so this is christmas

christmas highlights

This Christmas was a blast for us since the little man was uber-excited about the prospect of presents. And apparently he must've been on the "nice" list because Santa was very good to him. So good to him that we may have to put an addition on the house.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Seeing all the cousins in one place -- and actually playing with them.

• Playing pool at Aunt Lisa's house and with Grandma and Grandpa Schulz at their house.

• Going sledding in Janesville with Mama and Papa, Aunt Kendra, Thurston and Grandma Johnson -- and the hot chocolate and Christmas cookies that followed. (Note: I was a little worried that he was not going to enjoy sledding. I went down first with him and was afraid to look at his face when we hit the bottom of the hill. Much to my relief, he was grinning ear to ear and immediately yelled, "Let's do it AGAIN! This time with PAPA!" and he continued to take turns going with Mama and Papa until our multitude of runs carved a slippery path of ice and two tiny moguls down the hill.)

• The toys. Oh, Lord, the toys. A little ball-loving-boy's dream come true. In no particular order: The practice putter with hole that shoots back the ball. (Note: Hole came out of box not working. Papa saved Christmas when he fixed it so it worked the next morning. Yay, Papa!) The game Ker-Plunk. Alligator slippers. Awesome books. Mini- Tonka trucks. A ball quilt. A tabletop pool table. A sled. A croquet set. Ball sheets. Are you noticing a theme here? More blocks. A bowling set. And the piece de resistance? A new marble run with motorized elevator!!! Praise Jebus (Mama and Papa also watched part of the Simpsons movie)! And possibly the biggest Christmas tragedy was this: The motorized elevator on the marble run did not work. Elian took it far better than I thought he would. He didn't miss a beat, pretending that the elevator was working and deciding that Santa must've dropped it. Papa had an unsuccessful trip to Home Depot in search of a triangular screw driver to match the one that Santa's Chinese elves used on the motorized elevator. Then Mama frantically searched the website where the marble run came from. Sold out. So she got on the horn to Santa's elves. The customer service lady was incredible, saying she'd ship out a replacement elevator right away. Would I have to pack up the old broken one? No. Then, get this, Ed saves Christmas again by fixing the broken elevator too. It's a Christmas MIRACLE, ladies and gentlemen! (Note to self: No more motorized toys for Christmas.)

In the past few days, the little man has been in a new-toy-playing frenzy. And right now, for some reason, this song is running through my brain: Yes we've got trouble, right here in River City, with a capital T, that rhymes with P and that stands for POOL...

Stay tuned for pictures.

quote of the day

(During meeting.)

"I don't know anything about marketing and design -- I'm a banker."

(Fast forward to later that same meeting.)

"I think it should be a folder, not a brochure. Also, I really don't like the colors. Could we get some new colors?...I like the bridge. Could we put the bridge on the folder pocket -- but make it a bridge during the daytime, not at night?"



I can't wait to start writing the copy.

can't...blog...must...write...copy

I've been so busy with work lately. It's just coming at me from all sides. And sadly, the boy keeps doing and saying things that I think to myself, "I've got to write that down." But then I don't.

Last night we saw Santa and the Nutcracker display at Macy's. Our little man wanted to keep a comfortable distance from Santa but he did manage to get out that he wanted a marble run and a croquet set.

then there's this

Last night I dreamt that Conan O'Brien made me macaroni and cheese at his house.

words i'm not proud to have said

"I hope Santa didn't see that..."

best. things. ever. volume 8

• The way your room smells when I walk through the door.
• How you say corner: COR-NOOR
• How you've recently taken to snuggling with me every morning.
• The way you dance when your marbles go down the marble run. Every. Single. Time.
• How you laugh when you play tug-tug with your brother.
• How still to this day, "You always need a ball for the ride!"
• How you say please and thank you to your teachers in class.
• The way you bust a move with your pal Henrik in the middle of circle time at class.
• How it still kills you to see another child cry.
• Watching Sesame Street with you. Even if it's the same episode where Gordon plays golf.
• Decorating the Christmas tree with you and your enthusiasm for each and every ornament.
• How you say decide: BE-SIDE
• Your ever-growing vocabulary -- the fact that you used the word "version" correctly the other day.

just add water

Lately the little dude has been insisting that we don't drain his tub water. He wants to save it for Mama and Papa to use in the morning. I'm not sure if this is coming from the generous spirit of his heart or out of fear that his toys might go down the drain. If they do, we're gonna need a barnyard animal extractor.

In other news, papa comes home tomorrow night. Hooray!

day three without papa

the moment I've been waiting for

Finally! The little boy seems to have developed an appreciation for Sesame Street. You don't know how happy this makes me. And to celebrate, how about this blast from the past??:

he sees dead people too

Our boy appreciates about 98% of the toys he has, but he does have his big three that he goes back to again and again (blocks, marble run, train track). He also has a spooky mental inventory of every toy he's ever had.

I'm not one to enjoy clutter (you wouldn't know that by looking at our house). So as soon as I see that a toy's been neglected for a good amount of time, or it's one that he's grown out of, I take it out of the rotation and store it away. It never fails that as soon as I do that, within the next couple days, he asks me about said toy.

Just the other day he asked me about his wooden peg and mallet thing. I had JUST put it away in a box with some other toys (very secretly, I might add -- or so I THOUGHT). I gave him some vague reply like, "I don't know honey, I haven't seen it" (which isn't completely a lie). But he wouldn't let it go. He kept asking about it as if he knew exactly where it was and he was just testing me. Finally the guilt was just eating away at my insides and I went upstairs where I "found" it.

Then, the other day, I was clearing some shows off the TIVO. He hasn't been too interested in Blue's Clues lately so I thought it was safe to delete a few of those. So guess what he says to me yesterday. "Mama, I want to watch the Blue's Clues with Felix trying to make a basket." D'OH! I'm sorry buddy but that Blue's Clues is no longer with us.

Tonight, I contemplated recycling the kitty-cat house we made out of the giant cardboard box his new car seat came in. But then I stopped myself. I threw it in the front closet for a test. We'll see how long it's in there before he asks me about it. What do you suppose the statute of limitations on kitty-cat boxes is?

quote of the day

(Heard over monitor while he is supposed to be napping.)

Robot, I'll tell you what...I'm going to take you apart so you can't be a robot!!

BOTM

This month's Ball of the Month feature is Domi-kick ball.

A while back the little dude and I went to visit some of my pals at my old job. The previous time we were there, Elian had brought home a splash ball he found in Dominic's office. The boy is not one to forget a potential ball source. And this time, he scored this beach ball from Dominic that he lovingly called Domi-kick. Upon hearing this, Dominic decided he would change his name to Domi-kick. And then added, that he would also change his last name to "Youindebutt."

This ball's been with us since summer and it continues to be a hit. It's a smaller sized beach ball -- perfect for 'dote ball", volleyball, and batting around the house without knocking over the fine china.

quote of the day

(After dinner, still sitting at the table.)

ELIAN: (His voice five octaves higher) "Papa, can you take me upstairs?" said the fork, "I'm tired too."

PAPA: I think that there is a blog entry...

ELIAN: Mama, are you coming upstairs too?

MAMA: Yeah, I'm going to put my fat pants on.

PAPA: ...not the part about the fat pants.