our house

high and low

Best part of yesterday: Jonah and I played restaurant for the first time (I ordered and paid, he prepared).

Low point: When he refused to eat any part of pizza but the crust, and then only parts with no sauce, cheese, or flecks of seasoning in sight.  This was followed by him asking for a banana and then eating one nibble at a time between demanding the "crusts" (long stringy membranes and also the seeds or any other discoloration) be removed.

at dinner tonight

Jonah: Ice cream is more perfecter than cake and dinner.

Also, upon discovering a sucker in his Easter candy: This is the biggest sucker of all time!

for sale: almost 3 year-old

Yesterday was a rough day.  In his independence or sickness or who knows what, Jonah has been defiant the last few days.  I was delighted for the excuse to leave for a few hours to go visit teaching.  Jonah didn't nap, so I left with the instructions that he be sent straight to bed.

 An hour later, I get this text message: You will not believe what your son did.
Of course I wanted to know, so I responded: What?!
All I heard back was: Words cannot describe.

I assumed it was bad and I thought of 15 possible scenarios, each more horrible than the first.  I was relieved to find when I got home that nothing had been broken, no bodily fluids were involved, and he was all in one piece (though still not asleep...sigh).  Nothing prepared me for this video, though, which truly can't be described in words:

Oh my.  Most of it was cleaned up when I got back, but the room still reeks of lavender baby powder.

broken record

Does anyone else remember D.A.R.E.?  Well one of the strategies we were taught to say no to drugs was the broken record, i.e. say "no" over and over again.  I'm not sure it was wise to teach 10 year olds this concept as we used it more to annoy each other than to avoid drugs.

Fast forward 17 years and here I am, a broken record.  I'm getting on my own nerves with the following:
-Jonah, come eat.
-Jonah, sit down.
-Jonah, stop pulling Dixie's tail.
-Jonah, don't bang on Dixie's kennel.
-Jonah, come inside.
-Dixie, come inside.
-Dixie, drop that.
-Dixie, stop being a pest.

Some nights, by bedtime (or earlier), I am so sick of my own voice that I must retreat to the bedroom while Josh handles getting Jonah in bed.  Last night was one of those nights after a fight with Jonah in which he insisted all his books must be on the floor.  And yet, an hour later when he couldn't breathe well, Josh and I fought over who could rock him back to sleep.  I think sleep is the best recharge for our batteries.

hello world

I forgot about the blog for a few days. I think this is the first time that's happened. Sure, sometimes I am too busy or can't think of anything to say, but I'm pretty sure this past week I actually forgot.  I've been really focused on getting the house clean and spending some good time with Jonah (who is sick so goodbye clean house and hello sick bay in the living room) and for the most part I'm pleased with the results.

Recently we've been enjoying the spring weather.  I've been enjoying watching the flowers.  So far I've counted 5 different voluntary flowers in our yard.  All are weeds.  The first is the normal yellow dandelion.  Dixie loves to eat these.  We've also had little purple flowers, two types of white flower and tiny yellow flowers.  All go the way of the trash pile when they lawn people come and mow the lawn (twice a month on Tuesdays).  Our garden is doing nicely as well.  The grass trying to grow up between my carrots is especially thriving (mutter mutter).  If I remember I have a blog tomorrow I'll take a picture because man has it all grown since the last one!

We're also looking very forward to our trip to Arizona this May.  At least three times a day we talk about what we want to do (eat lots of Mexican food) and who we'd like to see (everyone).

Dixie is bigger (again) and mostly house broken.  Hurray!  The times I wonder why we got her are happening further and further apart.

With that measly update, I'm headed to bed.  We're looking for some Easter activities/traditions.  Ready, go!

a few recent videos

Josh and Jonah had a great weekend together and I enjoyed not being in charge for a while.  Here are two things Jonah learned from dad this weekend:

Table Surfing:



Gymnastics (he's no Abby, but we think he's pretty cute):



In this video, Jonah is trying to say "cartwheel" but can't remember what it's called.  And yes, we have moved from shorts weather to the-very-bare-minimum over the weekend.  Bummer.

neither good choice

I woke up pretty early this morning.  Jonah and Dixie are both napping currently, which means I have two choices: finish organizing the third room (which proved too much with a toddler and puppy) or take a nap (and oh, that sounds nice).   So what am I doing?  Looking at jewelery online.

I don't even wear jewelery very often, but I love these:

http://www.thevintagepearl.com/products/pearlclusterearrings_p227

http://www.thevintagepearl.com/products/vintagelovebirds_p147

Nashville, how we love thee.

We drove to Nashville for the weekend and of course, I took zero pictures.  Frankly, we were either having too much fun or asleep.  Huaso and Dixie spent the whole weekend playing, though, and had to be physically separated to their kennels for sleeping and eating and things.  I know Dixie loved Huaso.  Whether or not Huaso loved Dixie or just tolerated her is irrelevant, though, as long as she could bite his cheek and chew on his legs (which she did).  The bad news is that I found a load of washed but not dried clothes that I must have started on Friday.  Whoops.  The good new is that I've been putting off uploading some pictures from my camera for a few weeks, so here are three new(ish) ones:

The dog that sleeps on her back (though taking this picture woke her up):

Jonah helping me water our garden:

I love my garden.  We planted tomatoes, a bell pepper, green beans, broccoli, carrots, and jalapenos.  The green beans have all sprouted, but no sign of the jalapenos or carrots.  I'll give them another week before I try again.  There is also plenty of grass and clover trying to grow and it is so annoying to pick out one tiny leaf at a time.  It's worth it, though, or it will be when I'm eating delicious tomatoes.

Jonah waxing philosophical at the park:

I like to imagine he was thinking "what a fine day to be at the park with my mother" but it was likely something along the lines of "what path to the swings would be the muddiest?"  This same trip I noticed a leaking faucet at the park and it gave me an ulcer thinking about the waste and water bill.  I'm thinking now that obsessing over it indicated that I was either a) a water-saving hippie, b) a penny pincher, or c) bored.  Maybe all three. 

It also reminded me of a time when I was 16 or so and our bathroom sink dripped.  I was indignant about the water being wasted as well as grumpy about the noise (the bathroom was across the hall from my bedroom) so one night I plugged the sink to provide a visual representation of the water we were wasting every night.  Luckily my dad got up in the night and unplugged the sink, though, because it started to overflow pretty quickly.  He then explained to me that there were better ways to get what I wanted (i.e., ask him to fix it) than flooding the bathroom.  We've had rotten luck with flooded bathrooms in our family, so it was an especially great save on his part.  Sometimes I'm surprised at memories like that because I thought I was such a sweet docile child.  Apparently, Jonah's stubborn streak is not purely a Mays trait after all.

P.S. My sister-in-law is at the hospital right now having a baby.  I want to send something, but probably not flowers.  Any ideas??