I solo parented this past weekend and at one point yesterday afternoon as I was getting ready to head out to a birthday party, Eli, who'd been playing in his room while I wrapped the gift, got really quiet.
Sometimes you think you're going to get a cute video of your kid doing something hilarious and it flops (they don't always perform on demand, unfortunately). Then there are times when you luck out and capture something even kookier than you planned! I especially love how he's cracking himself up toward the end, inspired by this book that we have on loan from the library at the moment. What a ham (mmm, that would go well with spicy chicken wings...).
Monday, December 5, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
added to the pregnancy #2 bucket list: run a...marathon (?!)
Doesn't that sound nice? Or, if you're not into self-care so much, wouldn't this make a great hostess gift for all those holiday parties you'll be going to next month? At any rate, you'll get 1 raffle entry for every $25 you donate! The winner will be announced on my other blog on December 1st.
I'm so behind on updating this blog with actual news of the 3 year old variety, but in the spirit of running around and stuff, how about a short video from preschool soccer last month?
More on that and what we did on summer vacation very soon, I promise!
Friday, October 14, 2011
Let the Halloween shenanigans begin!
What is it about Halloween and my inability to celebrate in moderation and thus not completely burn myself out by Monday, October 31st?! We've already been to one pumpkin patch (his first preschool field trip! pics to follow) and we're off to another this weekend. And we've been reading our two different versions of Five Little Pumpkins back to back just about every night since the month began. Elias knows it by heart:
He embellishes here and there ("the first one says, 'let's run and run and...poop?'") and I can only assume he's picked up the hand gestures from preschool. When people say this is a fun age, this is what they're talking about. I mean, really, we should all begin our days like this, regardless of how old we are. Don't you think?
He embellishes here and there ("the first one says, 'let's run and run and...poop?'") and I can only assume he's picked up the hand gestures from preschool. When people say this is a fun age, this is what they're talking about. I mean, really, we should all begin our days like this, regardless of how old we are. Don't you think?
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
cat in the hat birthday shenanigans follow-up
Only because I've been getting a lot of traffic from searches on Cat in the Hat themed birthday parties (and because the one interview I got from the thirty job applications I've submitted in the last two years did not result in a job offer - mama's got to bring home the bacon bits, after all) I'm doing a little cross-posting today to add the invitation and some faux swirl lollipops I added to my two Etsy shops this week. First up, the invite:
Next up, the pretend lollipops I made earlier this week, one of several projects intended for the party that had to be edited out in the end.
If you'd rather make these - or something similar - yourself, hop on over to my other blog for a little tutorial!
Next up, the pretend lollipops I made earlier this week, one of several projects intended for the party that had to be edited out in the end.
If you'd rather make these - or something similar - yourself, hop on over to my other blog for a little tutorial!
Thursday, September 22, 2011
this is your toddler on preschool
I thought I'd have you all caught up on our summer travels and visits with family by now but preschool, which started for Elias just two days after we returned from our third and final trip/visit, has taken us for a bit of a loop. What a surprise!
Here he is on day one, excited to go but camera-shy, which is a trend that started right before our trip to Escondido, conveniently right before our first shot at professional family photos. I've yet to see how those turned out! But despite not wanting to photographically document this big day, Eli did really well...at preschool. Other than not napping (again, no surprise there), his teachers all told us how well he was doing on days two, three, four, etc. No drop-off drama, no disciplinary issues, no fighting or any weird aggressive behavior. But when we got him home it was - and continues to be - an entirely different story. He stalled when we came to pick him up, started tantruming like never before, and just generally made the precious few hours between the end of his day at school and bedtime, well, extra challenging, to put it mildly. The couple of weekends since he started have been pretty good and all his daycare buddies (three others transitioned to preschool at the same time, and to different schools, I might add) have experienced some form of their own rough transition so hopefully we can feel somewhat confident that this is all preschool's fault (and not that the "terrible twos" have been replaced by the "tantrum threes"...no, no, I'm sure it's not that).
Most have had a hard time at drop-off, in addition to being more difficult at night, so at least we don't have to deal with both (knock on wood). All of them seem to be letting loose and pushing all sorts of extra buttons at home.
On top of all this, Eli's sleep totally fell apart, waking up three or four times some nights, waking up early to go #2, a couple of times waking up because his pull-up had experienced a little leakage and he essentially wet the bed. In case you've never experienced it, let me tell you, changing the sheets (especially on the kind of bed he has) at 4 a.m. is no fun. I'm pretty sure he is in a vicious fighting fatigue kind of cycle - getting thoroughly exhausted at school with no napping whatsoever, yet getting to bed a little late because of all of the evening button-pushing, etc.
Did you know Dr. Seuss wrote a book called the Sleep Book? Do you think there's any chance it'll help our situation? Doubtful. But in an effort to encourage napping at school, we've started a sticker chart. We're so bad at these things (sticker chart, 1-2-3 magic, you name it, it never works) as we've already given in to what was supposed to be the punishment/reward (a nap one day meant he could watch his morning show the next...turns out that affects us just as much as it affects him, nor did it seem to work anyway), and have yet to figure out what the stickers will get him, if anything. When I asked him what kind of reward he might want for getting so many stickers by the end of the week, he replied, "stickers." Hmm. Either he's really easy to please or neither of us gets how this sticker chart idea works!
On a positive note, again, Elias has been doing really well at preschool during the day, so no complaints there. And so far, I love the school. I love the four teachers and how different and yet complimentary they all are to one another. I love that Elias gets to play outside for several hours a day in a truly beautiful setting, with a play structure, and a huge sandbox and a bike trail. I love that after just two weeks of practicing on the trikes at school, he can now peddle his own tricycle, something he'd struggled with since receiving it as a gift for his 2nd birthday (hence, to some degree, his balance bike for year 3). I love the little snippets of songs I don't know that I hear him singing, certain he's picking them up from circle time. I love the other kids and how ridiculously adorable the 3 to 5 set is.
Not surprisingly, Elias is drawn both to older kids and girls, generally speaking, which is a little frustrating to watch because the older kids don't seem to be as excited to play with the new, younger kids and the girl cliques apparently start around age 4 (yikes). But just this morning when I dropped him off a couple of kids yelled out, "there's Eli!" and one other little boy (the other kid who continues to not nap) named Matthew said, "Good morning, Eli." Eli played shy but it really warmed my heart to see that he is making new buddies, especially being suddenly separated from his daycare friends that he'd grown so close to over the last year or so. Which leads me to my final, and perhaps most obvious point: preschool has been a pretty rough transition for me, as well. And I'm not just talking about the tantrums and the night-waking and the 4 a.m. potty calls. I was excited for the change and I still am but I underestimated how hard it would be to watch him enter such a new social world, with so many more kids to become new friends (or not), and older kids who, at 4, are so different than the three-year-olds. Since his best friend from daycare is a girl, I didn't anticipate that the girls and boys seem to play separately already, at least when I'm there. I didn't realize I'd worry so much about how he was getting along, whether or not he'd participate in the mostly optional (especially at this less structured program) art projects in the morning or forever play by himself, and whether or not we'd made the right choice sending him to a school where he has so much freedom to choose how to spend his time. And I guess this is just the beginning of all that, isn't it?
Anyway, as with any transition, at the end of the day sometimes you just have to weather the storm. And cherish the positive (and downright nutty) moments in between. Here's a video of Elias that Neal captured last night, after a rough night, a busy day, no nap, and a late dinner:
How can I be frustrated with such a goofball, right?
Here he is on day one, excited to go but camera-shy, which is a trend that started right before our trip to Escondido, conveniently right before our first shot at professional family photos. I've yet to see how those turned out! But despite not wanting to photographically document this big day, Eli did really well...at preschool. Other than not napping (again, no surprise there), his teachers all told us how well he was doing on days two, three, four, etc. No drop-off drama, no disciplinary issues, no fighting or any weird aggressive behavior. But when we got him home it was - and continues to be - an entirely different story. He stalled when we came to pick him up, started tantruming like never before, and just generally made the precious few hours between the end of his day at school and bedtime, well, extra challenging, to put it mildly. The couple of weekends since he started have been pretty good and all his daycare buddies (three others transitioned to preschool at the same time, and to different schools, I might add) have experienced some form of their own rough transition so hopefully we can feel somewhat confident that this is all preschool's fault (and not that the "terrible twos" have been replaced by the "tantrum threes"...no, no, I'm sure it's not that).
Most have had a hard time at drop-off, in addition to being more difficult at night, so at least we don't have to deal with both (knock on wood). All of them seem to be letting loose and pushing all sorts of extra buttons at home.
On top of all this, Eli's sleep totally fell apart, waking up three or four times some nights, waking up early to go #2, a couple of times waking up because his pull-up had experienced a little leakage and he essentially wet the bed. In case you've never experienced it, let me tell you, changing the sheets (especially on the kind of bed he has) at 4 a.m. is no fun. I'm pretty sure he is in a vicious fighting fatigue kind of cycle - getting thoroughly exhausted at school with no napping whatsoever, yet getting to bed a little late because of all of the evening button-pushing, etc.
Did you know Dr. Seuss wrote a book called the Sleep Book? Do you think there's any chance it'll help our situation? Doubtful. But in an effort to encourage napping at school, we've started a sticker chart. We're so bad at these things (sticker chart, 1-2-3 magic, you name it, it never works) as we've already given in to what was supposed to be the punishment/reward (a nap one day meant he could watch his morning show the next...turns out that affects us just as much as it affects him, nor did it seem to work anyway), and have yet to figure out what the stickers will get him, if anything. When I asked him what kind of reward he might want for getting so many stickers by the end of the week, he replied, "stickers." Hmm. Either he's really easy to please or neither of us gets how this sticker chart idea works!
On a positive note, again, Elias has been doing really well at preschool during the day, so no complaints there. And so far, I love the school. I love the four teachers and how different and yet complimentary they all are to one another. I love that Elias gets to play outside for several hours a day in a truly beautiful setting, with a play structure, and a huge sandbox and a bike trail. I love that after just two weeks of practicing on the trikes at school, he can now peddle his own tricycle, something he'd struggled with since receiving it as a gift for his 2nd birthday (hence, to some degree, his balance bike for year 3). I love the little snippets of songs I don't know that I hear him singing, certain he's picking them up from circle time. I love the other kids and how ridiculously adorable the 3 to 5 set is.
Not surprisingly, Elias is drawn both to older kids and girls, generally speaking, which is a little frustrating to watch because the older kids don't seem to be as excited to play with the new, younger kids and the girl cliques apparently start around age 4 (yikes). But just this morning when I dropped him off a couple of kids yelled out, "there's Eli!" and one other little boy (the other kid who continues to not nap) named Matthew said, "Good morning, Eli." Eli played shy but it really warmed my heart to see that he is making new buddies, especially being suddenly separated from his daycare friends that he'd grown so close to over the last year or so. Which leads me to my final, and perhaps most obvious point: preschool has been a pretty rough transition for me, as well. And I'm not just talking about the tantrums and the night-waking and the 4 a.m. potty calls. I was excited for the change and I still am but I underestimated how hard it would be to watch him enter such a new social world, with so many more kids to become new friends (or not), and older kids who, at 4, are so different than the three-year-olds. Since his best friend from daycare is a girl, I didn't anticipate that the girls and boys seem to play separately already, at least when I'm there. I didn't realize I'd worry so much about how he was getting along, whether or not he'd participate in the mostly optional (especially at this less structured program) art projects in the morning or forever play by himself, and whether or not we'd made the right choice sending him to a school where he has so much freedom to choose how to spend his time. And I guess this is just the beginning of all that, isn't it?
Anyway, as with any transition, at the end of the day sometimes you just have to weather the storm. And cherish the positive (and downright nutty) moments in between. Here's a video of Elias that Neal captured last night, after a rough night, a busy day, no nap, and a late dinner:
How can I be frustrated with such a goofball, right?
Monday, August 22, 2011
potty train your toddler in one year!
We spent this past weekend reinforcing in three days what we've been gradually working on for almost a year: Elias now pees in the potty. We're still working on #2 - despite the fact that he's done it on the pot a handful of times, he seems to have little interest suddenly, saving that duty up for naptime or bedtime diapers. But as of Friday morning he's only worn a diaper to sleep (which, of course, meant no daytime diapers all weekend since he no longer naps at home and we rarely even enforce the in-bedroom quiet time these days). Even though our process has been gradual and in the end we didn't stick to this too closely (wearing underwear instead of running around naked, for example, and making it out of the house 1 to 2 times each day), I did look up information on the numerous variations of the three-day program, which goes a little something like this:
Day one: stay home all day, run around bottom-less, put portable potties in as many rooms as possible, feed your toddler lots of salty snacks and juice boxes you'd normally limit, repeat.
(Here he is enjoying some post-dinner outside time with Daddy at the end of day one. First potty training, now chores??)
Day two: follow the program for day one, adding in a short outing very close to home, i.e. a walk around the block, etc., preferably with bottoms so as not to freak out your neighbors.
Day three: follow the program for days one and two, adding in a longer outing, let's say an hour in duration, even one necessitating a short drive from home.
And voila, you have yourself a toilet-trained toddler. Or, you can do what we did, which is begin the process very gradually as soon as your toddler (and I say toddler because I'm skeptical babies [and by babies I mean 0 to 18 months] can express this interest, but that's just my completely unscientific opinion) shows an interest. For Elias, interest in all things potty related started pretty early, I think primarily because there were three bigger kids at his daycare using the potty from the time he started there at 19 months. Two of the three continued on to preschool this time last year and that's when his interest disappeared almost completely, seemingly overnight, and conveniently right after we spent forty bucks on a training potty that sat in our bathroom collecting dust for the next several months. His best buddy from daycare, Hazel, four days his junior, sealed the potty-training deal over winter break last year so I was hopeful he'd regain an interest in the process after the New Year when everyone was back at daycare, with the minor change of Hazel now trotting up to the bathroom instead of having her diaper changed.
Not so much.
But several months ago, Elias once again showed an interest, not so much in him actually doing the deed, but accompanying Neal and I to the bathroom, picking out underwear, and adding an on-the-pot Dora the Explorer potty training seat to our potty training paraphernalia. So since about his birthday, maybe a bit before, we've been encouraging him to wear underwear on the weekends and on daycare days when there are fewer kids and babies, to try going on the potty, of course, all the while using preschool as our impetus for the timing and sudden urgency. When my brother and his family visited earlier this month, we dropped the program altogether and sure enough, after they left, he had very little interest in getting back to it, explaining to us that he'd wear underwear at preschool. Um, not exactly how it works, there, kid. Every day at daycare I'd ask Eryn if he wore underwear. Occasionally he'd don a pair after nap, because by then surely he'd done most of the day's business in his diapers, especially during his Eryn's-only 2-hour siestas. Then, at the beginning of last week, even knowing Thursday was his final day in diapers, he flat out refused, telling Eryn, "No thank you. I have until the weekend." But on Wednesday and Thursday he seemed to be mostly on board and the weekend went pretty smoothly. Again, he's getting out #2 before his nighttime diaper is changed in the morning and/or after he's in a new one getting ready for bed, but other than starting to go once in his underwear, we had no accidents and, as I mentioned above, even ventured out quite a bit.
We did offer "treats" along the way - fruit snacks, for example, and on Friday we shared a popsicle from the ice cream guy who cruises our neighborhood a couple times a day. We reminded him about his big reward at the end of the weekend, which could be either a trip to Fenton's or a new toy, book, etc. In the end he opted for a set of three new "vroomy toys" from Ikea (and one of our outings yesterday included a pit stop at Dairy Queen, so he really got both, in the end). Here he is somewhat reluctantly explaining his sweet, sweet reward for peeing in the potty all weekend:
We still have some tweaking to do. Elias doesn't want to sit on the potty but hasn't totally mastered the standing part. Instead, what he does is a sort of half-stand, half-squat, essentially straddling the potty while facing it. If he puts a step stool in front of either of our regular toilets, he can go there, saving us from the dumping/flushing/rinsing step. But of course he doesn't want to do that. In an effort to explain to him how he could, you know, sort of aim the stream as it came out without being directly over the toilet, I think I might have compared his penis to a fire hose. I have a feeling that one's going to come back to haunt me one day. What can I say, we'd just watched the Mighty Machines episode about fire trucks.
He also insists on completely undressing from the waist down but has a hard time getting his clothes back on. All details we'll work on this week and next before he heads to his first day of preschool after the Labor Day weekend.
So we're not 100% there, but it's a solid start. It only took us a year to get here.
Day one: stay home all day, run around bottom-less, put portable potties in as many rooms as possible, feed your toddler lots of salty snacks and juice boxes you'd normally limit, repeat.
(Here he is enjoying some post-dinner outside time with Daddy at the end of day one. First potty training, now chores??)
Day two: follow the program for day one, adding in a short outing very close to home, i.e. a walk around the block, etc., preferably with bottoms so as not to freak out your neighbors.
Day three: follow the program for days one and two, adding in a longer outing, let's say an hour in duration, even one necessitating a short drive from home.
And voila, you have yourself a toilet-trained toddler. Or, you can do what we did, which is begin the process very gradually as soon as your toddler (and I say toddler because I'm skeptical babies [and by babies I mean 0 to 18 months] can express this interest, but that's just my completely unscientific opinion) shows an interest. For Elias, interest in all things potty related started pretty early, I think primarily because there were three bigger kids at his daycare using the potty from the time he started there at 19 months. Two of the three continued on to preschool this time last year and that's when his interest disappeared almost completely, seemingly overnight, and conveniently right after we spent forty bucks on a training potty that sat in our bathroom collecting dust for the next several months. His best buddy from daycare, Hazel, four days his junior, sealed the potty-training deal over winter break last year so I was hopeful he'd regain an interest in the process after the New Year when everyone was back at daycare, with the minor change of Hazel now trotting up to the bathroom instead of having her diaper changed.
Not so much.
But several months ago, Elias once again showed an interest, not so much in him actually doing the deed, but accompanying Neal and I to the bathroom, picking out underwear, and adding an on-the-pot Dora the Explorer potty training seat to our potty training paraphernalia. So since about his birthday, maybe a bit before, we've been encouraging him to wear underwear on the weekends and on daycare days when there are fewer kids and babies, to try going on the potty, of course, all the while using preschool as our impetus for the timing and sudden urgency. When my brother and his family visited earlier this month, we dropped the program altogether and sure enough, after they left, he had very little interest in getting back to it, explaining to us that he'd wear underwear at preschool. Um, not exactly how it works, there, kid. Every day at daycare I'd ask Eryn if he wore underwear. Occasionally he'd don a pair after nap, because by then surely he'd done most of the day's business in his diapers, especially during his Eryn's-only 2-hour siestas. Then, at the beginning of last week, even knowing Thursday was his final day in diapers, he flat out refused, telling Eryn, "No thank you. I have until the weekend." But on Wednesday and Thursday he seemed to be mostly on board and the weekend went pretty smoothly. Again, he's getting out #2 before his nighttime diaper is changed in the morning and/or after he's in a new one getting ready for bed, but other than starting to go once in his underwear, we had no accidents and, as I mentioned above, even ventured out quite a bit.
We did offer "treats" along the way - fruit snacks, for example, and on Friday we shared a popsicle from the ice cream guy who cruises our neighborhood a couple times a day. We reminded him about his big reward at the end of the weekend, which could be either a trip to Fenton's or a new toy, book, etc. In the end he opted for a set of three new "vroomy toys" from Ikea (and one of our outings yesterday included a pit stop at Dairy Queen, so he really got both, in the end). Here he is somewhat reluctantly explaining his sweet, sweet reward for peeing in the potty all weekend:
We still have some tweaking to do. Elias doesn't want to sit on the potty but hasn't totally mastered the standing part. Instead, what he does is a sort of half-stand, half-squat, essentially straddling the potty while facing it. If he puts a step stool in front of either of our regular toilets, he can go there, saving us from the dumping/flushing/rinsing step. But of course he doesn't want to do that. In an effort to explain to him how he could, you know, sort of aim the stream as it came out without being directly over the toilet, I think I might have compared his penis to a fire hose. I have a feeling that one's going to come back to haunt me one day. What can I say, we'd just watched the Mighty Machines episode about fire trucks.
He also insists on completely undressing from the waist down but has a hard time getting his clothes back on. All details we'll work on this week and next before he heads to his first day of preschool after the Labor Day weekend.
So we're not 100% there, but it's a solid start. It only took us a year to get here.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
my pregnancy #2 bucket list
No, I'm not pregnant nor do we have any immediate, firm plans to get pregnant. I'm not even taking folic acid yet, for crying out loud. But, despite all my "one and done" musings via Twitter, I have been thinking about a possible addition to our family quite a bit lately (as if to balance those only-child musings, I posted links to this article and this one over the past couple of days). Elias turned three a couple of months ago now, so if we were going to have two kids roughly four years apart, as both Neal and I are from our respective brothers (give or take), we'd need to get pregnant within the next month or so. Obviously, our kids are not going to be close together at this point. In hindsight, I'm glad I had my first early enough (finding out I was pregnant on my 30th birthday) to choose and not feel rushed into getting pregnant again before I'm ready, but on the other hand, who knows if I'll be as lucky next time around.
At any rate, at this point, to be honest with you all, it makes more financial sense to wait until Elias is in kindergarten to be home with a baby again. Depending on my work situation (my Etsy shops keep me busy but I continue to submit resumes to the rare job opening), I'd like to take another one to one-and-a-half years off (or working very, very part-time as I did during Eli's first year) but I'm not sure I can manage that goal and send Elias to any sort of paid daycare/preschool, as we have since he was about 19 months and will continue to do so for the next two years of preschool. And what's another year, right? And yet somehow I'm still torn between 4 and 5 years (or perhaps somewhere in between). I'm not sure what sign I'm waiting for but I keep telling myself, well, let's see how the next few months pan out.
And on that note, I've made a list! Along with thinking about having another kid comes thoughts of all the things I'd like to cross off that never-ending to-do list before chaos once again becomes the norm for three to four years. Here's what I have so far:
3. hair
Grow it out so as to master the true "mom hair" eternal ponytail and/or find a style that's as low-maintenance as possible. (Does anyone know if this exists? If so, please leave instructions in the comments section. Thank you.)
4. get a pedicure
8. finish room makeovers and other house stuff
Eli's room and the office are mostly done, so we still need to do our room, both bathrooms, repaint the kitchen, relandscape the front and back yards, oh, and figure out where baby #2 will sleep.
9. go through all Eli's baby stuff (currently in the shed where a mama spider recently had seven billion baby spiders, so, yeah, fun!)
10. go on vacation!
Yeah, okay, so we're getting ready for our third and final "vacation" of the summer in a week, and no offense to any family who might read this, but we'd also like to take a trip just the three of us.
11. buy a minivan (check!)
That's all I've got so far. There are a few other items that are more for when I'm actually pregnant, if we do go for #2, but these are the kinds of things I'm thinking about now, with baby #2 still a very abstract idea, as Elias once was, not so long ago.
So, readers, what is or was on your pregnancy #2 (or 3, or 4) bucket list?
At any rate, at this point, to be honest with you all, it makes more financial sense to wait until Elias is in kindergarten to be home with a baby again. Depending on my work situation (my Etsy shops keep me busy but I continue to submit resumes to the rare job opening), I'd like to take another one to one-and-a-half years off (or working very, very part-time as I did during Eli's first year) but I'm not sure I can manage that goal and send Elias to any sort of paid daycare/preschool, as we have since he was about 19 months and will continue to do so for the next two years of preschool. And what's another year, right? And yet somehow I'm still torn between 4 and 5 years (or perhaps somewhere in between). I'm not sure what sign I'm waiting for but I keep telling myself, well, let's see how the next few months pan out.
And on that note, I've made a list! Along with thinking about having another kid comes thoughts of all the things I'd like to cross off that never-ending to-do list before chaos once again becomes the norm for three to four years. Here's what I have so far:
1. find a primary care doc and have a good old-fashioned physical
2. lose a wee bit more weight
I'm about ten pounds lighter now than I was when I got pregnant with Elias, but part of my pregnancy/new baby PTSD revolves around my experience with my first OB/GYN who obsessed over my weight gain. (I also went over a certain number I'd like to stay below this time. And that's all I'm gonna say about that.) I do think she went a little overboard and I bounced back to within about ten pounds of my pre-pregnancy weight pretty quickly. So I'd like to lose another 15-20 10-15 pounds before getting pregnant again. I think of it as a running start. But I'm also not going to put off family planning until I get to that magical number since I know that number may be a little elusive, especially considering it took me six months to lose 10 pounds.
3. hair
Grow it out so as to master the true "mom hair" eternal ponytail and/or find a style that's as low-maintenance as possible. (Does anyone know if this exists? If so, please leave instructions in the comments section. Thank you.)
4. get a pedicure
5. cut out coffee, splenda, limit artificial stuff like Fresca, etc.
We sort of arbitrarily went off coffee a month or so ago, only because we decided to let our Costco supply run out, but without a half-caf bridge we didn't do so well. And the thing is, there are a few reasons it would be nice to not be addicted to caffeine, but it's mainly a pregnancy thing for me. Splenda, on the other hand, is mostly out of my diet. I gave most of my Costco supply to my diabetic MIL, keeping just a handful of packets for myself.
We sort of arbitrarily went off coffee a month or so ago, only because we decided to let our Costco supply run out, but without a half-caf bridge we didn't do so well. And the thing is, there are a few reasons it would be nice to not be addicted to caffeine, but it's mainly a pregnancy thing for me. Splenda, on the other hand, is mostly out of my diet. I gave most of my Costco supply to my diabetic MIL, keeping just a handful of packets for myself.
6. have professional family photos taken
7. cats!
I go back and forth on this one. I'd actually love to find them a new home but the chance of that happening is minimal and I won't take them to a shelter. We'll jump off that bridge when we get there. (They've been pretty mellow the last few days, can you tell?)
I go back and forth on this one. I'd actually love to find them a new home but the chance of that happening is minimal and I won't take them to a shelter. We'll jump off that bridge when we get there. (They've been pretty mellow the last few days, can you tell?)
8. finish room makeovers and other house stuff
Eli's room and the office are mostly done, so we still need to do our room, both bathrooms, repaint the kitchen, relandscape the front and back yards, oh, and figure out where baby #2 will sleep.
9. go through all Eli's baby stuff (currently in the shed where a mama spider recently had seven billion baby spiders, so, yeah, fun!)
10. go on vacation!
Yeah, okay, so we're getting ready for our third and final "vacation" of the summer in a week, and no offense to any family who might read this, but we'd also like to take a trip just the three of us.
That's all I've got so far. There are a few other items that are more for when I'm actually pregnant, if we do go for #2, but these are the kinds of things I'm thinking about now, with baby #2 still a very abstract idea, as Elias once was, not so long ago.
So, readers, what is or was on your pregnancy #2 (or 3, or 4) bucket list?
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Christmas in July
Yeah, okay, August. Before I blog about our recent stay-cation with my Dad, brother, nephew, and niece, let me finally post a few thoughts and pics from Christmas. You know, now that we're closer to Christmas 2011 than we are to Chrismtas 2010.
This past Christmas was our first in our old-new-to-us house and I'd say Eli's first that he somewhat anticipated and somewhat experienced a little bit like I remember holidays from my own youth.
Mommy & Daddy and Santa Claus were on the same track with outdoor-themed gifts, giving Elias more things to do outside while we attempt to tackle yard work each week (this many months later, sadly I can't say we've accomplished a whole lot other than weekly maintenance and a small patch we re-planted in the front).
Elias took an impromptu picture with Santa right after Thanksgiving when we made a rainy-day visit to an indoor play space at a local mall, and then again (above) in a much more intimate setting at Play Cafe, closer to the actual holiday, both of which went more smoothly than in 2009.
We saw festive light displays (one of mama's favorite parts about the season) in Alameda and at the Oakland Mormon Temple (on Christmas eve, as is becoming tradition).
New last year (and probably not happening again for a few years) was a long trek to Berkeley's Tilden Park where we stood in an even longer line to ride the carousel.
Elias also had his first taste of hot apple cider while waiting in line. Maybe we'll try again but perhaps not on the last night?
As for the day itself, while we celebrated Thanksgiving with Neal's brother and his family, we stayed put for Christmas, just like I like it. What I didn't like, and it's hard to say this without seeming ungrateful, was the overwhelming amount of gifts. I think it took us three or four days to open all the gifts since 1) Elias time and again chose food over gift-opening on Christmas day, drawing out the gift-opening process (based on birthday behavior I'm not sure this will be a problem in 2011)
...and 2) he actually wanted to spend some time and play with each toy before moving on to the next gift. Crazy, huh?
We complain about how kids have such short attention spans and then we overwhelm them with gifts and expect them to open one after another.
So....What we'll do differently this year, as I wanted to do this past year, is celebrate Christmas eve and a bit of Christmas morning by ourselves, just the three of us. Grandma can come over after, as well as any other family that might like to visit the Bay Area that time of year. But from about 5 pm on Christmas eve until about 10 or 11 Christmas morning, we'll be hunkering down doing our own thing, just the three of us. And there will be a limit on how many gifts to give. At least, that's my plan. I have four months to make it happen that way.
This past Christmas was our first in our old-new-to-us house and I'd say Eli's first that he somewhat anticipated and somewhat experienced a little bit like I remember holidays from my own youth.
Mommy & Daddy and Santa Claus were on the same track with outdoor-themed gifts, giving Elias more things to do outside while we attempt to tackle yard work each week (this many months later, sadly I can't say we've accomplished a whole lot other than weekly maintenance and a small patch we re-planted in the front).
Elias took an impromptu picture with Santa right after Thanksgiving when we made a rainy-day visit to an indoor play space at a local mall, and then again (above) in a much more intimate setting at Play Cafe, closer to the actual holiday, both of which went more smoothly than in 2009.
We saw festive light displays (one of mama's favorite parts about the season) in Alameda and at the Oakland Mormon Temple (on Christmas eve, as is becoming tradition).
New last year (and probably not happening again for a few years) was a long trek to Berkeley's Tilden Park where we stood in an even longer line to ride the carousel.
Elias also had his first taste of hot apple cider while waiting in line. Maybe we'll try again but perhaps not on the last night?
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| Elias sharing some of Santa's cookies with a Grinch "snuggle-buddy" that he received with his obligatory Christmas eve pajamas. |
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| Christmas morning cinnamon rolls before gifts. |
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| This picture says it all - Elias hanging on to one toy with a flurry of activity around him. |
So....What we'll do differently this year, as I wanted to do this past year, is celebrate Christmas eve and a bit of Christmas morning by ourselves, just the three of us. Grandma can come over after, as well as any other family that might like to visit the Bay Area that time of year. But from about 5 pm on Christmas eve until about 10 or 11 Christmas morning, we'll be hunkering down doing our own thing, just the three of us. And there will be a limit on how many gifts to give. At least, that's my plan. I have four months to make it happen that way.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
3 years
As with most holidays lately, we celebrated Eli's 3rd birthday multiple times. Since his actual birthday fell on a Tuesday this year, we held his party the Saturday before. And since we have a yard this year, we decided to have the party at home. Most of the celebrating took place indoors, but there was some pinata action out back.
The theme this year was Cat in the Hat. We were at Michael's one day and passed a Dr. Seuss display and I had had that theme in mind specifically as one that would be fun to plan. I asked Elias what he thought of a Cat in the Hat party and he said yes. So I asked him several more times several days later and the positive response seemed to stick (you never know with these toddlers).
I stocked up on a bunch of Dr. Seuss themed paper products and favor bag items at both Micheal's and Joann, which is where I got the letters I used to make the bunting/banner.
For the food, my thought was green (deviled) eggs and ham (platter...plus a little turkey, roast beef, and various cheeses). If I had to do it again, based on tips I picked up at the three birthday parties we attended the following weekend, I'd offer pre-made sandwiches instead.
I made the cupcakes myself, which is another thing I shall henceforth outsource (I knew I should've contacted the gal behind Oakland's own James and the Giant Cupcake, who provided our brunch-y cupcakes at last year's birthday bash...I'm sure she could've made killer Cat in the Hat cupcakes. Oh well, lesson learned.). My original idea was a red velvet version of this "zebra cake", thinking I could alternate vanilla and red velvet to mock the stripes of the Cat's Hat. Then I saw all these cute - and relatively simple-looking - cupcake decorations when I did an image search for general party ideas and thought, I could do that. I ran out of time to make the cake from scratch so I opted for the tried and true Trader Joe's box mixes and was able to make enough for 24 cupcakes for the party and two layers that I froze to decorate during the week for the daycare crew.
Only problem was I failed to add the entire cup of melted butter to the vanilla cake. I realized this when I went to clean up after popping the cupcakes/cake in the oven and spotting the bowl o' butter on the counter. D'oh! And I'm certainly not blaming the birthday boy but I was a tiny bit distracted by my three-foot assistant. Just sayin'. Anyway, in the end Neal and I decided they tasted good enough (the fact that they were sort of marbled with the chocolate cake helped) so I stuck with the low-butter cupcakes and decorated them to look like fried eggs with green yolks (a green candy melt atop white frosting), the Cat's hat (marshmallows dipped in melted red-colored white chocolate - you can find the candy melts at Michael's, for example), and what was supposed to look like Things 1 and 2, except I never got around to putting the labels on the cupcake wrappers. So you can see why cupcakes are the kind of thing I'll leave to paid professionals next year.
Oh well. The kids didn't seem to mind!
The goody bags, on the other hand, I was pretty pleased with. Initially I stressed over the bag itself, since last year I used reusable canvas tote bags with red bandanas instead of tissue paper. Not that it went with our train theme so perfectly but because it was something the kids could reuse. This year I thought the perfect Cat in the Hat goody bag should be a box - as in the red "box of fun" that the Cat brings in, the box of course containing Things 1 and 2. But it turns out gift boxes are prohibitively expensive, even with a relatively small social circle invited! So I went with small paper gift bags, with a "bag of fun" sticker and personalized hang-tag.
I totally scored with these spiky, rubbery balls I picked up at Target. Don't you think they look like Thing 1 or 2 hiding in the gift bag?? Well, I'm not sure anyone else got that but I was pretty pleased with myself. Other goodies included green egg soap:
...and crayon rolls made with Cat in the Hat fabric:
These I purchased on Etsy, of course. As well as the shirt Elias wore that day, made by this Etsy seller, seen here in action, pre- and post-pinata's demise:
So, yeah, hosting a party at home is a lot of work but I'm into this kind of stuff so I enjoyed it. I also made the invites, but I've yet to photograph and list them in my shop (because, of course, they're going in my shop!). The only thing I'd do differently is the cupcakes. I'd definitely leave those to a pro and I'm guessing this may be the last year I can get away with not really having any planned activities for the little ones. I don't know...Maybe one more year?
On his actual birthday (you see, we haven't even made it to the actual day yet!) I asked Elias if he'd rather stay home with Mommy for a bonus "Mommy day" or go to Eryn's house. His answer changed a few times, not surprisingly, but in the end he opted to hang out with me. It was pretty warm that day so I decided it would be a perfect day to drive out to San Francisco's Ocean beach, typically better suited for evening bonfires. But when it's 90 in Oakland, it's a perfect 75 on the beaches of San Francisco. We packed a picnic lunch and changed clothes, in one way or another, a total of three times. He napped on the way home (making this a truly magical day) and then we met up with Daddy as soon as he was done with work for an early dinner at Fenton's, complete with the now traditional shared banana split. We were even seated at the same table we got last year! (Let me just add, after looking at that post, written in August of last year, that I no longer feel so bad that this post is exactly one month late.)
So what's in store for Eli's fourth year? Well, to start, we're amping up the potty-training efforts as the transition to preschool is just a month and a half away! Elias has intermittently gone numbers 1 and 2 in both a training potty and a smaller seat that sits on the regular toilet and tends to do number 1 standing up. Both that detail and the fact that he's gone number 2 about half-a-dozen times surprised me. But he continues to refuse to wear underwear and/or go on the potty many days. So while I'd say the gradual process has been successful and surprisingly easier than I thought it would be, now that preschool and their fully potty-trained policy is looming, I'm pretty sure we'll do the three-day-weekend-run-around-naked-thing to seal the deal in early to mid-August. Then, of course, preschool, a transition I'm mostly excited about and only a tiny bit apprehensive. And the apprehension is more along the lines of opening a big box, the contents of which are a total mystery. Mostly, I'm really excited to see how Elias will transition to suddenly being around five times more kids than he's used to and several more teachers. Hey, at least we already have a lunch box.
Well, buddy, here's to another great year full of interesting challenges and wonderful surprises!
The theme this year was Cat in the Hat. We were at Michael's one day and passed a Dr. Seuss display and I had had that theme in mind specifically as one that would be fun to plan. I asked Elias what he thought of a Cat in the Hat party and he said yes. So I asked him several more times several days later and the positive response seemed to stick (you never know with these toddlers).
I stocked up on a bunch of Dr. Seuss themed paper products and favor bag items at both Micheal's and Joann, which is where I got the letters I used to make the bunting/banner.
For the food, my thought was green (deviled) eggs and ham (platter...plus a little turkey, roast beef, and various cheeses). If I had to do it again, based on tips I picked up at the three birthday parties we attended the following weekend, I'd offer pre-made sandwiches instead.
I made the cupcakes myself, which is another thing I shall henceforth outsource (I knew I should've contacted the gal behind Oakland's own James and the Giant Cupcake, who provided our brunch-y cupcakes at last year's birthday bash...I'm sure she could've made killer Cat in the Hat cupcakes. Oh well, lesson learned.). My original idea was a red velvet version of this "zebra cake", thinking I could alternate vanilla and red velvet to mock the stripes of the Cat's Hat. Then I saw all these cute - and relatively simple-looking - cupcake decorations when I did an image search for general party ideas and thought, I could do that. I ran out of time to make the cake from scratch so I opted for the tried and true Trader Joe's box mixes and was able to make enough for 24 cupcakes for the party and two layers that I froze to decorate during the week for the daycare crew.
Only problem was I failed to add the entire cup of melted butter to the vanilla cake. I realized this when I went to clean up after popping the cupcakes/cake in the oven and spotting the bowl o' butter on the counter. D'oh! And I'm certainly not blaming the birthday boy but I was a tiny bit distracted by my three-foot assistant. Just sayin'. Anyway, in the end Neal and I decided they tasted good enough (the fact that they were sort of marbled with the chocolate cake helped) so I stuck with the low-butter cupcakes and decorated them to look like fried eggs with green yolks (a green candy melt atop white frosting), the Cat's hat (marshmallows dipped in melted red-colored white chocolate - you can find the candy melts at Michael's, for example), and what was supposed to look like Things 1 and 2, except I never got around to putting the labels on the cupcake wrappers. So you can see why cupcakes are the kind of thing I'll leave to paid professionals next year.
Oh well. The kids didn't seem to mind!
The goody bags, on the other hand, I was pretty pleased with. Initially I stressed over the bag itself, since last year I used reusable canvas tote bags with red bandanas instead of tissue paper. Not that it went with our train theme so perfectly but because it was something the kids could reuse. This year I thought the perfect Cat in the Hat goody bag should be a box - as in the red "box of fun" that the Cat brings in, the box of course containing Things 1 and 2. But it turns out gift boxes are prohibitively expensive, even with a relatively small social circle invited! So I went with small paper gift bags, with a "bag of fun" sticker and personalized hang-tag.
I totally scored with these spiky, rubbery balls I picked up at Target. Don't you think they look like Thing 1 or 2 hiding in the gift bag?? Well, I'm not sure anyone else got that but I was pretty pleased with myself. Other goodies included green egg soap:
...and crayon rolls made with Cat in the Hat fabric:
These I purchased on Etsy, of course. As well as the shirt Elias wore that day, made by this Etsy seller, seen here in action, pre- and post-pinata's demise:
So, yeah, hosting a party at home is a lot of work but I'm into this kind of stuff so I enjoyed it. I also made the invites, but I've yet to photograph and list them in my shop (because, of course, they're going in my shop!). The only thing I'd do differently is the cupcakes. I'd definitely leave those to a pro and I'm guessing this may be the last year I can get away with not really having any planned activities for the little ones. I don't know...Maybe one more year?
On his actual birthday (you see, we haven't even made it to the actual day yet!) I asked Elias if he'd rather stay home with Mommy for a bonus "Mommy day" or go to Eryn's house. His answer changed a few times, not surprisingly, but in the end he opted to hang out with me. It was pretty warm that day so I decided it would be a perfect day to drive out to San Francisco's Ocean beach, typically better suited for evening bonfires. But when it's 90 in Oakland, it's a perfect 75 on the beaches of San Francisco. We packed a picnic lunch and changed clothes, in one way or another, a total of three times. He napped on the way home (making this a truly magical day) and then we met up with Daddy as soon as he was done with work for an early dinner at Fenton's, complete with the now traditional shared banana split. We were even seated at the same table we got last year! (Let me just add, after looking at that post, written in August of last year, that I no longer feel so bad that this post is exactly one month late.)
So what's in store for Eli's fourth year? Well, to start, we're amping up the potty-training efforts as the transition to preschool is just a month and a half away! Elias has intermittently gone numbers 1 and 2 in both a training potty and a smaller seat that sits on the regular toilet and tends to do number 1 standing up. Both that detail and the fact that he's gone number 2 about half-a-dozen times surprised me. But he continues to refuse to wear underwear and/or go on the potty many days. So while I'd say the gradual process has been successful and surprisingly easier than I thought it would be, now that preschool and their fully potty-trained policy is looming, I'm pretty sure we'll do the three-day-weekend-run-around-naked-thing to seal the deal in early to mid-August. Then, of course, preschool, a transition I'm mostly excited about and only a tiny bit apprehensive. And the apprehension is more along the lines of opening a big box, the contents of which are a total mystery. Mostly, I'm really excited to see how Elias will transition to suddenly being around five times more kids than he's used to and several more teachers. Hey, at least we already have a lunch box.
Well, buddy, here's to another great year full of interesting challenges and wonderful surprises!
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
His name is Eli...he loves to dance!
And he's three! Holy cow, how'd that happen?! Needless to say I have a lot of catching up to do. Right on the heels of his birthday we went to three more of his buddies' and now we're preparing for a 4th of July road trip north to Bend, Oregon! I'm kind of counting on a slow July (work-wise) so I can finally catch up on some other stuff in the evenings and on the weekends instead of catching up on work. In the meantime, allow Elias to do a little dance for you:
Happy 4th!
Happy 4th!
Sunday, June 12, 2011
a roll down the hill rite of passage
This is classic kids' stuff, am I right? A first roll down the hill experience shared with best bud, Hazel. Hazel's mom got this on video (the video on my phone wasn't working, for some reason) but in the meantime, I'll do my best approximation:
father-son shenanigans
So what did Neal and Elias do during my exciting girl's weekend? They enjoyed a relaxing overnight stay in Browns Valley, California.
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| Thank goodness, a push toy. |
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| Isn't this the cutest little bridge? Perfect size for toddler shenanigans. |
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| Wildlife sightings! A bat! |
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| A snake! |
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| Frolicking in the flowers. |
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| Pooped. |
Monday, May 23, 2011
girl's weekend (or, a big boy bedroom makeover)
Neal took Elias to visit his Dad and step-mom this past weekend so I had the house to myself from about 10 am on Saturday until about 3 pm on Sunday (but who's counting the hours?!). Here's how I spent my child- and husband-free time:
10-11: removed all furniture from Eli's room, except for newly installed "big boy bed", including untethering and de-booking (is that a word? it should be...) the bookcase and changing table/dresser combo. Schlepped dresser out to garage where it now stands next to disassembled crib.
11-1ish: taped off entire room: baseboards, corners, doors, window. Tedious, time-consuming, but ultimately totally worth it step.
1ish-3ish: painted room one coat of Carolina Parakeet, with a few breaks for Trader Joe's yogurt covered pretzels.
3ish-4ish: painted one coat of Vintage Orange on the room-side of closet and main doors. Decided definitively that main door simply needs to be replaced. Duly added to ridiculous list of house projects (there are currently over 70 items on this list).
4ish: Realizing that smell I kept smelling was me, decided to take a break and shower. I also decided lunch was probably not a bad idea.
5ish-7ish: After deciding one coat of Carolina Parakeet was mostly good enough, got second wind and applied second coat of Vintage Orange to doors. Taped carpet around baseboards and decided to touch those up as well with white paint left in the garage by previous owners. Took a break about halfway to remove 1/4 inch long splinter lodged in finger nail.
7ish-9ish: Done! Celebrated by spending two hours working on Eli's 3rd birthday party paper goods and plans.
9:30: So. Tired. Decided to call it a night and make myself a quesadilla, already. Ate said quesadilla while watching last 15 minutes of When Harry Met Sally on PBS. Spent the last hour of my day the way I plan to spend the entire weekend next time I get this kind of freedom: reading two issues of US Weekly.
On Sunday I spent most of the morning removing painter's tape, cleaning, and putting Eli's room back together. I then cleaned up the rest of the house, showered, and had a late lunch right before the guys returned home. Elias was delighted with his room, giggling for several minutes when he first went in. I'm not sure, though, if he was giddy from the colors I chose, the fact that his train table is now standing where his changing table used to be, or lingering paint fumes, but he seems pretty happy about his room's make-over. And so am I. Here it is, the big reveal (man, I am watching way too much HGTV these days...):
I've shared these pictures with just about everyone I know (and now the entire world, theoretically). I don't mean to seem braggy, but not only am I happy with how the room has turned out, I think I'm maybe a little extra excited about it because not only did I never really have walls of my own to paint (I covered my walls in posters and a shopping bag collection instead), but Elias hasn't up until now either. We never really did that whole nursery thing since he was brought home from the hospital to a rental we knew we were leaving within a couple of years and from there we moved to another apartment across the country. So this is kind of a big deal for me, if not for him, too.
That said, I think I've satisfied my painting urge for awhile! This DIY stuff is hard work when you add a little one to the mix.
10-11: removed all furniture from Eli's room, except for newly installed "big boy bed", including untethering and de-booking (is that a word? it should be...) the bookcase and changing table/dresser combo. Schlepped dresser out to garage where it now stands next to disassembled crib.
11-1ish: taped off entire room: baseboards, corners, doors, window. Tedious, time-consuming, but ultimately totally worth it step.
1ish-3ish: painted room one coat of Carolina Parakeet, with a few breaks for Trader Joe's yogurt covered pretzels.
3ish-4ish: painted one coat of Vintage Orange on the room-side of closet and main doors. Decided definitively that main door simply needs to be replaced. Duly added to ridiculous list of house projects (there are currently over 70 items on this list).
4ish: Realizing that smell I kept smelling was me, decided to take a break and shower. I also decided lunch was probably not a bad idea.
5ish-7ish: After deciding one coat of Carolina Parakeet was mostly good enough, got second wind and applied second coat of Vintage Orange to doors. Taped carpet around baseboards and decided to touch those up as well with white paint left in the garage by previous owners. Took a break about halfway to remove 1/4 inch long splinter lodged in finger nail.
7ish-9ish: Done! Celebrated by spending two hours working on Eli's 3rd birthday party paper goods and plans.
9:30: So. Tired. Decided to call it a night and make myself a quesadilla, already. Ate said quesadilla while watching last 15 minutes of When Harry Met Sally on PBS. Spent the last hour of my day the way I plan to spend the entire weekend next time I get this kind of freedom: reading two issues of US Weekly.
On Sunday I spent most of the morning removing painter's tape, cleaning, and putting Eli's room back together. I then cleaned up the rest of the house, showered, and had a late lunch right before the guys returned home. Elias was delighted with his room, giggling for several minutes when he first went in. I'm not sure, though, if he was giddy from the colors I chose, the fact that his train table is now standing where his changing table used to be, or lingering paint fumes, but he seems pretty happy about his room's make-over. And so am I. Here it is, the big reveal (man, I am watching way too much HGTV these days...):
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| We have since added dark curtains to the window in the hopes that Elias will stop waking up at the crack of dawn only to yell at the sun, "go down, Sun!" |
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| Our makeshift train table used to be under the bar between the kitchen and dining room. There are bar stools there now. It's a nice change all around. |
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| The big boy bed! After sitting in our garage for two weeks, Neal finally had the chance to put it together last weekend. So far, so good (knocking on wood). I think we like this bed as much, if not more, than Eli does! |
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| Originally I wanted to get a second bookcase like this and put them side by side where the train table is but, alas, Ikea no longer makes this style. Elias will have to be a one-bookcase kid for the foreseeable future, it seems. |
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| The colors, up close: Carolina Parakeet for the walls, pure white for baseboards and trim, and Vintage Orange for the doors. |
That said, I think I've satisfied my painting urge for awhile! This DIY stuff is hard work when you add a little one to the mix.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
a week of firsts
It's been a long while since we had so many first experiences in such a short period of time! Since last weekend Elias has experienced, for starters, his first drama-free haircut:
In addition to the orange car-chair, the great thing about this new place is that it's just a couple of blocks away and so inexpensive I felt a little guilty afterward. The cut itself needs a little fine-tuning but, just as you have to pick your battles with your kids, the pros of this place outweigh the cons and we'll definitely be back.
After his haircut we went out to dinner, taking Elias to his first sushi restaurant:
The sushi itself didn't go over too well but his kid's plate, including chicken teryaki, gyoza, and tempura, did.
Monday, being Easter Monday, was a bonus "mommy day" and I decided to take the plunge and treat myself - I mean, Elias - to his first movie theater movie.
Instead of our usual afternoon quiet time, we caught a matinee of Rio, complete with popcorn and blue icee. As I suspected he might be, Elias was pretty antsy during the last half hour or so of the 96 minute long feature and had a little bit of a hard time keeping the seat down, but overall he did really well. So begins our official weekend matinee training!
The grand finale in this week of firsts was Eli's visit to the dentist yesterday, including his first cleaning (they seemed surprised that I was up for exam plus cleaning during the first visit...Why not kill two birds with one stone?).
It took some research to find a pediatric dentist that would take our insurance. I even made an appointment with the dentist Neal and I go to and started to question the necessity of this whole pediatric specialty, but in the end I'm glad we trekked out to San Francisco to go here.
The place is completely decked out for kids, with, I think, slightly smaller chairs, and TV monitors attached to the ceiling above each station. So while Elias's teeth were examined and polished, he got to watch a scene or two from The Little Mermaid, one of his favorites.
I wasn't sure how he would react. On the one hand, he has no reason to fear the dentist, having never been. And of course we've only spoken positively of the experience. Maybe it helped that Neal and I had just been to our dentist the week before - the first dentist I've had that I actually want to visit twice a year. But oddly enough he did seem to get that this was something to be somewhat apprehensive about, saying things in the days leading up to our visit like "I don't want to go, I don't like the dentist," or "I don't like it there." In the end he did really well - he was a total champ about it and very cooperative. On the other hand, I take this first visit with a grain of salt since, historically, Elias has almost always done suspiciously well the first time at something new. It's the subsequent visit(s) that will tell the true story of Elias at the dentist. Either way, I'm happy to have this under our belt since I'd been a little concerned about what turned out to be just some staining on his upper, front teeth, likely from all the fruit this kid likes to eat.
And he ought to want to return since the day was packed with positive reinforcement. In addition to the balloon, sugar-free lollipop, toy, and goody bag he got at the dentist's office, afterward we walked to nearby Dolores Park for a picnic lunch and then lucked out and found a second parking spot as we cruised past Mission Pie on the recommendation of a friend.
Yum! We shared slices of banana cream and strawberry rhubarb and brought a piece of apple huckleberry home for Neal. Great coffee, too. I don't know about Elias, but I can't wait until his next dentist appointment!
In addition to the orange car-chair, the great thing about this new place is that it's just a couple of blocks away and so inexpensive I felt a little guilty afterward. The cut itself needs a little fine-tuning but, just as you have to pick your battles with your kids, the pros of this place outweigh the cons and we'll definitely be back.
After his haircut we went out to dinner, taking Elias to his first sushi restaurant:
The sushi itself didn't go over too well but his kid's plate, including chicken teryaki, gyoza, and tempura, did.
Monday, being Easter Monday, was a bonus "mommy day" and I decided to take the plunge and treat myself - I mean, Elias - to his first movie theater movie.
Instead of our usual afternoon quiet time, we caught a matinee of Rio, complete with popcorn and blue icee. As I suspected he might be, Elias was pretty antsy during the last half hour or so of the 96 minute long feature and had a little bit of a hard time keeping the seat down, but overall he did really well. So begins our official weekend matinee training!
The grand finale in this week of firsts was Eli's visit to the dentist yesterday, including his first cleaning (they seemed surprised that I was up for exam plus cleaning during the first visit...Why not kill two birds with one stone?).
It took some research to find a pediatric dentist that would take our insurance. I even made an appointment with the dentist Neal and I go to and started to question the necessity of this whole pediatric specialty, but in the end I'm glad we trekked out to San Francisco to go here.
The place is completely decked out for kids, with, I think, slightly smaller chairs, and TV monitors attached to the ceiling above each station. So while Elias's teeth were examined and polished, he got to watch a scene or two from The Little Mermaid, one of his favorites.
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| Cheese! |
And he ought to want to return since the day was packed with positive reinforcement. In addition to the balloon, sugar-free lollipop, toy, and goody bag he got at the dentist's office, afterward we walked to nearby Dolores Park for a picnic lunch and then lucked out and found a second parking spot as we cruised past Mission Pie on the recommendation of a friend.
Yum! We shared slices of banana cream and strawberry rhubarb and brought a piece of apple huckleberry home for Neal. Great coffee, too. I don't know about Elias, but I can't wait until his next dentist appointment!
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