Family Friendly Concert in the French Quarter

Last Friday we went to a family friendly concert in the French Quarter. We had been to this concert series before and had fun. This time Chance was the only little kid though there were a few other people just no children. He had a great time picking out which instruments to play and then he would pick one out for me, then half way through the song we would switch. They have this concert once per month so we will probably be going back in February.
Here are a couple pictures of him playing the washboard, cute!

Acrobatics, Yoga and Fun Class

I had heard good things about City Park Movement and Art and turned out we even know one of the little girls that also takes classes there so we decided to sign Chance up for a couple classes this month to see what he thinks. The first class was an Acrobatics, Yoga and Fun class which he will be taking every Thursday. The classes are drop off classes, that's right we don't stay with him, we just drop him off and then come back to get him 45 minutes later. It's a big step, different than anything we have done before but I am liking doing it in little steps, 45 minutes at a time.
Since with was the first class I stayed, just to see what goes on in a class and to make sure Chance was comfortable. Just like every other class we have ever taken Chance started out right by my side, then he moved to his yoga mat and I moved over to sit against the wall. At first he didn't want to do anything but then about half way through he started opening up and by the end he didn't want to leave.

Here he is walking backwards down the blue line. It wasn't easy but Chance was pretty good at it.


After everyone walked and jumped along the blue line Miss Nikki pulled out the mat and everyone took turns doing somersaults, donkey kicks and cartwheels. Chance did a great job following direction, it was hard for me not to jump in to help a few times but he did a wonderful job all on his own with a little instruction from the teacher.


Below Chance does the donkey kick right on the first time.



Like I said Chance didn't want to leave when the class was over so we will definitely be back for the rest of the month and maybe next month if he is still into it. These classes work great for us since they run in one month cycles he can take fun classes and we still have the flexibility to travel as we do quite often.

Silly Boy

Last week we went to a playdate at a local coffee shop. Chance had a great time playing with his friends that he hadn't seen in a few weeks. When I asked him if I could take his picture he put on these glasses and gave me this face. He'll do what you ask him but he is going to do it his way.

Disney for Chance's Birthday

Playing inside Winnie-The-Pooh's house
For Chance's birthday this year we all went to Disney! It was Chance's first time at Disney World, we decided to hit the Magic Kingdom. At first Chance didn't know what was going on but as soon as he saw Cinderella's Castle he got excited, throughout the whole day he kept calling the castle disney world. We took it nice and easy, keeping busy but not pushing ourselves too hard. We rode the teacups and then It's A Small World. Waiting in line Chance didn't seem convinced that it would be worth it in the end but when he saw the little boat and realized we were getting in there he started getting into the whole experience.

Chance riding It's A Small World

We then Road the Carousel:


And the Winnie-The-Pooh ride before heading over to Tomorrowland. As we went along we let Chance help us pick what to go on next, as soon as he saw the race cars that was the only thing he wanted to do. Chance and Scott rode in a car together, they had tons of fun. Scott pushed the pedal and Chance got to steer, they bounced back and forth laughing the whole time.


Then we rode the People Mover (Rayna's favorite) and looked down upon all the people and other rides below.


All of us riding the People Mover
We finished the rounds in Tomorrowland then moved over to Adventure Land and Pirates of the Caribbean. Then we moved on to a ride with a little more speed, Chance was tall enough and really wanted to go so we then rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. It was lots of fun! Later we moved on to the Haunted Mansion which scared Chance a bit, he was whining and squished in between me and Scott. I put my hand over his eyes and told him he didn't have to look if he didn't want to but by the end he had pulled my hand away and was watching everything. When we walked out of the Haunted House he jumped up and down and said "I made it!"
This visit to Disney was so much fun and a great bonding experience for Scott and Chance. Every ride that was even a little bit scary or fast Chance requested to sit with Scott instead of me so that they could be brave together. It was so cute.
I see more trips to Disney in our future.

Spelling

The other day I was sitting at the computer and Chance asked to come over and type. So I opened notepad, he climbed on my lap and started to type. We have done this before and mostly he just types random keys and talks to me about what he is "typing". This day was a little different though, he kept talking about the zoo and telling me that he wanted to go. I told him that there really isn't the same kind of zoo here that we have in New Orleans and maybe we would go to the zoo when we got back to NOLA. He wasn't happy about this answer and after a minute he got really focused on his typing then pointed at the screen and said "I want to go to the zoo!"
When I looked up this is what I saw:


along with all his random typing, the word zoo.

Brrrrrrrr

Today I received a few pictures from Scott He is in Burlington, VT and the story pretty much tells itself.
From his Hotel:


From Work:

It looks cold but just beautiful (for a visit).

And a screen shot from the weather app on his phone:


He'll be able to thaw out on Wednesday, that's when he'll be home!

Bean Bag Chairs as a Bed?...Yep.

Three nights ago Chance said he wanted to sleep in his bean bag chairs. He has two that sit right next to his bed which is usually where Scott and I sit when we read Chance his bedtime stories. He climbed onto the the bean bag chairs and asked me to cover him up with this blankets, which I did, adding his little kitty and monkey that he always sleeps with and his flashlight and water. I was sure he was going to get up in five minutes or less asking me to tuck him into his bed but I was surprised. He went right to sleep, no noise no getting up at all. The next day he wanted to sleep on his bean bag chairs for nap so he did and then the next night for bedtime then nap then bedtime again. I don't know why he wants to sleep on his bean bag chairs but he is loving it for right now so we'll let him have this little bit of little kid fun as long as he goes to sleep with no issues. I snapped this picture last night when I walked through his room to go to bed, he's fast asleep.

A horrible accident

A few days ago Chance was playing in his room while Scott and I were hanging out in the living room. After a while I noticed that it got quiet in Chance's room so I went in to check it out. This is what I found, obviously a horrible accident happened here. Actually it was staged here, Chance's imagination is really taking off!

Hide and Seek

The other day we were playing Hide and Seek. It was my turn to count and his turn to hide. After counting to ten I came into his room to find this. He built himself a perfect hiding spot!

Anna Maria's Birthday Party

Last Saturday we went to Anna Maria's birthday party at Audubon Park. I had a good time talking to the Moms and eating the amazing tamales that her family made, I remembered them from last year.

Chance had a wonderful time playing with all the other kids and hit a little boy milestone. He played his first completely impromptu "football" game with the other little boys. The boys started it themselves with no help from parents. They took turns throwing the ball then all running after it.

They did such a wonderful job taking turns I was honestly amazed. Just watching them I was so proud (?), happy they were having such a good time.

After the game, it was time for the pinata! Everyone got a turn whacking it with the special stick Anna Maria's Mom. Chance made a few good hits, then after everyone had a turn one of the older boys went at it till the candy fell all over.

Chance picked out a bunch of chocolates since those are his favorite as we have learned since Halloween.

This is just a quick photo we took of ourselves while waiting as other kids took a turn hitting the pinata.