Just a simple morning

As per my last post, most Tuesdays Elliot and I go to school all morning while Erik is at preschool. It is a rare moment that we miss class unless we have tons of errands or in this case sick. Usually I would still run around town with Elliot, but we both got sick at the same time so I decided a day of hanging out at home would be perfect.

I think Elliot finds it "off" to be at home with him and mommy and no Erik. Every Friday he is home all morning with a sitter when I take Erik to mommy & me, but it is a once every couple months occurrence when it is just him and me hanging out at home.

My house is a disaster since I have been sick all weekend and I really wanted to clean up the kitchen so I decided why not mimic school. So we started off our day with a little finger painting. I took out 3 different brushes, some paper and took off his clothes and let him go for it. Total paint time, 15 minutes, then 15 minutes of clean up. Sometimes I wonder if it is worth it.

Of course even without his brother's influence Elliot kept saying "mouth" and guess where the paint went after that, if you guessed "mouth" you sure are smart.

Then because Elliot is really cranky today and I am not feeling well and was having a bad moment, when he asked for popcorn and to watch "mouse" I didn't say no this time. Sometimes it is just good to let it go and give them what they want. Or that is what I tell myself when I feel the guilt that Elliot has now watched one hour of tv today instead of his usual 30 minutes.

Then because I was feeling better and Elliot was throwing tantrum after tantrum I decided that a walk would be a great idea, and with only two of us, why not bring Lovey. Just a walk around the block, but with a toddler and a dog, it takes 20 minutes.

Elliot is an excellent walker. He never lets go, he never pulls at Lovey or gets inpatient and when Lovey walks up the hill to smell he just waits patiently for her. Its very nice to take a walk with Elliot.

Its definitely the start of spring in Southern California and everything is starting to bloom. Also I love that we live next to a street that is lined with palm trees.

Our walk was not without injury and out came the band-aid. I will disclaim that it lasted all of 10 minutes before took it off and complained again that his finger hurts. The one thing I love about 3-year-olds is that you can reason with them and say "if you keep the band-aid on it will protect your finger and not hurt." There really is no way to get that point across to a one-year-old whose mind is made up.

Filling in the blank spots

My baby boy is coming up on two years in the next couple months and that means it is time to start working on his baby book. Today I decided to bring in my camera at mommy and me school and snap a few pictures just to make sure I have options when I work on those pages.

Its fun to just document a normal day in your child's life. Elliot really LOVES school. Every time we leave he is just so happy to have gone and I think a big part is the time he gets to spend with just me alone. Although I do have to admit I feel like I have been there, done that with Elliot and school I really do try to live in the moment with him and share those special memories. I know it is moments like this that forges our bond and gives him opportunities to socialize and be around kids his own age.

Everyday we go to school, walk in to sign in and get our name tags on. During this time Elliot always makes a beeline for the car table. It is is favorite activity and he always starts here. Although more often than not there is a lot of competition at this table.

Then after giving him a couple minutes there I really try to talk him into the art project. He doesn't have to do it, but I try to walk him over to see if he really will be interested. The art projects are only available for the firs 30 minutes so I want to let him have opportunities. More and more lately he is really liking the projects and creating.

Then we clean up, go potty and head outside for some fresh air. I think outside play is really important and also it makes him come in contact with less germs so I really encourage him to play out there.

He is getting less and less interested in jungle gyms lately, although he did finally climb it today all by himself for the very first time.

Then the moment of decision, what to do next, there are just so many choices!

He choose the horse, one of his favorite toys at school.

 

Then it is time for circle time, songs and bells. Elliot loves it all and this is a big class with a lot of kids. I am always amazed at how big this class is, much larger than Erik's class.

Then a snack of graham crackers and water. Elliot usually eats about two crackers and lots of water, and is always the last man standing during snack. He really loves sitting with the other kids and eating.

Afterward it time for you guessed it, more play. Its any ones guess where we go this time, usually outside but he has been know to sit inside and play cars or puzzle by himself. Today he decided for some girl time outside.

My favorite moment of the day is when Elliot and Avery started pushing each other in the car. They each took turns pushing each other. I was amazed because Elliot never lets anyone push him in cars, ever. Such a ladies man, showing off for the girls.

We ended the day on the horses and playing with Brooke on the seesaw. Not a bad day at school I might say.

Just a note on how I shot today. I used my flash the entire day on TTL. I just used a fill flash at -1 2/3 stops outside and inside I bounced the full flash off the ceiling. My only complaint is using the flash outside made me using a larger DOF than I would like, but helped fill in the shadows nicely.

A day off

For Christmas we always do a gift exchange by drawing names out of a hat so we buy for just one person instead of 15, then buying for my kids are optional. They are the only children in the family now so almost everyone gets them something. Well my mother-in-law got my name this year and purchased me a spa day in a city about 40 minutes away. A bit of a hassle, until out comes the second half, she will take my kids and watch them for me while I go to my appointment. The spa was in between our two houses. For a whole month we couldn't coordinate, but last week it finally came, a day off.

This spa was cute, but definitely a one-time coupon deal thing. They mix eastern medicine with their spa techniques. Along with my 90 minute massage I got a acupressure facelift and paraffin on my hands and feet. Definitely felt pampered that day. I think the last massage I had was when I was pregnant with Elliot.

Afterwards I got to have lunch with a friend and her three-week old son, no pictures there. So it was just a nice afternoon of lots of relaxation and no kids; newborns who sleep through lunch don't count. Reluctantly I had to head over to my in-laws house and help watch my kids. We were staying for dinner and I got there at 3 pm so we had a lot of of time to kill. I don't have time for the whole story right now, but I thought it might be fun to just share some of my favorite photos from that day.

Elliot is obsessed with sitting on rocks and his brother often likes to join him.

We went to a neighbors to borrow baking powder, so here are the boys walking up grandma and grandpa's driveway.

Elliot throwing a tantrum because Grandma took off with Erik and stopped holding his hand. This is as bad as the terrible twos get for us honestly.

The boys stopped to sit on another rock so I took the opportunity for some update portraits. Just fun to have these occasionally. Might facebook the one of me and the boys if I remember to add it one of these days.

Sometimes you just need to stop and smells the roses, literally.

Baking has becoming such a big part of our life and Grandma likes to encourage Erik's cooking skills so we stopped to bake some oatmeal cookies. Maybe chocolate chips for fit the cliche a little better.

The family tradition is to have dinner at Ojai pizza, and this day we stopped at the park first. I wanted to capture some golden hour light and some additional photos for Elliot's picture book I will be creating in the next month.

 

Then we headed to dinner and the light was gone and our pictures were over, but it was a fun day and we are still talking about it.