quote of the day

(Said to random mom on the way out of our class this morning.)
"Good-bye. I love you!"

first report card

"Elian is a quiet student. He follows directions well. He enjoys parallel play in the toddler and block areas. He follows directions well and will pick up one toy and come to do a puzzle at puzzle time."

quote of the day

(While remembering our Art-a-Whirl experience.)

Elian: What's Art mean?

Mama: Um, it could be a painting...or maybe a drawing...

Papa: Or, maybe a sculpture...

Mama: Or, it coud even be the way you dance in your own way...

Elian: Or, maybe my Doodle Pro...

and now, a word from our sponsor

bad boys, bad boys, whatchya gonna do?

Today we went to an open house at our police precinct. Here are some of the highlights:




(Boy, those fireman are going to be pissed when they find somebody changed all their hose settings.)

Other highlights included: petting a police horse, seeing a dog from the K9 unit open a car door with his nose (note to self: must teach Norman that trick) and meeting Mcgruff the crime dog (Michael, they could've used you).

quote of the day (yesterday)

(To the cashier at Starbucks)
"I got a new Chuck-it!"

happy birthday puppers!

Today the best puppy in the world turned eight years old. And to celebrate, we all had a cupcake. Now you see it, now you don't.



And from the makers of "How to eat a donut", the much anticipated, "How to eat a cupcake." (In case I ever had a doubt the boy was my kid, this pretty much erases it.)



Elian bought Norman a Chuckit Junior for his birthday. Now he can chuck the ball for Norman alongside Papa in the morning. We tried it out and it quickly evolved into a game of Chuckit basketball. I'd include a clip but this entry is already a bit clip-heavy. Maybe another day.

And since tomorrow is Papa's birthday, much like he decided it would be a great idea to buy Uncle Mike a blue ball for his birthday, Elian decided it would even be a better idea to buy Papa a ball for his birthday. I mean, really, who doesn't need a ball? So he picked out a beautiful purple ball for Papa and we brought it home to wrap it (ie: stuff it in a birthday bag). I stressed to him that this was a SURPRISE for Papa and mum's the word...his birthday's not until tomorrow, blah, blah, blah. We hid it in the closet with the idea that Elian would present it to Ed tomorrow when he woke up. When I returned from work today, Elian insisted that he try Papa's ball out or "play with it a little bit," as he called it. I let him put a few bounces in before we went for our walk, then we put it back into the closet for hiding. Later, when Ed came home from work, Elian could barely contain himself. Ed wasn't in the door two seconds when Elian blurted out, "Papa, I have a SECRET... I have a present for you... come see it...IT'S A BALL!!!!!"

Guess who's now sleeping with the purple ball? I'll give you a hint, it's not Ed.

hoops

Apparently the Little Tikes hoop isn't challenging enough.

fast forward 15 years

This hits frighteningly close to home.

he was born a poor black child

Some nights when I put little e to bed, I feel I am living that scene from the Jerk. You know, the one where Steve Martin is about to leave and he picks up random objects as he goes, "All I need is this ashtray...and this paddle game. The ashtray and the paddle game and that's all I need...And this remote control."

Before he goes into his crib, there's always some sort of negotiation about what he can and can not bring into his crib. (Right now he has two soccer balls in his crib with him (he gave up his bunny and his hippotamus to make room for those) plus a few stuffed animals for good measure. If it were up to him, he'd have the entire contents of his toy box in there with him. I don't really care if he plays with the toys before falling asleep, it's more a matter of safety and space logistics -- or a soccer ball rolling into his head the moment he falls asleep.

quote of the day

"Look Mama, I drooled an exclamation point."

now that it's nice out, think we'll ever go inside again?

i gotta hand it to the kid, he doesn't give up.

newsflash!

I'm grossly underpaid at one of my jobs.

quote of the day

This happened yesterday on a walk, but since I already had a QOTD yesterday, let's pretend it happened today.

Background: Lately whenever Ed and Elian are sharing a special father/son moment, Ed says, "Just two handsome dudes (INSERT ACTIVITY HERE)" For example: just two handsome dudes brushing their teeth...just two handsome dudes playing chugga chugga choo choo, you get the idea.

So yesterday, Elian and I were taking Norman on a Lemon Ding-dong (deserving of its own blog entry), when Elian said:
Just one handsome dude and one handsome Mama walking puppy.

quote of the day

Background: Lately Elian's been requesting to drink his beverage "like a big boy with crazy straw." Sadly, whilst draining the pasta I made tonight, I dumped the scalding hot water in the sink where said crazy straw rested. The whimsical loop the straw made was no longer and what was left was a not-so-crazy straw -- more like a straw with a bad case of scoliosis. Then, as usual, Elian sat down to dinner and asked for the straw. After Ed explained to Elian that he hadn't seen the crazy straw, I chimed in to say I hadn't seen it either. To which he replied:

"Maybe Lempi stealed it."


P.S. Lempi just turned 93 a few weeks ago.