birthday 3 highlights

• Bowling with the cousins. Bumpers for the kids, gutters and beer for the adults. The husband was high scorer -- talk about a turn on. (Pictures soon -- hopefully.)
• Apparently it was the year of the puzzle. The boy received five of them for his birthday. That's a-okay with me. I love me some puzzles. Did I ever tell you about the time when Ed and I were up north and I did the complete blue sky (minus clouds) with about 10 gazillion pieces BY MYSELF?!? They're still talking about it in the puzzle annals (tee hee, annals). The other day, little e and I did four of the five puzzles he received.
• Sledding with the cousins even though the boy was coughing up a lung. (Pictures soon. Hopefully. Ahem, Ed.)
• Having the little dude's friends over for a birthday playdate. They all made him cards (Freddy professed his love for Elian in the one he made -- that's Freddy, the same little boy who likes to play tackle basketball. I have a feeling Elian and Freddy will grow to be good buddies.)
• He had to skip Monday playschool because he was so worn out from his birthday playdate -- he was begging for his nap before lunch. I figured he needed a little down time after about a week straight of go-go-go activity. When he returned to playschool on Wednesday, he brought cupcakes to share. And they made him a birthday crown and a sign. His friend Lizander made him a card.

My baby's getting so big. Sniff.

and look how much he loves the ugly ball pillow i made for him!

this one goes out to grandma schulz

And who could forget the obligatory face-over-the-cake shot?

you say it's your birthday

and now a depressing word from our sponsor

You might want to get your magnifying glass out before viewing this video about plastics.

We'll be back soon with happy thoughts about the big 3-year birthday blowout.

quote of the day

ELIAN: Papa, let's play basketball!

PAPA: Okay, I'm ready. Let's play golf!

ELIAN: No! Don't freak me out!

a little monday afternoon bootie shaking

a boy and his coins

Yesterday we took our giant change collection and made a deposit into little e's college fund. I don't have the exact total handy but I know it was over $300 -- just a little more than it was almost exactly two years ago when we last cashed it in.

At this rate, by the time he's 18, we will have saved over $2700 just in change. In 2023, that might be enough for him to host his very first kegger -- wouldn't you think?

quote of the day

Papa: Do you know what's coming up, buddy?

Elian: What?

Papa: Your birthday...and do you know what you get on your birthday?

Elian: CAKE!

Papa: Yes, and what else?

Elian: Treats!

Papa: Sort of. It starts with a ""P... ppp....ppp...ppp"

Elian: PAJAMAS!!!

quite possibly the cutest thing ever

Little e's still feeling a bit under the weather. We're playing hookie from our class this morning and laying low. I think he had a bit too much crazy-running-screaming-maniac time at play school yesterday.

He asked me if he could watch Air Buddies (thanks, Aunt Karen), then made himself comfortable with his blanket, Target, snack and juice. He marveled at the fact that his brother Norman did not jump off the couch when he got on like he usually does. And I told him it was because he wanted to watch Air Buddies too.

So throughout the beginning of the movie, this is what I hear.

"Look Puppers, they kinda look like you...except they're smaller...and they're not black..."

"Look Norman, that boy has a ball blanket like mine..."

"Did you see that, Puppers?"


And then he moved. And Norman jumped off the couch to flee from the danger, running upstairs, far away from humans.

tree-hugger tip

Hey, you know those big ol' plastic bags bedding usually comes in? They make great storage for multi-piece toys (your legos, marble run, train tracks, barbies, etc.) Zippers create easy-access. And see-through plastic makes it easy to identify which toy is in there. Or, let's say you're making a marble run (purely hypothetical -- NOT!) and you really need the roundy-round piece. Where is it? Just look in your see-through plastic bag -- much better than digging through a dark cloth bag. What you have no small children with multi-piece toys? What about those shampoo bottles you've been stashing away from your luxury-hotel trips? Or perhaps your stockings are getting tangled in your undies? Search no more!

quote of the day

(He wakes up before 7 a.m. It's still dark out. I stumble into his room tired and bleary-eyed.)

"Wanna play tag!?!?!?"

quote of the day

(While giving him a bath, I asked him if he'd rather use the robot pillow I made him at play school or keep the one he has there now with Mickey Mouse pillow case.)

"Um, I think Mickey Mouse."

"Don't you like the robot pillow?"

"No. But that's okay!"

"But, you like the robot t-shirt?"

"Yes."

"But not the robot pillow..."

"Let me tell you a story, Mama. A long, long time ago, when I was one year old (long dramatic pause)...a robot ate me."

"So, you don't like robots?"

"No. I like balls better."

quote of the day

"I'm really, really, really, really, really, really thirsty!!!!"

(Said after Papa took his water bottle away from him after he chucked out of his bed two times.)

giving the people what they want

A frequent reader of Hernan-dos has requested to see the matching robot shirts. So without further ado, I bring you, Matching Robot Shirts crafted by me with my bare hands. Red rosy cheeks and nose courtesy of perpetual boogers.

quote of the day (and further evidence that the boy could be president)

(Getting ready to play croquet with his new croquet set.)

ELIAN: I'm going to be blue and you're going to be red.

MAMA: How do you get to decide what color I'm going to be?

ELIAN: Because I'm the decider.

fishing for a mother-of-the-year nomination

boogers r us

Last night Elian was up all night coughing and crying with a wicked cold. Here we had gone nearly a year without a bad cold. I have a feeling this is just a taste of what's to come now that he's going to be hanging out in a germ-pool two afternoons a week.

I'm going to bed. I feel a scratchy throat coming on.

the end of an era

Elian's babysitter is spending a semester abroad in Scotland; her last day was Friday. I thought about finding a replacement for her. But now that the little man's getting older, it feels like he needs more play time with other kids. So now he will be going to pre-school Monday and Wednesday afternoons and one of his favorite sitters, Kim, will come to the house Friday afternoons.

I had mixed feelings about the whole daycare/preschool thing. They take naps there on tiny little plastic "cots" and I wasn't quite sure how he was going to take to that. His naps have been inconsistent to say the least. And I mean, I'd be dropping him off and shortly thereafter he would be taking a nap with a bunch of kids he didn't know. But today was his first day and I'm pleased to report it went really well. One of the teachers called me mid-way through the afternoon and told me he had slept until 2:45. Huh?? Whuh???

They have a "large muscle" portion of the afternoon where they run around like crazy and play with, hold on to your hats, BALLS! They actually have a pretty nice basketball hoop set up and Elian was very excited about that. When I picked him up today, he was all sweaty and drank about four little cups of water before we left the building. He chit-chatted my ear off all the way home about playschool and what he did that day. And I must say, although I say that I work from home, I hadn't really been able to do that. I would always leave when the babysitter got here and work from a cafe. But today I did work from home and man, it was weird being here without my little man.

Because none of my clients seem to get the work to me during my work hours, I often get it done in the evening or on the weekends sometimes leaving some of my "work time" open. That was the case today so I decided I'd take the opportunity to sew -- yes, I said sew -- my little guy a robot pillow case for a little pillow he could use for his playschool naps. And since apparently he told Papa the other day that he wanted a robot t-shirt like the one I made Papa, I made him one of those too.

When I picked him up today, I tell him in the car that I made him a little surprise. All the way home it was, "What is it?.... Can I see it?... What is it?..." That's when I knew I shouldn't have said anything. So we get out of the car and he says, "Where is the surprise, Mama?" We're in the garage. I tell him it's inside and when we get inside I show the pillowcase and t-shirt to him. His face begins to fall. "Is...that...it?...Is...that...my....surprise??" I see the tears welling up in his eyes. Mustering up as much enthusiasm as I can, "Yes, buddy, don't you like it?" "Where's the cool thing?...(now crying)...Is there something else??" I asked him what he thought it was going to be and gasping between the tears he managed to spit out, "a...ball...." Later he told me he wanted a snack (apparently playschool makes him both thirsty and hungry). After he ate his snack he said, "I feel better, Mama...I do like what you made me...I was hungry and that's why I was sad." The end.

it's not easy

One of my New Years resolutions for 2008 is to be more green. Hello? What's that? I can practically hear the eyeballs rolling. Lately I've been experiencing a bit of climate change anxiety. And reading this doesn't help. Neither does this.

In the past, I feel like we've made pretty good efforts to be environmentally friendly. Our home recycles what we know can be recycled. In fact, I can't believe how much we recycle. I'd say we put at least six bags of recyclables out every two weeks and there are only three of us. Can I say "recycle" a little bit more???

The other day I was walking Norman and saw garbage out on the curb at one house. The garbage was put out in these almost-clear plastic bags and they didn't make any effort to separate the recyclables. Cans...cereal boxes...more cans... I began to feel all panicky inside. I came embarrassingly close to sifting through their garbage and sorting it out but then Norman barked, "Get a grip Woman -- there's nothing here for me to sniff and I've already claimed this block my property 64 times!"

When we started our hardcore recycling efforts a while back, I admit I thought it was kind of a pain to break down all the cereal boxes, packaging, clean out all the peanut butter jars, etc. But now, it's just second nature and I can't imagine not doing it. So this year, we're going to try to step it up a notch. If it turns out 90 percent of the scientific community is wrong and it is proven that human actions don't have anything to do with the planet, so be it -- I'll actually be relieved. I don't have anything to lose. And if anything, maybe I can help leave the world a little cleaner for my little monkey.

Anyhoo, here's what I'm thinking. In my quest to make the world a cleaner place, whenever I come up with an earth-friendly idea or discover some great green products, I'll let you know. We'll call these Tree-hugger Tips. If I can make even one person start living more green, I'll feel like I've done something. As Ghandi said, "Be the change you wish to see in the world, baby!" (Okay, maybe he didn't say the baby part.)

So, I bring you (drum roll, please) hernan-dos first Tree-Hugger Tip:
In the past, I had always used plastic bags from the grocery store to clean up after Norman. I didn't think those bags could be recycled. Then I found out they could if you bring them back to the grocery store. And I discovered these. I've been using them for about three months now and they've changed my life I tell you. They're very lightweight so they don't add a lot of bulk to your pocket. They have holes along the top so you can easily cinch the bag. And they're the perfect size. If you have a dog, run, don't walk and get yourself some poop bags.

UPDATE: This resolution is already starting to suck. We looked into getting some carpet for the upstairs. Turns out the style/color we liked wasn't recycled nor would it probably be recyclable considering it was bathed in Teflon. Ah well. Carpet, shmarpet. We'll keep looking.

quote of the day

"When I get older, I'm going to walk Norman by myself. Then, I will come home and Mama and Papa will make me a BIG smoothie and then I will say, (gripping himself in a hug) 'I love this smoothie'."

quote of the day

(After talking about his upcoming birthday upon which he will turn three years old.)

"When I turn three I want to be bald."

(And this is only a few weeks after I had to break it to him that he didn't get to drive when he turns three.)

white christmas

something that will make the men on my side of the family very happy

Today Elian kissed the Green Bay Packer football ornament before it went into the ornament box until next Christmas.