Happy Thanksgiving--San Clemente Style

Happy Turkey Day to One and All!

Last night Jared called from Okinawa (they are back at camp Hansen after venturing to the Phillipines and China) and we got to talk for awhile =). It was already Thanksgiving there and he had just eaten a late breakfast and was ready for a nap. It was great to hear his voice!

Paula is here for the holiday visiting from Seattle. We picked her up from LAX on Tuesday and she doesn't have to fly home until next Tuesday. We had a nice relaxing day today. Sleeping in, pumpkin waffles and bacon (even Einar ate bacon!), Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade on TV, picnic lunch at San Gorgonio park, nap for all three of us, cook the turkey, enjoy turkey-day food, relax some more. The turkey turned out well and I also made some sweet corn bread dressing, yams with marshmallows and a salad.

It was a nice treat to dress for summer and eat our meatloaf sandwiches in the sun. Although there isn't any real sense of seasons around here, I am enjoying the sunshine and not loosing mittens or having to wear rainboots all over the place. Dripping jackets aren't missed either.

Now it's time for some pumpkin pie and Thursday night tv with Paula. We might even hop in the hot tub too since it's all clean and warmed up again.

p.s. it's less than a month now till Jared comes home from his deployment!

Crazy about Trains

We have been living an obsessive live revolving around trains! We've been riding them, reading about them, constructing tracks in the living room, pushing them around the dining room table, looking for them as we drive around town, and if he hasn't already, I bet Einar is dreaming about them tonight. "Choo Choo!" is a commonly heard refrain in this house and the Thomas books have even been beating out the Bob the Builder books in the past few weeks.

Today we had the ultimate adventure when we went to Perris, Ca (Just over an hour east of San Clemente) and took part in the Day out With Thomas Festivities at the Orange Empire Train Museum. To begin with, it is November 19th and it was in the Nineties--it felt like summer! It was an outdoor train museum with lots of operating tracks. Thomas and his cars were on one track and there were several trolley busses giving people rides elsewhere. One of the first things we did before getting in the Thomas line for our scheduled ride was run into some really friendly EMTs who talked with the kids, gave them Thomas temorary tattoos and then let them sit in the ambulance. One of the guys even turned on the lights for the kids. Einar and I carpooled with the Cobb family and we had met up with a few other families from our MOMS Club. Then Einar found a little yellow trolley that he kept climbing into and just sitting in until I took him out.

The ride on Thomas was about 25 minutes long and just out and back on a fairly straight track. We also had lunch there--corn on the cob, Gyros and french fries. I have never seen more Thomas and Friends hats, t-shirts and pants EVER! And most of them looked well-worn and loved by the kids that were wearing them--unlike when you go to a concert and everyone is walking around in new concert t-shirts. After the ride, Einar was wiped, but still ready for anything. He did willingly sit in Nathan's stoller to be pushed around the rest of the time and crash in the car after a bit of a snack for the ride home.

A Day out with Thomas wasn't the only train adventure this week. On Thursday we went to Irvine Regional park where they operate a smaller scale train that we got to ride for about 10 minutes. That was a good ride with lots of scenery and a running commentary from the conductor about the history of the 109-year-old park.

Einar is getting very proficient and putting together his tracks in the living room and playing with his train. How does he figure all of this out?

p.s. I would have taken a few more pictures today, but as you can see from one of the pictures, my focus was wonky for awhile and I didn't get it took me some time to figure it out.

First Trip to the Dentist

This morning after we ran some local errands, Einar went to the dentist for the first time. We went to Dr. Lee here in San Clemente since he was recommended by our neighbors. For those of you who have never been to a Pediatric Dentist, you'd be amazed! His office is totally geared towards kids. Einar was captivated by the large magna-doodle in the waiting room and Curious George on the television.

When we went into the exam room, Dr. Lee (who was wearing a scrub jacket with Dolphins and fish on it) had Einar sit on my lap facing me and then we leaned him back so that his head was resting in the Dr.'s lap. I held his hands while his teeth got counted and checked. Einar did not like that and there is no way that I'll be pursuing a career in pediatric dentistry! I can't imagine using one of those really sharp instruments to look for cavities on a little, angry, screaming mouth. He obviously knew what he was doing and Einar got a well-deserved hug afterwards.

Then it was off to another chair for a cleaning. He did a bit better while his teeth got polished and flossed as he was trying to taste the paste. When it was all over, he got to pick a prize out of a special drawer and he chose the plastic heart bracelet that he is wearing proudly in his pictures. He was also given a t-shirt for having no cavities and a red balloon to match his outfit. If he wears his t-shirt to his next appointment then he gets two prizes from the drawer. It was all a bit draining, but over in less than 30 minutes and he walked out with a shiny smile on his face. Unfortunately he let go of the balloon as we were walking from the car into the house, so there were a few more tears before these pictures were taken.

PICTURES! PICTURES! PICTURES!

Hey everyone! It's picture time. I've been saving up the photos from our adventures this week. Disneyland, Squirrel feeding, Halloween, pumpkin' huntin' and hanging out with the grandparents.

Does anyone know how to get Daylight Savings time banished into the history books? Naps and bedtimes have been crazy this week. It doesn't help that Einar has sprouted in the past week, is walking around with both of his hands in his mouth due to teething, and has been biting people again. It's been a rough last couple of days. Tonight he was asleep by 6:30pm! It's time for me to hit the sack too in order to take advantage of some extra sleep. I think I'll need it!

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.