Sorry to have taken a bit of a vacation; we've all been looking like this:



Ethan got it first, with the coughing and the faucet-y nose. There was a visit to the pediatrician to check for croup (recall our fabulous overnight stay at Hotel Sick Kid last December). The pediatrician gave Ethan a prescription for some LSD, I mean, oral steroid, to help with the nighttime croup-y cough. We gave it to him the first night and it sent him on some sort of mind-altering bender. There was screaming and crying and fits of craziness; which apparently means, no croup? I don't know, but we didn't give it to him again the following night.

And then I got it. What I wouldn't have given for a little medicinal mind-altering for myself, but considering my fabulous blood pressure, all cold medicines are off-limits to me, lest they send my blood pressure into the outer reaches of the stratosphere and make me all stroke-y. I suppose I'd rather have a head cold than a stroke, but sometimes when the sinuses are pounding and the toddler is demanding yet another interpretative dance of "Ring Around the Rosie", I have to remind myself of that little fact.

Here's a little sampling of what our week looked like:

Sippy of leche? Good. Cinnamon french toast? Good. Faux fur throw and pillow? Good.

Perfect prescription for the common toddler cold? Snuggling with Grammy on the trolley.

How I spent most of my week (picture courtesy of Ethan). Please note the absolute squalor in which I allowed my family to live while I was fever-y and gross. (And those who know me, please abstain from the, "but your house always looks like that" comments. You need to be nice to sick people).

But we are both starting to feel better, and fortunately Husband has a bit of a vitamin-C habit, so he never caught it at all.

So you noticed that Ethan took one of those pictures, right? We take a lot of pictures of Ethan. I think in 2 and a half years, we've taken well over 10,000 pictures. I can't go to Target without having to buy a new photo album for the next batch of prints being delivered by Snapfish. When he was a little baby, it was kind of a compulsive urge I had to take pictures of him day in and out--perhaps because I was in such a fog, I unconsciously knew I'd only be able to recall specifics later on with a visual aid or two (or five thousand, but whatever).

Our shelves are lined with photo albums of Ethan, some containing pages of pictures that vary only in the slightest "only mom can tell the difference" expressions. I try to be a bit more conservative now in the pictures I actually choose to print out, choosing only a few of the best from any particular event, but I still find it hard to choose only a handful of pictures out of the hundreds taken--I mean, how do you choose the little half grin over the full smile or vice versa. I NEEEEEED them all, printed out and in a book that I can look at whenever and show to his, ugh, significant other some day when that time comes. It is hard for my eyes to judge which pictures are better than others because they are all of what I see as basically perfection anyway.

So it should come as no surprise to Husband and me that whenever Ethan hears the "thwiiing!" of the digital camera switching on, he says, "Can I take a picture, momma?" And once, I made the foolish, silly "ohwhatwereyouthinkingyoucrazywoman" mistake of saying, "Okay. But just one."

Oh, how little I understand the way a toddler's mind works. Obviously you smarter people can see where this is going, right? "Okay. But just one" has turned into "Okay, but just until your picture taking finger blisters." Thank goodness for digital cameras is all I have to say. I'd have to get a part-time job to pay for film otherwise (or, god forbid, be a little more firm with teaching my child about boundaries; but that's crazy talk, right?!)

Turns out, Ethan's got quite an eye. While he does take countless close-up pictures of his thumbs, he also ends up taking a lot of well-centered, clearly focused pictures of obvious subjects. Behold a sampling of his latest work:

This is Harlan--the zoo trolley.

The wheels on the bus....

Ethan catching his prima Sofia trying to make a breal for it at Barnes and Noble.

Creepy doll book.

I had to duck to find my way into this screen, but he did get the shot.

Ethan catches me in the act of being a great mom and tending to my online interests rather than entertaining him with the Little People he has gathered at my feet. Where's the award? Hand it over. (and yes, I look to be about the size of a small whale in this picture, but most of that is just the way the picture is taken--Ethan's got a bit to learn about perspective, maybe?)

I love this little self-portrait on election day with his Vote No on 8 sticker.

Mood shot of Panera

I'm not sure if Ethan was trying to get the tow truck or Noni in this one, but I dig it.

DVD player....he probably took this while trying to figure out where his CARS movie was....

Mama

Daddy

turtles

Hannuka display at the zoo; not sure how Ethan got the funky mix of black and white and color. He's a photography genius.
Apparently too much alcohol was served at the Little People convention on our couch. We'll think better of the jello shooters next time...