this just in

I have not made, nor have I been asked to make, a marble run in the past three or so days.

This is weird.

quote of the day

MAMA: What do you think you want to be for Halloween this year, buddy?

ELIAN: I wanna be...A BUTT!...A CHICKEN BUTT!


(Anyone know where I can get a chicken butt costume? Don't think the sewing skills are quite up to that challenge yet.)

joe cool

Yesterday the little man and I were holding hands walking across the parking lot of Target when he let go of my hand, did a complete spin, grabbed my hand again and said, "It's COOL Elian!"

quote of the day

(This conversation happened today -- just a few weeks after we had an architect over for a brainstorming session and Elian was super-excited to tell him his innovative and fantastic idea for our house: Attaching the garage to it.)

ELIAN: Mama, I wish we had our garage attached to our house.

MAMA: Really, why?

ELIAN: Because a garage attached to a house -- that would be AWESOME!

MAMA: It would?

ELIAN: Who has a garage attached to their house?

MAMA: Well, Grandma and Grandpa do.

ELIAN: Yeah? Who else?

MAMA: Um, I don't know...people who live in the suburbs...

he likes face paint -- and he has a friend!

Today, to celebrate my birthday, Elian took me to the Children's Museum.

About halfway into our stay, we spotted a little boy from his playschool named Demitri. Demitri's mom and I had been in a class together before and he always seemed like a very nice boy. And he seemed so happy to see Elian at the Children's Museum. Elian, on the other hand, was a little foggy at first trying to remember how he knew Demitri -- trying to place his face. But soon after it registered, he acted as if they were long lost friends. "Let's go over here, Demitri...!" "Hey, Demitri, look at this!" "Mama, isn't it nice that DEMITRI is here!?!?"

Soon Demitri and his mom told us they were going to eat lunch. It felt like we had just gotten there, so we did a few more things before sitting down to do the same. Once we did, Elian was all, "Demitri, this, Demitri, that...I LOVE Demitri... I want to go over to Demitri's house...I want to find Demitri after lunch..." Keep in mind, of all the times I've picked Elian up from playschool, he has not once said boo about Demitri.

After lunch, we spotted Demitri and his mom getting ready to leave. Elian so badly wanted to play some more with Demitri. WHO IS THIS CHILD AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH ELIAN?!? They said their good-byes and Elian gave Demitri a big hug. I told Elian he would see him again at playschool.

And as if that wasn't enough of a shock to my maternal system, the boy wanted to get his face painted too. He's never really been one to get messy. Doesn't often want to get wet or dirty. So face painting? Forget about it. I always have to laugh when I see my nieces and nephew because chances are good that they have some sort of face paint on. These kids enjoy a good face painting to put it mildly. Exhibit A.But not my boy. Every time I've asked him if he wanted to paint is face, he looks at me like, "AS IF!" Well, today I'm here to tell you there are snowflakes in hell. The boy did it, albeit in a delicate sparse manner, he painted his face. And just look at how happy it made him.

papa's show and share

Whenever Ed has a presentation for work, we tell Elian that he has a big "Show and Share" coming up. It's actually not too far from the truth but every time we say it, I imagine that Elian is picturing Ed bringing a toy to work and sharing it with all of his coworkers.

The other day Ed had to work late and explained to Elian that he had a show and share. Elian asked what he was going to show and Ed told him that he had to show some food. "That doesn't sound very interesting," Elian responded. So yesterday was part one of the show and share for Ed. Apparently his "food" went over like a lead balloon. He came over a bit displeased about the whole thing and we explained that Papa's show and share didn't go well. Elian seemed very concerned about this. He questioned what went wrong. Why didn't they like it?

Then today Elian had show and share at school. I picked him up and asked him how it went (he brought a toy motorcycle he got from the neighbor kids that I've never even seen him touch). He said it went well and then added, "It went better than Papa's."

goodbye jesse

The other night, Ed and Elian were having a battle of wills at bedtime. Ed was winning. That is, until Elian started sobbing and saying, "Jesse's leaving!!!"

Jesse is Elian's favorite teacher at playschool. He always plays basketball with Elian and had dubbed him "El-Train." They are total buddies.

Ed and I questioned the reality of Jesse's departure. Elian was so tired and this was the first I had heard that Jesse was leaving and I had just gotten the school newsletter the day before. I mentioned it to a friend whose boy goes to school there too. She didn't know but said she'd ask when she went to pick up AJ that afternoon.

According to her, Elian's story was true. Sort of. It seems kids these days working at daycare/pre-schools get this funny ideas about going to college in their heads. Jesse is going back to school and will have classes on the days that Elian is there. This makes me sad. Very sad.

Today was his first Jesse-free day at playschool. And I'm pleased to report he survived. Why, he even played with a few kids today. Fancy that.

polo anyone?

Yesterday I received a delightful birthday surprise from my friend Amy. My little helper asked if he could assist me in the opening of the package. As we made our way through the layers, one-by-one our efforts revealed English muffins, chocolate-chip scones, apple butter, cinnamon honey and crumpets.

I had never experienced a crumpet before. I told Elian what it was and read the packaging which recommended toasting it and spreading it with a topping of choice. Then he said, "I would like one of those trumpets in my snack while I watch something on TV."

While it was toasting, we had our own little Abbott and Costello-esque trumpet vs. crumpet schtick going on. I feigned exasperation and he giggled and continued to call it a trumpet. "Stop saying trumpet!" I pleaded with over-the-top drama. To which he replied, "Okay, I just have to say it one more time." There was a long dramatic pause, then ever-so-slowly he enunciated, "TRUM-PET."

After dinner he had some chocolate-chip scone for dessert. Next thing you know he'll be taking high tea.

mama holiday

I returned yesterday from four glorious nights in Racine and Milwaukee visiting family and friends. As much as I missed my fellas, it was really great to have some time away. Besides, I know Papa enjoys his one-on-one time with the boy and doesn't get enough of it without my big face getting in the middle of it.

My Mega Bus was late getting in Wednesday night, so Grandma and Grandpa Schulz had to stay up way past their bedtimes to pick me up. I slept in the gold room -- the same room I spent most of my later school years in after Karen and Lisa left the nest. I find it comforting to sleep in my old room and I slept like a baby until about 9:30 AM!!! Hooray for sleep!

Grandma and I hit the shops of downtown Racine. I couldn't resist buying a few things for my little man. Okay, maybe it wasn't a few things. Then, we met Grandpa for lunch at a Spanish tapas place. A Spanish tapas place in Racine? Who knew. I learned that like Ed, Grandpa doesn't much like to share his meal. But he made an exception and gave me a few bites of his gazpacho. Yum.

That night, we saw my niece Chloe in a star-studded performance of Honk! (a modernized musical version of the Ugly Duckling). She did an awesome job with her three parts. I totally believed she was a camera woman, a frog and a duck. A truly captivating performance. Afterwards, we celebrated nephew Matt's TWENTY-SIXTH birthday with pizza at Infusino's (don't think I had been there since high school).

Friday, Grandma and I hit Nelson's Dime store. I was happy to see that things hadn't changed a bit since I was last there. It had the same exact smell and the same creaky wood floors. Awesome. Next it was on to Irish Fest in Milwaukee to see niece Izzy dance with the Trinity Irish Dancers. I swung by and picked up my pal Amy first so she too could experience the Irish magic. Izzy did a phenomenal job as did the girl who looked like Izzy who Aunt Lisa kept taking pictures of. It's hard to tell them apart with those ginormous wigs! This is not very good video. But what it lacks in video it makes up for in the music (performed by live musicians!)



Amy and I escaped the Irish festivities and headed downtown. I haven't been downtown in a while and even though I spent a lot of time down there before moving to Madison, I was having trouble recognizing where I was most the time. I'm not sure how much of that is due to how much Milwaukee has changed, or to my bad memory (probably caused by all that time I spent in downtown Milwaukee -- IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!) We met up with Margaret and Mike for a tasty Mexican dinner at Rudy's. Then, Amy and I chit-chatted away into the wee hours at her house.

Saturday, we headed down to the Third Ward district and met my pal Barb for a little window shopping and lunch at the Milwaukee Public Market (new since I lived in Milwaukee). Barb drove us past Manpower International where I used to work as well as the Bayshore Mall which was nothing like it was when I left (good thing). Saturday night Amy and I went out to dinner with my friend Mary at a cute little place called the Gingerbread House which I'd link to but their website does not do it justice. More chit-chat and laughs after dinner at Mary's house. Back to Amy's house for the night.

Wake up for an early Mega-Bus ride home. Amy loads me up on Brach Pick-a-Mix and trashy magazines. The ride home is uneventful. But my arrival is a different story. I rise from my seat and head toward the stairs to climb down from the second deck of the double decker bus only to see a little curly-haired boy holding a sign that says MAMA out the window. My eyes began to tear up and I hurry down the stairs to give my boys a big hug. Mama's home.

quote of the day

(Pointing to the familiar blue wheelchair sign.)

"Is that the candycap parking?"

monkey picnic

Here are some pictures from the picnic with all of Elian's little buddies.

The park was great. They had this awesome zipline. And oh, how I wish the picture of Elian's expression when he first experienced it hadn't been edited out. I may have to go back to the Hernan-dos resident photographer and ask for a special favor (wink, wink).

quote of the day

We had a picnic last night with a bunch of Elian's friends since "baby class". One of the boys, Sylar, had moved away but his family was in town for a visit. When we got home, Elian had this to say about Sylar:

ELIAN: I really liked that boy with the blue shirt.

MAMA: Oh yeah? What did you like about him?

ELIAN: His blue shirt.