Mother's Day

It's hard for me to believe, but this was my THIRD Mother's Day. I feel more like a mom every year as I get a little better at it and learn new things. More than anything, I want Boyd to know that I love him no matter what and I'm proud of him.

D and Boyd let me sleep in (seriously, the best present of all) and then they whisked me off to a nice breakfast at Barbie's Cafe', a little place down the street from our house. Boyd was well-behaved during the meal - he usually is very good when we're out to eat but we're thankful for good behavior nonetheless! Then we hung around the house in the bright sunshine for a while and got ready to head over to Risha & Gabe's house for dinner. D left to go pick up Gabe from the airport and then we had the whole family sit down for an amazing meal of shrimp, salad, pasta and cheesecake.



The toddlers in Boyd's class at school all made these sweet posters for Mother's Day, along with the little bracelet (top left).

One small section of the greenhouse near Risha's house - I met her and my mom there so we could pick up some discounted hanging baskets. 

A good visual reminder. 

Boyd enjoys checking out Risha's huge greenhouse and garden. 

He also loves rakes. Who knew?

We don't usually see eagles in town, but this one spend a long while circling overhead. We think it may have been stalking Risha's cats!

A beautiful tree in the yard. 

Happy Mother's Day!

Zoo Days

My very best friend at work has a daughter who is 9 months older than Boyd, so her May birthday pretty much ushers in summer for us. This year, the birthday girl had her celebration at the Alaska Zoo. We joined her friends for snacks and cake in the chalet, and then ventured out to see the animals!

B LOVES the zoo. Like, big time. Although, he does ask for whales and turtles every time and I'm like, wrong zoo, kiddo.

CAKE! The birthday girl's mama made a very labor-intensive rainbow cake. It was awesome, and delicious - as evidenced by Boyd's almost-clean plate. 

Future's so bright, I gotta wear shades.

Snow leopards are one of our favorite zoo stops. 

Yak attack. 

Aren't they so super adorable? 

My friend Char was back there holding him up!

This next set of photos is from late April - a couple weeks before the birthday party. Was definitely a bit colder and not as sunny. We spent a lot of time in the Petting Zoo with the goats - one of which used my boot as a head-butting station.

Boyd & goat's rear end. 

The Zoo gift shop is also a good place in which to wander around. 

Easter Fun

I'm back, everyone - and finally coming up for air! Life sure gets busy sometimes, I don't know how parents of more than one kid even get anything done. Here is my incredibly delayed Easter post...

We spent most of April being sick - colds and coughs rolled through our house like waves and no one was immune. So Easter was a laid-back affair (most things are, in our household.) B seemed to enjoy his holiday basket, filled with a new puppy lunchbox, little treats in plastic eggs, and a Thomas the Train farm set. We also had a special family breakfast. Afterwards it was time to dye eggs! This was the first year we braved this messy activity but all went well. Boyd spent a lot of time dipping each egg into each glass of dye - it was a multicolored set we ended up with.

Boyd - 2 years, 2 months

Our 2-year old is a pretty great kid. Funny, sweet and good-natured for the most part!

• Says "ewwww"
• Really likes busses as of late - but pronounces it "bus-shhhh". We look for them on the road when driving. When one passes us he says "more bus!"
• He's all about the new rocking chair - he sits in every night when we read stories before bed. I have to get in real close so his feet rest on my legs and then we read book after book.
• Sleep has been challenging lately. It never goes smoothly when he's overtired, sick, or going through a milestone. We've tried and tried to get him to fall asleep before 9 p.m. but he's not having it. I figure he'll have an automatic 8 p.m. bedtime when Daylight Savings Time ends in November!
• We've been telling Boyd that his Grandparents from South Dakota are coming to see him this summer. He says "Papa" for Grandpa and I'll say "Grandma Mim" to distinguish from Grandma Ann. Well now he says "MIM!" everytime we say Grandma. I think he might have called my mom Mim the other day. So now we call my mom "Hahma" (sort of a mangled version of the Korean word for Grandma) and Mim can officially be Grandma! On the plus side, he's pretty excited about all of his grandparents. 
• This kid loves oatmeal. He asks for it every morning that I make his breakfast (Monday - Friday). And sometimes he requests it for dinner! On the weekends that D is home, he gets Boyd up and they have peanut butter toast together. :-)
• Much more talking is going on - lots of 2-word sentences and he always likes to know that we understand what he is saying. 
• In the last month we've had lots of adventures - Museum excursions, a trip to Chuck-E-Cheese with daddy, a Cabelas store opening in Anchorage (D is thrilled), and many MANY days outside as the temperatures get warmer and the snow melts. 

We love the weekends. Jammies, no makeup and leisurely mornings at home. Plus, Daddy makes breakfast!

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Yum. My friend Tina gave us a cutter that turns sandwiches into 2 dolphins and a heart. 

Why yes, that it a bacon band-aid on Boyd's tummy. Someone got into the bandages. 

This is from a couple weeks ago. Most of that snow is gone!

D put together some shelves for our master closet and Boyd RAN to get his tool kit in order to "help" his daddy.

Shopping at Home Depot for aforementioned shelves.

At the Museum weeks ago. My GQ little man hanging out in the elevator. He was SO good that day. 

Never too young to teach young'ins the way of the world. Don't worry - the safety shield was on the razor!

Playing with his new net from Target. Only $1!

I took a wrong turn and we ended up in the Target toy aisle by mistake. Only took us 20 minutes to escape and I got off easy - no toy buying necessary!

Except for the net, but did I mention it was only $1?

School is going so well now! The first week was very hard (for everyone). During the second week the tears began when we walked into school, and one day he started crying before we even get out of the car! I'm not sure how to explain this, but he even had a good attitude through the tears during the third week. Like he knew I had to leave him but he was ultimately ok with it. His teachers say he is the sweetest thing and I know they are being very gentle with him and his feelings. The other kids have been in this class for months so they are totally well-adjusted to school and fine with being dropped off - which is great because Liz and Pilita were able to devote a little more time to Boyd in the beginning. Now he directs me to put his fox backpack away in his cubby (or grabs it to do it himself), and then points out his classroom shoes when I ask if we should put his inside slippers on. He goes straight to his teachers and gives them hugs. When I say goodbye he smiles brightly and gives me a hug and a kiss. It's awesome that he is happy at school!

I drove D's truck around for almost 2 weeks since mine was in the shop after getting hit. I finally have my car back but it's still not totally fixed! We're convinced the auto shop procrastinated on my car. When I called last Friday to let them know I was coming to pick it up AND THEY BETTER HAVE IT READY it seemed like they scrambled to produce it. Even then, it hadn't been detailed and I noticed the next day that the rear door lock didn't work. So frustrating. Since I have Mondays off, Boyd and I dropped my car off after his gymnastics class and walked home with the Chariot stroller (we took the long way - 3 miles!) so they could finish the detailing and address the door lock. Turns out they need to order a part for the door. OMG. No apologies, of course. Now we need to take it in AGAIN. I'm so over this place. Oh, and the Chariot got a flat tire! We were so close to home and I had managed to dodge most of the broken glass on the sidewalk (what kind of idiots throw bottles in the street?) before I realized the left tire had totally gone flat. Here's hoping D can fix it - there aren't many replacement tires for this stroller out there.

What a couple weeks it has been. Boyd was sick earlier this week and then D and I both caught something. I'm exhausted. Sometimes I think I'm ready for another baby - then I think about how crazy my life is with just 1 husband, 1 baby, 1 diabetic cat, and 1 job!

Video: Happy dance - 2 years, 1.5 months

Everyday Boyd asks to go outside to check the mail and clear the driveway. He will even go into the yard and bring snow over to parts of the driveway that are bare! We've tried telling him that's not the way it works but he doesn't seem to care. :-)

Video: Circles in the snow - 2 years, 2 months

We still have quite a bit of snow in the yard but it has all but disappeared from the driveway and roads. Boyd and I played in the backyard for a while on Sunday (he insisted on wearing those shoes instead of his boots!)

Boyd - 2 years, 1 month

I guess this is the point where I stop referring to Boyd's age in months - so no 27 months, 32 months or 125 months!

• Boyd started at Anchorage Montessori School on Wednesday. He was actually supposed to attend last week but he got sick (again) so we delayed it a week. I was really sweating his first day and honestly a little relieved when we pushed back his start date! Overall the first day went very well. We got there early so Boyd could get familiar with the place and then all of his stuff was put in a cubby. His 2 teachers are very kind and welcoming (fully trained in Montessori education) but I was still surprised when he almost immediately sat down with Ms. Liz (head teacher) to play with wooden trains. I kissed him and told him goodbye (and for the hundredth time said I'd come back for him later). He actually told me "bye bye" and went back to playing with Ms. Liz! I stood there like an idiot thinking "is it going to be this easy?" Then I left. No tears, from either of us!
• Today was a little rougher, I think because he knew what was coming. He was a little more clingy when we walked into the classroom but Ms. Pilita pulled out the trains again and they started playing. Another kiss and then I left. Later Liz told me that he had some tears on and off (his sweet little face was red from crying) but that he did very well. 
• So he'll be going Wednesday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. until 11:30. I drop him off in the morning and then my mom will pick him up. I think this transition is harder on my mom than me and D! It's her first grandkid so she's pretty attached to our little bug. School will be very good for him - he definitely needs more interaction and socialization with other children his age. 
• Seems like Boyd is more comfortable around Risha. Sometimes he is just so weird with her and it's great that their relationship is getting closer. And instead of saying "emo" which is the Korean word for aunt (technically, mom's sister - the word for dad's sister is "gomo"), he calls her "momo." Way cute. 
• I'm not quite sure how this happened, but Boyd knows 5 letters of the alphabet! We have magnetic letters and numbers down low on the side of the fridge where he can access them, and he brought the letter T over to me and said "T!" I looked around like, did this just happen?! My kid knows letters! Other than T, we've seen him identify B, D, O and N. Maybe H and F too. 
• Numbers - he can count to 3. And we'll ask, "how many hands do you have?" and he'll say "two!" Or answer "one!" to a question like "how many boats are outside?" So he's pretty familiar with the concept of one and two. 
• Says "ah huh!" for yes. 
• Instead of saying no, he's on this "nope" kick - which he says very emphatically.
• TV is "veevee," phone is "wone," and computer is "poopoo" - all of which he loves. This came out of nowhere. All of sudden he started asking to watch things on TV and my computer/phone. I try to limit it, but his current favorites on YouTube are Teletubbies (ugh) and Shawn the Train.
• Still obsessed with going outside and checking the mail, which has been tough lately with his awful cold and hacking cough. 
• Takes medicine like a champ and sometimes even asks for it!
• Very sweetly says "hi" and in the morning he'll say "meh meh" after I greet him with a "good morning"
• Quite a bit of imitation of our behaviors. 
• Continuing to be a good helper - most of the time his "assistance" is more work for us but it's good practice.

Boyd matched up these magnetic letters to the correct flash cards. 

This boy follows his daddy around like a little puppy. 

Two weeks ago my sister took Boyd for a few hours on her day off so my mom could get some errands done. The two of them met friends at a nearby greenhouse and then stopped by my workplace. Look at this guy taking over my office!

The kid is going to put me out of a job if he looks any more efficient (or adorable). 

Did I mention that my car was hit last month? Thank goodness neither Boyd nor I were in the car. We were inside the museum for a free event (which turned out to be sort of a bust – super crowded, rude kids, inattentive parents - the worst trifecta ever). When we got back to my car I saw the damage and just stood there for 30 seconds like "is this real?" Then I heard someone come up behind me - it was the guy who hit me! He stayed around to exchange insurance information. I couldn't believe it - he could have totally driven away and no one would have known. He said the intersection was super slippery and he just slid right into my car. 

So, I have an appointment with the auto body shop to take my car in on March 31st for at least a week of repairs. The estimate is around $2,500 but insurance should cover all of it. Gabe says I can borrow his truck since he'll be on the Slope working, which is great. It's a big inconvenience but it could have been way worse! 

I picked this little rocking chair up at a liquidation sale put on by a preschool moving to a new space. It was only $5! I should have taken a photo of the previous color - an awful bright blue. I had some free sample paint from Lowes so I used it to refinish the chair. D primed and sanded it for me and then I painted it while Boyd was napping. It looks great in his room!

A pre-storm walk. Boyd insisted on bringing these scrap pieces of wood with us. 

The roads were practically bare. Some portions of the sidewalk were ice while others were pavement. 

Bathtime antics...

Helping me make oatmeal & chocolate chip cookies. 

No surprise, his favorite part was making a mess with the flour and sugar!