Day 4 and 5

Nothing screams Spring like planting in a garden.

Alas, we live in a garden-less apartment.  But our 12 Days of Easter activity for Friday was planting herbs.  We have room for that!!!  So that is just what we did!

Mom went to the dollar store and purchased chives, tomatoes, basil, green peppers and dill.  They are very cute little start pots and Aiden loves this!  (We have done this before and Mom totally forgot to water the plants... my bad!!)

Aiden loved it!!

 No, he didn't eat dirt.  Okay he did. 

Day 5's activity was Go See Baby Animals.  Because Mom had a Primary activity that had to be done in the morning, we couldn't go to the zoo or to Thanksgiving Point.  Therefore, we went to the store.  We have a really cool farm supply store right by our house that has a lot of farm animals inside the store that we can pet.  They even have a goat that just roams the store.  They had chicks and bunnies that the store owner let Aiden hold and pet.  He would look at the chicks and say, "teep, teep, teep!"  It was hilarious and very heart-warming!

When we arrived at the store, Aiden was sleeping.  So I just put my seat back and had 1 1/2 hour nap.  Ahhh... I love the Spring.

It was very dark and my camera ran out of batteries, so I had to use my Iphone.  Bad pictures.  Lovely time.

Tomorrow we are having a very Sunday-appropriate day and reading Easter books.  We may also decorate cookies.  We'll see...

Tonight for dinner?  Fresh veggie soup and steamed radishes.  Can life be any better than this?!

Day 2 and 3 - okay, maybe not day 2

Our grand Easter Adventure continues.  First, I have to explain that Day 2 consisted of coloring.  Aiden loves when I get out the crayons.  He loves to put them in categories - all the light ones and all the dark ones.  He loves to say the colors as he holds them up (he is AWESOME and yellow and purple, but can't say the easy ones... go figure...).  He does not like to actually put the crayon to paper.  He doesn't like coloring.  He will do one or two swipes to appease his mother, but not really his thing.  So, Day 2 was a bust.

But yesterday, Day 3, was so fun.  I bought a little egg kit from Michael's Crafts and, since it was 60% off, we just went to town decorating little foam eggs with little foam art.  One side is sticky and there was a time or two that Aiden couldn't get the sticker to the egg and we had... well, frankly, a toddler meltdown.  But overall it was so, so fun!!

Totally stuck.  And ensuing meltdown.

Finished project!

Day 1... Chocolified

The definition of fun has to be "the act of participating in creativity with a toddler."  Absolute hilarity.  My son and I opened Day 1 of our 12 Days of Easter.  And the omnipotent egg informed us that today we would be making tuxedo peeps - which includes nothing more than marshmallow peeps, white chocolate and dark chocolate.  And lots of sugar rush...

So this is how it started.  Aiden thought that separating the Peeps included removing the ears from perfectly acceptable bunnies.  

You can't see the white chocolate dripped all over him, his mouth, his onesie, the counter, but it was chocolatey fun.  For sure.

Then we buried the bunnies in the white chocolate up to their necks.  Peeps torture.  Don't worry.  They talked.  All of them.  They told us all about the Easter Bunny.  And his evil plans.  

Then they got a "coat" of dark chocolate.  They are starting to look quite debonair, no?

And finally, the buttons.  Sorry about the really bad pictures.  They are taken with my phone and absolutely bad lighting.

When Aiden's sugar rush finally wore off, he was bombed.  It was really, really fun.  I can't wait to see what tomorrow's egg tells us to do.  

Spring! Spring! Tee Hee

I am DYING for Spring.  I want baseball.  I want tulips.  I want Easter.  I want warm!    I am so excited for the Spring that I can hardly contain myself.  The last week, with the snow and cold, has made me all the more nervous for Spring.  I am prepping my tent trailer.  I am fussing over Easter preparations.  Oh, how I love the Spring.

This weekend, I created a new Easter tradition - a remake of a Christmas tradition.  I am going to do the 12 Days of Easter.  Easy because Easter eggs come in convenient 12-pack cartons, right?

So... here goes...

Decorate the cheapest eggs you can find.  I used Dollar Store number stickers and scrapbooking flowers.

Fill with goodies and age-appropriate stickers (or fun things... bubbles, mini-slinkies...) and an activity for the day. 

I found this stand at Target for $4.  Sweet.  It holds exactly a dozen eggs.  Coincidence?  I think not.

The things we are doing this year:

Tuxedo Peeps (find the recipe on Tipjunkie.com)

Decorating Easter eggs

Coloring pages

Going to see baby animals (at our local IFA store)

Easter Egg hunt (we have an annual family one, but this is just Mom and Tater...  Maybe we will invite the dog.)

Making Easter cookies

Reading an Easter book (I found Peter Rabbit on an online auction...)

Watching an Easter movie.  (sadly, Thomas does not have an Easter Movie.  We will watch a church movie instead)

"egging" a neighbor (taking a basket full of goodies anonymously)

Making "carrot" cake (pound cake... see recipe at tipjunkie.com)

Making a foam Easter Egg wreath for the front door

Easter Sunday - Having a ham and potato dinner (family tradition) and reading the scripture story of the resurrection.  I know Aiden is too young to really know, but we have a lot of Jesus pictures that will help tell the story. 

So... there ya go!  I was not raised on the Easter Bunny myth of Easter.  I must say, I never really missed it.  I loved that my mother loved Easter so much that she let us experience the spiritual side of it.

BTW - we had to say goodbye to Nama Sharon yesterday for a while.  We love having Aiden's only living grandparent here!  

Oh Dear

Aiden learned the phrase "Oh dear..." today.  He has definitely heard it before, but he recognized his mother's disappointment and, I hope, felt a little guilt.  It was a small incident of a broken egg.  Not even a full-yoked broken egg.  It was a colored Easter Egg that was headed for the trash tomorrow anyway because it is so old.

Not the point.

Aiden has learned to climb and LOVES climbing everywhere - including the kitchen table where the sacred things of our home once enjoyed peace and tranquility inches away from toddler fingers.  No more, I am afraid.

I was putting laundry in the dryer and I heard... nothing.  Toddler silence is so bad.  So very bad.  I came out to see Mister trying desperately to put the broken pieces of the egg back together.  He was trying so hard that he stuck out his tongue in concentration.  I sat down next to him and took the pieces in my hand.  For about 20 seconds we both just sat there looking at them.  He wasn't worried about my reaction, but curious as to why it had happened and he couldn't fix it even when he tried really hard.  

I looked in his eyes and said, "Oh dear."  He repeated "dear..."  I said, "it is broken."  He looked at me more.  "I can't fix it."  I said, "Mommy is sad that this is broken."  He looked back at the egg.  "I love you.  Please don't touch the other eggs."  He looked at all the other 11 eggs sitting peacefully intact.  

Aiden put his hand on my cheek and really looked in my eyes.  Then he reached in for a kiss.  I didn't care about the egg.  I do care that my son realizes that accidents happen and Mom is not going to be mad.  I also care that my son realizes that some choices have non-fixable consequences.

I do care that my son is learning to be tender and understanding with other people's feelings.   And I am glad to report, he sits on his chair looking at the eggs still intact on the table and says, 

"Oh, dear."

My Small Child

My baby child is growing up.  I still think of him as a baby.  It is true.  But today was a big, big step toward changing my perception of him.  Aiden refused - REFUSED - to go into his high chair.  I figured he wasn't quite ready for breakfast, so I put him down.  (Side note... I don't give into tantrums.  EVER.  This was not a tantrum.  This was an "I don't want to.  Please don't make me."  I just felt like he was asserting his choice, so... I let him choose not to eat.)  So, Aiden then climbed onto a big dining chair and sat politely at the table.  He looked at me with his gorgeous baby blues and said, "Yogurt, please."  (Okay, actually he said, "NNga, nnnns."  But I knew what he meant.)

So.  Aiden has outgrown his highchair.  Sad for Mom.  But also much fun because now he gets to be a big boy.  Big boy bed, big boy chair, is it wrong that I am really happy he is not potty trained?  That would just be too grown up for Mommy.

I know that it is not a high chair picture, but check out these honkin' feet!  These are his new(er) church shoes.  6 1/2!  The kid is still in 12 month pants!!!  

His new chair and his Mickey coloring book.  So big.

Milestones

No pictures.  Sorry.  Just honest conversation about a problem I have had since I was 11 years old.  I have been overweight for 4/5 of my life.   I have been VERY overweight for almost 18 years.  Considering I am only 32 (okay, okay, almost 33), that is a very long time.  After Aiden was born, I was at my heaviest.  There were many reasons why I gained a LOT of weight with my pregnancy, but I have had almost 2 years of excuses since then.    With the help of wonderful friends and family over the past 6 months or so (specifically my sister and my son's brother's mother... don't ask...) I have hit several milestones this past week.   No one can really see the weight loss yet, but I can feel it... just a little.  One frustration about being this big is that you have to lose lots of weight before it is noticeable.  

I am now thinner than I have been in almost a dozen years.  I have made huge life-changing corrections in my life including my routine, my grocery shopping, and my support system. I still have over 120 pounds to lose and at times it feels like an impossible task.  I have never been thin, so imagining myself at that weight is like trying to remember a name of someone you went to school with.  It is right there... you can almost think of it...  just out of reach.  Honestly, there is a whole lot of mind-altering stuff I am going through.  Believe it or not (and this is a very HONEST blog.  I am putting myself out there... really out there and vulnerable...), the thought of being below 300 pounds was very scary for me.  Over 300 has been my identity for so long.

Let me explain.  I remember the first time I really recognized being at 300.  This was about 6 years ago.  I remember it because I decided this is when I would get a personal trainer.  During our initial consultation, he had me weigh in and my weight was 300.1 pounds.  I remember the look on his face.  His response, "well, you hide it well."  Um... Thanks.  I guess.  I felt horrible about it.  I stayed for my 12 visits, but never really enjoyed it and never lost an ounce.

Part of me doesn't quite know how to identify myself unless I make fun of my weight, laugh about it with my friends (especially one friend who is in my same weight situation.  Love ya tons, by the way...).  Fat jokes are really hilarious to people who are overweight.  If you are not overweight, then a fat person doing a visual of trying to get into an airplane seatbelt just isn't that funny.  If you are overweight, your belly will shake like a giant bowl full of jelly.  You see?  I can't help myself.   

I thought of making a bumpersticker...  "It's a fat thing.  You wouldn't understand."

The reason for this post is not to get Kudos.  Exactly the opposite.  It is a preemptive apology.  Please excuse me if I get overly excited about my new "skinny" jeans that are really 10 sizes bigger than you may currently wear.  Please excuse me that I may be frustrated when I can't eat what everyone else eats.  Please forgive me for not knowing the upcoming ME.  I don't know how to be thinner than I am at this exact moment.  I don't know this person I am becoming and it is a terrifying process to be reborn.  I don't know how to shop at normal stores.  I don't know how to move the way a thinner person moves.  I don't know what I will be like.  Please excuse me while I figure all this out.  Please be patient with me.  

Oh, but the one thing I can picture is a little 5 year old Aiden running up to Captain Mickey and giving him a huge hug.  You see, my goal has always been, from the beginning of this journey, to take Aiden on a Disney Cruise when he is 5 or so.  And I will wear a bathing suit.  And I will go down the water slide with my son.   And I will go up the rock wall with my son.  And I will look fabulous.

And when you come into my home and I have Mickey Mouse ears all around my house, please know they are reminders to me of being around for a while to be with my son and do those things with him in a happy, healthy, and actively participating way.  

Okay, so maybe one picture...