Holding on

Sometimes blocks don't cut it

Helpful

uncle j

this was last week. 

i had made plans to hang out with my brother. 

then eli had an unusual, off nap day. 

so it was into the afternoon, i didn't want to get frustrated and be home bound. 

so i threw a book in the car and within 10 minutes of driving eli was out. 

i read for a little while (parked on a quiet, neighborhood street, lest you think i would drive and read like that :), 

then j and i met up and we sat in/by the park and talked for a good 45+ minutes, next to the car while eli just slept. 

 he woke up so happy and was greeted by his uncle! 

and a park. 

it doesn't get much better than that. 

(on a sunny and 60 day). 

happy day.

it's moon's day. 

and of course it would fall on the monday we spring forward. 

after an evening of friends and drinks and celebrating. 

but he's on a good rotation so 6 in the morning could have felt worse. 

here he is counting his candles

(i didn't have enough for the right number :)

and one of his presents (it will double as an early anniversary gift to each other as well). 

(we do things like that. why? i don't really know. it's just a purchase, but why not designate it, even if it is 3 months early), this new table:

(ok, maybe we got it when we did because it was a super deal). 

so here's to friends, more dinner parties, ok, we'll throw in the kid, and to my amazing (amazing!) man. happy birthday!!

give me liberte or give me...?

eli loves trash. 

and trashcans. 

and vacuums. 

i suppose he watches his mama handling these things. 

and i should be flattered that he wants to do what i do. 

but on the trash point we have some issues. 

for starters, our child lock works no longer. he figured it out. 

so when i came around the corner and discovered this... trash everywhere... i wasn't surprised as much as faced with a problem.

(and his blanket swimming in it)

i was trying to remember what my parenting handbook tells me to do. or what moon would tell me to do. or what moon would do. that works too. and then i just went with my gut. 

which was basically a gentle response that got the point across: trash isn't a toy. 

his initial reaction was basically photo 1, "what? this stuff, the trash? it's quite fun, really." and then it turned to photo 2 when he heard my serious voice not letting up. 

(i was quick and discreet with the photos, i assure you.)

and what do we make our baby do when he dumps the trash all over the floor...?
that's right. vacuum.
just kidding. that would be like a reward for eli. he got this sweet, little vacuum for 80 cents at our local consignment shop because it was very, very clear that all he wanted was to vacuum. he may have held it in his lap the whole way home...

because, really, being a baby is tough work. you can't use your words. or, well, the adults in charge of you don't understand "your words" because they really sound so russian to us. "da... da da da...."
and all you really want is your LIBERTE (yes, his bib is part of a series i created with all my french pride... liberty, equality, fraternity).

but really he's like this most of the time:

because with or without his liberty, he's a happy fella. 

All in a days work.

Really more like a mornings work.

Greeted by the mixmaster spinning some sound machine melodies, went something like "heartbeat, heartbeat, summers night, ocean waves, heartbeat, off, turn over, pound on back with hand." I'm mostly amazed that upon rolling over, opening his eyes, sitting up for .3 seconds, he basically lunges for the bedside table where the sound machine is. Zero wake up time. It's play or sleep.



So then multitasking on bee... scooting backwards while pulling duck. Notice the one slipper. He always pulls one off! Anyways, several times duck fell over and he methodically dismounted bee, turned duck upright, and got back on to scoot backwards some more. I only had to unravel duck from bees wheel once.



Post clementine he was shirtless for a few, and just wanted to watch pictures on the computer screen saver while getting this one leg on the chair. He did later climb on the chair and see where he could go from there, only to have mama mess those plans up. (The computer will be moved to the bedroom soon as that mouse, keyboard, and general viewing possibilities are too difficult on the parents). We'll count this as yoga for the day.

Then with a new shirt on its time for lunch where forks are the new thing! I keep two handy so the rotation runs smoothly. He gobbled up the butternut squash! He has been eating really well lately.

And now, one tired boy is falling asleep in my arms.

a good man

he works hard. 

some of his days are quite long. 

and most nights he stays up late studying and working. 

but when he gets home a little boy runs to the door to greet him.

and his daddy always finds time for him. 

reads him books while i finish dinner. 

gives him fun baths. 

(the might include lots of laughter and splashing). 

and this man even finds time for me. 

yes, a very good man. 

(and i've heard they are hard to find, so i feel quite blessed :).