Successful in the Passed Torch Department

I'm putting these photos up mainly for my own enjoyment. The quality is crap but they capture my Mom reading to my son. I was read to alot growing up and Mike and I try to inflict the same on our son. Sometimes it backfires, like when he hands you a Virago Press book about Julia Margaret Cameron (well, not backfiring but when you're trying to get him to bed before midnight...). The sweet thing was my Mom can't see to read any more so it ended up being a combination of Donny telling her the story and my Mom making stuff up as they went. Lovelovelove...

Little Pitchers

Donovan’s speech therapist said that she’s seen kids mimic their parents by picking up a phone and saying, “Yeah?” As opposed to “Hello?” that is.

I thought of that the day before yesterday as Donovan surprised us by mimicking Mike on two different occasions. First, on our way taking Donny to daycare, we were driving thru Gold Way which is basically an alley. Everyone thinks it’s a secret shortcut but if everyone uses it, its not really a secret. What that means is there is always some jockeying going on as far as who drives and who pulls over to let someone else by. We were at a stopsign with a car in front of us when Donovan said, with the perfect slightly flustered inflection, “Come on, come on!” And then he started laughing. At the end of the day, Mike and Donovan had just finished reading Donny’s bedtime story. That’s my cue to come into the room and turn off the lights. I heard Mike say to Donny, “Why don’t you call Mama now?” And Donny did, but instead of asking for Mama, he yelled, “HEY JEN!!!” And, again, started laughing.

That kid knows exactly what he’s doing. That’s a big part of why its funny…

I Think It's So Groovy Now That People Are Finally Getting Together...

Shovelwhack!

The day before yesterday, Donny came home from school with a nasty bruise on his nose. Apparently one of the other kids was'nt watching what he was doing and Donny got whacked in the face with a shovel. A plastic shovel, mind you, but a shovel nonetheless. I had alot fun saying to him, "Maaaan--you look like you got hit in the face with a shovel!"

The odd thing is, when I picked him up from Waldorf the next day, one of his teachers met me at the gate with this very wide-eyed look on her face. "Everything that came out of Donovan's mouth today was a full sentence! 'I have raisins and banana chips for lunch,' 'No, its my turn now.' 'I want to turn out the lights.'" And my first thought was, "And all it took was a whack to the head with a shovel!"

I know that's not true but still. Joking aside, the full sentence thing is very exciting! Stay tuned for more word out the mouth of my babe.

Just Like Daddy...

The Christmas before Donovan was born I scoured the internets to find a babysized black beret. I succeeded (no link because the place is now out of business, sadly) and gave it to Mike as a present from Donovan.

Donny recently rediscovered the beret and insisted on wearing it all day yesterday, to bed last night, to breakfast in the morning (see photos below) and all day today including during his nap. Luckily he took it off tonight for a shower.

Et Voila!

Before the haircut:

After the haircut:

Granted, the haircut is now a week or two old but I felt the Before and After set up was too good to pass by.

Tomorrow is Saturday, the day when its Me and The Boy all day. I'm not sure what we are going to end up doing--I thought we could garden together but this wintery weather has me wondering.

Suggestions?

Scenes from a Unitarian Universalist Egghunt

Birthday

So in getting this entry together I realized I have several key photos on my blackberry that need to end up here so I guess this will be a two parter. The next installment will discuss our rather extended stay in Elyria. For now, here are two rather lame photos of the kid jumping on my Mom's bed:


More on that later.

Today on the kid's actual 3rd birthday, we took the bus to Oakland and then hopped another to Squirrel Hill. The goal was to get an official measurement of the kid's feet at Littles. Of course, I ended up buying shoes for him but, really, I could'nt stand to have him wearing his boots in this weather. And, of course, Birthday Boys get french fries for lunch:


After lunch I thought I'd take the kid to ride the silent carousel at the park in front of the library, once we got off the bus, he made a beeline for the Art Museum. We've got a membership there so I figured, why not? We killed about half an hour there waiting for the Polish Hill 54C and the majority of that time was spent trying to get a photo of the kid to commemorate his third birthday. You will see from the results below that staying still that long was not an option.





Dad brought him a birthday cupcake from work which he, of course, would'nt eat. That is until I suggested we eat it outside. We had a little cake picnic on the porch and he managed to eat about half of it. Obviously Mike and I split the rest.





Tomorrow is Easter at the inlaws so expect more photos. Eventually.

Happy Birthday, Baby D!