So much to say

The speed of life is so fast when you are the working mom of a wonderful, active 2.5 year old. Especially when everyone was sick for most of August.

Erik is talking so much now. I think his two favorite verbal things are to make a comparison and to talk about his day. When he makes a comparison, he'll say, "what's this?" (for example - pointing to icing on a cookie - "what's this?"), and I will tell him what it is. Then he will tell me what it is "kinda like" ("icing is kinda like icecream with candies, Momma"). The other day he saw a horse. He told me it was "black and white, kinda kike a cow."

At bedtime between turning out the light and singing him a lullaby, he tells me that he wants to talk about his day. My job is then to ask questions to which he can give answers, for example, what did you have for snack, did you ride the bike at school, did you have fun at church school.

He also tells me, "I have a question." Sometimes he has a question, and sometimes he doesn't.

Erik is learning to use scissors. On the days that I work from home, he comes in the office and pulls pages off a sticky note pad or other note pad and cuts them with the scissors. He make a huge mess, but it keeps him happy and occupied, and it is a great development exercise for him.

We are potty training, now. He does really well at school because there is no better reminder than a room full of other 2 and 3 year olds who have to go potty, too. He loves to wear his pull-ups. However, he told me tonight that he would like me to buy Thomas the Train pull-ups (good luck, Mom, I don't think they make those).

The whole potty training experience got off to a rough start. He showed so much interest ahead of time, and then when the time came he didn't want to sit on the potty. So, I put the potty on a plastic mat in the living room. It worked really well until he decided he should only use the potty in the living room, and furthermore, he should be able to eat dinner while sitting on the potty. In fact one night, after I fed Erik dinner he wanted to sit on his potty. He was sitting on the potty and Todd and I were eating dinner on the couch (our dinner wasn't ready when Erik was ready to eat). Then he decided he wanted to eat our dinner while on his potty. Then we had to have the discussion about why he shouldn't touch his private parts while he was eating food.

So, the potty chair has now gone away, and he is using a potty seat that sits on top of the regular potty.

W0rk is extremely busy right now. Sometimes, I feel like my list of things to do gets longer than the work I accomplished each day. Hey, job security and the days fly by.

The Race for the Cure is coming up. I have not had a lot of time to really train for it because of all the rain, but I am still excited. I wished I had been able to raise a bunch of money for the cause, but I have only received $20 so far. I won't complain though, it is more than I raised last year.

My stomach has been killing me lately. I really need to go back to the gastro dr., but it sometimes seem useless. So, I will probably make and appointment, and keep it, and then feel like a crazy person for having gone. Sometimes I am tempted to see a different dr., but my interest says the one I am seeing is the brightest. So... I don't know.

My teeth have been hurting lately, too. The dentist thinks that I have either been brushing too hard or grinding my teeth. I don't think I have been grinding my teeth, but who knows. I got desperate today and bought sensedyne. I hope it works.

Valarie and I went to the Southern Women's Show last weekend. I had a good time. I have not been since before Erik was born, so it was nice to go. It was also great to have a mom's night out, and Valarie always shows a good time. We perused the Show, and then went to dinner to catch up on our families.

We are going to the beach this weekend with my family. I am hoping for a good, relaxing, no-stress kind of time.

I am not really sure anyone really reads my blog, but if anyone does and is very natural/herbally, please tell me if you believe that drinking too many carbonated beverages could couse problems for the digestive track - specifically colon.

I will try to post pictures soon. I have some good photos of our kitchen floor/hole in the wall remodel/repair, Erik sleeping in a funny position, and other misc. Erik pictures. One of my favorites is the destruction Erik created in our home office while working on art projects while I worked from home on the computer right next to him.

Race for the Cure

I am doing Race for the Cure with my mom again this year (she is a survivor - been in remission since the fall of 1997). I am very excited. I am trying to raise $250 this year.

My mom also wanted an SEBC Race team, so I am setting that up. I hope we can have a number of people participate. I think that would be really great.

If you want to support me in this cause - here is a link to my page.
http://alabamaraceforthecure.kintera.org/faf/r.asp?t=4&i=304893&u=304893-234477902

Thanks.

Sweet Singing

Todd or I usually sing the Hush Little Baby song before bed (you know hush little baby, don't say a word; papa's going to buy you a mocking bird). The past two nights Erik sang the song a long with me. It was so sweet.

Chick-Fil-A & the Leeds Police Are My Heros

Erik and I decided to go to Chick-Fil-A on Friday for lunch because it was Cow Appreciation Day. We donned cow ears and spots (if you wore cow stuff you got a free entre). When I was unbuckling Erik from his car seat, the cow ears started blowing away. I pushed the door partially closed to chase after the cow ears, and when I did the door shut all the way with the keys, my cell phone, purse, and ERIK inside, and of course, the car was locked.

I immediately ran into Chick-Fil-A and told an employee, a very nice older gentlemen named Larry (I think Larry is a manager). Larry sprung into action. He told the owner he was headed outside. He sent another employee, a very sweet lady whose name I didn't catch, out with me. We stood outside the car and made faces and talked to Erik so he would stop crying. Larry called the Leeds Police and came outside with wet paper towels in hand. He stood by the trunk of my car so the Leeds Police would know where to stop. A few minutes later (it seemed like an eternity but it probably wasn't any more than a five minutes) the Police Man showed up. He used a plastic wedge and a metal rod and had the door open in seconds.

Once Erik was out, Larry had me take off Erik's hat and wipe his face with the wet paper towel. Erik cried because he loves his hat, so we put his hat back on. We thanked everyone, and Larry declared free ice cream for Erik. Then we all went inside and continued Cow Appreciation Day.

It was so extraordinary for Chick-Fil-A to send two employees out to the parking lot with me when the store was covered up with customers (Erik and I got the last parking spot in the lot). Not only that Larry took the time to make sure that the girl who took my order knew to get Erik ice cream, and Larry and the lady who came to the car with me came to check on Erik several times while we ate.

Erik loved the ice cream and was afraid of the cow. He did manage to give the cow a high-five and tell him "Happy Birthday."

Needless to say, I owe Leeds Police and Chick-Fil-A thank you notes.

I am certainly thankful that God gave me peace and calm through it all too. It was like as the situation was happening God was giving me clear thoughts about what to do at each step. When the door closed, God gave me the thought to check all the doors. When they were locked, he gave me the thought to go and tell someone behind the counter at Chick-Fil-A (appologies to the lady I nearly ran over going to the counter). He gave me clear thoughts to go immediately back to the car and talk to Erik to keep him calm. He also gave me clear thought about what to do if the police could not be there quick enough.

So, I guess that mom "right of passage" is complete. I am ready for a vacation.

Big Boy Bed and Socks

Erik loves to put his socks on his hands. I don't know if he is pretending the sock is a puppet or what. Today, he got a pair of Todd's socks and put a sock on his hand. He made me put the other sock on his other hand. They came up to his armpits. Hey was thrilled.



Erik is learning to sleep in a big boy bed (I am glad Todd is here, becuase he has more resolve than I - I am not at my brightest time at night). Here are his pics the first night. It now has a bed rail, because Erik was afraid to sleep in it without a rail.

Now if we could just get him to sleep without the stupid music player (I think it is half sleep-crutch, half tool to stay awake and play).

Erik with toy dog Maggie (in his hand) and Teddy Bear (laying on the bed).

Erik is holding Teddy up for a picture in this one. I believe Erik's words were, "Take picture Teddy, too."

The bedding is Thomas the Train. Erik is thrilled about Thomas and anything related to Thomas.

Stuck at Home

My family is headed to the Bass Pro Shop for Smores and watching the fish be fed. I am stuck at home working and cleaning up a dirty house. Sometimes being The Mom is tough.

I hope I can catch the next trip.

On the upside, I had two surveys this year that had to be hand tallied. One had about 55 questions and about 30 respondents. The other has over 100 questions, and I had 106 respondents. One survey is complete (tallied and results sent out). The last one has all the data entered in Access, but I am still compiling the appropriate reports. I felt like I have done data entry for weeks. I should be able to finish up the second survey tomorrow if everything is quiet around the office.

~Michelle

More Pictures

I enjoy taking pictures, so here are some I took while we were camping at Cheehah State Park. When we got home, we ate quesadillas (cooked by dad) in the living room (Erik thinks eating dinner in the living room is a treat). He decided to try on Daddy's boots, so there are some of those pictures there, too. Also, there is one with Erik wearing Dad's boots, and Dad wearing Erik's crocs.

Pretty Cute!