Thanks to the Stranger

Thanks to the stranger who kept me calm as Elias, Ezra, he, and myself watched in slow motion as my keys fell out of my hand, bounced and glided ever so effortlessly down the elevator shaft at school at 4:10. They fell down where the doors open and close. I looked at him, panicky and said, "What do I do?" He told me, "Go up to G and find the security guards there. Tell them what happened." That was enough to snap me out of my frozen world (this building has security guards?) and into action.

Normally, not the best of circumstances, but not really all that bad. Unfortunately, this happened yesterday. Yesterday, at 4:10, Matt was at the airport waiting to take a flight to Florida for work. He has the only spare set of keys. Yesterday, I made a dog vet appointment for 5:00. I left work at 3:00, raced home, got Sumo, raced to school, locked all my possessions and Sumo in the car to run upstairs and "quickly" get the kids so we could make it to the vet on time. Yesterday, the only guy who had access to that elevator shaft left at 4:00. Yesterday, the vet's phone number, my phone and my wallet were locked in the car, and my keys were somewhere in the dark abyss of the elevators.

Talk about a bad day. Luckily, we found security, found the Operations Center (this building has an Operations Center?), and met Angela who was extremely helpful. She didn't laugh when I couldn't tell her which elevators it was ("The ones the go up to the school"...now I know these are the North elevators), or when I told her I was going to take the kids back up to school while we waited for them to find my keys, but that I would have to call her from up there because, "I don't know the school's number. It's in my car." She was very concerned that I might have to pay the $300 bill because they had to call the guy in after he had left for the day. At that point, I think they could have charged me $1000.

The kids and I went up to the school, Ezra got to eat, Elias got to play, I called Matt and he canceled the dog appointment, and in about an hour they had my keys. Next time you are out and see someone about to lose it, please do your best to be THAT guy. The one who is calming and helpful. The one who clearly says what to do to help solve the immediate problem at hand. The one who acts like a true human being. And may I suggest, don't get your keys out of your pocket until you are in the parking lot.

Three-Month-Old Ezra

On April 9th, Ezra was 3 months old and weighed about 12 lbs. We went to sing karaoke at Will and Kathy's place (them having a party was just a coincidence). We had so much fun that we even had to drag Elias away from the microphone...the ABC song is cute for only so long. That Monday Ezra started at school in Ms. Lorri and Ms. Kate's room. He did great!

To The Rescue

The daycare wasn't ready for Ezra until one week after I was ready to go back to work. My FMLA ran out on April 4th, but Ms. Lorri wasn't ready for Ezra until April 11th. What to do, what to do? Mom and Jim to the rescue! They came for a week and played, organized, fed, cleaned, changed diapers and cooked while I started back at work. During the week Matt and I went out (alone) for icecream, I went to book club, and Ezra started sleeping through the night.

We celebrated Elias' birthday with breakfast in bed (Grandma and Grandpa's bed, in fact):

And Ezra found his thumb. He wasn't sure at first, but boy does he have it down now:

Thanks for saving the day (or more like week) Mom and Jim!

The Loot

With so many friends at Elias' birthday party, he got quite the load of presents (in no particular order):

Hot wheels
Dump truck
Monster truck
Truck book with toy trucks
Sidewalk chalk
Bubble wand
Puzzle
Sticker book
Take apart front loader
Crayola drawing glow board
Bubble gun
Thomas birthday game
Magnetic dress up boy
Dinosaur book
Tuesday book
Microphone
Where the Sidewalk Ends
Duck, Rabbit book
Camera
Train play mat with trains
Giant foam book
Little People stuff
Paper plate craft
Guitar

Since Matt and I gave Elias his guitar (and we know him best), I don't feel bad saying it was his favorite gift. Below is a link to hear the first performance of his soon-to-be illustrious career. Just think. You can say you knew him back when.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJCvMCH-HWE

The Art of Chewing Gum

Perhaps we are not letting Elias experience enough of what the world has to offer. At Jack's birthday party, he got a goody bag of candy. One item was bubble tape. Knowing that Elias has never had bubble gum (I guess most other 3-year-olds know about gum?), I unsuccessfully attempted to explain that we chew gum, but we don't swallow it. After he consumed half of the roll of gum in a matter of minutes, it conveniently disappeared. Who knew that chewing gum was such an art?

He Rolls

At 5 months Ezra is still saying the same things: "pthththth" and "ieeeeeeeee." He loves playing with his feet, and he is still sucking his thumb. In fact, sometimes he tries to eat and suck his thumb at the same time. Never works out. He is getting good at sitting on his own. He only topples over every 5 minutes or so. If he falls backward, that seems to work out fine...forward, not so much. He grabs at toys and smiles and shrieks. Super fun. It will be great to start feeding him solids in just a few more weeks. He has also learned to roll over from his back onto his stomach, where he hates it and immediately lets out a great big "ieeeeeeee." I had to flip him over 6 times yesterday (once in the middle of the night) because he can't roll back yet. Why is it we always do over and over again the things that wind up upsetting us the most?

Elias is 3 (Back in April)

Matt and I were a bit wishy washy on what to do for Elias' 3rd birthday. He loves music class, but his favorite teacher doesn't do birthday parties. I'm glad we decided to go ahead and have a party there anyway. He had a ball.

Shortly after everyone arrived, we all sat in a big circle and sang songs. We sang hello to everyone, played egg shakers, ran under the parachute, played instruments and sang Elias Happy Birthday. Then the kids had snacks on a big picnic blanket on the floor (cheese sticks, fishies, fruit salad, yogurt, cupcakes, cake, and milk...coffee cake and coffee for the adults). After snacks, the kids colored on big paper, did puzzles and played the bean bag game. Before we knew it, it was time to go home. Let the present opening begin!

An Ecklund Tradition

Ever since I can remember, my Dad has made special, out-of-this-world cakes for my sister and my birthdays. It is one of my favorite Ecklund traditions. Since this was the first time we had an actual party for Elias' birthday, naturally I had to make Elias a special cake. Having never actually done it before, but thinking back on all the neat cakes Dad had made, I figured, "How hard could it be?" HA!

Luckily, Elias' 3rd birthday party was right before I went back to work so I could devote my full attention to it. With his party being on a Saturday, I sent him to school on Friday (his usual day off) so I could prepare. I had baked the two 13 X 9 yellow cakes the night before to give me time to create a homemade guitar cake for Elias' musical birthday party. After about an hour into the assembly, with the sides all falling apart and needing more frosting, I almost quit. I managed to persevere, and about 4 hours later, the guitar cake was finished. Hooray! And so the tradition continues...

Party Like it's 1999

It is Birthday Party Season. We have been to 5 parties (not counting Elias') since March. My cousin's two kids both had birthdays. We had hot dogs, mac n' cheese, cake and ice cream, cooked in the play kitchen, jumped in the giant bouncy ring, sculpted the playdough and chased the cat.

A stylish Carina sitting on her sister's new present

Angelina and Elias concentrating on the playdough

We went to the Denver Firefighters Museum for Dylan's party, Elias' best bud from school. The kids ran around upstairs, had cake and ice cream and then went downstairs to learn a little about firefighters. When Dylan wouldn't be the fire chief, Elias volunteered.

A slightly nervous Elias standing in front of everyone for the demonstration

The Birthday Boy driving the firetruck

Jasper, from school, had his party at a gymnastics center. The kids did an obstacle course, walked along the balance beams, slid into the pit, jumped on the trampoline and ran around like crazy. Ezra even hung on the trapeze bar and swung a little bit (that boy can grip). There was cake and ice cream too. When I asked Elias if he wanted help on the balance beam, he told me, "No Mom, they will help me, " and pointed to the cute teenagers who were running the party. And so it begins.

Elias in the pit

A very thirsty Jasper

Just yesterday we went to Monkey Business to celebrate Jack's 4th Birthday. We ran around in a big room full of giant bouncy contraptions: A giant slide, an obstacle course, a rock climbing wall. Yep, I did say "we". I got to play too. Matt hung out with Ezra while Elias, Joey (A friend from school) and I had all of the fun. As far as I could tell, I was the only adult playing. What is wrong with everyone? We ended with cake and ice cream, of course. Matt took a video of Elias going down the big slide. I'll see if I can post it later.

What I have learned about parties is no matter where you have the party or what you do, cake and ice cream make it official. Happy Birthday Everyone!

The Allergist

Back in March, Elias went back to the allergy specialist for his yearly checkup. Good news - Elias is no longer allergic to eggs (but apparently all kids outgrow this allergy, so it isn't all that exciting). Bad news - Elias is still allergic to peanut butter...and bad enough that they don't think he will grow out of it. Bummer! We got him an Epi Pen for home and school because while we have the technology to fly to the moon, we don't have any way of knowing what kind of reaction Elias will have if he accidentally eats peanuts. So, what does Elias pretend to eat at home every chance he gets. Peanuts, of course.

The other bummer news is that the only help for his wheezing when he gets a cold is to do the nebulizer (better known as Fishy Treatment) every day...and twice a day when he gets a cold. Good thing he likes books! I am happy to report that with his first cold on the new plan, he didn't have a day where he had to stay at home from school. That's a win win for everyone. I sure hope it continues to work because if not, what's next? You guessed it, Fishy Treatment twice a day, every day. If that happens, we may very well open our own children's library.

Now That's a First

We recently discovered that Elias likes carrots. When served cheesy pasta, peaches and carrots with ranch dip, Elias proceeded to eat all of the carrots (and nothing else) and declared himself done with dinner. And this from a kid who hasn't eaten a vegetable in over a year.