john's mom works

john was excited to wear his fireman rain jacket this morning. but (surprise!) he would never hold still long enough for me to get a good picture! this weekend when my husband and i were in the kitchen, john came tearing into the room from his bedroom. he stopped right in front of me, and said, "mommy, have you seen myron?" i said, "who's myron, baby?" he said, "myron!" and turned to his daddy. "daddy, where's myron?" daddy said, "who's myron, john?" and john ran back into the other room. we went back to doing dishes or cooking or whatever we were up to before the strange myron interlude, not thinking much of it -- after all, our little dude is both creative and very impressionable, so who knows whether he invented myron or saw him on tv or what. a few minutes later, a little blur came tearing into the kitchen again.  "mommy ..." he said. "yes, my love?" i said. ...

happy hanukkah! my mom's side of the family is jewish, which technically makes me jewish. and although i have never identified religiously as jewish, it is a huge and important part of my culture and heritage. growing up, we celebrated both hanukkah and christmas, and in fact my brother and i attended a year's worth of hebrew school at one point. i've always loved the tradition of the hanukkah menorah, so we've always done one in our house, since long before john was even born. but it's really fun this year, since he's so aware of what's going on around him and is learning things so fast.  saturday night was the first night of hanukkah this year, so we lit the candles, i said the blessing, we said amen, and then john said, "now we sing happy birthday!" i said, "oh, love, i know it's candles, but it's not birthday candles, it's hanukkah candles!" and he said, "no! sing happy birthday!" so i aske...

john's mom apparently has an unknown superpower - the ability to disappear off the internet at a moment's notice. here's a little of what that little rapscallion has been doing since last we spoke. mmm, lettuce. when i was a kid, i had a very uneasy relationship with lettuce. i didn't mind vegetables in general, but me and lettuce were not friends. i'd pick the good stuff out of a salad and leave the leaves aside. i specifically remember sitting at the dinner table, having been told i had to finish my salad, and telling my mom that the lettuce was "sticking it's tongue out" at me and i couldn't bear to eat it. i did eventually outgrow my distaste for lettuce, though i'm still relatively picky about it and tend toward romaine and spinach and away from iceberg. not my child. the other day, i was snacking on a leftover lebanese salad - very basic. lettuce, some feta cheese, some tasty garlic dressing. i stepped into my bedroom for a ...

"i take my pants off!" like so many two year olds, john is going through an "i do it" phase. from getting in and out of the car to removing his clothes before a bath to washing his hands to pretty much anything, he wants to do it. he doesn't usually pitch a fit if you try to help him, he just says emphatically, "i do it by self!" and sometimes i just have to remind myself: you wanted this! when he was too little to help get in and out of his own clothes, you were anxious for him to learn. you were excited when he first held that bottle to feed himself. you wanted him to grow. and i do, i do. i do want him to grow. but the more he can do "by self" the less he needs me. the more independent he becomes, the less likely he is to want to hold and hug and kiss and snuggle, and i love the hold and hug and kiss and snuggle parts of being a mama so much. i'm in luck, though. in between fits of "by self," john loves the snu...

my boys watching football. it's one of john's best stall tactics when he doesn't want to go to bed ... "watch football with daddy!" this evening on our way home from grabbing some dinner, we decided to drive through the neighborhood a little bit and check out a few houses that have their christmas decor up. our neighborhood has a couple of truly classy beautifully decorated houses, a couple of deliciously tacky out-there decorated houses, and some basic strings of lights. john is starting to really love "chrisamiss" lights, so it was fun to cruise around with him and talk about the characters we saw and the houses all lit up. we turned on the local christmas music radio station for some background music as we were cruising around the neighborhood. it was on fairly quiet, because we were discussing everything we saw. suddenly, john said, "seeng dognivah! i love this!" i asked, "what do you love, john? the christmas lights?...

little dude with his shades. because "the sun is BRIGHT, mommy." a full box of kleenex emptied on the floor. because "i'm building a CASTLE, mommy!"