Toddler Talk

If I had to narrow it down I would say the thing I love most about my son's age is the things he says in his precious little voice. I really just want to bottle it up forever. I guess I could get it on video, but like I said on Tuesday, it's tricky because he is so distracted by the camera. The next best thing though would just be to make yet another list. This time it's memorable toddler talk from little Z-

"Oooo" Z says reaching the peanut butter brownie I ordered from the coffee shop. I tell him"No. That's Mommy's" He says "No... that's chocolate."

"Eleventeen"- A number Z made up that is often thrown in between 13 and 19.

"I want Bud Light"- A frequent seemingly controversial request from a two year old that is really asking for Buzz Light, as in Toy Story's Buzz Light Year.

"Thankcome"- A combination of Thank You and Your Welcome. It covers the whole gamut in Z's book of manners.

"I stopped crying" It's just something he announces when he is done throwing a fit. He always very calmly proclaims that he has stopped crying, in case I hadn't noticed that the sound decibel levels in the house had returned to a tolerable level.

"Say escooze me mama" We laughed so hard when Z first started saying things like "I fotted, or I bupped" and it was cute, but I tried to quickly regain my maturity and teach him to say excuse me. Although, it never fails when I have gas (I am pregnant ya know) that he immediately reminds me to say excuse me to him.

Any moms out there have some favorite memories of their toddlers little sayings? I love hearing those stories, typed out phonetically is even better.

Favorites

This week I am trying to write some things down that I want to remember about Z at this stage, so here is a random list of some of his favorite things-

Food- Yogurt
Drink- Hot chocolate
Song- "Going To The House Of God" (God You're My God)- Delirious
Movie- Lion King
TV Show- Sid The Science Kid
Book- Veggie Tales, The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything Series
Toy- Thomas and Friends
Instrument- Drums
Saying- "Run Like The Wind"

He has lots of "favorites" and they are changing all the time, but for today these are what I would say are some of his favorite things. He got a toy drum set for Christmas and of course he doesn't perform on queue, in fact it is hard for us to video anything because he stops whatever he was doing if he sees the camera, but here is the best I could get of him playing around on the drums and wearing his daddy's hat.

The Only Child

Z has about 6 weeks left (give or take) to be an only child. That is one reason I have decided to dedicate this weeks blog topic to him. After all, along with blogging being like a form of therapy or accountability it's also a great way to document things. Especially since I no longer have a tot site and he has kind of out grown most of the things you would fill out in the baby book. Yet, there is still so much that I want to remember about this stage in his life.

For example today he had a physical with our pediatrician. He is currently 87th percentile for height, 74th for weight, and 89% for head measurements. So he's a big guy with a big head! He also had his first shot and he took it like a pro. He didn't cry or even flinch at all. That's one thing I can check off the "things to do before the baby gets here" and while we were at it I also had his eyeglasses adjusted because they were in pretty rough shape. Then we splurged on Dutch babies at a really neat restaurant called Ol' South. If you have never tried a dutch baby they are a tasty, custardy, crepe like, German pancake and the ones at Ol' South in Fort Worth are a delicacy in my book, despite the creepy name. After that we spent hours outside enjoying the gorgeous weather that will supposedly be turning into freezing cold temperatures within days. J got onto me for teaching Z how to blow dandelions seeds and so we switched to bubbles so that he would have less weeds to try and exterminate in the spring. Even though there is no shortage of toddler moments in our household Z's a good kid, and today was just a really good day.



*In reference to Z's first shot you may be thinking "what the heck, he's over 2 years old he should have had dozens of vaccines by now!" However after much research, consultations, and prayer, we chose to delay vaccines and I know this is an extremely controversial choice, but one that is not taken lightly. This is also really personal and far too complicated of a decision to just draw conclusions from without knowing all the details. With that said this is not a post about the vaccine debate, but I want to be open about the route we've taken and if you have any questions feel free to email me.

The Glamorous Life of a Freelance Photographer

I've been pursuing a career in photography since 2002 and it has been evolving, growing, and taking on a direction of it's own ever since. I've shared this week about my journey of jobs and most of the time the photography has been a part time thing, including now, but I still keep very busy.


I do all kinds of portraits from babies to seniors and anything else that gets thrown my way. I even collaborated with a tattoo artist for a while. I also do a lot of weddings, and I blogged about that back in March.

I still do all of those things, but now I invest most of my time working for some local magazines.

There are many reasons that I love this job. First off I really do feel like I am participating in something that has a purpose because a lot of the stories feature people in the community that are giving back, or articles that help raise awareness for various causes and charitable organizations. I also like having a somewhat steady paycheck, and I definitely get to meet some interesting people. On top of all that many of the subjects want to give me something; a copy of their book, a craft that they made, or some food they had prepared. I am always declining and they are always insisting (you know how that goes). This week I met a sweet older lady that makes Scandinavian pastries. She claims to be of the "Swish" origin because her mother was Swedish and her father was Swiss. She sent me home with this plate of rosettes and krumkakes.
That was yesterday, today the plate is empty.

I must say that looking back and talking about the jobs I have had, and have now, has been therapeutic (as blogging often is). I just realized that in my day to day life I complain about work and money a lot. Taking the time to review things in hindsight or just sum it all up like I have this week makes me so much more appreciative of where I have been and how much opportunity I have been given. It's really not all that glamorous, but especially with the state of the economy and rate of unemployment right now I should be thankful for every opportunity and trust that God is in control of what is to come.

Kindergarten and Obesity

After I left the Macaroni Grill to pursue my career as a photographer I had to make up for the lack of income with a job that would be flexible enough for me to still do photo shoots when I wanted. That is why I tried my hand at substitute teaching. All in all it was a good experience. There were those days were you ended up in a Freshman Agricultural class watching the same video 6 times about turning cows into food, but they were few and far between. I actually enjoyed teaching the High School and Middle School classes the best, but the one class that I will never forget out of my two years of subbing was Kindergarten. I gave it a chance and then vowed never to do it again!

Some people are just cut out for that sort of thing and to my friends that teach that age God bless you. The thing about Kindergarten and most Elementary age classes is that you have the same kids the WHOLE DAY. There is no switching classes at the bell, there is no escape other than a brief lunch and maybe music class. They have a very fast paced schedule of activities involving songs, charts, and materials that as a sub you have no clue how to use. The worst part though is the tattling- OH THE TATTLING! The whole day various kids were telling on one another for saying "the D word" or "the S word" or you name it. One kid came up to me and said so and so said the "E word", which got me curious, so I asked him what the E word was and he "Idiot".

I survived that day, but I remember talking to my husband afterwards and telling him how fat I would be if I were a Kindergarten teacher because I was certain that I would go home everyday after work and eat an entire box of Oreos. To all my teacher friends Kindergarten or not you are amazing. Hang in there, you are about half way done.

Minimum Wage Restaurant Days

I haven't worked that many places in my lifetime, but most of the jobs I have held involved service in the food industry. When I was 16 I had very short lived position at Mc Donald's, the same one my mom was working at only she was day shift. After that I moved up to being a hostess at the Olive Garden. This is the job I still had when I got married at the tender age of 18! I was always terrified of waiting tables, but the money was better and eventually the management covinced me to face my fears and become a server so I moved up from hostess to waitstaff. That position lasted 3 years. Unfortunately when I quit the Olive Garden I left on kind of a sour note, but I won't get into that story right now. I went straight from that job to working weekday lunches at The Macaroni Grill. As an insider I must say that The Macaroni Grill has so much more going for it and I worked there for over 3 years. All in all that makes nearly 7 years of wearing black pants a white collared buttoned down shirt and a tie. It's also 7 years of the serving up pasta and wine while listening to the same big band era songs over and over for $3.15 an hour plus tips.

I learned a lot through the years of working in the food industry. I refined what I look for in a cuisine. I had some tough lessons involving customer service, and I definitely learned the value of a dollar. I don't miss the days of waiting tables, not one bit. It was good for the time being though and now I can carry a lot of things at once.

Look Back and Laugh: No Makeup VS. No Hair

When you have a job that includes dealing with coworkers you meet a lot of interesting people. I think that is why the show The Office is such a hit, we have all been there. The fictional characters may be a little exaggerated, but yet we can associate them with someone we've met. I used to work with a girl at the Macaroni Grill who shaved her head. She seemed like the artsy type. She was short and her voice was kind of monotone. I will never forget the time she told me that if I wore make up I might get better tips. She even offered me to dab a napkin on her lip gloss if I wanted to try it for immediate results. At first I thought she was maybe selling something, but nope, she was just offering a word of advice. It's not that I never wore make up, but let's be honest the most time you will ever spend on your appearance at your place of work is for the interview. Then if you do get the job you get cleaned up for training classes because the manager and all of your new coworkers are going to be forming their first impressions, but by the time you get settled into the daily grind it's all you can do to wear clean clothes and get to work on time. So in response to my petite semi bald coworker I just thanked her and held back the urge to ask her if she ever thought that having hair might increase her tips.