Sometimes I think I might be too permissive. (Just kidding. Simon did get to lick the beater, but not while it was still on the mixer dripping into the bowl.)

I have several thoughts about this photo. It’s certainly not the best from a technical standpoint, but it does happen to hit on a few of the things that have been rolling around in my head.

We have most definitely entered the blurry toddler years. A lot of photos of Simon are out of focus these days, and only part of that can be blamed on my lacking photography skills. He is on the move. I find myself wanting to have the video camera at the ready because still photos don’t always do justice to a subject that is so rarely still. This photo is a perfect example of me grabbing my camera and hoping that the settings are already right—or at least close enough that the photo can be saved with the adjustments that can be made in iPhoto.

Simon is playing with an old film camera of mine. It’s one of several cameras we have given him to play with—they all work, or would if we could find film for them. This one is particularly satisfying, I think, because even though it has no film, it automatically winds after every shot and he likes the mechanical noise. It makes me a little sad to think that all our film cameras have become toys. I don’t necessarily miss shooting with film, and I have no plans to go back to it at all, but I do sometimes tend to romanticize the physical part of photography—and the delayed gratification—that we’ve all but lost with digital cameras. I remember the thrill of taking a roll of film to be developed and the anticipation of wondering whether or not your shots would turn out the way you hoped. I also remember the disappointment when they didn’t. I was looking through an old photo album at Jason’s folks’ this weekend and thinking how often he had a dopey look on his (admittedly adorable) face. We all did in our childhood photos—that’s the thing about having just one shot. Nobody took seventeen exposures at a time just to make sure you had two or three “good” ones to pick from.

I love watching Simon play; it’s a wonderful mix of imitation and doing it his own way. In this photo (and you can see it a little better in this one) I love that he has the strap around his neck, all properlike, and I especially adore the somewhat awkward grip he has on the too-big camera. He doesn’t seem to care if the camera is right-side-out or backwards when he’s taking the picture, but he always looks at the back to make sure it comes out right (just like we do with the digital camera).

It pleases me to think that he is learning to like some of the same things that we do. This was the conversation he and Jason had last night, in fact:

    “Simon, I like watching Avatar [the anime series, not the sci-fi movie] with you. I think it bodes well for our movie-watching future together. When you get a little older, we’ll watch Star Wars.”
    “Dah [yes]! And Choo Choo [Thomas]!”
    “Yep, and we’ll watch Totoro.”
    “Dah! And Buzz [Toy Story]!”

I like it how we just fit together as a family. I know that it probably seems obvious that a two-year-old would like the things we teach him to like—what else does he know? Nonetheless, I am amazed at how it unfolds.

Jason’s going to love this post. I’m having one of these days. Blame it on the rainy weather (love it), the (caffeinated) coffee I have in my system, that Simon was particularly good this morning while Ian snoozed, that I just finished a really good book (in three sittings in two days), and probably especially on the fact that I have a babysitter at home with the kids and am sitting in the library with my feet up, but I am feeling inspired and happy this morning.

**Important disclaimer: I have a constantly changing mental list of things I want to do and, realistically, it’s not to be confused with a to-do list. In other words, by writing these ideas down today I am not looking for accountability, I’m just blogging and dreaming a little.

In no particular order:

• Rethink my blog and actually do something with it. I’d like to focus on a photoblog, since I take pictures (almost) every day and am trying to let my photography be a creative outlet.
• Tag, geotag, and otherwise organize all our digital pictures, both on our computers and on Flickr.
• Quilt. I’d like to find the quilt I started for our wedding and finish it and to finish the quilt I started making for Jason’s 29th birthday (2005). But most of all, I’d like to make a whole new quilt in this pattern (I haven’t decided yet if I’ll use scraps I have or get new fabric).
• Continue my decluttering rampage, which has been neglected lately for lack of time but not for lack of desire.
• Learn (again) to knit.  I do have a specific project in mind from this book. (I checked his book out of the library because out of 30 projects, there are at least 11 that I could see myself actually doing and, of those, 3 or 4 that I really will do—you know, probably.)
• Read. A lot.
• Set up a sewing room in the basement.
• Paint and otherwise finish decorating and/or furnishing our living room and dining room.
• Make a bunch of these shirts for the boys out of Jason’s old band shirts (this project has been approved pending Jason wearing each shirt one last time).
• Make a quiet book. Or three.

Even though I blurted these out in no particular order, I can see how they will have to line up in a logical progression (e.g., finish decluttering so I can set up a room so I can sew). And, truth be told, I’m finishing this post in the few more minutes I can squeeze from the Simon just woke up from his nap and is groggy time before he starts in with the chorus “Mama done! Mama done!” and trying to close the computer on my hands, so already my idealism is taking a hit. Nothing gets crossed off the list today. I’m off to play blocks.

Reading this daily with Simon, It is excellent, and, best of all, it is making me want to read more of this.
Drinking some tasty coffee from Trader Joe’s. I’m thrilled that Omaha will be getting a TJs later this year.
Watching a lot of Toy Story lately. I think “Buzz” is Simon’s cutest word yet.  He also tries to say “To infinity and beyond!” (that’s what he’s trying to say in this video)—almost all of it is unintelligible but undeniably cute.
Eating two vegetarian meals a week. Tonight we have tofu with tikka masala sauce on the menu. And I think I’ll garnish it with a little cilantro since my cilantro is actually growing!
Going to see Babies with some friends tonight. And still thinking about an article I read the other day about the morality of babies. Babies on the brain, I guess.
Sleeping really well at night, thanks to an exceptionally precious four-month-old who is a champ sleeper and some really cool spring nights that have caused us to turn the heat back on.
Sighing. Looks like naptime is over, and that means so is blogging for now.

You know that feeling that you get when someone is staring at you? Yeah, well, at least few times each day, I get that feeling, and, sure enough, Ian is smiling away, just waiting to be noticed. Oh, man, I love this friendly little dude.

It’s too early to say for sure, but I’m beginning to suspect we might have an extrovert on our hands here.

That’s right. Elmo.

Several years ago, I came to the conclusion that I really didn’t like jazz. I used to want to like it, but eventually I gave up even really wanting to. Sure, I enjoy sitting on the lawn with friends at Lincoln’s Jazz in June once or twice a summer, but beyond that the musical genre just hasn’t been for me.

Enter Elmo.

I really have no idea where he even learned the name—I can promise it wasn’t from me or Jason—but Simon has a genuine affection for “Melmo!” The little red monster was probably one of my least favorite Sesame Street characters—I don’t know why really except that I did find his baby voice and his referring to himself in the third person annoying.  I tried to stave off the Melmo love as long as I could, but Simon is nothing if not relentless, so I found some short Elmo videos online that I can tolerate. Okay, okay, full disclosure: the truth is that after watching these videos again and again and again (and again and again . . . ), they have grown on me to the point where I actually find them quite funny and charming. We pretty much stick to this playlist, but there are a few other ones that we watch now and again.

Whenever Simon gets to pick “doo Melmo” (two Elmos), I secretly hope he picks the one with Kermit the Frog because it brings back good memories of the Sesame Street News skits I watched as a kid or the one of Grover delivering a singing telegram for its genuinely funny lines (e.g., “You can’t shove singing and dancing under the door; they are artistic!”) or the one with Jamie Foxx because the fox’s vocabulary cracks me up. He most often picks the one with Natalie Portman, perhaps because it’s long (I love Portman’s playfulness in that one). Lately, I’ve been liking the one with jazz musician Diane Schuur—it’s a catchy little number, doobe doobe doowah.

So here I am saying that I like both jazz and Elmo—in small to medium doses, at least. File it under Things You Never Thought Would Be True and Then You Had Kids.

I chose this one of Simon because he’s already exploring his world. We really need a video camera to do justice to Simon’s waking. He goes from fast asleep to happily chattering in an instant.

And, well, Jason in the morning is pretty self-explanatory.

P.S. This concludes the morning series. You won’t be seeing a picture of my lovely bedhead.

Last week Jason was asked to go on a semi-last-minute business trip to Minneapolis. He said he’d talk it over with me and get back to them. I’ve lost track of the exact timeline, but whatever day this came up was day 2 of both boys being sick. So did I think I would be up for three nights and four days of the boys by myself? Um, No to the Way to the Jose. (Even on my best days that’s not appealing. I know I’m wimpy that way. I can live with that.) So instead of Jason just not going, I proposed that the family tag along, and he went for it! So next week we’re headed up to visit Joie. Yay!

This also means that we have about seven hours plus stops in the car. I think it’s unrealistic to hope to get a quiet book done (I did get supplies, though), but I do have two projects that I’m pretty sure I can complete before we leave. I forget where I got the idea (clicking from this blog to that one), so I am sorry to say I can’t give credit where it’s due. The plan is to make two books—a letters book and a numbers book—by taking pictures of things that are familiar to Simon. The numbers book is pretty straightforward—1 bottle of bubbles, 2 boots, 3 trains, and so on.

The letters book is a little harder. I am finding that the things that fill our days are clustered on a few letters: B, for example, is for bubbles and beans and Baby and bus and boots and bowl; D is for Daddy and Dude and dinosaurs and dirt and dump truck; S is for slides and swings and snake and Simon. I could go on. But what about Q? Quilt is all I’ve got. And X? X is for xnothing-Simon-is-familiar with.

I’ve also decided to take pictures of all the letters and numbers themselves, but I’m not going to knock myself out. Hard to find ones may just get drawn with sidewalk chalk.

Celebrating my wonderful dad’s birthday today. He’s 60!

Thinking I really need to detox from all the Easter candy sugar (but not really planning to do so until all the candy is gone, let’s be honest).
(Obsessively) gathering ideas for quiet books. I really want to make one for Simon before we go on a roadtrip this summer.
Helping Simon learn to “embroider.” We used burlap and embroidery floss. He really liked pulling the needle through (and I liked it too once I tied a knot so that I wouldn’t have to rethread the needle each time). I think his/our first attempt was a success.

Researching local CSAs and deciding what to plant in our garden. Yes, that’s right, we’re going to attempt a (small!) garden this year.
Reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver, and a whole buncha books on creative storage solutions (I’m still on my decluttering rampage).
Snuggling little Ian, since he won’t take a nap in his crib today.
Delighting in Simon’s ever-expanding vocabulary. (I need to catch him on video because it is so stinking cute how he tries so valiantly to communicate.)
Finishing this entry on Thursday morning because I got interrupted yesterday.
Wishing for more time to blog (‘cause I actually have some thoughts brewing).