Music class

busy boy

From examining French literature to getting potatoes from the fridge to peekaboo. And I remind myself why I should be napping daily with him!

Sand, slides, water, and ice cream!

All in one day.

OMSI has an amazing toddler science playroom. He looooves the sand and water (right, great combo. Can we all say change of clothes! :)

And Ben and Jerry's free cone served me some ice cream while I pushed the boy in his stroller and saved his cup for daddy (yes, I put it on ice in an insulated lunch bag. About a block away. While no one looked :). (Eli certainly didn't notice there was ice cream he was missing or what that even is. Maybe next year?).
And then to the big slide across the street from our library.

Soon home for some down time while mama gets dinner ready.

A good day indeed!

The days they keep on comin'

our easter

Well, it was a gorgeous weekend here in Portland. We don't always get that on Easter, so it was enjoyed. Moon got up with the baby Sunday morning, which was so kind considering we were both quite tired (we stayed up watching a movie), and we were a little overwhelmed by how happy and energetic Eli was at such an early hour.

Fast forward to church. The boy was his usual happy, busy self... and did keep his bow tie on for the entirety of the morning, which we found fairly impressive. Then we went to some good friends for Easter lunch and Eli fell asleep in the car, so we parked in the shade of their drive, left a door open for a a little breeze, and enjoyed his three hour nap while we ate amazing grilled lamb, drank wine, and enjoyed sitting outside in the sun. (Conveniently we sat near the drive, so the car was in sight). Eli woke up in time to run around a bit and hunt for some eggs that his daddy hid for the kids.

It was a lovely, lovely day.

A lovely Saturday.

We have just concluded a truly wonderful weekend! Sunshine, impromptu plans, Easter, a long lunch with friends, and lots of time watching Eli run and play!

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.