When I picked Donovan up from Waldorf last night we were walking to the busstop and he stopped under a streetlight, pointed up and said, "MOON!" I looked up and wondered if he was refering to the streetlight as I did'nt see anything. "Where's the moon?" I asked him. He looked at me with something between disdain and disbelief: "Its up in the sky."

Of course. Silly me.

And it was visible, in case you were wondering. Mama's eyes; they ain't so good.

"See Ya!"

Here are a list of things that Donny says "Bye bye!" to on a regular basis:

* Ovaltine
* Upstairs
* Downstairs
* Christoper Walken (see earlier entry on "The Guy")
* the Christmas Tree
* the Christmas lights around the front door
* the house
* the stovelight
* the dishwasher
* prunes
* various stuffed animals
* "Daddy's sneeze"
* "Stuff in there" (referring to contents of a bureau that he's been banned from opening)

The best part is the intonation of his "Bye bye!" is very dreamy--I've likened it to the gamine Hollywood starlet saying goodbye over her shoulder after one too many cocktails.

New Year: So Far So Good

Today is the last day before heading back to work. The extent to which I do not want to go back to work is rather stunning and has me thinking.

I made a few resolutions for 2010 and a few of them all blend together: creating a serious household budget, spending less money on food and using some of the old Hungarian/WWII era skills I soaked up in my Elyria childhood. Today was a good day for all of the above, in that I made:

* Banana Bread
* Shrimp Salad
* Vanilla Scented Granola
* Ham and Bean Soup (currently simmering as I type)

All of the above was done to use up left overs--the only things we had to buy were sliced almonds, onions and a carrot. Not bad, not bad at all.

I also wanted to mix up Donny's agenda a little bit today. I knew we werent going outside so I downloaded some coloring book pages. I bought the coloring book PDF on Etsy for $3 and now I can print out as many as I want so I won't feel too bad as the kid learns his way around a marker.I was rather proud of myself for coming up with the Tape The Pages to the Mirror Tabletop idea. Worked like a charm.
This one is Donovan's. Not bad for a little guy.
This one is mine. Markers are not my usual milieu, in case you were wondering.

Donny also got a cool puzzle from my Cousins Meg and Larry. Its all sorts of different bugs with metal rivets in the middle. It comes with a little puzzlepiece net with a magnet hanging off a string.
Hours of fun.

It was really great having so much time off to be with the boy. He's good company. I'm definitely going to have some Donny withdrawal tomorrow.

We Wish You a Very New Year.

Hello Everyone, and welcome to 2010!

I don't know about you but I'm considering 2009 a fairly total wash and I'm excited to ditch those calendars and have the hopeful, charmingly naive blank pages of a new calendar cheering me on. GO TEAM!

I realize that, beyond posting photos of our tree, I did'nt mention much about Christmas. The short answer is, it was very nice. Mike, Donny and I went to Elyria for Christmas proper and got to hang out with my Mom, sister, Aunts and some favorite cousins. Mom told me on the phone last night that her sisters (known collectively as "The Aunts." Much like the mafia is known as, "The Mafia") told her how wonderful Donovan is and how he's talking and singing and is just so smart! Keep the adulation coming: I like it!

We came back to Pittsburgh and got to spend some time with Mike's family including Donny's Aunt Claire and Aunt Heather, who did us a solid by babysitting the boy one of the days he was off and I had to work. He's now enamoured of them and will look up from whatever he's doing and say, "Aunt Claire?" or "Aunt Heather?" He seems pretty sure they'll stop by to play with him again pretty soon...

Here are a few photos of the boy and some of his holiday loot. I'll leave out most of the details--today is my last day off before work and there is much to do in that sweet window of Donovan Naptime!