Heffalumps and woozles!

I couldn't think of a better title for this. Deal with it.

We have been busy busy lately! The weather has been beautiful, so we've been spending a lot of time outside. Although, I think my blood is already starting to thin. When we go outside in the mornings and it's below 50 degrees, I'm wearing a sweatshirt, and my jacket and I'm still shivering. I'm turning into a wuss.

Lots of pictures to see, so let's get started!

We went to visit the Lost Dutchman State Park out east of Phoenix. It was a beautiful day! Sadly, Little J fell down and scraped his head right before I put him in the backpack, so we only hiked for about 2.35 minutes. So basically, I paid $9 to comfort a sad toddler. Oh well. It was worth it. The views were amazing, and James had a good time playing in the car.

This is the last cookie we had from our friend's the Saids.
It's a butter cookie from France. It was a struggle to
not eat it myself.

Apparently there's a lost gold mine up there somewhere. I just think it looks pretty.

The ground was covered in little green plants! The whole desert was carpeted
in grass, and it was quite pretty.

Another thing we spend a lot of time doing is playing at the park. Little J is old enough to appreciate the playground now, and he has a pretty good time. He's just recently started going down the slide by himself and thinks it's the most fun he's ever had.

He also likes to climb on things he's just slightly too small to master and give
me heart palpitations.

The poor guy just needs about 1.7 more inches.

Look at those happy Js!

Yesterday, Little J and I went on an off-roading desert adventure to the south and west of Phoenix in the Sierra Estrella mountains. It was a total blast.

Yeah, we're probably going to leave it like that for a while so people think
we're really cool.

We found a beautiful mission church.

Little J had the time of his life playing in the sand.

Some little birds had a dance party here.

The desert is actually quite beautiful. Especially this time of year. We've
gotten more rain than usual, so everything is lush (for a desert) and green!

Little J made sure to sniff some of the rocks he picked up.
I almost peed my pants laughing at him.

You can almost see them in this picture, but Little J is getting tiny
little freckles across the bridge of his nose. It makes him even cuter,
if that's physically possible.

And now, here's Little J being a goober.

Everything is "uh-oh", "oh-no" and "ow" these days.

When the Parents Come to Town

A couple of weeks ago my parents come to town for a visit and we had so much fun! Little J remembered them from when we lived in Oregon with them, and he loves them SO much. 

The temperatures were perfect. Right before they arrived, we had had a few weeks of really cold weather! The lows were in the 30s (heaven forbid) and it only got up into the mid-50s (the agony) during the day. Luckily, my parents brought the Central Oregon sunshine with them and we spent our time outside without jackets in 70 degree weather.

We spent most of our time birdwatching, as both of my parents are avid birdwatchers. We found a GREAT park called the Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch in Gilbert, and it was filled with all sort of wonderful little (and big) avians. We also visited the Hassayampa River Preserve run by the Nature Conservancy just outside of Wickenburg, AZ. It would have been more fun, but the birds were so-so, and I was coming down with a stomach bug. That, and we got caught in rush hour traffic on the way home. Never again.

Since both of my parents are also photographers, we got some great shots while they were here. The first shot of the heron is my dad's and the rest were taken by my lovely mother and her massive Canon.

Papago Park adventures:

A green heron we spied at Papago Park.

Little J pointing out all the Ring-Necked ducks to
his grandpa, Big Old J.

Little J has rarely been so happy as to be toted
around by a doting grandpa.

A gorgeous verdin. 

These were taken at the Water Ranch in Gilbert.

There's a flock of peach-faced lovebirds that live
at the ranch that look so incongruent! 

If there's a puddle in a 13 mile radius, Little J
will find it.

Just look at the beauty and grace of this little
Mourning Dove! She deserves an a sash and a crown!

A female Boat-Tailed Grackle. Look at that beady little eye!

There was a great little walkway where Little J and I spied some ducks. A
very gracious woman shared her birdseed with us, so we fed them too.

Don't you think this picture of a Little Egret
belongs in a National Geographic or something?

That face is pure joy.

Only one picture from the Hassayampa River Preserve:

One of my favorites. The work of a grandparent is never done.

My mother and I also visited the Arizona Desert Sonoran Museum down in Tucson. It was a wonderful museum, and all three of us had a great time!

Little J giving the Barn Owl the stink eye. Also, the rivets on the guy's hat 
make it look like it's smiling. Heh heh.

I'm hoping to impress Little J at a young age to be interested in minerals and
other rockish stuff.  I mean, who WOULDN'T want to get their hands on those?

They had a great little aquarium, too! In the middle of the desert! Crazy!

This is probably the cutest thing I've ever seen. That nest was no bigger
than a thimble! Can you imagine the eggs and young? TINY!

KAPOW! That cardinal is a total knockout!

This is Little J's favorite book. Luckily, I don't mind it either, seeing that
we read it 15 times a day.

It was so great to have my mom here while I was sick. I was only out for a few days, but the thought of being a mom while sick made me even sicker. She was so great with Little J that I'm not sure he even noticed I wasn't around much.

The best Nana award goes to this woman, hands down!

You also might ask yourself why there are no pictures of Big J here. Well, we did all the adventuring while he was at work! It would have made it a million times more fun if he had been there, but somebody has to bring home the bacon.

Clear out a good 15 minutes to read this one

This is a heavy post. So, before you decide to read it, look at this picture of Little J when he was just a wee little bebeh! So much has changed! He's not cross-eyed any more! Now, you can be done there if you want.

I've been thinking a lot recently. I think becoming a parent (or having any other major life-altering situations that include you never being the priority) really open up your mind to handle more cool stuff.

First off, I am an inherently selfish person, so I think taking care of someone else 24/7 is such a jolt to my brain function that it's helping me not just think about myself all the time. It's made me more aware of other people, how they function on a day to day basis, and what the heck is going on with our crazy world. A bit on the first point - on focusing on other people. One thing I love about being a mom is that you can talk to ANYONE about ANYTHING now, especially if they have kids. If they have had contact with a child in the past 100 years, you have something in common and that's a place to start a conversation. I love this. I love getting to know people, especially ones with kids my age, so I can pick their brains for parenting tips (there I go, being selfish again).

Now, on to the second part of what I spend my time thinking about - WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON WITH PEOPLE THESE DAYS?! There have been so many violent things happening lately! But, on the flip side, there have also been lots of touching stories of people proving that there is still good left in humanity. Now, I know that because of the media-driven culture we live in, any event, whether horrific or heroic, is plastered all over our screens within minutes of it occurring. People that would not have been noticed twenty years ago are getting recognition, so I know that maybe I'm noticing these things now because they are hyped more, not that they're actually happening more. Regardless, they are happening, and I've been thinking about why.

First: We need to stop glorifying violence. Sylvester Stallone (who I adore) is coming out with a movie called Bullet to the Head. It's about hitmen killing other hitmen while killing other people. Stop it people. Stop going to see these movies. Stop making them. Just stop it. There's enough violence going on in people's neighborhood's and homes. There don't need to be two-hour-long movies filled with more violence. I realize that the macabre is alluring (watch Bones ever?), but the fascination with serial killers and mass shooters and junk has got to stop.

Second: RESPECT! What happened to people treating other people like people? Gosh. I realize this makes me sound like a geezer, but people, put down your handheld devices and look people in the eye when you talk to them. The other person you're interacting with is another human, complete with feelings (just like you), ambitions (just like you), weaknesses (just like you), and redeeming qualities (just like you). The bullying epidemic is outrageous. Parents, teach your children to love and respect other humans, even if they "deserve" it or not. Children, do those things. A disturbing trend I've also noticed with respect to respect, is the de-humanizing of, well, humans. When there's a loss of life somewhere in the world, the number of lives lost is reported and that's it. On Sunday night, 234 Brazilians died in a fire in a club. 234 mothers' children, 234 brothers, sisters, and best friends are gone.  Maybe we don't want to feel sadness about the event, so we compartmentalize those lives into some non-human file in our brains and forget about it. It's ok to feel sad about those people who died. It's ok to feel.

Third: I've noticed a wonderful trend of people being not horrible to each other. Lots of people are donating money online to lots of great causes and generally being nice to strangers. I think this is one of those instances where people aren't being more generous, but there's more being said about those that are. Either way, it's great that they're getting more attention. Hopefully it can inspire people to be better humans.

I think that's all I'm feeling strongly about lately.

Wait! One more thing! Something on kids' public television has got me up in arms! In shows like The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That, and Wild Kratts, the characters are always intervening when animals in nature need help, and "saving" them. This is WRONG! Animals in nature DON'T need our help, and teaching children that they do is wrong. Children need to understand that carnivores are not evil, and herbivores are not all pleasant. Lots of animals die every day. Circle of life, people.
Now, let me qualify this by saying that those animals involved in oil spills and tangled up in trash, etc deserve to be helped, because it's our responsibility to fix what we've broken (the ecosystem). But, if a baby wildebeest is about to get gobbled up by a crocodile, so be it.

Ok, I've said my piece. If you've made it this far, congratulations!

A Renaissance, If You Will

Ever since I became a mom to a toddler, I have experienced a renewed vigor to learn more about the world around us. When Little J was a baby, he was content with pretty much everything, and my knowledge set was never in question. Now that he's much more curious and pointing and wondering what things are, and what bird made that sound, I'm feeling like I need to know everything!

It's a wonderful experience to be curious. I love the satisfaction and relief of gaining more knowledge, and then in turn sharing that knowledge with the wee one.

We went out in the desert the other day with some friends, and I was dismayed with my lack of knowledge of desert flora and fauna. I know my Oregon and Utah birds pretty well, but there are lots of migrants here, and I feel like I'm at a turning point in my knowledge set. Either I am ok with calling everything an LBJ (unidentifiable little brown jobbie), or I make an effort to increase my knowledge and turn those LBJs into cactus wrens and vireos. I chose the latter.

Coincidentally, there was free admission to the Desert Botanical Gardens on the day I decided to plunge into my little renaissance, so Little J and I went on an adventure. It was marvelous. Marvelous! There were lots of people (mostly elderly, and ALL of them thought Little J was the cutest) and lots to learn. Here are the results of our foray:

I meant to take a nice picture of a seated curve billed thrasher, but it took
off a bit early and turned itself into a piece of art instead.

The aforementioned cactus wren sitting on its namesake.
He was no more than five feet from me.

Little J spent a lot of time playing on chairs and
making truck noises that sounded uncomfortably like
constipation noises.

I told him he wasn't allowed to walk off the path, so he would sit down and
put his feet on the gravel. What a goober.

Unlike their name implies, these teddy bear cholla cacti are in no way cuddly.

Little J getting to know a little leaf palo verde.

The gardens had some beautiful views of Papago Peak. Interestingly enough,
the park is smack in the middle of the Phoenix Valley, but you would never guess.

They had INCREDIBLE cacti gardens with hundreds of species.
Pretty mind-boggling.

I'm not sure if they did this on purpose, but much of the concrete had animal
prints in them. Rabbits, deer, mice, etc. 

Sometimes I think Little J is the cutest thing on the planet. Actually,
I think that all the time. Sorry other moms. That's just how I feel.

 I can't get this picture to be in the middle. GAH!

This last picture has a sad, yet amusing story. Little J was really wanting to touch the cacti, and for obvious reasons, I let him know that was something that would not benefit him physically. He had one run-in with a saguaro a few weeks ago, so he was inclined to listen to me. Well, I finally found a cactus that looked like it didn't have any spines, so I encouraged him to touch it, being the adventurous mother I am. I was wrong. SO WRONG. It did have spines. Tiny ones. The kind that get everywhere and make you feel like you rolled in needles. 

So, I figure this out, and I hastily pull Little J away from it, but not before he gets them all over his hands, shirt and seat of his pants. At the time I only knew about the ones on his hands, and we took a seat and pulled them out. He was patient with me plucking them all out, thank heavens. So, we look at a few more things, and we decide to go home. I pick him up, and hold him with my right arm, and BAM! It feels like I was just sat on by a porcupine. A miniature, extra-poky porcupine.

We high-tail it to the car, and off come his pants. Luckily he wore extra thick pants that day, so not all of them made it to his skin. Poor kid looks like he want to a lilliputian acupuncture appointment. We got out as many as we could and drove home. I later discovered they were all over his shirt too. In fact, I just changed his diaper (a day after the event) and pulled out another spine.

Moral of the story: Don't even THINK about touching any sort of cactus or anything remotely related to a cactus. They will lure you in with their velvety green flesh and then strike with their tiny spears of pain!

Christmas Goings-Ons

I'm struggling to find a more creative title name for this post. Maybe it'll come to me by the end. Update: Nope. Nothing. Deal with it.

Christmas was wonderful! Lots of family time, lots of good food, and lots of presents (for little J).

As we do every year, we had a live Christmas tree. The lot we bought it from advertised that the trees had come from Oregon, so we just HAD to buy one. It smelled like home, and snow, and cold, and I loved it. We decorated it from about two feet up as to avoid Little J breaking or eating any ornaments. Big J LOVES colored Christmas lights, and I abhor them, but alas, it was the colored lights year, so up they went. If there were ever ground for divorce for us, it would be over the Christmas lights issue.

Little J enjoying a candy cane. Poor kid's sugar consumption rocketed
during the holidays. He just hated every minute of it. ;)

Big J and I both have a really hard time waiting to open presents, so it's kind of a Christmas miracle we made it all the way to December 25th. We opened our stockings in the morning, and then, not having enough self control to wait until the afternoon, our regular presents shortly thereafter.

His new favorite book from his Uncle Jake.

Opening his new toy from his now favorite Uncle Jake.

Looking happy about some new books.

We're thinking next year, Little J will love Christmas even more. He was just beginning to comprehend the whole ripping-the-wrapping-paper-off thing this year, so it'll be insane the next time it happens. Since his level of comprehension is going up, it also means that we really have to make sure he understands that it's not about the presents, but it's about Christ, and celebrating His birth, and what that means to all of us. I look forward to teaching him about that.

Anyway, here are some fun before and after pictures:

Little J and I try to get in as much fun as possible while we're at home all day. And if that means playing in the middle of laundry-folding, so be it.

Before Little J and I start our fun, homely duties.

And in the midst of our homely duties.

Christmas time...

... in Phoenix is WEIRD! It's been in the mid-70s until just recently, and it's just strange. Sometimes I sit on the couch and pretend that the leaves blowing around outside are snow. The snuggly, cold-weather feeling only lasts a few seconds though. We decorated our tree last weekend, and Little J ignored it for a few days. Then, one morning he started pulling ornaments off left and right. So, the ornaments start about two thirds of the way up the tree, away from his little fingers. 

He also discovered candy canes. Uh oh.

He loved sharing them even more!

I swear, this kid was genetically predisposed to do Yoga! His pose of choice is Carpet-In-The-Face.

It's been raining for the past few days and it's been wonderful. I love the smell of desert after the rain, and it's a little awesome to see a saguaro dripping with water. We went out in the desert to explore and give Little J to test out his wagon in the great outdoors.

He was very persnickety when he was picking out the rocks to go in his wagon. He's a very discerning 18 month-old.

He loves sticks. But then again, what boy doesn't?

Silly Human Tricks

So I've been trying to teach Little J some sign language. So far it's been less than rewarding. The only sign he uses quite often, without my prompting, is the bird sign. If he sees a bird on TV, or when we're out driving or if we're in the desert, he looks at me, makes his ubiquitous guinea pig noise and signs bird. I love it. He knows all done, please, thank you, water, more, bird and I'm trying my darndest to teach him potty. He has used it once. He walked up to me and signed potty, and he had pooped! Mother of the year award to me!

We're also working on identifying body parts. So far, he's killing it. I don't often brag write about his accomplishments, but he is doing great with this. Here's proof: