Six Word Saturday

A look through Ian's camera lens. 

Photos from Ian's Fisher-Price Kid-Tough camera that he got from my parents for Christmas.  There were more that 240 pictures, most of the carpet or black from him holding it backwards with the lens to his face.  Among the many worthless pictures were a few gems.

Weekend In Review

Sorry no pictures for this weekend in review I was to lazy busy to upload them from the camera.  Maybe I will post some later this week instead.

I took Friday off because day care was closed for Good Friday.  Since I was going to be home with Ian anyway Chris also took the day off and we went to his parents for the night.  I wanted to be sure we were home for Easter morning.  I'm pretty firm on wanting to be home for holidays so Ian has a stable tradition of family time for those days.  Besides how would the Easter bunny know where to find him if we were off gallivanting around. 

So we had our visit and came home on Saturday with a singing and dancing bunny for Ian from the in-laws.  After we settled in at home we went out to buy a lawn roller so we could get to work for the rest of the weekend.  The grubs are mutilating our lawn again this year so we are going full on assault this year.  Treating the soil, rolling it flat again since they have so many tunnels that it is spongy.  Finally we will reseed the lawn, because right now it is just dirt in most places.  I would like to give a shout out to all the birds that did their part in ripping out what was left of the grass to get at the grubs.  Thanks you dirty rotten shits!

Then on Sunday, after Ian had candy for breakfast from his Easter basket (yeah, I'm that mom) we went out to breakfast.  Our favorite restaurant for breakfast was open and we like to do our part to make sure they get enough customers to make it worth it.  Besides who wants to clean up after cooking breakfast...I know I don't. Ian was pretty happy with his haul from the bunny: three books for his interactive book reader (it reads the books to him), a movie (Megamind), a bunch of eggs full of stickers, Reese Pieces and Cups (his favorites) and some socks rolled up and stuffed in a big plastic egg. 

The rest of the weekend, any moment I could squeeze in, I spend reading The Hunger Games trilogy on my new iPad that came last Monday.  I am full on an eReader convert now.  I use to be all about the books with the real pages...than was until I read a book, then then two on the iPad.  Holy crap it is easier to read in bed, easier to take with me when we traveled.  I love it and I am totally sold.  Now I really wish I had not stocked up on all sorts of books to read.  I would love if there was a way to trade them in for credit on an electronic version of the books.  Do you hear that Amazon? Get on that!

On a side note: The Hunger Games trilogy is going to give me nightmares but damn it is a good read.  All I have to say, without a spoiler for anyone who hasn't read and wants to, is that I would rather die that live in the world created in these books.  That is all.

Bits-and-Pieces

I am going to replace Random Tuesday with my own thing.  It will still be random and on Tuesday but it will now be known as Bits-and-Pieces.  Feel free to steal use this name too, and on any day of the week that suits you.  Flexibility is a good thing.  Leave me a comment if you want to join in on Bits-and-Pieces so I can visit your blog.  Maybe I will even figure out how to make a button with a linky or something.  Learning new things is good for your brain.  

1.  I would like to start off by saying that the word "pieces" looks really wired to me.  It just doesn't look right, but I like it anyway. 

2.  This weekend I started two big projects and eventually they will each get their own detailed post.  For now just know that I started making a skirt this weekend.  It could be better but it is coming along nicely for my first apparel project.  Second, I started painting my banner for the Festival of Banners.  It is big! Way bigger than I expected.  I look forward to showing it to you in its completed state but for now here is a sneak peek.



3.  This past week Ian sat on the potty.  Not only that but he was the one to ASK to try sitting on the potty!  I know you are excited about that because I am.  Now to just get him to actually go while sitting on the potty.  Baby steps, or toddler steps in this case.

4.  Yesterday my iPad finally arrived.  I wasn't feeling too excited about it during the waiting for it time.  Mostly I felt a bad for spending so much money on something like that.  It is so selfish and goes against my never buy anything full price motto.  Now that it is here I am in love.  I'm am especially in love with the Kindle application.  To try it out I bought the e-book "The Hunger Games" to read and it was on sale through Amazon for only $5.  I'm already six chapters in after one night and I am surprised by how much I like reading via e-reader.  Me and my Kindle app are going to run away together and live happily ever after.  I'll send and e-postcard. 

5.  This makes me so happy.  I can't even tell you how happy it makes me.  ...and now I want ice cream.

(source)

Six Word Saturday

To Do List (six, six word items)

Breakfast with my family at Cranker's

Mason to the vet for oil change*

Get art on at community paint

Watch newly purchased Harry Potter Movie

Scrub the bathroom to clean shine

Take the Grocery Getter out shopping

*Today is Mason's annual appointment for a heart worm check and vaccinations.  He is going to thrilled.

Carly's Voice

This video was linked on Twitter by a friend of mine @dpringle.  I found it so moving that I decided to post it so I should share it with all of you.  It is the story of a young girl named Carly who is autistic and found a way to communicate even though her body will not cooperate with her mind.  It is an amazing look into the mind of a girl silenced by autism and reminder to never judge a book by its cover.



Carly's Voice

Things Toddlers Teach You

Did you know that you can kiss with more than just your lips?  Yeah, that's right! Other body parts can kiss too, or at least so says my son.  (Now, get your mind out of the gutter and read on to learn more.)

When Ian gets affectionate he will ask for a kiss, followed by a hug and then another kiss.  Sometimes, if you are really lucky he will ask for "nose" which is when you press your noses together and your noses kiss.  Then "eyes" which I am sure you are already imagining is when you get close so your eyes are just as close to each other as possible.  There is also the possibility of an ear kiss, but that is very, very rare so I can only assume it is really special.  So far only Daddy has gotten and ear kiss from Ian and I am beyond jealous about this fact.

So there you have it!  Now you know there are other ways to kiss.  So the next time you are with a loved one and want to express your affection, I strongly recommend getting up in their face and pressing your eye to theirs.  It is the ultimate in closeness...in more ways that one.

In other news: I think my kid loves me and I also have some of his snot on my cheek.

Weekend in Review

This weekend I took Friday off and took Ian to my parents for a couple days.

Ian fell in love with his Uncle TJ.  The moment he saw TJ, Ian really connected with him and wanted him to hang out and play.  Even when it came time for some lunch Ian insisted that TJ be the one to help open and assist with feeding.  "No Mom!"



The funniest thing was that Ian decided to call TJ "Bebah" also.  We thought that Bebah was Ian's way of saying Grandpa and Grandma, but now I'm not sure.  Either he thought TJ looked so much like my Dad that he should also be a Grandpa, or Bebah is really Ian's word for family outside of his Mom and Dad.  We will have to wait and see.  Until then I guess my Dad will be "this one" and my brother will be "that one."

After a nice visit at "home" with my family, Ian and I went to meet my friend Sarah for lunch.  We had sushi.  Well Sarah and I had sushi and Ian had nothing, as is his usual.  He was less that amused with the fried rice and chicken I ordered for him or the edamame (which also happened to be the name of the restaurant, Edamame Sushi) that we all split.  It was really fun visiting with Sarah and learning that I rather like sushi. At least crab based sushi.  

Sunday was spend running errands, including shopping for supplies for my first apparel sewing project...a skirt.  In the evening we had our first online meeting of the Jazz Hands Book Club #jhbc.  We read The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy; a book we chose after I tweeted about watching the movie and wanting to read the book again.  It was a lot of fun talking tweeting about the book with a great group of ladies; @CBethTweet, @showmyface and @justaddjava.  I'm really looking forward to talking about another book with them, and whoever else wants to join in, sometime in the near future. 


A very blurry camera phone picture of me with my towel (you've got to know where your towel is!) and my copy of the book.  It is probably for the best that it was blurry since I didn't have makeup on. Yikes!

Hi Cloud!

This morning it was very foggy.  As we stepped out the front door for the day, Ian saw the fog and stopped dead in his tracks.  He looked at me and backed up a little, "hot."

He thought the fog looked like steam, which we taught him means something is hot.  (What a little smarty!)

It took a little convincing to get him out the door.  I asked him if it felt hot to him.  You could see the gears turning in his head as he thought about that little detail. 

Finally, I resorted to a cartoon he knew, Pocoyo.  There is an episode of Pocoyo when a little cloud comes down and wants to be friends with Pocoyo and Pato the duck.  So I told Ian that the fog was just the clouds coming down to say hi to us.

It seemed to work and Ian seemed pretty happy with that explanation and cautiously walked to the car.  Along the way he babbled a little about the cloud but by the time we got to day care he couldn't care less about the fog anymore. 

The world really is much more amazing and terrifying through the eyes of a child where everything is a learning experience.  It never ceases to amaze me the things he figures out on his own.  Even if he doesn't get it quite right, his logic is spot on!

Mr. No says Damn the Man

Ian is going through a "no" phase right now.  Everything we ask him to do is always replied to with "no," even if the answer is really "yes." For example if I ask if he wants a treat, he will say no and then cry when he doesn't get a treat. It's really frustrating when he says no to things that even he knows are good for him or what he wants.  But, by golly, he asserted his little opinion that the man is not going to tell him what to do.

Ian, put down the syrup bottle and eat your pancakes.
NO!
Are you all done eating?
NO!
Then you need to focus on eating and put down the syrup bottle.
NO!
[An attempt at extracting syrup bottle from his hands resulted in a fit that had us leaving the restaurant in a hurry.]

Ian climb up on the bed and lay on your back please, it is time to change your diaper and get dressed for the day.
NO!
Do you want to sit in your pee pants all day?
NO!
Then why don't you let me change them?
NO!
[he climbs on the bed and lays on his side]
Please roll on your back Ian, we are running late today.
No!
[somehow he manages to get as stiff and a board and becomes impossible to move]
Ian, turn on your back right now or no TV time today! We are going to be late.
NO!!!
[insert me dressing him while he lays on his side acting like a fifty thousand pound dead log]


This morning after a few too many rounds of trying to reason with Mr. No, my husband turns to me and says "I think our son is a republican."