For some reason McCormick seems to be phasing out my husband's favorite seasoning Lemon And Herb. If you know my husband you know it's not good. He's not very adventurous when it comes to eating. He can rotate 10 different kinds of food day to day for the rest of his life and be content.
This I suppose makes it a lot easier for me as a housewife but could be problematic when one of them becomes unavailable. I strongly suspect that the main reason why he never considered working in the Philippines when he could ask his office to be transferred there was because of his beloved blueberry bagels. Unless there is an Einstein Bros Bagels franchise in Manila, we're staying put.
So back to the Lemon and Herb story. When we couldn't find them in any of the stores anymores, we ordered it in Amazon. The only hitch is that it was only available at this size for a set of 2. It is ridiculously big it had us chuckling. The bad news? The stock is running low even online.
I got the above movies and cds from the library yesterday. I wanted to find out just how many is the limit in borrowing their media titles. I found out from the check out counter that I could take out 10. The Cinderella movie is really for me. All that Evan wants to watch is Diego.
Okay this array of fruit should last us for a week. I hope they don't spoil before then because it's only me and Evan who's pretty much doing the eating. I guess I may be overcompensating for last week when we ran out of fruit, which is pretty unusual in our house. The thing I miss most about working was our office being near a produce store which had a good selection of fruits and vegetables at relatively cheap prices. But now it would be too far to drive there just for that sole purpose and the ones available in the grocery nearby are either too expensive, limited variety or poor quality.
Evanspeak
Last night. Evan after coming out from the bathroom: "I'm a fast peer. A fast peer is a good peer."
It's that time of the month again. Time for Evan's update. There's no denying that while other kids have the terrible two's, for Evan it's the threes.
Evan at a neighborhood art fair. Evan loved that dinosaur shaped balloon which we got for free (well I put in a $1 tip). Evan at almost 3 years and 1 month. A special note to Evan's lola: put the mouse over a photo to see its entirety.
It's not really too bad most of the time, in fact, it's still a fun age but it's also the age of contradiction, in fact he contradicts himself all the time. It's like...
me:"Evan do you want to go to the park?"
Evan: "No, I want to stay here."
me: "Okay, we'll just stay at home."
Evan: "No, I want to go to the park."
Of course, he wants to go to the park, what kid doesn't? But it's a stage that they contradict you just for the sake of contradicting. I remember a line from Dr. Harvey Karp's book "The Happiest Toddler On The Block" saying that even they, the kids themselves, really don't know what they want.
He has also began shouting at us even if he isn't angry. From what I see, he just wants to see what our reaction is. So we try not to make a big deal out of it but just firmly remind him that he shouldn't shout and ask nicely. This is a work in progress.
He tests his limits by even trying to boss us around. That extends
to our singing. When Tom and I try to sing, he shouts, "STOP!"
holding a hand straight in front of him. Tom accusses Simon Cowell for
instilling in our son this behaviour. We constantly remind Evan that
it's rude whenever he does that. BUT whenever he gets his owies or
upset, he'll run to his mom and tearfully asks me to sing "Tarzan"
(Phil Collin's You'll Be In My Heart).
Mealtime is a test too. It's not that
he's a picky eater but he eats soooo sloooooowwww. It's like he's just
not interested in eating. One time he had broccoli in his mouth for
like 10 minutes. I remember stories of me as child, I would suck on my
food for a long time too. I hope he's not getting it from me. But I do
notice that as long as I serve a new dish or food, he eats it with
enthusiasm and faster. But if it's something that he has eaten a few
times, even if it's a candy, chocolate goldfish cracker or chips, he'll
just take a bite or two then it's forgotten.
top photo: Evan at 1 month. bottom right: Evan at 1 year 1 month old. bottom left: Evan 2 years 1 month. It's interesting the physical changes in Evan for every year in his life.
But, as I've said, it's a fun and funny age. I wouldn't exchange it for any other age he has been. Especially the talking. I'll tell you a crass bedtime story.
One night while I lay down beside Evan before he slept his mommy broke wind. Now I assure you it's not a common occurence in our house as evidenced by what my son said afterwards. "What's that sound?" he inquired. When I didn't say anything he supplied the answer, "that's daddy...blowing his nose."
It's a very sweet age too. There would be days that he would tell me that he loves me and asks for a kiss without reason, numerous times in one day. Nowadays it is his custom to see his daddy off to work, giving him a hug, a kiss and bye-bye. One morning, he was by the stairs saying his goodbye until his dad was out of sight I dictated that he tell his daddy that he loves him. He was too busy to mind me. But as soon as he closed the door he cried, "waaahhhh...I want to love daddy! I want to miss him!" I had to reassure him that we could call daddy as soon as he arrives in the office.
He talks pretty well, except for the word "owie" we don't babytalk to him. Like when he plays with the lamp I tell him not to waste "electricity" even if I am tempted to use the word "battery". But I find it cute how he still says "lelo" (for yellow) and "nana" (for banana).
As for potty training, he now pees standing up on the real toilet bowl but uses the potty for the other business. He still has accidents so he still wears pull-ups when we go out and when he sleeps. I am now trying to get him to use public toilets like in our gym's daycare.
It's funny to me how he still doesn't connect that the McDonald's Happy Meal comes with a toy. I usually hide them when he's not looking for future use. So when we were having lunch earlier he was busy playing with just the box and enjoying it (he covered his head to play peek-a-boo at one point).
I just had an idea a week ago, that I'm going to compile all of Evan's update from my blog, make it into an ebook, something I could send out to my family. At the same time this will give me a chance to practice my Illustrator and InDesign skills. So expect to see a lot more of monthly updates in the future. The ebook will be my gift to Evan when he's grown up. But I hope it doesn't come too fast. At the rate I am going, the ebook will be a tome.
Technically, I ordered Evan's Spiderman scooter 2 nights before yesterday but the other day a message from Amazon came to say that there was a problem with my credit card.
Apparently I used the old one, so I corrected it that night and saw that the scooter hasn't been shipped yet. I availed of the free shipping which says could take from 5-9 days. So I was very surprised when we came home after a lunch out with a college friend to find this big box waiting in the hallway with my name on it. Business in Amazon must be slow.
Assembly (which I always dread) took only 20 minutes. It could have been way less if I haven't had to keep hunting down the washer pieces. The unsuspecting Evan is still napping. But I will probably wait for his daddy to arrive before giving him the no-occasion-that-we-could-think-of-except-that-boys-should-have-scooters-when-it's-summer present. Can't wait.
If there was a fly (which is not usually a common bug for us here in Chicago probably because of the cold weather) on the wall in our house last week, this is what he would have witnessed:
I saw just-having-woke-up-from-nap Evan with his arms wrapped around Tom's leg while both of them were watching golf. As usual by the time I got the camera they were on to me.
Tom and I were watching tv. Evan was sitting on the coffee table holding a small notebook with his left side to us. I elbowed Tom, "your son loves to read so much that he's pretending to read even if the pages are blank." He was mumbling for the most part but we distinctly heard him say, "theeeeee (as he flipped through five pages before he reached the last leaf) end." He closed the notebook, nodded his head with satisfaction and gave his verdict, "that was a gooood story!"
*****
Wanting to see my son's reaction, I smacked many kisses on his daddy. Sure enough our son approached us, looking up he asked, "heeeeyyyy, what's going on here?". Daddy and I ignored him, we just laughingly kept on giving each other many small kisses. Evan hugged both our legs and demanded authoritatively, "stop! stop!" It's universal, kids don't like too much mushiness.
*****
Evan's card for daddy. He literally picked that by himself. I was browsing for musical cards, but Evan in his stroller scooped this up from the bottom section, plucked the bowtie and put it in his neck. "A tie!" he announced proudly. So mommy had no choice but to buy the damaged card. Evan also wrote the letters himself, with the help from his mommy. I've read that reading and writing usually go together.
As related to me by my husband. Evan and Tom were in our son's bed getting ready for his bedtime. All of a sudden, our three year old gave a different kind of laugh. Tom laughed. Evan repeated the strange laughter but this time pointing to his daddy, "that's you!" Apparently, he was imitating his dad.
*****
Late at night after Tom and I have finished watching "The Wrestler" (Mickey Rourke) on video, I teasingly tickled Tom. "Ilok," (eee-lok) my husband said in mock seriousness. It's the bisayan word for armpit. I pointed to his eyes. This time he drew blank. "Mata," (mah-tah) I reminded him. I pointed to his nose. Still another blank stare. "Ilong," (eee-long) I supplied again, a tad reprovingly. I pointed to his ear. Without missing a beat Tom answered, "earlong." This had us cracking up for a long time. The correct word by the way should have been "dunggan."
Students walk to school, eat nutritious breakfast, stretch, do deep breathings then go to classroom. They get recess, can go outside to play, have one hour gym. Have nutritious lunch of fruits, veggies and whole grain. They do yoga too. Everyday.
"Kids are taught to
take a deep breath when they’re angry, relax in child’s pose before a
test, try new vegetables on the salad bar—and coax their parents off
the couch at night to exercise. Parents and teachers, in turn, can take
their own yoga classes, serve on the school board, volunteer in
classrooms, learn about nutrition, and join school walking clubs.
But the schools’ vision is a “yoga” that goes deeper. From a young age, children are mentored into a culture of svadhyaya (self-study
and self-inquiry). A well-rounded curriculum gives them a broad
understanding of the world. And the matrix of health and positive
socialization gives these kids—and their families—a window into a
healthier, happier life. If only all children could attend schools
like these, you may think, for a core tenet of yoga is that if everyone
could control their own body and mind, ours would be a peaceful world."
- excerpt from an article about the Namaste Charter School in Chicago
Heck it is my dream school for all children of the world.
A Letter From Evan's Pre-School
Evan and friend David at the Kohls Children's Museum. Evan playing food server with a boy and his mom he doesn't know. The museum is a fun place to go during rainy days although a tad too expensive at $7 per person. Btw, the cafè, grocery, pet vet etc. are play stations and not real.
I got this in the mail about a month ago listing materials I need to buy for Evan when he attends school this September:
2 boxes of 100 qty. 5 oz. paper cups 2 rolls of paper towel 1 package of napkins 1 box of tissue 1 box of crayons* 2 boxes of 8 washable wide markers* 1 box of 8 washable thin markers* 4 glue sticks (prefer Averyl, Elmer's or Staples glue sticks) 1 bottle of 8oz. Glue 3 boxes of baby wipes $20 printing pictures 1-2 gallon Ziploc Bags (*recommened Crayola products)
Note: The following items should be labeled with your child's name: socks, underpants, shirt & pants; to be left at school. A separate pair of gym shoes are needed for gym. "Velcro" is appreciated, please.
