Magic Erasers

A couple people recommended that I use a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser when Mr. Mister colored on my newly painted wall. I had already cleaned the crayon off the wall using a baking soda mixture, but got a Magic Eraser just in case it happened again, which it did.

I have to say that it was seriously amazing. The crayon came off right away without any scrubbing. So I started using it to clean other marks on my walls and doors. I was so excited I kept saying, "This is amazing!" Mr. Mister thought that was funny and repeated something that sounded like "amazing!" over and over.

I feel like I could have been their spokesperson that day! I had black marks on my white front and back doors from all the dirty fingers over the years. I've tried to clean them many times and was ready to paint them because I couldn't get the marks off. But the Magic Eraser came to the rescue and wiped it clean like it was nothing.

So I'm a big fan and highly recommend it. A friend said that the generic brand works just as well too.

Blue Slide!

Ever since the first day of swimming lessons, Mr. Mister has had his eye on the big, blue, twisty water slide. His hopes of riding it had been dashed daily because first of all, we're there for swimming lessons not for playing, and second of all, he is far too short to ride it.

But that all changed today, which was our last day. After a few structured activities, we were allowed to just play in the water. AND they let the parents take the little kids down the big blue slide. It was the highlight of Mr. Mister's week (maybe month).

I wish I had a video camera. As soon as we told Mr. Mister he could go, he ran off without worrying about who was coming with him. Thankfully he has short legs and couldn't outrun his daddy, who caught up with him and carried him up to the top. I waited for them at the bottom and watched them fly off the end of the slide, Mr. Mister with a HUGE smile on his face. Of course he wanted to go again, so I took him up.

After three trips down the slide, we told him we were all done because another class needed to take a turn. He immediately started bawling. Not screaming like he does when he throws a tantrum, but just a sad, sad cry because he wanted to go again so badly. The compassionate lifeguard said he could go one more time, so I told him: "After we go one more time, we are all done." He nodded in agreement and said, "all done" then ran to the steps.

We zoomed down the slide and before we even flew off the end of it, he had is hands in the air doing the "all done" sign, shouting "all done!" It was hilarious...everyone there was cracking up at him declaring that he was all done right in the most action packed moment of shooting off the end into the water. At least he listened!

So it was super fun and overall we had a great experience with swimming lessons. He even got a progress card (his first report card!) that had a check next to all the skills he could do and a sweet note from his favorite teacher, Miss Emily. That is one to keep for the memory box!!

Top Ten!

We recieved our monthly issue of Outside magazine this week (one of the million free magazines we get) and one of the headlines was 2009 Dream Towns: The Best Places to Live. Whenever I see a headline like that I always feel disappointed because I know my city won't be on the list and I'll be jealous that I don't live in a city that is fun, scenic, healthy, young, hip, green, home to good sports teams, etc.

Right after that thought passed through my head, I opened up the article and to my surprise (shock, I should say) saw my beloved hometown of 17 years on the list of the top 10 cities in America! I have to admit, I don't know that I necessarily agree, but it's nice to finally get a shout out from someone.

Here's the article if you're interested: Best Towns 2009

Family 5K

On Saturday, we ran our first race as a family. It was a local 5K, held in memory of a high school student who died in a car accident a while back. This was the 10th running of this race, but our first time participating. It was so fun to do a local race with people from our community.

It was also a lot of fun to run together. Daddy and I used to train a lot together before we had Mr. Mister and haven't done much running together since because the little guy hasn't been a big fan of staying in the jogging stroller that long. But we tried it out a couple weekends ago and he did well, so we decided to try this race.

Daddy pushed the stroller, which slowed him down a little bit, but not all the way to my pace. So I ran hard to keep up with him and ended up getting a PR (my fastest time ever finishing a 5K)!

Notice that Mr. Mister has is own race number! He wanted one when we were putting ours on, so we made him a mini bib.

Here is Mr. Mister's new friend - a random guy that he just went up to and sat on his lap after first trying to climb on his back to do horsie!

Displaying my medal for 2nd place in my age group
(and sadly, I am on the upper range of that group!).

MoreTalking

A friend recently told me to make sure to write down all the funny things Mr. Mister says as he learns to talk because she didn't do it with her daughter and wishes she could remember everything. So I'm going to blog more of his comments because if I don't write them down here, I probably won't do it.

• (background info - last Friday night, Daddy and I went out to dinner and then to a surprise party for a friend of mine. Our friend Leah babysat with her friend Erin.) So a couple nights ago, almost a week since our night out, I was reading Mr. Mister a book before bed. He told me, "Erin read book. Leah rock. Mommy Daddy hot date." !!!

• If you ask him hold old he is, he says, "almost 2." I wonder if when he turns two (Aug. 22nd!) he'll understand that he doesn't say almost anymore.

• We've been trying to speak more Spanish to him. I taught him "Como te llamas?" which means, "What's your name?" He knows to answer with his first name. But now whenever I say anything else in Spanish, he quickly responds with, "Mr. Mister." (using his real name). I think he just knows when Mom says something I don't understand, just answer with my name!
  

• He says, "moey moey" for holy moly, "dumpy dumpy" for humpty dumpty, and "dokey dokey" for hokey pokey.
  

• Remember the yay song we listen to all the time? Well the CD has been in Daddy's Jeep so every time he has asked for it in my car recently, we haven't been able to listen to it. The other day we were driving and he said, "Mr. Mister miss yay car." Translation: I miss listening to the yay song in the car!

• He mostly refers to himself by his first name, but is now kind of learning pronouns. But there's still some confusion...after he does something he's proud of, he says, "My did it!" (instead of I did it!).

• At the bank the other day, I was signing the back of my check and he said, "Mommy write name." So of course he then wanted to write his name. So he scribbled on a deposit slip and said, "A, R, O, O, O" (which is how he spells his name). Then handed the paper to the teller. He was so proud!

• When he's looking for someone or something, he says, "Are you?" Like, "Shoes, are you?" or "Diego, are you?" (looking for the library DVD we can't find!)
  

A Big Milestone

Today is a big day in Mr. Mister's life. His first day sleeping without his sleep sack. (if you don't know, a sleep sack is a wearable blanket. It's good for babies because they can't suffocate themselves with it. You can check it out here.)

So anyway, we (unsucessfully) put him down for his nap today with his sleep sack on, like always. After he didn't fall asleep, we went up to check on him and he was playing in his crib and his sleep sack was on the floor. We had no idea how that happened and thought that maybe we didn't put it on like we thought. So we put it back on and put him back down. Again, he didn't fall asleep and when we went up to his room, his sleep sack was back on the floor.

It's a pretty good accomplishment on his part because it zips from the top to the bottom. So he had to unzip it all the way to the top and then get his arms and legs out of it.

So tonight, he officially refused the sleep sack and chose a blanket to sleep with instead. He looked like such a big boy laying under his blanket! I knew this day would come eventually - you can't go to kindergarten still sleeping in a sleep sack. But it just came without any warning! I guess that's life with a child. They grow up without telling you first.

Feeding the Ducks

Yesterday was the first day in a long time that we didn't have something planned. I decided we'd just rest and play around the house. So we played with blocks and read books and played some more. Then I looked at the clock and it was only 9:00. At this rate, it was going to be a very long morning so I decided we had to get out.

The only thing that got Mr. Mister excited was the idea of going to throw bread to the ducks at the park. It ended up to be a really fun morning. We fed the ducks then played at the park (until 2 big day care field trips came and overran us) and then walked around the lake looking at the boats. While all of our activities have been fun, it was refreshing to have a date with just the two of us.

The action shot of his throw. You can see the bread flying through the air!

Mr. Mister learning the reality of feeding ducks. Lots of ducks fighting over a tiny morsel of stale bread.

Watching all the big kids run around and play at the big kid playground. Some day that will be him! I like that he still wants to play with me for now.