Havin Hope

So I knew that Big Giant Elmo (our “pet” name for Jonah’s huge Elmo that he got for Christmas from his Great Aunt Susie)does lots of things. I knew he eats and drinks- I’ve seen him being fed cheese and milk and I once found a cheerio in his mouth. I know he sleeps (that is what he does while Jonah plays, at least Jonah always tells Elmo “Night Night” when he leaves him somewhere). But I didn’t know that he likes to ride in Jonah’s Kiddie Coupe car (but he’s not ready for the bike yet, he kept falling off this week, much to Jonah’s dismay). In this picture he is doing something else I didn’t know he could do-color. Jonah is handing him a crayon and is much more interested in helping Elmo than coloring himself!

So Jonah and I have a ritual where I put him on the counter top and he looks in the snack cabinet for something for his morning snack. Today he was very sure that he wanted Nutella. I thought, smart boy. If you don’t know what that is, don’t worry, we just had it for the first time this weekend when a French family brought it over. So, it is this totally yummy chocolate hazelnut spread (from France, I think). Anyway, she actually made crepes for us to enjoy it on, but I wasn’t about to do that this morning. So the only thing that I could find worthy was a bag of animal crackers. I will never want to eat them plain again!

So Monday is laundry day, the day that I do 5 or 6 loads of laundry and then can ignore the baskets for a whole week. I love my system and I really loved my second hand machine until it started squeaking during the spin cycle. I commented on this several times to my husband and I don’t think he believed me until he happened to be home when the house was shaking. This prompted him to take the machine apart. Now, I don’t say that my husband is handy when it comes to this kind of stuff or even eager, but he is cheap and he does like to take things apart (but not before googling for advice). So, “experts” say its the belt so Jake in search of a belt. Then he discovered that our machine does not have a belt. With washing machine pieces and water everywhre, a friend drops by. She then insists that her husband, who of course delivers washing machines and the like, finds me a machine. So he comes over to install one that has been discarded by the prevous owners who bought a new shiny one, but this one works just fine they say. So its in, and I run the first load last Monday. The spin cyle runs smoothly. And just as I think that we have a winner, the machine lets out a load squeal, much like a car braking at the very end of the cycle. My husband says that the same thing that was going on ours is probably going out on this one. I think our first clue should have been that this is washing machine made by Magic Chef!!!

So who says we need fancy eduacational toys (though some are nice to have around)? Today Jonah and I played for quite a while with 10 pairs of his shoes (all hand-me downs from a friend). We played the matching game with them. He would hand me a shoe and I would ask for its match. He was pretty good at this game and even learned to say “match”.

Yesterday Jonah graduated from the baby talk of “bye-bye” to a very grown-up BYE! I’m not sure what I think about that, but either way, its very cute. As his daddy was leaving for work they proceeded to tell each “bye” back and forth to each other as Jake made his way down the hallway, into the kitchen, and finally out to the garage. I couldn’t help but laugh at the way they tried to mimic each other’s voices. I couldn’t tell who was following who. For the rest of the day and again today he replaced his usual “bye-bye” with a simple bye.

Here’s a picture of Jake. This is his rock star pose.

(actually, this is was just Jake’s way of walking me through posting a picture)

So new moms get postpardum blues which occur right after their child is born. They may feel depressed and unhappy, unsure if they are ready for their child to be outside of them and no longer safely on the inside. Is it possible to feel that when your child is two? Since I don’t think I can put him back “in” I guess I have to deal with the feelings of business and boredom that I feel all at once. I mean, how many times can we walk up and down the street at at Franklin the Turtle’s pace? How many times will the same blanket get unfolded before it safely makes it to the drawer? Haven’t I swept the floor 3 times already- where do these cracker crumbs come from? Do I win I a prize for memorizing the most Elmo World videos? Living with a two year is about being thankful for that little hand in yours while walking down the street for the 20th time and for the sweet efforts he makes while trying to “help’ his mommy with the laundry.