One Wedding Down...

B and I had a lovely time in upstate NY this weekend to attend Scarlet Lily's wedding. As many other dear bloggers will be posting wonderful little tidbits about the weekend, I will just tell you to read their posts because mine will just be a repetition. I will say, though, that I was a member of the 60s and 70s table, but I did not set the fire that occurred at our table. For more on that, see Ouiser's descriptions. I also will tell you that if you aren't married yet and you are a man, learn how to play the violin and then play for your bride as she walks down the aisle. Not a dry eye in the house. So wonderful.

It was great to catch up with the clan from Colgate and of course, to see my little niece again. I have to admit that I didn't get any terrific wedding shots because I was too far back for the ceremony and I am too short, but I took a boatload of L pics! You'll have to wait for those, though, because I left the battery charger in the hotel room and the battery is now dead. Oops.

J had a great time with his grandma this week. In fact, the only time he has cried at school was when she came with us to drop him off one day. He cried that he didn't want her to leave and was very excited when we returned to pick him up at the end of the day. We got some great pics of him made up as a little clown, which was about one of the cutest things I'd ever seen. 8 kids with little clown hats and painted faces popping bubbles as they waited for their parents to pick them up-- what fun!

There were peppers waiting for us when we got home! They were a little wilted because it's been so hot and I am afraid they have been a little underwatered with our two week triple digit temperatures, but we've had red and orange ones and they taste so good. They actually have a little bite to them, unlike the mass produced ones you get at the store. Our tomatoes are also turning red by the dozen and it's a race between us and the birds to see who gets to taste them first.

We received two wedding invitations in the mail yesterday. One of them was for B's stepbrother's wedding in Poland. I had to laugh when I opened it up because I don't know what I was expecting, but I couldn't read a word of it. I could get the gist that we were invited to their wedding on Aug. 9, but after that and the request for an email rsvp by some day in July, it was completely lost on me. I decided to find an online Polish-English dictionary so that I could read the rest of the invite. Since I didn't have a Polish keyboard and they use a lot of accent marks and letters we don't use on our English keyboard, I was only able to translate minor parts of it. My translation ended up being something like, "After the ceremony we will market blah blah blah (untranslatable Polish). We are needing volunteers for the flowers of the Ministry of Defense." Huh? I'll let you know if I ever find out what it really says. In the meantime, I think it's best that I don't volunteer for anything.

I'm off to make another batch of pesto. We have a double batch in the freezer, but the basil is looking like it's going to get bitter if I don't do something with it fast. It's going to be a real hardship to have more around the house!

Funny J comment right before bed, "Z is my best buddy. Not my best girl. K is my best girl." (He just saw K this week because they came down to visit from Dallas. If you asked J where she had been he would say, "Sleeping at her house.") So cute.

Negative Nillie

The new, unfabulous phrase of the day is....

I can't.

As in, "Please get out of your carseat, J."
"I can't get out of my carseat."

Please get out of the car.
I can't get out of the car.

I can't bounce my ball.
I can't make my vacuum make noise.
I can't get off the floor.
I can't eat my yogurt.
I can't eat peppers today.
I can't go to take a nap.

Luckily he decided to switch it up shortly after lunch and before his nap, so it sounded like this...
"You can't drink the water now. You have to sit at the table. You can't sit in that chair. "
"You can't put that there, Mommy. You can't put it here, you have to put it there. That is not correct."

Well, alrighty then.

"You can't type your fingers on your cup, Mommy. You can only type on computer. I will show you. Like this."

(May I also point out that what I was doing incorrectly was holding the plastic margarita glass that J filled with water for me, as well as one for himself. I couldn't drink out of it standing up because apparently, that is not how you drink out of these glasses. Do you think he picked up on something at the barbecue on Sunday?)

"You can't hug my ear (no idea what that meant- totally random). You can't hug my ear. You can't kiss my ear."
"You can kiss my ear. You can't say hug, hug hug, Mommy."

Well, I can tell you what this Mommy could do was shut off the light, close the door and get away from there as fast as she could! All of that was in about the span of an hour and a half. We can't wait for after naptime!

Dad's Day

Father's Day was pretty relaxing around here. Nothing says "I love you, Dad" better than a couple of pieces of bacon and the sports section delivered to your bedside after sleeping in until past 9. J gave B a tractor card. Actually, he gave it to him on Thursday when we brought it home from the store and he couldn't hold in his excitement as he shouted, "I bought you a card, Daddy. With a big TRACTOR! It's green! It's green Daddy! I bought it Daddy! For you!" Then as we gave B his present (a couple of cds) he said, "I will give Daddy his present. Maybe I can play with it. Probably it is a fire truck." I told him it wasn't a fire truck. "Yeah, probably it is a lollipop. I will eat it." I told him it wasn't a lollipop either. "Yeah, I will give the present to Daddy and I will play with it. It's not for J. Maybe I can play with it. Probably." Have you noticed how the word probably is used to exhibit his extreme confidence in whatever he is saying? It really is quite comical.

B sports the "tie" J made for him at school. He also gave him a picture frame that said, "I love my Daddy." All of this, of course, made Mommy weepy. Pathetic, but true.

We had a BBQ later in the day so the dads could celebrate Father's Day together. Our friend T commented at one point that he thought the service was so great-- lots of meat and margaritas served tableside-- that he was a little concerned that "you women might be expecting reciprocal treatment that I just can't come through with on Mother's Day." We told him not to worry; that's why jewelry is always appreciated.

I can block the carcinogens with one big sip from this margarita glass

The kids had a great time running around in the backyard, in the house, and at the park. At one point, they all decided to have a little exploratory trip to the garden. It's so funny because they still don't really play with each other that much yet, but when one person gets an idea, the others follow like it was the best plan all along. I did feel the need to apologize to J's teacher this morning because his dinner fare last night included a hot dog bun, some noodles, an ice cream sandwich, and blueberries. Then he didn't want to eat his breakfast this morning, so I can't imagine he will be full of too much energy today.

The evening ended with J, Z, and S taking a bath together and playing in the crib for just a few quick seconds. K and I read Z and J some bedtime stories and they were both indicating that they wanted to sleep in J's crib. So we put them in the crib, turned off the lights, and crying ensued immediately from both parties. We knew it was a longshot, but it would have been so nice if they actually had fallen asleep and let us parents hang out just a little bit longer after sundown. Maybe in a few years.

Rub a Dub Dub, Three Cuties in the Tub

Little School Boy

J started summer school today. No, he's not in need of remediation in playing with Play Dough or anything like that. B and I checked out a school down the street a few weeks ago for him to possibly start in the fall. J got to come with us for the tour. He liked it so much he wanted to stay the entire day and was crying when he had to leave (it could have had something to do with a tractor and a really cool lawn mower on the playground area). Anyway, they happened to have one slot open for the fall, so we signed him up. We think it will be good for him to be around other kids and to not necessarily be around me 24/7. I'll admit I have been a little conflicted about this because it means he is growing up way too fast, but we think it will work out well.

This was taken with my cell phone and emailed, so not the best quality. I know it looks like he is trying to hail a cab, but J is saying, "Hooray for school!"

Since J was so excited about his "school" I inquired about their summer program. The director told me that they were full, but he could be put on the wait list. I didn't think any more of it, but I got a call last week that a spot opened up and we could send him if we wanted to. I asked J if he wanted to go back to school and he was ready to go that day. When I told him he couldn't go until Monday, he told me, "I will wait there with the money!" I think it was the longest three days of his life waiting for Monday.

"I will show you my backpack!"

I was a little concerned that he would freak out once we got there and I left because his little school experience only involved playing outside for a few minutes and then "lining up" with Daddy. But when we got to his classroom, he said hello to his teacher, said, "Bye, bye Mommy" and went and played with a puzzle. He didn't even look back. I made no plans for the day because I honestly thought I would have to stay there part of the time, but it turned out that was unnecessary.

J was happy to see me when I picked him up, but I wouldn't exactly say he was overjoyed with enthusiasm. He was exhausted and he told me a little bit about the fun he had, but he was more interested in waving goodbye to all the other moms picking up their kids, and saying goodbye to the director of the school. He acted like he owned the place.



This morning when we arrived, he walked right into the director's office, gave her a hug, and said, "See you later. I will have fun!" She was blown away by his confidence. So much for the novelty wearing off on the second day.



What did I do with my free time? I actually took my time at the gym today. I took this new kickboxing/weight class called Strike and it totally whooped my behind. Which is a good thing because my behind (and my hips and thighs) need a really good whooping. I am already sore. Next it's off to do some ironing for B who has a meeting tonight. Then I am off to tackle the bathroom shower. Then it should be time to pick up J. I guess we'll save the sipping lattes and reading a book for another day.

Commitment

Today B and I made a commitment. We bought art. It's the first time we bought art that was not in the form of a poster with a frame from Michael's around it!

We spent Sunday morning at the Art in the Park festival in a town north of Austin. I really enjoyed it because it wasn't a festival that included lots of art sold around a bunch of smelly incense, which can be common to find at art festivals around here. Here are a few pics of what we purchased:

These are all works by the same artist under a collection called, "Dancing in the Paint." The set of three don't come in the frames shown and they are matted with black around the picture with a black matte and gold and black frame. The last picture is on canvas and doesn't need a frame.

We also picked up a pair of copper and bronze garden spinners (decorative pinwheels? not sure what to call them) so that I can better keep the birds away from my veggies. Oh, and the veggies-- zucchini and squash are still in large abundance, as are the tomatoes, but they are all refusing to turn red (I think it's because of the extreme heat we've been having). We have been fortunate to have had three really great batches of pesto from our basil. I just froze the last batch for fear that we will gain twenty pounds overnight if we dip it with any more bread or eat another meal of pesto pasta, chicken, and tomatoes.

I made a great recipe from the Barefoot Contessa at Home cookbook for dessert last night. Peach and Bluberry Crumble. Yum! I halved the butter and halved the sugar because I had really ripe peaches and didn't think they needed to be sweetened much more. Then I just broiled the topping for the last few minutes so that it browned a bit more. You really should go make some and add whatever fruit you have laying around in the fridge. I had some blackberries and raspberries lingering, so they went in as well. J didn't want any. He didn't know what he was missing. I planned to post the recipe, but can't find it anywhere online, so if you want it, let me know.

Hope everyone had a good weekend. Any thoughts on the decision to give Michigan and Florida half votes at the convention?

The Bean is Back

Today J and I were walking down the frozen food aisle in Whole Foods. J was eyeing the ice cream and asked, "Pick out a flavor?" I told him it's too expensive to buy ice cream at Whole Foods. So he asked, "Buy lima beans?" and pointed right at them. J used to love lima beans, but he went on strike from eating them at least 6 months or so ago. He said "Yes, beans!" and so I picked some out of the case. He got all excited about them. "Lima beans! Lima beans!" I was doubtful he would share the same excitement when we brought them home and I put some on his plate.

I was wrong! He ate every single bean, one by one, pausing after each one to say, "Mmmm."

Now I just hope he continues to love them or they're going to be in the freezer for quite some time.

In other news, it was trash/recycling pick up day today, which means we got to race outside when the trucks came and wave our butts off until the garbage men waved back and beeped the horns at us. And now he's finishing up another 3 hour nap. All of this is really too much fun for one Wednesday. We need to start cutting back.

Sleepless in Austin

What do you do when you wake up at 2:52 in the morning and cannot get back to bed at all? Well at first, you just lay there and try to clear your mind, which of course, floods it with tons of unnecessary stuff. Then, you turn on the tv (even though you know they say not to do that). You learn all about replacing weatherstripping on your doors. Then you start thinking about food because you've been up for over an hour. Cinnamon buns, to be exact. Low fat cinnamon buns that are in a new magazine you recently got. You toss and turn and try to go back to sleep, but you can't shake the idea of making these gooey treats right now.

Which is how I came to be in the kitchen at about 4:00 yesterday morning with a bunch of ingredients laid out before me. A little over two hours later I had them, all warm and iced and ready for J and B when they woke up. At which point I promptly went back to sleep until 9:30.

I have to say that these were pretty yummy considering they only had 4 tablespoons of butter in them. Supposedly they are only 280 calories and 3 grams of fat in each bun, so if you want the recipe, let me know. It's a bit long, but I'll get it out if anyone wants it. The only thing I would change next time is to maybe add some orange extract to the icing instead of vanilla for a different taste.

Yes, I was pathetically awake enough to even take pictures!

We've spent part of the weekend doing housework and part of it playing. This is the first weekend in over a month that B and I have had a "normal" weekend (normal being one where we don't have guests or he is not traveling). We headed down to a farmer's market in hopes of some peaches (I got some great ones last week), but we were too late due to my "sleeping in". The trip wasn't a total wash, though. J got to play in a fountain and had his first random hookup with a girl. A French girl. Don't worry, she was also two, but I wish I had video of this. First she batted her eyes at him and started squealing when she saw him. Then she came over and gave him a hug, which was immediately followed by a kiss. This made J blush and made the girl so excited that she took off her bathing suit! B and I were dying, as was the girl's mother and grandmother. Her grandmother told her she was behaving just like a true French girl. Ahh.... love moves fast when you're two. And then she was gone.


This afternoon we went to something called Parade of Homes. I don't know if anyone has ever done this, but I'd never heard of it before. A new home development (high priced homes that you can only dream of ever living in) opens up for a few weekends after the homes are built to raise money for charity and to allow the public to view these incredible homes. This development overlooked one of the lakes, so the views were terrific. For the most part, I walked into all of these homes and gawked at how ridiculous they were. Children's media rooms with microwave ovens and mini refrigerators, separate washer and dryers in the master bedrooms. There was even one master bathroom that had a hookup so you could work on the internet while you took a bath and sat in front of a large screen tv. If you ask me, some things just shouldn't be done in a bath. I could also think of lots of things I'd rather do with 3-4 million instead of buy one of these places, but it was a different way to spend the afternoon.


Well, I'm off to bed in hopes of a good night's sleep. Hope everyone has a good Memorial Day. Here's a pic of our patriotic kiddo examining the flag that was put up in our yard.

Wake Up Call

We had a bit of a scare on Wednesday night. A large band of thunderstorms came through our area, which is not uncommon for this time of year in Texas. As I was watching tv, though, I realized this time was a little different. There was a funnel cloud sighting approximately 3 miles away from our house and the projected path if it touched down would go through our neighborhood. It was one of those moments where you say, "Oh crap!" and feel like you have little time to think about what to do next.


Of course, as my luck would have it, I was home alone. B was busy downtown at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse having a dental meeting of some sort. Wah, wah. Anyway, I went upstairs and got J and brought him downstairs. He didn't even move until I laid him down on the floor on a pillow beside the closet we would go into if we had to. Hail began to fall, which I later on learned was literally up to the size of a baseball. The satellite signal went out on the tv and I realized that my means of gathering information about the storm was just lost. I realized that we had an old clock radio with a battery backup upstairs, so I raced up to get it to see if I could hear anything on the radio. Little good would it have done me if the power went out though; the battery was dead and all of our replacements were out in our detached garage.


I texted B and told him NOT to come home. I got him just in time because he was just about to leave. He told me that after I called him, everyone else's phones starting ringing telling people the same thing.


Thankfully the storm came and went without a tornado touching down, but it was a pretty scary evening! The scariest thing for me was that I realized how unprepared we are in case of an actual emergency situation. Sure, it was easy to get into a closet, but if anything had happened that required us to be in there for awhile, I had nothing.


Today I spent a little bit of time getting a few important things together like flashlights that would be guaranteed to work when we need them to. Ever go to use your flashlight and the batteries are dead? Well, you may want to go and get a few of these:

a wind up flashlight (these are great because there is no battery- you just wind it up and get up to 40 minutes of light each time).


I also picked up a portable radio (I actually got an all in one flashight, radio, siren sounder) and some first aid stuff (I suppose you could make your own kit from supplies around the house, but the cost would end up being about the same). I found a variety of emergency lists online and you could pack yourself to the gills with supplies, but here is a concise one if you're interested :http://www.ready.gov/america/_downloads/checklist.pdf. I didn't realize how much we could possibly actually need if something did happen like a contact lens case and solution for myself (an extra pair of glasses in the bin is not an option) and diapers and wipes and nonperishable food.


So we're just trying to be a little more prepared, but not paranoid. I'm glad everything was okay. The only thing that took a bit of a hit was the garden, as the zucchini and squash lost a lot of flowers, but we're lucky if that's all that happened.


Hope everyone has a good weekend! We're alone again through Sunday. B is off in CA at his cousin's college graduation. I met W when he was about 10, so I really feel up there in age!

Everything's Growing!

Our garden gave us a little present a few nights ago. It looked like this:

And today I picked this:

We also have a bunch of tomatoes growing on each plant, so it looks like we'll be able to make at least one salad!

We've had a bunch of rain and it got really hot in the last few days. As a result, the side of our house smells like gardenias because these bloomed in full force within 24 hours. So pretty!

What Mother's Day Means to Me

(as told by J)

Mother's Day is letting Mommy sleep until after 8 and bringing her coffee in bed. It means holding a plant for our neighbor for "just a minute" before I tip it all over the floor. That was cool. It means eating my toothpaste that I have figured out how to unscrew while Mommy and Daddy are getting ready to go to the restaurant. Oh yeah, it also means begging daddy for a donut while Mommy is sleeping and eating it so I am even more excited and wired. Mommy says Daddy is a sucker.

Mother's Day means getting to go eat at a restaurant. Mother's Day means eating bagels at the restaurant. It means shouting, "Bagels, bagels, bagels!" at the top of my lungs. It means getting to run over to the waterfalls and squeal at the greatness of them. Why does everybody keep telling me, "No"? I just don't get it.

Let's see... what else about Mother's Day? There's ice cream before lunchtime. Oh, and cake, but mommy.... said.... NO CAAAAAAAAAAAAKKKKKKKKKE!!! So I had more bagels, bagels bagels and that was great! Playing with my best buddy Z at the restaurant was fun too! Don't we look all grown up?

Mother's Day is good for napping for a long time because everyone is in a food coma. For three hours.

Then getting to go to the airport to pick up Nummi!!! Hooray for Nummi! We have to pass a backhoe, a tractor and cars to get to the airport. Then we see Nummi! In the airport! And then we go to another restaurant. I have more ice cream and don't go to bed until 9:00. Mother's Day is lots of fun.

Good Morning!

Hope everyone has a great day!

Straight From the Toddler's Mouth

I feel that our adventures have left the stories of the J man a bit lacking these days. So here are some of the wonderful things he has been saying lately:


Greeting me in the morning:
Hiiiiiiyyyy (it's hard to spell expression)! I told you Mommy would come back!

When seeing Daddy's car in the driveway:
Of course! I told you Daddy would come back. He brought his pocketbook home from the office.

Figuring out how to select a cd, and hit the search button a number of times to get the song he wants: I did it! I did it! Hooray for J! It is much fun!

On finding that the train was not on the tracks again:

Where did the train go? To Poland, not Chinese.


On eating pancakes for breakfast this morning:
It's not bad this time. Thank you, Mommy.


On playing golf in the backyard:
Grandpa told J get one hole in.




On finding a ladybug in the park:
Let me see! I love him.

Things Are Not Always What They Seem

I must thank everyone who sent flea death wishes my way. Your thoughts were so powerful that you were able to change the fleas into a completely different species of pest. That's right, folks. Turns out we didn't have fleas and all of that cleaning was for nothing. Well, I guess it wasn't for nothing, but it was overkill.

How did this happen? When I was still seeing a lot of activity after the third day, I called the pest company to ask if this was normal. They told me that it was normal, but this seemed a bit excessive, so they would send someone out to take a look. A supervisor came to my door and without even looking at what we still had, chuckled and told me I didn't have fleas, but springtails instead.

Have you ever felt relief and anger all at the same time? Well, it paralyzed me so that I didn't even know what to say to the guy. After a few minutes, I asked some questions, like what is a springtail? How do you know I have springtails and not fleas? What do you mean the guy that came last week didn't think I had fleas and sprayed my house anyway? What do you mean he's a trainee? Why didn't he call and ask someone if he wasn't sure before he went ahead with an unnecessary treatment? I expressed my concern about having a child in the house, as well as my displeasure at doing all of the cleanup work I'd been doing for the past 5 days. Basically all the guy did was apologize and tell me about springtails. So in case anyone is interested:

Springtails are tiny insects (about the same size as fleas) that come out in search of water. They live in nests and enter homes through window cracks, drain pipes, foundation cracks, etc. They are completely harmless and jump like fleas due to a mechanism in their tail that acts like a flea. They are more than a nuisance because of the numbers that they often appear when they entera home (this would explain why we found tons of them on our curtains and floors, baseboards and windowsills. Springtails can be found all over the country and are often mistaken for fleas.

So that's pretty much the short version of the story here. I have a few letters to write to the BBB, as I am outraged that this company would allow a trainee, who is obviously incompetent, to go ahead and perform chemical treatments in people's homes. I used the analogy to the supervisor that my husband is a dentist and if someone comes in and says they need a root canal, he does tests to see if that's true. If the tests do not agree that such a treatment is needed, he doesn't go ahead with it just because the patient thinks he needs one. And since I expressed such concern about putting down such chemicals with a child in the house, you would think that the technician would have taken that extra minute to make a phone call and ask someone if he wasn't sure about the job he was supposed to do. People just don't value the work they do. Either way, someone will be paying for my carpets to be cleaned and I will not use this company for services in the future. I'm also going to stock up on some organic goods to deal with a flea problem on my own if I have to (hopefully not, though!) sometime later on.

On the bright side, we're very happy that we don't have to vacuum everyday. And J is so excited that all of his toys did not get put away because they are for babies.

There Are Millions of Them!

"A flea would be a frightening beast if you were one inch tall..." Shel Silverstein.

Umm... A flea is a frightening thing if you are almost 64 inches tall!

Here are some frightening facts about fleas:

• a flea can go through its entire life cycle in two weeks under optimum conditions
• the average flea can lay up to 50 eggs a day and up to 600 in its lifetime.
• a flea can live without eating a blood meal for up to a year.
• a flea egg can lay dormant for up to two years
• your pet does not need to be an outdoor pet for it to attract fleas
• you are screwed if you get fleas

Why the post about fleas? Well, if it hasn't hit you in the face yet, we have them. Again. Lucky us. We first discovered these vile things before we moved into our house while we were painting J's bedroom. The previous owners had a dog who apparently had a problem that they never took the time to eliminate. We immediately called an exterminator to take care of the problem. We purchased the 1 year contract instead of the 6 month contract because we had never dealt with this type of problem before. Thank goodness we did because the 6 month contract would have ended last month. It really sucked vacuuming everyday for a month, but it wasn't that bad because the house was empty since we hadn't moved in yet.

This time is a different story. The fleas are back. I'm not sure if they ever left, but we've had the optimal flea hatching weather in the past week and that's when we noticed our little intruders. B and I also missed a flea treatment last month because we figured that since we seemed to be in the clear and our cats don't go outside, we should be fine. We won't make that mistake again.

I want you to take a moment to imagine your living space with all of its clutter and furniture. Add toys if you have a child. Now I want you to imagine that you have fleas and that you need to prepare for someone to come and spray your house (eco-friendly people in the audience-- your only viable option is to try Borax or salt and sprinkle it all over your carpets, floors, windowsills, etc. and wait for 24 hours before vacuuming it up....repeat for up to two weeks if necessary.... will that work for you while you are still living there with pets and children?)* You need to vacuum everything, mop, sweep, and put away all of your kids toys (ALL of them). Chances are your yard is infested too (which is how the fleas got into your house and onto your animal in the first place) so you need to mow, rake, put away all outside toys. And that's not even the fun part.

Are you still imagining that house of yours? Now let's say your house has been treated and you can finally bring yourself and pets (yeah, they have to be out for at least 4 hours) back into your home. Everything should be fine, right? Wrong. You can see flea activity for up to two weeks in which they can start biting you because your animals are treated and the fleas are pissed off because they have lost their furry nesting ground. In the meantime, you need to vacuum as much as possible. Vacuuming causes vibrations in the carpets and floors, which will encourage those eggs to hatch, eat the spray that has been put down, and die. So you need to vacuum everyday to get the maximum results. Carpets, hard floors, baseboards, windowsills, upholstery, curtains. It takes me over two hours because it involves moving furniture out of the way and putting it back. Remember that I told you the life cylce of a flea is about two weeks under optimal conditions (which we have temperature wise)? That adds up to one full day of vacuuming in less than two weeks. Twenty four hours of my life gone because of a pest. And we still may not be rid of the problem.

What do you do if you have a child? Well, since you have basically put pesticide down on your floors, you really can't have your kid playing all over them, so most of the toys have to stay away for now. The entomologist recommeded I put a blanket down for J to play on (hello, a two year old won't sit on a blanket anymore!). The poor kid is freaked out that all of his toys have basically disappeared and he thinks they went away because they were for babies and not for him. I feel awful. We have a few things out, but for the most part, we're reading a lot of books, playing outside and going places to be distracted. B is away for four days, so that means J has to be extremely patient for those two hours while I am vacuuming (it has to be done all at once because you have to get rid of your vacuum bag as soon as you are finished so that the fleas don't thrive on the dirt in your bag and get out the next time you use the vacuum. Lovely). He's watching way too much TV for my liking, but there are very few options at this point until B comes home since most physical activities will last a max of 15 minutes and he usually wants me to play them with him. I have to say he's been so good and I am grateful for that.

So I beg of all of you to send flea death wishes to my home. I am itchy. I am frustrated. I am tired of vacuuming already. I hope nobody else has to deal with this.

*So there are some other environmental options out there. One is to use diatomaceous earth, but that has to be sprinkled on everything and vacuumed and repeated for up to two weeks. It's not toxic, but apparently you have to wear a mask because you don't want it in your lungs. I also recently found a eco friendly spray at $23.99 a can plus shipping. One can is not enough for the average household and you then have to wait for it to be shipped to you (remember, 50 eggs a day per flea!). So if you think you would want to do that instead of having your house professionally sprayed, you may want to stock up on some of it just in case...

Stage Fright

If you've ever been afraid to perform for an audience, or even if you haven't, check out these clips from a show I saw on PBS this week. It's incredible and gives one a different perspective on what it's like to be a performer.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/shows/wolftrap/program.html

Click on the one called Luminescent Flights. It should take about 10 minutes to watch, but it's worth it. Anybody want to try it with me?

R&R, Eh?

(Root canals and relaxation, Canadian style)

An oxymoron, you say? Au contraire. Vancouver was just that. Five days and five nights of it. Good weather, even better food, interesting workshops, and best of all, plenty of time to sleep. It was the first time in over two years that I was actually able to sleep for 10.5 hours at night. Glorious, heavenly, restorative sleep. Dare I say it was the highlight of my trip. I know some of you readers are cursing me because you are unable to share in the delight of all this right now, but just remember that I have already paid my dues and tomorrow things go back to the usual 6 am wakeup.

I know you don't want to hear about my slumber, so here's how the trip really was. It started out with the fortunate fact that we were not flying American Airlines. Everything was on time. Our hotel was just minutes away from the waterfront and convention center and within 100 steps of the most wonderful coffee shop in the city, Cafe Artigiano. If you are ever in Vancouver, you have to get your lattes or mochas or anything with steamed milk there. They put Starbucks to shame, not that that says much, but it's the only national example I can give.

We were also very lucky that we didn't decide to leave earlier in the week to do our sightseeing and saved it until after the conference. It rained for at least four days before we got there. The sun came out during the morning of our first day and didn't really leave us for the entire time. The mountains also came out from under the clouds to welcome us, which I really appreciated.

The conference itself was interesting and I got a chance to attend a bunch of different workshops. A few were on marketing a successful practice, one was on conflict resolution, and another was an interesting talk about the dental marriage, given by a psychologist who works mostly with dentists and their spouses. In short, we're all doomed and are going to get divorced because we're married to type A people who need all of their ducks in a row all of the time. I think I got lucky in that my husband is the only dentist I know that doesn't fit that description, so hopefully we can buck the trend!

There was time for meeting up with friends from B's residency, Dim Sum, seafood, Vietnamese food (all the things you can't really get much of where we live) and a big surprise for B. His best buds J and M drove up from Seattle to surprise him for the weekend. He thought they were unable to come visit us for months, but I was in cahoots with them ever since we booked our tickets. B was so surprised he was speechless. I was so glad that he was able to see them. It had been nearly 5 years since he saw J and 3 since he last saw M. I think that was one of the reasons I was able to get so much sleep. While they drank beer and relived their adolescent adventures, I went to bed.

Aside from some really long walks (Vancouver is a great walking city) and some shopping, we also hung out and went to the Capilano Suspension Bridge, Granville Public Market, and Stanley Park. I think one of the guys' highlights was the tower of beer they shared at dinner on Sunday night. Three liters of local brew. Three guys. How could it not be great?

How did J do during our absence? Apparently he didn't even ask for us. He kept busy by giving Grandma driving directions (I'm not kidding) and learning how to play golf with Grandpa. When I saw him on Tuesday morning, he said, "Hi Mommy", gave me a kiss, and kept playing. He didn't even realize that B was home as well until I asked him if he wanted to see Daddy. That got a little more excitement, but not much. I guess we can leave him and travel a little more often, which is a good thing because summer is almost upon us.

Of course all good things come to an end and now we are moving on. I have two more teaching tests this weekend. One is for my elementary k-4 certificate, the other is for a middle school certificate that Texas has decided I am qualified for once I pass the test. The one problem is the math. I don't remember any of it. It's so bad that I got 25 out of 36 wrong on the practice. And that doesn't include the Texas history I don't know or the science curriculums that are a distant memory. I actually thought about cancelling that test, but it's too late to get a refund, so I am sealed to a fate of guessing on trigonometry and quadratic equations. Maybe I'll get lucky, but if I don't pass, I already have my reading certificate and never had any intentions of teaching 8th grade math anyway!


Hope everyone is having a great week! Gotta go and try a few more of those f(x,y,z...) problems. Fun, fun!

PS Blogger wouldn't let me upload pics all day. Sorry for the lack of images.

This Should Be Interesting

B and I are going to Vancouver on Wednesday for the American Association of Endodontists conference. We're both members (yup, I got my card last week-- Auxiliary member, but who's checking?). We'll be gone until late on Monday. For those of you with kids that's six whole days that J will be babysat. Grandma arrives this afternoon and Grandpa brings the reinforcements on Saturday. I don't think I'm nervous about being away from J for six days; Lord knows I could use a break, but that doesn't mean I don't worry that my parents won't get driven crazy by the whining about where mommy and daddy are that they never agree to watch him again. I know, the chances of them doing that are very slim, but I am very appreciative of long term childcare and don't want to wear out the welcome mat too soon. With the busy wedding travel season commencing shortly after this trip, I need to make sure the babysitters are happy.

J is used to his routine. Part of that routine, as I have mentioned before, is whining about when Daddy will come home. What do you say when he asks on Thursday? Wait 5 more days kid? B says it's even worse when I go out that almost every 10 minutes or so he asks to make sure that I'm coming back. Thank goodness there is wine for after he goes to bed.

So I thought it might be a good idea to get him thinking about the fact that B and I are taking a trip into his head. When he was younger we didn't make a big deal of it because he couldn't ask where we were. He knows that Grandma is coming tomorrow and that Mommy is going on a trip. Here's where it gets sticky. When he asks if Daddy is going on a trip and I say yes, he bursts into tears. Lip quivering, flood gate tears. I feel so bad. I know that G/G will be spoiling him rotten and he will probably forget all about us, but it feels like it's going to be tough for at least a little while on both of us. Like I said, it should be interesting.

If anyone is wondering why I became a member of the AAE, no, I am not going into dentistry, but I thought it might be interesting to take a few classes on practice management and marketing so that I can help B out one day when he has his own practice. Since I know next to nothing, I've got a lot to learn.

Other things of late that should be interesting? My garden. I went to the garden store on Friday just for tomato plants. I came home with six (which could feed the whole neighborhood if they all do well, but I am assuming that some will not make it). I also came home with peppers, squash, zucchini, strawberries, lavender, basil, oregano, carrots, green beans, sunflowers, peppermint, and cucumbers. Everything was planted this weekend and now we just have to wait a good 50-60 days to see how it all goes. If it goes well, the good news is that we can plant another round in August for a fall harvest. That's a definite perk of living in TX.

Well there's packing and cleaning to be done and J just woke up. Hope everyone has a great week!

Still Funny

Twelve years ago today, B and I had our first date. We were sophomores at Colgate and made plans (after weeks of playing message board tag) to go out to dinner. B was to pick me up at 7. It was snowing, which wasn't out of the ordinary for upstate NY. However, I did think everything was a big joke when he hadn't arrived at 7:40 and when he finally did, had already eaten dinner. Anyway, it all worked out just fine and the rest is history. April Fool's Day holds a special place in our hearts.

But today is no fun at all! I just got back from the doctor and have strep throat. It seems I get visited by the strep fairy once every few years. Unfortunately, the timing wasn't as good as it's been before. Not that there's ever a good time to be sick, but I have a good knack of getting sick on the weekends or when B is off. My fever started last night and is still hanging around today. And having a husband who is a dentist means that he really can't take off work and tell his patients to come another day because I'm feeling lousy, so J is trying to take care of Mommy today. He told me so. Then five seconds later he insisted I get off the couch and dance with him. Ick. Then read stories. Ouch. I think there's going to be a lot of PBS watching today.

Happy April Fool's Day. Hope you have more fun than I am going to be having today!

Back Home

J and I just returned from our trip to the Florida Retirement Resort. It was great. J got to sample a variety of resort activities including, but not limited to...



Ocean exploration... J has no fear when it comes to the water and the great big Atlantic was no exception! Getting knocked over by waves and the undertow didn't deter him from trying to "swim" by himself. He gave me many mini heart attacks!

Golf lessons....When you live near a golf course and watch the golfers in the morning, you need to practice your own putting-- indoors because it rained for two days.

Horseback riding... J got to experience his fair share of carousel rides at a great park and at the zoo.


Dressing up for formal occasions.... Happy Easter!

Searching for hidden treasure.... egg hunting also took place indoors because of the rain.

The best line of the week occurred during Easter brunch. The Easter bunny came to visit our table. J was so excited to shake his/her hand and had been talking about how the easter bunny would bring him bacon at the restaurant (strange, but true). After his little tableside visit, J said to his furry friend, "Bye bye, go back to the mall." We couldn't stop laughing. This kid makes so many connections, it cracks me up and amazes me.

Now it's back to more ordinary things like pulling weeds, laundry, and grocery shopping. All good vacations must come to an end.

Wash Out

I was hoping to post some pretty pics of the planting I did yesterday, but the torrential rains we had today foiled my plans. We were excited to find that some asparagus is growing in our garden (even though we haven't gotten the garden ready yet!)

J and I are off tomorrow to rage with the spring breakers in Florida. Actually we will be doing our raging at Grandma and Grandpa's retirement condo, but we hope to get to the beach to build a few sand castles. Hope everyone has a nice Easter and gets to eat as many (or as few) Peeps as she likes.

I Wear My Sunglasses...

I haven't given much of an update of the goings on around here lately. I started that post about 2 weeks ago and never finished it and now it seems pretty unimportant. I did finally upload some new pics so you can see all of the new styles J has been sporting. I hope he doesn't hate me for it someday.

J and I got tattooed (temporarily). Mine was from a Moroccan tea party. His was from his birthday.

We got a new table and chairs on craiglist. It matches our cabinets perfectly. I just need to recover the cushions.

J likes to do his own hair now. For you close lookers, my hand is not on my stomach for any particular reason, so don't get any ideas.

Practicing his stroke in a new swimsuit. It has those bubbles in it so you kind of float in the water. Makes his legs look so skinny. Sorry kiddo.
Fabulous red Crocs and new sunglasses (which he actually keeps on now!)

We have a bunch of parties this weekend, which should be fun. A double birthday party Saturday morning for the kids of a dental colleague/soccer teammate of B's, an adult party in the evening to say goodbye to some friends that are moving back to Dallas (dang those people who unexpectedly get better jobs elsewhere!), and a St. Patrick's Day party on Sunday afternoon. Somewhere in between all that we need to continue working on getting our yard ready and start planting some flowers and such. I need to read up on what to do with our garden and start getting some tomatoes planted, too. I can't believe that spring is here already. I'm excited, but it feels like it was just Christmas a few weeks ago.

A Look Back

Feathernester just posted a sweet pic of L on her blog inspired by J when he was about the same age, so I thought I would share his with you as well. It's one of my favorite pics out of the 5000+ I have taken. (Not all of those pics have been of him, but it's pretty darn close.)

Blueberry Heaven

If there is anyone you really love in your life, you really need to make this for breakfast next weekend. Or tomorrow if you have the day off.

Blueberry Pecan French Toast
Serves 6 Generously

1 baguette
3 cups milk
6 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
2 cups blueberries (frozen is fine)
1 cup pecans
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1tsp. butter
1/4 tsp. salt
Syrup: 1 cup blueberries
1/2 cup maple syrup
1tablespoon lemon juice

Cut baguette into 20, 1 inch slices (no more than that because it will expand in the pan)
Place in a greased 9X13 baking dish
In separate bowl, mix eggs, milk, vanilla, 3/4 cup packed brown sugar, and nutmeg.
Pour over bread. Cover and let refrigerate at least 8 and up to 24 hours. (Most of the liquid should be absorbed by the bread.)
Set oven to 350. Toast pecans for about 8 minutes on a shallow baking dish. Toss with 1 tsp butter and 1/4 tsp. salt. Sprinkle blueberries and pecans over bread.
Cut butter into small pieces and place in a small saucepan with 1/4 cup packed brown sugar. Cook until butter is melted. Pour over the top of of pecans and blueberries. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Make the syrup while the french toast is baking. Add syrup and blueberries and bring to a boil until blueberries have popped (about 3 minutes). Place through a sieve and push blueberries through. Add lemon juice and stir. (I didn't sieve and just kept the pieces of blueberries in the syrup) Serve warm with french toast.

This french toast almost tastes like a custard when it is done. It will be a little on the soggy side, but the flavor is absolutely heaven and the texture is so light and fluffy. Trust me, you will not be disappointed with this one!!!

Crazy Caucus

We just got back from caucusing a few minutes ago. It was nuts. The precinct was not prepared to handle the hundreds of people that turned out. In fact, the Democratic chair said that normally they have about 10 people show up for a caucus. As we waited in the lobby of the community center, I jokingly said to B, "I wonder if all these people voting in the Democratic primary are actually Democrats." This old biddy, and yes, I will call her that pipes up with, "No. I'm not a Democrat, are you?" I told her I was an independent, but voting in the democratic primary this year. She said, "Well, I'm a mischievous Republican and my conscience brought me out here to vote the right way. It's legal and I am exercising my right." So there. I told her that I didn't find that to be ethical, but if it's her prerogative, so be it. She replied with, "I have no problem with it" and proceeded to tell the same thing to the person on her other shoulder, who seemed to have a similar view and they hit it off much better. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Sure, she has every right living in this state to vote in either primary, just as I do. But casting a vote to sabotage someone instead of casting a vote for someone with whom you believe shares your values or ideals just seems wrong to me.

Thank goodness the community center child care was still open or B and I would have had to leave. J was pretty squirmy and all the people were overwhelming him a bit. It's really hard to carry a 2 year old anywhere, let alone hold him for over an hour. Once we were let into the caucus room (1 by 1 as they checked the voting roll to make sure you voted there earlier) you signed your name and picked your candidate. There was a bit of a scuffle between a woman who was told she couldn't carry her Hillary picket sign into the gym (she turned out to be an ID checker) and a caucus observer who sported a Barack My World handbag. One accused the other of not performing her duties correctly. I didn't get a chance to see how that all panned out.
It would have been interesting to see how the caucus meeting actually went, but it was getting to be too late and the line to sign in was way too long.

Bonus for J for staying up late: firemen who were called in to help get everyone into a safe line that wasn't crowding the exits, and the police cars that were stationed by the driveway. He really enjoyed his election day. As we were walking in, he was happily shouting, "Ca-kus!! Ca-kuss over there. Ca-kuss not over there." And so on about 10 more times. Such fun being involved in the political process at such a young age.

Oh and anyone staying up late for results might just want to go to bed. I heard that it may not be until morning that we have results from down here.

His Mama's For Obama

The S family took to the polls this morning before B had to go to work. J really wanted to vote because he loves those stickers, remember? We used the computerized poll so we didn't have to sit and fill in bubbles. J really wanted a chance to vote for himself and didn't like the fact that he has to wait 16 more years to get a chance. As we were getting in the car, he kept asking for a boat. Boat? Boat? BOAT!!!!! J want BOAT!!! I think he was getting his consonants confused. While we were at the polling place, we kept encouraging J to say "Mama's for Obama!" which he did continuously. We really wanted the local Republican commisioner candidate to hear him, but she was busy. Seriously, this woman has probably spent just as much money running her own local campaign as the national candidates. And we really don't want her to win because she wants to build a toll road to get to the toll road with taxpayer money...don't get me started.


Anyway, we went about the rest of our day. J and I were at Panera eating lunch when he needed to have his diaper changed. Small tangent rant.... if a place has high chairs, they should also have a changing table... I'm sure they aren't expensive, so the fact that I had to put my child on the floor of a bathroom stall to change his diaper really makes me mad...and I will be writing a letter of complaint. As he was laying as still as possible because his head hurt on the tile (can you blame him?) he started yelling, "Mama for Bama! Mama for BA-MA!" The lady in the adjacent stall was cracking up. I told J that he should become a delegate and get on the campaign trail. He liked that idea and said, "J delegate for BA-MA! On campaign trail! On campaign trail!" This made the lady laugh even more, which made J squirm all over the place, which made the hard floor diaper change very unpleasant...(if you're wondering, I don't carry around a big diaper bag anymore, so I don't carry a changing pad with me since we never seem to need it)


Later on tonight we get to vote again in the caucus, which is part of the "Texas two step." It's kind of strange that you vote twice, but it's kind of cool at the same time. B and I find it very exciting that Texas has a chance to do something good for a change, after providing this country with such a moron for the last 7 years.

Reggae Ernie

This has been stuck in my head for days, so I thought I would share. Watch it about 10 times and then see if you wake up tomorrow morning with it still in your head.
Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsjbEWKK8AU

(For some reason, I can't get my computer to post You Tube stuff even though I have enabled it to do so). Doesn't the guy at the top of the door look like B?

Line of the week:

J: Daddy come home soon?

Me: Yes, Daddy should be home soon.

J: In a few minutes?

Me: Yes, he should be here in a few minutes.

J: Daddy take lots of few minutes.

Sometimes he is so insightful!

Testing 1, 2, 3

We haven't fallen off the face of the earth. Things have just been a little out of sorts lately. For one, J has decided that two year olds do not need to sleep through the night anymore and has spent a good part of the week waking up at 1, 3, 5, 6. At first we thought he might have something, so we tended to it, but now it's a habit (hooray!) and we feel like we have a newborn again. Oddly, he woke up at 9:15 the other night yelling, "J kick feet! J kick feet! Poop! J kick feet! Poop" I think he adds the poop thing just to get us to come running, but there was no poop. He was kicking his legs in the air for fun. I'm sure this is just another fabulous phase.

Some good lines he's had lately are:
Me: Would you like some blueberries?
J: Yes. How-a-bout-raspberries-too?
(It cracks me up how he is turning into such a mini-me.)

J: Tweetle beetle puddle battle...That's-pretty-funny!
(After reading Fox in Socks, which if you don't remember, is one of the longest, silliest books created. And it's even longer when you have to read it slowly and after one reading, your kid knows when you've skipped a page...)

B: The steak is good. Do you like the steak, J?
J: Yeah. Mommy not good eater.
Me: Why?
J: Mommy not eating broccoli.
(I did eat my broccoli, but at that moment, I was chewing on some steak and we had just begged J to eat some of his broccoli, which he did.)


I've got some big fun lined up for this weekend. Tomorrow I have to spend the day taking some teaching tests. You know, tests for beginning teachers. Tests like the 4 I took in NY and the 8 I took in PA to teach there. Texas has decided that my 8 years of experience, and the tests taken in states with which they supposedly have reciprocal agreements, is not enough. I need to take 4 more tests to make them happy and get permanent certification here. I already had to shell out a bunch of cash to get a temporary certificate for this year (even though I am not using it, I wanted to have it just in case) and now I have to shell out about another $400 to make it all legal. Such fun. I know that licenses cost money and I guess that's okay, but what gets me is that these tests are for beginning teachers and even then they do not measure whether you can actually teach or not. I hate jumping through hoops and I am a little tired of jumping because this is my third time doing this. I know, I know, we moved here, so I have to reap what I sow, but it's such a pain. Oh well. 2 tests tomorrow and 2 in April, and hopefully that will be it.

Have a good weekend!

Things Are Looking Up

After nearly a week of cupcake and Grandma therapy, twodom has been fitting J a little bit better. On Saturday we had J's birthday party, which was a larger affair than it had intended to be, but it was tons of fun. Last year we had a small party with maybe 4 kids and their moms. A lot of people were busy last year. This year we had close to 35 people! Turns out everyone was in the mood to party on Feb. 9. The sun gods gave us some glorious 75 degree weather, so we were able to have everything outdoors.

We borrowed a jumping thing from our friends, J and G. They got it off of craigslist and it will most likely be passed around for all the upcoming birthdays.

Some people ignored our suggestion of no gifts or just gently used books or toys. J was so excited to get a fire truck from Z.

On Sunday, my mom and I spent part of the day shopping at the outlets in San Marcos. They are enormous and you could spend a few days there if you wanted to, but we only had a couple of hours. I got some silicon baking pans (the pink ones were an extra 20% off for Valentine's Day), an easter cake pan ($7 at WS outlet), and two cast iron pots. I just love them. They're red, which I love, but the best part was they were a true outlet buy-- you know how sometimes things in outlets are just as expensive as buying at the mall--the color was considered slightly off, so they were marked down about 70%! I've been wanting a cast iron pot for a while and although I got a 5 quart and an 8 quart, I'm not sure about keeping two of them. I just want to take a chance to figure out which one will be used the most.

I did a little bit of baking for Valentine's Day. The fudge covered brownies are for B's office and the heart pressed cookies will be put into little bags for J's friends. We're meeting at the park for a little party if you can call it that. It will be the same old playing on the equipment with some special snacks.

Here's a picture of J busting a move at the library Valentine's Day party earlier in the week.

And I just saw on CNN while I was at the gym that UT Austin will be hosting the next Democratic debate, which should create some interesting buzz down here in the next few days.

Two with a Vengeance

Something happened to my child on Feb. 6. He turned two. It was in no way as emotional for me as it was last year, but it was definitely emotional for him. Unfortunately, for most of the day, it was not emotional in a good way. It was as if an alarm went off in his head Wednesday morning that said, "Today you are two. Now things change. Now you get pissed off."

From the morning J woke up, nothing was right. He didn't want to eat breakfast. He wanted to go to child care at the gym instead of stay at home with Grandma (Grandma wasn't upset; it meant she got to take a shower.) He started to cry after he finished eating his banana after I picked him up from child care.

As we were riding in the car after running an errand to the grocery store to get cream cheese to make frosting for his carrot cake cupcakes, he announced, "No caddot cupcakes. No caddot cupcakes." Honestly this didn't bother me; I just thought, "More for me!" I had planned on taking him to his favorite Mexican restaurant (you ask if a 2 year old can have a favorite place to eat? Oh yes!) but he was just so unhappy I didn't want to subject anyone else to his unpleasantness. I asked him what he wanted for lunch and he told me, "Mac and cheese. Not cupcakes."

As we went home to make the mac and cheese, he just began crying and carrying on in the kitchen for no reason at all. He went outside to play a bit while the noodles cooked, but then he came back in and picked up right where he left off. When lunch was finally ready and was placed in front of him, he ate two spoonfuls and decided that wasn't good either. He saw me making the frosting and decided that maybe having a cupcake might be a good idea after all. Given his state, I didn't insist that he eat any more lunch and we sang to him and he licked off all of the frosting. At first it was slow and deliberate, but after awhile, he couldn't stop himself. Once the sugar from the frosting hit his system, he was a changed toddler. I hereby declare cream cheese frosting the cure all to any problem. If you are feeling down, add some powdered sugar to a block of cream cheese and go to town.

We lingered on that cupcake for nearly a half an hour before it accidentally fell on the floor and we had to take a break.

Poor cupcake gets the brunt of it all

After some dancing and a nap, it was time for Take 2 of birthday number 2. Unfortunately it wasn't much better. We opened a few presents, but little things kept happening that upset him-- such as the stacking blocks falling on his head, the new tricycle not steering perfectly, and of course, Daddy not being there (Daddy was home for cupcakes, so that was cool). So, we put J to bed a little earlier and hoped that he would enjoy his second day of being two better than the first.

A tricycle from Mommy and Daddy. I just love Craigslist! (Despite pointing out every tricycle he'd see for the last two months, this only held his attention for about 10 minutes.)

A fancy new drum from Nummi. Not sure if Daddy or J likes it better...

A florist delivered balloons to our house. They were from Auntie L and Cousin L and W. When the florist said, these are for JS, J exclaimed, "Balloons for J!" and ripped them out of the man's hand. Then they almost carried him away. It was pretty funny.

You probably think I'm lying about the day given all of the happy shots posted here. I had one good "I just want to cry all day!" picture, but it's too dark to show up here. Believe me when I tell you that our first day of being two was just a bit on the rough side.

Almost 1 Toddler Year Down...

J hits the two year mark tomorrow. Here are some things I have learned from our first year of toddlerhood:

• It goes by much faster than the first year, which leads me to believe that the next year will go even faster, and so on. That's pretty scary.
• Just because a kid likes peas or lima beans during their first year of life does not mean they will ever like them again. And that's okay.
• He loves spending time with Mommy, but the world stops when Daddy walks through the door. And that's pretty cool.
• Temper tantrums can last a really long time.
• Hysterics can emerge from a temper tantrum.
• Sometimes making yourself sound as upset as he is makes him feel better (it's called the caveman effect).
• There is a hierarchy amongst various chicken forms. It goes something like this from best to worst... chicken tenders, chicken fingers, chicken nuggets (not from the place with arches), wheat germ chicken tenders. Well, who can blame him?
• Golf can be played indoors with a mop. Baseball can be played outdoors with an ice scraper.
• Once a child learns to talk, he will tell you everything on his mind.
• Watching your child learn to verbally communicate is both a joyous and trying occasion.
• Even though he is not a baby, he still likes to cuddle.
• Jumping around and clapping your hands is good therapy for anyone.
• Never give your child broccoli and cheese when he thinks you've said Mac and Cheese.
• Separation anxiety feels like it lasts for a long time, but one day, he walks off and doesn't look back to see if you are still there.
• You can successfully get him to eat something new and perhaps not so tasty if you eat it first and then pronounce it is the most fabulous thing in the world, but this will not work a second time on the same thing.
• Earlier bedtimes usually help fix a sleep problem.
• My kid notices everything I do even when I don't think he does.
• He is still excited by books more than any other activity and I hope that lasts.
• Even though I worry, he always goes to bed when the babysitter puts him to sleep.
• You still need to pack that extra outfit in the diaper bag.
• Even when I don't think he can, he can often roll with the punches and is extremely flexible.
• Your kid will not die if he eats dirt.
• Sometimes kids this age have better manners and more tenderness than many adults.
• We still haven't broken him.
• There is still so much more to learn.

Last picture taken before I am two.

(Sorry for the flower bullets, but I have no idea how to change that)

Kid Speak

I know I've been posting a lot about all of the neat things that J says, but it just keeps getting better. For example:

Me: Do you want a red balloon or a blue balloon?
J: Blue balloon. NOT red balloon.
Of course. Not the red balloon.
These statements are so funny because they happen so often now. If I ask him what he wants for lunch, he says, "Not sweet potatoes" and things like that.

We are taking care of our neighbor's dog this week. We take Hunter walking on a greenbelt not too far from our house. I walk with J in the backpack.

Me: Okay, we are going to go to the greenbelt now that we have Hunter on his leash.
J: Mommy, J, Hunter go seatbelts.
Me: No, not seatbelts. We use seatbelts in the car. This is the greenbelt. We walk here.
J: Seatbelt car. Walk Greenbelt Hunter seatbelt.

On the way to our gym there are a bunch of office buildings. Each of the buildings has a letter in a top corner. J recognizes the H and the Z. The building with the Z is called Zimmer.
J: Hello H. Bye Bye H. Hello Z! Zimmer! (It's as if they're old friends when he says this) Bye Bye Z Zimmer. Zimmer again soon. Turn around. See Zimmer again.
It pains him to leave the Zimmer building.

On the way home from the gym...
J: Mommy fat chicken.
Me: What?
J: Mommy fat chicken.

I am dumbfounded by this one. I can't translate this into anything without digging myself into a hole. Does my son think I'm fat? A fat chicken? Why would he think I am a fat chicken?
We've never talked about things being fat. Where would he come up with a fat chicken?

When we were back at the neighbor's house and were walking out of their yard, J spotted something and said, "There. fat chicken mommy." Sure enough there was a large ceramic hen in one of the garden beds. Phew. Okay. That makes sense now. I'm glad I'm not the fat chicken after all.

Make Your Choice

I never watch tv in the morning, but I turned it on to find out if it was going to rain and be cold for a fourth day in a row (the answer was yes). I also tuned in to The Today Show at just the right time to see a segment about what to do with all of those unwanted catalogs.

There is a site called Catalog Choice. If you go to their website, you can browse through tons of catalogs that you unwantingly receive and ask to be removed from their mailing lists. The site will take care of contacting the company. You just have to click a few buttons. I was so excited about this because the previous owners of this house subscribed to every mail-in catalog known to man. I think her full time job was ordering from catalogs. Unfortunately you have to register on this site, so I can't put her name down falsely and keep the catalogs from coming here. I hope eventually they get the point and will stop sending them. We get about 6 a day. Do you think she'd ever know if I did create an account in her name at my address?

Anyway, the site was obviously inundated with hits after being on national tv, so it took awhile for me to get my registration confirmation. It will also take a bit of time to scroll through all of the catalog titles, but it will be worth it. Less production is good in the long run, right?

We have been so bored here over the past few days. As I said earlier, the weather has been awful. I can't seem to get warm, Jonah has been whiny because it's too wet, cold, and rainy that he can't play in the yard. I took some time to organize his closet this morning and put away a bunch of clothes that are too small for him. There was a dry spell for about 30 minutes this afternoon, so we raced outside in our hats and scarves and played on the swings for a bit. He hadn't been on a swing in about two weeks, so he was very excited.

There's not much else to report here. J is talking consistently in 4-5 word sentences now. He has something to say about everything. His favorite thing to say right now is, "Grandma Pam fix red blanket in couple weeks. Grab cake." Translation: Grandma Pam is going to fix the red, blue, yellow and orange blanket she made him when she comes to visit for his birthday. That's when he gets to grab cake." I don't know if he remembers his birthday last year when he got to dig into a cake, or if he is referring to grabbing the lemon cake off of the counter. Either way, he associates Grandma's visit with his blanket and cake. Works for me. And he's very excited about it because he says, "Couple weeks" at the most random times, such as when he's in his high chair, or when we're driving somewhere in the car. To even out the Grandma love, he also keeps saying, "Nummi hold tractor." That's because we picked up a really cool tractor tricycle at a consignment shop while we visited the farm. If you ask me it makes the farm complete.

Are You a Pigeon or a Statue?

I used to work with a guy who had a sign outside his office that read, "Some days you're the pigeon, other days the statue." I always chuckled when I saw this sign, but I could never quite remember the phrase when I wanted to mention it to someone. Yesterday, it came back very clearly. Yesterday I was a statue.

We were in the grocery store stocking up after returning from our trip. I wanted to make one last scan down the dairy aisle to look at the label of some yogurt they were offering for free with a cereal purchase. I read the label and put the yogurt in the cart. As I did that, I scanned up at J because I realized he had been awfully quiet. And any other mama out there knows that quiet is toddler code for trouble.

The trouble came in the form of two eggs. He had already cracked one over himself and was contemplating what to do with the next one. I asked, "J what are you doing?!" in my not so happy mommy tone and muttered/whispered "Oh crap" under my breath as I looked up to heaven. This was just great. J heard my mutter (he hears EVERYTHING!) and yelled, "Crap, crap, crap crap! Crap eggs!" What he meant to say was "cracked eggs" but it wasn't coming out right. I learned that later when he was retelling the story to me.

We quickly went to find a place to wipe off (I didn't know where the bathroom was since I don't make it a habit of knowing where they are in grocery stores.) One of the sample ladies gave us all her napkins and some wet paper towels. I cleaned him up as he continued to tell everyone, "Crap eggs." Nobody really seemed to notice what he was saying because I was hushing him a bunch, but I am sure somebody told my story to their spouse at dinner last night and commented on my parenting skills.

Yes, I am laughing about this after the fact. Yes, it was another innocent moment of exploration. My dad said it's all my fault because I actually talk to my kid and explain everything to him so he probably remembered cracking some eggs with me into some cookie mix or something and thought it would be fun to do it himself.

The part of the story will make you say, "Awwww" came when we were in the car. I was buckling J into his carseat and reminding him not to put his hands in his mouth until we could wash them at home. He said, "Mommy-mad- at- J." I said, "Well, mommy was not too happy this happened. But I know it was an accident and you are sorry." He said, "I-so-dee- Mommy." Ok, I'll gladly be the statue again for such sweetness.

Here's hoping that you have more time as pigeons (not that you should do what pigeons do to anyone; I think it just means they are a happy bird in the metaphor) and less time as statues this weekend!

Huh?

I am a bit of a punctuation/grammar snob and it always bugs me when apostrophes are in the wrong place. It also annoys me when signs don't make sense. Take the one I got in the mail as an example:



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I just thought this was funny. B just said, "Whatever." He does not share my passion for the crusade. We're off to CA tomorrow. J needs to learn about snow. He also needs to visit his goat and sheep buddies on the farm. We'll be back late next week.

The Baby Primary

Check out these baby pics with all the presidential candidates. Who would you vote for based on how they hold her?

http://www.slate.com/id/2181495

And for those interested, I posted some pictures from Tucson. Yes, there are some baby L pics there!

The Kid Just Keeps on Reaching

Here's an image for you to start your Monday. Remember a few posts back when I told you about how J grabbed the lemon cake off the island and started eating it and how I was amazed at his reach?

Yesterday B was using a pair of scissors to open a package. B placed said scissors in the middle of the island. J grabbed scissors. I walked into the kitchen to witness my son holding the scissors and jamming them in an up and down motion against the wood on the side of the island. Gash, gash, gash. I screamed since I didn't know what was worse-- the fact that he had the scissors, or what he was doing with them. Thankfully we got them in time and there are only a few little scratches.

Our safe places get smaller as he gets taller.

Arizona Potty Mouth

Happy New Year! We took a trip to Tucson last weekend through New Year's Day to spend time with Feathernester and family. J loved meeting his new cousin and was very concerned about her happiness. If she cried, he suggested she needed milk. If he didn't know, he said, "Baby fine." He tried as hard as he could to stay out of the baby swing, and he did a good job, but you could tell it was killing him to not be able to ride in it.
J and Chewy try to settle a territorial dispute

We took J on a field trip to the Sonoran Desert Museum, which he loved. He really enjoyed the javelinas, coyotes, and sea otters. He's been talking about the otters ever since and I always think he's saying, "All done". I guess their swimming and diving really made an impression.

L graces us with some beautiful smiles

But that was not the highlight of our trip. The highlight was the fabulous vocabulary J added to his repertoire. Before we left I was carrying a load of laundry upstairs and I wanted him to come up with me. He was taking forever so I said, "Come on, J, you're as slow as molasses." He cracked up at the word molasses. Then he made the sign for more and said asses. More asses. He said it over and over and over. We tried not to laugh. Uncle D thought it would be funny to add to the fun...

D: J, say pimp.
J: Pimp
D: Say J pimp
J: J pimp
D:Say Ladies molasses
J: Ladies more asses
D: Say J pimp ladies molasses
J: J pimp ladies more asses

It was funny the first time and even the second and third time. But when he started to randomly say it to try to get us laugh we knew we had to stop. Even today we stopped for some lunch and he made the sign for more and said it again. I think I need to get a bottle of molasses and show him what it is.

J gives L a kiss, which L is not quite sure about

Our flight home was intersting because it departed at 7:30 pm, which is J's bedtime. Everyone told us that he would probably sleep and we thought that this would happen because it would be dark. Well, we had seats in the bulkhead, so every noise in the galley caused J to lift up his head in interest. Then there were the fasten seatbelt lights and the lavatory sign-- all which probably went on and off about 10 times. The poor child tried and tried to sleep. His eyes were so glazed over, but it never happened. He finally snoozed in the car on the way back from the airport at around 11:30. And then he only slept until 8 the next morning. Oh well, it didn't kill him and he seems to have adjusted just fine.

I'll try to post some pics tomorrow. Sorry I didn't today, but we were busy putting away Christmas decorations and the camera was never close by.

Brothers with fancy eyebrows