Wordless Wednesday

A few of my fellow bloggers participate in Wordless Wednesday. They post fun photos every Wednesday that require no explanation. A picture is worth a 1000 words right? Well, forgive me, but this picture needs a bit of background so that you can fully appreciate my morning!

It started out with tons of fun at the Fish Hatchery with our playgroup. All the kiddos fed the trout, watched them jump and wiggle and thoroughly enjoyed the sunshine. We decided to continue the fun with a Jamba Juice for lunch. Throw the kids in the car, buckle up and we were off...

As I was making a left hand turn onto a major road the truck next to me was honking and pointing. I kept saying "What?" and shrugging my shoulders, trying to figure out what he was getting all crazy about. Thankfully he was persistent, because out of the corner of my eye I notice a lump behind us in the road. My purse!!!!!! In all the excitement I had left my purse on the back of the car (unzipped of course) and there it was now laying in the middle of a very busy road. My first thought was to call a friend who had still been in the parking lot to see if she could pull over and pick it up before anyone ran over it, but as I reached for my phone I realized...it was in my purse! Ahhhh!

So I quickly got to the next light, made an illegal u-turn and headed back to see what I could salvage (remember I mentioned my purse was unzipped at the time it went flying off my car?). Its a very sad thing to be sitting at a red light, personal belongings spilled out in the middle of the road, only 20 feet away from you, and helplessly watching as vehicles zoom over everything without even slowing down! The light finally turned green, I made another u-turn (legal this time), pulled over hitting the hazard lights as I jumped out of the car, reassuring Eli that mommy would be right back and then started darting out into traffic to retrieve what was left of the wreckage.

Thankfully I was able to collect my wallet, cell phone , make-up bag, check book, medical and debit cards, pictures, receipts, etc. all intact. The only casualties? Eli's travel cup (shattered all over the road...that's why everything is wet and sticky!), a diaper, baggie full of dried fruit and my poor, poor purse! I really did love that purse!

Note: Eli, clearly understanding the excitement of the situation, helped me relive the moments all the way to Jamba Juice...

"Oh no, pursh!" "And car.........mash!!!! (clapping his hands together for emphasis).

"No, No...ELI!!!"

It's started! I believe we are heading into the terrible 2's! For the record, Eli has been stubborn from day one. Let's be honest, he didn't really have a chance with parents like us! But up until now, it has been fairly manageable and mostly cute.

Over the last few days, however, I have begun to realize, that while he is still incredibly cute (its just the truth, folks), his stubbornness is coming on us like a steam engine without breaks! From climbing onto the couch to getting into his car seat everything is "No, No...Eli!" He does not want help with anything and insists on doing things himself as we painfully watch from the sidelines. While this is, for the most part, insanely frustrating for a "do-er" like me (things to do, people to see) it has also become quite comical.

My favorite version of our new little do-it-yourselfer is when we have been playing a game, the same game for the last 20 minutes mind you, and then all of a sudden Eli starts stamping his feet saying, "no, no, no, no". Unbeknownst to us, the rules of the game have changed and we are no longer playing correctly or to his satisfaction! We then have to stop, ask him how he would like us to play and through charades and broken "Eli" English we get the new set of rules. What a muppet! Hopefully we can continue to find the humor in this new independent phase of toddler-hood.

Safety First!

Eli's self-appointed bike helmet

(Yes that is bubble wrap, but don't worry, he was never left unattended with it!)

Friday Fun Continued...

I do not usually condone stealing, but I had to "barrow" this idea from my friend Daniella's blog...it cracked me up. Nothing like a little Junior High humor!

1. Your REAL NAME: Jaime

2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (first 3 letters of real name plus izzle..) Jaiizzle

3. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color & favorite animal) Green Monkey

4. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (your middle name and street you live on/or neighborhood if it's a number) Beth Larkin (sounds like the girl next door character)

5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name) Tylja

6. SUPER HERO/CRIMINAL NAME: (second favorite color and favorite drink) Plum Java

7. YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (parents middle names). Wayne Quigley (Not too bad!)

8. YOUR GOTH NAME: (black, and the name of one of your pets). Black Raisin

9. YOUR HOOD NAME: (first 3 letters of your first name and add -iqua) Jaiiqua (not sure that is even pronounceable!)

Making Grandma Proud

Last weekend we were out doing errands and Grant had a secret stop he wanted to make on our route (he even insisted on taking the camera...as any good scrapbooker/blogger's husband would do). While out for his run earlier that day he had seen something he thought Eli would love.

And right he was. Eli loves cars and trucks and anything that goes "vroom vroom". And who wouldn't love being up this close and personal?! Here's a few pictures for Grandma (an avid Formula 1 fan)

Eli & Daddy posing with Michael Schumacher's ride

A "geen" Indicar racer

Whew...What A Day!!!

Pizza! Games! Lights! Colors! A big giant mouse...what could be better? Yesterday Eli and I joined a few other brave playgroup mommies and entered into an alternate universe...Chuck E. Cheese. The last memory I have of that place is from a friend's 21st birthday party in college (ok, go ahead and say it...I was a dork!). To say Eli had a blast would be an understatement. He could hardly contain himself as he ran from machine to machine scoping it out. I probably could have even gotten away without buying any tokens and just let him sit in the seats, but that wouldn't be any fun. He rode the carousel several times, drove cars/trucks and then discovered the air hockey table. We even had our picture sketched by Chuck!
Eli could have stayed all day but when Mommy had had just about all she could handle, we packed up and headed for home. I naively assumed he would fall asleep in the car since he'd played hard and it was way past his nap time but no...I got to relive the day (we'd just had) as Eli told me about all the things he'd done. His favorite story went as follows:
Eli - ball and push!
Me - oh, you pushed the ball? (referring to the air hockey puck)
Eli: uh huh, and Haylie?
Me - yea, you pushed it to Haylie
Eli - and then hole...Yeah!!!!! (clapping)
Me - yes, the ball went in the hole and then you cheered!
Eli - the hole, and all done
Me - yeah, you pushed the ball in the hole and then it was all done
Eli - more?
Me - yes, and then mommy put in another token, huh?
(repeat above conversation for last 20 minutes of the drive home)

Bob & Larry

This morning Eli, an avid fan of Veggie Tales, and I were reading books and he chose the Colorful World book. The first page is red and we were naming all the pictures he knew and then he points to the tomato and says, "Bob". At first I thought he was labeling it incorrectly but then I realized he knew exactly who it was...his good friend Bob the tomato.

This afternoon, we were reading the same book before nap time (he likes repetition) and we get to the green page. Usually his favorite thing on this page is the pair of green rain boots just like his, but today he kept pointing at the picture of a slice of cucumber and saying "oh no". I was bewildered at first and kept asking, "what's oh no?" and then he finally said, "Larry" while pointing to the cucumber slice and smiling! I have no idea how he knows that A) Larry is a cucumber and B) what the inside of a cucumber looks like but we was definitely concerned for his friend Larry who was not his usual self!

Never In A Million Years

On any given day, if someone overheard my conversations they might think I'm a bit strange, or borderline crazy...until they saw who I was talking to; my almost two year old son! So here is the first list, I'm guessing of many, of things I never thought I'd hear myself say:

4. "Oh Eli, we don't jump on kitties, we pet them!"
3. "The toilet is for pee pee, not our blankies"
2. "Can you go find Daddy's bottom?" (I was using this tactic of distraction so that I could finish up in the bathroom without Eli who was determined to find my bottom!)
1. "Eli, your feet do not come off, they have to stay on" (this said while driving as Eli is furiously trying to "pull" his feet off in the back seat)