Mid-may - cooking, running, planting

On Mother's Day (also John's birthday this year), I ran a half-marathon, which we followed up with brunch with our friends whose son Joey ran the kids' race. Joey's mom later gave/sold another of the Patagonia LS sunblock tee that Joey was wearing that day, and Elliott now refers to it as his "race shirt." The next day Elliott and I made apple-rhubarb-strawberry pie for John (and a chicken, and two quiches since I keep ordering too many eggs from the farm. Busy day in the kitchen). Elliott got a kick out of cutting the strawberries,. And out of eating them. It was a mighty fine pie, if I do say so myself.

The next Sunday we had our second open house; this time it didn't rain. All week after that, we had to suspend/change plans as agents called to ask if they could show the house, usually in the evening. It was a challenge to keep everything clean without either me or the kid going nuts. Elliott has gotten his first taste of sitting in front of the screen - the computer to watch a PBS-produced video that is basically a long music video of children's performer Steve Songs. It's about as harmless as TV can get -- mostly just showing people playing music. But I still don't like the idea in general or that he got addicted immediately. Sigh. It doesn't come on every day, but once it stops, don't try to turn it off before it's over!

We've also gotten outside a lot -- lots of walks around the block, some little hikes, jogging him to the pond with turtles and frogs and one day his friend G had a birthday party at Frying Pan Farm Park, a working farm in Fairfax County. We got to see lots of the young animals we saw within a week of their birth back in Jan/Feb (and this big pig we didn't see then). G's mom also had us plant flowers at the new visitors center. Worms were the word of the day. After the rest of the guests left, we helped clean up the fabulous Indian feast (and GF cake!) and then enjoyed a calming tractor ride with G and family. In the car, Elliott stayed wide awake the whole way home after a long day (outside 10-3:30 on a chilly, windy way), looking at a nature center brochure and making up stories about it. I got to listen to Fresh Air for the first time in a million years.

We have officially purchased our new house -- closed outside on the deck that is now officially ours. We hope to take possession July 1 if the contract we are about to sign on our current house goes through as planned. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

I haven't left much time to write about Elliott's development, but here are some things he likes to do a lot these days:
-hide and then say "do you see me?" and even tell us "I'm going to hide."
-open the fridge and say "I'm not wasting energy. I'm just looking for..."
-get upset when something is coming to an end and he misses the chance to help clean up. Like super upset, red faced and bawling: "I wanted to do that!"
-open the front door: "I'm just feeling how it is." Okay, but stop actually going out the door, kid. Yikes.
-say "That would be a good idea" or "Yes, that would be good."
-say, "Oh, my!" and "Oh my goodness." Also "That's crazy."
-ask "Why?" About everything and anything.
-say, "I need a band-aid. I have a boo boo." Just try to keep them out of his reach and off his head.
-do some random yoga-like poses and say, "look at this!"
-say, "I sleeped all night! In my own bed! Yeah, I did!" It's true!

That's all I can think of right now.