I love that they take it outside although I kind of wish I got to choose a cheesy background.

Maybe in Kindergarten. A gal can dream.

Its a work in progress

This app is awesome and free. You pick what you want to bake – cookies, cupcakes, layer cakes. Then mix the batter, pour it into the pan and bake it. When its done you take it out and decorate with frosting and candies. There are about a million different choices. Then you EAT IT. Its super fun and cute. It only says “Easy-Bake” twice during the whole thing so its not even that offensive of an advertisement. He begs me to play this game all day long.

Team Umizoomi Math $6.99

Team Umizoomi is one of Asher’s favorite shows and this is a great app that he loves. It teaches counting, numbers, shapes and patterns.

Zoo Train $1.99

This was one of the first apps we bought for Asher so he’s had it over a year. He still plays with it all the time. Its got 4-5 different things you can do and they all involve trains and animals. There is puzzle games and spelling and its pretty cute.

Trucks $1.99

This was just released but the developer makes tons of apps that we really like. Asher took to this right away but if your kid isn’t so into trucks definitely check out their others. They are simple but very entertaining.

Don’s Let the Pigeon Run This App $6.99

As huge Mo Willems fans this was an instant hit. The pic above is Asher’s drawing of The Pigeon that Mo talks you through as part of the game. The app has various levels of interactivity, perfect for different ages. Asher even made up a game we play based on the stories in the app. He is super into it.

Runners up
Harold and the Purple Crayon
Angry Birds
Anything by toca boca
Super Why
Monster at the End of This Book
Easy Coloring
Dora ABCs

Using Chopsicks

Asher loves sushi, yes the raw fish kind. I know its weird but he’s always loved lox so I guess its not all that surprising. Since little kids aren’t really supposed to eat it I only let him have 1 piece of salmon sushi with his miso and edamame. After unsuccessfully trying the 2 handed chopsticks method I started putting together these kids chopsticks and he is really getting the hang of it! It makes for a very serious dinnertime. Pretty damn cute though.

Identifying Coins

Asher likes to tell you which coin he is putting in his bank, his favorite is the quarter.

Juicing Oranges

Also a very serious activity. I picked up this little juicer because I HATE squeezing lemons by hand and it seemed like a fun thing for Asher. It is. He loves it. Do you see how hard he is concentrating??!!! Its a little hands on for moi – I took it out thinking he could do it himself while I’m cooking but not really. He doesn’t push hard enough yet but I just let him do all the pieces on his own (cut into 8ths) and then go back and quickly squeeze them all when he is done.  Still a good time waster of an activity and he gets a cup of fresh juice at the end.

Shaving

Matthew impulse purchased this bathtime shaving kit and it has saved us from many a bathtime meltdown. He used to shave side to side but he’s really getting the hang of it. (why so serious?) (also yes, our shower has wood paneling. I’m gonna let that sit with you for a minute)

Checkers

Our landlords/upstairs neighbors have 2 grandsons close in age to Asher, he is actually right in between them. Sometimes the older guy sleeps over on Friday nights and we play on the stoop with him but one day they went inside and learned how to play checkers.

Every word to every song ever written

His song of the moment is “Leaving on a Jet Plane” – this clip is from a couple weeks ago, now he can sing all the way through the first chorus without prompting. The best is when he’s playing with his blocks and he just starts belting it out. He was very interested to learn that the Paul who sings this song is a different Paul from the one that sings Hey Jude.

Other learny stuff he’s been obsessed with, for the archives:
Counting to 100
Distinguishing dinosaur carnivores vs “obovores”
Identifying the sound of musical instruments
Naming different types of flowers (I need someone to make an app)
Who sings which Beatles song
What subway goes where

The week went fast. Jackie came over a couple of times, Asher went to preschool and music class. Ramona stopped by. Friday I took him to soccer then Tim came for dinner and Asher talked his ear off and taught him all about his favorite app.

On Saturday Asher and I headed over to the yearly ‘touch-a-truck‘ fundraiser at a local elementary school. I asked if he wanted to go inside a fire truck and that seemed to pique his interest, then I explained where we were going and he was pretty excited. He dubbed it the Truck Factory.

They closed down the block of the school and parked the trucks out front. This is what we were in store for:

• FDNY fire truck
• Ambulance
• NYPD police car
• Dump truck
• DSNY Garbage truck
• Tow Truck
• School bus
• Bucket trucks/cherry pickers
• Sean Casey Animal Adoption Van
• Concrete mixer
• Green-Wood Cemetery Trolley

As you can tell by his extremely smiley face in every picture it was…very exciting stuff. We ran into Gabriel and got a cookie in the shape of a truck. The lines to “drive” the trucks were crazy so it probably would have been smarter to bring another grown up. Asher was not interested in waiting in any lines. Not even for frites and meats!

He had a crazy good time just hanging out at the back of the firetruck though. I had to pull him out of there.

On our way out there was a bonus fire truck parked at the entrance with a bunch of yawny firemen just waiting around. There was no line so Asher went into the truck to talk to the firemen and check it out. Just as I plopped him on the front of the truck for the best photo op ever the guy we were talking to said “We gotta run” and threw his jacket on and 30 seconds later they were pulling away.

We got out of there and had a quiet evening watching tv and playing with cars. Is there anything cuter than an almost 3 year old hanging out in a helmet?

Here they are at 4 months

And about 2 1/2 years later…

Sarah took these pics, aren’t they great! I wish he’d smile like that for me.

Asher loves painting at his easel and usually asks to paint every day, sometimes twice. Its…so messy…but he’s really good about getting on his smock and he tries so hard not to spill anything on the floor. How could I say no? Yesterday he was dipping his hand in the (dirty) water to clean it (?) and as I was about to suggest that we just go wash up in the sink he plunged his second hand into the tiny cup and gross dark blue murky water came flowing over the side of the easel and onto everything.

Well, ya live, ya learn and he’s gotta learn so we live.

“Its ok mommy, its just an akident”

(He will say this 400x in 10 minutes.)

He has been very interested in mixing colors so we’ve been doing a bunch of experimenting. He thinks its SO COOL that red and blue make purple. I may sound a bit over-excited in this video but hello, we both went to art school. It was a proud moment for us when he mixed up a bunch of orange. Tear.

We hit the Museum of Natural History last week and met up with Allison, Olive and Matilda. Not sure what Asher was more psyched about – seeing “my friend named Olive but sometimes I call her Ollie” or actually checking out the dino bones.

We took the subway, there’s an entrance to the museum inside the subway station and we got there at 10, right as the museum opens. Easy peasy.

As we were paying for our tickets Asher said to the security guard standing nearby “I never seen a dinosaur before!”

We found our friends up on the dinosaur floor and pretty much just walked around up there the entire time. It was crowded due to spring break but the kids had a ton of fun. Allison and I joked that we could have just met outside at a park bench (FOR FREE) and they would be happy but really, it was great. If you are going to visit a big gigantic museum full of cool things to see I HIGHLY recommend doing it with one of your best buddies.

On our way out we stumbled into the planetarium (they are attached and there is no sign) and when Asher looked up and saw planets he almost lost his shit. Of course we were On. Our. Way. Out. so we’ll have to go back. He was in awe. Not super pleased to leave but we were all so hungry.

We grabbed lunch to go across the street at shake shack and then really did sit on a park bench and hung out for a while near the time capsule. Very fun day with our very fun friends!

Plus I’ve been multi-tasking in other areas. I can fold laundry while I watch The Vampire Diaries.

Last week Asher had his spring break from school so Tuesday morning we took advantage of the free admission to the brooklyn botanic garden.  Ramona joined us and we had tons of fun exploring. Its really an amazing place. We are SO lucky to live in walking distance.