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!