Sully the photographer

Sully has been really interested in cameras lately, which we love! Anybody who knows Shaun and I know that we love to dabble in photography when we have the time. Sully's Nana also has quite the photographic hobby. Shaun gave Sully a real old digital camera we never used, which he loves to take pictures with, since the toy/baby camera isn't cutting it these days.

Well I guess the digital camera isn't cutting it either, because his attention has now turned to the Nikon D60 I always use.

I guess he just has good taste.

He took all the pictures.

Okay, so I took the last 3.

I just have a natural flair for mocking my child.

I was fortunate enough to be asked to assist with this shoot, and I have to say, I think my work was s-o-l-i-d. He can be difficult to work with at times, mainly because his instructions sound like an angry Frenchman screaming at you. Theres a lot of pointing and shouting, but at the end of the day I think the integrity of his work speaks for itself.

Heres my little photography genius in self-portrait action.

Sugar, spice and lies.

(This ones for my Mama, with photographic proof that yes, I do cook, and not just from the frozen section of Trader Joes.)

I've yet to read the book Deceptively Delicious that I own, but it hasn't stopped me from sneaking around the kitchen, in a covert operation to sneak vegetables into Sully's foods.

He's always been a wonderful eater, especially fruits. I can't keep enough fruits in the house for this child. We frequent the store/farmers market 2-3 times a week just for the sole purpose of restocking fruits.

Pears,

apples,

bananas,

strawberries,

blueberries,

tangerines and

grapes are among the top favorites, but he also eats pineapple, peaches, plums, nectarines and oranges.

Vegetables on the other hand, well, thats tricky. He'll eat frozen peas, corn and raw Japanese cucumber only under the condition it comes from the nice little old Japanese lady at the farmers market on a toothpick.

I've tried putting them on toothpicks - but I can't become little, old or Japanese so to the farmers market we go. So, I've been left with no other choice than to take action and bake all of the stuff he spits out along with my lies into tasty treats.

Exhibit #1: Zucchini, banana walnut bread!

Yes mom, from scratch. This little loaf packs a punch with two whole bananas, a whole zucchini and crushed walnuts baked in. He loved it, and so did daddy, so much so that there was barely any left for breakfast the next morning! So you can bet this has made it onto our weekly rotation.

Exhibit #2: Homemade pizzas! (Which Sully loved making)

The pizza sauce was made from scratch using 5 yellow heirloom tomatoes, 10 plum heirloom tomatoes, 2 whole zucchinis grated, 1 whole yellow squash grated, and a cup of chopped spinach. We topped it with mozzarella, chopped basil, rosemary and cashews. (Plain cheese on Sully's) The dough came from Trader Joes.

And thanks to Sully's Papa, he's acquired quite the taste for chocolate pudding. So we've taken to making the homemade kind at home, since it contains less preservatives, I can add his whole milk into it and we can add extra fruits we have on hand inside. Plus, it keeps him entertained with all the mixing and stirring.

Exhibit #3: Discovering the age ole' mixing spoon.

P.S. Mom, I know why you always kept wooden spoon in the house. Plastic feels so cheap. I've ditched them all in favor of our brand new maple wooden spoons which I'm in love with!

I may actually pull off this whole cooking thing yet.

Snow day

So this is what snow looks like for us Southern/Central Californians.

That's right, we get our snow shipped in.

While what seemed like was the rest of the United States being multiple feet under snow, Sully and I rose bright and early to meet my co-worker Sandi in what has become Sandi's and I annual "Building the Snow" for our centers annual Snow Day.

The snow and truck are donated each year for the children at our center, and we strap on our boots and gloves to build ramps, slides and exploration areas for the children to enjoy all day. (For everyone who thinks we're crazy, most kids in So Cal have never seen snow, and a good majority never will during their childhood! Crazy right?)

For the past 4 years Sandi and I have met the truck in the wee hours of the morning, and "work" at getting the mound just right. Basically its just us playing, sliding and throwing snow with a little shoveling in between.

This year I brought a very special helper, who just happens to

l-o-v-e

everything

giant

trucks.

It was a battle to get us out of the door that early. The first 3 pictures are a testament to my child being his father's son - they are NOT morning people.

No way.

No how.

- Cue in picture tormenting -

However once the truck arrived he perked up, I mean WAY up. He was in awe to see a "twuck" that close, and to get to witness it in dumping action, well, I thought his head was going to explode.

No, seriously.

This took place two Fridays ago, and he's still talking about it.

It made the whole dressing him while he was still half asleep and throwing a bag of cheerios at him in the car not seem so bad.

Mama, noom.

Today was an amazing day.
I'm not sure why.
The day itself was nothing exceptional.
There were pancakes,
and race car tracks in chalk on our patio outside.
Blocks and books.
There were nap time meltdowns,
Errands to be ran,
And office work to be done.
But there was lots of laughs,
And being goofy together.
Tons of high fives,
Singing "Woggles" in the car -
And listening to him try to sing about
his ass in the sand and beers.
Cue stifled laughter here.
Because when he sings,
He is serious about his
performance.

Its days like today,
when I'm able to let go of
the laundry,
look past the
dirty dishes,
put off some
work calls,
and step over
the heaps of toys
and rain boots
and mashed up cheerios -
And sit in the sun as it
shines down on our chalk
village and fish crackers
and just be.

Just be with him.
Enjoying him.
Listening,
laughing,
and loving him.
Sitting back to
take note
of the person he is
becoming.
Before my eyes,
in a blink.
Taking mental snapshots
and filing them away
somewhere into
the abyss of
not particularly important moments,
but ones I would like to
remember
just the same.

His eyes.
He smiles with them.
The boots he
proudly put on
himself, that
awkwardly perch
inwards towards each other,
because I don't have
the heart
to tell him.
The way he says Mama and moon
and clasps his hands.
The exuberance in his voice
when he declares
the he is a
"helper".
Please,
remember this.
Because one day
I'll fish it back out from
the abyss.

And if I'm lucky
I'll remember how
I felt today.
Gratitude.
Contentment.
Being in sync with my child,
the rarity that sometimes is
being on the same page.
But we were,
today.
The overwhelming
sense that this -
well -
baby it doesn't get much better than
this.
No, there was nothing
exceptional about today.
And there was everything
exceptional
about
today.

Real Conversations IV

Stephanie: "Well that did not turn out how I expected."

*Silence*

"I was looking online for pictures of whisk attachments to put on your Facebook page, and I came across a kid who lost all his limbs to meningitis at like 7. I ended up reading his blog and now I'm kind of sad I looked that up."

Sam: "Jesus. That puts a damper on whiskhand."

Stephanie: "Right?"