frozen song when playing with her new Anna doll.

And she sings "ah ah aaaa!" when playing with My Little Ponies because it's part of the theme song of the show. Too adorable.

We got in a couple of pool outings with the grandparents.

Glamming it up for the beach!

Bradley liked to be "flown around" to play with all the water except the water from the blue pole because the blue one was special. This kid and his blue obsession never ceases to amaze.

Caring is sharing

Patrick stayed pretty cool in the shade at the pool.

Patrick is such a little dear. We spent a lot of time trying to get smiles out of him while my parents were here.

Patrick was the highlight of what turned out to be a really boring kids' show we went to.

Bradley loves his little brother SO much. Here's an unrelated video of brother loves and then pictures at the show.

I love having such cute kids to cuddle!

Snuggles were really the name of the game during this visit.

Snuggles quickly turned to rough housing around Grandpa though.

We let my dad experience the joy of reading the Dr. Seuss ABC book to the kids. Eleanor yells about various favorite colors and will continue yelling on each and every page until what she has said has been acknowledged.

Grandpa also got to experience story obsessed Bradley, who loves nothing better than to have someone make up stories for him. When you tell stories to Bradley you receive many plot suggestions, most of which concern blue ponies, blue t-rexes, blue eggs, etc. Bradley has started telling stories of his own now, I had him tell one to Patrick earlier tonight. It went like this:

Bradley: "Once upon a time there was a wolf. And he ate all the sheep!"
Me: "Did anyone save the sheep?"
Bradley: "No. The wolf was hungry."

Bradley stories get dark really fast.

Bradley continues to be obsessed with ring around the rosie.

My mom worked on taking photos for her latest "nerd book" about waves. We love these books, she always get a copy which the kids beg to read because there are pictures of themselves through the whole thing.

Part of the book called for Eleanor and Bradley using calculators and when the time came to move on to the next thing someone foolishly tried to take the new amazing thing covered with buttons away from Eleanor and she screamed bloody murder until it was returned to her. We really pick our battles around Eleanor these days, she is willing to fight tooth and nail for what she wants. 

Patrick got props too. Patrick is great at physics.

Eleanor loved riding bikes with Grandpa

And we made some beautiful memories playing Candyland for the first time. The box says it's ages three and up and I have a three year old, I really thought we could do this. Whoops. We may try again in about a year.

And for our last day with the grandparents we played around in the backyard in the sunshine and Grandpa took his life in his hands by helping the kids play with water guns.

Classic Bradley hug tackle

Such a fun visit. We managed to do quite a bit even though we were limited by not being able to go outside when it was too hot for baby Patrick.

Sweet photo of grandkids with grandparents

Second best group photo

I've been keeping us busy even when we don't have family here visiting. We recently discovered a new park and in the two times we've been there the kids have required baths afterward both times. Once for getting covered in muddy sand and another time for playing in creek water. Good times!

And many thanks to my Aunt Diana for all the cool new UC Santa Cruz Banana Slug shirts for the kids. They're currently our go-to bedtime attire since they're still a little big on the kids.

 

And one last Eleanor story: I put Eleanor down for a nap and told her I needed to go to the bathroom so I could leave her room (it's our standard excuse to leave). She cheerily said "good luck!" and then repeated herself until I acknowledged her by saying "thank you." It's nice to have a daughter that hopes for the best for her mommy.

And one last Patrick photo. Nathan sent me a text of this photo of Patrick asleep during tummy time on a bath mat during Bradley and Eleanor's bath. I call this photo: third child.

Poor kid.