Happy Earth Day
Happy Earth Day, everyone! Like all of you, we have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of Earth Day in our house. Little Oscar has practically been vibrating with excitement ever since we put up our Earth Day bush, a “reclaimed” potted plant decorated with recycled tin foil, but without lights (simply not green to waste electricity in that manner), just giddy in anticipation for his first visit from Mother Nature. Well, she did not disappoint.
When Oscar awoke, he was greeted with his Earth Day presents, all placed in one of our recycled shopping bags (you know the ones you buy at Whole F00ds and always forget to take back to the store, so you end up having to ask for paper bags and the clerk looks at you in disgust? one of those). Mother Nature does not wrap gifts with packaging materials and wrapping paper – let alone tape! I think he was amazed at the bounty. In the bag were many pieces of organic fruit (she selected the fruit that was just about to go bad and have to be disposed of - do you have any idea how many tons of fruit is thrown out at grocery stores every year?), candy bought in bulk, and a t-shirt that says “solar power turns me on.” Just kidding about that last one – the t-shirt was for me. Since none of the slightly rotting fruit or candy was wrapped, it got a bit tossed together and made this really special melange that only a toddler could love. Yummy.
In addition to all of his organic fruit and candy, Oscar was surprised with “new” toys and books. Why buy new toys – even “green” toys when you can simply reuse the ones you’ve cast aside? Especially the dog-earred books. It’s all about recycle – reduce – reuse, people! In addition to a number of toys he never really liked last year, he received my old cell phone, an empty macaroni & cheese box, a bunch of pens that are almost out of ink and a big stack of paper out of one of our recycling bins at work. The non-printed side is a great medium for his artwork (aka scribbling). We’re going to spend some time playing with his new stuff, and then our Earth Day adventures begin in earnest. We’ll update you later on the fun we’re having.
ETA: in all of our earth day excitement, we couldn’t actually post until tonight. You know how crazy the major holidays are.
More for the grandparents
Sorry, all, but need to allow the grandparents to bask in the glow of their grandson…
Merry Christmas!
Christmas morning
Christmas night
Very, very, very late Christmas night. Finally.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.
Oscar discovers his tent
This is one of those posts that will likely appeal only to my family, so I apologize to the rest of you. Since we’re all separated this year because the weather, etc., I thought I’d post some video of Oscar trying out his new toys so Grandma and Grandpa (and his aunts and uncles) can see first hand how he likes his gifts. Yes, I know that it’s not actually Christmas yet, but we have a LOT of presents under the tree, so I thought staggering some of them would be a good idea (that, and it was hard for me to keep myself from letting him sneak at least one of the toys)…
That mom
I’m a bit ashamed to admit that I’m exhibiting signs of being “that mom” this Christmas. You know, that mom who wants things to be a bit too perfect or controlled and who, as a result, takes some of the fun out of an event. Case in point? Our Christmas tree. We don’t really have one. We have a couple of topiaries that I rigged up with lights and a group of three “alpine” trees (fake trees in differing heights) that also just have lights on them. Not an ornament to be found of any of these “trees,” if you can really call them that.
I told myself that I was ditching the ornaments this year because Oscar is just too young – he’d be all over that tree, pulling all of the glass and crystal off – it would be a safety hazard, really (or so I tell myself). I could have put one of those fence things around the tree, but I’ve avoided having one of them in the house so far, and I’d like to continue to do so. I could have just had the tree but without ornaments within his reach. I also could have gone out and bought (or made, ha!) a bunch of felt ornaments that are toddler proof, but you know I didn’t because they aren’t pretty enough. Shallow, but true.
I broke down and put some ornaments on one of those ornament trees (I swear, were they designed and marketed towards moms just like me or are there really that many people with so many ornaments they need separate structures for them?).
Jeez, can you not just feel the joy emanating from this child? The thing is, he’s so incredibly gentle with these things – perhaps because he senses he’s not supposed to get too close to them from my horribly controlling reaction. Notwithstanding his appearance in the photo, he loves them. He grunts repeatedly to get us to let him sit next to the tree to look at the icicles and snowmen. I’ve learned my lesson. Next year, we’re getting a huge, real tree that will be chock-full of ornaments that he can actually touch, even if he does knock them all down to the floor.
Christmas card photo shoot
How can this be so difficult? Guess who’s not sending out cards this year?
Tis the season
I saw my first Christmas tree in a house the other day. That officially marked the beginning of the season. Last Christmas was sort of depressing for me. I was waiting for Oscar, with no clue when I would get him home. I had hopes of traveling to Vietnam by Christmas time when I got my referral. By Thanksgiving I knew I was months away from even filing the documents I needed to file to get his visa. As a result, things were a bit dreary.
This year, though, Oscar is home and while I know I’m not supposed to overwhelm him with objects, I have a sneaking suspicion that I’m going to have a hard time controlling myself. For the first time ever, I’ve already bought gifts weeks before Thanksgiving. I am the queen of procrastination when it comes to gift buying. Sometimes I even buy the gifts after the holidays. I really don’t like shopping.
Since we worked so hard all weekend to try to get our deal signed, and things died down in the middle of the night, I had some downtime today while we waited. I used that time to do some Christmas shopping. I am getting Oscar one of those shape sorter toys, probably one of those toys you hit with a wooden hammer, two dvd’s (for me, really, as I’m growing tired of the ones we’ve been recycling at home) and that new Elmo Live thing (he’s obsessed with talking toys and even I found that thing adorable, albeit pricey). I’m betting I shouldn’t buy any more gifts than this, but you know I’m going to.
So, my question for you is this, do people honestly not buy their kids very many gifts at the holidays? When we were growing up we really only got toys at Christmas and on our birthdays. We don’t buy a lot of toys ourselves so far. Oscar has a decent collection, but nothing like what my friends’ kids have. I’m not talking about spending many hundreds of dollars on toys - not even remotely close. What’s an appropriate number of toys for a 17 month old? Will I truly be doing him harm by putting a few extra gifts under the tree?
The Great Christmas Debate
Likely the most important question posed on any blog at any time, which is the best animated Christmas story of all time? The Grinch or Charlie Brown?
I know there are many others that are quite good – Rudolph, Frosty and Santa Claus is Coming to Town, to name a few, but I’d like to narrow it down to these two. And, to avoid any confusion, I’m talking about the cartoon version of the Grinch (the classic) and not Ron Howard’s live-action version. The name of one of my dogs gives away my preference, so I’ll refrain from voting.
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Etta’s Hats
Where I’ve Been
