Gearing Up

Christmas magic is in full swing around here. 

Santa is waxing his sleigh and fattening up the reindeer. 

The big trip is nigh.

The Best Two Years

Music is "You and Me" by Francis England off the album Family Tree

JW, a year ago you were not stable on two feet, you communicated with smiles or tears, "ba ba" and "da da," gurgles and screams.  You found joy in crinkling paper, toilet papering the entire house and eating dirt.  You found comfort in your binki and were cool with a bottle.  We decorated the house for Christmas with little worry about you bringing down the tree or breaking mama's glass ornaments.  You had little interest in climbing stairs or going down slides on the playground.

A year later you can run, jump, kick and tumble.  You have a healthy vocabulary, almost always say "please" and generously give out "hugs."  You ask for your {my} iPad and you can maneuver the applications as if Steve Jobs was your father.  You like to draw pictures and paint.  You know the real purpose of toilet paper and even think you need to help out sometimes.  As first time parents with little experience we expected the worst when it came time to give up the binki and the bottle.  There was very little torture or trickery involved on our part.  We slowly stopped giving them to you and you carried on with life with little fuss.  The glass Christmas ornaments have been packed away because mama anticipated you would not be able to control your urge to touch every ornament on the Christmas tree.  Mama was right.  No matter how many times you have been told, "We look with our eyes, not with our hands," to which you always agree, I have found you on several occasions rearranging every bulb within reach.  You can identify Santa, and you know he says, "HO HO HO," but I'm certain you have no idea what Santa is really capable of doing.  You finally figured out how to go up and down the stairs without falling (and causing me heart failure every time) and you will go up and down the slide on the playground a million times all by yourself.   

One of the moms from the preschool asked me recently how I felt about having a two year old.  My initial response was basically eh, so what?  But the more I've thought about the last two years, how much we've grown, how smart you are, what a sweet boy you can be (knock on wood) I look forward to what the next year will bring and can barely fathom the possibilities.  Happy birthday, little buddy.

'Tis the Season

When asked what their favorite holiday is, most people will tell you Christmas.  I personally prefer Thanksgiving or the 4th of July.  Christmas is the last holiday on my list for reasons I can only tell my therapist.  I'm a Grinch.  All is not lost, though.  There are a few things that make me jolly for the holidays, along with reasons to leave the boxes of lights and garlands in the basement. 

Jolly: I love the lights.  I drive by Temple Square on my way home from work every night and just that 10 seconds looking at the lights brings me great joy.  Our neighborhood should rename our street to Christmas Lane because everyone has lights on their houses.  Sometimes JW and I will drive the long way home just to enjoy the lights in the neighborhood. 

Grinch: G will not put lights on our house.  Apparently this is a provision in our marital contract. So I do it every year.  Except, I am too chicken to climb the ladder to the highest pitch on the roof, so I just put lights on our bushes and around the windows and porch.  Last year half of the lights blitzed mid way through December and some jerk kids put our lighted reindeer in a precarious position.

Jolly: I LOVE glass ornaments.  The old world vintage kind with Santas, teapots, the pickle, icicles, etc. My entire tree is decorated with vintage glass ornaments, many of them nearly 100 years old.  My tree sparkles. It makes me so happy.

Grinch: I have a curious two year old.  Vintage glass ornaments just seem like a bad idea.  So I bought a box of shatter-proof (read: plastic) ornaments from the Costco knowing that JW would not be able to resist touching every "bulpt" (bulb) on the tree.  Now my tree has no soul.

Jolly:  This year I bought a pre-lit tree with zillions of white lights after more than 10 years with an old 6 ft. cheap-o delux tree that I spent 2 hours stringing 50 sets of lights to every year. Pre-lit has changed my life forever.

Grinch: Why didn't I do that 10 years ago?


What's your favorite holiday? 



Grandma, 1930



Grandpa, 1956

My cousin is in the process of scanning a box of old photos from my mother's side of the family.  He sends an email or two every week of each scanned treasure.  Here are two of my favorites so far, capturing my Grandparents {my mom's parents} in their youthfulness.  At first I thought this was Grandma sneaking out on the rocks to watch Grandpa fish.  How sweet.  Then I noticed there was a 26 year difference in the photo timeline.  I never knew either of them in this life, but I imagine they were wonderful people.



The Holstee Manifesto

This little manifesto is making its way around the internet and I must say, I like it.  I kind of want to figure out how to paint it on an old piece of salvaged wood and hang it on my wall. There must be a way...

Good morning, Winter. 

The first real snow storm of the year is always a merry event for me, in theory.  I always picture myself lounging around in my pajamas, sipping hot chocolate, watching movies all day.  Then reality hits - read: I have a two year old.  Forget about lounging around watching movies all day.  If I'm watching anything it's sound bites of Thomas and Friends, Super Why and The Cat in the Hat (sound bites = JW knows he can watch his favs through Netflix.  Five minutes into each show he decides he wants to watch something else.  It makes me totally mental.).  And lounging?  Come on, now.

JW was pretty excited about the snow.  He wanted to play outside all day.  I told him once he was dressed we could go outside.  Getting dressed was easy enough for JW, except he decided he was going to take a fashion note from Papa Bear and wear his sandals with his socks.  I refused to let him play in the snow in his sandals and he refused to take them off.  We made a trip to Payless and bought JW a pair of snow boots.  I thought he'd think they were cool until he refused to put those on as well.  This might be a long winter.

Happy Halloween

In the days leading up to Halloween, JW made it clear that he was NOT interested in wearing a costume.  I have had his Thomas the Train costume laying out for days in hopes he would find it as awesome as watching Thomas and Friends streaming through Netflix.  I've even put it on and danced around.  He thought that was funny.  I'd practically beg him to put it on and he was having none of it.

It should come as no surprise that I had zero expectations that JW would be dressed up for his Halloween parade at preschool.  So if he wasn't going to wear the costume, I was. 

  

 Suddenly he decided he wanted to wear the conductor's hat...

And moments before the parade, I asked JW if he wanted to wear Thomas {"choo choo"}. 

To my surprise!

We loaded into the baby bus...

and paraded around the block...

As soon as the parade was over, the costume came off, never to be put on again.  Thank you for humoring me, buddy. 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Source: ihatemyparents.tumblr.com via Aubrey on Pinterest

I admit it.  I'm a yeller.  I try really hard to take a deep breath and just ignore the whining, crying and stomping, but sometimes it gets me and I yell.  Really LOUD.  It rarely works and usually just makes the situation worse.  Maybe I should try this new tactic.

Un Sospiro

Over the weekend I was going through my pile of music in an attempt to get organized, when I came across this Liszt piece, "Un Sospiro." I started learning this piece of music a few years ago for a piano recital and had it about 65% memorized when my life got a little out of control and I quit piano lessons. I'm kind of sad about that. Nevertheless, this piece moves me almost to tears. Close your eyes and listen. It's dreamy.

This leather beauty recently flew through my universe and caught my attention. I have a soft spot for Coach bags, and this persimmon colored Madison bag sits just right for Fall.  However, paying the retail price for this bag seems kind of foolish.  It is tempting though.  If I pull the trigger I might have to sell some junk on Craig's List so I can eat the rest of the month.