Wordless WEdnesday - "Booger Check!"

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Pumpkin patch - In the Blank and White

Pumpkin Patch - Part 2

We went to the pumpkin patch and it was a whole new experience with a 2 1/2 year old! Oh the joy he got out of the experience! Harrison keeps asking to go back but between the bad air quality and then getting sick, it hasn't been able to materialize into action.

But the day was not with out incident Harrison came away with a big speckled egg on his noggin and a pumpkin in hand; and he has shared his story with all whom will listen. It goes like this.

I got boo-boo, pumpkin patch!
Yees, Pumpkin patch!
Batman pushed me and I fell down.
Batman pushed me down, I hugged batman.
I went BOOM! (big hand motion here.)
I cried. Batman pushed me, I hugged batman.

Translation:

Harrison and a 4-year-old dressed like Batman were standing on a bale of hay together. They each realized they didn't want to be up there together. After we told them not to use their hands, Harrison put his hands on the little boy's chest & was gently talking to him. The little boy took Harrison by the shoulders and "pushed him down" - not hard, not viciously, but enough that Harrison's little noggin made contact with the cement with a THUD. The boy's mother was horrified, and the boy said, "I didn't want him touching me!"
Harrison came up with quite a bump right away. After some time of crying, he felt better and the little boy apologized with "I just didn't want you touching me." and they gave each other a hug. When the little boy said "sorry" Harrison also said, "I sorry."

Harrison is still telling people how Batman pushed him down!

BSM - Pumpkin Patch - Part 1

Harrison actually sat and posed for me for AH. MINUTE. when we first arrived the at the pumpkin patch. I even got a full smile but my camera didn't cooperate!! What's new?


I love this b&W, even with Harrison's face over-exposed. I'll post more of our adventure later with Harrison's version of the day!


Meanwhile, go visit Picture This for other great adventures!

Fav Phrase Friday - I'm Upstairs!

Well, this week was a loss with a mystery illness that kept re-emerging in different forms. High fever on Monday, tiredness and sneezing on Tuesday, coughing on Wednesday, runny nose on Thursday and today - a combination of the last 3 days. Hurrah! Oh what a day, so not a lot of new words, more like a constant symphony of whining.

And, oh, how we do LOVE whining!

But not all is ever lost on a Toddler - starting with nap time today:

I put our whiny, tired, I-just-want-to-lay-here-and-think-of-playing toddler down for a nap early today. Most unwillingly I might add. So after about a minute of crying, he stops. And then...

"HELP Daddy!"

silence

"HELP Daddy!"

silence

"HELP Daddy!"

I turn in the monitor to hear what he's saying.

"Daddy HELP! Help! DADDY!!"

silence

"MOMMY PUT HARIDON UPSTAIRS!"

silence

"HELP DADDY!"

"Help Daddy!"

Apparently he thought the GID was going to come Save-the-Day!
As if he has before?


And lately when he wakes from his nap, it often sounds like this now days:

"Mommy, Wake-up Time!"

silence

"Mommy, no more nappy time, eet's wake-up time..."

And if I haven't quite ascended those stairs at my Super-Mom, lightening-fast speed to scoop him up and out of his cozy nappiness, well...

"Mommy! I'M UP-STAIRS!!

...Just in case I forgot where I parked him.


My blogging-world friend Natalie started a Phrase Friday last week, too. What a lovely coincidence! Join us by sharing what your Toddler is saying!

Monsters and Toddlers

A couple weeks ago, before all the Halloween hoopla, I put Harrison down to bed one night after our regular routine - drink milk, brush teeth, get jammies on, read our stories and sing our songs and prayers. I turn out the light with one last, "Happy Face in the Morning!" And walk away, only to be summoned back five minutes later. It went like this:

Mommy!

Sleepy time, Harrison.

Mommy, I scared!

*Crap - he's found THAT word!* Back to his room I go. You're scared?, I ask.

Yeesh, I scared of momers.

Monsters?

Yeesh, momers!

No such thing as Monsters, Harrison.

COOKIE MOMER!!

D'OH!

Thursday Theme - Unfortunate Glow

Seems my Thursdays keep taking on such serious themes.

Monday evening I stopped at the pier and found myself alongside a few other photographers, both amateur and professional, to take a some pictures of the breathtaking sunset. I knew it would be beautiful because the Malibu fires had been burning since the early morning hours the previous day and, unfortunately, several new fires had popped up in the following 24 hours. Once smoke and ash get into the atmosphere, you can guarantee a vividly colorerful sunset.
At a GREAT cost.

Wednesday was an eerie and extremely hot day. (Mid-eighties near the beaches.) And at 10:00 a.m. I looked out the window to notice the golden hour shadows on a wall - only it wasn't even noon and that wall faces east. The entire sky was luminous all day long.



We stayed inside for the most part, except to run an errand. After all, a layer of ash covered everything outside and smell the smoke gets into your lungs and nose. And we're 60 miles from the nearest fire!!
Edited Thursday, 9AM - Okay, my husband corrected me, we are 25 miles away from the closest fire.

I do love the glow of warm orange light. But I know the amount of loss it represents.

Harrison's toys left behind in the morning *glow* of the guest room. Where is he, you ask? Downstairs watching Super Why! No preschool today!
Not after finding out what he's learning at school! Okay. well. not really.



Keep those affected by the fires in your thoughts and prayers.

Now head over to Picture This to see what others are glowing about today...I can't wait to see!

What do you mean "Booger"!?!?!?

I didn't teach him that!

Harrison had a fever on Monday and rested on Tuesday and INSISTED on bye-bye today. So we got out of the house for a few minutes today to get a couple more pumpkins.

I glanced back at him in the car, as I often do, and his finger was up to his nose. Actually it was in the nose, but I realized that seconds later... As soon as I made eye contact, Harrison said. "Booger."

The look on my face must have been classic even to a two-year-old because he immediately added, " I have booger. Mama, eet's booger."

Well, what do you say to that? Especially while you're driving down the road? "Oh! Well let me pull over right now, get a tissue out, because you LOVE tissues, and dislodge said booger immediately. It's not like I could see any booger, SNOT, or anything else for that matter.

"Okay."

Yep, that's it. That's all I had to say to that.

When we got to our destination, the "booger" was gone - at least I assume, as the subject has not come up since. I'm sure there was some irritation considering the Santa Ana winds combined with smoke and fine ash raining from the sky for the last 48 hours.

BUT, where did he get that word???
Not from Little Einsteins; could you see them flying around in their little red space ship singing about boogers to Rachmaninoff overtures? Me either.

Must have been preschool.

Yeah, blame it on the preschool!

Wordless Wednesday - First Pumpkin Patch Visit

Okay, I still haven't sorted through our pictures of the Pumpkin patch visit last week to post some - but I still LOVE the pictures from Harrison's first visit - so if you missed them that first time they were emailed, well here's your chance to see them again.
Click on the picture for a larger version.
And soon I'll post this year's picture from the same pumpkin patch. (Not as good of selection with a rambunctious toddler!)But there was pony riding, animal feeding and a story about "batman" pushing Harrison down!

Best Shot Monday - Is Not My Best Shot

It's Harrison's!

and It's Me!

We borrowed the Fischer Price Kid Tough camera from work the other day and Harrison loved using it! He walked around the house narrating what he was taking pictures of. Not the BEST quality pictures, but heck, He's two-years-old, who needs 7 mega pixels!? Sometimes the blurs were due to the fact that he would snap the picture and move on - only the camera hadn't "moved on" yet. All in all, he had great fun over the weekend using his own camera and has been (only slightly) more tolerant of mommy taking pictures of him. But I still have to be fast!

Head over to see Tracey at Picture This for more Best Shot Monday pictures!

Here are a few of his other pictures...

Fireman hat on the sofa.

Big Brother - With his head! (The first two were headless angles!)

The GuyIDig - also known as "daddy"

Cars in a bowl

Harrison's BFF - DukeTheDog

This would be Harrison's kitchen stool, he carries it from kitchen to laundry to help me out. and to discover the sugar bowl and quietly dip his fingers in it to experience the sweet taste of sugar for the first time! That took place yesterday, oops! If I only had my camera for the look on his face!

The dreaded vacuum cleaner

And it wouldn't be complete with out several shots of his train table! The first one is taken between the upper track and the table.

Fav Phrase Friday! -- "IT'S ME!"

"Hey People, It's Me!!"

This actually started out of the blue a couple of weeks ago. We were at the "Mouse House" and went to the Baby station for a diaper change. The Baby station is much better than any of the restrooms, even if the Happiest Place on Earth has cleaner than average restrooms... plus, it's a GREAT place to go nurse in quiet AIR CONDITIONING on a HOT day. But I digress.

I open the door to the Baby station, and after visiting here on numerous occasions over the last couple of years, Harrison runs in announcing to the attendant, "It's Me! Hi! It's Me! I'm here!" And that's where it all started.

The next day we went to his preschool and he ran into his classroom, yelling, "Hi people! It's Me!"

Now days he's pretty consistent in announcing his arrival where ever we go and to whom ever will listen - arriving at swim classes, my office, the park for play-dates, a friend's house, the post office, or a store that we frequently visit. You name it, he enters each establishment announcing, "It's Me!"

He also uses it while talking to "Grandpa" & "Judi" two people he chats with pretty regularly on his toy phone or the shower head in the bathtub. "Hi, It's me, Haridon. How are you?....uh-huh......uh-huh......Okay. Bye!"

Oh, yeah, I had to go and give him a BIG name! He is also announcing himself by name.
"I Haridon"

It's Me! Haridon!!"

Leave it to a mother.

Theme Thursday - Our little Rock STAR

Sometimes we think Harrison will become a rock star. Could it be those Elvis glasses he wears constantly or that cute little Rock Star shirt that once fit him? Or maybe it's just the innumerable times he has found and pointed out guitars in EVERY home we visit! Well, that and the song singing, piano playing and dancing...like a rock star!


Only time will tell.

Wordless Wed. - Those Ears!

I'm ready for my close-up Mr. DeMouse.

BSM - Just Another Day at the Park

This is a picture I've wanted to take for a year - Harrison's hair all staticy as he slides down the BIG slide, but I never remember to take the camera with me to our regular Friday park playdate! MY favorite view of this was from sitting behind him when he was too small to slide down by himself - boy, has times changed! He started going down by himself at around 21 months!






Playing football with good friends...
and meeting new ones...




Just another day at the Park.

Slide down to Picture This for other BSMs

"It's Have a Cookie Day"

That's what Harrison announced after he put a package of half-eaten italian wafer cookies in front of me at the table.
"Where did you get those?" I asked, knowing full well that he had put his stool in front of the microwave, climbed up on it and reached up to retrieve the wafers hiding behind several miscellaneous items. I got the basic two-year-old answer, "I have cookies!"

So here he was, standing in the chair next to me, smile on his face, waiting for me to say "Okay, fine. You can have one."

"Okay, fine. You can have one."

"Yeah! I have cookies!"

Then he took one out and set it in front of him, took another out and gave it to me explaining, "Eet's have a cookie day!"

So there we sat, eating the last few cookies. Together.

After all, Sunday is - Have a Cookie Day.

"Awe, look, he's going to be a Car Wash Attendant"

The GID makes these predictions often, I believe it's to curtail the possibility of Harrison actually taking on one of these occupations he announces.
Harrison puts trash in the trash can and runs to the window for each passing garbage truck:
Oh, he's going to be a garbage man.

Harrison sweeps or mops the floor:
Look! He's going to be a janitor...

He's going to be a street cleaner...a maintenance man, a vacuum cleaner salesman, a window washer, a dishwasher....

the list goes on.

Last week's occupation? It all started when the GID washed Duke-the-Dog. Well Harrison helped out up until he spotted his sandbox out of the corner of his eye and found that to be so much more compelling. Done.

A day later, Harrison yells at me from outside.
Outside?
Wait. How..?
Dog Door.
So I look out the window to find Harrison wiping his car with a towel as he exclaims, "I'm washing car. Mommy. I'm washing car!" What a perfect time to step it up! I got some soapy water & a sponge and he went to town!

Later, as the GID browses through pictures of the day, he announces:
Awe look! He's going to be a Car Wash Attendant!

The truth?
Our child is a multi-talented genius.
Of course.

And yes,
he truly
was
this
TEDIOUS
about cleaning
his
car!

Favorite Phrase Friday - What Happened?

Okay, so there is Best Shot Monday, Wordless Wednesday and Theme Thursday. Now I have to add Phrase Friday because each week for the last few weeks Harrison has picked up and used a favorite phrase. Once discovered, he uses it every day all day in any way he can! Then as fast as it came to him, he has filed it to the back of his memory bank and moved on to next big words to say.

And most of the new phrases are ripped from the headlines mommy & daddy's mouths.

This week: "What happened?"

The words roll out of his little mouth in such a mature manner. The first time we noticed, the GID was watching football and yelled at a bad play and Harrison, responding to the yell, looked up and asked, "What happened, Daddy?" Since then, when he hears a noise out of the ordinary, hears something fall, someone says "ouch" or laugh at a TV show, Harrison will stop and ask, "What happened?"

He wants to be a part of the moment.

We always explain what happened to him. It seems he finds the answers to this question much more satisfactory then those of the previously used, similar question, "Whass Dat?" as he no longer repeats the question - at least until a new opportunity arises...

Usually in 60 seconds.


Head back to October 5th to see another Fav Phrase!

Thursday Theme: One fine day not so long ago...

Harrison started to walk.


I don't like how time flies. Recently I have stopped to look at my little Toddler as he runs and plays, sings and talks - and I can't help but feel that all-too-common tug of my heart strings and lump in my throat, you know the one, moms get it as they look at the little beings that God put in their charge - if only for a short time. Knowing that the time with this precious child is so fleeting.

I came across pitures of Harrison in his first few months of walking and knew that I wanted to post them. I love them. I'm just so stinkin' Hallmark Greeting card anymore, now days! Ugh!

But heck, I've posted Harry with the GID and Harry with Big Brother, and every other walking senerio a two-year-old could have; so it was time to revisit how it all started.

And play with Photoshop a little bit...


Yeah I know, that hat! He loves it, what can I say.

Click on over to Picture This and see who else is walking!

Wordless Wednesday

That Boy Has Two Left Feet!

This morning I woke up late and once again felt ucky with allergies, so I had to hurry through breakfast and quickly dress Harrison to take him to school (work for me).

Later that morning Harrison's teacher calls upstairs to talk to me. I went down to the the classroom to see if everything was all right. She greets me:

"Do you know that your child has two left shoes on in two different sizes??"

Oops.

Yup, As she sat next to him she looked down to notice an odd thing, one shoe looked larger than the other, and as she pondered that, it dawned on her that my child had two LEFT shoes on!
Her next comment to me after my surprise melted into tearful laughter:

"You're dimissed."

And here I thought he was just being difficult while I put that shoe on him this morning. Good thing I only have one child...

Note to Self:
Don't buy identical pairs of shoes in DIFFERENT SIZES.

Best Shot Monday

I am SO far behind in posting and today is no different. All our adventures will just have to wait. In the mean time here is my best shot for Monday, from out adventures at the pier last week.


We stopped on our way back home to enjoy the sunset over the pier.


Even in my worst pictures the golden light of the day makes a picture look good!

My baby-boy is looking so much older and wiser lately! It's a bittersweet realization.


Go check out the other Best Shot Monday photos at Picture This!

Artist in Our Midst..

We had an opportunity to see a famous artist at work, how often does that happen? While filming a documentary 3-D sidewalk artist Julian Beever came to our little city and left a his mark, albeit temporal, for all to see.
Although I remembered to go check it out late in the day, he was just finishing when we arrived - but the sun was quickly starting to set.

Here he is giving that famous foot-in-the water pose...

A different point of view.

Oops, only got part of it - but it looks good!

Since I had a two-year-old who was quickly getting "over" the moment... A nice guy from the production crew took this final shot for me.

Harrison was much more interested in sailboats and seagulls...

These seagulls
Well, he is 2 after all...

Fav Phrase Friday - OH ME GOSH!!

HEY! Welcome back to here!

So what did the week of October 1st bring us?

"OH ME GOSH!!"

Every other sentence (if that's what it is) out of Harry's mouth is Oh Me Gosh!

When he plays with his cars and makes them crash (ALREADY??) he exuberantly yells, Oh Me Gosh, Mommy! Oh Me Gosh!! they crashed, and finishes the moment off with a fake (yes, FAKE) hearty belly laugh.

We watched Jungle Book for the first time this week as well, yep, out came,
OH MOMMY! Oh Me Gosh! Oh Me Gosh!

A trash truck would stop by the house and pick up our trash, Oh Me Gosh! Look mommy, Trash truck - Barroom!

And as we wind down the evening and get ready for bed - that last burst of energy kicks in as Harrison runs around the room like the Tasmanian Devil yelling,
OH ME GOSH, OH ME GOSH, Mommy look at me! OH ME GOSH!!


Oh, what fun this new phrase brought to all of us this past week!

And as I finish this post, Harrison has just fallen down and yelled "Oh Me Gosh, I fell down" With that came more jumping up & down exclaiming "Oh Me Gosh! Oh Me Gosh! I fell down again!"

Oh my gosh.

Thursday Theme - WIDE Open Space

This week's theme is "wide" so I remembered these pictures from our trip to South Dakota last year. They're a couple of my favorites. Harrison and I went walking in our family's "back yard". It opens to the South Dakota prairie - even in this stark late Fall moment I find it beautiful; it's a season we don't get to fully experience in Southern California. I love the wide open space, it's so peaceful and quiet. Something I miss living in the "city". I guess that's why we enjoy the ocean so much. It's big, wide and peaceful and when you are facing the ocean all the hustle, bustle a craziness of life is behind you - if only for a while.

Here are a couple more shots from that day, you can also go visit Picture This and see how other people interpret "Wide".





And only a couple days later, the snow has melted, the weather has changed and Harrison is out in the year driving a back-hoe with his "Grandpa Bingo".