Showing off the house and ants

Our internet has been spotty lately so I gave Cindy and Ken a call on our regular house line the other day. Simon was so excited to hold the phone that I went ahead and let him. He ran around the house, thrilled to hold the phone, and showed Gaga and Papa all of Simon's favorite haunts.

This is the couch. Don't go behind it!
(I missed him ducking behind and pointing)

Toy box!

So many things in the back yard. Especially...

Look at the wall.

Right there! Ants!

Ants RIGHT THERE!

Did you see?

The great escape (attempted)

Our bedtime routine changed a while back and instead of holding Simon when I sing a good night song to him I set him in the crib, tuck him in and sing to him. The other night I set him down and he popped right up - which he does about half the time - and I did my normal response of ignoring that he is standing and tucking in his animals instead, leaving a Simon-sized space in between them which usually causes him to dive in pretty quickly. This time he ignored my tucking in of Jelly Cat and Chili Dog and scooted to the far corner of the crib, the one closest to the changing table. He started saying something, but he was tired and I was having a hard time making out the word he was saying. After a minute I went over to look at what he was gesturing to and found that one of the screws that holds the crib together was almost all the way out and he was not gesturing but instead continuing to unscrew it! (It then clicked that he was saying screw.)

I immediately turned on the light and called down to Alan (who luckily was also home). He was making dinner and confused as to to why I was calling him up when I should be about ready to quietly sneak down the stairs. He too was amazed that Simon was unscrewing his crib and went to go find an allen wrench. Simon came out of the now suspect crib and was very excited that he'd caused such a stir. When Alan started tightening the screws, Simon insisted on helping. Together they fixed the crib.

It turns out almost all of the screws were somehow very loose. Simon for over a year has been laying on his back with his feet in the air and letting them fall on to the crib sides, or kicking the crib sides or pushing on them. We think with that constant motion he just was slowly loosening the screws until he could get his little fingers in there to finish the job. Instead of climbing out, our son was going to just let the crib fall down around him. Very Shawshank.

All is safe now and we will be checking the screws regularly from here on out. Important parenting lesson - learned!

Craft day!

New Toy: The Alphabet Puzzle

Simon got a new toy that is a letter game. Each letter is matched with an animal/thing that starts with that letter and they interlock as a unique little 2 piece puzzle so each letter only fits with it's matching thing. There are lots of ways of playing the game, but Alan's version has them both laying down on the ground looking at 6 or so letters. Then they choose a thing that Simon identifies (pumpkin!) and then he says the first letter of pumpkin (which is pictured and written on the card. You have to point to it for him, this step often needs help), then Simon identifies which of the letters out in front is the matching letter. He is a rock star at finding the right letter. Then they payoff - Simon puts the puzzle pieces together and then both he and Alan yell BAM! when they fit. He is always really proud and when I was watching he brought the matching pieces to me to show off and for me to hold safely.

Which one?

Which one?

Think think....

This one!

Fitting pieces together

Oops, gotta lie down... fitting pieces together

Solved it!

2 days with mama

Jenn moved on May 1st so asked for both the 1st and 2nd off so she could have some time to get settled. As a result, Simon had 2 days with mama. Here are some photos, most after the jump...

Bagel breakfast at Einstein's because Safari Cup is closed. :( 

A sad discovery about Safari Cup

I'm home with Simon today and is my custom we headed off first thing to Safari Cup to have breakfast with Sharon and Dave.

Imagine my shock when I walked up to the storefront and it was EMPTY. Nothing there at all. No sign, no window dressings, no furniture at all - the entire space was simply empty.

I honestly looked around to see if I took a wrong turn somewhere since we had just driven by on Sunday and saw Dave and Sharon (owners) getting out of the car and walking in. But it was the right place, they had just disappeared.

Looking into it we found out that Sunday was their last day in business. I so wish we had gone but there were no signs or notice. Starbucks had purchased the three (yes, 3) stores next to them and started construction this spring to merge them into one very large location. I guess they just didn't think they could complete.

Safari Cup has been our favorite local hang outs for years. We have more pictures than I can count of Simon and almost every person who has visited us on those black couches with the elephant pillows. It was the first place I walked to after I had Simon and he spent so many hours sleeping on me in the wrap while I read and drank iced herbal tea. I will so miss it.

Beautiful evening.

Last night was such a beautiful evening, our first really warm day.  When I got home Simon and I went to the grocery store to pick up chicken and asparagus for Alan and my dinner and while we there we also got grapes. They were perfectly ripe and juicy and the sun was hot. So we snacked on them the walk home and then ate more of them in the back yard since I just couldn't stand to go inside yet. Simon learned to pull them off the stem and generally ran around like the almost-two-year-old that he is. Little video at the end, but you can get the idea from the pictures.