family, woodworking, photography, K-pop
My parents live on a couple of acres in the middle of the woods. Over the years they’ve planted quite a few fruit trees and last week one of the plum trees was so loaded down that the branches were in danger of snapping. E had a blast helping pick the plums. He wasn’t the most productive picker ever but it was definitely very cute.
By the time we got on the plane yesterday E was pretty tired. I thought he would sack out but he didn’t. Fortunately he was still a trooper and entertained himself for a long time by looking out the window. When he started getting cranky I broke out his portable DVD player and a super engrossing/annoying Wow, Wow Wubby DVD bought especially for the occasion and all was well.
On flights to Seattle I like to sit on the left side of the plane because if the weather’s nice you get a pretty amazing view of Mt. Rainier in all its glory.
Last night N and I went to another concert in Pioneer Park. We saw E’s favorite band, The New Pornographers. (Seriously, we listen to their latest record Together at least four times a week in the car at his request.)
The band’s name can be a bit unsettling but Wikipedia says the A.C. Newman came up with it after watching a Japanese film called The Pornographers. But other people thought the name was a reference to Jimmy Swaggart’s reputed claim that rock and roll was “the new pornography.”
But despite their name their music is pretty kid-friendly pop rock. There were a bunch of kids at the concert bopping around. It made me wish we could have brought E but I think he’s still a few years too young. It was a great show; they’re consummate professionals and excellent at performing live.
Sadly, E woke up today feeling a little under the weather. He has a mild fever so I’m keeping him home from preschool so right now he’s convalescing on the couch while wearing a sparkly green party hat he found in his toy box–cutest sick person ever.
(And yes, I know his haircut is a hot mess.)Hopefully E will be feeling better later today–N’s company is having their summer party tonight and I kind of want to stop by Old Navy because their layering camis are $2 until Saturday. Not really sure how much I need some but 2! dollars! (I am a total sucker.)
We have kind of a busy weekend planned–we’re going to a bon voyage BBQ tomorrow for a friend who is leaving to do humanitarian work in Indonesia for a month and then we’re getting together with two of my college roommates. If E’s feeling better tomorrow night we might try and catch a movie and dinner. And if there’s any time left over there are a few shows to catch up on off our DVR (new season of Project Runway!)
I hope you have a great weekend!
We bought E a little potty chair a few months ago. At first he thought sitting on it was great fun but only if he had his clothes on (which was not really the point). After some cajoling (and bribes of a jelly bean) he has taken to sitting on it a few times a day but he never peed in it.
Until last weekend! I took off E’s diaper so he could sit on the potty but he ran downstairs giggling to see what N was doing downstairs. E jumped on the couch and I told him that it was time to go to the bathroom and he looked down and uh, went to the bathroom. (I guess I should have been more specific.)
N and I shouted for E to stop (which miraculously he did) and then we picked him up and ran him back to his potty chair where his business was concluded, E was praised highly, and jelly beans dispensed.
The couch suffered only a few drops of pee that washed out easily (yay for removable cushion covers!) so over all I consider it a win.
I bought a little inflatable pool on sale a couple of weeks ago and when E’s friend P came over to visit we set it up for the first time.
Of course the thing that E and P enjoyed the most was using cups to bail the water out of the pool.
Last night was somewhat eventful around here in a minor injury/illness way. E woke up from his nap feeling feverish and out of sorts. He didn’t want dinner but we offered him a banana which he took a few bites of and a little juice.
I was standing in the kitchen chatting with N while he did the dishes when I heard a suspicious-sounding cough from the family room where E was watching Wonder Pets. I peeked down the stairs just in time to see him lean against the couch and puke all over it. I ran down the stairs to help him but kind of forgot about that pesky bottom step and launched myself gracefully into the air where I landed flat on my face and on my left shoulder and elbow.
N ran downstairs too (notably more successfully than I did) and helped E while I rolled around on the floor groaning melodramatically for a minute. After I collected myself we gave E a bath and washed the couch’s cushion covers.
E went to bed okay but was up from about 3 to 4:30 in the morning. He was super thirsty and wanted something to drink but it didn’t stay down. So I gave up trying to keep him in his room and plopped him down in front of the tv so I could clean up the puke on his floor with him out of the way. Fortunately after everything was cleaned up he went right back to bed.
So that’s where we are this morning. My shoulder is pretty jacked up–I can’t really lift my arm above my head–and I’m sporting an awesome scraped elbow which hurts more than I remember them hurting when I was eleven.
E obviously can’t go to preschool this morning which means that I can’t go into the office like I was planning. So today we’ll be rocking it at home in our pajamas and I’ll try and get some work done when he naps *crosses fingers*.
On Sundays N and I like to flip through the paper and read the comics together over lunch. This last week E decided he wanted to get in on the action.
Here at Casa de Nearest Future the paperwork and mail really tend to pile up. I’m horrible at keeping things organized and tend to just stack papers and shuffle them around the house.
But yesterday I attacked the piles and started filing things away and shredding those I didn’t need.
E was thoroughly enchanted by the shredder. So enchanted, in fact, that when I turned my back for two seconds this happened:
At least it was only a one.
I’ve been enchanted by the salt flats ever since I first saw them so getting up close and walking around on them was definitely the highlight of the (13 hour!) drive to Oregon. E had a lot of fun running around and sampling the salt.
We were just there but I’m already trying to come up with an excuse to drive the 100 miles from my house back out to the salt flats. They are awesome.
We have a low ledge along a wall behind one of our couches. E loves to climb over the couch and inch his way along the ledge and climb all over the couch in general. I’m pretty low key and don’t care about it since our couches aren’t anything special and he isn’t likely to hurt himself.
But sometimes he does gets stuck.
This morning E was attempting to slide off the couch and under a table we have next to it (which he knows is NOT allowed) and he got stuck. He looks over at me and says, “I’ll help you, Mom!”
I ask him if he meant to say, “Help me, please” and he agrees and says it with a smile.
I pull him out and plop him on the couch and then he says, “Thanks, Ma! Good teamwork!”
It cracked me up and almost made up for the hours of my life I’ve spent listening to Linnie, Tuck, and Ming Ming too–almost.
