Tuesdays with Charlie | Little Acorns.

Little Acorns* was a favorite activity of ours last spring and summer. The photo booth, the train, story time, the toys, wishes in the fountain and even an occasional lunch out. 

Thinking today might be our first and last Little Acorns for this season, I was happy we managed to do all of those things.

the "Easter-ish" photo booth

the train - favorite car this season is a closed one

toys on the lawn

making a wish

grilled cheese ... only when he's out to lunch (with me!)

...and then I was most happy for a nice rest while Charlie took a long nap.

But the light of my day was working a sticker puzzle (from my mom) and then asking Charlie to smile so we could text Gramma a thank you. that smile.

Thank you for all your good wishes for smooth transitions this week. Your warm, virtual hugs are a big help!

*Tuesday morning playtime at the outdoor mall near our house. They setup a few Little Tykes-like toys, play very kid-friendly music on the loudspeakers and find local businesses to sponsor activities like face painting and coloring.

100 Days of Finding Light.

Long story* short, I'm all in for this year's #the100dayproject. I'm going to explore light - my one little word for 2017.

Specifically, I'm planning to fill in this blank

Monday morning

today and for the next 99 days.

I have three of those "I find light ____" post-it notes - one on my bathroom mirror (above), one in my planner and one on the calendar on my desk.

Today, I found myself feeling lighthearted on the playground. There's nothing like a spring day with a toddler and a playground.

Tuesday morning

I just checked Instagram and see a few of y'all are participating in this challenge. I look forward to what we make and what we learn ... and sharing it.

Here's to 100 Days!

*Last year, I watched a few folks on Instagram play along with #the100dayproject and I thought "Yay, good for you!" This year, I saw the tags start to show up and thought "ok, another year" and "Yay, good for you!" ...until Saturday, when I (finally) read Honoré's post about April. I had a little time to explore the hashtag and what sort of unique hashtag I could make ... and by the time I went to bed I knew I wanted to participate. It wasn't until Sunday morning, when I watched Ali Edwards' OLW class video for April, that the whole thing clicked. and OH MY, I love it when stuff comes together like this.

Tuesdays with Charlie | Iggy Peck.

When Charlie pulled out the blocks last week, he said "let's play Iggy Peck". Ok! Last week's play mostly consisted of putting the blocks back into the box (I'll never complain about putting toys away, but really, it wasn't all that....fun).

But this week, I was treated to a "tall tower" that took at least 15 minutes to build :-) It was cool, too, that Charlie built it on the floor, so there was never any worry it might topple over.

I texted Katie one of those nearly-done photos and she replied "Type A? He loves to line things up and organize!" I'm thinking two-year old boys could do a lot worse!

Also, I'm always really happy that Charlie enjoys putting away the blocks just as much as loves dumping them out and playing with them.

And of course, if you play Iggy Peck, you want to read the book. But Iggy Peck is not on our shelves. We looked at the library (on-line) and couldn't find a copy there either.  But it's on the shelf in Charlie's room at home. We got there a few minutes early this afternoon and had time to read the book...

and be silly!

I love that Charlie is playing the character in a book. I have no idea what kind of book play I might've been doing at age 2, but I remember playing Laura (not Mary :-) from Little House on the Prairie in 4th grade.

I'd love to hear - what characters have you played? or did your kids play?

Sometimes Tuesdays.

...don't need any more words*.

*and I trust none of y'all will ask "why?" 😉

Tuesdays with Charlie | Pi(e) Day.

2017 has given me the gift of Valentine's Day and Pi Day with my favorite toddler. A BIG Thank You to Bonny for alerting me to this double goodness and then sharing a delicious recipe for Apple Hand Pies.

I'm honestly not sure Charlie even knew about Pie before today (and I'm positive he still doesn't know about Pi) - but I think he might remember now! We followed the recipe pretty much as written (except that I bought Pillsbury pie crusts). We peeled and chopped apples and then cooked them in butter with a little sugar and cinnamon. Charlie kept a healthy distance from the stove.

And was happy to find a spoon to put the filling into the waiting crusts.

Of course he loved watching the baking.

(this wave was for his mama)

Note that I have no photo of the unbaked pies to share ... here they are just out of the oven.

We waited until after nap to try one.

Wow! It was delicious.

yep, was...

Pi Day is still relatively new for me. I learned about it from Katie and Sara who both took pies into math class during high school. I guess it's a big deal at Georgia Tech, too. I got a big kick out of their Instagram feed today, giving away pies. The rest of my Instagram feed has been (mostly) full of knitting, pies and snow. Of course on any day it's mostly full of knitting. The pies are fun. and for all of you with snow, I wish I could share one of our pies with you! Stay warm!

Tuesdays with Charlie | Big Trucks.

Today's library outing got off to a weird start. The first book that Charlie chose featured the Jewel Fairies and a costume ball. The second was about Strawberry Shortcake (I didn't know she had books) and had a good message, but saying "berry" in place of "very" started to bother me a lot by the end.

I was happy to spot the 75th anniversary edition of Mike Mulligan and that's the book we brought home. We both enjoyed the story. I have a new appreciation for the book, too; I love how the words and illustrations play together on the pages. Matthew Broderick narrates a bonus free download. Highly recommended all around.

After nap, we took a walk to check out the construction site next door. Marc had suggested Charlie might find the new driving range "fun and interesting" and he was right. Excavators, dump trucks, bulldozers and tractors. If it hadn't started to rain, we probably could've stayed for an hour.

Hoping next week's weather is nice. I might bring chairs.

Happy Tuesday!