Easter 2011

This year the Easter Bunny finally came to our house...maybe it's because we left him carrots, or maybe it's because he knew Little Lewie might be old enough to search for some Easter eggs in the house. 

Anyways, he came, hid a half a dozen eggs, and left chocolate treats, stickers, and even a matchbox car.  I gave the Easter Bunny explicit instructions not to go overboard since a) we don't need all the candy (some of us are on diets in this house) and b) we don't need more toys (I'm still trying to eliminate all the excess.  ...Oprah tells us less is more. Less is more for us because less = more room/space in this house.)

I wasn't able to capture many pictures of Little Lewie this year since he insists that he wants to be the one taking pictures.  Still, I did get a few of him taking his Easter egg bath, searching for eggs on Easter morning, and posing in his Easter outfit.  We had a great time since some of our relatives were up from Delaware for the long weekend.  Lewie received nonstop attention from his gramy and his two doting aunts since he is the "baby" of our family.  To him, he struck it rich this Easter.  Everywhere he looked, he had someone offering to be his play buddy and he had a chance to eat chocolate.  Heaven!

Here are a few pictures from the holiday.  Next year, I suspect the Easter bunny will hide a basket along with all the eggs...

"Floating plastic eggs--Yipee!"

"Is there water inside?"

"Cool bath, Mommy."

"What's in here?"

"I'm still sleepy...Do I have to find all my eggs?"

"Me and my Godmother."

"Me and Mommy."

"Thanks Easter Bunny!"

I hope everyone had a nice holiday!

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors...

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.

-Native American Proverb



-Google Images


I learned to appreciate Mother Nature from my dad.  We would spend time together hiking in the woods or fishing on his bass boat.  He always wanted to be a Forest Ranger when he grew up, but sadly, never had the opportunity to go to college and follow his dreams. 

Still, today, his spirit resides in me.  I love hiking, fishing, camping, and admiring God's beautiful creation.  Even more, I'm a huge recycling advocate, landtrust advocate, and EPA advocate.  I wear a heavy heart when I hear about the carcinogenic toxins that ruined our well water from a landfill nearby, the heap of plastic bottles and other trash that makes up the size of Texas in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the BP Oil Spill, or now the nuclear radiation crisis in Japan.

It's been a belief that we can use and abuse our earth because the earth is too big to destroy--that it can repair itself and come back.  Whenever large spending cuts are made, funding for the Environmental Protection Agency, our state and national parks, or the protection of wildlife always seems to be the first on the chopping block.  I say ENOUGH.   Why can't we TRY to move forward toward a safe, sustainable future together?  Why can't we drive electric cars, warm our homes with the sun's rays, and grow food that's organic and non-genetically modified?  I hope my little boy and others of his generation will be asking the same questions, or even better, not have to ask these questions because a sustainable future will already be in place.  After all, our children and our children's children need to borrow the earth too.  It's not ours to keep alone...

Monday's Mommy Moment: My Two Year-Old's First Art Exhibit

My little boy is constantly learning new things at daycare.  He does music and movement, art projects, storybook projects, and nutrition charts...to name a few.  Well, since his daycare is part of our local community college, his time there will be ending in one short month.  (This means I have to secure summer daycare for him with someone else, but it also means that this last month is jam packed with extra special events--some to show off all the projects he has been working on for the past school year and some for pure entertainment value.)  For example, this Tuesday, a children's author will be coming to Little Lewie's class to tell the children about writing a book, and then she will autograph any books that we buy.  Next Wednesday, I've been invited to Little Lewie's first "book presentation", where he will present the storybook and illustrations he's been working on all year.

This past week, however, Little Lewie had a chance to show off his art work at his very first art exhibition. We received a special announcement in the mail, which said his work would be displayed out on the fifth floor walkway, not far from the college cafeteria. Sure enough, Little Lewie's art work, along with the seven other students in his classroom and the twenty some students in the preschool classroom, was hanging up with his picture. While the teachers did not post their names, they did, however, write descriptions about each student.  Here are some pictures of the "gallery":

Here are Little Lewie's "masterpieces".  (Definitely reminds me of Picasso...)

Here are some other "exquisite" art pieces from other students.  The second one is a
sculpture made out of shredded paper.

And finally, here we are admiring his fabulous work.

It's official.  This will now be the first of many functions for Mommy to go to and be a cheerleader for her little boy.  I don't suspect this will stop until he's graduated from college.  Oh, as far as I'm concerned, I hope it never stops...

Friday Fun Flick: Say "Cheese"

Blogging and the camera have always gone hand in hand.  In fact, I think blogging has inspired me to bring the camera (and use it) at times when I normally wouldn't have considered it.  On any given day, Little Lewie is used to getting photographed, and thankfully, he doesn't seem to mind it.  In fact, right now he's at the age where he embraces it.

Well, this week we went on a play date where he had the chance to play with lots of cool toys that he's never seen before.  While he did show interest in a few of the toys, his favorite was a talking Elmo camera.  Right away he got "inspired" to take lots of pictures of Mommy and his friends; his enthusiasm for taking pictures was so relentless that my friend even told Lewie he could keep the camera.  (Yeah, I have super sweet friends like that.)

To say that Lewie LOVES this camera is an understatement.  Once we got home, he wouldn't put it down for a minute.  He ran around our house and took lots of pictures of the grass, the sky, the rocks, his swings, and even (much later) the moon.  I couldn't stop laughing because he would tell all these inanimate things to "Say Cheese!"   I was so entertained by his behavior, I almost forgot to use my own camera to record these memories.   Here's a quick video I was able to capture while he had a camera in one hand and I had a "real" camera in my hand:

Is Lewie's fascination with the camera a direct response to my own enjoyment of photographing him and things around me for my blog?  I'm sure.  Still, it's fun to dream that one of these days I'll have a mini photographer on my hands.  We'll see where all this enthusiasm takes us... For now, I'm glad I had a camera to capture the moment of him trying to "capture" the moment.

Happy weekend everyone!

One Giant Leap Ahead

There are times when my little boy truly amazes me, and then there are times when I feel like all my teaching, coaxing, suggestions, and lessons are fruitless.  For the past few months, Little Lewie has been, well, Little Lewie.  On some days, he'd learn new words to add to his vocabulary, and then other days, decide that he's going to return to his "baby talk"--babbling a mile a minute in his own language.  On some days, he'd be Mommy's perfect little angel, listening to my requests and letting me bartar with him.  ("Okay Lewie, if you're good in the store, Mommy will let you have a cookie in the car," or "Okay if you're good for me in the post office, we will go to your favorite park to play.")  On other days, Little Lewie will take a screaming, red-faced, full blown temper tantrum, keeping me from being able to pick him up, let alone strap him in his carseat.  

Yes, to put it mildly, his progress or milestones have seemed to flipflop.  There have been some days that I see him inching to the three year-old mark, and then other days when his tantrums remind me of his outburts a year ago.   I never know when I'm going to be excited, frustrated, or simply ambivalent to it all.

This weekend, however, Little Lewie moved toward the three year-old direction again, and I was left amazed at how much he seemed to do and comprehend all at once.   Over the past couple of days, he started saying more words, including (finally) his own name.  Oh, he won't say his name if we ask him, but oddly enough, I caught him calling out "Lew" to my husband.   Instead of calling him Daddy, he decided to grab his attention by referring to him by his real name.   As I shouted, "Lew, can you come over here for a second?"  Little Lewie decided to help me..."Lew...Lew!"

Then, my little boy (for lack of better words) went poopy in the potty.  I was shocked!  We hadn't even started potty training yet, but I do have a small potty in the bathroom that I've shown to him once or twice.  On Sunday morning, I asked him if he was "going poopy" since he sure smelled like it.  Then, on his own, he ran to the bathroom, moved his small potty away from the corner and sat on it.  I explained to him that we had to take off his PJ's and his diaper first, and then I let him have some privacy.  After two failed attempts, the third time was a charm!  He called for me to come to the bathroom because he "went poopy", and sure enough, he did!

Oh, by all means, my little boy isn't potty trained yet, but I'm shocked at how much progress was made this weekend without even any pushing, coaxing, or bartaring on my part.  Yes, this weekend, I've learned that all my teaching and parenting may actually be fruitful after all.  The learning will just appear in Little Lewie's own time, not mine...

Have you been amazed by any milestones lately?