He's Had a Rough Week

It started with getting a shot on Monday, but he's always been pretty tough; so all in all, it wasn't too bad. 

Then that night, he got a stomach bug (not pretty), and that carried on through Tuesday. 

And finally, the big event came yesterday...

He's playing with Elena in her room, when I hear him starting to cry. I start walking there to see what toy Elena has taken away from him, but then I hear the cry change into a hysterical, "I'm in pain" cry; I'm now running. I go in and see Elena pinning him down and shoving something into his ear. I get her off and take the object out if his ear.  It looks to be a piece of wicker, about twice as thick as a toothpick, and now with blood on the end of it. 

The next 30 minutes were long, but he finally calmed down.  I put in Peter Pan and he sat on the couch holding his little ear until we went to the doctor (the picture above). 

Looks like he's going to be just fine.  We're giving him ear drops that will prevent infection for the next week, but otherwise things are back to normal. 

Elena Joy is Three

We have enjoyed our little baby girl for three years now. Her entry into our world marks the time when Ben and I learned about the extraordinary love a parent has for their child.  

We loved everything about her when we saw her, and have learned more things to love on a daily basis as we see her little personality unfold.  We've watched her interests progress from staring at the red slats on her crib, to peekaboo, to anything Elmo, to... well, at the moment, all of the following:

- She is an extremely confident little girl, with "I wanna do it!" being the most commonly used phrase. 

- She seems to have a tender heart for her peers and is immediately concerned if one of them is upset. 

- She wants every boundary observed... well, except the ones that are placed on her.

- She reenacts scenes from The Little Mermaid in the bath tub.

- She coins little phrases that keep us laughing like, "It must be anywhere!" and "It's too locked!"

- She desperately wants to ride a school bus. 

- She's a strict disciplinarian with her babies... and Evan, sigh. 

- She loves to sing, but can't keep a tune. 

- She wants to snuggle while we watch cartoons.

You are so precious to us! We love you Elena Joy! 

Celebrating Three Years

Sweet Elena turned three today! To celebrate we went with friends to Walker Ranch Park in the afternoon. I think she had a great time. My only regret is that we didn't take nearly as many pictures as I wanted. It's just so hard when you're the one orchestrating the activities to stop and remember to ge them. Sigh!

Possibly the biggest hit of the party was the bubble machine (alas, no pictures). This machine would blow bubbles about a foot in diameter that had multiple small bubbles inside!!! I highly recommend a bubble machine for toddler parties!

Inspired by my friend Liz and her girls' parties we also had a pinata! The pinata was shaped as an adorable ice cream cone. So if you hear Elena talk about the ice cream cone at her party - that's what she's referring to. 

"Look at all my candy!"

 She made out like a bandit - but I think her Aunt Patty and Daddy helped her.

You can see the pinata in the background.

 

This park is the flight path of most planes landing in San Antonio, so every 10 minutes or so you get a close up view of the planes - very entertaining!

Everyone paying close attention to the lighting of the candles

All this month she has talked and talked about how her friends were going to sing, "Happy Birthday" to her. And so how does she react when the big moment finally came? 

Thank you to all the friends that made her day so special!!!

I Totally Paused!

Elena is policing my stops these days. She is very quick to let me know when a stop sign is approaching and will throw a fit if we don't come to a "full and complete stop". 

That's all I got. 

The Jolly (for some anyways) Barnyard

Evan loves this book! It begins with Farmer Brown saying that it's his birthday and he's going to give each of the animals "a special treat; for each what he likes best to eat!" 

The next few pages show him feeding each of the animals on the farm.  Then the animals, page by page say what they're are going to do for "...kind Farmer Brown." 

Here the Chickens and Ducks say what they will do for Farmer Brown...

(click on the picture to see a close up)

And now the Sheep and... oh wait -  look what the Turkey is stepping up to do!  I hope kind Farmer Brown appreciates that offer!

Evan saying the sound for the animal on the page - the big reason he likes the book so much. 

Relinquishing Scissor Rights

With Elena's birthday coming up, I wanted to get her hair trimmed... by a "pro." I learned my lesson last year after I cut her hair right before her birthday and it looked horrible for all the pictures. 

This place we went to is so fun for kids.  As you can see they sit in little cars, and videos play during the cut. 

She's watching Barney, hence the "trance."

Ta-Da!

This was my attempt last year - yikes!

Save the Thrift Store!!! Part 2

I posted recently about a new (passed last year, but soon to go into effect) piece of legislation called the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). This basically is a law that will require strict testing for lead and phthalates in children's products (ANY product designed for children 12 and under). This sounds like a fantastic idea and was passed quickly in reaction to the many toy recalls last year, specifically of those made in China containing lead, BUT now people are realizing that the effect on crafters, thrift stores, libraries are unreasonable. 

I was googling the subject again today and wanted to pass on these articles to read. 

A GREAT article to read on the possible unfortunate effects:

Scrap the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act by Walter Olsen

Another good one:

New Law Brings Extra Vigilence at Resale Shops by Debra Pressey

And one on Children's Books/Libraries:

The Very Latest on CPSIA and Books by Karen Raugust

The Shrinking Elmo Suit

Elena pulled this suit out of her closet yesterday and tried it on.  It was a good tell of how much she's grown since the last time she wore it; Halloween '07.  She was 21 months old then, and Evan had just been born. I looked back at the pictures and was a little misty eyed at how much she's changed in so short of a time. 

Now

and Then

Um, could you please stop growing up?

A Car for His Cars

My Little...Cowboy?

Elena came out of her room dressed like this and announced, "Look Mommy, I'm a COWBOY!" 

Ummm yes, and what a fancy cowboy you are!

A big thank you to Kim, for all the wonderful dress up clothes - she loves them!!!

15 Months Old

When Evan turned one, I assumed I would stop the month to month updates, but he is still changing so much that I can't wait until he turns two, so I'm randomly picking 15 months as the next age to record everything about him.

- He loves books. He will bring you a book if asked; and then he does that adorable baby thing where they come up to you, stop a foot shy, turn around, then back up with their booty sticking out till they hit your lap - it's so awkward in an adorable way. 

- Books with animals are his favorite; he's learning all the animal sounds. "Woof-Woof" was the first sound he learned and it is a simple, "Ffff-Ffff!" with his entire body shaking as he says it. Others that he tackles are "Meow" and "Quack-Quack", which sounds like, "Ag-Ag!"

- He loves to go "bye-bye." In fact if you get his shoes on and then DON'T take him out to the car, he falls apart.

- He's still a lover of food, and especially desires anything Mommy or Daddy are eating. 

- I'm trying to remember all the words he uses at this point: Daddy, Uh-oh, Mommy (Yay! He just learned it in Tyler), Baby, Bye, Hi, Woah, More and Thank-you. Chanting, "Daddy" is his favorite. 

- It's not a word, but he consistently calls his shoes a cross between, "Bubbles" and "Bibles."

- He's a snuggler. If at all tired he rests his head on my cheek or shoulder. He also loves snuggling with blankets or stuffed animals. 

- He runs up to us to give us hugs, and will lean in to give kisses. Oh that is the best thing!!!

- I'm afraid he's learning to stick up to his sister, and will sometimes "hit" (if you can call it that, it's more like an arm flap aimed at her). Not good.

- He loves his cars, and will frequently go sit in his big car and "chill out. " Side note - it took him a few weeks after Christmas to consistently remember that there is a door on his car. He would just dive in from the door-less side. 

Love you Buddy!

My Little Ballerina

Last summer, a friend of mine told me about a ballet class for little ones that is hosted by Oak Hills Church. The ladies that teach it view it as a ministry and emphasis that dancing is to be done to bring glory to God and they offer their time and expertise for free! Little girls can begin coming upon their 3rd birthday. So since she told me about it, I have been counting down the days 'til Elena could begin.  

I told Elena a couple months ago that she would take ballet classes when she turned three - and since then she has been going up to friends and strangers (checker at Target) and telling them, "When I get twee, I gonna do balwet!" Clearly she was looking forward to it. 

So today was a big day as this was her first class. Now, she doesn't turn 3 until the 25th, but we got clearance to begin - yay!

Showing off her skirt.

Learning how to stretch. Good grief, she looks so old there!

They practiced jumping with both feet together - bunny ears were a great incentive.

I'm afraid she became a little distracted by the ties on her shoes. Her teacher even tried to tuck them into her shoes, but she kept pulling them out. 

If any of you locals are interested you can check out the website/blog for Ballet Gloria at http://balletgloria.blogspot.com/

Save the Thrift Store!!!

I'm a big resale shopper when it comes to kids' stuff. So, I was pretty upset when I read this post on my sister-in-love's blog.

Check it out!

And here's another little article I found talking a little more about the effects on consignment stores. 

Check it out!

I do agree that there needs to be stricter accountability for toy manufacturers (here in the U.S. or those we import from abroad). Lead poisoning is a real danger to little kids. But I feel that this legislation is too broad to include clothing at consignment stores. I mean, does this mean no Craigslist? No Kid to Kid? No E-bay? My only option will be to go a retail store? Cha-ching! Cha-ching!

Closet Cleanup

It's that time of year again:

- the time when everyone looks at the bountiful supply of new toys from Christmas and wonders - where is this stuff going to go? 

- the time when all magazine covers are screaming that they have the secret to stay organized in 2009

- the time when stores slash prices on bins and baskets and everyone is lured to get matching plastic or wicker so that everything "matches" in the attic. :)

Well, I am being swept up with the times and have been on what started as a simple toy purge to an all over closet makeover throughout the house. And I have to say.... it feels goooooooood. 

p.s. I even have matching containers throughout the house... diaper boxes! The endless stacks in the closets and attic are a subtle reminder of the coin we have thrown at diapers over these near 3 years... but I digress.

Puppy Love in Tyler

When we were in Tyler everyone fell in love with my aunt's new little Cockapoo puppy, Gizmo.  My aunt is a huge animal lover and my uncle... well, not so much.  But as she put it,  "When two people try and meet half way on the spectrum of  'disliking pets' to 'loving pets', you come up with Cockapoo." 

Oh he was so adorable!  He "out-cutes" any stuffed animal I've ever seen. But if he alone wasn't enough, he and Evan together were adorable. They each seemed to appreciate the other being so close in age and were constantly together. 

This was the favorite thing to watch - Gizmo attempting to tackle Evan. 

"Mommy - may I have one?" - Ummm no. Sorry buddy, but when you take two people that are both on the "pets are a lot of work and we don't have the energy" end of the spectrum... you get a fish.