Catch-up

Yoga pose
James was imitating the picture on the Wii Fit CD.


One-armed push up. I don't know where this came from!


Tia Kiki sent these Kokeshi from Japan! I think that's supposed to be me, and James. Sorry, Jim, you didn't get a doll :)




My wonderful husband surprised me with flowers at work. I didn't even think he'd send any, after the week he had traveling and getting stuck in the snow! They opened up to be beautiful irises and tulips.


James came home from daycare with a big box of treats and Valentine's cards from his friends.


The box he decorated at daycare.


He opened M&M's and insisted on eating them from a plate. I didn't know he'd lap them up like a dog though...




Saturday
James and his Dada made spaceships!


Grandma Rosie came over to babysit on Saturday. Jim and I took a much needed "day off". We went to a movie (Avatar 3D), did a little shopping, went out to dinner, and then sat and relaxed with a (decaf) coffee.


We ate at Restaurant Cru, starting off with sparkling wine with a raspberry heart cube.


Sunday morning. James tries on our 3D glasses.


We all had our Valentines breakfast of Cinnamon Bun filled pancakes with cream cheese icing and Eggs. Yum.


James opens up his Valentine's Day card.


"This is for me?"


A Little Einsteins magnet play set!




A heart box of Hershey's kisses and a mini heart of M&M's!


"Bathtime"
James has loved piling up pillows and blankets and pretending to have "bathtime". We pretend to find fish, purple sea urchins, and squid in the water. Yeah, it doesn't make much sense but it's fun to him.


James and his Dada went to visit Grandma Laura on Sunday afternoon, so I got busy setting the table with candles, flowers, homemade cards, and wine.


We had another favorite meal, Chicken Scallopine. Yum.


After dinner, James jumped and gave his Dada several mid-air high fives. Great fun!






Monday. I had a day off from work and James' daycare was closed for the day. We had a good time playing at home and running some errands. I bought James some new Legos because he's been having such a great time building with the others. The regular Legos are too "old" for him, I knew he needed the bigger ones because they're easier to snap together and build. James made this "tower" and was very proud!


Tuesday night
I was prepping veggies for my salads and saw James playing with his food in the background. He was having a great time dipping carrots in ranch dip.


James picked up his golf clubs tonight and took a few swings!


Bedtime. I had James help take off his own clothes. He's pretty independent and likes to try these kinds of things now.




And then he put his dirty clothes in the hamper. He's very clean sometimes.


We turned off the lights to read books. James started to tell me his own stories...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

One of James' best Valentine's gifts was a book from Grandma Rosie. He has insisted on reading it every night, at least twice. It's a book that has Grandma's voice recorded, reading the book as he turns the pages.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

What a great weekend!

Blogging

I thought I would have a chance to blog today. (Shhh! During my work day, or really during my "lunch") It's a crazy busy day so far. Maybe tonight?

I have been keeping up with my 365 pictures, though I haven't posted them lately. I'll have to do that too.

Later!

Yay!

Jimmy is home!!

You take the good, you take the bad...

I guess I should mention the bad part about being a Mom. I said all of the cute and nice things about James and what he says, so I really should mention that he said something not so nice to me the other day.

**Edit- is there a bad part of being a mom, really? No. It was a bad moment. I'll correct myself.**

I said No about something. I don't even remember what it was. I got this response-

"I don't like you, Mama!"

That hurt. Briefly.

I knelt down to his level and told him that that wasn't a nice thing to say to Mama and "please say sorry". No!! He stormed away, to the corner.

A minute or two later he said the same thing. It didn't hurt as badly.

And then a few minutes later he did say sorry and we hugged.

The greeting I get in the mornings has made up for that "I don't like you, Mama!" Each morning I've gotten James from his bedroom he hugs me and tells me, "I missed you Mama!"

Yeah, that's better!

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!

A little bit of everything

I'm behind on my blogging. Here's a bunch of pics that I've been taking but haven't been posting promptly. I've just been so busy with work and taking care of James while Jim is gone. Even the weekend was busy, with a visit from Grandpa Roger and then SuperBowl. There haven't been too many quiet moments lately.

So I caught James picking his nose again. Ooops.


I made cookies for the people at work to celebrate Guidance Counselor appreciation week. Vanilla bean cookies with raspberry cream. They were delicious.


James and his friends were playing at the daycare playground when I went to pick him up one afternoon. He was playing in the "castle" and peeping out at me through the holes.






James just told Jim, "Dada my best friend". It was so sweet!


He's really enjoyed this Dr. Seuss book lately called Put me in the Zoo. He's finding Jim's spots in this picture.




James has his mystery scratch on his face. Daycare didn't see what happened, and James doesn't know either. It's healing fine but its so weird to see James' beautiful face less than perfect.


Superbowl Sunday. Jim's friend Paul brought his six year old daughter Hannah. James wasn't at all shy about sharing his toys and playing with her. She did great with James. She even helped me put a suddenly cranky James to bed, participating in the bedtime books.


Playing with trains.


Hannah left a drawing on our refrigerator white board.

Awesome

I wish I was this awesomely talented! Wow!

So far, so good

Jimmy is out of town again, so we are making the most of it. James and I spent some time playing, watching just one TV show snuggled together, and then he "played instruments" on my iPhone (piano and drum apps).

Bathtime was fun because he was in a very pleasant mood.

This Spanish thing is really one of the best things for him. He practices his colors every chance he can get. Every day when we leave his classroom, we pause to look at this poster of animals/colors and he goes over each color in English and then Spanish. One of the daycare workers overheard and told us that she observed a Spanish class and that he is doing so well! I knew this :)

At today's bath he randomly started saying "Buenos Dias", so we started to greet the ducks. I told him the word for duck- pato- and he kept telling the ducks, "Buenos Dias, Pato!" He liked the sound of the word, I think.


"Buenos dias, Pato!"


Ummm, my child has a hairy back. This came up at the daycare's Beach Day last month. The teacher Sheana told me that one of James' friends noticed James' hairy back when they were all wearing their swim trunks and made a comment.

I think it's cute.


After the bath we rushed to his room for socks and warm pjs!


It was such a quiet, cozy time after the bath. James was content to read his book with me and he went to bed with no fuss. I'm hoping for a quiet morning... those are always the hardest with Dada!

V-Day is near!

Grandma Laura came over for dinner on Monday night. Uncle Joe and Shannon too!

We knew that this snowman was perfect for Grandma Laura. James seemed very proud of it!


Tuesday night-
James and I played with his cars. He seems to really enjoy them a lot more lately.






I sometimes become very fascinated with James' eyes. Pictures just can't do them justice.


Another incident form. James just bumped his head. It left a small mark (that's already gone) and I know they're obligated to tell us. No big deal!


I wonder if James ate the au gratin potatoes?




I hope James understands he's the Prince and not the King of the Castle. And I can't wait to see this Family Crest!!


So James just can't wait for Valentines day. I've already bought his candy heart box and I'm so excited to give it to him! All of these holidays have been much more fun now that he gets the hype at school and is at an age where he kind of understands what is going on!

Who does James look like?

Like me! Well, says one source.