Happy Father's Day!

Happy Belated Father's Day!

This year I wanted to do something special for Walter for Father's Day now that Padon is old enough to express himself and I can more easily manipulate him into creating Father's day projects. And luckily for me Padon was receptive to my creative juices and we made a rock star gift!

We stopped by the Ben Franklin craft store in Monroe as we were passing by and grabbed a white T-shirt for a screaming $2.75 deal the morning of Father's Day. Walter was out at a Bachelor Party but I didn't know when he was coming home and we were on borrowed time.
We got home and I quickly grabbed my acrylic paints, my paint tray, a good brush, the shirt and stripped us both down to diaper and underwear in the back yard. Thank goodness for a large yard. And the fun began. I painted Padon all over his front in a rainbow of colors.


At first Padon started saying "No, no...." but then was all about the paint brush and I kept telling him to wait just one second as he kept trying to grab the brush. I was moving as fast as I could and slapping it on. Padon just kind of watched me and let me brush it on his hands and face. I think a little bird in me was thinking, "ha, baby you're getting a little taste of what your Mother is like and how your life is going to continue to be like in the future." I'm all about painting babies for a fabulous art project and gift.

As soon as I had him well coated and I had the shirt on and well situated I said, "ok, baby, give me a hug, quick!" And it was like he knew exactly what I wanted and hugged me around my torso. I picked him up and made sure to press his head, torso, and legs in a good stamp on my front and he gave me the perfect amount of pressure with his arms. I then peeled him off and gingerly stripped the shirt off so I could lay it down on the adirondack on the deck. I love acrylics cause I knew the shirt would be totally dry in a matter of hours and hopefully in time for Walter to get home.

I then grabbed the Father's Day card I had bought for Walter on behalf of Padon and recorded on its recorder Padon's excited chatter about what we had done. It was hard because I couldn't get Padon to leave the card alone but in the end I got the cutest little sound bite.

I snapped a picture of Padon, threw him in the bathtub careful to block the drain from paint debris (acrylic just crumbles off skin) and scrubbed him down which he was totally cool with. (His skin dyed blue where blue paint had been. Again this made me feel proud for some reason). Redressed we then dashed off to RiteAid to print the picture out so I could give Walter the in progress picture of his most cool gift.

In the end the timing was perfect. Walter came home two hours after when I thought he would and the shirt (completely dried) and picture (framed) were all wrapped. He opened it and just started to laugh. He thought it was the coolest present ever.

And a cool tidbit to the whole project is we have a rainbow of paint splotches on the back deck that Walter and I really like and two small two year old hand prints where Padon climbed up on the larger of the two back decks. It will be sad when they fade away. It kind of makes me feel more like this is my house.

Things I Never Thought I Would Say But Think Are Too Funny Not to Share

Albeit Very Embarrassing:

"Yes, that is my bottom, don't stick your finger in it."

"Would you like a snack? No, not a smack, a snack!"

Lake Goodwin Rocks!

I got the whole first week of June off from work and it was awesome! I got three big projects done, got to spend the whole day with Padon on his birthday, and we went to Lake Goodwin; which I think if I was home all the time we would go to at least twice a week during the summer.
I had to take pictures to capture the super sweet cheeky buns peeking out of Padon's too big swimming suit.

Padon's first sandy hole and bucket full of water (refilled again and again to keep the pool full). It totally reminded me of playing in the sand on Long Island. My buns totally got burned on Long Island once trying to dig a hole deeper than I was tall. It was great!

Again I was amazed at how awesome the lake is to only be knee and mid thigh deep until it quickly becomes waist deep about 5 feet from the dock. The water temperature is always awesome. It's like the biggest wadding pool ever. Padon and I walked out really far.

I took this picture and thought that were my Mom to see it, it would reminder her of me when I was 3 (?) and she had taken a picture of me after putting some sand on my legs as I played with it in my hands.

Sarah made a comment to this post referencing how hard it is to get a candid picture taken of you when you are the rememberer of the camera and have the foresight to know that this is a memory that needs to be captured. For this reason, if it wasn't for Jane, I'd have a lot more out stretched camera pictures of myself with Padon. I also felt it necessary to post this picture because Padon is laughing at me, behind me, because I was telling him to say "cheese" when I took the picture. His whole take on it was, "you eat cheese, you don't say cheese when taking a picture! Ha, ha, ha, Mom...cheese.....!"

The Best Bowling Party Ever!

I was so excited for Padon's birthday and his birthday party! Padon became enamored with bowling when we went to Acme Bowl in South Center, in January for Patrick's going away party, and he learned to crawl down stairs so he could get his hands on those glorious orbs. This admiration of the sport didn't go away. About three months later we found ourselves at Acme Bowl again for a birthday party and again Padon was squealing with excitment and carrying (yes carrying, with my help) his own 6 lb bowling ball down the entire length of the very large bowling alley to where all the kids were playing. It became very apparent that the ultimate way to celebrate Padon and his life was by celebrating it with his current favorite love, bowling!

I used a picture of Padon after getting his first haircut and made up his Birthday card, logo, and theme. It came out so well and I so badly wished that the other kids invited to the party, and able to bowl, could have Padon themed bowling shirts too that I designed two more and they came out so awesome!

Super Padon

Super Greg!

Super Mia!Twin City Bowl in Stanwood was awesome and had a great package deal including two lanes, shoes and balls for up to 8 people, 1 large pizza, soda, and plates, napkins, cups, flatware, and a great attitude about hosting toddlers. We brought in a cake and got extra pizza and soda, shoes and balls, and one more lane and had a blast all around.

I had a parental moment as Padon, Greg, and Mia all tried to pick up the bowling balls, and as Padon and Greg walked away with their 6 lb ball high on their shoulders. Can a toddler throw their back out?

After helping them a few times Padon and Greg were also able to put the bowling balls on the rack themselves, to shove them, and watch them roll down the lane. There was a lot of chasing and catching as all three of the tots all wanted so badly to chase the ball and see where it had fallen.

Padon gasped and squealed the minute he entered the bowling alley and I couldn't relay fast enough to Walter's Dad, Leo, the need to get Padon a 6 lb ball before he really hurt himself trying to get the 10 and 12 lb balls off the shelf. Greg and Mia hesitated like "what the..." but after being shown the power of a good bowl were also laughing, squealing and screaming at the awesomeness of it.

And best yet, the shirts were a hit! I was so excited to be able to do them and they really did come out great!

2 hours was a perfect limit as the party ran through nap times. We ended with cake and invited everyone back to our house to open presents and stay for a BBQ dinner whenever we had the room in our stomach for it.

Everyone was so thoughtful with their gifts and Padon walked away with his very own bowling set which has turned our hallway into a mini bowling alley.

It turned into a relaxing afternoon for the adults and

A great time for Padon and Greg to take out their 2 year old aggression on each other. Amazingly without any naps they were hysterical to each other and there were no tears. They had a blast and in the end were so dirty we put them in the bathtub.

Which turned out to be almost more fun than playing outside. They were so funny and it was wonderful to see them having such a really great time.

That really topped it off as being a very successful party.

Padon's 2nd Birthday!

Leo asked what Padon wanted for his birthday and I said a day at the Seattle Aquarium. Leo was totally on board and excited to share his favorite lunch spot in Seattle - Ivars, with Padon and was interested to see what Padon would think of the Aquarium. With my week off from work it worked out awesome for Padon, Walter, and I to be able to meet Leo at the aquarium on Padon's birthday.

Leo was excited to share feeding the seagulls on the warf with Padon and at first it was a little hard to get Padon interested not in the pigeons (who you were not supposed to feed) and in the seagulls who you could feed. But when Leo gave up more than half his fries to Padon and the fun involved in chucking handfuls of greasy goodness down to really large and loud birds Padon was all over it. And I think Leo was pleased.

We made our way to the aquarium and went through all the exhibits but sadly it wasn't as mind blowing an experience as I thought it would be. When we entered there was an extremely large aquarium with a scuba diver in the tank talking to the children seated on the floor in front of it but Padon really didn't care. He was interested in the fish but the sight of them wasn't accompanied by his tiny "Woooowwwww" or a whole lot of gibber jabber like I hoped it would.
Not until we went into where the sea horses and light sensitive fish were and there were tiny aquariums on Padon's level. He then became very animated and told a very nice German gentleman all about what he was seeing. The gentleman was so sweet talked back to Padon in English about the fish and how neat they were.

Padon just kept on going, sharing with their whole family the greatness of this one tiny tank until we had to pull him away so more people could see. It was an oddly shapped room (kind of like a doughnut) and it was becoming a traffic jam of people trying to see the fish, especially the sea horses.

Padon just couldn't see the fur seals as they swam by but could see their picture on the informative plaque and because of this inability to see all the great sea life around him we passed through the aquarium pretty quickly. It was fun but not as impactful as I thought it would be.

We ended our time at the aquarium getting a picture taken in front of the Sixgill Shark where ironically enough Padon was just a little taller than the 2 foot mark on his 2nd birthday. We left the aquarium, went to the Pike Place Market, had some coffee, Padon opened Leo's gift to him, and we said our goodbyes to Leo and made our way back to our bus stop.

We had to stop and get "superstar" pictures taken next to the Maximus Minimus Bus shapped like a pig near the Pike Place Market. It really was a cool truck/ van. It looked like it had been rivited together all over the place but really must have been made out of foam so as to cut down on the weight caused by that much real steal. I wish I could have seen it driving down I-5.

When we did make it to our bus the bus was full to the gills. Two nice gentleman gave us their seat and Walter, Padon and I cramed ourselves in the seat along with Padon's backpack and the SUV stroller which is like a whole other person (typically why we don't take the SUV stroller with us when we go downtown and on the bus). It made for a great picture, and it helped reaffirm Walter's dislike of riding the bus. He says he doesn't mind doing it with me but would not want to get caught in a similar circumstance with Padon alone. He has no sense of adventure - Ha!

Boars Hunt 2009

Ok, so Walter convinced me that camping another SCA event with Padon this session would be ok and for the most part he was right. With his help watching and carring for Padon was much easier, not to mention the putting up and taking down of our tent. Walter had made Padon some boffers and they were a big hit. It was pretty much a non-stop attack of poor bi-standers SCA and Mundane and for the most part they were all very cool about it.

Including Sir Aldric (?) who in passing by commented to Padon on his boffer and played like he was on the attach and died a death that included a 30lb (?) toddler falling on his face.

This was just one of the many times that weekend that I got to see what the SCA meant to Padon. Other than many boffers and eye gouging tackles to the other allowing kids in our camp Padon walked up to a complete stranger that was crouched down watching the Rapier fighting and snuggled into his chest, leaning against him. Much like he would have done to Walter only this guy was wearing a white shirt and was completely bald and beardless. The guy was like, "uh, hi! How are you?!" The gal next to him laughed and said "Can I hold him?" outstretching her arms to Padon, who in turn happily plunked himself down on her lap. I suddenly realized that we had lead Padon to believe that all people in garb and in the SCA (cause where else do we see people in Medievel garb) are our friends. This gave me mixed emotions cause, why not, but at the same time you don't know these people's backgrounds and whether they even like kids.

How can you not like this kid?! He even got a free Beanie Baby Lion out of a vendor. I so need to donate something back to her!

We couldn't help but show off the incredibly cute new "trick" that we have Padon do which is raise his arms like Mary Margarete Gallagher and say "Super Star!" in his oh so cute 2 year old voice.

I'm still not sure that eventing with Padon this season is good. I still woke at 6am on Saturday. But Walter and I did have a light bulb go off on Sunday after he slept until 9 when we realized bundling Padon in too many clothes made him sleep longer. Hummm.....

Folk Life 2009

Walter got to come with Padon and I to the Folk Life Festival this year and we had a great time hanging with our friend Nick, his boyfriend , and Jane, Jason and Katherine. Nick sadly had to leave early because his very adorable Puggle puppy wouldn't allow him to move 5 ft without someone stopping him to ask about the puppy, the puppy kept him from going to the beer garden which was Nick's main goal, and his boyfriend wasn't feeling very well.
When Walter and Nick went to go get a beer Padon and I went to the fountain. I was interested in what he would think this year since it was such a lovely hot day and he was older than last year when it made him cry to get wet.

It took a little warming up to it but in the end he was running around in the spray of the water, laughing, screaming, and chasing kids who didn't know they were being chased. This was Padon's interpretation of what they were doing after watching kids scream to the fountain and away.
He ran all around the fountain and had a lot of fun climbing up the steep sides and sliding (yeah that killed his diaper) back down the cement. Thanks again to the dude that caught my summersaulting child because I couldn't get to him fast enough.
It was a really great time. I got to wear and break in my super sweet hot pink Converse that Walter got me, got a new and very cool hippe purse, got to see friends I hadn't seen in a long time, including Mihn Cow from AA Party Rentals, and snapped a very adorable picture of Padon and Walter. I love that they love each other so much!