Black Eyes, Whale Watching, and Toilet Locks

Well, Einar got his first black eye on Friday morning just after he got out of bed. He had walked into the downstairs bathroom and slipped on the linoleum and his face met the floor. He recovered quickly, but the black eye was here to stay. I took a picture of it yesterday just so you all wouldn't worry about him too much. Now that he is walking around in a determined if still wobbly way, he's a bit more bruised than when his mode of transportation was a sporty crawl.

Yesterday we all went out on a whale watching trip after church. We had a super time and saw not only grey whales and false killer whales but also some dolphins and sea lions. It was Einar's first time out on a boat and he seemed to kind of like to get his sea legs by walking around on the deck with us a bit. The boat ride was only two hours long and we left out of Dana Point Harbor which is just five minutes away from our house. He wore his yellow rain jacket and his new sun hat and he sure looked a lot like Grandpa Lee.

Fun at play hour at Dana Point

This morning after a pancake breakfast at home, Einar and I went to a gym/play hour for little people at Dana Point Harbor. Each Thursday they set up this big room with balls, mats, balance beams, tunnels, a trampoline that is only 3 inches off of the ground, hula hoops, and other fun things and it's a total free-for-all. There was even a bubble machine and music. Einar at first went around and collected as many of the balls that he could find. He was watching everyone and had fun in a play tunnel that was shaped like a bus with windows. Somehow he became the baby for the older boys and girls (2+) to lasoe with the hula hoops and come up and growl at. Einar loved it even though it was a bit confusing at times. I forgot to bring my camera in however =( and will have to remember if we go there again.

He is now taking a nap and I've just finished submitting our taxes for 2005. Now it is time to figure out some lunch for me and some finger snacks for the little guy when he wakes up. No big plans for the afternoon but we might get outside a bit more since it is such a nice warm day. Yesterday a trash caliper was dropped off so we might even get down to clean up our section of beach this afternoon.

Later that night....

Einar is in bed for the night after an exciting afternoon of being a super hero. In the mail today he got a Batman outfit from Grampa Lee and Grandma Jean. He makes a really great Batman! We also went for a walk this afternoon before coming home and making some Thai food that I scorched but that Einar still liked--what a kid! The picture of the two of us sleeping is the morning after we returned from Germany. Jared got out the camera since we were so out of it from our travels.

Sick Blog Server

Yay! The Blogspot is back! The past day and a half the server has been acting up and I haven't been able to post anything. I guess the Blog got the same cold that Einar came down with. I'm pasting in the entry that I wrote the other day and am including those pictures as well.

Today Einar was feeling much better. I kept him off of the vitamin T and he did well all day. We went on our Dana Point walk this morning and then to the commissary to get some more milk and a few other groceries before heading home for his nap. Since he has stopped nursing in the past two weeks, those trips to the grocery store to stock up on milk have been happening more frequently.

When he woke up from his nap, we took our visiting next-door neighbor (remember Linda who rode the train with us to Los Angeles in November?) to the mall to do some shopping and play in the kid area. The mall here has a great play area for little guys that Einar really enjoyed walking around and visiting with all of the people and kids. It was fun watching him walk around like a drunk (those legs still don't bend like more practiced legs when they walk) with another kid his age and then walk around to visit with the bigger kids and even try to scale another mom. Before I reigned him in for a snack of his own, he even snagged a kid's chocolate chip cookie and then knocked over the kid's stroller when the cookie and kid were taken away from him. Either I need to feed him more frequently or offer him more chocolate chip cookies. I guess I need a bit more practice at this mothering gig.

Well, I've tried to upload the photos three times, but I guess the blog is still recovering. I'll still include what I wrote yesterday.

Written yesterday:

Our little guy hasn't been too photogenic the past few days. I sincerely doubt that any of you would truly appreciate picture of him with green snot oozing from his nose. That is unfortunately an accurate description of Einar since Saturday night. He woke up on Saturday night with a full-blown cold and was pretty miserable. Since then, we've kept him home and dosed up on some Tylenol cold medicine to help him weather through. Today is the first time he's been in anything but a sleeper suit and he is wearing a turtleneck, some sweats and his orange pom-pom hat--I don't want him to get chilled.

He's feeling good enough to get into my new system for keeping the sheer volume of toys down a bit each day. I purchase 7 smaller storage boxes and divided up some of the toys like puzzles, ball games, and cars into each of these so that we can bring out a new box every day. Not a bad idea except when your kid raids the stack of storage boxes on the morning you start the program. I guess I need to store them out of site or get opaque boxes instead of tempting clear ones.

Since this is the week that the return of the swallows is being celebrated in San Juan Capistrano, I'm including some pictures of our visit to the mission last month with Lynn and Dennis. The mission is only 3 exits north of us on the freeway and has gorgeous grounds and so much history to absorb on a visit. It was a bit cold on the day we went, but the rain held off until we got back to the car. From what I read in the newspaper yesterday, the experts are predicting that the swallows will be returning a bit late this year because of the chilly weather.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Einar is toasting everyone with a pint of Guinness. Actually it was Jared's idea for that photo shoot since he wanted a new picture to take to the guys at work.

It's nap time for Einar right now. Yay, two naps today for the little guy! He's been waking up early all week probably from the time change and naps haven't been too predictable. I'm making corned beef with cabbage, potatoes and carrots for dinner tonight and the house is smelling really good right now. While that is simmering on the stove, I'll be cleaning up the little bits of the phone book that Einar discovered were really fun to tear out this afternoon. So much for thinking that he was good around magazines and books and thankfully we just got a new yellow pages last month. He sure got this big grin on his face as the paper went "RIP!"

No big plans for this weekend so far. Jared will be home and will probably be taking Einar to town tomorrow morning for the weekly haircut (Jared's, not Einar's). It might be getting time for Einar's first haircut though. Yesterday when I fed him a bagel spread with almond butter and apple butter the first thing he did was put it upside down on his head and rubbed it really good into his hair. Actions like that lead me to think that he might look really good with a short cut like his dad's. We'll take pictures if it happens soon.

Back from Germany

Einar, Kermit, and I are back from Germany and seem to be over our jet-lag as well. We had a really good trip visiting with Karin's family in Ludwigshafen (outside of Heidelburg) and then travelling with Paula up the Rhine to Cologne and then spending our last two nights in Wiesbaden. I now know why tickets to Europe are cheaper in the winter months--we enjoyed lots of snow and had to peek up at statues in gardens that were hiding under wooden huts to protect them from the weather. Castles seem to have winter hours as well.

The pictures are from our travels around and I will have more once Paula and I consolidate our photos. There is also one of Einar with Aunt Jess and Uncle Tor when they were here in San Clemente visiting right before we left for Germany. Jess knit the sweater that Einar is wearing. The one with Jared was taken around midnight at LAX when he picked us up from our flight. Einar is enjoying one of the cookies that Jared brought for him while I'm still enjoying the flowers that he brought for me--Jared really missed us while we were away and was pretty excited to see us both.

Einar took his first steps while in Germany at the baptism party. He strung together about five steps that day but then waited until he saw his dad to take any more. Now he can do pivot turns and walk about 5 feet, but still prefers the speed of his crawling to get places. Walking is only fun as a novelty, not as a way to get somewhere.

One of his favorite activities in Germany was hearing his voice echo in the churches that we went to visit. The first one that he noticed the accoustics in was the Rothenburg church. As we walked through it he just kept saying "DA" and grinning. Everytime we walked into one of these old churches he would try it out again. The Dom in Cologne was a disappointment for him since it was so large that there wasn't an echo.

In Cologne we also visited a Lego store where he got to finally get out of the stroller and play with Legos for a little while. That was great fun until he turned into stinky pants. Paula asked a clerk at the Lego store where we could go to change a diaper and he pointed us to the drug store across the street. They actually had a baby changing station next to all of the baby supplies on one of the aisles!

In Heidelburg we stopped at a park along the river and played on this long wooden snake teeter-totter that was great fun. It wouldn't be allowed in the states because someone would sue for sure. It really threw you and Karin, Paula, and I had to hold on tight in order to stay on as we were whipped around.