Fattening Up

We were out and about Saturday morning, so I suggested we stop in at Dunkin' Donuts to get the little B a treat. (We've now seen evidence of the extreme shivering caused when a toddler without an ounce of fat gets wet--even in the summer heat--so we're all about trying to fatten him up.) He has become quite the connoisseur of Munchkins from church fellowship time, but I thought it might be fun to let him get a "big" doughnut:

Too bad he ate maybe 3 bites and then decided he'd rather switch to munchkins! So much for the excitement of a treat with sprinkles!

Then Sunday, his love-of-Daddy ramped up high enough that he forcefully tried to keep me in the house and away from joining them in the car to to go to the grocery store. There were actual tears and a repeating refrain of "No Mommy! No Mommy! Just Daddy!"

Thank goodness he's moderately cute:

Yesterday, the liberated moms enjoyed breakfast out followed by some necessary dessert. I have no doubt my selection will, in fact, fatten me up!

The B-man got in on the ice cream action, too, albeit at a much more melty stage. I haven't yet figured out why my kid seems to be the only one that leaves camp/school with paint on his face (here, it's the nose!), but at least it matches the swirly M&Ms!

Clarification

First of all, so many of you have made my day with your encouraging comments and emails! I really appreciate it!

I wanted to clarify that "a break" in this case doesn't necessarily mean days or weeks on end without a Kentobean blog post. It just means there might not be one every day. Or maybe even for several days. OR....maybe life will suddenly get so interesting that I'll still have a bijillion things to tell you about! Who knows? An adventure it surely will be!

If anyone wants a lesson in using Google Reader so that you can see which websites/blogs have been updated without actually having to visit all the different sites individually, let me know!

Hope to "see" you soon! Believe me-- I'm not hoping for a boring summer!

Just Like Ross and Rachel

This blog and I are going to take a break.

While I have absolutely loved the challenge of coming up with something to post about each (week)day, I have grown a bit weary after 789 posts. Summer is a repetitive season and I'm pretty sure, judging from the slowdown in readership participation, that you might already be as tired of our goings-on as I am. I promise to pop in every here and there to update you when something fun/interesting/scandalous/gossip-worthy develops, but until then......HAPPY SUMMER!!!!

Oh, and submissions are always welcome for guest-blog columns!!! Let my respite become your time in the blog spotlight!!

First Playground.

First playground built, that is.

The BG spent more than 8 hours this past Saturday helping to construct the new playground at our church. The process (involving pouring cement, installing poles, and putting big pieces together) sounded insane to the non-manual-laborally-inclined person who lives here, but I know he felt incredibly productive.

We drove by and took an After picture-- those slides look kinda scary without the "8 inches of protective mulch" that still have to be put down!

Apparently most of his time was spent on "The Satellite" which is the triple-tiered disc structure in the back left. Once again I am reminded of what a strange bird I am-- I was informed after asking numerous questions about just what exactly the point of the shape was and how one plays on it properly, that it was just to climb on.

Geesh! Excuse me for wanting to do exactly what the designers intended! :-)

Man...

The kid goes to pre-pre-school and comes home knowing THIS???


Okay, just kidding. His daddy recently taught him the planets and he seriously loves to recite them.

Let's be clear, however: the kid can't jump. He doesn't really eat. He has no interest in using any waste-management mechanism other than a diaper.

But he has the memory! And that's just fun!

Two Side Notes:
1) We bought the kiddie encyclopedia at a used bookstore so, as you heard, Pluto is indeed included.

2) He refuses to start with Mercury. Throws the whole thing off. Venus is his starting place!!

PS: Happy birthday to another smart cookie: Aunt Sarah!!! We hope you have a wonderful day!

Pre- Pre-School

The local Parks and Rec department (sadly lacking Amy Poehler) runs all kinds of programming for kiddies. While it seems that the options are more plentiful for children starting at age 3, Lindsey discovered that they run a special "prepare for preschool" program for 2-year-olds in the summer. Unlike the other programs for toddlers, it is DROP-OFF. Like, we got to leave our children and walk run away! Such a momentous occasion in the land where Mother's Day Out does not exist-- I've waited a loooong 2.5 years for this!

Brooks is registered to attend "real" preschool starting in the fall, but we likely won't know anyone in his class since it's at our church on kinda the other side of town. So I figured a ramp-up opportunity with 2 of his friends would be a great experience. Yesterday was the first day and the BG was around to accompany him for the adventure:

The class is held at a local elementary school and they're actually STILL in session! (Hence us having to park forever away and walk.) Thank goodness the BG teaches in another county that was done last Thursday!

I think all the Sundays of getting dropped off at the church nursery prepared B well: he walked right into the room and sat down at the direction of the very smiley and energetic teachers. We didn't really want to lurk around and cause any kind of problem, but I snapped a quick shot before we ducked out:

Then the LIBERATED mamas posed for a picture of freedom! (Note that Em2 and I are working the "college pose"!)

First day = Success!! Brooksie keeps telling me they played "vehicles" which cracks me up because, while he has often told us he played with trucks and cars at church, he's never used the word 'vehicles.' As you can see, they also did a few crafts!

Did I mention that the program runs for SEVEN more mornings? Whoo-hoo!!!

Brady Gets Baptized, so Let's Party!

Almost exactly 2 years after our own B's baptism, the other B(rady) was baptized yesterday at church. We were sitting pretty far back so this photo is not of great quality, but here's the happy boy, his cute mama, and his somewhat stern-looking pappy:

Once Funcle Joel could ditch the dressy clothes and get into some casual togs, however, he was ready to party!! K & J hosted more than 20 of us for a wonderful lunch afterwards!

A good 15 of the guests were family, most of whom traveled north from the land of good eatin'. So, not surprisingly, our feast included homemade biscuits, seen rising here:

The non-family gang:

I caught Eric a bit off-guard in the above pic so I thought we could take a little duo-photo of our own:

We kept up the B-man well past his normal naptime and his antics increased accordingly. We finally headed home about 2 pm, which meant we missed the homemade chocolate ice cream and cake (Lindsey, it was Teeter white-on-white!!). Man, the sacrifices we make for our children...

We love you, Brady! And your parents and all their family, too! Thanks for letting us share in such a special celebration! (um...not that you had much choice!!!) :-)

Hooray! Veggie Time is Here Again!

Yesterday marked the start of our CSA season and we are so excited!! We are doing a different CSA this year, and the farm is located only 3 miles from our house! It's really pretty incredible. A young couple from Colorado apparently did some research about where they could move and start an organic farm, and somehow they ended up here at a long-non-working farm. Last year was their first year so we didn't get in on the CSA then, but enjoyed stopping by periodically and buying some of their produce. We got on the waiting list for this summer's CSA and are loving that all of the bounty is grown practically around the corner!

Unlike the CSA we did previously, this farm doesn't box up the produce ahead of time. I knew that would be an added bonus (besides saving gas and time by not driving 20 miles each way!) since the B-man could get in on picking out the harvest!

And he had fun--surveying the goods:

Picking out some scallions:

I know it's kinda blurry but you can see on the left side of the sign what we got to choose for our full share:

And here it is! For my choices, I selected bok choy, red swiss chard, purple kohlrabi (which wasn't listed above but was a choice over radishes/turnips), butter lettuce, and pattypan squash:

Rounding it out was garlic, scallions, and salad mix.

Time to eat some veggies! Happy Friday!

PS: Locals, the farm has a produce stand open Tues-Sun and they have for sale even more than just the items included in that week's farm share!

Because Why WOULDN'T One Put a Chair On Top of the Couch?

Can't turn your back for a second with this guy!

(Or, you totally can-- just be prepared for something wacky like a chair on top of the couch!)

Word to the Wise

Sheils always said not to eat french onion soup on a first date because the cheese can get embarrassingly goopy. I think I can safely add watermelon to that off-limits list for the young sir:

Along Came Polly

I've really found myself struggling of late to come up with content for daily posts. I mean, we really have a pretty boring day-t0-day existence and I'm pretty sure there can be only so many pictures of B playing outside/reading books/hugging Raffie before you all die of boredom right there at your computer screen. I've been thinking for some time now that it might be time to pull back on trying to post every morning; in fact, I had NO idea what I could possibly write about today....

.....until I got a call out-of-the-blue that Polly was in the 'hood and could stop by yesterday!!! I knew she was in town for a weekend event but I had no idea that we'd be able to squeeze in a visit! She came over while B was sleeping but he woke up while she was still here and he got to be scooped out of the crib by a delightful surprise!

HUGS!

He looks a little bleary-eyed, but he sure was excited!

Wonder what surprise awaits us today? Better hope for something if you want a post tomorrow.... ;-)

The Talker

B's ever-increasing verbosity keeps us giggling. A few recent (and common-- the boy is nothing if not consistent) gems:

If he sees his parents hugging, he comes right over and says: "Want to get in on this ACTION!"

If asked about his upcoming trip in July, he will excitedly tell you lots of things he's going to get to do while he's gone, but it always starts with his airport adventures: "Go up an estaclator; go on moving walkway, and an elevator, too*! Lotsa stuff!"

*He most recently has added "Control tower" to this list, although I don't think he'll actually get to GO there!

My general line of questioning has rubbed off on him-- he's now a pro at saying, "Tell me about you!"

If you point out that something is soft, you just have to wait a couple of beats before he says, "Soft like moss!" (There's a patch of moss by the mailbox that he loves to touch.)

Of course, he doesn't quite get everything in the right order. It took a long while of coaching to fix this exhortation the other afternoon: "Daddy on way his home"

And once B's daddy gets home, he will be accosted with the following verbal--and physical--attack: "Honk Daddy's nose! Hit Daddy in the face! Poke Daddy in the eyes! Mess up Daddy's hair! Make Daddy sad!"

As for me, however? This is how I'm usually greeted: "PRECIOUS!!! Hug!" (complete with hugging motion.)

Precious indeed.

Weekend Wish

Hope you get to spend the weekend with some cuddly friends!

Brady (5 months), Brooks (2 years, almost 5 months)

Pretend

B has not yet reached the point of playing "pretend" anything. He's never wanted to put on a costume and hasn't really made any obvious overtures into creating a make-believe world. (He does, however, tell me every morning that he dreamed about "choo-choos" and I'm pretty sure that's not true. So maybe he knows how to pretend, after all.)

The only situation for which he will use the word "pretend" is when he snatches the maple syrup out of the open fridge and tries to drink it. (I've told him that he could only pretend to drink it.) He claims that's what he's doing....but I'm not so sure:

Random Emily syrup fact: after a lifetime of eating Log Cabin syrup, I now will only buy real maple syrup. Even though I've managed not to get too stressed out about the healthy-food frenzy, there's something about high fructose corn syrup being the first ingredient in those table syrups that just makes me cringe. Maple syrup is a lot more expensive, but I feel much better about it! (Of course, then I started Weight Watchers, and realized I could have 2 little pancakes and 1/2 T of maple syrup or something crazy like that. But at least it wasn't HFCS, right?! :-)

Let's Stay OUTSIDE.

We all gathered in Amedeo's backyard yesterday morning for some toddler playtime (and maternal sitting-around-chatting-time). B seemed to have lots of fun but he also seemed very sad that he couldn't go INSIDE Amedeo's house and play, too.

Jack apparently felt the same way and became a man of action-- he crawled all the way through the cat door!!! I didn't get my camera out in time to catch that hilarity, but did manage to snap a shot of each tyke while they were enjoying the great outdoors:

We sure missed Cady and Miss Lindsey but know they're having a great time visiting Nana and Papa in CO!

Be-Bop-a-Lula

For some inexplicable reason (although I'm sure he'll post a rationale!), Opa started singing this little ditty to the B-man when he was here and B couldn't get ENOUGH! Seriously, they must have sung the main line over...and over...and over. Apparently the day after my dad got home, he was driving down the road and the Elvis version came on his XM radio "50s" station that he frequents! Crazy.

In case you're unfamiliar with it, here's my mom's favorite version, sung by the Everly Brothers.

And here it is, as sung by one Mr. B:



Who was still singing it several hours later:

Potatoes

Well, not exactly. But that is often how B pronounces the bounty we're growing.

I wanted to do some plantin' this year and realized that since we cut down a tree in the backyard, we now had a place that got really good morning sun. So I bought myself some 'mater plants and put 'em in a pot.

We now have about 8 or 9 wee green tomatoes-- if you look a little south/southwest of B's finger, you can see one:

The height of the two plants (Patio variety) as of yesterday:

And what they looked like on May 16:

I'm not sure why I didn't get a true "before" pic. I think I must've planted them a few weeks before this picture above. The plants were at least 3 inches shorter originally.

We're growing basil, too, so hopefully we'll be buying some fresh mozzarella before too long and having us some tasty caprese salad!

Kicks

So it's been more than 6 weeks since I first mentioned that we'd somehow ended up with a pair of (mismarked?) size 8 summer shoes that are absolutely ginormous, and he's still having a bit of trouble running around in them.

Nevermind that his winter shoes were also size 8 and none too big...

Anyway, Opa just couldn't stand watching him in the "clown shoes" so he treated the B-man to some great new (size 8) kicks yesterday:

The little guy's really got quite the pose, eh?! Put him upside-down in a big lake, and he's ready for water ballet at Camp Longhorn!

Thanks, Opa!

PS: HAPPY FRIDAY!

A Boy and His Opa

My dad is in town visiting for a few days and my child has taken to walking away from me to, as he says, "go see MY Opa." As you can imagine, the O-man in question is loving the attention!

I do think he was a bit confused yesterday, however. He seemed to think he was in the dentist's chair and not the backyard:

Oh, wait. They're just playing a game:

The boy loves his Opa:

Who's That Knocking at My Door?

Wildly Wet

The holiday weekend afforded B many opportunities to spend time with his great love: WATER!

Saturday night, FAC was the best fake auntie ever and played in the sprinkler with him for a loooong time!

He really likes to get up close and personal:

While she was drying him off and getting him ready for bed, Crazy Chisty decided to give his pajama pants a try. Almost fit.

Then yesterday, the Cady-bug came over to frolic in our backyard. There was some low-volume water play in the pool:

And then we got out our sprinkler:

But, let's face it-- Cady was present. So there was a whole lot of THIS, too:

Bring on summer!

(okay, not really. I don't love the heat!)