Disneyland Adventure

Yesterday we ventured to the Magic Kingdom with Grandma and Grandpa Bjorklund. Here is a picture with us and Buzz Lightyear, one of Einar's favorite characters. He eventually warmed up to the big plastic guy and gave him a couple of high-fives. He can spot "Buzz" everywhere and points him out.

Where Have We Been?

We haven't been on any big vacations or sick, thankfully, just trying to keep each other out of trouble here in San Clemente. Einar's biting took a turn for the worse last weekend. Since I know that he has bitten only when he is tired, hungry and frustrated I've been trying to keep him out of those situations and provide him plenty of opportunities to be successful instead. We've been going home for lunch instead of playing with friends till the bitter end and playing with friends outside a bunch. We not only had a bite-free week, we also had a lot of fun.

Einar has been working on his coloring and often goes for his crayons while I'm preparing dinner or lunch. Instead of coloring books with his favorite characters, there are websites where you can find coloring sheets to print and color. He has been coloring Thomas the train, Handy Manny, Mickey Mouse, and Elmo.

Another activity that we've been doing after he wakes up from his naps is to walk down to the golf course to run around with the neighbor kids and all of the dogs that come out to play before dinner. One day after he woke up I couldn't get him into any pants, so while I was taking care of his dirty diaper, Einar came up to me with his elephant costume and readily put that on instead of pants. So I took the elephant to Trader Joe's to get some bananas and milk and then we went to the golf course to play. He was happy as a clam or should I say that he was happy as an elephant in pink tennis shoes. It was really funny to see an elephant try to walk a little "doggie."

On Friday we had a MOMS Club Halloween Party. What a great turn-out we had! All of the kids came in costumes, but we had to take them off after about 10 minutes because the weather was gorgeous and about 82 degrees--way too hot to be running around in head-to-toe fleece.

Einar is also prepared to be the new James Blond for Halloween. I got a couple of good action shots in his tuxedo, but it's a bit big to be walking around for trick-or-treating. He'll probably wear it to the party that we are having on base on Saturday for all of the kids from Jared's battalion.

It's been a challenge for me to get pictures of the little guy lately. Whenever I push the button he is either turning away and making a run for it, or looking down at the ground. I hope you enjoy the ones I got!

Happy Birthday Blog!

Saturday, Oct. 7th was the Blog's first birthday! Jared is the one who reminded me about the landmark day, but we forgot to toast the Blog while we ate Chiinese Food with Jennifer, Mary and Sammy that evening. Take a look back at last year's postings to be surprised again how quickly the little guy is changing and growing. When I started writing this Blog, Einar was very proficient at the army crawl around the house. Yesterday I caught him climbing from the top of the dining room table into his high chair. I think army crawling was far safer!

This past week, Jennifer, Mary, and Sammy came down to San Diego for a visit and a work conference for Jennifer. On Thursday Einar and I met Sammy and Mary at Legoland in Carlsbad. We saw all of the amazing cities built out of lego blocks and even rode on a train. Einar particularly enjoyed the fountains that spurted out of the ground at Pirate shores. He got really wet and had to have a complete head-to-toe change. Next time I'll be bringing a towel! The kids were worn out by the time we left and neither one of them were awake by the time we got to the freeway and headed home.

Friday night, Einar and I drove down to San Diego to have dinner with them near their hotel. Einar and Sammy were enthralled with each other and kept smiling, staring, and being the other kid's echo when they made sing-songy noises.

Jennifer and Mary checked out of their hotel on Saturday and after they went to Sea World, they came up to San Clemente to stay a night at Casa Ogle. It was great to hang out with the three of them!

One big milestone for this week is that Einar didn't bite anyone this week!

Wednesday Morning

Good Afternoon! Einar is napping after a great morning with his friend, Nathan. Nathan came over while we were eating breakfast (around 9:30) so that his mom could do the laundry without any little hands helping with the folding. The boys played with the trains and cars for awhile and walked Flappy the Duck around the house a few times before it was time to go out for an adventure. We also used the nose blowing station that I have set up where there is easy access to the tissues and a little trash bag next to the tissue box. Einar is getting really good and going to blow his nose when asked. I guess it's more like wiping his nose instead of blowing, but the results are similar and there aren't snot trails anymore either way. Nathan is more advanced in the nose blowing department since he actually blows when the tissue is up to his nose!

Once we got in the car, we went to the Learning Links at Las Palmas Elementary here in San Clemente. It is a free drop-in center for parents with children ages 0-5. There is a preschool teacher always on duty as well as a nurse and there are weekly visits with speech and physical therapists. It's quite a resource for the community and the boys and I had a good time playing with the trains and reading some books. The teachers are there to help the kids share and learn about how to play well with others. At the train table, Einar, Nathan, and another boy actually each played with their own trains on the same table without any grabbing or crashing for quite awhile. I also was able to ask about the biting that Einar has been doing. It sounds like I need to help him get some words so that what comes easiest (biting) isn't what he used when one of his friends grabs the toy, but he instead says "I'm playing, back off!" or something similar. Since he only seems to resort to biting when he's tired or hungry, it should be relatively simple to intervene during those times so that the behavior doesn't happen. It's just going to take some more diligence and monitoring on my part--wish me luck!

P.S. In that one picture, Einar is showing everyone his sexy stomach. This week I've been having him lift up his shirt when I change his diaper to help me out and I guess he figured that having a picture taken was also a good time to lift up the shirt.