Picking Season

I support going green. Organic hand picked fruits and veggies are yummy and the season has started with strawberries! Yummy! I also support child labor. Not the laws preventing it, but the labor itself- I'm all for that. Last year Jack really didn't pull his own weight. He did a heck of a lot of sitting while I picked fruits and veggies. Well now mwah ha ha... he can do some of the work.

Sort of. Mostly he just pointed at the strawberries. "That!" "That!" or when I handed him one to try and fabricate a photo op (tabloids do it all the time, don't judge me!) he just squashed it.

Oh well, there's always later this summer, or maybe apples in the fall. Maybe then I can get in on some of that toddler labor.

Lazy

I've been too lazy to blog. But I can make Matt blog tomorrow because we just got his beach pics back. My husband has mad skills.

Top 6

Pictures from the weekend.

Baby's first sushi

Today was Jack's first boat ride as a big boy. I was totally impressed with the boats, planes and cars he was able to point out on the ride. We boated to this little island and enjoyed some quiet beach time on what was essentially a private beach! Awesome!

Then Jack had his first sushi.

Clearly it was a success. The nori (seaweed paper) was not so much a hit but the sushi 'guts' certainly were!

Jack decided to do some gaming with the 'boys'.


After 'Happy Hour" at the Kralls (family friends from way, way back) Jack came home for a quick dinner and bed. Seeing the Kralls was, as always awesome fun. The last time I saw them I was like 7 weeks pregnant and wasn't telling people yet so this was their first Jack-hang-out time and he loved seeing them and their doggies! It certainly helped that their house has a big sandy beach in the back yard where he could play in the sand and the water!!

Legend-wait for it-dairy.

Asian Night

Long walk on a long dock.

Did anyone notice my legs are missing? That's hilarious!

After another busy day at the beach it was time for some relaxing on the deck.

Fresh carrots- quite the hit!

Then began the craziness of "Asian Night". Tom, Matt and I wanted to make these over Mother's Day weekend, but all the renovations precluded any complicated cooking.
Wontons (for soup).
Sushi- California rolls and Tuna rolls (not pictured).

Also we had spring rolls. We've decided to switch to egg rolls from now on because the rice paper is really hard to work with unless you have a lot of experience.

I am now STUFFED.

4

1. Trip to the beach
He basically made a be line for the water (only 59 degrees) and played in it until we forced him to stop and take some time to warm up.

We dug a hole. Which is a beach-MUST.

Found some shells. Also a- MUST.


Then retired home. For a much needed nap!

2. Afternoon pool party.

3. Eco-Tour.

This is what my parents shoreline looks like at low tide.

Baby Blue Crab

Da-Da and the Dock

Fish!



4. Date Night

Dinner, and Star Trek the movie. No photos though, because we were just too busy enjoying the calm.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Happy Birthday, Da-Da!

After a so-so birthday Matt called me from work and said "Suit-Up! Pack-Up! and lets get this vacation started! I'm coming home early!" So Jack and I suited-up in our coordinated outfits.

Loaded the car.

And drove to Gi-Gi and Grandpa's house. (Don't worry we didn't forget to bring the birthday boy!)

Jack enjoyed a late night of cheese and crackers by the shore.

Da-Da enjoyed his birthday ice cream, he was very surprised and excited, as you can see. Well earned, Daddy. Thanks for being a fun friend to play with and a wonderful partner for Ma-Ma! I love you!

Real Words

I'm very excited to report the emergence of real words. As opposed to the ones that not everyone can discern.

Truck, Car & Cracker have made their debut.

On the way to MOM's we saw several trucks and Jack was happy to point them out, also the cars- he wanted to make sure I knew the difference. Later he saw the cracker box on the counter and asked if he could have one.

Really, it was more like, "Hey, I see those crackers don't try and hide them from me!"

Jack would like to add:

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and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

This morning Jack slept late (Darn!) so we were a little slow getting to the park for a playdate. Jack decided to treat it like a nature hike and point out birds and trees and pinecones and plants... well, you get the idea.
Then we saw the MOTHER of all nature hike finds.

After nap we hopped in the pool.

That'll teach me

This morning I caved and let him feed himself. I know what you're thinking "He's 15 months old, give the kid a spoon!" True. But if I can feed him and thus make sure he eats it all and control the mess (a little) then I'm going to! But after a week of morning tantrums where I played dumb pretending this wasn't an "I DO MYSEFF!" tantrum I finally gave in. Surprisingly he still ate almost all of it. There was also a bit of a mess.

My Mother's day present arrived today. It's a Buddhist/Yogi prayer Om Mani Padme Hum meaning "Hail to the jewel of the lotus." In other words, we must look within ourselves to find the peace of the Buddha. This is something I should remind myself of so it's good to keep it close by.

This afternoon Jack and I were playing outside on the lawn. We climbed up on the deck for me to grab something. I turned my head for a second to check some of the potted plants and heard "Splash!" Jack had decided to play in the pool and forgo a swimsuit. Outfit change #1

We re-suited-up and went to Michael's to get crafty. Well I picked him up out of the cart at the end of our little trip and realized he was completely soaked. Outfit change #2

New Tricks

3 Signs you might have a toddler:

1. Tantrums. Please don't take my toys away, why don't you understand me and I'm so tired I might explode tantrums. I'm not so much a fan. Unless there are some true sadist moms out there I don't think any mommies thinks to themselves "Yay, tantrums! This phase is going to be so much fun!"

2. Dirty Fingernails. A side effect of getting into everything is the accompanying dirt. The dirt I could do without but the running around getting into everything is pretty fun.

3. Parental Insecurity. It goes something like: "I'm so embarrassed my kid is still using a paci, what will strangers in public think." "I cannot believe little so-and-so is throwing a tantrum in the middle of insert-painfully-public place; what will people think." "I think my little sweetie is language/gross motor/fine motor/long division delayed, what do I do?!"

Tea Party!

Today I went to Tea on the Tiber to celebrate my birthday. I know what you're thinking, my birthday isn't until the 25th. True. But since I'll be at the beach for 5 days around my birthday this seemed the perfect time to get dressed up and have a full afternoon tea. The meal was SUPER tasty and the company was FANTASTIC!

L-R: Me, Jessica, Lindsey, Emily, Emily & Susan

Matt watched Cady and Jack while we ladies enjoyed tea. Cady slept like a champ, Jack was less-successful with today's nap, but Matt says double-parent-duty was just fine! Yay!

There may have been a bit of mayhem, as demonstrated when Jack fell into the toy box.

It obviously couldn't have been that bad because not 5 minutes later he hopped back in the box by choice.