March Madness ...

Nothing new here ... we had great weather all week, so E and I stayed busy outdoors. Of course, it's crappy this weekend, but it looks like the sun will be back by mid-week.

The ducks are back at our favorite little off-post park. Elliott needs to work on his gentle voice and not stampeding after them, but we managed to entice a few of them over with our bag of bread.

We found an awesome new park in a nearby town and we spent almost two hours there yesterday. It's very toddler-friendly and Elliott can do everything independently, so I just relaxed. He really wanted to play with these two little girls, but they weren't having it one bit ... and I'm pretty sure the things they were saying in German were not nice. Also, don't be fooled by their winter get-up ... it was almost 70 degrees out.

They have been logging behind our house all week, and it has been a great source of entertainment. I think he watched them for almost 45 minutes. He kept yelling, "come on trucks .... what are you doing?? You're making a mess!!"

Smoothie making is part of our daily routine, and Elliott HAS to help ... and I use the word 'help' very loosely. If I can keep him from hitting the button before I put the lid on - it's a good morning.

This is his new favorite craft. I just give him a little plate of glue and a bunch of these pom-poms and he will be completely engrossed in making some kind of picture. This one is a shark ...

He said this one was a snowman ... but he even pointed out the pattern he made ... "look mom - green, purple, green, purple" ... clearly he doesn't know what a pattern is, but I thought it was great that he recognized what he did!

I switched his crib to a big boy bed, and he is doing great. I was afraid he was going to escape and terrorize the house, but he hasn't got out of bed once. Scratch that, he has FALLEN out of bed twice in the middle of the night ... which I don't even know how that's possible, but I have since fashioned a dog bed pillow underneath to soften his landing.

Potty training is going so great, and we have even ventured out on a couple outings in his undies. He went to daycare on Friday in underwear, per the request of the teachers, but had an accident on the playground. Today we went to the grocery store and he did great - even asking to go potty. Unfortunately, I ruined the moment by dropping him in the toilet!! Seriously, he fell right in - catching himself by the armpits and feet. I was laughing so hard that I couldn't lift him out and he was saying, "mamaaaa that's not nice!" The poor kid will probably be scared of public bathrooms for awhile ...

Our new favorite meal is spaghetti - which is fine by me because it's cheap and easy. Clean-up is a bit tricky though ...

This just makes me laugh. My mom bought his this bathtub paint for Christmas, and he paints a beard on himself every bath and then pretends to be a monster.

Such a sweet boy ... sometimes ...

No news on Vic ... we're hoping for something by this week!!