Highs and Lows in SoCal

We managed to have a really good time in Southern California despite a few tummy ailments.  For those that aren't my "friends" on Facebook, Drew had a blow-out on the drive down to LA (followed by my trying to clean his clothes/car seat in the hotel bathroom, only to find that the sink was clogged and maintenance needed to be called).  Then the tummy troubles spread to me, and now Dave picked it up.

But like I said, we did find some rays of sunshine on an otherwise troubling trip.  On Black Friday we did walk around the mall (I wanted to use an awesome coupon I had for a book), and Drew managed to meet with Santa.  There was no line.  And I mean NO line - we walked right up to Santa and took a few bootlegged photos.

We also met up with Tata and Abuela (Dave's Dad and step-Mom) for some lunch and afternoon fun.  Drew played with is cousins for a long time and we helped decorate Tata and Abuela's front yard.

L-R: Drew, Tata, Henry

Joanna and Drew

That evening we went back to the hotel and had some drinks at the Managers Reception at the Embassy Suites (one of the best things about staying there!).  Although I think someone had too much juice cocktails....

The next morning after breakfast we stopped by Tata and Abuelas again, to say hello and drive over to Griffith Park, where we've tried to go for the past three visits to SoCal, but never make it due to time, weather or other excuse.

It was awesome!  We enjoyed the train and a picnic, while Drew wrestled with Tata and wore himself out (Tata too I'm sure).

Then it was time for the L.O.N.G. drive home.  There was a big accident at the Harris Ranch exit on I5, although we experienced dead stopped traffic MUCH further back (just north of the 58 all the way to 198).  And we had a milestone.  Because I5 was a parking lot, and Drew had to go, but was remembered our frustration with his blowout on the way down - he was reluctant to go in the pull-up we did have on him this time around.

Instead he peed in a cup!  Yes a proud moment for this Mom & Pop, whose kid won't pee in anything that isn't porcelain - yes we're raising a potty snob.  We'd have opened the door and let him out on the center divide to go, except it was pouring rain.  We finally made it home around 9:30pm and happily went to bed.

Turkey Day in LA

This year it was Thanksgiving with Dave's family (we alternate each year which family gets Thanksgiving or Christmas, and this year it was Thanksgiving with his side).  So we made the drive to Los Angeles with everyone and their mother on Wednesday after Drew's preschool lunch.  Finally making it to the hotel around 8pm, we settled in for the night.

On Thanksgiving Day, we weren't due at his Dad's house until 4pm, so we hit a few stores in during the day and got some early Christmas shopping done, as well as a nap for Mommy and Drew - who were both hit with a stomach bug.  But we did make it to Thanksgiving dinner and enjoyed a great time with the family.  Drew really enjoyed playing with his cousins - on Yolanda's side.

Drew was pretty excited to play catch with Daddy.

L-R: Drew, Dani (a neighbor girl of one of Drew's cousins), Jasmine & Henry

The big fun of the night, blowing up balloons just to pop them.  L-R: Jasmine, Drew, Dani & Abuela (Yolanda)

And here's a video to show how into it they were



Drew was quite proud of himself right after that video... you know for actually popping a balloon.

Black Friday

While some of you are shopping getting all those bargains, I think we are skipping it this year.

Instead I'll share with you some sweet treats from the lunch the kids at Drew's preschool put on for all the parents. What cute little cookies the older kids made?



And here is a thankful tree he put together.



We hope you are enjoying your Thanksgiving weekend.

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25 Reasons To Be Thankful

Since today is Thanksgiving, I thought it would be appropriate to explain why we are thankful this year.  To make things interesting I will give you 25 reasons - one for every day so far this month.  I will note who is thankful for what.

1. For my room - Drew
2. My family and friends near and far - Brenda
3. Good Health - Dave
4. For rabbits when they're scary - Drew
5. Having employment in an economy like this - Brenda & Dave
6. For when I'm eating chicken and french fries - Drew
7. Feeling financially ok and not too stressed - Brenda
8. Being on good softball teams - Dave
9. For seeing Adrina, Kady, Uncle Matt, seeing a mailbox and Blues Clues (get all that?) - Drew
10. All the traveling I get to do around the country and the friends I'm able to meet up with while away - Brenda
11. My wife still cooking me food - Dave
12. Staying here and eating apples, pizza with sauce and pepperonis - Drew
13. For the internet.  What would I really do with out it? - Brenda
14. Cars that take us from Point A to Point B - Dave
15. For spinners - Drew
16. Coffee! - Brenda
17. Playing with my toys and putting them away - Drew
18. My iPhone - Dave
19. That Drew is so smart, healthy and happy - Brenda
20. For Thanksgiving and closing the blinds and opening them - Drew
21. That my boy is growing up well - Dave
22. The roof over our heads - Brenda
23. Wiggles at Grammy and GrampC's - Drew
24. We found a great preschool for Drew (and that he's not beating kids up as much) - Brenda
25. We were able to travel and see family and friends - Dave

Here are a few pictures of Drew as a "turkey".  He created his little tail feathers the other day when he was home sick.

Bible Memory Verse

At Sunday School the kids are required to memorize Bible verses. A confession - since Drew's Birthday we haven't been to church let alone Sunday School until about 2 weeks ago. Which means we missed two months of bible verses (we get one verse a month).

Well in the past two weeks Drew learned this month's verse. Galatians 2:20.

If you couldn't make it out he said, "I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me."

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Bright Side of Ickies

Yesterday Drew stayed home from school - which meant Mommy worked from home.  Sunday evening he came to us saying: "I'm going to have ickies".

While this would likely mean bad things in your house, we were very excited that we had the advanced warning!  Drew was successfully shuttled off to the bathroom before any "ickies" hit the floor.

This happened not once, but twice!  The second time though the warning was just a bit too late and we hit the floor (in the bathroom).  When he got sick overnight, we heard the cry out before he actually got sick.  So Dave made it to the bedroom just in time.

I guess there's one perk from your child puking all the time his first three years of life - he now knows what the sensation feels like before it arrives.  I've heard of elementary school kids who have yet to 'master' this "skill".

Cruisin' in the Vineyards

Wow, I don't think it's ever taken me this long to pull pictures off my camera.  Things were pretty crazy last week with a lack of sleep.  But here are some great pictures we took last weekend when my cousin Jodi was in town from Wisconsin.

We had the luxury of taking them to Livermore for some wine tasting, and for us to pick up a few wine shipments.  Of course I was slacking on the pictures of Jodi and Mark with Drew or anyone for that matter.  Instead you'll have to endure pictures of Drew through the vineyards.

What a Nightmare

Sorry for the lack of posts the past few days.  There hasn't been much sleeping in our house the past few nights.  It seems Drew has had quite a doozey of a nightmare.  Wednesday night he refused to go back to sleep we think because he was absolutely terrified the dream would come back.

The dream - about "rabbits".  Rabbits are his term for Hoops and Yoyo, the Hallmark characters who sing in a lot of cards.  Apparently "rabbits" were climbing on his wall, making circles and scaring him.  He finally crashed in our bed, but had another nightmare about 4:30am.

This nightmare made such an impression on him he was talking about rabbits at school all day and his teacher didn't realize why until I talked to her as I was picking him up.  She was amazed he remembered it in such detail.

Last night, while he slept in his own room, he did have several nightmares prior to 11pm.  Dave was laying with him at one point as he was dreaming and reached out to touch his back and the piercing scream he gave - you know the child was terrified.

So here's to hoping we get a full night sleep tonight!

Race Buddies

Since 2006 I've run the annual race near us - the Bah Humbug 5K (well every year except 2007 because I was only 3 months postpartum).  The only time I've had anyone join me for my run was that very first year - when Dave and I ran it together (I think he finished maybe 30 seconds ahead of me).

This year I'll have twice the amount of company on the starting line.  Dave and  Drew!  That's right not only have I signed up, but Dave is going to walk/run while pushing Drew.  So all three of us will cross the finish line on December 4th. 

Time to work on improving my 5K time!  I had a great race last year.(Oh and I think I'll smoke Dave this time hehe).

Beginning Preschool Graduate

Last night Dave took Drew to swimming lessons and then I received the following text photo.





That's Drew leaving the Swim School with his Beginning Preschool graduation ribbon. This means he has learned to do the following:

• Get in/out safely
• 1+ Bobs
• Assisted Back Float
• Reach, grab wall, climb out
• Underwater 3+ seconds

He was so excited to share it with me when he got home!

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Back in Control!

I'm happy to report that after months, possibly more than a year, we are now back in control of bedtimes in our house. Several weeks ago we introduced a "sticker chart" as I mentioned here.  Well it's doing the trick! 

We successfully solved the problem of daily potty accidents at school, so we moved on to the bedtime routine.  Around the time Drew turned two, we discovered he had a problem with sleeping in his crib.  He preferred our bed.  Part of that is because he kept getting sick right before his second birthday - and had fevers over 104 consistently, so we had him sleep with us so we could keep an eye on him.  But that created a monster, and we couldn't get him out of our bed and back into his crib.

That's when his doctor's mentioned putting his crib mattress on the floor until he got his big boy bed.  We did that, and voila!  It worked.  Then he turned 2 1/2 and he fell prey to night terrors.  And it wasn't until recently we learned why he was terrified - and I mean terrified of his bedroom at night.  It turns out he had a "purple hand" above his dresser that threatened to "get him".  I guess Drew's version of monsters in the closet/under the bed.

During this time he would fall asleep in our bed, and we would transfer him when it was time for us to sleep.  Often we would have to lay with him for 10 minutes - an hour (often then falling asleep ourselves).  Well this was getting out of control.

So we decided to add - "sleep in own bed" to the sticker chart (as well as Daddy beating up and breaking the fingers of the "purple hand").  He wants his "Old McDonalds" prize so it's worked.  We rarely need to do much more than read a story and tuck him in and say goodnight.  We're back to normal bedtimes - he'd stay awake in our bed watching Sprout on TV - and we get downtime in the evenings again.  Something we really haven't had since he was a baby!  We're back in control again! 

Irrational Fear

As I've mentioned I enjoy running and do so in the morning.  A few months ago I encountered a critter on my run - a raccoon.  I saw the little beast as it was crossing the road, and from a distance and in the darkness of the morning I first thought it was a cat.  Until I closed in on it.

Well the little furry creature kept glancing at me, then across the street, back at me, and across the street - near where I was about to round the corner.  Something in the raccoon's eyes made me second guess continuing on my route - it seemed a bit too territorial and I was afraid to find out whether it was a mate or babies on my side of the street.  So I turned around and high tailed it along a different route that day - and boy it ruined my running mojo I had going on.

Several other times on my morning runs I happen upon a family of raccoons, especially on garbage day where they're busy scurrying for food and busy knocking down all the trash bins.  I've even seen one coming out of the sewer drain as I passed by.  I've become irrationally terrified of these beasts.  And this week while watching the news I realized my fear isn't irrational, but rather extremely justified.

It seems a woman walking her dog in a Bay Area park was mauled by 4-5 of these savage animals and now she's undergoing a series of rabies and tetanus shots.  Maybe I should do as a coworker suggested, and run with pepperspray or something.

The Clock Experiment

A few weeks ago I got Drew a clock for several purposes.




1.) We can make the bedtime routine (in his bed) easier.

2.) Try to keep Drew in bed until 6AM.

3.) To teach him how to tell time.

Well today reason number two backfired on me in a big way. Shortly after 5AM Drew announced that he was awake.

Being the follow-through parents that we are we told him he cannot get out of bed until 6.

That's when after the wakeup hour hit he announced he needed to be changed (he wears a pull-up to bed). It seems he woke up early because he had to go #2. That'll teach us.

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I Telled on You

Drew's latest phase - tattling. I think he picked this up at school as a means of trying to get him to stop wailing on the other kids.

You know tell his teachers when someone is bothering him, rather than outright clobbering them.

So what does he threaten to do?

Yep he rattles on us for things like making him eat his dinner.

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Thankful

Last week Drew's teacher mentioned she had the kids talk about what they are Thankful for. Drew's response: Disneyland.


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Reluctant Purging

So I'm a little late with today's blog post - for those religious readers who stop what they're doing at work to read the 8am (PT) bulletin.  It was a little busy this weekend.

Dave left Friday for LA because of a death in the family (his Uncle) and I was left to keep things running on the home front. On Sunday we had to get up early to pick Dave up at the airport.  Of course Drew decides to get car sick as I'm making my first loop around the airport to avoid the wrath of the rent-a-cops who yell at drivers who linger on the curb in front of the terminal.  

Thankfully they didn't call me out I returned and parked curbside, stripped Drew down and placed him in the front seat while I cleaned up vomit from his clothes, car seat, and other areas it projected to.  I guess no one wanted to get close to a mom wringing out puke. 

When we got home Dave showered then took my car to go and sit at the BART station while he took BART to the Raiders/Chiefs football game.  His car was in the shop because a rat or other rodent ate the wiring in his car, causing it not to start (seriously - I can't make this stuff up).

Since Dave took my only means of transportation to accomplish my errands, I was stuck at home with Drew.  I wasn't going to walk anywhere in the rain - although if it was a dry day I'd have considered it!  So instead I decided to tackle the clutter around the house - namely Drew's influx of crap toys.

It was the great toy purge of 2010 right inside my house.  I threw away 3 trash bags full of stuff, got piles ready to hand down, packed away things I'm holding onto and also cleaned the house while I was at it.  By 4pm I was WIPED out.  Drew did amazingly well despite the fact I practically ignored him all day.

Of course purging toys while the child is awake is "fun".  He would get so excited seeing a toy he hadn't played with in a year or two and pull it out of whatever "pile" it was in and begin playing with it again.  Eh, as long as it kept him busy for a bit, what was I going to do?  Drew always put it back into is respective pile... so he was "helping," sort of.

It feels so good to be organized and a little more clutter free.  I miss the days of having a basement though....

Nature Walk

The other day while Dave was off for yet another softball game or two, I decided to take Drew out for a little hike at a nearby Regional Park.  Of course when I told Drew we were going to a park, he had visions of a slide and swings.  I squashed his hopes and told him, he was going for an old fashioned walk with mom and he could go stick hunting (he remembered doing this with his friends Aaron, Mitchell and Jake in Minnesota a few months ago).

So we set out for a new park (new to us anyway) and we walked through the trees and cows.  Drew had fun asking a million questions about why cows go poop on the ground instead of the potty.

Of course I took advantage of the limited daylight left and snapped a few shots.

 As we got deeper into our hike, Drew noticed many of the trees were leaning.  I tried to explain in terms I thought a three year old could understand about the trees leaning to find the sun.... well that lead to another million questions about why they do that. 

I happened to catch him just as his little brain was processing the reason the trees lean (and why some of them fall and break).

Despite my battling yet another sinus issue, Drew and I managed to make it a great evening with a 45-minute hike followed by a dinner date at Applebees (his choice).  I guess that hike was "rough," he ate every last bite of his dinner - which doesn't usually happen at restaurants.

School Artwork

One of the joys of preschool is the abundance of art projects Drew comes home with.  A little more than a week ago, he came home with a project that really surprised us. 

His artwork is starting to look like something other than just scribbles and lines.  (Drew still doesn't know how to hold a pencil/crayon correctly so it's usually just circles and lines). The assignment to draw your friends.  Here's what he drew L-R - Himself, Mason, Troy, Daddy (and on the bottom, I'm a gray line). 

Dave had a big laugh at that one going back to the "funny" Drew told several months ago.  Forget that story? Catch up here, it's #3.

Anyway this art project was like he turned a corner.  He's also now writing his name and it's mostly legible (albeit about font size 72).  It's one of the great things about watching your child grow, learn and expand their overall knowledge.  It's amazing to sit back and watch the ride.

Mommy & Drew Day - The Good Stuff

As you saw a preview of over the weekend, Mommy and Drew Day wasn't all roses.  But there were some fun times - at least until I made the mistake to take Drew to the pumpkin patch.

See this all came to be because Drew's school was closed on Friday, and I took the day off to have this special Mommy/Son day.  Silly me to think my 3 year old would be as excited about it as I was.  

First we had to wait for our dryer to be delivered and installed, but by about 10:15am that was done.  Then I took him to Super Franks - which he remembers from his friend's birthday party back in June (we've been there  a few times since).  But he had a blast!  We played in a few of the rooms and then stopped for a bite to eat.

In that glow in the dark room - called the Fish Tank - he jumped his heart out.  He was having so much fun in there - and I kept thinking to myself "go ahead and tire yourself out.  A nap is in both of our futures."

Finally at about 1:00 we left Super Franks and I made the call to pick up the pumpkins Daddy needed us to get at the Patch near our house - just a small one.  It started out great!  I wanted to get a few pictures with him around the patch and with some pumpkins...

But he quickly wanted to stop with the pumpkins and take advantage of the rides.  He stopped cooperating for photos.

So I told him he got one ride - and he had to pick. What was his choice?

The jumpy house of course.  As if he didn't get enough of that at Super Franks!  He was thrilled.  Until he got off and well you can read/see Saturday's post to get the idea of how the afternoon ended.

For now let's focus on the positive and when I wasn't so anxious to sell my child on ebay.

Boo at the Zoo

Saturday was awfully busy, but we braved the weather and headed over to the Oakland Boo at the Zoo.  And got Drew all dressed up and ready to join the festivities.

Once we finally got to the zoo, he wasn't to thrilled to walk around rather he wanted to sit in the stroller or be carried.  Finally after being there for a while he started to warm up.

Of course what's a trip to the zoo without hitting the rides.  For dressing up Drew got one free ride.  And while we tried to wait in the ridiculously long line for the train - we decided to ditch that and hit a few more fun things.

After the rides, we decided to say hello (and goodbye) to the Oakland Firefighters.  

And of course a good Superman will hold the Firetruck back to prevent it from any evil harm.

Halloween Treat

Trick or Treat was a hit at our house yesterday.  It started out with carving our pumpkins.  Drew designed two out of three!  Here he is with Daddy showing him how it's done.

Then after dinner with GrampC and Grammy it was time for Clark Kent to change into his Halloween Costume....

GrampC wanted to get a picture of us at our "competition's house".  Dave goes all out for Halloween, and so does one of our neighbors.  Notice Drew's blue face?  Not caused by kryptonite, rather from a cookie.

Needless to say Drew made out like a bandit.  We were all taking turns carrying his little pumpkin pail.   It was awfully heavy, but he wanted to keep going.  Finally at about 7:30 we had to convince him he was done!