Team i6 Takes on The Reading Rainbow

Butterfly in the sky 
I can go twice as high 

Take a look 

It's in a book 

A Reading Rainbow

And now I present to you... a cute video of Linc reading with Mama before bedtime.

It is at bedtime that I read no less than 13 books to Lincoln before he will crawl into bed.  Here is his reading list so far.  All are Lincoln approved!


1. Baby Bear Baby Bear
2. Barnyard Dance
3. The Going to Bed Book
4. Doggies
5. My First Passover
6. Baby Food (this is the one from the video, he loves it)
7. Trucks
8. Things that Go
9. The Very Hungry Caterpillar
10. Emergency!
11. It's Tu B'Shevat
12. Find the Duck
13. Goodnight Sh'ma (we read this one last every night)

And even once I leave the room he can be heard & seen on the monitor reading to his monkey or bear depending on the night.  I am certain he will grow up to be a bookworm just like his Daddy!

Team i6 Takes on Week 107

Here is what's nouveau à la Chez Isaacs:

Lincoln continues to have a packed social calendar...and so we have little down time on the weekends with playdates packed into a schedule of running errands and cleaning. 

Saturday we spent the morning running errands and we all got new tennis shoes! Yay!  This was a much needed task, that I think I was the only one excited about completing it.

After naptime we got our Udvar Hazy on with The Aldersons as we headed to the Dulles Air & Space Muesum after 4pm (when it is free & relatively empty).  Linc sounded a bit like like he belonged on Fantasy Island, he ran around saying "look a plane, look a plane" every few seconds "look a plane".  He was quite excited!

And then we saw this, which might have excited Linc most of all. 

Their World Famous Bucket Truck Exhibit

After that we headed out for some Pho & it was just one more sucessful Isaacs/Alderson dinner outting, all 7 of us.  We didn't seem to disrupt the dining establishment too much, though they didn't have enough high-chairs (luckily the Aldersons brought a booster seat).  Linc seemed to like the Pho broth & he loved the spoons.  I must remember to pick some up the next time we are at the Asian market they are perfect for toddlers.

Sunday Lincoln & Daddy went to Gymboree while I made our last trip to BJ's Wholesale club since our membership expires soon.  We needed to stock up on some essentials.  Then we metup with Linc's friend's The N's and had lunch out at The Green Turtle and took the boys to the mall afterwards to ride the train and play at the kids area before we headed home for naptime (even though it was pretty non-existent).  The boys had a great time hanging out & playing.  Mommy fail, I didn't snap a single picture of all the fun. :(

Todd & I both had really busy schedules at work this week so Lincoln spent a little more time than normal at daycare.  A week like this always make me a little sad because we cherish every second we get to spend with the little guy, but also makes me so grateful that we have childcare that is A) reliable and B) is an awesome place that Linc loves to be & has so many friends at!

Thursday night we were able to kick back and relax with our friends The G's and their little girl J and we made Linc's first trip to Chuck E. Cheese.  He loved it so much that he pretty much refused to eat while we were there.  There was just too much to see and do, we managed to get him to take like two bites of pizza and drink a cup of milk.

Linc & Miss J Cruisin'

Geekdad's Corner (after a 'brief' hiatus) #1001

After too long a pause, Geekdad's corner is back. I know, I know. I should have posted sooner, I was even thinking of making a post last Wednesday (in solidarity) that would have looked like this: You have too much time on your hands if you highlighted this to remove the redacting. But I wasn't sure how many of our loyal readers (besides Will) would get it.



On the technology front, Lincoln continues to amaze. He has nearly mastered his mommy's iPhone and can bring up and interact with (kid friendly) apps. And like all i6 males, he is hypnotized by cartoons (which is pretty handy when he is 'all-done' at a restaurant - and Mommy & Daddy are not). He still pretends pretty much everything with buttons is a phone (calculators included, but who besides his Grammy has one of those). Linc video chats like a pro and probably will grow up thinking that it is customary to have most long distance phone calls as video instead of voice only.

In spite of all this (and luckily so), he is more than happy to play with his wooden trains, or color with crayons & chalk. I guess technology is so integrated in his life that he doesn't think a toy is cooler just because it is battery powered, all toys are just different types of fun.

This next section is for the geeks out there so I won't be too offended if you just stop reading...



Lincoln Says:



 

Are they all gone? Okay, let's get a little dorky. 

I was looking at the Google provided Stats for this blog, and a few interesting trends emerged. The two most obvious were that viewership peaks on Friday night / Saturday and the most common traffic referring URL is http://cyndiandmatt.blogspot.com. (Though http://tandaisaacs.blogspot.com could catch up with increased promotion of this site). There are a few surprises as well. 

The first is that we have a (barely) international audience. With nearly 13 thousand pageviews, we also have a few visitors from across the globe (at least according to their IP address). Not really sure what a good explanation is, besides bad IPs or crawlers. Maybe you all need your teami6 fix on vacation, or we're the Hasselhoffs of the blogosphere.

Country                                                                         PageViews

Canada 28 China 22 Germany 21 Spain 18 Japan 18 France 17 Russia 17 Brazil 12 Netherlands 10

Breaking all visitors down by web browser and operating system (CONUS included), our viewership (you guys) is split between Internet Explorer, Firefox, & Safari (with IE taking the biggest chunk). Chrome had a much smaller slice. I would have thought it would be larger, but I guess people are still moving from IE->Firefox->Chrome, instead of just making the leap to Chrome. Unsurprisingly, Windows was the main Operating System used to access our site (70%!), with iDevices next, and Android bringing up the rear.

The last gem I'll leave you with (if you are still with me after all that talk of browsers and O/S's) is a dissection of our Most Popular Posts (MPPs). The first thing that's notable here, is that people are interested in comparing 'Current Lincoln' to 'Year-a-go Lincoln', so a post from around that same time the previous year floats into the list of MPPs. Then other people click on it and it hits that tipping-point where it gets pushed to the tops of the MPPs and gets even more views. This doesn't happen every week, but I have seen this phenomena quite a few times.

Other MPPs include the Fortune Cookie picture that Stacie linked to from an apparently popular "How did you tell your family that you were pregnant" post on another blog. The MPPs also constantly contain one about a certain farm which I won't name here (but also sounds like an inappropriate word). I don't know if people were searching for the farm, or for the item identified by the alternate spelling (both which would be quite a few google pages in) but that post (Fall for Lincoln) was constantly getting pageviews until we removed the name of the farm. It still gets hits (and I am sure will get more since I pointed you towards it). Maybe we made one of those 'awkward family photo top ten sites' or something.

It is one of the great mysteries of this blog I'm not sure I'll figure out...

Team i6 Takes on Week 106

Hey Party People...it's Friday!  We made it through this crazy long week (well, it was for me I didn't get Monday off like Todd & Lincoln)! 

Anywho, here what's new at Casa de Isaacs':

We had a good weekend filled with cleaning and organization.  Our main level is now looking a little more under control in the toy department.  At some point our entertainment center and surrounding areas became overrun with toys.  Partially that is due to us needing to take inventory & weed out the baby toys, and the other part is well, let's face it we aren't working with an abundance of space here.  So we took a trip to Target and came back with a few items to help us organize a little.  A nice & new pretty-yet-functional basket to set in the living room where Linc can pickup and store all his toys before we head upstairs for bedtime each evening.  Mommy is very pleased.

Linc Scaling a Fire Truck

Sunday we had our new level 5 Gymboree class that focuses more on imaginative play and it was pretty cool.  Linc took little bit to get the hang of some of the games but once he figured it out he was right in the thick of it.  The theme for the week was Fire Trucks, which was PERFECT for him right now as he is obsessed with Fire Trucks.  After all that fun we went and toured a preschool at our Synagogue and Linc had fun exploring all the classrooms and playing with play dough.  Then lunch, then nap, then some fun with an alligator he grew himself(Thanks Aunt Cyn).

Lincoln had his 2yr check up with our favorite Dr. S on Tuesday morning.  He was such a happy little man and he was happy to see Dr. S & she was happy to see him.  She said he is developing just perfectly and is right on track and a little ahead in some areas!  He was of course his charming & inquisitive little self.  Here are his stats:



Paging Dr Lincoln

 Head Circumference: 19ins
Weight: 29lbs

Length: 36ins

And it was at this appointment that we broached the topic of "Operation: No More Paci" and it was Dr. S's suggestion to go ahead and do it now.  That was all Daddy needed to hear to make it happen that night.  Gah, so we, er Daddy went for it - see post below - and so now I will give you a quick Night 3 update.  Definitely worse than Nights 1 & 2...there was quite a bit more crying and it took us until 9:30pm to get him to sleep but Daddy did it.  He was cuddled up with his new Trucks book that he loves, good buy btw if you happen to be in the market for a book about Trucks.


We are looking forward to a relaxing weekend, though we are sad we aren't going to have the Isaacs' Fam in town like we had planned.  We will be counting down the day until their rescheduled visit in February.  

Team i6 Takes on "Operation: No More Paci"

To be honest I was not 100% on board with this Op, but I knew it needed to be done so Daddy took the initiative to lead the extraction team.  He collected all of Linc's paci's and cut the tips off. 

Lincoln has taken it like a champ though.  Previously, he only asked for his paci at night after he had his pjs on and was in bed or just right before, and he would leave it in his bed as soon as he was up.  He still asks for his paci and we have been giving him the cut ones.  He will suck on it a little, then will chew on it some, then will take it out and just hold it. 

Night 1:  Not too horrible, for him...for Mommy it was awful (just ask Todd, I was pathetic, I know)  Linc was finally able to settle himself down with some help from Daddy only 1.5hrs later than normal.  Dr. S said that the second night is usually worse than the first and that is why people give up.  Great...we were totally looking forward to that.

Night 2:  Actually it was not that bad, Linc was up in his room and in his jammys in record time and we were reading books by 7:45pm.  By 8 I had told him night night, put him in his bed, kissed his kepi and left the room.  He put up a bit of a fight, ie whining & wallowing around his bed for about 15min, then he was out for the count.  Now who knows how Night 3 is gonna go tonight.  Watch for a update to come in the weekly post.

I know for a fact that I have cried more than Lincoln has about this.  I can't even really explain it except that "he's all growns up and he's growns up and he's growns up"...

 

Goodbye dear paci, you will be missed...

January 8, 2010 - January 17, 2012

Team i6 Takes on Week 105

I am about to rock all y'alls boats.  That's right.
Today marks this blog's first weekly post in a non-weekly post format.   

We are calling it quits (or at least taking a break) with the old questionnaire format.  It was getting a little stale and I was really relying too much on the structure of it every week.  I think I can be better than that...I hope I can be better than that.  Well, we'll see huh?

Oh no, you say you will miss seeing how old Lincoln is?  Well, take a peep up in the upper left corner...I will take this time to point out his awesomely updated ticker leading up to his 3rd bday.  Not that I am hoping it goes quickly by ANY means, in fact the slower that train moves to the right the happier I will be. ;-)

So this is what is new in Isaacsland, on this fantastic second week of January...

Saturday morning we had Tot Shabbat and Linc enjoyed his time singing & dancing around with Miss Nell as always.  This week they had little stuffed Torahs for the kids to carry around at the time where they get out the real Torah and march around the room.  It was so cute.

The rest of Saturday was spent in the kitchen where Todd and I whipped up homemade from scratch cupcakes & frosting for Linc's party and we also made Red Velvet Rice Krispy Treats (note they did not go very quickly at the party, but people raved about them at work, so hopefully that meant people were just too excited about the cupcakes at the party).  Then I had to put giftbags together for the little kiddos invited to Linc's par-tay and finish up decor.  By then we were spent and our kitchen was a mess!  We decided to take Linc to a Gymboree music class to work out a little energy and then grab dinner. 
  

Sunday Lincoln had a fantastic Birthday, we started out with a very yummy breakfast of pancakes (mini of course), eggs w/ cheese, & bacon and watched Caillou all morning.  Then it was naptime and then party time. Thank you to all of our friends who were able to make it, and to all of our family & friends who weren't but were thinking about Linc on his bday.  

And lastly with Lincoln turning the big TWO we decided this would be the week we would turn around his carseat, but only in Todd's car.  His seat in Todd's car has always been a tight squeeze and it was getting more difficult to get him into.  Well he is loving it, but is still content rear facing in my car and that's how he'll roll as long as he'll tolerate it.  Anyway back to how he loves the new view...Todd said the whole way to daycare in the morning Lincoln said "Weeeeee"  "Weeeeee". 
It kinda made us think of this:

Team i6 Takes on Turning TWO (part 2)

Lincoln had his 2nd Birthday party at one of our favorite places, Gymboree of course!  He LOVED the train theme, and was running all around saying "all aboard" and "chugga chugga choo choo".  And he definitely looked the part of train engineer:

He and 7 of his closest pals celebrated by running around & playing for a good hour, jumping & sliding & bouncing & riding their little hearts out.  They got to play with bubbles & take a parachute ride, it was everything you can hope a successful 2nd Birthday party should be. 

Then after all of that we sang to the Birthday boy and had cupcakes & pizza & presents & giftbags. 

It was perfect, simple as that.  Oh and exhausting, can't forget that too.  Can't wait to do it again in 366 days, give or take.

Team i6 Takes on 12 Years Together

Just for kicks here is a little walk down memory lane.

October 31st 1999: Boy meets Girl

January 9th 2000: Boy upgrades Girl to Girlfriend

February 13th 2004: Boy upgrades Girl to Fiance

April 9th 2005: Girl upgrades Boy to Husband

Present Day - January 9th 2012: We celebrate 12 wonderful years of being together.  What a crazy wonderful life we have.  Love every week, day, hour, minute, second of it! 

Go Team i6!


And now for some fun random pics through out the years...

College

Wedding

First House

Family

Team i6 Takes on Turning TWO (part 1)

January 8th, 2010 12:52am:

January 8th, 2011 12:52am:

January 8th, 2012 12:52am:

Happy Birthday, Dear Lincoln

Happy Birthday To You!

All Our Love,

Mommy & Daddy

104 Weeks

How old? 23 Months 28 days

Weight: 28 lbs

Sleep:  Oh the sleeping in has been glorious, simply fantastic...mmmm night time as been not so successful which yeah, I know, I know, is why the sleeping in has been so amazing.  Kiddo is a bit off his schedule, but hopefully we will get back to it this week.  

Food:  I tried a new recipe for a salad I saw on Pioneer Woman Cooks that I thought looked interesting.  Todd totally judged it by the name and initially turned his nose up, but he changed his tune after he tried it.  It was a hit with man and toddler alike.  I also made us tuna noodle casserole the other night since Todd was hungry for it, and of course Linc wanted nothing to do with it.  I struck out with him on the southwestern chicken crackpot meal I made yesterday too.  Here's hoping my beef vegetable soup strikes a chord with him tonight.  It's been a big cooking week for me, and it will not slow down too much this weekend, I will be switching to baking and whipping up lots of homemade yummy cupcakes for Linc's party Sunday.
Cute Things Lincoln Says:  After leaving Indiana and getting back to good ol' Virginia, Lincoln likes to refer to trucks on the road as "Gammy's Big Truck", though there are far fewer here than on those Indiana country roads.
Lincoln's has a few new phrases that he likes to breakout.  "I'll geddit" and "My turn" and "Oh maaaan"
Best Moment This Week:  Our next trip to Indiana is already paid for, thank you Fort Wayne Delta.  We showed up to the airport slightly later than planned but that worked in our favor this time, as I was checking us in the ladies at the desk offered up ticket vouchers for Todd & I if we took a slightly later flight and flew through Chicago instead of Detroit because they had a weight and balance issue on our flight and not everyone was going to be able to get on.  Uh? Yeah we took it!  And we still made it back in time to ring in the New Year with The Aldersons!  Score one for Teami6, looks like 2012 started out on a good note.  (oh and Linc slept in until 9:30am, sweeeeet)

Worst Moment This Week:  None other than we are all trying to get caught up on sleep.  I would love nothing more than for all of us to sleep in tomorrow, but we've got Tot Shabbat and we love our Miss Nell time so we'll be there!

What We're Looking Forward To:  

Linc's 2nd Birthday Bash at Gymboree
And the Isaacs Fam in for a visit
Movement:  Well I was told today by a teacher in the next class up that Lincoln was being a little mischief maker on the playground today and we really need to work on not jumping.  So apparently there's lots of jumping, and I'll leave it at that for now...
Milestones: Nothing says "he's not so little anymore" like watching your child pedal around on a tricycle or a bicycle. Age 2 is a good time to make one of these available, especially if you have a physically active child who has already aced running and has good balance.
If you haven't kept up on developments in the world of toddler cycling, you may be surprised to discover that while tricycles are still very much in the picture, scaled-down two-wheelers suitable for 2-year-olds are an option once your child is tall enough. (When you're shopping, be sure to check the manufacturer's recommendation for height and inseam measurements.)
Once you have a trike or bike that's the right size, figuring out how to pedal is the most challenging part.
When it comes to tricycles, beginners usually prefer low-slung models that keep them close to the ground (and are less likely to tip over). Stay nearby during your child's first attempts, in case of spills. Some trikes come with a long, removable push-bar, which lets you control the action without having to bend over – a real back-saver.
More adventurous toddlers can go straight to a tiny two-wheeler if they're tall enough. Look around and you'll find bikes designed to teach balance at an early age. Not all kids are ready for the challenge, but if yours is, it can be lots of fun.
Even if your child won't be traveling beyond your own backyard, make sure he wears a helmet from day one. You'll be establishing an essential safety habit, and it's good protection in any case.
Hmmmm, Lincoln has had a tricycle since well, July I think...ahead of the curve that boy, like your all shocked, I know.