Dentist trip & the Carrot Ordeal

MMMMM I'm eating a Jared-created Waffle Panini breakfast sandwich while I write this. It's great with ham, egg, and cheese! I love weekends since there is always great food being made around here. Einar is still asleep and we are getting our things together for an overnight outing to the Lake Perris and the Palm Springs area to ride the aerial tram.

On Friday, Einar went to the dentist again and got a clean bill of health for his teeth. It wasn't as traumatic as our first visit, but there was still lots of crying and struggling during his cleaning and flouride treatment. We'd been talking it up all week and practicing what would happen during the daily tooth brushing sessions, but that only went so far to help in real life. For his prize after the exam he chose two little rubber animals that you can see him play with on the grass. He also was excited about the green balloon that the Dr.'s wife gave him on the way out.

The day before the dentist we had a dramatic carrot ordeal during lunch. Einar really likes carrot sticks and I had given him a couple with his lunch. Things were going well until I went to the bathroom. When I returned to the table to finish my lunch Einar was wimpering a bit and doing a bit of sniffing. Everything looked normal until I caught him trying to put a grape bone up his nose. That was when I realized that he had stuck a bit of carrot up his nose and it was beyond where I could easily get it out. Thankfully, Kathleen and her kids hadn't gone down for afternoon naps yet and I was able to take him down to her place where we used a bulb syringe (the nose thing that you use on babies) with some warm salt water to flush out the carrot. Just shot the water up the unobstructed nostril and the carrot came out. It was horrible for Einar who hates having anyone mess with his nose and had to be held down on his side. Kathleen had a little lollipop for him afterwards which helped to dry up the tears. He slept really well that afternoon.

Exercising with Daddy

Einar is learning Dad's home exercise routine. On Saturday, he took turns with Jared whenever Jared switched from jumping rope to lifting weights. It sure was fun to watch. Thankfully, the weights are totally out of his league and he can't budge it off of the ground. He also hasn't quite figured out the jump rope, but he sure is overjoyed to be jumping and out there with Dad.

Even though he's been taking turns easily with Dad's exercise equiptment, sharing toys at the park with his peers has become very difficult in the past several weeks. He likes to take trucks, shovels, buckets, anything from the other kids that are playing with those things and he absolutely flips when someone starts to play with something that he thinks is his. We've been practicing sharing at home and we talk about it whenever we are heading to the park. Today, however, we had more meltdowns and had to leave the park early. Thankfully we walked to San Gorgonio park this morning, so I could enjoy the walk home. I guess we'll try again tomorrow.

I've also included a picture of the rainbow that I saw outside our window a couple of weeks ago. It was gorgeous!

Thanks to People Magazine....

The nap skipper has been tamed! Yesterday he refused to nap, which was extremely annoying to me. This afternoon was turning out to be a similar situation. I had read his stories and sung his songs and when I came back a bit later, he'd thrown out all of the blankets, pillow, and burpy and he was jumping around in his crib and vocalizing joyfully. He looked really happy, but the dark circles under his eyes gave him away. So, I gave him back his bedding and burpy and told him that I would read him another story. Then I got the People magazine that I just got in a stack from a friend who has a subscription and read Einar the article on Patrick Dempsey and his twin boys. By the time I got to the middle of the second page, he was out! Thanks People!

I'm Back!

No worries, I didn't run off to Mexico. It was only a day trip that I took last Saturday and I was home by dinner time. However, when I got back, Einar was having a bit of an intestinal bug going on and those take a bit of time to clear out of a little guy's system. We've been homebodies most of the week. You'd think that would make me more likely to keep up on the blog, but it seems that the opposite usually happens in that situation.

I've included a picture of my kitchen helper in his apron and "Elmo Foot" as he calls his slippers. Jared also got some good ones of their trip to the strawberry fields last Saturday. The fields at our farm look nothing like the strawberry fields of my childhood where the berries were all dirty and since it was the northwest, there was always a bit of mud around as well. They picked about a pound and a half. I think Einar picked 3 berrries.

My trip to Mexico was great. It turns out that it wasn't an orphanage we visited but a home that this couple has built on an olive grove to house boys that can't be with their families for lots of reasons that the Mexican CPS determines. They house about 20 kids right now and are building more houses and a chapel so that they can provide a home for up to 72 kids in the coming years. It is called Miracle Ranch and you can check it out on MiracleRanch.org. We painted their main building on the outside, made a bar-b-que lunch and then had a short bible study and craft project.

Yesterday we threw a surprise birthday breakfast for Myrna, my mom's cousin. My mom's cousins were down visiting Disneyland and we enjoyed having them all over for waffles.