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...

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.

 

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.

Grandma & Grandpa P

J loves taking pictures with my camera.  Sadly his aim leaves a bit to be desired...

i.e. my head cut off, but the rest of my body kept in the picture.  Fabulous, right?

Anyway... I knew I would be chicken about taking my camera out to the beach, so I eagerly grabbed at the first chance to get J to pose with Grandma & Grandpa...

Sponge Bob bubbles...

Getting back into life has been a little slow in going.  J is having trouble sleeping by himself again, after having so many nights at my side on the sofa sleeper.  It will get better, but in the mean time, I'll post pics as I get them loaded...

Here is a fun pic of J blowing bubbles with his new Sponge Bob Squarepants that Grandma picked up for him... We had hours of fun with this...

Back to Reality...

After 8 glorious days in 80+ degree weather, waking to the sounds of waves crashing on the beach & seeing the sunset over the water...

We are back.

To reality.

Brutal as it is... 40 degree highs, if we even reach that.

Obnoxious number of emails...

As for my travel worries?

Wasted effort.  J did AWESOME!!!  He traveled like a pro.  He loved being on the big airplane, and lived up every moment.  I thought he would sleep, but both ways he was just to excited to sleep. 

And Disney was a huge hit!  I'm glad we did not take more than a day, as J was so exhausted, having gone from 9 (when it opened) to 5 (when he crashed out on my Dad's shoulder) walking & riding all over the Magic Kingdom.

And of course, he got to meet Mickey & even kiss Minnie.

There were priorities.

Pictures to come...

New friend...

While picking up Gatorade (have you tried the new pre-game version?  It's chuck full of vit B) for Mr. M who wasn't feeling well, J & I looked for a couple new movies.

I'm praying he travels well tonight.

Of course he picked more Barney.  More Curious George.  Duplicate Mickey.  And he would not listen to me when I said, "but you already have enough..."

I was on the search for a new Caillou (which I didn't find :( ) since that is his current favorite craze for TV time.  These half hour shows are awesome for giving me time to do laundry & dishes & cook dinner...

As we were heading towards the movie area, we passed a section of dinosaurs.  They were these little rubber guys & less than $5.  J had to have one.

As in, gave up all 3 movies I wasn't planning on buying anyway, but had in the cart until we got to where I was actually going to look for movies.

He then played the next half hour, happy as could be in the cart.  And the dinosaur carried over to a sleep buddy.  Mr. M said it was all he could do to convince J to leave his buddy at home.  As soon as we walked in the door at home, J was on the hunt for his new found friend.

So while I picked up Benji & a new Mickey, I'm hoping Mr. Dinosaur will entertain him for & ease my travel worries...