language development... not quite as far as we thought he was...

So today I was trying to feed the little man his oatmeal for breakfast. (quick! someone tell me I am a good mom! I don't use the sugar-filled instant stuff. We use the plain instant stuff then add applesauce and a little cinnamon. and he usually eats it, go figure! and I have tasted it. and it is NOT good.)

I had stopped for a minute and asked little man if he wanted some more bites. He said emphatically "no". He is actually understanding almost everything we say and can follow compound directions, etc. so I thought that my next question might be interesting.

I asked little man, "Why don't you want any more of your oatmeal?". He paused. for. a. long. time. (or at least it was a long time in toddler-world). finally he said, quite confidently, "hhhhmmmmmm... Santa!"
It was as if he decided, "I have no idea what in the hell this lady is trying to ask me so I will just throw out a word I know. And I'll even put my finger up in the air when I say it to make it extra cute"

I guess we now start to work on the reasoning skills.... :)

over it and nerd stuff

Thanks for indulging my whining. all better now.

and because I am a big nerd at heart, this could quite possibly be my new favorite blog...

Have a wonderful Monday!

a diagnosis...

I am diagnosing a new disease that surely others suffer from as well. possibly similar to postpartum, but I am calling it post-advent. (and before anyone gets all cranky, I am not in the least bit actually comparing post-Christmas blues to postpartum - just making a connection)

yes, I am in my post-Christmas funk.... I feel "eeewwwww".

Here are the things that need to be done:
~ a shower for me
~ a vacuumed floor - seriously disgusting!
~ all the Christmas gifts put away
~ laundry
~ last but not least.... a nap by the little man would be GREAT! (it is 6pm and he has slept, oh, maybe an hour today. as I write, he is yelling "MAMA" and banging on the office door. is it bad that I don't go open it up? and yes, Mike is in the family room with him. it's not like i would leave him unattended. ha!)

there will definitely be some alone time in my future this evening. hmmmm..... Sunday night. not exactly the most happening night of the week. however, i have, more than once, roamed the aisles at Wal-Mart with my Starbucks just to get away for a bit. and you know you have done the same thing too!

and I get to be a stay-at-home mom for a week before I go back to work on the 5th - any tips/ideas to entertain the little man and myself? one can only watch sesame street for so long before the "too much TV" guilt starts to creep in...

on a bright note.... I DID get all the indoor christmas decorations put away yesterday.
now, all that remains is the bare tree inside and the outdoor lights. Mike said he might get to it next weekend. sigh. maybe the ladder and I will become good friends tomorrow...

um.... wow!

If only I had this much time and was on the ball in my holiday greetings! :)

puh-lease, click here! weird. funny weird, not creepy weird!

Merry Christmas!

Have a wonderful very merry Christmas!

my most favorite tantrum to date...

... happened yesterday as we were leaving his school.

throwing himself face-down in the parking lot as I'm trying to get him into the car.

And did I mention that the parking lot was covered in ice and it was 25 degrees outside?

yeah, it was awesome.

the Show

well, the little man started "school" this past October, just in time to be a part of the Holiday Show! (by the way, here is his school in case anyone in our area is looking.... we love it!)

He was talking (babbling) all last week about his "show" and let me tell you - this was impressive. Multiple costume changes, choreagraphed dance numbers, so cute! knowing our son and the simple fact that he is barely two, we had nightmare-ish visions of what might occur at the show. crying, screaming, running off stage, the ever popular "nnnooooo" and "miiiiiinnnneee". we strategically sat towards the back so we would not distract the master performer.

(and let me just take a moment to address all the people in this world who are over 6 feet tall:

do NOT, I repeat, do NOT, sit in the middle of the front row at a preschoolers' performance, especially when the performers are 3 feet in front of you, especially when the room is super-tiny and there is nowhere to move and see around you, and ESPECIALLY when you hold up your stupid cellphone during the entire performance to take pictures. seriously - you are in the FRONT ROW - hold the camera/phone/whatever in front of you, not way up high so it blocks the camera angle of every other poor parent behind you with a neck sprain from trying to see around you and your phone!)

I digress, let us continue... I will describe little man's performance like this: "deer in the headlights" (by the way, is that a phrase used outside of Texas?).

There was no crying, no screaming, no running off stage.

There was not any singing or dancing either. (from William, that is. All the other children sang and danced quite nicely)

There WAS, however, lots of standing and lots of looking (on William's part).

In my opinion, a perfectly lovely and successful performance! Here are the highlights:

(Photos have been affected by the poor lighting conditions in the room and the aforementioned GIANT in the front row.) Enjoy!

(and yes, he quite possibly is the cutest thing EVER!)

for the first number, they had little elf hats and jingle bell braclets

song #2 included a Santa Hat

I don't even remember what song #3 was, but little man was very intrigued by all the kiddos around him. her really did go to school every day and was there for every practice. but Miss Maria said that when they were practicing, little man mostly just liked to run around - no wonder he looks as if he has no idea what they are doing!

Why, you might ask, why is everything blury in this picture except the little man? great photo skills? no. all the other kids were MOVING and singing - little man was watching :)

the big finale included the cutest emroidered scarves - and little man didn't try to rip it off his neck!

So, if you actually made it to the end of this way-too-long post, thanks for indulging me! (and Grandmom and GramGram, all those pics are for you!)

yay Matt!

My little brother did something I don't ever think I could do. He completed the White Rock Marathon in Dallas this past Sunday. We are sooooo proud of you Matt!

We got down to the race route a little earlier that we needed to. We found a spot about 3 or 4 miles from the finish and let's just say that the runners passing us when we got there were "real" runners.

(By the way, Mike DID ask me if there was a way to track Matt on the internet so we could better judge the time we needed to be there. I told him that I didn't think White Rock would have that technology. Jump forward a few hours to a phone conversation with my PARENTS.... "Oh yeah, we have been tracking Matt on the computer - He's about to finish!)

Anyhoo, we tried to amuse the little man as best we could while we waited. It was really quite inspiring to see all these people, some quite athletic looking and some not so much, in so much agony, yet so intent on the finish line!
We did see a few strange characters like this:


It's hard to see people way down the road as they are running in a mob so we looked and waited. looked and waited. then suddenly, right in front of us was Matt:

we even made signs but I forgot to take a picture :(

then, as quickly as he appeared, he was gone. bye, Matt. hope you enjoyed your beer at the finish line!


seriously! so proud I am! (and, yes, that was Yoda-speak!)

call me June Cleaver

Every evening in our house is like this:

(Well, actually, tonight Mike came home to me eating pizza that had arrived just 10 minutes beforehand and trying to cram peas and macaroni and cheese into little man's mouth - he also mentioned that he could hear me all the way out at his car. Little man and I were having a "discussion" about how he did not want to eat what I had prepared. And by prepared, I mean microwaved. oh, and the dog in that picture...we have two and they would be all over everything. and if anyone actually cheered when I served food, I would actually fall over and die from a heart attack!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


And then, after dinner, it's always like this:

(Well, actually, I told Mike tonight that I thought there was some leftover Halloween candy in the pantry somewhere. Either that or the rest of the goody bag from the birthday party little man went to last weekend)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And finally, after little man goes to bed, this is always the scene on our back porch

(Well, actually, Mike is in PJs watching the Stars game and I, also in PJs, am here, at the computer. I thought about laundry and then decided no. I thought about dishes and then decided no.)

Happy Wednesday! (thanks to this fun girl for the pictures)

simple reminders

I had a simple reminder from God today about the many blessings he has already bestowed upon my life. I get a little whiny sometimes and I think about all the things that are not right in my world. When, really, in the grand scheme of things, there is nothing I need that I don't already have. My problems and issues are so trivial compared to other things in this world.

The newspaper was JAMMED this morning with all kinds of ads trying to make you think you need this and that to feel complete this Christmas. All over TV are ads wanting you buy-in to the latest fad. Even the internet has all kinds of articles proclaiming to have the best gift ideas for everyone you know. How ironic that the things we need the most are not really things at all?

I have everything I could ever possibly need. So many blessings from God and I don't recognize that often enough. time & people. not stuff & things.

may God help you find a spirit of thankfulness and contentment this holiday season!

playing with barn animals

This morning I wrestled with a chicken while trying to sing the ABCs. It was a close contest, but in the end, I was the winner because, well, honestly, I am bigger and stronger and not afraid to use that to my advantage.

and after little man was dressed, we went to church. and after the service there was a church lunch where this happened:

all was fine until he actually had to sit on Santa's lap...

Crazy goes out to eat

let me just throw this out there....

When in a restaurant, and you ask for an extra napkin because you have used your own to make a temporary bib for you toddler son who, while feeding himself beans and rice, has managed to get it EVERYWHERE, it is normal for the waitress to bring you a cute little stack of paper cocktail napkins and say with an oh-so-perky voice, "Here ya go!"?
Is it normal to say in a restaurant, "no, not THOSE napkins. I need a real napkin. thanks."

Is it normal for the people sitting behind you to say, quite loudly so all can hear, when you get your food, "They got our food. That's what we ordered and we were here before them!"

Is it normal for the waitress to bring out the food, then 5 minutes later bring out the bowl you need to actually serve the food to your toddler?

Is it normal for a waitress to directly look at your glass of water that has had only one sip taken out of it and earnestly ask, "Would you like a refill?"

Is it normal to say, "Honey, you defnitely better do this!" when the bill comes and you know if you even LOOK at the line that says "gratuity" you might actually yell across the restaurant, "SERIOUSLY!!"

It is a good thing that I absolutely LOVE the food at Desperado's because otherwise..... well, let's just not go there.

Happy Birthday, little man!

If you can't figure out what little man is in to these days, you need to have your head examined!

We have amazing friends and family! Thank you to all who came and helped make little man's birthday so very special!