The Outdoor Road to Walking...

Some kids just up and start walking. June Bug wants to be a walker, but he was an early crawler at 7 months and he knows he's fast on all-fours. I mean it's frightening the speed at which he can get from A to B. He starting to give the cats a run for their money. Needless to say they are not happy with June Bug's growing speed. But walking is really what he wants to do.

Some days I can actually see him thinking, I'll just walk over there, but for whatever reason, his next move it to fling his upper body forward and just sort of hope that his feet follow suit. Yeah, they don't, and he usually ends up flopping down like a fish out of water. I try not to laugh, but he's usually giggling has he goes down.  What's funnier, is I've seen him march across his room. But some days the feet and the brain just don't communicate. So for now, while indoors he still favors the tried-and-true crawling. Outdoors however is another story.

Plants are captivating.

While sitting at Starbucks this morning he proceeded to circle the table, the chairs and then attempt to escape the patio via half-walking, half-cruising.  When his little red car takes a trip outside, he would rather push than be pushed. And like everyone should he always stops to smell the flowers or mutilate them, but I like to think he's picking flowers for mama. Something about the fresh air and California sun that must inspire his confidence.

One day this kid is going to just up and run when I'm not looking. And my guess is it'll not be in the safe confines of home...thus provoking a favorite, child-rearing debate, one which clearly divides all parents into two very distinct groups:
pro- vs. anti-child-leash
and discuss....

Just for you!

Summer Splash!

This weekend marks a long awaited event... the neighborhood pool finally opens!! June Gloom delays the start of summer around here, often keeping our temperatures in the lower 60's, maybe 70's, but most definitely overcast most of the day.  However, the last few days have been perfect pool weather, but alas no pool.   We tried the beach, but clearly that didn't go quite as planned.

So it was time to improvise. June Bug's infant bath tub was closeted long ago when he learned to climb out of it-- fun for Bug, not fun for Mama.  But with 85 degrees and sunshine, it was time to be creative. So we dragged it outside, along with beach toys and gave it a shot.

Day 1: June Bug immediately climbed in, excited by the prospect. Then Mama Bug was stung by a bee, so that quickly ended attempt #1.

Day 2:  Reapeat of June Bug excitement and no bees making both Mama and June Bug happy campers.

I'm thrilled this option has kept June Bug entertained, but I'll be happy to walk over to the pool come Saturday. Hopefully it's as big of a hit since I will be spending my Friday night lined up with throngs of other mothers to get into Mommy & Me  swim classes...yes that's right, it's a lottery for swim classes.  Yet as ridiculous as I think it is, ::hangs head in shame:: I will still be joining the masses hoping and praying my number gets picked and my kid gets in. I'm sure my parents are dying laughing right now.

The Toddler-Costco Challenge

Snuggles!

What could be more fun than a Saturday afternoon trip with a toddler to Costco?

Perhaps a toddler that can also throw up in the back seat as you pull into the crazy-don't-even-think-about-stealing-my-spot-or-I'll-gauge-your-eyes-out Costco parking lot. Awesome.  Thankfully I must have had some good karma because I found a spot in less than 20seconds (that or other drivers could sense my radiating desperation).

At least we were at Costco, so June Bug did get a new outfit out the deal. The car seat was another tragedy and of course there are no baby wipes left in the diaper bag, talk about an epic mommy-fail.  But again, we're at Costco, they have wipes...in 30lbs boxes containing no less than 1,120 wipes. I wish I were making that number up.

And for the car, well it was suggested to me that a few dryer sheets would remove the smell. FYI, do NOT put them on the dashboard, they will melt and adhere to it. But at least the car smells Bounce fresh.

Recuperating from the dreaded Costco trip

And now it's Monday. So far:

1. June Bug managed to pull a vase of flowers off the counter, shattering the vase.
2. He repeated #1 with an expensive crystal wine glasses.
3. I put a knife through my thumb chopping vegetables.
4. I lost my keys, my wallet and a gift card all on separate occasions.

I should have stayed in bed.  But then I would have missed June Bug walking across his bedroom floor. He was so proud, and so was this mama.  June Bug makes everyday worth getting up.

Ahhhh Summer Break...

Hahahahahahahahaha, hahahahahaha, I have tears streaming down my face right now. All I could talk about for the last month was I can't wait for summer break! Don't get me wrong, I'm loving every minute of my stay-at-home-mommy-summer-JOB. Not break.  Ok, and maybe not every minute.  I could do without the following:

1. diaper blowouts at 10pm after June Bug's been asleep for 3 hours
2. Food throwing
3. temper tantrums
4. The dreaded molar-teething (please, please come in soon, you're soooo close!)

I tried laughing, it didn't fool him.

Other than those minor events, I'm loving being home with the little guy. It was a no-brainer when I picked my summer activity. Stay-at-home-mommy for me. And props to June Bug for keeping it interesting.  He has already foiled my summer plans of renaming him June Bug the Beach Bum.  

The dreaded June Gloom had finally cleared and I raced off to the beach, excited for this inaugral summer trip!!!! And what did I learn? That the beach, is the scariest place on earth. I mean scariest.  Complete with shaking, sobbing, head burying, run, run far away, meltdown. 

Even at a safe distant from the water, still scary!

There's no doubt that June Bug looks like his mama, but he apparently inherited one of Daddy Bug's lesser traits:  a hate of the beach.  Yes, that's right my husband hates the beach because....wait for it...."sand is messy"  

::insert eyerolling::

I love, love, love the beach and I will not be deterred by this ridiculous male-dominate-beach-hating trait. Hopefully round 2 isn't met with as many tears from the boy bugs.

I do hope he doesn't hate the pool this much or we're going to have a boring, boring summer.

 

I will leave you with a happier June Bug, listening to music with his daddy. Man, do we need to work on the mommy-friendly hobbies...

A Helping Hand

Disaster of the day...Thanks Bug!

Or not so helping hand...
June Bug LOVES to lend a hand when I decide to clean and organize.  Well, he thinks he's helping.

Usually it entails him ripping everything out of the neatly packed bin and crawling in it.  If I'm lucky, he'll hand me the items instead of throwing them.  And is he ever proud of his handy work. His excitement usually results in him reclaiming the recently shared item and throwing it...as far as he can.  

But he gave it to me first, so that's what counts in that little head of his. It's definitely a 3 steps forward, 4 steps back process. Yes, you read that right, our humble abode is getting progressively messier. I'm just doing what I can to slow it down. 

Look mom, the basket is all clean!!

I really should be attempting to get more picked up right now.  But instead June Bug and I are enjoying Dance Party Friday. It is the start of summer break and a 3 month stint as a stay-at-home mommy.  Which means that I technically have more time to clean.


I say 10:1 odds, this place is a bigger disaster come August. 

Dancing is so much more fun than cleaning!

Birthday Bash

Okay, more like an intimate gathering. This is one of those moments that our small living quarters make me sad as it's not particularly conducive to big gatherings or really gatherings of any size, as made evident by the cake on the computer table (though I was able to play a slideshow then).  One day we'll have space to host everyone but in the meantime I was determined to make the most of this wonderful event.  We do have a little bit local family who joined us for the afternoon along with a few friends to help us celebrate his First Birthday!






I swear I missed my calling as a kindergarten teacher. I'm not one to brag, but I'm pretty proud of my resourceful craftiness. I made/printed everything using old file folders.  I baked the cake/cupcakes and decorated the cake aka the hungry caterpillar's head. One of my BFF's decorated the cupcakes, she's pretty talented like that!  Of course I bought food like I was feeding any army.  So I'll be eating a cupcake-a-day for the next two weeks, along with fruit, hummus and other assorted finger foods.

I will say as proud as I am of my decor, I was waaaaaaay more excited about this AWESOME  bottle of wine I found --------------------------------->

A few people actually thought I made the label. I wish I was that crafty! But seriously, could it be any more perfect??!!

As for my shy little June Bug, he shocked both me and Daddy Bug by hamming it up during cake and song time. I really expected big fat tears. Nope, this kid apparently knows a good thing when he sees it: cake and attention.

He was very intrigued by all the singing

The Birthday Boy pre-cake

Happy Birthday June Bug!!!