Mommy and Evan playtime while Coop naps!

While Cooper takes his morning naps on the days E doesn't go to school, I've tried to make it some special Mommy and Evan time and do some of the things we can't normally do while Cooper is around....getting into everything! So lately, we have had some fun with art time - playing with water colors, which E seems to be having more fun with it lately - I think he's creative side is starting to emerge as well as his imagination. He used to like to tell me what colors to use and watch me draw, but now he loves drawing "pictures" on his own. He loves to draw circles and "dinosaurs". Everything seems to be about dinosaurs lately.

We also had some fun doing some face painting with the watercolors too....the messier the more fun....isn't it always that way with boys!?!?!
One day we had some fun baking blueberry muffins. As everyone well knows, I am by no means a baker, so the most fun my child has is breaking out the box kind and hand mixing up the ingredients (I don't even own a mixer....how horrible is that!!). Regardless of my lack of baking skills, we had a great time and I think my little helper loved eating the batter more than mixing and pouring!

We also made the most of a rainy day one day. Evan loves to be outside any chance I will let him (since I rarely let him out due to the heat and mosquitos) so rain or no rain, he was taking advantage of me letting him have some outside time. We decided splashing in the puddles would be fun, so I let him splash to his hearts content. He had the best time ever....again it's just the little things sometimes that are the most fun!! Forget the hundreds of dollars of toys inside, just give the kid a puddle and it is total entertainment for the next 45 minutes. For the next week, all I heard was "Mommy, is there rain to make puddles to splash?"

Doesn't the shirt say it all?!?! Another one of E's latest favorites is getting to play with these rocks we picked up at the fish store the other day. We went to pick up some new fish for E's tank and after taking a gander at the fish (rather quickly), he became engrossed with the rocks (of course!) that they sell for filling up the bottom of the aquariums. They came in all different colors, so we decided we'd get a scoop of each color and maybe play some games with them....maybe sorting colors or counting or just some good ol' fashion "dipping" (E's word for scooping...not sure where he came up with that one!). And one week later, the rocks still provide tons of entertainment....all 581 of them (yes, we counted them all!). It's actually quite funny because we told him he could not play with them while Cooper was awake because he could possibly get one and swallow it, so he was only allowed to play with the rocks when Cooper took his naps....so now when he's itching to get the rocks out he says "Mom, Cooper is tired - he needs to sleep...and then we can play with rocks, okay!" He is such a little stinker sometimes...actually most of the time!
And as always, just some fun coloring is always a great past time. Of course, I think he enjoys taking the caps off of the markers and putting them back on, more than actually drawing a picture. Whatever, as long as he is having fun, that is all that matters, right?!?