DJ's first Orioles game

Our friend Jill invited us to join her at last night's Orioles game, and she had enough tickets to take both of us and DJ.  So Elektra stayed with Papou while we took DJ to the game.

The seats were fantastic - 6 rows up from the field, first base side.  But they were in the full sun, and so it was HOT.  Plus, the air wasn't moving at all, and that's when we realized that we couldn't go out to the car to get our sunscreen.

The first thing take Steve did was to take DJ to get a new hat "like Daddy's" and a foam finger.  Steve says DJ picked up the foam finger and said he wanted it.  What Daddy can resist that request at his son's first ballgame??

Then we bought a couple bottles of water.  DJ happily snitched from both of our bottles.

We also got him (and Elektra!) a commemorative cup.  He drank out of and played with that for a good few innings in between walks up to the concession stands.

He ate fries with us, and he had a cup of vanilla Carvel soft serve.  He inhaled that.  I'd forgotten how good that stuff is, and wished the bricks and mortar stores were still around.

We stayed until the end of the 6th inning.  We were surprised he lasted that long; it's not like he was watching the game.    To our immense surprise, there were a lot of kids there his age and younger, so we were definitely in good company as parents concerned with overheating (and b-o-r-e-d) kids.

At one point, we were walking to the concession stands and one of the ushers asked us if we had sunblock for DJ.  When I said no (experience is what you get right after you need it), she sent us to the First Aid room.  When we walked in, the place was mobbed.  I'm thinking... it's only the 2nd inning!!  What were you people doing??  Anyway, we got him some sunscreen for his face, so he didn't fry.

Here are some more pictures from the day.

Mommy and DJ

Walking to the car from the O's game with Jill.

In the car on the way home from the O's game.

The best part, the Orioles beat the Nats!!

The Swimming Pool

Steve was at Target last week and saw a "baby pool" for $30.  It now lives on our deck.

We filled it last week, and it also instantly filled with bugs.  Disgusting.  So we emptied it, cleaned it, refilled it, and put a mosquito net over it.  That also allowed the water to warm during this week's heat wave. 

Yesterday morning, the kids got to take a dip in just their swim diapers.  I attached the hose to get the "waterfall" part to work, and the kids had a blast!!  DJ splashed and kicked in the pool, and Elektra tried to imitate him as best she could.   The only issue is that the waterfall introduces cold water directly from the well, so after about half an hour, I had 2 blue kids.

I also pulled out their new watering cans, which they both loved. 

Cross-eyed?

The Pool

The Waterfall

Snowballs

Tonight, the kids ate fantastic dinners. Both ate grilled chicken strips, DJ pounded down coocumber (cucumber) and brah-key (broccoli) while Elektra ate lots of broccoli.

As a treat, we took them to the local snowball stand called Queen of Ice (owned by Palmisanos) where a couple of our autocross friends work.

Having already tried Skylight (a standard child favorite - and not just my children!), I gave DJ a choice between raspberry, strawberry, and watermelon. He asked for raspberry, which is also one of Daddy's favorites. So it worked out that both parents got raspberry, and both children pounded it! Elektra kept saying "Have some?" and DJ would ask politely (when prompted), "May I have some more snowball?"

The first time we took them to the snowball stand, DJ took to it pretty quickly, but Elektra didn't really want it. This time, both children loved it.

Hooray for summer snowballs!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad.

Riding Elektra's bike...together!

Imagine our surprise when we found that both kids were trying to ride Elektra's bike - and not necessarily fighting over it!

Elektra counting to 10

I've been having fun with Elektra when she's on the changing table, including counting to 10. Steve captured this on video tonight. Enjoy!

Elektra's latest phrases

* Give kiss (including having Moopy (Snoopy) and Nunny (Bunny) give each other kisses)
* Put on shoes
* Go bye byes
* More milk
* A-peas (yes, please)
* Bless you (at the appropriate time, even!)
* Have boon (spoon) or ork (fork)
* How are you?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad.

Jumper and Posing

Elektra knows how to pose for the camera.  She was wearing a jumper that she was handed down from a friend of ours, and I wanted to get a picture to send our friend.  So I asked Elektra to smile for me, and smile she did.  Check out the poses!

Smiling for the camera!

Toe tap pose!

Front pose!

DJ's 3rd Birthday Party

Yep, I'm that behind on my blogging.

We held DJ's 3rd birthday party on March 26.  Earlier in the week, Eleanor had asked DJ color icing he wanted on his birthday cake, and DJ said, "Orange."  Seriously?!  So I kept quizzing him over the course of the week... "Do you want brown icing?"  "No."  "Do you want blue icing?"  "No."  "Do you want white icing?"  "No."  "Do you want orange icing?"  "Yes." 

Ok, orange icing it is, and it was orange icing I made.

This was cream cheese icing dyed orange with yellow and red food coloring.  This icing got put on cupcakes (I admit, I cheated... it was box cake... I was fighting strep throat, so I was running out of energy in a hurry).

After I'd made the icing, I got worried.  I didn't actually know if DJ would like the cream cheese icing because he hadn't had it recently enough.  Luckily, DJ loves to sing "Happy Birthday" and loves cupcakes, and his cupcakes had orange icing on them that the cream cheese icing was a non-issue.

DJ enjoyed his cupcake immensely and the leftovers were just the "treat" we needed to encourage him to eat ALL of his dinner the next few nights.  ::grin::

DJ received TONS of awesome gifts for his birthday, too.  Everyone was so generous, and he loves all of them!

Happy 3rd Birthday!

Who needs a pillow...

... when you have a stuffed blue dog that's as big as you!! 

Thanks to Spiro and Sophia for giving Elektra this before she was even born!

This was one morning when Elektra had been sleeping for 14 hours!!  To be fair, she was fighting off a nasty cold...

Watermelon Boy

My mother-in-law brought a watermelon for all of us to share for dessert last night.  I've been unsuccessful in getting Elektra to eat it (no idea why), so Carole thought that giving her a way to hold it might give her some incentive, so she left the rind on the pieces.

Between watching DJ chewing down on it and a new toy to eat, as it were, Elektra ate her fair share, including a little rind.  Crunchy.  

But what really cracked us up was how much DJ was eating. He couldn't get enough!!!  He loved eating the watermelon with his hands, and the real evidence of this was not just in the pictures we do have, but also in the fact that we had to change his shirt....  He was soaked around his collar and then some!  

And no, he didn't eat ALL of that, but he ate at least 2/3rds....!

Strider Bike - update

DJ has been riding his orange Strider Bike around the living room since the week after Christmas.  He's loved it, and we could tell he's been itching to go faster.  When the weather finally got warm enough, we took him outside on his bike, and he faithfully wore his new helmet, too.  And not to be outdone, Elektra got to ride her tricycle, too.

We had DJ try slaloming cones (like a good little autocrosser!), too.  And for those of you paying attention, yes, it's an open slalom.

Since the weather got more predictably warm (early May), I try to take DJ out for a ride on his bike every night after dinner.  Tonight, he hit a milestone... he picked up his feet and glided, balancing on the bike for a good solid distance.  He went from the last part of our driveway across the street, and up the neighbor's driveway entrance without touching the ground once! 

WAY TO GO DJ!

Sah-chah!

Routinely, Elektra will go through roll call.  Mommy!  Daddy!  Nunny! (her bunny)  DJ!  Baby! (her Bitty Baby doll).  Now she's added herself to roll call: 

Sah-chah! 

To her, it sounds like "Elektra".  She has no idea she just nicknamed herself for life!

Elektra wearing DJ's bike helmet... backwards.

I'm back!

I apologize for the lack of blogs... life took a turn for the outrageously busy, and blogging, both for my family blog and another blog I've been authoring, suffered for it.  I also switched to Facebooking from Tweeting to handle my one-offs.  I'm also hoping that I will find a nice blogging app for my iPad (!), and maybe that will help me blog "on the run".

Meanwhile, here are a few pictures for your enjoyment.

CARS!!

It was a quiet evening... Steve, who was doodling on his guitar, was sitting on the couch next to DJ, who was playing with Steve's iPhone. Next thing we know, DJ pipes up and says, "Wanna play cars?"

Steve sat straight up and said, "Did you read that??  Point to me where you see 'cars'." Sure enough, DJ pointed to an application on Steve's iPhone called "Cars".  The application's picture is the front end of a car (i.e. headlights and nose of car).  But DJ was inside the application already. 

So for the sake of argument, he already was being lead towards cars because of the picture he saw.  But once inside the application, it's all text, no pictures.  So Steve asked him to point to the word "cars". 

And he did. 

WOW!!!

Elektra words update

I got a text from Steve this morning that Elektra had asked for "Thomas". He confirmed with her that she wanted to watch Thomas, and she got VERY excited that she was understood. I have since heard her ask for Thomas, and the word Thomas is VERY clear!

She will touch her nose and say "nose". Although we haven't heard her say "hair" she will touch her hair when you ask her.

When we're taking her pants off, she says "pants".

She is saying the word "push", as in push the button.

DJ vs the Wasabi Soy Sauce

As I mentioned in another post, Saturday night's dinner not only featured hummus, but it also included sushi. 

When Steve eats sushi, he dips the piece of sushi into wasabi watered down by a little soy sauce.  Typically, Steve will eat a piece, and his eyes will water and his sinuses will start running.  Why does he make it so hot?  He'll deny this until the cows come home, but he makes it that hot because his brother, Dave, makes it that hot.  To be fair, Dave may as well not add any soy sauce to his wasabi... Note that this insanity does not add points to your Guy Card's status...!

Anyway.

DJ, as usual, was sitting next to Daddy at dinner.  He'd been given a piece of pita bread to eat and before Steve could stop him, DJ soaked the pita into Steve's wasabi soy sauce and took a bite.  Credit goes to DJ for not spitting it out, but he definitely surprised by the taste and didn't want any more of the pita bread that had any of the sauce on it.

As dinner was ending, Steve got up from the table, and DJ climbed into Steve's chair.  DJ picked up Steve's chop stix, dipped them into the wasabi soy sauce, licked the chop stix, got a twisted look on his face, and then immediately chased it with water from his cup. 

You'd think he'd have learned his lesson by now...what's in that little dish is not exactly mild tasting... yeah, no.  We got video footage of what happened thereafter....

(Again, if you're reading this via email, you have to go to the website directly: http://faststeak.blogspot.com/2010/03/dj-vs-the-wasabi-soy-sauce.html or to YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce9zX-VVU08&sns=em) 




Keep trying to touch your tongue to your nose, and keep loving that wasabi, DJ!!

Elektra's Twinkle Twinkle

Tonight, as I was changing Elektra, she started to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star again.  I called Steve to get the video camera.   

If you're reading this via email, you're going to need to go to http://faststeak.blogspot.com/2010/03/elektras-twinkle-twinkle.html to view the video.  Or go to YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqMmTW5DTFs.

This is the best ever!!

The next American Idol eats some hummus

At dinner tonight, Elektra tried a bit of roasted red pepper hummus.  To her credit, she at least swallowed it.  However, she made quite the face!!!  Needless she wanted no parts of that afterwards!  So I had her try regular hummus, made with tahini.  Again, she swallowed it, but made quite the face.

Then later, I was changing Elektra for bed, when she was babbling or so I thought.  Then I realized.... she was singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star!!!  So I sang with her, and then we restarted the song, and she sang with me again.  I called Steve into the room, and she sang for him, too.  It was  mostly babble, but also incredibly cute!! 

Elektra has also been saying "Bless you" the best she can, as well. 

The kids are sick.

And this isn't just any kind of sick.  It's intestinal bug sick.  It's disgusting.

The Friday before we left Charleston, both kids came down with what we thought were just colds.  Monday, I got a report from Eleanor that bowel movements were very loose. 

Fantastic.

Tuesday, I was getting Elektra ready for bed.  I was procrastinating because Steve was vacuuming the basement and I was giving him been a chance to finish before I put her to bed so that vacuum sound wouldn't keep her up.  I took her temperature, and she had a high 99.  So I went to give her Tylenol, and she refused it.  She sat up on the changing table, and then vomited all over the changing table and herself.  Naturally, she got really scared and wailed.  I stripped her out of her clothes as fast as I could, and then picked her up to comfort her.  She was over it in less than 30 seconds.  I got her re-dressed, read her a book or two, and then laid her down in her crib to go to sleep.  I went in a few hours later, and she hadn't moved an inch from where I laid her down.  She had been exhausted.

The rest of the week, the bowel movements remained loose for both kids.  By Friday morning, DJ's had solidified, so I thought that maybe DJ was getting over the hump.  Except that on Friday night, during dinner, DJ vomited all over the kitchen, his chair, his clothes, the table... yeah... good times.  He started wailing, and Elektra, who was watching from her high chair, got upset because he was upset and started wailing... the insanity level was rising quickly.  I quickly stripped DJ out of his clothes, and picked him up to comfort him.  Steve took Elektra into the other room. 

Once both kids were calm, Steve took both kids to take baths while I dropped the soiled items that could be washed and dropped them into the washing machine.  Then I proceeded with the process to clean the table, floor, high chair, regular chair, etc. 

Finally, all was calm, everyone and everything was clean, and we went back to our relatively normal evening routine, minus dinner. 

Today, the kids both ran high 99 fevers again, and we were giving them Tylenol to help combat that.  We also were giving them "binding" foods (they Hiney Binder Special as my siblings call it) to try and solidify these bowel movements.  Unluckily for me, I got the first two diapers of the day, one from each child, and both of which were blow outs.  By the time the day was over, Elektra had blown out another outfit, too. 

Whatever this bug is, it's not leaving my children alone!!!!!!  I was hoping that they would have "blown it out" by now!! 

Shizza!

What is shizza you ask? 

Why, it's PIZZA, of course! 

Last night, we had pizza for dinner.  DJ was already scarfing down his portion, and I sat down with my plate in front of Elektra.  She patiently waited for me to cut her a piece, and then said, "Shizza!"  I held up the whole piece and asked her what it was.  "Shizza!"  And thus, her new word of the day. 

After dinner, she also very clearly said "ball" in reference to a little ball she likes to play with.  I can't remember hearing her say it before, but I'm pretty sure Eleanor and Sonny have heard her say it.

I think she was trying to say "necklace" last night, too, but that didn't come out very clearly, so I'm withholding judgment on that one!

Eleanor told me yesterday that Elektra's been pulling out the changing pad and laying down on it when she wants to be changed.  Elektra had done this for Steve while we were on vacation ('cation, as DJ called it which then turned into "the beach house") in South Carolina.  In Steve's case, Elektra went as far as pulling out a diaper, too!