B-Boy has a friend

B-Boy has lots of friends in his class of 8 kids. KidN was in his infant classroom, and has been a good buddy to him in his 1 year old room. But he is not his best friend.

That role is saved for a little girl who is 4 months older than he is. I noticed he preferred her one day when I came to his room to pick him up for a doctor's appointment. All the kids were eating snack at their little tables... and when he saw me, he got up and ran over to me.

Then he turned around, and ran to her. He babbled to her, and she replied. Apparently, they speak the same language. He then ran back to me, thought of something he just HAD to tell her, and then ran back to do so. Again, she replied in Babble-ese.

Fast forward to the other day. I picked him up to take him swimming. He and his friend were on the playground together. We were getting ready to leave when something tickled B-Boy. He looked at her and laughed. HA! 

She then looked at him and said HA! Back and forth they went and then they ran back to the grassy area. B-Boy ran holding his flip-flop up as if it were a prize, and his friend ran behind him sporting her plastic sand shovel. It was adorable.

And then, last week, he did something new... 

I picked him up at the door to his daycare. (You can drive up, but I prefer to park and walk to get him.) His teacher opened the door and he walked out. We stopped for a moment to speak to her, when the door opened and a teacher walked out with his friend.

Now, you must understand that B-Boy says Momma and Daddy... but does not use names for anyone else. Until now. He looked up and said her name, clear as a bell.

I was shocked. I didn't know he had connected all that yet, and that he was able to say it! Apparently, neither did his teachers!

Mother's Day

This was my second Mother's Day with B-Boy and the sad truth was that I was not able to spend it with him.

Cue the sad music. But don't worry, we made the best of it!

We started the celebration early, as his daycare invited all the Moms to a Mother's Day tea. We ate Bojangles' Bo-Berry biscuits (yum yum yum!) and drank sweet tea. It was fun to see all the Moms and to spend some quality time with our kids and their teachers.

Oh Hello! 

Come have fun at the Mother's Day tea!

The teachers handed us each a wonderfully colorful present from our kids. The wrapping was so pretty, I had to take a photo!

B-Boy sat with me and we opened the gift together.

B-Boy (with help from his teachers) made me the cutest painted box with a photo of him on it.

I remember this day Mommy. 

I wore those shorts with the US flag on them!

I put it on the windowsill in my office. It has really spruced up the place!

On Mother's Day, I had to fly to Nashville for a conference. My flight was early, so I ended up leaving before B-Boy woke up. I watched him on the baby monitor and said good-bye. The flight was uneventful (thankfully) and I got there with plenty of time before my obligations started. 

The hotel was hosting a Mother's Day brunch, and so I decided to go. I took my Kindle with me, and had a splendid time. I ordered the steak eggs benedict (with steak instead of ham) which was topped with lobster and served with fingerling potatoes. It came with a "Mom-osa" which is a Mother's Day must!

It was so pretty, I had to snap a photo to show you. Just looking at it makes me relax.

What I didn't take a photo of was the desserts... a variety served in a shot glass. The blueberry cheesecake was AMAZING! I also had the Tiramisu one, but the blueberry cheesecake was hands-down the best! I think it was a success that I only ate one!

Later I got a pedicure, which was De-Light-ful. Totally worth every penny... and my cute blue toes with clear sparkles just makes me smile. 

All in all, a good day, even if I was away from my family.

Ham, Yam and Jam

Growing up in Louisiana, I was surrounded with festivals. There was a festival for just about everything, and it seemed like there was always multiple ones to choose from on any given weekend.

The well known one is the Jazz and Heritage Festival in New Orleans. There is a Strawberry Festival, a Shrimp and Petroleum Festival, an Oyster Festival, etc. (Yes, there really is a Shrimp and Petroleum festival! An odd combination at first glance, but when you consider that both of those are major industries in Louisiana, something folks want to honor and celebrate.) My favorite one is the Crawfish Festival in Breaux Bridge. So much crawfish, so little time to eat it!

Neb and I were excited to attend a festival nearer to us... We all went to the Ham and Yam festival in Smithfield! I must admit it was not quite like those back in Louisiana, but it was a great opportunity to spend time together outside.

B-Boy and I danced to some music provided by a local band... Neb ate a pork tenderloin-yam-and-asian slaw sandwich that he said was pretty good. We found some cute stations with holes cut out for folks to take photos... Neb and B-Boy were good sports to oblige my request to put their heads in the holes. Extra gold stars go to Neb for managing to hold B-Boy's 30 pound self up in the holes long enough for me to snap the pictures. Those passing by were quite amused at the sight!

Daddy, are we really dancin' hotdogs?

Yes son, get used to it. Your momma is photo crazy!

Who's the Ham and who's the Yam Daddy?

There was a petting zoo with ponies, goats and sheep. B-Boy watched taking it all in, but his Daddy's arms were as close as he got.

So THAT is what a goat looks like. 

Hmm. Not what I was expecting!

B-Boy would not stop eating the purple puffs we brought with us, and by the time we left, his teeth, face and hands were PURPLE! Neither Ham nor Yam related, but no one seemed to mind.

Purple tastes good!

We walked (B-Boy rolled in his stroller) and looked at all the vendors booths. We found one with lots of homemade teddy bears and quilts, which meant we had to take a closer look. The bears were made with collegiate fabric, and we were really surprised to see that they had an Ole Miss teddy bear! (And yes, it did come home with us.)

B-Boy really liked the bear. He kept grabbing it's nose and hugging it. Toward the end of the day, he started to lay his head on the bear as we walked, clearly very tired. That was when we knew it was time to go home.

A good time was had by all of us, and we took a great nap afterward!

A present from AuntJ

I got an email from AuntJ after my posting about The Count. She said she was sending B-Boy a present.

It arrived and B-Boy started playing with it immediately. AuntJ sent him a Wooden Toy Abacus from IKEA. He can't count yet, but there are several ways we can play with this until he does! He likes the sound they make when they beads hit the side of the abacus. Clap!

Oooh... these move! 

Look at all the pretty colors! 

I am going to have fun with this.

Wow. This toy is mobile! Fun!

Thanks AuntJ... this will definitely get some use!

A day with Mema and the Landfill

No, we didn't dump anyone or anything at the landfill. 

Ok, I know what you are thinking... then why is a LANDFILL mentioned in this blog? And what on earth does that have to do with Mema and B-Boy?

Well, I'll tell you, but you are going to have to stick around to find out!

Neb needed some quiet time to study for his final exam... and having B-Boy around does not fill that bill! Little boy wants attention, plays loudly (most of the time) and if he doesn't get what he wants or thinks he needs- it gets very LOUD. Not good when you need to concentrate.

So, I decided B-Boy and I would go visit my Mom. Mema had not seen B-Boy for a while, and since I would be going out of town for work, it seemed like a good time to visit her.

Unfortunately, she had a prior engagement but was able to meet us afterward. Since we had some time to fill while we waited, I decided to take B-Boy to a park near where she was. I figured the new environment would be good for B-Boy because he would have something different to play on... every park is different!

The park we went to is fairly new... and had an area for smaller kids and another for the larger kids. They didn't have many swings, so that was a drawback, but the rest of the park was great!

B-Boy first explored the younger toddler area, which had a neat slide, a crawl tube, and a climbing wall. B-Boy made some friends there, and they had fun chasing each other. He then headed to the swing area, and enjoyed swinging, doing some people watching and taking in the rest of the park.

One thing that he thought was cool was a music area. There was a small wall with things to make music on both sides. On the front side, there were ceramic half-spheres attached. Next to them were metal pieces shaped like musical notes. The top of the note was attached to the wall, and the bottom could swing from side to side. When you pulled the note away from the circle and let it go, it would hit the ceramic piece and produce a musical tone.

All I could think was, "Hmmm, they need sheet music to let the kids play a song!".

B-Boy thought that was fun until he saw the other side of the wall...

Because there was a set of BONGOs made out of plastic material... and they sounded just like drums. B-Boy banged on them for a long time.

WOW! Big BONGOs!!!! YAY!

It's a good thing I am tall! 

I can reach without Mommy's help. 

He then headed to the big kid area... which he LOVED. It had two big slides, and no fear. I stood nearby just in case, but gave him the opportunity to have some freedom to run around and explore on his own.

Hmmm... how do I want to go down this slide?

Yeah, head first is the way, head first.

It also had a moving plank bridge that he could run over. He used to be scared of those, but this time he had no fear or hesitation. As a matter of fact, he spent most of the time running from one side of hte bridge to the other. I think he enjoyed the bounce!

This bridge moves Mommy! Cool!

We finished up and met Mema for lunch. We had brought him a straw cup, but when he saw the water arrive, he wanted to drink out of the BIG cup with a REAL straw that was NOT attached to the cup. Thankfully, Mema helped hold the cup for him, and helped guide the straw back in when he started playing with it.

B-Boy started in the high chair eating his grilled chicken.

Hmm, this straw doesn't seem to be working!

But once he noticed Mema had a WAFFLE, well, her side of the table became much more interesting if not inviting! Mema was sweet to share her waffles with him, so she became his favorite person of the day. My broccoli didn't hold up to that!

Mema let me have some of her WAFFLE! YAY!

Mema, eating sugar with you is FUN!

Yes it is, precious boy, yes it is!

I know what you are thinking. I have not mentioned what the landfill has to do with it, right?  I think you have waited long enough, you have been so very patient. Here goes...

The park is at a reclaimed landfill that has been buried. The area around the landfill has been turned into walking and biking trails, and the park was built as part of that. As a matter of fact it is called Landfill Park!

Don't worry, there's no landfill stuff around the park area, it is very nice!

Keep on Swimmin', Swimmin', Swimmin'!

B-Boy had a tough go when we started up swim lessons again. It had been 6 months or so since his last lesson, and the first one back did not go well.

I am happy to report that the first one was a FLUKE! He absolutely loves the pool, and is now jumping in on his own! He will stand on the side of the pool, and launch himself into the water. We let him kick up to the surface, and when his head bobs to the surface, we pull him out of the water and cheer. He loves it... and then can't wait to do it again.

Let's do this! 

Just make sure the pretty blonde lifeguard can see me.

Are you watching? 'Cuz this is going to be AWESOME!

I was too fast for Momma to get with her camera. What you missed is:

1) Me jumping off the side with GUSTO

2) Me going under the water 

3) Me kicking back up

And then Daddy scooped me out of the water and cheered, but you can see that!

B-Boy has no fear of the pool... which shocks all the other parents. He is doing great kicking and moving his arms, the only thing he dislikes is laying on his back in the water. But we are working on that.

As you can see, the boy is a fish!

Wheeee! Faster Daddy!

The pool is fun, I hope you can join me soon!

Thank goodness she is a Mommy too!

I am super excited because we finally got new bedroom furniture. We were still using the dresser I had as a kid as our only dresser, and the rest of the room was our leftovers from college. The newest piece of furniture (not counting the mattress) was the headboard, which I loved. We bought it the first year we moved to North Carolina, and drove it back to Raleigh from High Point. It was a lovely sleigh bed headboard who had lost the rest of its rails and foot board, which suited us just fine because we only wanted the headboard. The only problem was that it was WAY too short. You really couldn't lean against it, and your pillow hid it when you stood them up. It was too short.

But we liked it, and we found ways to make it work. Fast forward 13 years or so, and we still have the same furniture. Until now. You see, we finally picked a set we both liked. It turned out to be the first set we saw (and had decided against)... we took a trip to High Point and spent an entire day there looking. We found a few sets that worked for us, but the headboard was just not right. One was too short, another reminded me of staying in a hotel.

When we got back to Raleigh, we stopped in to the furniture store where we have bought all our furniture. They had the first set we had seen, and it was on SALE. Neb and I decided that since the headboard was EXACTLY what I has looking for, and the price was significantly less than everything else we had seen, that we would just go for it.

And I absolutely LOVE it. It wasn't too big for the room, which was something we were worried about. It also had a piece in the set that was a must have, a media chest... which is basically a dresser with a spot for your electronics where the top set of drawers would typically be. We wanted to be able to access the DVR and DVD player, but not have it stick out.

And that meant one thing... the giant 32 inch TV (that we bought the same day we arrived in North Carolina for the first time, which is a story in itself I will need to share with you another day) had to go. It got moved into our room when we bought the TV to hang above the fireplace in the living room.  It is bulky, heavy and takes up SO much room!

B-Boy, Neb and I went to Best Buy to search for a flat screen TV to hang above the media chest. The salesperson was a sweetheart and when she heard what we were looking for, she showed us a few options. They had an open box 42 inch Panasonic LCD TV on clearance- marked WAY down because there was no manual (who reads that anyway?), no stand (which we didn't need because we would hang it) and no remote. We decided if we wanted one, we could order it. The picture was great, and the price was even better.

B-Boy had a blast running around looking at all the TVs. One was turned on it's side and kept showing people from the Geek Squad (the folks who do the computer repairs). They had it down low, and B-Boy would squeal every time a new person showed up. They were his size and he really liked that.

B-Boy also adored our salesperson. He somehow got his hands on our paperwork... and to pry it out of his hands, she gave him stickers.

B-Boy was in love. His favorite activity is to put stickers on paper and himself. And the fact that she kept giving him stickers made him adore her even more.

She told us she had a son two months older than B-Boy, so she understood. It was a good thing, because B-Boy decided to show his love for her by putting the stickers on her leg. High on her leg. Really high.

She took it in stride, and was really sweet with him. I snapped some photos (because it did make me giggle) and told her that she would be forever documented in this blog.  Hee hee.

Oooh! Stickers! 

I heart you BestBuyLady!

Here, you can have my stickers...

I can get some more.

And, our room looks great! Neb hung the TV, and it all goes together really well. YAY!