More Legos!!

One of the super fun things we've done over the last few weeks was visit Legoland again. I know going into it, I was by far more excited to go than Elliott (although he did start saying 'legos!' and pointing as we were making our way through the parking entrance queue). And why was I so excited? Star Wars Miniland, of course!!



I also knew Elliott would get a lot more out of it than the last time we visited in October last year. And boy, was I right! Miniland was by far the highlight of the visit. He wanted to see all the 'models' and push the 'buttons' (correctly pronounced 'buh-puns') to make the action portion of the models move.

I, of course, thought the Star Wars models were the best :) They were a little heavily weighted with scenes from the first three episodes and the Clone Wars (each of which I've only seen once, so I only recognized the scenes vs. getting all the little details), but the models of Endor, Hoth and Tantooine were awesome. Heck, I couldn't help myself and had to take a photo of myself with the Millennium Falcon :D


Besides the Star Wars models where Elliott was particularly fond of making the Hoth snow monster roar, he seemed to be really drawn to the model of New York City, where cars drove around the buildings and you could make break dancers dance on the street.

Elliott once again had a great time at the Duplo Village where he insisted on taking me for tractor rides, over and over again ('sit there! tractor back! ride!'). He also explained what everything was...in fact, this was a common theme of the day. I caught so many photos of Elliott explaining to me mid-word what things were. My favorite being when he was telling me that Bob the Builder had 'tools' in his belt. Hee.

"Legos!" - explaining the cornstalks at the train ride were made of legos

"House!" - explaining he was standing in a big house

"Tools!" - Love

This trip also marked an important milestone: Elliott is 34 inches tall! I know this because he was officially tall enough to wedge his head under the 34 inch height marker for the shortest of the height-restricted rides. While we didn't try every 34 inch ride he would have been eligible to go on (after all we were with a non-34 inch tall companion), the one we did try was a ginormous fail. Our helicopter in the helicopter ride never made it off the ground...in fact, we had to be let off before it even started. This is where I think the 'parenting-karma' is coming back to me (hello, crying on Big Thunder Mountain at Disneyland). He was fine until we sat down, then he started saying 'no, no, no' and then started crying (the big, heavy, sobbing, sad cries) to be let off. Well since this was supposed to be fun (for us as well as the people around us), I had the ride attendant let us off. Oh well, I tried! Maybe next time...and maybe on something that doesn't raise 20 feet into the air (intimidating much?).

And shockingly enough, we managed to leave the place without any new legos (although I had told myself that if they had the Thomas the Train duplo train, it was coming home with us), despite the tempting new Cars 2 duplo sets AND seeing the 'hard to find' duplo camping set (it has a tent!!).

Thanks again to our friends for bringing us along - we had SO much fun!!

The Terrible Twos

We have had a couple fun-filled weekend the last couple of weeks. So much so, its been a bit hard for me to find some computer time...hence I am dreadfully behind in posting. But, I do hope to remedy the situation over the next few days.

I think one of the reasons we have had so much fun in the last two weeks is that we were coming off a particularly challenging time with our growing toddler. All in all, I have to admit the 'terrible twos' haven't been all that terrible. But boy, there are some days that take the cake. For Elliott, a 'terrible twos freakout' mostly consists of a switch being flipped in a perfectly happy little boy who is all of a sudden screaming at the top of his lungs...and down right mad. Depending on the setting, he ends up getting so upset it spirals into sobs and lots of crying or, and I'll be honest here, turns a bit violent (he has been known to throw what he has in his hand on occasion).

Quite often these take us by complete surprise and we are left looking at each other wondering what the heck just happened. So, like most things, we've been trying to figure it out. I'm not one for reading parenting books. I just don't have time to sift through 20 books on the same subject, all coming from completely different angles and all contradicting each other. I much prefer the little snippets babycenter.com provides, my own gut and brain, and discussions with Brad. What we've noticed is that the freakouts seem to relate to two primary realms: communication and socialization.

I think at this age, or at least where Elliott is with his language development since I know some kids are beyond this point by now, language is still new. The idea of using words to convey specific and direct messages is becoming second nature, but it seems like sometimes the wires get crossed a bit. There are times it seems as if Elliott almost forgets that he is apart of the communication give and take. He knows what he wants or what he is trying to accomplish, but he doesn't say anything, then gets upset with us when we don't do our part.

There are also those times when he just gets stuck. At this point in time, Elliott only says words that convey meaning. He no longer uses those sentence like structures of sounds that don't really mean anything, but have conversational intonations. Everything out of his mouth has a meaning, even if it's his own made up word (there are only a couple of these left like 'neahr' for 'more' and 'anoynoy' for 'another one' - even 'hawk' for 'light' has actually become 'light'). BUT, that doesn't always mean we understand what he is saying. Sometimes his pronunciation is off and sometimes he just says the wrong word. And can I tell you? There have been very few things as heartbreaking to me as looking into that little face, who keeps repeating the same word over and over with obvious intent, interest and expectation, and I have no idea what he's talking about. Especially when you also know, as soon as he realizes what the problem is, that he is going to get very frustrated and upset. Kills me every time. We try to fake it as much as possible, but there are times when he's on to us and it has set off a major meltdown.

This brings me to the other catalyst of the freakout: socialization. I'm using this word loosely because I've clearly forgot all my 'psych' lingo, but what I'm specifically referring to is the process of learning the rules of society whether that be how to behave in our greater community or within our own home. There are times when what Elliott wants to do, is simply unreasonable. It is never going to be okay. Whether this is because of a safety issue (its never okay for him to use his tricycle as a stepping stool to wash his hands), preservation of personal property (it is never okay for him to stack up our CDs and stand on them), or public behavior (it is never okay to remove the pricing signs from the shelves at the grocery store - ahem, hello yesterday's freakout).

Correcting these behaviors doesn't always cause a meltdown, but when the stars are in alignment, sometimes it does. You can tell it just doesn't seem right to him that what he is trying to do is a problem. In fact, that is what I think the problem is - he just doesn't get it sometimes. "Why can't I plug the electrical cord into the outlet? You let me plug RCA cables into the old VCR. How is this different?" Brad and I try to explain to him the differences, but at this age, sometimes he just doesn't want to hear it. Thank goodness distraction is still a good way to interrupt the freakout from become a full-fledged meltdown.

So while we are waiting out the rest of the 'terrible twos', we are doing our best to stay consistent on the things that really matter, support him when he's frustrated with his limitations and distract, distract, distract ;)

Meals

Ever since Elliott was born, I've been in a rut with meal preparations. B.E. (Before Elliott) we used to have a veggie and some kind of protein every night. We often selected something pre-marinated from the grocery counter and our veggies came from our CSA or the store. We usually roasted our vegetables (my favorite!) and had a pretty good variety all around.

But once Elliott was here, it got a bit trickier. Our regular routine of going to the grocery store or co-op after going to the park on Sunday, soon got mixed up with nap schedules and the necessity/ease of feeding Elliott at home.

Our regular dinner time also went out the window, with Elliott's bedtime routine taking precedence. Pretty soon I was fixing two meals a night, with Elliott eating separately from us. We weren't even starting our dinner until after 7:30 and quite often eating at 9:00. And I should edit the above 'we' to 'I' since Brad was usually in class in the evenings or completing homework after spending the day taking care of Elliott. This made for a very tired mama...who wasn't able to relax until bedtime and was slowly losing herself (it was a rare day I had any time leftover to spend on things -god forbid- I liked to do).

Fast forward to the end of last year/beginning of this year and we were in a massive rut. I had no idea what to do to get out of it. All I knew was that I had no idea what to fix for dinners anymore. A lot of pressure was taken off because my mom was coming down twice a week by that time and usually made us some kind of dinner the nights she was here - a lifesaver! But pretty soon I was having trouble figuring out food for the rest of the nights. Food was completely uninspiring. I'd go to the store and nothing looked good. I didn't know what to buy. Then I hit rock bottom...and I stopped buying dinner groceries all together. I knew this wasn't a sustainable plan, but I didn't know what to do.

Then I happened to stumble upon a link buried in the side bar of a mommy-blog forwarded to me because of some kind of cute toddler-related project. The words "Make 5 dinners in 1 hour" literally popped out of the page! I followed the link to a blog that sells a subscription to weekly meal plans. The 'hook' being that you prep the week's meals at one time and in one hour. For each week you get a menu, grocery list, prep-night instructions and meal-night instructions. Then with minimal cooking/heating/final prep work, you can have a home-cooked meal on the table in no time each night of the week. She offered up a freebie week to try it out before you purchased the subscription (which is beyond cheap if you ask me at $15 for three months of menus!).

This was exactly what we needed. Someone was not only giving me quick weeknight meal suggestions, but they were telling me what to buy! All I had to do was go to the grocery store. Each meal feeds 4-5, so with that quantity of food we had plenty of food for lunches and the two nights of the week you get 'off' from the 5-day weeknight plan. This also afforded us the opportunity to eat all together in true family-meal style, something I was itching to put into our routine.

The first 2-3 weeks I followed the menu exactly as she presented it. But pretty soon, I was getting my kitchen bearings again and started to make adjustments to our tastes and needs. First thing I changed up what the quantity of meat called for. Most of the menus are very meat heavy. But it was super easy to just 1/2 the meat and still have plenty for our meals. I also thing a seasoned vegetarian, who is already used to making substitutions, could adapt most of the meals to their taste as well. I've also changed out the recommended frozen 'steamer' veggies for fresh veggies, which are easy enough to chop up on prep-night or even on meal-night.

I also started looking ahead and sometimes even skipping a meal on prep-night. There are usually one or two meals that are so easy to make, I don't feel prepping them ahead of time is necessary. (One that comes to mind was tostada night which I believed called for you to open a can of beans and place them in a zip-lock bag. Well, I can open a can of beans on meal-night and save the plastic bag! The rest of the ingredients you just pulled from the fridge, so no need to prep in my opinion!) The program also relies heavily on the use of large zip lock storage bags. So if this doesn't jive with you, this can easily be changed up to use glass bowls for marinating.

At this point, after using this service for more than three months, prep-night on Sundays is down to usually about 30 minutes. And when I get home from work, I still have time to play with Elliott before starting dinner. Family dinners are usually on the table between 5:30 and 6:00 and most nights the kitchen is clean before Elliott's bath time. This means that once Elliott goes to bed at 7:30, mama is DONE. I have time (and energy!) to sew or blog and most importantly, I get some 'me time' each night without feeling like I am nothing more than a work-machine.

Now, I know this program won't work for everyone and certainly isn't 'necessary' for everyone, but it has been a lifesaver for us. I'm feeling more confident about food and meals and planning. This service has also been giving me some great ideas for quick and easy weeknight meals, so I know there will be a point when it is no longer needed. But for now, I'm loving that I don't have to think about food, but still end up with 5 homemade meals a week that we can enjoy together as a family.

Congratulations to Brad!

We found out early this morning that Brad's application to UCSD was accepted!

Most California schools had record number of applications this year, including UCSD who saw a 20% increase in transfer applications at a time when the State budget cuts have been getting deeper and deeper. As a result, Brad ended up on the wait list after not being offered a spot during the regular response time in March and April. Wait list spots were available (if available) beginning June 1st and we are SO glad we didn't have to wait all month to find out!

We are beyond ecstatic and I am so proud of Brad and all his hard work (4.0 GPA!!). He deserved a spot on campus in the fall and I'm so glad the messed up budget situation didn't keep him away!

Now its time to enjoy the summer! :D

Weekly Retrospective 5/22-5/28/11

Model Railroad Museum

It is safe to say that since Elliott discovered trains in Montana last November, they have become a part of all of our lives. In February, Brad was able to take Elliott to the Model Railroad Museum for the first time. As soon as I saw his camera photos, I knew I wanted to take him, too.

As part of our New Children's Museum membership, we were able to get into the Model Railroad Museum for free for the entire month of May. I jumped at the chance to plan a day out for us during the last of Brad's end-of-semester crunch time. Elliott and I met up with Robert and Meagan one Saturday and then we went back for Thomas the Tank Engine Family Day when Grandma Mary and Grandpa Larry were in town visiting after Brad's finals were over.

The models are amazing. There is so much detail. I can't get over the bridges!

And the 3-rail room has to be a highlight for sure. They have a couple small trains that kids can start on their own as well as some of the most detailed city scenes.


Just outside the museum and next to the zoo is the Balboa Park Railroad with a pretty extensive track you can ride. We took the train ride with Robert and Meagan. (Btw - I totally forgot how kids like to scream in tunnels...I'm just glad I was sitting close to Elliott as I'm sure it was a bit uncomfortable for him.)

When we headed back for Thomas the Train day, we got to see three Thomas trains running in the 3-rail room (Thomas, James and Percy...and yes, I know their names :P).

They also have a Thomas room set up for the kids with three train tables and lots of train cars. I really wish we had space for a train table...

And here's a little video of the Thomas trains on the track.

Honestly, I don't know who was more excited. It was really fun to see them on the tracks and Elliott is still telling me about their eyes. And yes, we are already planning how we can get a train around next year's Christmas tree...it's a must!

Weekly Retrospective 5/15-5/21/11