my little pumpkin

what the 3-books-before-bedtime ritual has become

"Oh look, Oh my, oh my dinosaurs! Wanna read this?!?"
"No."

"How about 'David Gets in Trouble'?"
"No."

"Goodnight Moon?"
"No."

"But Not the Hippotamus?"
"No."

"Green Eggs and..."
"No."

"Old McDonald?"
"Yes."

(One down, three to go...)

"Where the Wild Things Are?"
"No."

"It's Okay to be Different?..."


"

it's official, i have soccer-mom hair

I got my haircut on Saturday. I gave my hairdresser specific instructions: more rock-n-roll, less mom...something with a little more spunk...something different... I even had a picture from a New York City hair salon: A cute banged cut, about four inches shorter than what I had, with fun little layers throughout. I think she must've been sick that day at beauty school. But apparently she passed Mom Haircut 101 with flying colors!!!!

The good news is, my boy LOVES soccer.

how to stall on your way to bed

1. Put your SPAM ball away.
2. Put your yellow ball away.
3. Put your truck away.
4. Put Norman's toy away.
5. Kiss your pumpkin goodnight.
6. Kiss Mama's pumpkin goodnight.
7. Kiss Papa's pumpkin goodnight.
8. Kiss the floor goodnight.
9. Kiss the step goodnight.
10. Ever so slowly make your way up the stairs.

sidewalk balls

Last weekend, Tom and Karen made the trip from NYC with their boy. They stayed with Chad and Suzy who have witnessed and can fully appreciate the depth of little e's love for the ball.

At one of our visits to their home, we were greeted by a trail of balls winding up the sidewalk to their front door. I managed to capture the boy's surprise and amazement on film (er, or pixels). Listen carefully to the disbelief in the form of "What the?!?!?!"


Later that same day.


Here are all the little munchkins.


And here's little e trying to bore a hole through little henry's skull with his mind.

other people's kids

Yesterday little e and I went to an indoor playground with his pal Henry and Henry's mom. We thought we'd get there early to avoid the madness, but apparently everyone else had the same idea.

The place was a zoo. There were tubes, ladders, slides with kids climbing and hanging off them like little monkies. We went to the toddler area to avoid a big-kid foot in the face. No such luck. The big kids had taken over the tot area too. At one point little e was crawling through this tube when a kid about six or seven started to CRAWL OVER him. Of course his mom was no where in sight to tell her child that maybe he shouldn't be crawling on top of a baby, so I took it upon myself. "Um, yes, exuse me, small child...can you wait til my son gets through before you take your turn." Sadly, the child must've been deaf because why else would he have five seconds later done the EXACT SAME THING AGAIN!!

So we moved on to the gym where there were balls, balls and more balls. However, there were little kids flying around on scooters too. And so what if there was a small toddler in their path?? It was a danger zone. But we stuck it out so the boy could shoot some hoops. And shoot some hoops he did while every other kid tried to steal the ball from him the minute it left his pudgy little hands.

So, here's my confession: Other people's kids really annoy me. Oh, I know, kids will be kids, but what about the little girl in the corner of the gym who monopolized each and every colored cone? My little boy wanted to use two to practice his soccer cone drills and she yanked them away from him like she was some kind of Queen of the Cones. To me, she was just a cone pig -- a cone pig who wouldn't share with my child!!!

Wait, let me clarify my confession. Of course my nieces and nephews don't annoy me -- or any children of my friends. I think more realistically it's other people who annoy me -- the mother of these kids who don't step in and say, "Little Johnny, maybe you shouldn't plow over that little boy with your scooter." Or, "You know, he's less than half your size, maybe you can give him his ball back..." Or the moms who come to the park and sit at the picnic table while the nice lady with the little boy pushes their child on the swing because the child is whining uncontrollablly to be pushed but their mama can't hear them because she's sitting a block away at a picnic table!!!

Okay, I digress. Little e had a blast at the indoor playground -- he was exhausted by the time we left and that was really the whole point. And there were some very nice kids -- big kids who quickly returned the ball to him with a big smile. Besides, I'm sure there will come a day (if there hasn't already) that he will annoy some other kid's mom.

Nahh, that will never happen.

the kid enjoys salsa

Last night I made little e a grilled cheese for dinner. I remembered seeing some mild salsa in the refrigerator that wasn't fuzzy, so I put a little dallop of it on the side. After one taste, he decided he really liked salsa. "Aiyin like salsa!" he said. It was salsa this, salsa that, salsa, salsa!!! He ended up just spooning it into his mouth. And I suspect if I had handed him the jar, he would've emptied it.

So tonight I did the same with his Smart Dog, only this time, I gave him a little more -- which he shoveled into his mouth without coming up for air. He mixed his hotdog in it. He mixed his peas in it as he proclaimed the mighty salsa elixir of the gods!

Stay tuned for next week's post when he can't stand salsa.

circus clown

This video has quickly replace "Triangle Round", an animated corporate video that Ed did for work, as little e's favorite video. I'm not sure if it's the impressive juggling talents of Uncle Bob or the crazy woman singing circus music that he appreciates most.

Sidenote: While it is in fact Uncle Bob juggling, the little dude thinks it's Uncle Mike, as he does every adult male that's not papa or either of his grandpas.

izzy vizzyts

This past weekend brought a visit from Aunt Karen, Uncle Bob and Izzy. The apple orchard was probably the highlight of the visit. So rather than bore you with all the details about how I made our dinner reservations for the wrong night and we were forced to get takeout and bring it home, we'll get right to the pictures.

Here are some pretty leaf cookies I made. Uh huh, that's right, bring it, Martha! Apparently, they were too pretty to eat because no one did (except me).


Here's the little dude realizing that dropping apples found on the ground is not as much fun as dropping them from a shopping cart.


Little e and most of his cousins (from my side). One would never guess that the one furthest left is my sister Karen's child.


And finally, I call this one Happy Boy With Apple (and Booger). And no, those aren't stunt boogers -- them babies are real.

help mama

Lately the little man has been really into helping.

Today, after returning to the 14 piles of laundry I had just folded, I learned that "Help Mama" can also mean quite the opposite. Unless he meant, "Help mama get to the koo koo parlor" in which case, yes, thank you sweetie, that WAS a big help.

please stand by

My computer is undergoing some "work" by my IT guy. It's not broken. I repeat, it's not broken.

Blogging just doesn't seem quite right on Ed's computer. Just can't seem to get the blogging juices flowing. And I don't have access to my photos, etc.

Stay tuned for pictures from Izzy, Uncle Bob and Aunt Karen's visit. Them were some good times.

say cheesy

Seems we've entered a new phase. A phase where it's impossible to take a decent picture without the boy making a goofy face.

Exhibit A


Exhibit B


Exhibit C


I rest my case.

he wore a raspberry beret

Pints of raspberries picked: 2

Pints of raspberries consumed while picking: 8




What happens if you eat too many raspberries: