He thinks it is summer too

He thinks it is summer

What a sight to come home to!

PS: there's a plane overhead. Jack wanted you to know.

A full house of sick

Jack started it all with a seeping nose. Two days later Ben and I woke up feeling crappy. It's been 5 days of high tissue use now. I had to be on call all weekend. Glad that's over. We're too hot and lazy to take Jack to a park today, so I bundled up some toys and found a shady patch in a drainage ditch nearby. Tonight we are going out for pizza. It's a new place to us, where they are hosting a special geeks who drink quiz all about the works of Joss Whedon. Ben will stay for the quiz, I'll go home and resume knitting and sleeping.

Spring Sweater

I'm coming to terms with the fact that my blog has become a child bragging blog.  Not that I had much aim to begin with, but I did not foresee so much shameless adorableness flaunting.  You'll have to suffer through these photos I took for Ravelry of Jack's finished sweater. 

 I mean, he's picking and sniffing a flower for goodness sake.  How can I NOT post these?

 He loves nothing more than running around outside.  Wait, maybe swimming more.  And ice cream.  But getting chased outside is in the top five. 

Cawing at a robin he chased up a tree:

Rainy days

Isn't every rainy day a good day? Yesterday I ended up working 16.5 hours without a real break. Blech. But when I came home friends there with pizza. We watched old Movie Saturdays and reminisced about how skinny and naive we were.

I had a good sleep in, then Ben went for a run. After lunch-where Jack actually ate some spinach!- we went swimming. The rec center pool is great for kids and I've been dreaming of taking Jack for a while. He was over the moon! They have a toddler friendly area; gentle slope down to just 2 feet deep, water fountains that bubble gently up over the surface, buckets that fill and dump from above, sprayers, and a mini slide down a frog's mouth. Jack played joyously until we dragged him out with blue and chattering lips.

Later we dropped him off with a sitter so Ben and I could eat out. I stuffed myself with spinach salad and pork scaloppine drenched in Gorgonzola cream sauce. Abrusci's never disappoints. I picked up Jack and Ben went to see a scary movie.

Now I'm curling up with some luxurious knitting and a fresh disk of The West Wing while rain softly falls. Doesn't get much better than this.

Coloring

Jack says it's a dog! I love that he identifies his pictures without suggestion from us.

English Muffin Bread

I'm posting my altered recipe so I can easily look it up.  My last batch didn't have the nooks and crannies I'd hoped for, maybe too little rise?  But it was still delicious sandwich bread and Ben remarked that he wished I had made two loaves!  Still, this is the recipe for a single loaf (the original recipe makes four), although I rounded up the quantities where math wasn't clean.

1 1/2 cups very warm water
2 teaspoons yeast (see original recipe note)
1/2 tablespoon salt
3/4 tablespoon sugar
2 3/4 cups water

I follow the instructions as written, but find I have to add a little extra water to make the dough as sticky as it is in her pictures. 

Happy Easter!

 Jack's first egg hunt. I had to show him what to do.  He caught on fast, though Amanda and I had to give heavy hints for finding the eggs.

22 months and 1 week

That's the age when Jack called me Mama. Heart = melted.

Dentist

Jack had his first dentist visit. He did awesome; they were so gentle and kind, and Jack didn't so much as whimper.   The chipped tooth will be fine, we just need to monitor it.

Surprise Birthday Visit

Today is my mom's birthday, yay!  Since she is queen of spoiling her presents, Jack and I surprised her with a weekend visit.  My dad was in on the secret, so we didn't mess up their weekend too much. 

What follows are photos of gratuitous spoilage.  You might want to avert your eyes.  

 Kipper.  On the Big Screen.  In a kid chair.  A bowl of watermelon.

Recognize the car set, Andy?  

 Banana chocolate pops are dessert #2 of this meal.  Then a walk to the neighborhood playground.

Jack wasn't the only one spoiled.  (This was apparently "just lying around the office."  And everyone "has one but you, so you might as well take it.")

 

I made lemon cookies and Jack played with flour.  Flour was EVERYWHERE.

 This is English Muffin bread from this recipe. (I halved the recipe.)  I'm super sad that I forgot to pack home the bag with my extra loaf in it.

Dad prepared for the weekend with finger-paints!  Jack was hesitant to get messy at the start, but after a while he was able to enjoy it.

I have to document the moment of great sadness.  At one point Jack decided to get off his chair at the dinner table and face-planted into the tiled floor.  It took a good half hour of mothering and grandmothering to calm him down.  This was earlier in the day, before finger painting.  I got him to smile for a picture, showing us his chipped tooth.  Poor guy.  Good thing he has his first dentist visit Wednesday.  Here is a before and after comparison. 

(PS Mom, he let us brush his teeth tonight with his "choo choo" toothpaste and penguin toothbrush.  He also gobbled down dinner without trouble and was upset there was no more watermelon.  Don't worry, Ben picked up a watermelon already.)

Even with his fall, it was a super fun weekend!  If anything, it was too short.  But I have a shift tomorrow I have to work and my folks have to go back to their busy lives too.  Thank you for letting up crash your house this weekend!