Rain Day Map Making with the Directionally-Impaired

We had a "pajama day" yesterday - due to the pouring rain. We read books, did a few puzzles, finger-painted and watched a movie. We even got all crazy and ate popcorn before lunch. We also drove to the Starbucks drive-thru so the baby would fall asleep and I could get my iced coffee fix. This is usually a relaxing kind of break for me, even with two kids in the car - but yesterday's drive turned out to be less than that - due to the fact that Luca had to pee before we were anywhere near home. I had to pull into a (closed) bank parking lot and let him drop trough in public. Even though I attempted to shield the obvious from public view by positioning him between the front and back open doors on the passenger's side, I am pretty sure the bank employee's saw us as they left the building for the day.

Anyway - since reading Me On The Map, Luca's been tossing the map idea around in his head. So, while finger-painting yesterday - he decided he was going to make a "Map of Friends". He proceeded to draw his version of our city and assigned several of his friends different locations on the paper as he painted. Having no sense of direction at all in real life, let alone in the Land of Make Believe - I kept forgetting who lived where on his map. The fact that my mind was beginning to numb, because we had been stuck inside most of the day, didn't help either. He kept correcting me and seemed totally annoyed by his directionless mother.



Still - it was fun to watch him map out his version of his own little world and to see the sense of accomplishment he felt when his map was complete.

Scenes from a Parade

Happy Easter

We had a great Easter Sunday. The morning got off to a very good start with our indoor egg hunt. Luca enjoyed the hunt and was pleased with the basket of goodies that the Easter Bunny left for him. And we were pleased with the fact that he was more interested in the loose change and the crappy little toys that he found in his eggs instead of the candy we felt compelled to give him this year.









Grace and her family and Marisol and Elli's family joined us mid-morning for brunch and an outdoor egg hunt. Because I wanted to be sure to keep everything even for all of them - I purchased four of each little item to fill the eggs. We labeled each egg with the first initial of the intended recipient's name and the kids worked as a team to make sure everyone received their own eggs. For the most part.








They did really well, though - and had a fun time doing it. (Despite Elli's missing egg which we still haven't located).

Dying for Easter

We decorated eggs on Saturday night.



Luca's great mood of the night before had passed and he was having a hard time keeping his frustration at bay during the project. We had a few near-time outs, but he kept pulling it together at the last minute and we actually got through it.





Until...the entire "Egg Tree" toppled over and about half of the eggs cracked. The poor kid pretty much lost it at that point. With some some urging, though, he retreated to his room for some quiet time where he settled down and salvaged what was left of the evening. For the most part. There was that call to the Easter Bunny's assistant that I had to make when he refused to get ready for bed.

Friday Night Dinner

We walked downtown for dinner on Friday night with friends.



Local shrimp tacos and a side of queso served in a Chinese soup bowl.



A small wrestler joined us.



Luca was in a great mood.



So great, in fact, we didn't realize the time and we stayed out way past his bedtime. It was a nice start to the weekend.

Guitar-get

As they walked to their car after a late afternoon shopping trip at Target - my almost two-year old nephew Maxwell (son of a bass guitar player) said to his mother - "We had a good time at GUITARget"!

Lunch

We had a "make your own pizza" afternoon. Luca - who will take the first opportunity he has to tell you he's not a cheese-lover, made his with red sauce, pesto, veggie pepperoni and a couple of last-minute anchovies right before it went into the oven. He stuck to his strict "no cheese" policy. Obviously the kid knows what he likes, because he ate every last crumb.