I was supposed to make this trip back on Mother’s Day weekend but Boog was sick, I was sick, my husband was sick and then my stepfather died that Friday. It was not in the cards then. Yesterday would have been my stepfather’s 66th birthday. I thought about him several times throughout the day. I also thought about my mom a lot yesterday. It just so happens she spent more than 13 hours at Disney World yesterday. If that’s not a distraction I don’t know what is. I’m thinking she probably planned it that way.

It was also my youngest dog’s 4th birthday yesterday. We have terrible luck with dogs and 4 years is a good milestone for us. This pup is as sweet as can be and I still think of him as a little puppy cause that’s how he acts. All goofy and young. He’s a sweet boy even if he’s still not so sure about that small person living in our house.

Yesterday my oldest friend came over with her 17-month old son. I picked Boog up early from daycare so we could have ourselves a little playdate. It was a surreal experience and one I wish we’d made a regular habit in the past 18 months. As I sat on our patio watching these two little boys wonder around the yard I remarked to her how odd our 20-year-old selves would have found this scene. They never would have believed it seeing as neither one of those girls were even going to be married at 30.

I did discover that my little munchkin is quite the bossy little tattle tail. He barked out babbling orders at his friend in a way that anyone could see was meant to be instruction. He would come running to me babbling and pointing anytime her little boy did anything. It was really the first time he’s had another little person in his space, playing with his toys so I’m going to chock it up to that. They still did quite a bit of parallel play so I think we’ve got time yet to really emphasize the sharing.

Sitting on my brother’s bike. More pics courtesy of my SIL. Happy Wordless Wednesday!

I firmly believe that anyone can cook. All you have to do is be able to read and follow directions. Many of the things that I make, however, do not come with a recipe. They are my mother’s recipes that I’ve made so long I just know how to make them.

I generally set our menu for the next week on Sundays and then go do all the shopping for that week. This helps me to be sure we have food to be cooked all week long and I am not making a million little trips to the grocery store on weeknights. It’s hard enough to get everything done between the time I get off work and Boog’s bedtime that I don’t need to add errands in to that.

Occasionally I want to try something new. Last night I had put this on the menu to try. Boog has this thing that he won’t eat conventional pasta at home any more. He just looks at it and says no. I got him to eat a little bit last week by assuring him that the red sauce was in fact Italian ketchup. I thought I’d try this new sauce because it isn’t red and it is a variation of a cheese sauce. I though for sure it would be a hit.

I got cocky and too sure of myself. I also was in a hurry. I did not fully read the recipe before starting. Do you know what happens to yogurt and cheese when you put it in a pan that is still on heat despite the fact that the recipe clearly states that the pan should be REMOVED FROM THE HEAT? Yeah, it curdles and turns in to a nasty lumpy mess that I’m not even willing to try, much less my toddler.

So at 6:15 last night with an entire pot full of pasta boiling and 1 lb of shredded zucchini I found myself with a half ruined dinner. Luckily we still had some leftover red sauce and turkey meatballs from last week. Boog still wouldn’t eat the pasta and he wasn’t buying that Italian ketchup nonsense this week. He did eat some of the meatballs though. Note to self, if you’re going to try a new recipe on a weeknight, be sure the read the ENTIRE recipe before starting to make dinner.

His daddy wears his hair sort of longish and shaggy so I’m partial to that look but when it starts sticking up all funny I just can’t handle it anymore. When he woke up from his (too short) nap on Saturday he had one curl sticking straight up in the front and I decided it was time for another haircut.

I went by myself despite telling my husband it was a two person job. He did okay with his first haircut but there was definitely some crying. This time he did great! He was a little shy at the beginning but there was no crying at all. The worst part was that the girl put a smock over me that apparently had not been shaken off since the last person so Boog and I both had little black hairs that belonged to some stranger stuck all over us. YUCK!!

By the end he was telling everyone in the salon “Bye!” And the best part, the whole thing was free thanks to a coupon they sent us after getting his first cut there. Although I love the long and shaggy look, I gotta admit this boy is super cute with short hair too. I’m certainly not biased at all. ;)

lazy, lazy day
want to call in sick today
so very sleepy

so responsible
maybe I will leave early
barely worked this week

I woke up so tired and groggy this morning. What’s the deal? I’m blaming it on the cloudy weather. I thought about calling in sick but I had to get up with Boog and drive him past my office to daycare so I came on in. I think I’ll leave early though. Maybe I can catch a nap. Happy Friday everyone.

My SIL was showing Boog pictures on her camera and pointed out a horse. She asked him, “Hey Boog, do you see the horse in this picture?” He looked at it and looked at her and said “There’s two.” And sure enough there were two horses in the picture. My husband and my SIL were so surprised that he would respond like that.

He’s definitely ahead on his verbal skills with the development of sentences these past couple of weeks. According to his doc he should have a vocabulary of 10-15 words and I dare say he uses more than 100 on a regular basis. I credit Signing Time for his advanced verbal skills but it could also be genetic. My husband has some mad verbal skillz and Boog is practically a little miniature version of him.

On the other hand, he has now forgotten how to brace himself with his hands when he falls over preferring to use his face instead. This has lead to more than one bloody nose over the past few weeks. I suppose it all balances out in the end. :)

and these boys. Pics courtesy of my SIL. It’s Wordless Wednesday.

It’s nice to be with family and to know that there are lots of eyes around to watch Boog. It lets me relax a bit more. Of course it also means that I stay up way, way too late and come home exhausted. Sunday night I went to bed at 9:30 because I simply couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore.

I’m back at work today and playing catch up to make up for my two days off. I swear it’s almost not worth it. Almost. I did get to sleep until almost 8 o’clock for the last 5 days AND I saw three movies. That’s saying something right there.

It was nice just to have some time off to do whatever I wanted to do. Even if it included cleaning without a toddler to contend with. My sister-in-law took about 4000 pictures of Boog while we were at my Mom’s so I have a wealth of new, super cute pictures of my son. She’s a great photographer and her camera is way nicer than mine.

I leave you with this one she snapped of me and my pregnant little sister while watching my brother and uncle shoot off the $500+ worth of fireworks they purchased. In my sis’s words, “Who says there’s a recession!?”

It was loud. That’s right, that is a fire extinguisher in the cup holder of my chair. They mocked me endlessly for insisting that we bring one, but hey better safe than sorry. Geez, when did I become so responsible. :P

rapt with attention, tongue sticking out with concentration. It’s Wordless Wednesday.

You are eighteen months old now and sometimes when I look at you I notice how fast you are growing up. Then a split second later you are my tiny baby again. I believe we’ve passed the hurdle of separation anxiety at daycare. Yesterday you happily told me your babbling, long winded goodbye and ran off to play. You even indulged me with a sweet kiss goodbye. Seems I’ve developed a little bit of separation anxiety now.

Your latest development is more language and some oh-so-lovely climbing skills. You are now using two and three word sentences much of the time and asking lots of questions. There is still plenty that you say that neither your father or I have any idea what you are talking about but boy do you have a lot to say.

And then there is the climbing. One day this past weekend your father let you climb up on to the kitchen table just to see if you could do it. You can, of course, and now I’m sure you know better than to do that repeatedly when left unattended while mama goes to the bathroom. Yay, climbing. :|

I do believe you are finally getting those canines. Man, I wish they’d hurry up. They sure are making you a crabby little man. You’ve been spending a lot of time in Time Out because of that crabbiness. At the very least it seems to calm the fits you throw when you don’t get your way.

Not getting your way seems to be the source of most of the major injustices in your life. I hate to tell you son but it’s gonna be our way for quite some time and you’re just going to have to live with it. All in all you’ve got it pretty good though, so you should know most of the stuff we tell you No about if for your own safety. I know it’s hard to understand at your young age and I don’t enjoy not getting my way either but that’s life sweetheart and you might as well learn early.

I’ve grown somewhat attached to holding and rocking you when you need it at night. I believe I might enjoy it more than you. You don’t sit still long enough to cuddle or allow your mama to hold you like you used to. And if I try to hold you, you wiggle and squirm and whine until I let you go do your thing. Your 16-year-old cousin has been staying with us this week. She’s only mildly helpful and being with a teenager makes me thankful that my baby is small. So let’s stay small for a good bit longer, okay? for mama?

Love,

Mama