All Aboard the Dinosaur Train!

Just in case there is any doubt, Matthew’s favorite t.v. show right now is Dinosaur Train.  So when it came to picking a party theme, it was pretty much a no brainer.  When his friends arrived on Friday afternoon, each one received a ticket and a dinosaur nose since only dinosaurs can ride the dinosaur train and everyone needs a ticket.

To eliminate the possibility of a dinosaur sized meltdown when someone lost their ticket, I put them on a piece of yarn so they could be worn around dino-necks.  Then we punched their tickets with a hole punch as we visited each “station.”  Matthew was the Conductor, hollering out, “Time tunnel!” and “Tickets please!” at the appropriate moments.  We played dinosaur bowling, t-rex tracks (like musical chairs but with dinosaur footprints), Dinosaur Train bingo, and The Conductor Says.  (Thanks to www.ThePartyAnimal-Blog.org for the game ideas.)

 (Notice that Matthew is giving me the evil eye because I'm taking pictures of him.)

We finished the party with cupcakes and popsicles served on dinosaur plates.  I had no desire to try to make Dinosaur Train cupcakes, so I made simple cupcake toppers instead.  Easiest theme cupcakes I’ve ever made.

Not only did Matthew and his friends have a great time, but even Daniel and Nathan commented that the party was a lot more fun than they expected.  The bigger boys were great helpers, by the way.  Couldn’t have done it without them.  And Malia was a gem for sleeping through the whole thing.

Today we assembled Matthew’s cake for his celebration with my family.  I have cupcake pans that make a big long train of cupcakes, so we used that and decorated it with colored glaze, candy, and Dinosaur Train passengers.  It was a fun way to do a cake and very easy to serve.

I can't believe that Matthew is five already.  Where does the time go?

Prehistoric Fun

Today we visited the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point.  The last time we went was two and a half years ago so Matthew, who is TOTALLY into dinosaurs right now does not remember.  Needless to say, he was extremely excited.  He ran (pretty literally) through the museum exclaiming things like, “That’s a t-rex just like Buddy!”  (For those who don’t know, Buddy is the t-rex on “Dinosaur Train.”)  He was excited to see the pteranadon and I was pretty astonished at how many dinos he could not only identify but also pronounce correctly.  He really enjoyed “digging” for fossils in the big sand room at the end of the museum trip and when I asked him if we should make some “fossils” and get paint brushes to uncover them after we build him sandbox, he was incredibly enthusiastic about it.  In fact, on the way home he asked if we could stop at the store and buy the sand for his sandbox.  Except for the fact that I smashed the heck out of Malia’s hand in the stroller (it was one of those moments when I felt like the worst mom ever), we had a pretty good time.

 (I have no idea what Matthew was doing, but he was definitely not letting us take a nice picture of him.)

 (Malia contemplating her smooshed, bruised, bleeding and bandaged hand.)

Smarter Than Your Average...Dinosaur?

Matthew has been really into Dinosaur Train lately.  This PBS kids show is available on Netflix and he watches the available episodes over and over and over…but I really can’t complain because he is learning a ton.  He walks around the house singing the songs from the show and is constantly telling us great things that he has learned.  (Seriously, he’ll walk up to me and say, “Did you know that there are a lot of mammals that are nocturnal?”  And the crazy part is that he knows exactly what he is talking about and can explain it to you.)  A couple of weeks ago he got out the hole punch and a bunch of paper so he could punch “train tickets” and play dinosaur train with me.  Just for the record, it is really hard to fold laundry with itty bitty t-rex arms.  But at least he let me bring the laundry on the dinosaur train, so I really can’t complain.  Besides, we had fun.

This evening while I was making dinner, Matthew was trying to teach me to play “hyper hypothesis” like they do on dinosaur train. (It kind of freaks me out that not only does my 4 year old know the word “hypothesis,” but he can define it correctly and knows that the plural is “hypotheses” not hypothesises.)  Apparently the point is to make a big guess as quickly as you can.  So I started throwing things at him, trying to figure out how to play the game. “I have a hypothesis that Matthew will clean up his lunch.  I have a hypothesis that dinner will be really yummy.  Like that?”  Apparently I was doing it wrong, so I tried again:  “I have a hypothesis that Daniel will grow up to be taller than me.”  Without even blinking, Matthew shot back, “No!  That’s just a fact!”

I laughed.  Hard.  Still giggle when I think about it.  What a smarty farty pants.