Elmo's World

Elmo's World appeared in our basement over the weekend. His goldfish, Dorothy, as well as his crayon arrived to help Brett celebrate his third birthday.

Didn't he do a good job ; )

Dear Baby Boy

This morning I woke up and you weren't a baby any more. today you are three years old! Part of me is in denial. You weren't born until 10:53 PM, so I still have 14 more hours until you are officially three. Part of me is so excited! I've been trying to teach you to hold up three fingers and I am looking forward to all the other new things you'll learn this year. (Ironically, the only questions I toddler is asked are "what is your name?" and "how old are you?" Both of which you answer incorrectly. "Grandpa" and "five" are the answers you give, when you choose to give answers at all...)

Since time seems to pass without my permission, however, I guess I'll just be glad you are growing up so happy and healthy.

I've seen cute birthday scrapbook pages where moms write down things they love about their kids-- one thing for each year. There is no way I could limit myself to three, so here are some of the three thousand things I love about you!

Your imagination

The way you call Lammie "Tim" and yourself "Grandpa"

How you imitate things I never even realized Daddy and I do

You are such a sweet, big brother

You play and play outside and still want to go back for more!

Big, blue eyes; especially when you are wearing blue pajamas

Your constant excitement about life in general

The hours you spend in the combine and tractor and never become tired of it

Making pancakes and bread while you "dump" ingredients into the bowl

The fact that you know more about farm equipment than I do

Little feet running through the house

You take such great naps and still sleep 12 hours at night!

Watching you play with friends

That smile!

Happy Birthday little guy. You'll always be my baby.

Mommy is not MacGyver

Mothers wear many hats. Cook, nurse, teacher... you know what I mean. And being a little bit of a Handy Manny won't hurt any mom's resume. I, apparently, need to brush up on this skill. Why? you ask.

Because my two year old is locked in the bathroom.

It all started innocently enough. He finished his peanut butter and jelly sandwich with about as much jelly on him as in him. Naturally he was sent to the bathroom to wash.

I opened the child latch on the outside and went back to my own sandwich. Running water... clank of the soap dispenser... water splashing... door shutting... more water... Wait. The door was shut but still water running? Something not quite right...

And sure enough, two seconds later I hear "Mom? Mom? Can you open door?"

So I (reluctantly) abandon my sun-dried tomato turkey sandwich to rescue my son, except it isn't that simple.

The door isn't just shut. Its locked.

Vainly I tried to talk Brett through the steps of unlocking the door. It was a comical experience, filled with lots of "uh hu's" and "yep's" but no results. Cool heads are necessary in such circumstances so I tried to chill and remember what Daddy did when this happened once before. Oh yeah! Unscrew the door knob!

So I did.
Still no luck. What I failed to comprehend before I tore my door apart is that the locking mechanism won't allow the other side of the doorknob to fall. The bolt in the middle still needs to be popped.

Which of course I cannot figure out how to do. Thankfully Brian is working in the shed a few miles away and is on his way home.

But, like I said. My two year old is locked in the bathroom, happily flushing the toilet over and over because there is no one to stop him.So I failed the MacGyver portion of the Mommy test, but at least its not a burning building.

Abstract Easter

You can go online and find a plethora of ideas for making Easter a sacred holiday instead of a secular one. I like the one about celebrating the "12 Days of Easter" using those plastic ressurection eggs and the recipe for cookies that bake over night and are empty in the morning.

But none of this seems to connect with my two-year-old. In fact Jesus is still a very abstract idea for him. (As are sins... ; )

And I might have forgotten to count backwards from Easter and missed the whole 12 day thing entirely.

Despite all this, I still love to color eggs. Since we are not praying to them or offering our creations to any pegan deity, I think its just FUN! Please observe:

And pretty too!

Anyone have any brilliant Easter theology ideas for toddlers?

King Cotton

This is the time of year I might blog about spring planting. But I complained about the wet weather all last spring, so that's old.

It is also the time of year I might tell you about my efforts to spring clean. Unfortunately this years its more effort and less clean.

Thankfully all is not lost. I have, in fact, been doing something very productive, useful, and interesting. I have been sewing.

When I learned to sew either no one taught me or I just did not listen to the lesson about choosing fabrics other than cotton print. I made dresses from calico, pajamas from plaid, and doll clothes out of fabric from the rag bag. None of it was that impressive. Then, in college, my roommate and I made Renaissance dresses. I branched out and used cotton blends.

But now, now I am stretching my abilities. Literally. This top is from a new family of fabrics only recently discovered. They are called... knits. Amazing, isn't it!

This next one is also from the stretch knit family, although it is softer, less silky to the touch.

And finally, the world of DENIM. You can make jean that actually fit! Truly! Observe if you will, not even a belt!

Despite holding a crying baby on my lap while wrestling with seam binding tape (and I felt better that two JoAnn's employees didn't know what that was either...) and handing out goldfish crackers between ripping seams, I actually had a blast.

And I've purchased another pattern and some fabric to begin asap.

But old habits die hard.

Its cotton.