Lunch at the Pool

When we went to the pool we had lunch there. It was like being at work but with your bathing suit on. We saw Anne, Brent and Willie, Jeannette and Shawn, and even someone who used to work at West eating with his family and we were all sitting next to each other. That was the weird part abou it.

Funny Story

So Harrison and I were getting dressed in the locker room at the pool. We were in our stall and I had him sitting on the bench while I got dressed. Well, Harrison heard the toilets flushing and he started yelling "BYE BYE POOPY" "BYE BY POOPY"...every single time he heard the toilet flush. I was holding back tears I was laughing so hard.

Repeat

So we are at the stage where Harrison repeats everything we say. So a few days ago Cliff was yelling at Brady to "shut up". Well Harrison didn't repeat it then, but yesterday, Brady was barking in the kitchen and Harrison walks over to him and says "shut up Brady". And he kept saying it. I can't believe he remembered it. We really have to watch what we are saying now!

The Weekend

We had a great weekend. Harrison was in a fantastic mood all weekend. Which is quite unusual because he doesn't usually eat well or nap well on the weekends. He was so loving and cute. All day Saturday he kept going over to Brady and petting him and saying "NICE". Instead of pushing or hitting him. We went to Gymboree on Saturday morning. Harrison did great there. He was running around and laughing and just having a ball. And he didn't push, hit or bite anyone. On Sunday we went to the pool again at Cascade Bay with Anne, Brent, Willie, Barb and Morgan. It was a great day to go swimming. This time Harrison wasn't afraid of the water. He went right in and we played all afternoon. One really funny story was I was keeping an eye on Morgan while Barb was fixing her contact lens, so I asked Morgan to take Harrison to wash his hands. I meant to just take him over to the shallow end of the pool where there was this small fountain that Harrison liked to put his hands in. Well Morgan took me literally and started walking out of the pool. There they were Harrison and Morgan holding hands and walking toward the bathroom where Morgan was taking Harrison to wash his hands. It was the cutest thing ever. Brent hopefully got a great picture of it. We led them both back to the pool. What did I learn, tell 3 yr olds exactly what you want to them to do. Harrison ate really well also. He created his own combo, Chocolate Chip Cookies and Maranara sauce. He seemed to like so maybe he is onto something. We left at 1:30 and Harrison really didn't' want to go, but I knew we were nearing the end of his steam, and wouldn't you know, he fell asleep about 4 minutes after we started driving. It was a great day at the pool. Oh, by the way, I went down the green slide, it was so scary. There is this huge drop and it spins you and I banged my head and I really can't describe it except to say it was crazy. I even lost my barrette.

Harrison's new obsession

A few months ago Harrison's obsesson was doing buckles, not the belt kind, but the ones on his high chair and stroller and the ones on grocery carts and booster seats at restaurants. He just loved doing this, day and night. He would just scream "BUCKLE" "BUCKLE" until we brought hi to where he could do a buckle. Then it would be "AGAIN". So thankfully that little obsession has subsided and what has replaced it is worse...."WASH HANDS" "WASH HANDS". Now, the mother in me is saying this is great, he wants to wash his hands, be clean, no germs. But no, what he wants to do is sit on the edge of the sink for hours and turn the water off and on, putting his hands in and out of the water, watching it go down the drain, playing with a cup and filling it up and emptying it and splashing everything. I can't wait to see what his new obsession will be and I hope it comes soon because we are all getting wet.

My son is a biter

So this morning when I went to drop Harrison off at day care, I was told that he bit Darby yesterday on the face and that Darby had bruises. I couldn't believe it. I was so upset and mortified. I had hoped that Harrison wouldn't do this but he has and now I really want to figure out a way to stop this behavior. I of course immediately went to the internet to read up on biting toddlers and all of them said things I already knew but it also required someone to watch him, or shadow, him to see what instigates the behavior and right before he is about to bite, stop it and do it consistently. Well, I don't think that Carol has the time to do this with Harrison. I just hope this isn't a regular behavior and some thing that we can control with Time outs.

Electrician

I found an electrician to come and make our air conditioner work. It would have been really difficult to fish the wires through the walls since the breaker box is in the basement and our AC is up in the 2nd floor. So they ran the wires outside, against the chimney, and created its own outlet. We didn't loose the old outlet so we can still use it for other things. It was a bit more expensive than I planned, but I am just glad we don't have to sleep in the family room any more. I really liked Angie's List. I totally recommend using it if you need to find a service person.

Big Brother

So the other night was a great installment of Big Brother and the solidification of my dislike for the guy Eric. So it was just one of your regular episodes. No nominations or evictions. For some reason the whole house, except for 2 people, seem to hate this guy Michael. And I think it is all because of Eric. He is just fueling everyone. Making really big deals out of nothing. It is just crazy to watch. First of all, Michael was flirting with the girls, just as all of the single guys have done before him. And some of the girls told Eric that that annoyed them. Well, Eric took it to the next level and spoke to Michael about it and said if they were in the work environment it would be sexual harrasment. Eric is just so absolutely annoying. I really just can't stand him and all these others just think he is the greatest thing since sliced bread. And what is up with his crying all the time. GIVE ME A BREAK! So all of this escalated on Tuesday and Michael and Eric were going to fight, so Big Brother, over some loud speaker, split them up - told them to go to different rooms. Then Kaysar and Ivette started fighting and Big Brother broke them up also. And don't get me started as to how much I dislike Ivette. She is just as annoying as Eric. But it was great TV. I can't wait to see what happens tonight.

Yeah!!! Cascade Bay!!

Today we went to Cascade Bay in Eagan with Ken, Shannon and Abby, and even saw Barb and Morgan there. It was a perfect day to go to a pool. I heard that this place would be really fun and was so much more than a pool and it so was! Harrison was pretty crancky all morning which wasn't a good omen to try something new. But we went anyway because it was 95 degrees and what else is there to do. So we wanted to get there as soon as it opened, but of couse that didn't happen. Construction on 35E saw to that. But that was fine. It wasn't too croweded when we got there and I was thinking this was going to be great! We all got changed and then went to the water. Harrison immediately started crying. They have a gradual depth pool so you just walk in. I sat right at the edge with Harrison in my lap. He still cried but got very interested when I started splashing the water. He then wanted to splash. Ok, so he started to have a good time. Then we took him to where they had these things that water flowed into, he loved that. I got him to go down a kiddy slide and to even walk in the pool unitl the water was up to his waist. We then went down the Lazy River. Harrison rode in my lap. He really liked that and relaxed on me, until I decided to shake things up and go down the "rapids" where water comes out at you. He really didn't like that. But he calmed down as soon as it was over. We went around 3 times. We then went with Ken, Shannon and Abby for lunch. We all ate Hot Dogs. Except Shannon, who had pizza. Harrison and Abby ate really well. They both ate their whole Hot Dog, Harrison also had a bag of cookies, and some fries, which he just used as a vehicle for eating the ketchup. Cliff and I had hot dogs and mozarella sticks. It was a great lunch together. Then back in the water. Harrison was way more relaxed about the water but was very tired. He wanted to play but was frustrated every time another kid played near him. So after 20 minutes or so, we decided to go home. We were only going to stay 2 hours and that is what we did. As soon as we got into the car, Harrison fell asleep. Such a busy day for a little guy.

Trying to stay cool

It is not new that it has been sweltering over the last week. Well our central AC doesn't reach up to our bedroom so we have a window AC up there. Well a few days ago it just stopped producing cold air. So we have been sleeping in the basement on the pull out couch. Not the most comfortable place to sleep and very cold! So yesterday we went out to buy a new window air conditioner. As with mostly everything Cliff and I do, we didn't measure the window or check the outlit voltage to make sure we got one that met our requirements. So after helping Cliff carry this thing from the car and into the house (I swear, it weighed about 1000 pounds), Cliff has troubles making it fit into our window. After 2 days of trying, he does it. And to reward himself, he plugs in the unit and it turns on and begins to blow beautiful cool air. For about 1 minute when the circuit blows. So Cliff goes down to reset the circuit, goes back up and a minute later, the circuit blows again, and so does Cliff. This just put him over the edge. So now we still have to sleep in the basement and we have a brand new AC up stairs and can't use it. So I signed up for Angie's List. (www.angieslist.com) It is a great place to find all kinds of service people. So I found some electricians who can hopefully come out quickly and do something with the outlet!! Or I think the AC will be going right out the window!

Theatre in the Park

Saturday night Cliff and I got a sitter and went to see a free play in Como Park. We have been whining that we haven't taken advantage of the park we live in. So we went to the Theatre in the Park. They were putting on a production of "Comedy of Errors". It wasn't at the ampitheatre so I was unsure of where to go. The play started at 7. So I packed us up a picnic and headed off to the park. I had an idea where it was but couldn't visualize it. As it turned out, it was not where I thought it was going to be. It was next to where West has their annual Picnic, kind if in the middle of nowhere. If I had not been really looking for any sort of sign I would have missed it. But we found it and went to stake out a spot. We were the first ones there. We got there around 6:15. I am glad we were first because we got to choose where to sit. But we ended up moving closer because we couldn't hear the actors. There were no micorphones, and no stage. They did have some scenery but it was really very primative. We finally got settled and decided to eat our dinner. I brought a sushi roll as an appetizer to start. I also brought us some drinks. I had a sparkling pink lemonade which didn't fit into my cup holder so when I tried to pull it out, it exploded and I lost half of it. After our sushi, I made Tomato, Basil and Mozarella sandwiches on a baguette with Garlic puree. It was sooo good. And just perfect for the warm evening. The play was really funny and very well performed. Because it was outside it was hard to hear the actors at times, but still a great experience. The play was only 90 minutes long so it was only 8:30 when it was over so Cliff and I went over to see if there was a 9:00 showing of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Well that didn't work out because the next showing was at 10:00 and that was too late. So we contemplated mini-golf, but ended up at the Grand Old Creamery. This is just the best Ice Cream. I had my usual a single scoop of Black Hills Gold. Cliff decided to try something new and has a single scoop of some thing called nut crunch in a waffle cone. YUMMY!!! That is where we ended our evening.

Harrison's mystery illness

I know it has been way too long since I added a blog, but boy time flies. Harrison is much better now. I still have no idea why he ran a fever for 2 days. I thought maybe roseola, again. But the rash never came. But the fever went away. Maybe it was a tooth. I don't know what it is about this age, I think it is the frustrations with communication, but boy does he throw alot of tantrums. Especially if I don't get him his "raisin box" quick enough. I now have stock in Sunmaid raisins. He goes through them so fast. Harrison went back to Carol's this past week. He really missed being there. He went in the pool one day (well not really - he hung out just outside if it) and took paint brushes and splashed everyone by leaning into the water. When I came to pick him up he was soaked so I asked if he could go in for a few minutes, and so we put on his swim diaper and put him in the pool. He didn't like it much. It was a bit cold. But he wanted to go in again, so I put him in again. That lasted all of 4 minutes. Then we decided to go home, in just a diaper. Cliff couldn't believe his eyes when he saw Harrison come home in just a diaper. And that is how he stayed until he went to sleep.

It wasn't just hot outside

Yesterday began as every other Sunday does, we wake up, have breakfast and head out to our activity. On Sunday that activity was taking Harrison on a wagon ride to the playground for an hour or so. Well we did that and all seemed fine. It was warm out, but not unbearable because it was only 9:30 am. We got to the park and Harrison didn't run around like he usually does. He stayed in the shady areas alot and really just was wandering around. Then he found the big enclosed slide. Well, that is what he really wanted to go down so Cliff climbed up there with him and Harrison rode his lap down. I think they did that about 15-20 times until Cliff got really tired and Harriosn seemed to be loosing steam. So we started back to the house. The house was really comfortable (thank goodness the air was working) and after about an hour we all seemed to have cooled down, except for Harrison. He was sitting on my lap and drinking his water and his head was just exuding heat. I felt his forehead and it felt really warm so I took him to take his temperature and boy was it high, 104.1. I couldn't believe it. Stunned, I just put him down for a nap. He slept for 4 hours. When he woke up his fever was at 102. I then gave him tylenol and eventually his fever came down. He is home today with Cliff. I know he was sad because he wanted to go back to his daycare to see his friends. He hasn't been there for over a week. I am hoping tomorrow he can go back.

Mound up the coals

On Saturday night I went to a Saints baseball game with Barb, Anne and her husband Brent. If you have never been to a Saints game you are really missing out. Probably the best part about going to a game is the ability to tailgate in the parking lot of the stadium. We all decided to bring our own meat to grill and so since Cliff didn't join me I put 1 Simek's hamburger patty in a ziploc, 1 slice of cheese in another ziploc, 3 pickle slices in yet another ziploc, and 1 hamburger bun. I also brought fruit salad for everyone to enjoy. Anne and Brent brought brats and cookies and Barb brought Sushi, yes Sushi to a tailgate. Well I brought my little Weber grill for us to cook our food. We got there at 5:30. Well we weren't able to light the grill until 6:30. First we tried throwing the coals in and dousing with lighter fluid and all of the vents open....fire died. Then we tried closing the bottom vent and another dousing of lighter fluid....fire died. Then we called Barb's husband Joe for some grilling advice, he told us all vents open and to mound the coals in the middle...and viola....the coals got going. I don't think any of us would do well on Survivor if it were up to us to make a fire. But our food tasted so yummy.

I had bought these tickets back in April and of course as soon as I got them I gave Anne and Barb their tickets. And of course, both of them left their tickets at work. I had Barb covered because Cliff, at the last minute, couldn't come so I had my extra ticket that Barb used. So when Anne and Brent got to the game, they went to the ticket office and just told them my name and how many tickets I initially ordered and they reprinted them tickets. I couldn't believe it. They didn't even ask for ID. But at least they didn't have to buy general admission tickets to get in. When we did go in, at the 3rd inning like usual, there were people in our seats so we took someone else's, which were much better! The game was great. One of the Saints Players hit a home run so we all got a coupon for something. Then we were in section I and because of that our section won a coupon for a free Old Home Smoothie because someone from our section won a sumo wrestling event in between innings. Brent also won a coupon for a free White Castle Slider (they were throwing them into the stands and he caught it.) There were 2 home runs and the Saints won. I couldn't believe it because they never win when I go to the game.

Reality Junkie

So last night I was so excited. Big Brother premiered. I just love this reality show. Ok, I love almost all reality tv. Ever since I was little, I have loved eavesdropping on everyone. Some people call it nosey but I just love it. Cliff hates it because when we are in a restaurant I am usually listening to the other table around us at their conversation instead of him. I think this is why I love Big Brother so much, it is really just eavesdropping on a much larger scale. Well this one looks to be very interesting. Each person in the house knows 1 other person in the house but no one but themselves know this piece of information and they all think that they are the only ones who know someone else. Very trickey. What troubles me is that the casts are getting younger and younger. The first one had a great mix of age groups and every year it gets less and less diverse. I am sad because this is the one show that I think I would get on and could do pretty well and now I don't think I would get on because I am not in my 20's. No one has pulled ahead as my favorite but the only thing I think I can figure out is that the firefighter and the nurse know each other....ok..I am just putting it out there as my first guess as to who knows eachother from outside of the house.

Introduction

So I'm officially entering the world of blogging. Which is rather funny because I have never really read any blogs except for my friend Shannon's. She is really a very funny writer. Not that she isn't funny in person, but the blogs are laugh out loud funny. Anyway, I thougth it would be a great idea to keep a record/journal, like what Shannon has done, of the great things Harrsion does every day. I just hope that I can stick to it and remember to post the information. So here it goes. Harrison, who is 1 1/2 years old, has been, for the last 3 days going to a temporary daycare because Carol (his regular day care provider is on vacation). It has been so hard every morning because he just cries and clings to me as tight as he can and says "NO MOMMY" "NO MOMMY". It just breaks my heart. But being the cruel mom that I am, rip him off of me and hand him over and say "Bye Bye Have a good day sweetie!". When I go to pick him up he is so happy and has had such a great day. So today when I picked him up I found out that he had McDonalds, a happy meal....chicken nuggets, fries and chocolate milk. Now you might be saying, yeah so...well one of my crazy mom things is I wanted to hold off as long as I could on giving McDonalds and Fries to Harrison. I didn't want him to become a kid that demanded fries (instead he demands for every meal "HOT GOG" - or Hot Dog to you and me. So now I am all upset that my master plan of not having Harrison eat McDonalds and fries until he was at least 5 is ruined. I am still going to try and hold off.

My First Blog

Well, this is my first Blog. I am hoping to provide alot of fun details of my world and maybe some good information along the way. Of course I decided to do this at the end of my work day, so I don't have much time to write right now so I will come back later and write more.