We celebrated Eric's 1st birthday today. I know so many parents say this, but I can't believe it's been a year! Uncle Dave and Aunt Allyson came for dinner -- we didn't expect they would be able to come since they were due to have a baby last Monday. Well, he hasn't come yet. I don't want to say I was glad he's overdue (as I know Allyson's ready for him to come!) But I was very glad they could be here to help liven up our little celebration. (:

We started a tradition with Andrew where we gave him a whole cupcake to eat for his birthday. I think Andrew consumed the entire cupcake in 1 minute flat....never even taking the cupcake from his mouth once he started. Eric was a little less hurried about it, but he definitely enjoyed it, as you can see:

Eric was also thrilled with his present -- a Little People's Bus. And after 10 minutes of pulling off tape and removing twist ties, he was finally able to play with the toy. Next time, I think I'll remove the toys from the packaging before I wrap them.

So it was a good day. He's a very cute boy and we love him! He brings a lot of love and laughter to our lives. Happy Birthday Eric!

Who needs a patch kit when you've got a fruit snack?

Thanks to some awful thorns that infest our neighborhood, a tire on our double jogging stroller has been flat for over a week. So on Monday Brian changed the tube in the right tire. This morning I was so excited to finally go walking again!

I loaded the kids up and took them to the mall because we woke up to snow (on April 16!) I pulled the stroller out of the car to find that the LEFT tire was now flat. Argh.

Those thorns are so nasty that I actually travel with a tire pump. So hoping for the best, I pumped it up there in the parking lot. Unfortunately, even as I pumped, I could here it -- Psssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss -- going flat.

We were meeting a friend to walk so I took the kids in the stroller into the mall anyway. On my way in I thought -- "Hmmm..wish I had a piece of gum. I'd try and plug that hole, even though I'm sure that wouldn't work."

But I was desperate, and as I walked into the mall I went over the contents of my purse. Wallet, coupons, chapstick, goldfish crackers, fruit snacks!

I pumped up the tire again, found the hole, and stuck a piece of fruit snack on it. Then, worried that the fruit snack would stick to the floor and dislodge itself, I stuck a little leaf on the fruit snack.

And people, it worked! I was there for about an hour and the tire stayed inflated! Just call me McGyver. Of course, fruit snacks probably weren't even around back then, but had they been, he would have found them handy to have around.

Dirt

I recently read a Q&A -- the question was "At what age is it safe to allow my child to play in a sandbox?" A portion of the answer is: "Most children seem to take to the sandbox by around 12 to 18 months .... Babies and toddlers explore their world by mouthing things, though, and your child's likely to try to eat some sand the first time she encounters it.... Most kids will quickly discover that sand doesn't taste good, and stop eating it on their own."

So I decided to put that theory to the test. Both the boys love to play outside. Andrew especially loves digging in the dirt. And Eric is no longer content to just sit in the swing while Andrew digs. So last week I let Eric loose. He isn't walking yet, so I knew this would be very dirty.

As expected, Eric put dirt in his mouth...then one rock, and another, and another. Each time he would put something in his mouth he'd take it out and look at it like "Gross!" Then he'd put it down and proceed to pick up another rock to put in his mouth. I didn't wait long enough to reach the "rocks don't taste good, now stop eating" point. I figured he'd gotten enough extra minerals in for the day.

Croup

Andrew has croup. When I explained that we needed to go to the doctor, I said "We need to go to the doctor so you can get better."

He was so great at the doctor -- letting him listen to his breathing, opening wide when he looked into his mouth, and taking the medicine they gave him there in the office. Then as we were leaving the office Andrew coughed. He looked at me with his sad, red eyes and said "Mom, but I'm still sick."

It made me tear up and smile at the same time...he was just so sad. He believed that if we went to the doctor he would get better right away.

Today he is doing a little better. Coughing more, but breathing better. He's running around again....and fighting with Eric, too (a sure sign of improvement!)

Sticks and more sticks

It seems I'm always writing funny little stories about Andrew. I guess that's because he's talking now. So this post is dedicated to Eric, the lover of sticks, swords, and anything long.



It's true...Eric loves anything long. He goes into the laundry room and wrestles down the big broom or mop, then he drags it all over the house. Going Whack! Whack! as he crawls along.

One of his favorite long things is a retractable sword. More than once we've had to take it to the store. We even took it out to eat once...Eric sat in the high chair holding tightly to the sword, eating one handed (not usual for this boy who typically uses both hands to eat as quickly as possible.)

So here he is with a snow shovel. Andrew and I were shoveling the snow (yes, shoveling in March. Ugh.) Eric was perfectly content, as long as he could hold a shovel too.