Lotsa snow

Jim is snowed in! He tried leaving Pennsylvania yesterday but his flight was canceled. He had a whole big ordeal trying to find a hotel and a ride to the hotel. Pretty much the whole area was shut down, not knowing what to do with so much snow! Poor Jim. Stuck out of town for an extra day. I hope he makes it on the flight tonight. He has boarding passes, so it looks good.

James and I are surviving well enough but we miss Jim terribly. I haven't been sleeping well because I imagine strange noises throughout the house, like its getting broken into or something. I was awake at 2am, 4am, 5am, and then finally giving up at 5:30. James asks for his Dada and I'll tell him he's on a trip, and James will say, "Oh okay. He on a plane." He'll be very happy to see his Dada though!

I don't think our snow compares to the East Coast's load, but I've needed to shovel our driveway twice now because the snow plow has piled it up at the end of the driveway. It's not easy to shovel when you have an active 3 year old in the house. I left him for a few minutes at a time to shovel, peeking in at him as he was content watching his show. He was fine, of course!



I haven't had too much trouble with James. He really only whined/misbehaved one night when I was on the phone with my friend Erin. Erin laughed because she could him in the background saying something like, "I don't like that Mama!" I think it was because I denied him cookies for dinner. Silliness.

Some really great things that James has said or done-

He recited the entire alphabet in Spanish to Jim over the phone last night! I was truly amazed. He's done this a couple of times, but not on command and not with whatever little song at the end. I didn't catch the words but I'm anxious to see if I can get them from the Spanish teacher.

Yesterday morning James was looking out the car window, on the way to daycare, and he told me, "Mama! I build a spaceship and go to the moon!" I love that he dreams big :)

This morning James told me, "Mama! Look at the beautiful colors way up high!" He was showing me a beautiful sunrise. I'm so glad to see these things, probably something that I would have missed because I'm so one-track in the morning, getting James to his daycare safely and then myself to work on time. Its a wonderful thing to see the world through his eyes.

Last night James peed again on the potty! "Just like Arthur", he told me. I love that Arthur! James' sticker chart is filling up! The Elmo sticker at the very top was last night's addition.



Speaking of Arthur, one day I picked up James from daycare and I was talking to the teacher. I saw that a little girl named Daria was following James around on the playground equipment and I asked her, who are James' friends? She said that during the day you just don't see Daria, James, and Arthur without each other. It's either two of them together, or all three doing their thing. This morning James was chatting about his friends in the car and I asked him about his "best friends" and he told me that they are Arthur, Daria, and Russell. So cute.

And last, speaking of friends, James has a bunch of Valentines all ready to be delivered to his friends at daycare. I spent a little time last night addressing them to all the kids in his class and attaching Star Wars pencils and Hershey's kisses! I kind of dread the amount of candy that I think will be coming home with James on Friday!

The Elmo Show

On Sunday we had a fabulous day planned! We had brunch at Restaurant Cru (really good) and then we headed to the big city for what we told James was "the Elmo show". All week he's been looking forward to it! Unfortunately, it was at the same time as the big Vikings game but Jim insisted he wanted to go. He couldn't miss it. He did peek at the game before the Elmo show, here he is with James looking into the NBA bar and its TVs.



James and I went to our seats while Jim watched the game a little. We were there plenty early and got this view of a near empty stage and theater. James, when he saw the stage, said, "Mama, what is THAT?!"


We had incredible seats. We were to the side of the stage, on the floor, about four rows back. We were near the aisle so the characters were walking and running up and down the stage and its stairs, right by us!


James was entertained for half an hour with popcorn. Sweet popcorn!


This is James' first reaction to the characters and show. I wonder if it was overwhelming?


The stage looks much farther in this shot, but here's what we saw first.


Fascinated!


Yay! This show is great!!




James sat on our laps every once in a while.




The entire show was about using your imagination. Here, James followed the directions and closed his eyes to imagine visiting a jungle (or something).


I bought James two souvenirs. The first was this Elmo spinning toy. It lit up and it was the toy that James picked out. I think it was a perfect souvenir. Lots of kids had them.


Jim is asking James if he likes the show.


The second souvenir was one of these balloons. During intermission the balloon guy came out with a huge huge handful of these balloons. I just automatically went up and bought one. I brought it back to James and he held it for a minute and then became terrified of it. I don't know why! So we put it on the other side of me and let James calm down.


The balloons were very popular too. I think every parent felt obligated to buy one! Even though they were $10! I felt bad for the kids and the parents who accidentally let go of their balloons. James watched them go "way up high!" and laughed. Yeah, not really funny :) I quickly tied ours to my purse handle.


James later told us that his favorite part was the Elmo's World part. It was just like the TV show.


Jim kept track of his Vikings game. Handy iPhone!


It was such a wonderful time! We're now thinking of taking James to the circus because it went so well!

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Elmo Love, again

Old tricks still work! I came downstairs this morning to James and his Dada playing with Elmo the puppet. Its amazing that James has such a good memory about things.


Puppets are James' new thing. His school has the same Multicultural puppets that we have at home, and he's also got Elmo, Tickle Monster, and a Frog that Grandma Laura gave him.

Busy days

Yup, real busy. And can you believe that he's been busy doing a little of everything BUT golf?! Is this the end of the golf obsession?!! James has picked up his clubs every once in a while, but coloring, books, jumping, and TV have been the stars of his show lately. Well, we'll see what happens. Maybe GOLF won't be his birthday party theme after all!

When we were grocery shopping James became attached to this Thomas cup. He had been playing with his trains lately (not anymore, sadly) so I thought Thomas was appropriate and I did want him to start drinking from a straw cup. I think we've kept him on sippy cups for too long. He is almost THREE, after all. Big boy.


Mine Mine Mine. That's what James says when he sees this little plant. I received the plant in a tiny little dixie cup at a wedding shower a few months ago. I planted the tiny flower into this pot and it has done very well. James helps me to water the plants and he has claimed this little flower pot.






Bubbles!


Don't mind ME in these pictures, James is the star.


Or maybe his beautiful brown eyes and lashes are!


We have introduced James to regular sized Legos. They are a bit advanced for him, but Jim is living his dream- playing Legos with his son :) James enjoys playing with the doors, windows, trees, and the little silly cars that I've put together.


Uh oh! The Tickle Monster! Tia ChaCha gave us this great book that came with Tickle Monster gloves. James loves to chase us around the house and tickle! Here Dada is his latest victim.


Dada doesn't stand a chance!






Dada and James have been enjoying a good book or two lately. Hooray for an interest in books again! I was worried.


We are so lucky to have an indoor playground :) (Thanks Grandma Rosie!)


Heh. James tries Wii Tennis.


On Thursday we headed to the Youth Golf course for some putting course action. We were free again- the man remembered James' eyes! I knew those eyes would get him anything he wants!!


Again, James loved the sand.


"I made it!"


Can you believe we only made it to the 6th hole?! All of a sudden James said, "All done. Go-go-go!" He put away his clubs and started to walk away. I was disappointed that golf didn't amuse him that morning, so we ended up going to Target for a cookie and going to the "bottle store" for Mama's pain-go-bye-bye-juice. (Heh. Okay, really, I needed cooking wine.)



Awesome! You know that cleaned up closet? James is now using it as his "Reading Room". He loves to play in that closet now! I put the Monkey chair in there (a gift from Bucko soooo long ago), and he now will cuddle up and play/read. We spent a good hour and 15 minutes after naptime yesterday just playing in his room!




James decided that Teddy Bear needs a nap.




"Goodnight! I love you." Awwwww.


I love this. James plays "hopscotch" on his rug. I bet Tia Kiki didn't see that one coming when she gave this to me at my baby shower :) How creative is he?!


I don't even want to talk about what's going on here.




Old toys have been rediscovered! Tia Kiki gave this to James when he was a wee little boy. He loved it when he was little because of the flashing lights, but now he will recognize the alphabet letters and numbers. Groovy.


Another discovery- this cool little penguin backpack on wheels. Jim and I bought this at the zoo when he was a wee little one and its been hanging in the closet, ignored. I brought it down to show James and he loves it. In these pictures he began filling the backpack with necessities- blocks, Elmo book, and two diapers! I was afraid he was plotting to run away from home.




Thank goodness he decided to stay. I'd miss him :)

But yay for babysitters! Jim and I are headed out tonight for a "date"! Thanks ahead of time to Tia ChaCha and Tio Donkey!! They rock.