Note to Self

Don't play Dance Dance Revolution when 6 1/2 months pregnant. I have always loved this game and when we had more money and the Playstation was our exclusive game station I told Walter I thought he should buy it for me (you can get a mat that goes on the floor with the game disc and you dance on that mat) for Christmas, or my birthday, or whenever. He just laughed, didn't believe I would really play it, and I have never gotten it or really tried it for that matter. So last weekend when some friends took me to GameWorks for my birthday I thought, darn it, I'm going to try it! The minute I stepped on it though I thought, oh what the heck am I doing, I can't move that fast and jump?, yeah right! I tell you I tried though. So I had to hold onto my protruding belly and I got thoroughly boo'd by the game for not hitting the steps hard enough or jumping at the right time but it was still fun and I learned I suck. Ha! I still would love to go again, it was fun, but next time not pregnant. Funny enough a 4ish year old girl stood their staring at me half the time with a look on her face like, "what the?!...."I think Sophia slept through the whole thing.

Have to Remember!

Oh, I have to blog about this because it is too precious to forget and I will if I don't write it down.

Some where or maybe even more than once Padon has noticed it has gotten hard for me to get in and out of bed, and to get up out of a soft chair like the couch and bless his little heart he tries to help me get up. He comes over quickly when I am starting to get off the bed (usually after changing out of dress clothes to regular everyday clothes after work) and grabs me around the leg or with a hand on each hip, my middle and with over exaggerated grunting attempts to lift me up/ help me up. Sometimes I am already standing and he will run over with an "Oh!" and then grab me around my hips and again make a lifting motion with a helpful grunt added in. This has been followed by a smaking of his hands, like "job well done", and a important "there!" motion of his head and body as he turns away. I was shocked out of my stripped socks the first time he did it and am so incredibly touched everytime he does. I may not be able to get a kiss out of him but he loves me in so many other wonderful and surprising ways.

I also don't want to forget that: blanket in 2 1/2 year old Padon speak is "gangkie" and a motorcycle was, until recently, "Gak, gak, gak, gak" in quick succession. Now I believe it is just "zoom!" All animals and items have come with a descriptive sound word instead of an actual noun name; "Mooo!" for cows and "MUH-huhuhmm" for horses, for example. I don't want to forget that Monkey Cheese means Macaroni and Cheese and that Niplets are nipples.

Just Cute

Art Projects

We needed some pumpkins in our house because tis the season but don't really have money at the moment to be buying pumpkins and so I came home with paper plates and the thought that maybe Padon and I could make our own pumpkins while Walter had friends over for a game night.

For Padon's first birthday he received finger paints and until now he had been way to oral, and impulsive to consider passing off paint to, no matter how washable they were. I set up his table, laid paper underneath, got paper towels ready, laid out the plates with the pumpkin sketch, put his smock on, and opened the paints. It was fun. He was interested in the paint but was concerned that it was "yucky" and that maybe he wasn't supposed to stick his hands in it. So I went first and the project was on. I wasn't fast enough to keep the two table spoons of orange finger paint from making it in his mouth and down into his stomach (which you could tell didn't taste good) and did have to remind him probably another 8 times to keep his hands out of his mouth (I think each color inflicted a need to taste it again and again) but it was fun. He went hog wild on the plate and I made a mad dash to his room to grab the canvas that had come with the paints on his birthday so he could keep going. Once he started drawing in the paint with his fingers I wished he would keep going but the fact I had kept him focused for about 10 or 15 minutes in one thing was already a great achievement and I lost his interest in showing how he could now draw pictures in his colors. I got a couple good scratches in the paint on the canvas out of him and then it was a dash into the kitchen to wash off the paint before he touched anything or anyone as he said "all done!" and tried to run away.
I think it is a lovely piece of artwork and a fantastic gift idea. I scratched Padon's name and the year on the canvas in the lower right hand corner and set it up to dry. I look forward to asking him tonight where he thinks we should hang it. I'm really tempted to turn a portion of the right hand side of our hallway wall into the family artwork section.

I Love You Woody *Sigh*

I don't know how many times during the day Walter gets asked to watch Toy Story but I get asked every night. Always followed by Woody? Buzz?. Until recently this was also followed by Woody! Woody! Hello Woody! (enunciating every syllable as well as Padon can). Super cute we have totally indulged Padon in his love of Woody and Buzz and plan on surprizing him with his very own Woody and Buzz for Christmas. I got this great picture of Padon after I tried to pass Aladdin off on him and 5 minutes later had changed to Toy Story2 because he woulnd't stop begging for "Toy Story 2" (showing 4 fingers). Two mintues later he was like this on the couch watching Woody be concerned about being shelved because his arm had torn. I loved the look of complete adoration on Padon's face. "Ahhhhh, Woody, I looooovvveeee yyyooooouuuuuu. And you too Buzz."

Toy Box?

So I was pregnantly sitting on the couch in a my-hips-wont-ache-this-way position and had one leg up which on a two year old level left an open doorway to the couch on the other side. Before I knew it I had, had, through that little triangle space, shoved one dinosaur, 4 books, two dog chew toys, a toy piano, a rubbermaid tub, two XBox styrofoam spacers, a couple Fischer Price people, a Winnie the Pooh, and a My Pet Monster. There may have been a couple other items but I can't remember anymore. As it seemed that Padon was loosing interest in my toy pile (I felt like the lady in the junk heap in the movie The Labyrinth) I unpiled myself when Padon was away but when he saw that I was no longer stacked high with the toys he repiled me in the same way. It seemed very necessary for a picture.

New Baby Things

A generous friend at work has been giving me all her daughter's clothes that no longer fit and Padon and I have been enjoying going through the bags of goodies alot. I would totally have more pictures of Padon sampling the fabulous wares but he has passed his smile for the camera phase and often either tells me he doesn't want his picture taken or won't stand still for it. It's like he has suddenly realized that he might be embarrassed by these pictures later. But I did get this smashing picture of him trying on the baby sized Cherry sunglasses which he LOVED.

When I brought home this latest treasure Padon was so excited that he kept shouting "Ooooo!, Oooooo!" his arms pumping out at his sides the whole time with the anticipation of pulling out the next great thing. The best part after finding the glasses and needing to wear them was that Padon would oooo and ahhhhh over every little tiny hat, outfit with a ruffle, flower, or butterfly and go and show Walter, who was at the computer; Padon never taking off the glasses. It was so super cute that I had to ask him, as we were talking about the baby clothes, how cute they were, and how they were for the baby in me, "Wouldn't it be nice if we had our own baby?" He responded back with a "yeah" that elluded at that time and moment it would have been wonderful to dress a baby in all these fun clothes. I think 10 minutes later that moment had passed but it was super sweet in anycase.

Wow! Happy Birthday To Me!

I had a really nice Birthday. A few people in my office bought me a cake for my birthday. It was so nice, and really a delicious cake, go Safeway!
This graciousness was followed by a lovely breakfast of Crab Eggs Benedict on Saturday (my actually B-day) at the Stanwood Cafe, a day of spinning Alpaca for a hat for Padon, a long nap, and a fabulous dinner at the Spaghetti Factory in Seattle. Padon loved the Spaghetti Factory and I felt full of squishy yummy love having such a wonderful dinner with my two great guys.

And then, the following weekend, I was so lucky to have Sarah and Wayne take Walter and I out for an all you can eat crabfest at the Muckleshoot Casino and awesomely Jane and Jason could come along (man that was good).

The weekend after that I went out shopping for baby blanket yarn for Sophia with my Mom and Jane and had a wonderful brunch at the Portage Bay Cafe!

And then the second to last weekend in October my friend Nick, his boyfriend Andy, and their friend Jeff took me out for a delicious brunch at 22 Doors on Capital Hill and then down to Game Works where we played shooting games, tried Dance Dance Revolution (yeah, dumb idea pregnant, but oh so fun), and a really fun Japanese Namco Bandai drum game a lot like Dance Dance Revolution but with drum sticks (Nick, Jeff, and I totally got blisters playing that game).
Man it was a really lovely Birthday. Who could ask for more then a whole month of people celebrating you; I wish I could do this for all my family and friends!