quote of the day

ELIAN: (Sniffing blanket) Ahhh, I love to smell my blanket.

MAMA: What does it smell like?

ELIAN: (Sniffs) It smells... (sniffs again)...(long pause)...LIKE NERDS!

i get the feeling i'll be seeing a lot more of this expression when he's a teenager

an official proclamation

I heretofore declare this quite possibly one of the most awesome toys ever created. In fact, I just ordered three of them for impromptu birthday gifts -- something I always think I'm going to do, but never do (like thinking I'll pick up the perfect gift for someone months before Christmas when I stumble upon it, but I don't and then I forget what it was in the first place).

Seriously, we saw one of these things in the park a few years ago. There were kids crawling out of the woodwork to watch it. I had forgotten about it. But then I ended up accidently getting one for Elian's third birthday. I stored it away figuring we couldn't use it in the winter, then recently remembered I had it. We've been having a blast with it since.

Yesterday, we had Henrikover to play. I launched the balloons off as the two boys wore themselves out running across the field to find them after they landed. And wearing out two three year-olds is just an added bonus feature for a toy as far as I'm concerned.

quote of the day

Because I am someone whose brain is often trapped in the 70s, I find myself quoting 70s sit-coms more frequently than I'm comfortable to admit (or maybe that's just in my head). One of my all-time favorites is "What chyou talkin' 'bout Willis?" Apparently, I've said it enough to the boy, that he has picked it up. A while back we were in the car. Ed and I were having a conversation about something or another and from the back seat we hear this:

"What chyou talkin' 'bout Willises?"

You go, kid. 10 points for making it plural!

canoes, marble runs, tortillas -- oh my!

This past weekend my good friends Mike and Margaret came to visit. I've known Margaret since pre-kindergarten. She and Mike have been together since high school -- so let's just say we go way back. Way, way back.

They got in Friday afternoon and after a refreshing Squirtarita™ that Mike confirmed was an actual drink consumed by actual Mexicans (but named by us), we high-tailed it over to one of our favorite places to eat, Brasa. After some delicious grub, we grabbed the tee-ball supplies and headed over to the park. Little e showed his stuff. Then Margaret showed hers. We wrapped up the park time by shooting crazy flying balloons into the air, setting a record of eight simultaneous launches. We stayed up late talking. Then, Margaret and Mike retired to the plush luxury that is our pullout couch.

Saturday was filled with canoeing the chain of lakes: Lake Calhoun, Lake Harriet, Lake of the Isles and Cedar Lake. It was Little e's first canoe trip and I think he enjoyed himself (once he got over the idea that Margaret and I were going to re-enact our Girl Scout Canoe Tip Test). We next had a lovely lunch al fresca at the Tin Fish where I would normally for sure get the fish tacos, but, I knew we'd be making them for dinner that evening. Then, it was on to Walker on the Green so Margaret and Mike could be lucky enough to experience Ed's hole. And experience it they did.

We were just plum tuckered out from all of the sun and outdoor activity when we got home. But that wasn't going to stop us from recreating the Mexican feast featured in the Domino Magazine -- including my favorite fish tacos and homemade tortillas. When we bought the masa at the Mexican grocery store, the cashier looked at me a little surprised and said, "Are you going to make tortillas?" Then she said they were easy to make. I think she would've changed her mind had she known that in fact, Lucy and Ethel would be making them. The dinner was delicious as were the watermelon margaritas. The tortillas were a little problematic. Although, in hindsight we've decided that we should've added more water. I may try them again this week with chicken fajitas and see if that works.

Sunday we spent lounging and watching Elian make marble runs. Then it was time for Margaret and Mike to go. We said our goodbyes and they went out to their car. A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Mike had a very special gift for our little boy: a bag of marbles. Had they zoomed out to the nearest store and picked it up? Did they know they were going to spend their weekend with a marble-obsessed boy building runs? No, this wasn't just an ordinary bag of marbles. These marbles were from Mike's childhood. And apparently his Mom had given them to him months ago in an effort to get them out of her house. He had put them in his trunk where they had been sitting since. Call it fate. You wanna know what else was in that bag? STEELIES!!! I had told Elian about steelies many times. Each time my explanation was met with a blank stare. I had meant to find some online and give them to him, but you know how that goes. But now he has them. STEELIES!

Sadly, no photos from this weekend. Waaaaaaaah.

a most awesome morning

Some days are just extra ultra-perfect with the little man. Today was one of them. Just one of those days when he was in a good mood, I was in a good mood and everything seemed to click. There was no rushing. No fussing. And we just had a blast doing really mundane things.

He woke up happy and didn't fuss a bit when I told him he had to take a bath after breakfast. There would be no time for marble-run making this morning. We took a no-nonsense bath and headed to his very first dentist appointment. I had talked it up quite a bit so he was really excited. I was a tad nervous because his front teeth had a bit of discoloration and I had convinced myself he had baby bottle mouth and would need an emergency root canal.

We got to his appointment and his hygienist was great. He laid amazingly still while she cleaned AND FLOSSED his teeth. Luckily, the discoloration was just a little staining and it brushed right off. So much for the verbal spankings and tsk tsks I thought I was going to get about giving him too many bottles in bed when he was a baby. He did such an amazing job at the dentist, I told him we could go to one of our favorite places, Intelligent Nutrients, and get a smoothie. We get there. He can practically taste the smoothie he's going to soon be enjoying. And the CAFETERIA IS CLOSED! AGAIN! Going to IN was becoming a family weekend tradition until they decided to no longer keep the food portion open on weekends. But this was a Thursday. Apparently they were re-doing the floors for some big event they were hosting. Why are you torturing me so, Horst Rechelbacher!!!?!?!? Just when I got my Frequent Customer card too! Luckily, the little man and I maintained our inner calm when the nice woman apologized and handed us one of these with a 15% discount card. We decided Caribou Coffee was going to have to do as our consolation prize. And we sat outside as he sipped his smoothie and I my iced latte.

Next, we paid a visit to one of our favorite places -- PETSMART! On to the kitties! Pet, pet, pet. Awwwwwwww.

Then, we made a quick stop to Rainbow where Mama got some sushi. And since he was such a good boy at the dentist, what better way to celebrate then to finally let him try those bone-shaped candies he always wants to get from the gumball machine!

When we got home, I boiled up a little pot of edamame and we ate lunch outside. He ate a piece of my sushi and 3/4 of the edamame. I'm not sure how much of his love for edamame is the actual soy bean or the fun of removing said bean from the pod. And all the salt. I had to stop him from licking all the salt off the skin (and from the bowl).

We wrapped up the morning with a marble run construction (didn't think I was going to get through a whole morning without creating a marble run, did you?). Then we headed upstairs for some stories before "nap." As I type this I can hear his "Winnie-the-Pooh" stories over the monitor as he pretends to be sleeping (but I know better). In a few minutes, I will hear, "Mama, I'm done with my nap!" but he will not have slept a wink. Did I say a few minutes? I meant right now. Apparently somebody's "done" with their "nap" and has to go potty. Again. Should've stopped him at half that smoothie.

the whole enchilada

Tonight I made enchiladas for dinner.

I used the mild enchilada sauce, but then still added the little can of diced chili peppers. I still thought they'd be mild enough for the boy. He seems to be able to handle more spice than I would expect a three year-old to. I like to think it's because I ate so many spicy foods while I was pregnant with him. Even so, the enchiladas turned out a lot spicier than I thought they would. I didn't realize it until I had already put some on his plate.

He took a few bites and said, "This is too spicy" (drink, drink, drink). Another bite, "I don't want to eat this" (drink, drink, drink). Then another bite, "Mama, why did you make it so spicy??" (drink, drink, drink).

We offered to make him something else. Ed ran to the kitchen and whipped up a PB&J. He continued to eat the enchilada AND the PB&J, guzzling his water after each spicy bite. I asked him why he kept eating it if it was too spicy, to which he replied, "I changed my mind. It's not too spicy after all." Listen to Mr. Big Boy with his, "after all."

"Mama, thank you for making enchiladas," he said after he finished. Then I fell off my chair.

gainsville

We spent this past weekend in Janesville. I should call it Gainsville because Ed's parents are big dessert people and our arrival is usually met with an array of sweet delights. This weekend, they demonstrated much restraint having only made chocolate chip cookies and icebox cake. I opted to raid the freezer for my new favorite treat -- Edy's frozen yogurt blends (thanks to Ed's mom), specifically Chocolate Fudge Brownie which sadly our Rainbow doesn't carry. Stupid Rainbow. Maybe I'll have to import it from Wisconsin.

It was a great weekend. On Saturday we attended a wedding at the home of some of Ed's old friends. The friends are not old. They're young. And cool. And the wedding they threw for their son was a lot of fun. Awesome Mexican food. To-die-for cupcakes from this talented lady. (If you know Oprah, let her in on these babies -- they're an Oprah "Favorite Thing" waiting to happen. You heard it here first.) The little man stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's got a lot of quality time playing with his cousins (all boys). I sort of regretted not bringing him along after seeing the bouncy castle complete with basketball hoops. After a few margaritas, Ed and I bounced around in it for a while. I haven't laughed that long in a long time. If you're ever in a bad mood, get yourself in a bouncy castle -- oh, and talk about this a lot with one of your hosts.

Sunday we hung out by the pool and had our annual visit with Ed's childhood friend Tommy and his family who now live in Texas but manage to make it back to Janesville once a year. Elian's cousin Ian recently got a job at Culvers* and was proud to present him with a giant "Holy-Cucamunga" waffle cone he had made especially for him. Talk about cute. The cone was so big we've been breaking off pieces bit by bit and giving it to the little boy in his ice cream. I'd show you a picture of him enjoying it but since Ed started using this crazy photo program, I can't figure out how to access his photos unless he saves his originals and I can download them to iPhoto. You're just going to have to imagine a little boy with a spoon in his hand and a super-big smile on his face.


*Side note: When I asked Ian what he planned to do with all the money he was making at Culvers, he said, "Save $1,000 and put it in a ROTH IRA so I have one million dollars by the time I'm 65" -- If only I was that smart when I was 15.

i find this news devastating

We were playing out back when the little man fell down and scratched the palm of his hand. I asked him if he'd like me to kiss it to make it feel better. And he, sniff...replied...sniff:

"Mama, kisses don't really make it feel better."


Now I must go get a tissue.

quote of the day

I had a wet toot. But when I sat in my seat, it went back in my bum. IT'S GONE! Isn't that interesting?

and speaking of cars...

vroom, vroom

Yesterday and the day before, the little man feigned a temporary boy-like enthusiasm for cars and trucks.

It all started with a quick trip to the grocery store on Tuesday. A nice woman gave Elian a little Matchbox car she had found probably figuring, he's a boy, he must love cars. After he gave it to her, he put on quite the show for her benefit, driving it up a make-believe road and making vroom-vroom sounds. He did that during most of our walk home too, pretending it was on a super-high invisible road. So this is what life would be like with a car lover, I thought (zzzzzz).

When we got home, he even inquired about his bag of cars -- the bag of cars that we've probably dragged out three or four times in the past year to race across the floor. He took those out, did something I can't recall, and then left the sad bag sitting half-open on the floor.

Then yesterday, he had Show and Share at school. In typical fashion, he chose to bring something that he never plays with. That something was a super-cool green metal truck that Papa used to play with when he was a boy. As we got in the car, he started with the vroom, vroom noises again and almost seemed a little interested in what kind of things a dump truck carries.

So far, no car or truck activity today. The weather is a little creepy outside and we've been inside all day doing, can you guess, I bet you can't so let me help you -- BUILDING MARBLE RUNS!! In other marble-run-news, the boy is just two stickers away from earning a new marble run he's been drooling over in a catalog for some time now. We told him if he filled his WHOLE sticker chart, he could have it. Out of fear of it being sold out, I've already ordered it and it's been sitting in the front closet for the past few days.

Don't tell him that.

a (half) day in the life of a ball lover

This is how our morning went today:

I walk Norman. Meanwhile, Elian and Papa build a marble run with blocks.

We make some cookies. After the first batch goes in the oven, he gets bored and wants to watch Super Why. Then he builds another marble run -- this time with his plastic marble-run pieces -- while I finish up the cookies.

We go to the park to hit golf balls. He positions himself close to the baseball diamond in order to use it as a sand trap. The object? To hit the golf ball over the sand trap. Amazingly enough, he manages to do this several times.

We return home and I make lunch while he plays with his marble run.

We eat lunch, after which we play golf again. This time indoors. The object? Hit the golf ball through the white cardboard tube that's strategically placed at an incline then into the electric golf ball returner. After countless failed attempts, he finally gives up.

Now it's time for soccer. I am the goalie.

I run downstairs to get the clothes out of the dryer and manage to fold the entire basket while he kicks the ball around and score big at the goalie-free goal.

He drags out the ball popper that Grandma and Grandpa Schulz gave him for his first birthday. I recommend this toy highly for any baby ball lovers. He loves it and it has definitely stood the test of time (2 years). The crazy music starts and and the balls begin to pop out like popcorn. We both begin to scream as he chases after the balls. And who could forget the part where we pretend like we want the machine to stop and then "accidentally" hit the button only to start it up again? The hilarity ensues.

There's about a half hour before the babysitter arrives. Bowling anyone? We set up the pins and I ready myself to be the all-important ball beturner.

1:00 Kim arrives to take over my ball-beturning duties.


This is very much a typical day (or half-day) for us. And when I think about it, all I can do is think about what kind of boy he's going to be when he gets older. Will he continue to love balls like this when he's older? Will he be some crazy marble-hoarding nerd? Will he be an athlete? Or will he completely lose interest in all things spherical and move onto something else?

Stay tuned.

ward knows

If Elian hears us say something new, he often repeats it right away. Today Ed said something to the effect of, Lord knows what happened to something or another... Only when Elian repeated it, he said, "Ward knows..."

Guess what the new saying in our house is?

leechy keen

Every year, the little man and I meet my family and my brother's in-laws up north for a few nights of cabin-by-the-lake fun. This year marked two enormous milestones for Elian: tubing and a big-time crush on a girl named Rachel (or "Rangel" his pet name for her). I present the highlights:


Fishing with Grandpa.



Sandcastles with Rangel.
(You should've seen this boy. He was just head over heals about Rangel. Totally smitten. At one point he said to me, "Mama, I can't stop looking at her." Another time, he told her that he missed her while she was out on the tube. He wanted to sit next to her at dinner and just gaze into her eyes. When we left he gave her a little kiss. We saw her again as we packed up the car and he picked a dandelion and gave it to her. He's a little charmer.)



Tubing with Rangel and cousin Emma.
Last year he wasn't too fond of the tubing -- I don't think he ever actually made it into the tube. This year there was no stopping him. He just wanted to go faster and faster and would've stayed out there all day if we let him.




Beanbag toss with Rangel.




As far as he's concerned, the only thing that comes even close to tubing is driving Grandpa's boat. Why, yes, that is a Barbie life jacket -- what's it to ya?!?