Sunday, April 17, 2011

First boo-boo of the season...

A week ago today, we sported 80 degrees here in Chicago.

Yeah, I know.  Unbelievable.

As such, J & I stole the day away from Sunday school, choosing bagels outside followed by a quick grocery shop.  Then on to home to enjoy the day. 

When we were at Marco, J got some new summer sandals.  One pair he picked out are the Velcro at the toes & ankles so he could be just like Grandpa.  We bought them a little big, so he'd have room to grow this summer. 

What happens when you mix slightly too big sandals with a running 3-year-old?

Yep.  Blood.

J was playing ball on our driveway & tripped (for like the 100th time), but this time it went all white, you know the white that happens before the blood?  Yep.  That white.

I, of course, pulling my mommy "all's good" hat out of the bag, kissed it (while rolling up his shirt sleeve (I totally didn't want to clean blood out of it), and sent him back to play. 

About 2 seconds later, I exclaimed all excited "You've got blood.  Do you know what that means?"

J's eyes lit up - "I get a band aid"

So in we went to wash the his cut, then strap on the band aid.  Mr. M was so impressed that J had such a great cut with zero tears.

Yep.  I got the mommy rocks award for that one.

I wonder if that makes up for all the times he thinks I'm horribly mean for not giving him a band aid just because he wants one. 

I may have a rule in my house - no blood, no band aid.  Luckily, I'm not raising a girl, or she'd never have a shot at being anything other than a tomboy...

Friday, April 15, 2011

Disney...

During our trip to Marco, we took a day out to go meet Mickey & Minnie. 
It started by Mr. M asking if J would like to meet Mickey, when he was considering joining us for a long weekend.  Obviously, this was before deciding to hit Vegas with his boss for the NCAA Championship games.  Anyway, once the idea was introduced, it became a daily question:
"When I go see Grandma & Grandpa P*, I will meet Minnie, right?"

So how could I not take him?

Thankfully Grandma & Grandpa were up to the task. 

not necessarily in this order
We took a ferry ride.
We raced cars.  Grandpa braved J's driving!
We flew on Dumbo.  That is after waiting an hour to ride him...
We danced with Chip & Dale.  But we would not go meet them.
We met MICKEY & MINNIE.
J even kissed Minnie.  How happy was my boy?
We did The Small World.
Took a break for pizza.
Did the Pirates of the Caribbean, although J spent most of this ride in my shirt.
We saw the parade.  His face doesn't show it, but he was so totally fascinated by the parade & kept telling us all the people he saw.

After going all day, we crashed.
While we walked back over to the cars to grab a McQueen ears hat for J, he totally crashed out on my dad's shoulder.  I ended up having to go to 3 stores before I found a baseball style McQueen hat, and J slept the entire time.  Grandpa was such a trouper since he carried J most of the time he wasn't walking.  That said, J did awesome about walking & going without a nap.  We only took a day and really, that was all we were could handle for a first visit.

J on the other hand, is ready to go back...

Thursday, April 14, 2011

We've almost got a swimmer...

As I mentioned, J had a blast swimming while we were in Marco.  He was a bit hesitant when he first got in the pool.  This caught me by total surprise, since he was so in his own last summer in our pool.
But a neighbor of my parents was in the pool, and he caught J sucking his thumb - not sure how we are going to stop that - and asked if J was a 1 thumber or 2? 

J of course started laughing, and once laughing he became more comfortable.
He was out of his life jacket & into swimmies by day 1 and by day 8 we were spending about 10 minutes at a time swimming bare armed. He isn't quite strong enough yet, but he can float & he has the concept, so we are thinking that he will be good to go by the end of this summer. I'm guessing he is going to spend every free second in our pool... :)


He was such the performer... He had a blast making everyone laugh at his antics. 

At nap time though, he was tired.  All this swimming really took the energy out of him... I love this picture of J with my Dad.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

My little helper...

Since it is Mr. M's 40th birthday this year, I offered to host Easter.

Okay, so maybe I just simply spoke up & broadly proclaimed "I'd host Easter, since it is two days before M's birthday"

And since learning, I may have up to 15 people in our home for this wonder celebration - I'm freaking out just a bit.

It'll be fine, right?

Anyway, after school & work yesterday, I decided I need to get started on getting the house cleaned for this party.  Scrubbing walls was key for me, since around our dinner table it looked a little bit like we've had a child.  Milk spots on our verticals, the walls, dogs splashing mud on the walls as they come in from the outside, black leather stains from Mr. M's chair falling against the wall with his coat hanging on the back, etc...

So after dinner, I asked J if he'd like to help.  And he did.  So instead of watching TV (3rd night this week we've managed to not turn the TV on & he was still happy & I was still productive - score!) we got out our Mr. Clean Eraser sponges & a bowl of semi-warm water & went to work.

The two sponges destroyed, but 3 walls & the verticals?  Clean. 
And J was such an awesome little helper!  I'll work with him any day...

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

T-ball Practice - Marco style...

J cannot participate in our town league until next year, however, knowing how much he loves to play in our basement - we signed him up at the YMCA for the spring season.

Yes, this is the same YMCA, where during soccer season I may have left with a screaming child who did not want to play - until it was over, then adamantly wanted to play. 

Epic meltdowns were witnessed by all.

I may have even left there in tears the last weekend to sign him up & Mr. M may have had to do those honors.

So anyway...  We missed the first week while we were in Marco.  So Grandpa & Grandma got him a T & set up to work with him on the beach.

How better to learn t-ball in the Spring, right?

J did surprise us though, he wanted Grandpa to pitch to him.  Who needs a T?
And we did have to stop often for drinks of our Kool-Aid.
 

Monday, April 4, 2011

Strep & such...

During our vacation, J complained of his tummy hurting, he had a bit of a fever & he was eating more like a dramatic 3-year-old than my growing boy...

So obviously, I blew it off.  Mostly because it was inconsistent.  Like not wanting to eat mac-n-cheese, but downing a scoop of ice cream.  Not wanting to eat dinner, but when "Simon Sez" was introduced, he gobbled it up like a pro.

When we came home, I sent him to daycare, and chopped up this eating to be a new stage.  Not fun, but a stage nonetheless.

Ha!

Wednesday when I picked him up from daycare, he had a low grade fever & all he wanted for dinner was a nap.

Yes, that's right, he requested a nap.  He came home, went potty, then laid down in my bed for 2.5 hours.  Got up, requested dinner, then said he couldn't eat it because his tummy hurt - so we went back to sleep at 9, only a half hour after he woke up & slept till my alarm at 5:45.

In the morning, he was bright eyed & bushy tailed.  We showered, he ate breakfast.  Inhaled it is more accurate.  So I headed off to daycare & explained - "Low grade fever, not wanting to eat, but fine this morning" and such...

DCP chopped it up to traveling jet lag.  Then added "Although, Addi has been out all week with Strep.  It started as a fever spike, then has been real low grade.  It is all over town.  Even the high school is infested with it."

At which point, I asked, do you want me to take him home then?  She took one look at him & said "no, look at his eyes".

Which, I agreed, were very happy & healthy looking.

Unfortunately, that did not last.  By lunch, J was starting to fade, and nap time did not help.  After nap, Miss Angie offered J Doritos's & he passed. 

Yep.  Passed on Doritos's. 

By the time I got there I knew we were headed to the Dr.  So I called on the way home.

If J was greater than 101, they wanted to see him that night, otherwise I'd see them Friday at noon.

He was 101.1.  By the time we got to the office, it was 102.5.

Lesson learned:  If your child complains of tummy pains, not wanting to eat, has a low grade fever, but his ears are clear - it's most likely strep.

As a result, we had a pretty low key weekend.  He was munchkin after his nap on Saturday.  He was lounging in bed after nap watching "Duck Tails" with his new buddy Dino.