When's spring break part two?

It's been quite a spell since I have had time to blog. Erik and I taught three weekends in a row for Ashland University. We had a fantastic time and met some amazing teachers. We finished our last class and I immediately started spring break. I had a list of things to do for the week and somehow I never got to most of it. I had way too much fun playing with Eli and watching him enjoy his newest pasttime: coloring. He loves crayons and scribbles joyfully on his paper. We even found the Holy Grail of paper: giant post-it notes. They stick to his mat and we don't have to worry about Eli tossing it on the floor.

I also took Eli for a rowdy morning at Little Gym, a pint-sized gym for pint-sized kids. They have all sorts of climbing equipment, mats and balls. The kids have free play and then a teacher leads the group in a structured activity like pounding on a giant tube and singing "The Noble Duke of York." For Eli, though, the best part was basketball. The teacher rolled over a short hoop with dangly bells attached to net. The kids took all sorts of balls out of a big tub and tossed them though the hoop. Eli shot hoops like a pro and was quite unnerved when the teacher started to roll the hoop back to the side of the room. In fact, Eli just kept walking right after her, putting more balls in the basket. And finally when she got the hoop back to it's spot in the corner, Eli just grabbed some more balls to toss in. It was just darling. Maybe instead of being a world-famous Professor of Botany like his Nana Jane and Poppy, he will be a starter for the Knicks. Let's just hope he realizes that buying Hummer is not enviro-friendly.

I am not in any way ready to go back to school. Why isn't sping break two weeks long?

Survey says!

One of the 23 parenting magazines we receive had a poll. It asked parents is they felt their child was smarter than average. In the end, 78% of parents stated that their child was smarter than average. Of course, Erik and I are convinced that Eli is smarter than smart, and we have empiracal data to prove our claim!

We went to Border's and proceeded to look up a book title. Erik stood at the kiosk and typed in the title. To the left of the screen is a little slot where you throw away the paper that prints with the location of your book. Lest anyone think we coached our little prodigy, there is no visible paper near the kiosk. All of the printouts go into a space under the desk that isn't visible.

On the surface of the kiosk, right next to the little slot, are the words "waste paper." As Erik stood there holding Eli, our darling boy yelled out, "Paper!" as he stared straight at the waste paper slot. Erik and I stopped in our tracks. Could it be? Our 20-month-old can read? Do we have a super genius on our hands? Should we start homeschooling next year? Should we purchase "War and Peace"?

We had to test our new-found mensa member. After all, what is life without some norm-referenced, high-stakes testing? We found the first book in the store that had the word "paper" on the cover and asked Eli, "What's that word?" He proudly answered, "Flower!" but we were not deterred! It just so happened that there was a flower on the cover. Try again! Cover the flower! "What's that word, Eli?" Erik asked. Our wonderful baby smiled and said, "Potty!"

I guess he's not ready to read "A Tale of Two Cities" yet but to us, he is a genius.

The Silence is Deafening

As I sit staring out at a cold, grey sky, I realize that I can't hear a sound that has become so familiar to my life. I could pick this sound out of a crowd of thousands. Eli's voice.

Erik and I plopped Eli in the van of his Papa Paul and Abuelita, kissed him goodbye, and drove away for an overnight stay at the shopping mecca, Ikea (more on that later). So here I am in the living room of our hotel, using up their free high-speed internet while Erik naps (another luxury that we can rarely do with Eli around).

The hum of the mini-fridge seems to overpower the room but I don't really want to listen. I would rather hear, "Mama? Where mama?" or "I can't see birrrrrds" or "I coldddd" or his newest word "Chee-burr-burr." Oh I remember the days when all I wanted was some quiet. And I still love the quiet. But I also love the little high-pitched voice of my cherub, even when he screeches so loud I'm sure my eardrums will break. Will I ever get the sound of his voice out of my head? I doubt it. I guess that's what it means to love a person so much you would lie down in front of a bus to save him. His voice is forever imprinted in my brain, never to leave.

So as I relax, mini-fridge still humming, I miss his voice. Screaming or otherwise.

Happiness is being one of the gang.....

It's true. Eli loves all things Sesame Street. He watches Sesame Street every morning while we get ready for work. I am sure this is mostly how Eli has learned to count to 15, sing "Shiney Happy Monsters" with REM, and learned the letter X. He knows that the characters are on his diapers and he says each name as we slide the diaper under his bum. The first Sesame Street character that Eli learned was Elmo, whom he refers to as "Momo." Eli knows that Elmo is the King on Monster Hill (after all, he has his own segment, "Elmo's World," that lasts for 15 minutes compared to Big Bird's "Journey to Ernie" which only lasts 5) and he loves Elmo with all of his little heart. Erik and I try to be enthusiastic about Elmo. He is rather cute and he's red. But that's where our enthusiasm ends. We have every Elmo item in the world. Elmo sings. Elmo cries like a baby (thanks to my friend who said that she couldn't handle crying Elmo any more at her house....did I want him for Eli?). Elmo goes potty. Elmo says "Buckle up!" Elmo is on the toothbrush. Elmo is on the computer. Elmo invades our very existence. But to Eli, Elmo is the best thing since pureed bananas. And because of that, we love Elmo, too.

My friend, Amy, gave us a gigantic Elmo that her own two Sesame Street lovers had outgrown. And this Momo is not your ordinary Momo. Do you see how bit it is? That thing is as tall as Eli! At first, I think Eli was kind of mad at Giant Elmo. After all, he could sit in Eli's chair and actually fill up the whole thing. That meant Elmo was going to get a swift kick out of that chair. I could hold Giant Elmo and he was rather life-like. Eli did not like to be replaced by a furry red monster. Elmo got punched and Eli ended up in my lap. Eli wanted to be King on Monster Hill.

But then Eli discovered "night-night" and "baby" and "Momo night night." He carried Giant Elmo around all over the house and eventually Giant Elmo ended up taking a nap with Eli. "Night night, Momo!"

So, every nap and every night, Elmo must be in the crib with Eli. Elmo gets a bedtime story and Eli covers him up with a blanket. Sometimes Elmo even gets a chupe (Spanish for paci -- pronounced choo-pay). And we know that Eli has his best pal by his side as he drifts off to sleep.

Night night, Eli. Night night, Momo.

Some questions I have....

I have just two questions:

1. WHY is Desperate Housewives a rerun AGAIN? Do the network execs think we like reruns? In this age of TiVO, I don't need reruns. If I love an episode, I just keep it on my TiVO and watch it 20 times until I feel like deleting it.
2. WHY is the weather so warm in the middle of January, robbing us of any snow days? Hello global warming!

IRL, my DH and DS are my BFF

Some people say that cyber friends are not "real" friends. You can't see them, you can't call them on the phone and you don't know if they are really who they say they are. I suppose that's true. I remember back to the time B. E. (Before Erik) when I dabbled in online dating (don't tell me you haven't perused the personals at least once). Now that was a great lesson in private investigation because you never knew if the person was really tall, dark and handsome. I even googled Erik when we were dating so I could see if he appeared on any wanted lists. Fortunately he didn't, but I was able to find out that his favorite novel was "Great Expectations" -- I promptly purchased the Cliff's Notes so I could talk intelligently on our next date.

Some time ago I started to surf message boards for women with infertility. Since few of my friends in real life understood what I was going through, it was nice to message women who "got it" and were sympathetic to my daily regime of shots, mood swings and hot flashes. Thus began my entrance into "online communities."

After some lurking on boards with names like "Fertility Friends" and "iVillage" I established an identity and made some "friends." I quickly became entwined in al things girly like "blinkies" and "smileys" and "siggys." I wanted a glitter name, too. And why wouldn't my blinkie blink? And could someone make me a "my baby is bilingual" blinkie, please? Erik would laugh at my use of board acronyms like DH (darling husband) and IRL (in real life) and CM (cervical mucus).

So I hung around on the boards for a while until I came across one called "Connected Moms." It's by far the best board I have found and I have made some great cyber friends. I even asked my mother-in-law (MIL), Susan, to knit a hat in support of "Hats for Grace." Grace is the daughter of a gal on the board and Grace is in the midst of chemo to treat cancer. Grace is 4 and has lost all her hair. Heck, Susan's hat is even a board member favorite! But I have also gotten advice on how to make chewy chocolate chip cookies, which digital SLR camera to buy, and why Tom Cruise is a nutjob.

For everyone who thinks cyber friends are goofy and I should stick to my friends IRL.....phooey! How else would I have learned that you should always...well I can't say. But you could find out if you visit Connected Moms' "Naughty Room!"

There's nothing better than licking the bowl.

Don't you just wish that you could eat chocolate chip cookie batter for all three meals? It contains items from almost all the food groups. Although chocolate chip cookies are in that tiny triangle on the food pyramid (you know, the fats you aren't supposed to eat), they sure taste good. But then that's what most of the things in that little bitty food pyramid triangle are -- delicious.

Eli and I went about to make some cookies and had a grand time. He is getting good at pouring and stirring, all the while saying "Poon!" since he is now allowed to have his own spoon for mixing. I can't help but take a few bites of dough here and there. And each time I sneak a bite from the spoon, Eli is in the background saying "mmmm...mmmmmm," the cue that he is jonesing to eat.

In the end, I gave Eli the paddle from my mixer to lick. He loved every minute and kept thrusting the paddle at me for more. Can't get enough of that sweet, chocolatey cookie dough. Like mother, like son.