Missing the Life

This last weekend one friend posted outdoor climbing pictures and a different friend posted camping pictures. Sometimes I feel like I am missing the life.

All Done

If you want to be Elias' best friend, show him your food when you are just about finished. He will proclaim that you are , "All done." If you have a little bit left and tell him that you aren't all done, he will whisper, "ALMOST" with a giant smile. What a goofball.

Sick and Tired

of being sick and tired. Matt and I have been fighting off colds and sore throats for almost a month. Just when my two week sore throat cleared up, I got some eye thing where one eye lid got puffy and one eye is a little sore. I've been wearing my glasses this week. Ugh. When can we all be well again? Check back in 16 years I suppose.

Too Much Excitement

Elias has bitten me three times in the past month. I suppose I am "lucky" that he only seems to bite when he gets super duper excited about something. That's right...happy biting, but unfortunately happy biting is really, really hard biting. He bit me on the shoulder, on the face and on my stomach and left some pretty big marks. I'd hate to see what it would look like if he was biting to show aggression. On an up note, I suppose that means Elias has been having a pretty fun month.

Puke for Babies

OK, OK technically it is March for Babies. We headed out in the cold and rain today to walk 5 miles for the March of Dimes. We have a friend who raises money every year. Because of the weather, everyone we knew who was going backed out. We braved the clouds, and took the light rail downtown. All was going well until we were almost back to the start...Elias threw up. Luckily, I had brought a change of clothes (in case he got too wet in the rain), so we changed him and headed home. No chance to eat the free lunch, jump in the bouncy house or get the free stuff. Sniff, sniff.

Take THAT Book Club

Last book club meal I provided was less than ideal. The food was pretty bad, and Elias had a hard time sleeping through all the noise. This Monday I "got to" host again. Much to my surprise people did show up, although most hadn't read the book. People get busy in the summer I guess. I made my Dad's lasagna, my Mom's salad and Shari's chocolate Kahlua brownies. The food was a success, Elias slept through the whole thing and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Take THAT book club.

P.S. I am in two book clubs. This is the one I have been in longer, but feel less comfortable in.

I Went in at the Mischievous Laughing

Last weekend we came home from the mountains on Sunday morning, and Elias fell asleep on the way. I knew it wasn't likely that he would take another nap after lunch, but I had to try. A girl's got to have her me time. It started with Elias singing songs (innocent enough), and then there was some scrapping and banging. After a while I heard, "Oh, no. All gone." repeatedly. When he started giggling uncontrollably, I went in to see what he was up to. He had pushed the chair over to his shelves and gotten down the eye drops, opened them and was trying to put them in his eyes (why he loves eye drops I have no idea). It seems as though every nap time these days provides some tough decision making. Do I get Elias "up" from his nap before he falls asleep, or do I spend time cleaning up his room after his nap time is over. Time by myself almost always wins. Broom and dustpan, here I come.

Laughter Soup for the Soul

(Being a vegetarian, that chicken soup just never does the trick). Years ago, we used to play games at my friend Dave's house every other week. It dwindled down to once a month, and then to not at all. I didn't realize how mich I missed it until a bunch of us went over there last Thursday night (Matt stayed at home with Elias so I could go). I haven't laughed that much in a long time. Screw milk, I say laughter does a body good.

Bye, Bye Mama

Elias' new favorite game is to close the french doors to the living room from the hallway (I'm on the other side in the living room), say, "Bye, bye Mama", and then run around through the kitchen to the living room. In the meantime, I sneak through the doors into the hallway. When he runs around the corner to the living room, I'm on the other side of the doors and shout, "Ahhhhhh". Sometimes I scare him, and he laughs and laughs.

Just Like Dad

I don't think you could teach Elias to be more like his Dad. He is always telling me the music is too loud and that it is too windy. Even his teachers told me he doesn't like it when it is windy. Genetics must be a powerful thing.

52 Kleenex Pickup

Really more like 152 Kleenex pickup. After putting a brand new Kleenex box in Elias' room before his nap, he proceeded to take every single one of them out before hitting the hay. I of course didn't find them until nap time was over. Needless to say, there isn't a new box in there now.

Brought to You by the Letter O

Elias knows all of his letters...most of the time. This week his favorite seems to be O. He watches an alphabet game on the computer and has a wooden alphabet puzzle he likes to do. He's also got lots of alphabet books. If you point to a letter, he usually names it correctly. It seems pretty impressive to me, but then have you seen the spelling words that Ethan has to learn for school? Kids just get smarter and smarter it seems.

Everyone Should Write This book

Everyone should write this book. Well, not a book about Grandma Darleen, but a book for your children and grandchildren about your life. Both of my parents have written theirs (upon request), and I think they are fascinating. What a treasure for Elias to know what his Grandparents were like as a child and through the years. It is a very special gift that can be handed down through the generations. For all of those out there that are related to Elias, consider writing your own. I know he will love to have it.

Oh No

Elias is pretty funny these days. The other night he is eating dinner and says, "Oh no. Oh noooo. Stuck." He had knocked his milk cup onto his cracker with hummus and the cracker stuck to the cup. Wonder what he will say when he breaks the living room lamp.

Mama No

Lately when I pick Elias up at daycare, he doesn't want to come home. I guess that really is a good thing because that means he likes school. I'm always curious what the teachers think. When I see other kids being picked up, they run to their Mom's and can't wait to get out of there. Elias starts whining and saying, "Mama No. Mama No." Of course last week when both Matt and I picked Elias up from school (we were carpooling) Elias ran straight to Matt and said, "Daddy Home." I think he would have said, "Take that Mama" too if he had only known how.

Baby Alex

We have been so busy lately that I forgot to post about having our friends Cam, Gina and Alex up to the condo for a weekend. Cam and Matt skied, while Gina, Alex, Elias, my friend Carissa, and I spent the day together. It was cold , but we braved the playground anyway. Alex had a little trouble sleeping with all of Elias' playing, but we managed. It is fun to get together with friends you haven't seen in a while. We should do it more often!

I'm 2!

If you ask Elias how old he is, he will now say, "I'm 2." It took some practice, but I think he's got it down. We made yellow cupcakes with chocolate frosting for his class and had a few at home to celebrate the big event. He really didn't like the frosting (are we sure he is MY child?), but he ate the cake. We spread out his present opening over many days, and he got some great loot:

Grandma and Grandpa Legos (as shown previously)
Two children's CDs
A page of truck stickers
A wooden flip car, handmade by Grandpa Jim
Foam puzzles
Foam animal letters
Books
Alphabet magnets
Build your own alphabet book

A Glimpse at Twins

No, they aren't ours. My friend at work had twins a few months ago. We visited them up in Fraser over Easter weekend. They are super cute, but I can't imagine having two at one time. Little Logan and Henry, be kind to your mother.

Grandma and Grandpa Come to Visit

Grandma Darleen and Grandpa Jim came to spend some time up in the mountains. These Legos were a gift to Elias. I can definitely see the resemblance.

We had a great time over Easter and Elias' Birthday. Jim and Matt went skiing while Mom, Elias and I played at the playground. Elias finally got the true teeter-totter experience.

We made a mini snowman, threw snowballs to Sumo, colored and hunted for Easter eggs, had great food and wonderful company. It is always a great time when Grandma and Grandpa are in town!

Easter

We had a great Easter weekend up in the mountains. We dyed Easter eggs at a friend's condo and had a hunt with them for the older kids. We had plastic eggs for Elias to find. He had a blast hunting for them and got better and better as we did it over and over agian.

Our friends made wonderfully decorated cookies for us all to share. Elias even got his very own E cookie. I think he had more fun playing with it than he did eating it.


Elias also got a very special Easter basket...this helmet filled with chocolate bunnies (I will help Elias eat those) and a stuffed bunny. Thanks Shari and Brad! It will be perfect for next year's skiing adventures.

Giant Foot

Sometimes I have a giant foot, but somehow I still manage to get the whole thing in my mouth. Some evenings I think back and wonder why I said the things I did. I would like to apologize right now for anything I might have said to you that was insulting, upsetting, demeaning, or just plain stupid.


If only it were that easy to make up for all the dumb things one said and did.