Acorn Stew

"What have you two been up to today?" Daddy asked upon his arrival from work.

"Oh, we made up a new game. Collecting acorns and putting them in the dog dish with water."




The fruit of our labors:




I was the gatherer. He was the chef.

For a finishing touch, Edmond added a fly that was stuck to a spiderweb and unable to fly away. I meant to rescue the fly from his watery grave when Edmond wasn't looking....but I forgot.

Sorry, fly.

Where You'll Find Us

The Day: Pretty Much Every Day
The Time: 3pm
The Temperature: A Million Degrees
The Activity: Looking for Bees

Edmond's love for bees is intense. When they fly away he throws his hands up in frustration and says "Bee!" Then he looks at me like it's my fault it's gone.

I respond with logic. "Edmond, I can't control the bees. They fly away when they want to. We just have to wait until they come back."

Luckily there are lots of butterflies too, and they are equally entertaining.

The Toy Aisle

Sometimes I take my kid out in public when he's still in his pajamas. Let's face it...it's just easier. And so we arrived at Target around 9AM, Edmond in his jammies and me in my exercise ensemble and no makeup.


We looked super cute. Well, he did.


In the midst of our shopping we paused in the toy section to test drive a few toys and look at the fish. Edmond really fancied this little roller music toy. He pushed it up and down the aisles while I deliberated over which new toy I should buy him. As he scurried past, I gave him a pair of sunglasses to try.

He really liked both of these items...but I ended up buying him some Megablocks instead. The last thing I need is one of those roller music toys in my house.

Soccer Season

Soccer Season is here again. One of my favorite seasons. I don't have a soccer player of my own, which is a relief for if I did I'm sure I wouldn't cherish the season like I do. But, as it is, on any given Saturday our little family has the option of attending one of Edmond's cousin's games.

Last Saturday we arrived on the sidelines to witness Abigail's first game and critique her soccer skills. After 15 minutes of observation it became apparent that Abby's skills were much like my own would have been at that age (which is not good). Our positive reinforcement from the sidelines sounded something like this:

"Abby! Kick the ball!"
"Abby! Follow the ball!"
"Abby! Kick it the other way!"
"Nice try Abby!"



Although her technique and competitive edge could use some improvement, I think her pink soccer cleats more than made up for her shortcomings.




We all enjoyed our seats on the sidelines. Edmond especially enjoyed the Ritz crackers we brought.

Parents

I love the mall playground. It's nice and cool with a bench for me to sit on while my kid is entertained by other kiddies and things to climb. I read once that little boys require more attention and recognition than little girls. I don't know if that's true, but my little guy is constantly looking over his shoulder after he does something tricky to see if I'm watching. I always wave and smile and clap to show that "I saw". He then grins and does it again. I love this little exchange.

Another great thing about my bench seat at the mall playground is that it allows me the opportunity to watch other parents in action. It's so interesting for me to see other parents interact with their children. Everyone has their own techniques. One little crawler was going up and down the slide and each time she went down her Dad picked her up by the feet and hung her upside down in the air and then dumped her on the top of the slide. She seemed to love this routine. It looked kind of rough and crazy to me, but whatever works.

Another Mom entered the playgound with four kids trailing behind her. She let the kids run amuck while she plopped herself on a bench and began texting like there was no tomorrow. I intervened a few times when one of hers was endangering mine. She didn't even look up.

After about twenty minutes of playing, Edmond inevitably sees the candy machines and nothing will satisfy him until he's had some "Tandy". He loves sugar. I have no idea where he gets it from. :)

On the way home Edmond pointed to a yellow truck and said "Wuwow".

"Yes, Edmond," I replied, "that's a yellow truck. You are so smart."

Then he patted his chest and said "Medmon mart". (Edmond's smart.)

Bling Bling Binkie

By the way, my sister-in-law Amber had her baby two weeks ago. Taitum MarVell is her name. She is a small little baby with oodles of hair. One morning I heard her crying so I offered Amber this binkie to try:

Taitum accepted our offering. I think she likes the bling.

About a year ago I made this Bling Bling Binkie and others like it by super-gluing little scrapbooking jewels onto binkies. I have since given up this little hobbie and given away all my bling, but the idea is still cute.

Bad Mommy

I was dreaming of grocery shopping. Drat those crazy pregnancy dreams! I was contemplating the softness of a potential bread purchase when the sound of bawling woke me up. "Ahhhh! Mamma!"

I opened my eyes. It was still dark.

I looked at the clock. 5am.

I rolled over and listened to Edmond cry some more.

My sleepy brain began to deliberate. Should I get the boy? Why is he awake? He rarely wakes up in the middle of the night...is something wrong? Did he have a nightmare? Is he poopy?

After about five minutes of crying, he stopped.

I slept.

At 7:30 I was awakened by the usual calls for me from his crib. "Mamma...Mamma." I got up and gave my son the happy, loving greeting that he deserves from me every morning. As I reached down to pull him from his crib, I discovered that there was a mystery mess on his sheets. Is it poop? Is it puke? I opened the blinds for a closer look.

It was puke.

Dried puke. And it wasn't just on the sheets. It was on the bumpers, on the railings, and worst of all, on Edmond.

I hugged my son as I was engulfed by the familiar guilty feeling that comes whenever I make a mistake in my mothering. "I'm sorry, baby." I told him. "I'm sorry that you puked in your bed and then you had to sleep in it because nobody came to help you."

I knew he had forgiven and forgotten before I could even ask him to. Edmond is a constant reminder to me of why Jesus said we should all be like little children. Nonetheless, it was with extra care and love that I gave my boy a bath and put him in some nice clean clothes. Daddy helped me with the sheets and then we both tried to get him to eat his breakfast of oatmeal and banana.

After one more small round of puking, Edmond seemed to be doing great. He even requested a ride on the Rhino. Or, as he would say, "Nino....Bbbmmmmah." (That last bit is the car sound.)

Of course, being the guilt-ridden parents that we are, we were quick to grant his meek request. And so, Rhino riding we went.




We had fun on the "Nino", but I am so excited for the heat to go away. It's supposed to be 103 degrees tomorrow!

Turning Seven

A few weeks ago I went to visit Jenn and her family. Truman approached me and announced through the gap where his front teeth are supposed to be, "Hey, Jessica, did you know that it's my birthday?"

"No! Really? Today?"

"Yes! This day!" He grinned at me and hopped from one foot to the other...then ran off to ask his mother (for the tenth time) if he could open his present yet.

I chuckled to myself and remembered some similar footage of myself in family home videos at that age. I don't think there's anything more magical than a birthday when you're seven.

In honor of the birthday boy, a birthday party was held in our backyard. It was a win win situation for me, since Jenn was hosting and Edmond was surrounded by all sorts of entertainers besides myself. I spent the afternoon munching on snow cones and watermelon, while occasionally assisting a young lad on the zip line.




Edmond stole one of the cones meant for the soccer game and invented a new purpose for it.

Chase laughed and said, "Ha! Edmond's standing behind my back!" At this point I had to coach Chase on how to proceed. "Chase, now you're supposed to throw your hands up in the air and say 'Where's Edmond?'"

Truman and some of his buddies.

It was a fun day.

Exhibitionist Pianist

It was bedtime for the boy. Two parents were looking forward to an evening of laptops and TV. It was B's turn to bathe and dress the boy while I washed the dinner dishes.

Twenty minutes later I heard happy noises coming from the living room. Further investigation led me to this discovery:

Everyone knows that little boys are happiest when they are relieved from the bondage of clothing. Daddy was allowing Edmond to take full advantage of his post-bath happy naked time.

Oh, and in case you haven't been privy to Edmond's demonstration and recitation of body parts, here he is, showing us his "noze".