A boy and his dog...

Awww... isn't this the cutest picture? William is wearing his rocket ship pj's and sitting with our dog Dipper. I asked him, "Is Dipper your friend?"
"No Mommy. She is not my friend! She is my BEST friend!" said William. Well, there you have it.

Fall is for pumpkins!!!

Okay, so after a long drought of writing, I have at last returned to my blog. We call summer our "busy season" because we are occupied for most of it. The roads are clear, so we frequently travel to Denver, or have visitors from there all summer long. In addition, this year, we went to Hawaii, and I decided to take up canning more aggressively than I did last year. So much to do, so little time.... But, despite it all, I have a small grocery store of canned fruits, jams, jellies, and pickles in my basement, a fading tan line from Hawaii, and a budding relationship between William and his extended family on both sides. All and all, a good summer. Now that fall is beginning in earnest, his small pumpkin obsession has begun to rear it's cute little head. We see pumpkins wherever we go. Pumpkins that William always wants to bring home with him. At last count, we have purchased 6 various sizes of pumpkins - a few of which went home with other people, because my son takes after his mommy. I have a habit of buying things for other people just because. There are worse habits I could have. The conversation over our last purchase went like this:

Me: Hey, it's hay!!

William: Hay? Yes it is hay. Very good mommy! Good Job!

Me: Thank you William.

William (after we see another stack of hay, I should mention we are picking up our CSA at a local seasonal produce stand): Hey, more hay!! Oooh, look mommy!! Pumpkins!!

Me: Pumpkins? Where? I don't see pumpkins (really I do, how can I not? They are everywhere!)

William: Yes you do see pumpkins... they are right there. Look! A baby pumpkin!!

Me: A baby pumpkin?

William: Yes, a baby pumpkin. Just like baby Cameron! This is the baby pumpkin, and this is the daddy pumpkin. (He now starts playing with the pumpkins, having them talk to each other).

Me: A baby pumpkin like Cameron? And another like his papa? How cute!

William: Mommy, we need to buy this for Cameron. And this one for his papa. Oooh, and I need to find a Mommy pumpkin.

Me: I don't think we need anymore pumpkins William.

William: Yes we do need more pumpkins. Please Mommy, can we buy these pumpkins for Cameron and his papa? Pretty please?

Who can resist that?! I mean, really, he looks at me with those big brown eyes, wanting to buy pumpkins for somebody other than himself. Besides, he asked nicely, and they were only 50 cents each. So we bought more pumpkins, and he did give them to Cameron and his papa when they came over. I think he got great joy out of giving them the pumpkins. It was the first thing he said when they walked through the door.

Sleeping potatoes

This is the Potato Head family. They are a family of varied and diverse interests. We have Pirate Potato Head, with his pirate hat, earrings, and luscious red lips, and Professor Potato and his child (daughter?) Baby potato. The Professor and his daughter wear safari hats because they like to explore and discover new jungle animals like the hairy orange snake. Oddly enough, the hairy orange snake is made of rubber and lives in my basement. Hmm.... Currently, they are napping. William said they were BAD potatoes and needed a time out. I said, Maybe they aren't bad. Maybe they are just tired. So he decided they needed some quiet time. Not to long after, I was informed by the boy that the potato family was sleeping and Oh how cute, Mommy! (This is exactly what William told me). I think they finally woke up about a month later to change their outfits.

William the Robot

My son can be amazingly amusing :) Watch this and see...
I don't know where he gets some of this stuff from. Well, the blue cheese thing I can blame on Daddy... Instead of cheese, we say Blue cheese. We never used to, but suddenly, John decided this would be GREAT!! And now, he always says blue cheese. At first, it annoyed me because I have a crapload of video where I was trying to capture what William was doing only to have him notice me and start saying blue cheese. But now, I find it very cute. VERY cute. Not that my son wasn't already unique, but this makes him even more so.

Picture Friday!!!

Easter pictures - finally!!

Okay, so I know it has been FOREVER since I posted anything, so I will start out with the Easter pictures I have been promising everybody for the last few months. Here we are dying Easter eggs the Saturday before Easter. William had so much fun with this! He was amazed by the little fizzing tablets! He kept telling us - it's fizzing Mommy, it's fizzing! He also really enjoyed putting the eggs in the cups and was fascinated by the colors they turned. I didn't get a picture when he tried to eat one, but apparently he likes to dye the eggs, but not eat them. He told it was yucky and kept trying to wipe off his tongue with his hands. So funny!

These are the pictures we took on Easter, just after we ate dinner.
Doesn't William look so cute in his Easter outfit?

He had so much fun hunting for eggs. He filled up that bucket...

Finished product!!

Gaze in awe and wonder at the amazing chalet that has been custom built for William!! Okay, so, it's a swing set that we bought precut, with all the hardware included, from Toys R Us; but it sure felt like we were building a custom designed chalet. The box said 8-10 hours for two people. LIARS!!! I would like to know how they determined this time frame. Did they time two carpenters working on it? It took us all day Saturday and Sunday - with 3/4 of both days spent with three other people helping us. Isn't it awesome though? Look!

Picture Friday!

William with a happy meal box on his head - last fall


Crazy hair after a bath!!






Relaxing after test driving new jungle gym sets...

That's my boy...

We went for a walk around the neighborhood a few weeks ago...back when the weather was still nice, before it decided to snow again. William rode his tricycle, and John walked Dipper. We followed William's lead and he took us to the park about a block away. First, we had to go down the slide, many, many, many times. You always know when it's William's turn on the slide, not matter where you are, because he says "Wheeeeeee!!" all the way down. It's particularly funny at a McDonald's playland, where all the slides are covered. Anyway, after I stopped him from trying to eat playground sand, he saw the swings. We spent almost an hour on the swings. Daddy pushed him. I pushed him; William smiled the whole time. He didn't want to leave went it was time to go home for dinner. He didn't have a tantrum, or cry, but instead tried to be sneaky. Have you ever seen a two year old try to be sneaky? We knew everytime he tried to turn around - he would start tiptoeing and saying "Shhh," in between giggles.

After he went to bed that night, I started looking through the pictures I took, trying to decide which ones I wanted to keep. I saw this picture, and was amazed. Normally, I think William looks alot like his Daddy, except for the eyes, but in this picture, he is the spitting image of my little brother when he ws this age. I sent it to my parents and siblings for confirmation, and they were all amazed too. I guess that explains his charm...Augie has charm and charisma oozing out of every pore.

Meanwhile, as his personality develops, he is beginning to behave like me. What do I mean by this? Well, he is loud. Very loud. And is always talking. Always. Even before he could talk, he would constantly babble and make noise. Awake, or asleep, he doesn't stop talking. He very much enjoys food... and when he is hungry, everything stops so that he can eat -usually. And when he is hungry, he gets very, very grumpy until he eats.

Also, William is always humming, or singing. Sometimes songs we all know - ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle, Itsy Bitsy Spider; sometimes songs he made up on his own. Ask my parents, or my siblings...these are all hallmarks of me as a young child. Actually, this still describes me. Of course, he spends all day with me. Hmm... So... nature or nurture? Nature or nurture? Who knows? Who cares? I love him. He's happy. We're happy. I'll just enjoy it while I can...it all goes by too fast anyway. I blink my eyes and suddenly he is two. TWO!! When did that happen? Whew...

Pranks

I am the best wife in the world... I bought the following bumper sticker (actually, it's a magnet) because it reminded me of John. I shouldn't tell you why it reminds me of John, it might make him angry, but it does. Anyway, I bought it about a month ago, and the evening I bought it, I snuck out to the garage and put it on his car while he was giving William a bath. He drove around with it an entire day before finally noticing it. I figured he had to notice it eventually since it was right above the door to his gas tank, but apparently I had poor planning. He just filled his tank the Friday before I bought it. So, I had to tell him about it so he would find it. Yes, I had to tell him. If you know me well, you know it is nearly impossible to for me to keep something a secret if I am really excited about it. Honestly, I am amazed I didn't tell John about his surprise party last fall. That was a huge feat of will power for me. But, I know my husband well, and he thought it was funny. As I knew he would. Not nearly as funny as I found it, but he was definitely amused.

The one true way to prove you have lost your inner child is if you
don't laugh when you hear the word poop

The energizer bunny

I swear, sometimes I wish my son came with an off switch. I think he has spring fever or something, because ever since the weather has gotten warmer, he has been out of control! He has been so crazy and stubborn, we even had to have a timeout in the middle of Kindermusik on Tuesday. We have NEVER had to leave class before. Just the threat of leaving has always curbed the behavior. And I usually don't even have to resort to that. Maybe it's not spring fever... could be a stage. Maybe we have reached the hyperactive two and a halfs, since we never experienced the terrible twos. He is like the freaking Energizer bunny. He can run, and run, and run, even past the point of exhaustion. You'll be watching him run, and he can't even really run anymore. He is running at half speed, walking speed really, but he will keep on going. I have to make him sit down in my lap and drink some water for him to stop. Sigh...I do know I have been exhausted and ready for a nap by the afternoon. Unfortunately, Mr.-nap-in-the-morning-because-I-am-not-sleeping-long-enough-at-night, has been awake in the afternoon. No nap for mommy :( At least he's not waking me up at 6 am anymore with "Mommy, want to play MarioKart?" I will forever be grateful to my husband to that addiction! Not that I should really complain about him, since he gives me however much time for myself that I ask for, and doesn't complain about it.
The stubborn streak has also extended to the potty. He has decided he wants to wear underwear every morning...but he doesn't want to stop playing, ever, to go to the bathroom. He can. He did a great job for about 2 weeks in January, and last month he picked out his own underwear, Thomas the tank engine underwear. Then, he decided he was afraid of the toilet water. Not the toilet, not the flushing (no not that, we could flush the toilet all day long), but the toilet water itself. "I'm scared mommy." "What are you afraid of baby?" "I'm scared of the cold toilet water!" Never mind that he doesn't use the toilet, he has his own potty, without water, but he still is afraid of the water. Whatever. He started wanting to sit on the potty on his own way earlier than I expected, without any prompting from me, so, if he wants to wait, no problem. Not that I could really do anything about it if I felt differently. I think he is going to be one of those kids who doesn't potty train until he is going to start school...

Hey, I don't get sick days!

My son and I have both come down with some everlasting sickness and have been sick and coughing since last week. My husband comes home yesterday, and has the nerve to be annoyed with me. Why? Because I forgot the tv was going to be delivered today and didn't get over to the Verizon store to get my phone fixed. Yep. So, this is the worst I have felt since the time I was worshipping the porcelain god last year for two days (with my son flushing the toilet and trying to close the lid on my head), and I still had to dress, change, and feed my son. I took a little bit of time to leave the house so William would stop driving me nuts, and to watch my friends kids. Apparently, this indicates to my husband that I am capable of taking care of things, so that means he can get annoyed when I fail to remember a FEW things. Not like he tried to remind me or anything. Of course, he couldn't share in the responsibility to remember the tv was being delivered today - despite the fact that I am walking around in a fog and can only tell you the day because it is programmed into my watch. When I complained, he said, well, you felt good enough to go get coffee and donuts (decaf coffee, and I bought the donuts for HIM), so you should be able to at least take care of the phone.

Okay buddy - what did you take care of on your sick days home? Yes, two weeks ago, my husband was home for two days with bronchitis, during which he took over the tv, computer, and asked me to do everything for him, on top of trying to keep the house clean, do laundry, and keep William from bothering Daddy. He was achy, and very grumpy if I asked him to do anything for himself while I was otherwise occupied. It was like this all week, even the days he went to work. I didn't mind taking care of him; I love him, and hate when he doesn't feel good. But basically, I was working overtime for a week. He went back to work, and is feeling great.

Firstly, HE stayed home from work two days, and we went out for lunch the second day - at HIS request. Second, taking care of the phone would be difficult even if I wasn't sick. When he got his phone fixed, he had to sit at the Verizon store for almost an hour while they updated his software. That was annoying to him. Imagine being there that long with a two year old.

Next time he is sick, I think I'm going to tell him to suck it up.

Two year olds - nature's birth control

We are going to Hawaii in June. Yay!! (Imagine now you hear Hawaiian music to get in the mood of today's post). Needless to say, I am extremely excited. Who wouldn't be excited about Hawaii? Oh, did I mention we will be doing Hawaii childless? Whoo hoo!!! Changes your entire perspective doesn't it?

This trip, while being first and foremost a romantic trip with my hubby, is a welcome retreat from the clingy, whiny, obstinate preschooler that has replaced my sweet, easy to please toddler. It was also supposed to be part babymoon, although not technically, since we weren't planning on having the IUD removed until after the trip - I am not giving up alcohol when I don't have to wake up to take care of aforementioned child, and I refuse to limit my caffeine intake when I could be appreciating real KONA coffee. However, the events of the last few weeks are beginning to change my mind - nothing like Mother Nature's natural birth control program, guaranteed to work, except when it doesn't. The program works like this

1) Remind the parents of the constant care required by a newborn: take a child who has always been mild mannered and incredibly independent, playing by himself often, and transform him into a whiny, clingy child who doesn't understand the concept of playing alone (or quietly). I mean really, I now spend half my day listening to him lay on the floor and whine because I am folding clothes, etc., instead of playing with him.

2) Disrupts the parents sleep time to remind them of the "newborn fog." My son has always been a good sleeper - until now. Suddenly, he keeps waking up at 1 or 2 in the morning and thinks it's time to wake up and play. This wouldn't be bad, but as previously mentioned, he can't play alone anymore so he has to come running into the bedroom yelling "wake up mommy! wake up!!"

3) Two steps forward, one step back - I was recently celebrating because it had finally become possible for me to go to the bathroom in peace. I could actually close the door with my son on the other side, and not deal with a tantrum. Well, apparently I was celebrating too soon. I have acquired a satellite - and no, I am not going to think about what that implies about my mass. He follows me to every conceivable place in the house. Even the bathroom. Please, NOT THE BATHROOM!!! I seriously dream of a future in which I can sit in the bathroom (or ANY ROOM) for more than five minutes without somebody (husbands are almost as bad as children) trying to talk through the door, or having a tantrum on the other side. It's very difficult to focus on the task at hand when your child is making it sound like he is tearing the house apart outside the door.

4) Give them a brief glimpse of a diaper free world, and take it away to remind them another child would delay this world for several more years: Ah, many times have I heard the difficulty in potty training boys. Well, I wouldn't know, my son fishes with a very shiny spinner - attractive, but in the end, you can't really eat it. He is a great fisherman. He throws his lure out there, knowing full well this fish will bite, "Mommy, I go potty?" Okay, let's go potty William. And he sits very nicely on the potty. Very nicely, and he even goes potty - he just refuses to take off his pants. "Psych!!!" I swear, for about two weeks, he actually wanted to go in the potty, and did. He went everyday for a week, I had very few wet pull-ups to change. And now this.... sigh. At least he isn't afraid of the toilet.

Well.... I guess that's good and bad. Good, since most kids are afraid of a flushing toilet at first. Not my son... nope he loves to flush it. Flush Flush Flush. Bad because he especially likes it if something is in the toilet, like toilet paper still attached to the roll, a toothbrush, Bob the Builder, a rubber ducky... I will be lucky if we can make it past this stage without making the plumber rich. Yes... the evil toilet holds no horror for my child. No...just fuzzy stuffed penguins.