Musical Muffin Monday - December 13, 2010

Christian's personality has been changing a lot lately. He's becoming more assertive with what he wants, and more irritable when he doesn't get what he wants (I'll discuss his recent habit of meltdowns in public and visits to the "naughty corner" in another post).

Christian's teacher at school is out on maternity leave, and one of his most favorite people in the whole world, Miss Stephanie, has taken over for the next few weeks. Miss Stephanie seems to be the only other person with whom Christian will share his affections. It took him months to get comfortable enough with her ... but it's so easy to love Miss Stephanie. She's fun, outgoing, loveable ... we're really big fans of Miss Stephanie.

But it seems that Christian is so comfortable with her that he's now being defiant when she asks him to do something. In the past, he never needed any "redirecting" at school and now ... well ... it's a whole other story.

Likewise, today at music school, Christian wasn't too into any of it. He wasn't paying attention ... wasn't doing as the teacher asked him to do. Jonathan tried to get him to engage, but Christian wasn't interested.

Christian was like this last week, too. And so we think that his music school days are coming to an end. The teacher is really nice, but she's very quiet and doesn't have an energetic personality ... and Christian needs somebody who is energetic like he is. So, we have decided we need to find him something more interactive to do on Monday mornings. Shouldn't be too hard, as there's lots to do in Phoenix. The difficulty will be finding something that is fairly close to our house.

Wordless Wednesday - December 8, 2010

My Other Project - Custom Onesies

Ah, the Onesie ... one of the best baby / toddler inventions, ever. Christian had just about outgrown all his Onesies when I found 3T onesies at the store the other day!

In the past few months, I've had three pregnant friends and so when looking for something unique to give them, I decided to make some cute, custom onesies.

My most recent onesie project was for Christian's teacher. She was having a girl, but didn't like "girlie things" and told me she had decorated the baby's room in "baby skulls." So I set out for a way to decorate onesies with baby skulls ... and I succeeded!




I also went to a little craft fair, and found somebody else had my idea and had custom onesies with skull and cross bones. Although, her onesies feature original artwork, whereas mine are purchased iron-on transfers.

She charged $10.00 for one onesie. I paid less than that for four white onesies (plus the cost of all the iron-on transfers, of course). So, if I were ambitous enough, I could make several of them and sell them on Etsy.

Still pondering that opportunity.

And I happened to come across an adorable Hello Kitty iron-on transfer, so I made a shirt for myself, too! :)

My Little Furniture Project

There's a blog I absolutely L.O.V.E.: "Better After" (check it out under my favorite blog list on the right).

I love seeing how people transform an ugly piece of furniture (or a room) into something absolutely dreamy. And I vowed that if I ever came across a piece of furniture I though had potential, I'd try my hand at refurbishing it.

And so I walked into the Goodwill store in Scottsdale when we were in that part of the Valley. This particular Goodwill store is the first of its kind: it's sole focus is furniture.

And that is where I found this little treasure and paid just $18.00 for it!

I love the shape of it, and the metal grate on the door. And it just screamed, "Fix me!" Much to my surprise, Jonathan was on-board with the idea of turning this piece into our little treasure.

So we bought a smaller sander, and I got to work.

We're trying to figure out where it'll go ... and the location will help to deside what color I paint it.

I'm thinking some shade of white, and then I can "glaze" the various grooves and scrolls to make them stand out.

The exciting thing is that my favorite catalog, "Ballard Designs," sells similar pieces of furniture from $300 and up ... and I paid a mere $18.00.

So stay tuned for the final reveal of my handiwork!!

Wordless Wednesday - December 1, 2010

Musical Muffin Monday - November 29, 2010

Wordless Wednesday - November 24, 2010

Musical Muffin Monday - November 22, 2010

Today was another installment of "Muffin Monday Mommy Style," as Jonathan had to work today.

Our morning started off with breakfast at Mimi's. And then music school and then a visit to Barnes and Noble. Christian loves their kids' books section ... but Mommy forgot about their Wall o' Thomas (the train). Christian got really mad when I pried him away from the Thomas wall for a bathroom break ... and then really mad a bit later when I told him it was time to go (and without the two trains he so desperately wanted).

He cried and screamed as we walked through the store and it was terribly embarassing. But I just stayed calm and quiet as we made our way to the door (there was nothing I could possibly say to calm him down - except for buy him something, which wasn't going to happen).

We got outside and the fit continued. He plopped down onto the sidewalk and intentionally banged his forehead into the sidewalk and looked up for my reaction. I did my best to not give him a reaction, and told him I was going to keep on walking. Well, that made him really, really mad ... so, I decided it was simply time for us to get into the car and go home.

Ah, to be the parent of a three year old ... it's not always easy.

Christian's Birthday Tricycle

Christian's Granny and Grandpa gave him a beautiful, shiney red tricycle with chrome fenders. His first words? "A tricycle ... silly, silly tricycle!" It was so cute ... and I'm glad I captured the moment on video to share with ya'll!

We're working with him on how to use the pedals. For the past two years, he's been riding his "Okey Dog" (the green bike he's riding in the video before he sees the tricycle), and the Okey dog doesn't have pedals. So for now, he's still using his feet to propel the tricycle.

They Okey Dog also didn't have a front wheel that turns, so Christian is having fun being more in control of where the tricycle goes.

Our thanks to Granny and Grandpa for the "silly, silly tricycle"!

Click the photo collage to enlarge

Wordless Wednesday - November 15, 2010

Musical Muffin Monday - November 15, 2010

Click to enlarge

This Kid ...

. . . has a knack for making a big ol' mess.

I put Christian down for a nap in a clean, organized room each day (and each night at bedtime, for that matter). Lately, it's been taking him a long time to fall asleep at naptime (and some days, he does't fall asleep at all).

These days, I always hear some sort of raucous in his room during naptime, but I've learned that it is best for me to just leave him alone. If I open the door and he's sees me, it's all over ... he comes up with a whole list of things, "Read a book!" "Read Sneetches!" "Where's Thomas?" "Where's Bella?" "Take the boys to the track!" "Let's practice!"

His mattress is in two sections and he likes to take out the smaller section and play with the wood slats underneath the mattress (fortunately, they are connected by fabric bands so all he can do is slide them around and make noise). I wised up today and switched the larger portion around with the smaller portion ... and that at least kept his mattress on his bed for today (although, he did TRY to take out the mattress ... the bedding was lifted up).

The other day, he even managed to get his side railing off the bed (which has since been fixed).

It took him a long time to get to sleep today and so I peeked in on him after it was quite in there for a long time and found this disaster:

Geeze, it looks like a crime scene! See him in the bed with the black pillow over his head? And the sticker on his thigh ... looks like he found a sheet of stickers, too. I'm sure I'll find stickers all over the place when he wakes up later.

Welcome to three. The age of adventure, experimentation, resourcefulness and messiness.

Christian Turns Three!

Our little bundle of joy turns three today. He's still an absolute bundle of joy, but he's not so little anymore! I've been looking back at various pics of Christian over the past three years and I'm just amazed at how much he's grown, and how much he's changed.

Here's just a small sample of the literally hundreds (or thousands?) of photos we have of our boy wonder.

Today Sprout aired Christian's birthday card! I was so delighted to see the card on TV ... and watching the clip makes me cry every time!

You can also see the card online at http://www.sproutonline.com/sprout/birthday-party-center/birthdaycards.aspx. If you don't see Christian's card, be sure to click on the calendar at the top and go to November 2nd.

A Boy and His Papa

October Festivities

October sure was a fun month for the Lucero family!

For the first time, Christian went trick or treating. I had only planned to take him to two neighbors' houses, but he was having so much fun that we kept on going!

As you may know, we don't give Christian candy. The last thing a toddler needs to eat is sweets - toddlers are energetic enough on their own, thank you very much. But I know that at school, the kids are occasionally given some kind of candy (i.e., a small KitKat bar). And that is okay, I suppose .. as long as Christian doesn't come to expect it from us.

So the Friday before Halloween, his school had Halloween festiviites and he came home will a bag that had a few pieces of candy. He took out the DumDum lollypop and licked it with the wrapper on and said, "Delicious woddypop!" As you can imagine, he very quickly figured out that the wrapper comes off, and licking the ball on the end of the stick is even better!

What's a mommy to do? Let the kiddo enjoy his first lollypop, of course!

However, when we arrived home and it was naptime, I had to take the lollypop away and whoooooooooooooooo Lordy! MELTDOWN!

Here are some photos of trick or treating ... and Christian eating his second lollypop after getting home.




We visited a local farm to check out the fun. Pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere! This is the same farm we went to last year when Christian squatted down and picked up a pumpkin, much to our surpirse! I'll have to create a side by side photo.



We sat down to carve pumpkins ... certain Chrstian would be interested. Nope. He was more interested in playing with his trains. Sooo typical! I made a "cheeseburger" pumkin ... inspired our nieces.

Christian received his first ever non-birthday party invitation! It was given by one of his classmates at a local park. One of the activites was cookie decorating. In front of Christian was a platter of "decorations": M&Ms, marshmallows, candy corn, mini Oreos, etc. I showed Christian he could put the deocrations on his cookie and he somehow realized the were edible ... and he grabbed a candy corn and put it in his mouth ... and liked it instantly. Same thing with the mini marshmallows. So what's a mommy to do? Let him enjoy!

It's no wonder that he walked up to me yesterday and said, "Want CANDY. Want CANDY!"

And so it beings. But hey, I got away with no candy in the first three years of his life. :)

Is That the Cat in the Hat??

Wordless Wednesday - October 27, 2010

Musical Muffin Monday - October 25, 2010

Musical Muffin Monday - October 18, 2010

Christian and Jonathan have just returned home from the second installment of Musical Muffin Monday. Jonathan told me Christian was much more comfortable today and had a great time!

I can just envision what happend in the photo below: Christian saw the camera, said "Cheese" and smiled his big ol' "camera smile" with a mouthful of muffin.

Cracks me up every time he does it! :)

Christian's Birthday Card for "Sprout"

PBS has a channel for preschoolers and younger called "Sprout." Christian LOVES Sprout ... especially a show called "Caillou" which is about the adventures of a little kid named, you guessed it, "Caillou."

Each day, Sprout shows birthday cards that parents have made and sent in to the show for their kiddos. So, I made Christian a card. I wasn't sure if I'd get it done in time ... but I did!

It is a big card - 8 1/2 x 11. The card needs to be big enough and colorful enough to show up on TV nicely ... and has to feature at least one of the characters from Sprout. So, I picked Caillou!

I started off with blue cardstock, and painted clouds on it. Added Caillou and some sparkley balloons, glitter letters, a picket fence and some plants/flowers/butterflies/bees.

Here's the front:

On the inside, I painted more clouds, more glitter letters, more sparkley balloons (and stars!) a red glitter border and a recent picture of him. All the sparkles problaby won't show up on TV really well ... but that is okay.

So, if you get Sprout on cable or DirectTV ... you just might see his card! I can't wait! :)

Here's the inside of the card.

Musical Muffin Monday

Today was the first installment of "Musical Muffin Monday" because today was the first day of Music School!

Although he was a bit apprehensive when the class began, Christian enjoyed himself and Jonathan says Christian will really enjoy himself next week for his second class, because he'll be more comfortable adn have a better idea of what to expect.

Christian got to play with the keyboard, drums, bells and cymbals ... and sing songs. Great fun for a kiddo his age!

Enjoying a Nice Weekend

We Luceros had a nice weekend. We are so thankful the temps have finally cooled down!

On Saturday, Jonathan worked hard to "scalp" the lawn in preparation for planting the gorgous, lush green grass we dream off all summer. Sure, we had a green grass all summer, but that was Bermuda grass. Rye grass is the winter grass, and it's what dreams are made of. I've watched our community parks get scalped down to nothing in the past couple of weeks, only to start growing the rye grass in just a few short days.

While Jonathan worked on the yard, Christian and I headed for a park a few blocks away. We had a great time listening to music and dancing, looking at trees and butterflies, and Christian had a great time with his soccer ball.

Sunday, we went out for breakfast and ran some errands together. Christian is lots of fun to take out these days because he has a lot to say ... about everything. Sometimes he gets really excited and talks very loudly and so I need to remind him to use his inside voice when we're at a restaurant or cafe. He makes us laugh in the car, in the store, in the restaurant ... everywhere! He's so full of wonder and it's fun to look at the world from his perspective.

Enjoy a short video of Christian with his soccer ball!