January 16-22, 2011

On Sunday, we went on a surfin' safari.

On Monday, the kids sat together and were all adorable before story time.







And also, a little annoyed that I kept taking pictures instead of reading stories.



And also also, this is a cute picture.



On Tuesday, we had fun fun fun until Lorney took the T-Bird away.

On Wednesday, around Nassau town we did roam.

On Thursday, we went to Kokomo. Ha ha, no we didn't, that song is terrible.

On Friday, Evie was smiley.



On Saturday, we headed up to Gramma Jo's house. Evie practiced walking.



Will and Gramma Jo worked on puzzles.

January 9-15, 2011

On Sunday, Lorne made Evie laugh.



On Monday, Evie stared at you.



On Tuesday, Will talked about his sister.



And created his own version of Angry Birds.





Also, this happened:



On Wednesday, we took lots of pictures. See them all here

Here is one not pictured over on that other post: Will smizing.



On Thursday, we wondered why it is that birds always appear every time you are near.

On Friday, Will worked on puzzles.



Evie worked on being adorable.



On Saturday, something happened around here. What it was ain't exactly clear.

January 2-8, 2011

On Sunday, Will decided to nap on the changing table.



And also saw something distressing while he was on the couch.



On Monday, we AAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH



On Tuesday, we took some self portraits.





On Wednesday, Evie got in her bouncer.



On Thursday, Will got new shoes. He picked these out himself. He calls them his "crazy fancy blue shoes."



On Friday, we did nothing of interest. Move along.

On Saturday, we had tummy time. Will was a little more on board with the whole tummy time thing than Evie.



It's like you can hear Will saying, "I'm having fun!" and Evie saying, "Um, whatever dude."



We also played a game that involved Will dancing around some balls.

the escalator

Before my mom had my older brother, her first child, she had nightmares about all the ways she would fail as a parent. She says she thinks she was an overly nervous first-time mom, but I think being overly nervous as a first-time parent is probably more common than she realized at the time. Anyway, one of her recurring nightmares before my brother was born was that they would be on an escalator and he wouldn't get off fast enough and his shoelaces would get stuck and eventually the escalator would chew him to bits, like escalators are giant monsters that wait for dawdling toddlers with inattentive parents and then eat them alive if given the opportunity. How silly.

Today I took Will to the Macy's Home Store to check out a couch for my sister-in-law. (She lives in Idaho, and apparently Macy's is prejudiced against potato makers and don't let you see the cool couches in person.) Will helped me assess the awesomeness of the couch ("Tell Aunt Miranda this one is comfy. It would be good for naps.") and then we got on the escalator to head out. I had my phone in one hand and somehow lost hold of Will's other hand and then he slipped.

As he tumbled and cried out, "MOMMY!" I could see not his entire life flashing before his eyes, but my mom's nightmare coming to life. I tried to put my phone in my purse but it felt like I was moving through molasses, and while I worked on pushing my hand through the invisible barrier to my purse, I tried to prop Will up with my foot. He was a trooper, and kept a hold of my foot with one hand while he made a valiant effort to stand up again by bracing himself against the side of the escalator. But you know, the thing about escalator walls is that they don't move along with the stairs. Jerk walls. So every time he stuck his hand out to balance himself he just knocked himself down another step.

As I fumbled to pick him up I kept glancing to see how close we were to the top of the escalator, how soon we would reach the hungry jaws of the monster, waiting to eat my poor two-year-old whose mother failed to keep hold of his hand for the twenty seconds it takes to get up the freaking escalator. Then finally he was in my arms and the world moved at a normal pace again. Not that I actually thought the escalator would eat him. But if he didn't stand up fast enough, I was concerned that his pantleg would get stuck at the top.

The entire incident couldn't have lasted more than five seconds, but it felt like we were moving in slow motion. I was also sure that every last person in the store could see I carried Will out of the store, though he wasn't crying by the time we got to the top of the escalator, and I was sure that every last person was staring at me, judging the incompetent mother failing to grab her poor toddler as he fell, struggling to put her phone in her purse before bending to grab him (why is it taking her so long to put her phone in her purse? what is WRONG with her?), lamely trying to lift him with her foot (though what if they thought I was trying to kick him?!) before she finally bent to snatch him from the jaws of the escalator monster.

Will is rather unflappable. He talked about the owies on his chin and arm (a couple tiny scrapes) until we got home, but then he was only interested in eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I had to coax the story out of him for Lorne. And instead of seeing me as the one who failed him by not holding his hand the whole time, he told Lorne, "Mommy got me and picked me up so I didn't fall down to the bottom!"

December 26, 2010 - January 1, 2011

On Sunday, Will was sick. He spent a lot of time puking. Merry Christmas! Then Uncle Jon went home.

On Monday, I'm sure something happened, but I could not tell you what it was if you paid me.

On Tuesday, Lorne and I went out on a date. I had a large beer.



On Wednesday, we sat around and played games, then our friends Brian and Michele came over in the evening. They were in town for Thursday's events.

On Thursday, we went to the Holiday Bowl. The Huskies were playing the Cornhuskers. It's the first bowl game I'd been to since the Huskies played Texas the last time they went to the Holiday Bowl, in 2001. Before the game we went with Brian and Michele to the parade. Lorne was the pack mule.



Emma tailgated with us.



I know we live in San Diego and don't have cool weather very often, but holy crap, was it cold during the game. Will laughs in the face of cold.



He refused blankets.

On Friday, this happened.



On Saturday, Grandma Diane and Emma went home. Evie and Will played to console themselves. Apparently I dressed them in matching outfits.





Also, babies think it's hilarious when you step on them.

December 19-25, 2010

On Sunday, we drove to Flagstaff. The drive from San Diego to Flagstaff is kind of long.



The desert was pretty. We made a couple stops along the way: once in El Centro to let Will climb around in the McDonald's play place (though Lorne just drank coffee there, we ate elsewhere...though Church's Chicken was probably greasier than anything we could have eaten from McDonald's); once along the side of the road in the desert (shortly after I took the above picture with my phone); once in Parker for gas; once in Lake Havasu for dinner at the brewery (which was pretty good!); and then once again about 40 miles outside of Lake Havasu because everyone was screaming. Road trips with young children are awesome!

We met Grandma Diane, Uncle Jon, and Cousin Emma at a hotel in Flagstaff. No pictures of this for today.

On Monday, we went to see Santa so the kids could tell him what they wanted for Christmas.


Evie, Will, and Emma

Santa wasn't too busy, so he let us get some pictures of all the kids individually as well.





That night we had the kids decorate the sugar cookies Lorne and Will baked up a few days before. Yes, we brought cookies with to decorate in a hotel.



We got the frosting bottles at Michael's before we left after Will had such a good time using squeezy frosting bottles at the cookie decorating party at our apartment a couple weeks ago. I think the bottles are supposed to be used for royal icing, but I thought the thickness of buttercream would be a little less messy for the kids.


Sneaking M&Ms was Will's favorite part of decorating.

It was definitely less messy than using a knife, so I think we'll be doing it again next time we do sugar cookies.

On Tuesday, we went to the Grand Canyon.



Everyone was all, "Oh, the Grand Canyon? In December? It's going to be cold." And I was all, "Whatever." But dude. It was COLD. Super windy. Then it started raining.


Hey, look at that big hole. Can we go inside yet?

When Lorne and I went to the Grand Canyon on our first anniversary, we saw some kids climbing fences and dangling over sheer cliffs, and Laurel almost had a heart attack, so we spent a lot of time talking with Will about how he HAD to hold hands at the Grand Canyon and be very careful. On our walk from the parking lot to the overlook center thing, which was like, a half mile, Will refused to walk anywhere near the side of the path that was closest to the canyon. And he walked. Very. Very. Slowly. Lorne made it to the center a good 20 minutes before Will and I did. Perhaps we were a little TOO zealous. But it's nice to know he pays attention, right?


He made it back to the car, safe and sound.

On Wednesday, we drove back to San Diego, once again via Lake Havasu City. Lake Havasu City is perhaps best known because they purchased London Bridge in 1968.



The London Bridge. From London. They spent $2.5 million to purchase it, and another $7.5 million to have it dismantled and rebuilt in Arizona. Rumor has it they thought London Bridge was this bridge:


Will and Lorne in April of 2009. No Bud Light boats in the background here, and I think London is the poorer city for it.

which is, of course, Tower Bridge. Poor Lake Havasu.

They have a ridiculous British-themed tourist trap at the base of the bridge, but the tourists, I believe, come when it's warmer.

Also, this happened:





Then there was the torrential downpours on the way home. All the way through the desert.

On Thursday, we made Nanaimo bars and got Will a haircut. And also took no pictures.

On Friday, we went up to Gramma Jo's house. We totally failed to all look at the camera at the same time.



Evie did a better job later.



Someone was excited about Christmas.



Evie opened her first present.



On Saturday, it was Christmas.

Will got a bike. He was far less entertained by it than he was this Thomas tent:



Santa brought Evie this little baby activity center thing. Evie was not impressed.



Santa also brought Evie an owl like Will's lion that he sleeps with. Will helped pick it out. Evie now sleeps with the owl every night.



Will checks out his bike.



He took it out for a spin.



Will and Lorne also played Will's new Dinosaur Train matching game. Will's pretty good at it.



No one is very good at family pictures.



Not pictured: The amazing Christmas dinner Lorne made. A whole prime rib roast with asparagus and scalloped potatoes. Amazing.

a short story

Yesterday, after Evie went down for a little evening nap, Will wanted to take a walk. Lorne stayed home to get some work done and take care of Evie (if she woke up), and Will and I headed out. Will is an epic walker. He just loves walks, and he'll go for hours if you let him. We started off running and kicking a ball down the greenbelt that runs along the backside of our apartment complex, then walked through a business park so Will could look at a fountain he likes, and then headed back through the other end of our complex near the playground.



When we got to the playground there were several other kids there: a little girl that looked like she'd just learned to walk, and two older boys. Will first offered his ball to the little girl. She threw it to him (well, sort of - she threw it while looking at him, but it didn't really go in his direction most of the time) and Will rolled it back. I didn't even have to remind him to be gentle when playing with someone younger than him. Will didn't even freak out when she lifted up his ball (his special Thomas ball) and toddled off to another area of the playground. Maybe he realized her parents, or his mom, wouldn't let her leave for good with it? Anyway, she wandered off, and Will set his sights on the two boys.

Lorne and I have a tendency to be fairly shy around people we don't know. (Hell, sometimes around people we do know.) Will has not inherited this aspect of our personalities. Will walked right up to the boys and said, "Oh, hi friends! Would you like to play with me?"

The first, the older boy, said, "I'm six. I'm too old to play with you and I'm not your friend."

Undaunted, Will turned to the smaller boy and said, "Would you like to play with me, friend?"

The second boy said, rather meanly, "I'm three. I'm too old to play with you too. I don't want to be your friend either."

And this is where I, and I'm 99% sure Lorne, would have said, "Oh, okay," wilted, and turned around and found something to do alone. (Though to be honest, without a couple beers in us first, Lorne and I probably wouldn't have been so forward in the first place.) But not Will. Will, refusing to be shut down so easily, responded, "Well I'm four." He didn't say it in a teasing way, or a sing-songy way, or in any way that might have indicated that he was lying. He was very matter-of-fact.

And then the older boy turned to his brother and said, "Well, he's older than you. He can tell you to play with him and be his friend if he wants."

Will grinned. "Okay friends! Let's go down the slide!" he exclaimed.

The older boy immediately complied. Apparently Will being "four" made him a little more desirable to play with. Will and the older boy went down the big slide together. The younger boy followed Will and the older boy around, saying over and over, "I'm not your friend. I don't want to play with you." But as he said it, he went down the slide and chased him. Then eventually, he stopped saying it. Soon the three boys were going down the wide slide all at the same time, having races, and laughing like old pals. When their mom said it was time to go home, they all hugged. They said they hoped they'd see him at the playground again soon. Will cried a little. He was having so much fun he didn't want to leave.

When the boys were initially being a little snotty to him, I wanted to say something. Not to force them to play with Will, just to be a little more polite about not wanting to. But I didn't. It's not like I've let my shyness keep me from telling off a kid (or his/her parent) who's acting like a jerk at the playground before. But they weren't being super mean. Just regular-kid mean. If Will had been upset by their words I may have. I thought, for a bit, that Will might not have realized they were being mean to him and that's why he persisted, why he didn't just walk away when they rejected his initial offer of friendship. But as we walked home he talked about his new friends and how they didn't want to play with him and were not being very nice*, but then they were nice and they went down the slide and climbed the ladder and had lots of fun. It seems he knew what was going on. He just didn't let the rejection faze him.

I could probably stand to learn a lesson or two from Will.

*When we're watching TV and there's any sort of yelling or physical fighting at all, Will will furrow his brow, turn to me or Lorne, and say, "They're not being very nice," repeatedly. Then he'll expound upon whatever not nice behavior he just saw. It seems to fascinate and annoy him all at once.

P.S. I know I'm ridiculously behind in posting pictures. Forgive me. We've been taking pictures, but things have just been so busy lately.