Family

Via the web cam we were able to visit with lots of family today. It was nice to see them and I'm sure they enjoyed seeing us. John was pretty fired up about seeing everyone on the computer. He got to see Nana and Papa Jim this morning. And this evening, he saw MawMaw, Great PawPaw, Aunt Karen, Uncle James, and Uncle Andy, who made car noises for him.

The only other major thing we did today was make some Strawberry Ice Cream. I worked really hard to get it done before John went to bed so that he could have some. He stood next to the ice cream machine almost the whole time. And then when it was done, he turned his nose up at it. Oh, well! More for the rest of us.

The new hairstyle is courtesy of Daddy. He felt the need to refine the style when he walked into the bath to help with the drying and discovered John's hair slicked back as a result of water being poured on it.

I think the pacifier is finally completely done. He hasn't asked for it for the last two days. It's sitting on the bookshelf collecting dust! YEAH! It might have been done for a long time ago if I'd cut it off at a faster rate!

-EBP-

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Strawberries!

We finally made it to pick strawberries. And lucky we waited because Barbara and Andrew got to join us. And although it doesn't look like it from the picture above, everyone else in the area decided to go, too. It is Good Friday and the kids were out of school. This only became an issue upon check-out. There was a long line to just get a bucket. All total we spent about an hour waiting in line to get our berries boxed and then to pay for them. They have other things at the farm. So, while we waited in line, Barbara and I shopped for some great fresh produce. By the end, the boys were spent and ready to go! I we go again this season, it will definitely be on a weekday when the kids are in school.

The picking was easy and fun. There were loads to be picked and they looked absolutely "beautiful" - John's word for the week. He said it a lot today.

Both John and Andrew very pretty good about only picking the completely red ones. I didn't have to help too much as the ripe ones snapped right off.

We brought home one buckets worth, which cost us about $10 for five and a half pounds. When we got home, I washed about a dozen or so small ones and John and I sampled the lovely berries. Daddy couldn't even resist them when he got home. They are so good! I need to wash and freeze some tomorrow. And I think we'll make some strawberry ice cream, too.

-EBP-

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Puppet Sock

John's forever putting his socks and his shoes on his hands. I'm not sure if I said something about the sock being a puppet, but he must have gotten it from somewhere. Now he always talks about his socks, calling them "puppet socks." This morning, rather than fighting about him wanting to the put the socks I wanted on his feet, I gave him a fresh sock out of the drawer to be his puppet.

Talk to the hand, I mean, puppet.

He doesn't know much to do with the puppet, yet. He just carries it around on his hand until it impedes his progress somehow. Like in the car today on the way to school, he tried to read a book, but it was awful hard with only one hand to turn pages and hold it. So he asked me to take it off before I even got him buckled in the seat. Maybe we need to decorate one with googly eyes, a mouth, and some hair. And then we'll learn to make up stories and play with it.

I think John might be convinced that the "too broken" paapaa needs to get thrown away. At nap today, I handed him the pacifier and he again talked about it being too broken and needing batteries. I explained that batteries would not help. I asked him what we should do and he suggested finding the blue pacifier, which has been out of site for several months now. I told him it was gone. He said he'd find it. But I reiterated that it wasn't here anymore. He seemed to accept that. I turned the conversation back to the red one and asked him what we should do. He didn't have an answer. So I suggested that maybe since it was broken, we should throw it away. He didn't respond and I let it drop. But tonight at bedtime, again he mentioned that it was too broken. And he didn't even bother to put it in his mouth. There really isn't anything left for him to hold in his mouth anyway. I asked what we should do. He said we should throw it away. I told him we'd talk some more about it tomorrow. I want to explain the best I can that if we throw it away, it's not coming back. I certainly don't want to be fishing it out of the trashcan! Maybe we'll do a trial run where we just put it away and see if he misses it. I don't want to push him. I want him to make the decision that he can do without it. I know he can, but I'm not sure he's convinced, yet.

-EBP-

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