Elephant, regression

The second half of the week around the Craig household is pretty crazy. Mommy is off to work, and Allen is playing with "Miss S" all day. So when Mom and Dad get home, things are hectic ... trying to get dinner ready, and to finish laundry, and to talk to Allen. I think Allen has decided to take matters into his own hands.

Last night, he walked into the kitchen, and said, "Take a picture of me." And this is what we saw when we turned around:
Here he is admiring himself in the mirror ...

To add to all the craziness, one of my customer's asked if she could borrow some stuff for her grandchildren while they're here this week. We lent her Allen's Lightning McQueen trike for her 2 1/2-year-old grandson, and the exersaucer you see below for the six-month-old. Once Allen saw it, he seemed to regress fairly quickly, as you can see.

Once I cleaned up the above toy and loaded it in the car to take to my customer, Brian had to work to console Allen because he was crying so hard over the loss of his rediscovered toy. But once he found out that a baby needed it, he was OK.

Speaking of regression, Allen ended up in bed with us almost all night last night. Yesterday morning he awoke screaming. He told me later that he screamed for Mommy because "a big jet was hurtin' me" (we live in the flight path of the local Marine air station). I don't think a jet was flying at 6:00 a.m., but he may have dreamed about it. That fear seemed to stick with him last night. Hopefully tonight will go better because both Mommy and Allen were pretty tired this morning.

xoxo,

Good mood; gems

Hello my friends. I hope you are all well this evening. Myself? Well, I had a pretty good day. My mood seems to be improving with each night that passes without two-year-old legs in my back and hands in my hair. We're up to three nights in a row now. We're very proud. So proud, in fact, that I bought Allen two little gifts today at Teaching Carolina. Here's one of them:Lovely nesting blocks from Melissa and Doug (which is where I got this lovely photograph).

Plus, I went shopping for some Memorial attire this evening. Brian expressed a desire for a new shirt and tie, and I wanted something new as well. He asked me to try to "be reasonable." And I was. I told him what I wanted to spend (on one shirt, one tie, and an outift for him), and I spent $2 less than my goal and got two shirts, three ties, and a skirt. Yay me! (I'm too lazy to take pictures of the clothes tonight, but perhaps we'll do a family photo on Thursday and post that).

Sorry, I digress. Back to the peanut. Three adorable interchanges stand out in my mind today. One is a little difficult to explain, but I'll share the other two.

Here was out after-nap conversation, as I was refilling his milk:

Allen: Mommy, I'm so happy!

Mommy: Really? I'm so glad you're happy!

Allen: See. Right here (pointing to his eye). In my eye.

Mommy: How come you're happy in your eyes?

Allen: *Blank stare*

Mommy: Is it because they're excited to be looking at your new toys?

Allen: Yes!

I have a (rather long) video to share with you that showcases the other adorable incident. But I'll provide a brief prologue first. After chasing each other around the house, pretending we were "Snapper" T-Rex (another story for another day), and as we were getting ready to sit down to dinner, Allen informed us, "I'm goin' upstairs to change. I'll be right back." After he finally let me follow him upstairs (at one point, he told me. "No Mommy. You stay there on the stairs."), Brian wisely suggested I bring the camera. Here's what I captured:

WARNING: This video is over three minutes long. I promise not to be offended if you don't watch it, or if you stop watching mid-way through.

And some cute stills of Allen changing:

I tell you ... it's never dull in this house! Speaking of which, don't forget to enter my first give-away!!

xoxo

Marvelous give-away

Some of you know that I'm kind of addicted to blogging and blogs. One of the blogs which I follow loyally is that of one of my birthing heroes, Leigh (my other birthing hero is my SIL Stephanie). She is one of those blog-savvy women who is popular enough to have regular give-aways. Usually I observe quietly and don't try to win, but this time I cannot resist entering. Look at this unbelievable ring by the wonderfully talented Barbara Polinsky!

I'm totally smitten with this ring, and I encourage you to check out Barbara's Etsy Shop to see more lovely pieces of jewelry.

xoxo,

P.S. Thanks to Leigh at Marvelous Kiddo for this great discovery!

All apologies to Avery and family

In reviewing my posts, I realized that I have made a royal faux-pas (way worse than the first lady putting her arm around the queen). I neglected to post pictures and congratulations to my dear T&Y and their daughter Ava on the addition of Mr. Avery!

So, without further ado, here are some shots of the handsome Avery and his big sister Ava.

Please accept my sincere apologies in neglecting to post this fabulous news. My only excuse is that he was born while we were in Disney and that in my haste to post my recaps, I forgot to post his cute (and her) cute face. I hope you'll forgive me!!

xoxo,

Progress report; Serenading at bedtime; Give-away!

We're very proud of Allen because since we implemented the "progress chart," Allen has slept all night in his bed FOUR times (woohooo Allen). If the stickers on the chart are any indication, I'm thinking Allen's going to be a non-conformist. He's not big on putting the stickers in the squares. It's enough to get them on the paper (the ones on the wall surrounding the chart are a result of one morning last week while I was in the shower). Though you can't tell, we've gotten two of those stickers two nights in a row, and we're working on three-in-a-row tonight.


As usual, we had a very amusing evening. I initially brought the camera upstairs for bath time so that I would have pictures for my blog. But, Allen is not one to disappoint, so we got a bonus video too. But first, here are the highlights of his post-bath dry-off.


Could my child get any cuter? I didn't think so either, until he started serenading us. I promise to send a gift from Joli to the person who can decipher the most words/phrases from this video. Oooh ... my first give-away -- how exciting. I'm not kidding either. Post your guesses in the comments, and I'll announce the winner next week.

Have a great week, and don't forget to enter to win my first give-away!!!

xoxo,

Planting flowers

Each spring (and fall), I get an overwhelming desire to plant flowers. But here's the thing ... I know nothing about plants. And, I'm really not a very doting plant mama. I do pretty well with humans, but unless you can scream, cry, whine, or flat out tell me, "I'm hungry/thirsty" you're pretty much doomed to shrivel up and die (seriously ... even my dogs have learned that they have to give me some kind of audible signal).

None of this prevents me from wanting to be a doting plant mama. Each spring I get all giddy at the first sign of color and tag along with my mom to the nursery where I point at plants and flowers, and she tells me whether or not they will work. Usually, we return to my house with a trunk load of plants that magically get planted while I'm busying myself with something else (I don't particularly like dirt).

Amazingly enough, my mom has not gotten tired of my lack of commitment. In fact, this spring, she decided that we would drive all the way down to Hilton Head to The Greenery (she says it's the best ... and from everything I saw, it is). This is not entirely unselfish of her since she love loves loves flowers and plants, and had been wanting to go down there herself. So, showing enthusiasm for my flowers meant that she had company for the hour drive.

Now, because of my general lack of attention to plant life, Mom has suggested that I stick with some kind of container plantings. Usually we do two large pots on either side of my front porch steps and hanging plants. But this spring we (Mom) decided to step it up and do window boxes! And, I got a Camellia Standard, which is breathtaking. And, I planted herbs. And, we added Dahlias. And I did most of the planting all by myself!!

OK, enough boring words. Here are some pictures!!!

We kept the pots on either side of the porch. This one matches the window boxes. The other one (which you'll see soon) contains my herbs. Don't ask me what's in here, because I don't remember. I just know that they like full sun.

My lovely window boxes.

The left window box.

And the right window box (yes, they're identical).

Dahlias in my front bed. They're one of my favorite flowers. I love the look of the flower and the name itself. Daaaahlia ... doesn't it sound pretty?

My herb garden: Basil, Italian Flat-Leaf Parsley, Lemon Sage, and Rosemary (I've already used the herbs twice in my dinner preparation).

The beloved Camellia Standard (which lives in my backyard because it needs some shade).

See why I had to get the Camellia? Aren't the blooms lovely? One just fell off, and I couldn't bare to throw it out, so it's floating in a vase in the house now.

Aren't ya'll proud of me for picking out such lovely plants and for planting them? Now I just have to keep them alive. Fortunately we have had bucket-loads of rain the past few days so watering them isn't an issue yet. Stay tuned for more updates (I hope they're good).

xoxo,

Cabin fever

It was miserable here yesterday. It poured rain from about 11:00 a.m. until well after we went to sleep last night. So poor Allen was cooped up all day. No park, no walk ... nothing. Until we went to meeting last night. Everyone could tell that he had cabin fever because he was a maniac during the entire meeting.

I thought he was going to be good at first. As the meeting started, he took his songbook out, and sang with us (by this I mean he sang random words and phrases ... people's last names, "I love you," etc.). It was all I could do not to laugh out loud. But it was all downhill after this ...

He was all about testing the limits. We threatened, we talked, we disciplined. Twice as we picked him up off the floor, he bumped his head (just a tiny bit). But because he knew that he was going to be disciplined, he yelled "I bumped my head!" in a tearful voice all the way to the back of the hall. He yelled for Mommy. He climbed on chairs and stood on them. He was crazy! It didn't get any better after the meeting either. He pretty much ran around the hall about seven million times.

But, at least he looked cute ...

He was still pretty wired after we got home too ... his tie got "stuck" on his head while I was getting him undressed, and he decided he was a "piyate" (pirate).

He also decided that Mommy and Daddy were "yions" and we were going to get him. The only way to stop us was to sing the song "Bushel and a Peck." See how well it worked?

Some other gems he uttered last night (some of these he's been saying for awhile now, but I keep forgetting) ...

• That's a big rain! (it was pouring outside and he got wet on our way into the house)
• I want funder and yightning to seep with me.
• Get you me (this means get me)
• If he's looking at, say, rubber ducks, he'll say, "And another one duck, and another one duck ..."
• I'm so sweet
• I'm so silly (I tried to type silly the way he says it, but it would be too many Ys)
• What's home? (he says this when Mia starts barking at the door or window, instead of who's home)

Oh, and in other news, look at the awesome tights I was rocking last night. Aren't they fabulous???
xoxo,