Santa and Edmund
My birthday was this past Saturday, but with a husband in residency, I knew to expect that the day would be much like any other. Steven was on call (read working all day and night), so my celebration will have to take place at a later date. Fortunately, a few weeks ago Steven sent me an email detailing a fun Christmas event at Spice Street, a local restaurant. He thought it would be a good way for Edmund and I to get out and celebrate even if he would have to sit this one out.
Last year you may recall we went to a fancy breakfast with Santa at the Carolina Inn. This year's event may not have been held at a 5 star hotel, but was very similar and dare I say, better. The Spice Street event is open to anyone, but since it is sponsored by the hospital, most of the attendees are hospital affiliated. We didn't have to make reservations, the cost wasn't astronomical, and the breakfast buffet was phenomenal.
The breakfast was drop-in and since I'd never been before I decided to get there early. We arrived at 8:30, a little later than I planned, but things weren't busy at all then. Edmund was very excited to see Santa sitting by the entrance when we walked in. We decided we would visit the big guy after breakfast. One of the things I absolutely loved about the event was it was also a way to help Edmund be involved in giving. In order enter the event we dropped off a Toy Story truck that Edmund had picked out on his own to donate to Toys for Tots and also two non-perishable items for the food pantry. I loved that this event wasn't just about getting, but giving as well. Some of the breakfast proceeds also went to the hospital, but I liked that Edmund could have a tangible way to see how we were helping other people. He asked if he could pick out a child at the breakfast to give the toy we brought to. This led to a discussion about how we were helping children who might not have much and how the volunteers would bring his toy to just the right child.
After dropping off our donations Edmund asked to have his face painted. Never mind the Christmas choices on display, he wanted a purple and blue butterfly. The color choices I understood. Those are his two favorites, but the picture choice baffled me. Then I realized that the only thing he has ever had painted on his cheek at school events are butterflies. I'm assuming this is because they are easy, or maybe this is all he ever asks for. Either way,the volunteer did a splendid job. My hat goes off to her as I stay as far away from the face painting table as I can. Cheek donned with the unseasonal butterfly, Edmund was ready for breakfast.
As we headed to the dining room, Edmund told the hostess that he wanted eggs and bacon. I told Edmund that might not be a choice, but she told him he was in luck. We were about to sit down by ourselves when a friend of mine from a medical spouse playgroup I attend invited us to sit with their family. They have 11 month old twins and a 3 year old boy whom Edmund loves. It also worked out well as all the adults were able to take turns hitting up the buffet.
Normally Edmund is all about his food, but he worked quickly so we could take our turn with the guy in the red suit. At our breakfast last year we wandered the hotel for nearly 2 hours waiting for a turn with Santa. Here we simply walked up. A few other children lined up behind us to watch, but there was virtually no waiting. Edmund was a little shy at first. Who wouldn't be? Eventually he made his way onto Santa's lap. Santa was having trouble getting Edmund to talk. Edmund shook his head yes when Santa asked if he wanted a variety of things including a "knuckle sandwich." At the end of the visit Edmund quickly said he wanted a ball. A very easy request to fill I might add. We got an adorable picture with a smiley child, and for simply the cost of printing.
While we waited for our picture to print, Edmund and I headed over to the craft table. Edmund, with lots of mommy help, made a "Santa." Later we realized we forgot his beard, so perhaps it was simply one of Santa's elves. Edmund also had fun coloring a picture of Santa as he talked to a few other children at the table. This event had enough activities to keep both Edmund and myself occupied, but wasn't overwhelming. I'm thinking we have a new tradition!
The Trick-or-Treaters
I believe this has been the longest I've gone without posting. For those of you still following our adventures (and I hope there are a few of you), thanks for waiting. We've had quite a few mini adventures since the last post. Edmund moved out of the 2 year old room at his new school into what is called the "big world." Most of his friends remained with him, and he loves his new teacher, Ms. Stef. Edmund began pedaling his tricycle all by himself and can almost make it to the playground by our house without any help from mom or dad. We went fishing in the pond by our house and Edmund caught his first fish with his Cars fishing pole. We baited the pole using Grannie Nave's fishing recipe for success, a bit of hot dog. It never fails. We are required to throw the fish back into the pond, but it's probably for the best.
And now for our big adventure. Last night Edmund went trick-or-treating. Never mind the cold rain; nothing could stop him from getting candy. Edmund donned his astronaut costume yet again this year. It still fits and he is still into astronaut
s, so we lucked out. We headed out with two families in our neighborhood. One of the families has a 6 month old baby. The other family has a 3 year old boy, J and 2 year old girl, A.
We all brought umbrellas, but the kids saw no need for them. Edmund and J immediately took off for the first house, splashing in puddles with their canvas shoes all the way. This year Steven and I held back and let the kids do the walking down the driveways and the ringing of the doorbells by themselves. They had no problem figuring this out. After trick-or-treating at the first house, Edmund, J, and A could not contain their disbelief. "We got candy," they squealed over and over. The two boys took off as fast as lightning for the next house, with A lagging shortly behind. It didn't take them long to catch onto the concept of Halloween. Last year Edmund could barely walk down a driveway without complaining he needed to be carried, but this year his adrenaline kept him going.
Steven had left candy on our porch while we were out. When the kids arrived at our house, we told them to take one or two pieces. As fast as they were returning from the porch, we believed this to be the case. To our surprise we found most of the candy in J's and Edmund's pumpkins at the end of the evening. No harm don
e, as Edmund was none the wiser when the candy went right back into the candy bowl for the later trick-or-treaters when he went to bed.
The kids quickly finished trick-or-treating at the houses on our cul-de-sac. This was perfectly fine with the parents as it was raining and the kids had certainly racked up the treats. This is no exaggeration. Their pumpkin buckets were overflowing and we only hit up 10 houses. We ended our Halloween adventure at J and A's house and had the kids pose for the requisite photos. Edmund let his disdain for the photo op be known by declaring, "There's no time. We must get home and eat chocolate." And so, after some very adorable photos, we went home and did just that.
A couple of evenings ago, Steven was reading to Edmund from his children's Bible. As he read the story of Joseph and his coat of many colors, Steven came upon the word heartbreak. Edmund asked, "Daddy, what is heartbreak?" Steven replied, "that's when something makes you really sad." Edmund looked up at Steven and said "when I cry because I miss my daddy, my heart breaks." Now doesn't this story just break your heart?
Edmund and the Jellyfish
Like we did on our trip to Boone last year, we decided to make the drive more bearable with a stop in Greensboro,NC. Our first stop was the Greensboro Science Center. It was a lot like the Museum of Life and Science in our great city of Durham, but had much more animal viewing outside. Oddly enough, this seemed to be more of a bonus for mom and dad. We were having a grand time watching some gibbons swing from their ropes, when our you
ng tour guide (Edmund) informed us "we have to move on." The museum had a petting zoo with your typical goats and sheep, but I was in heaven when I discovered the alpacas. I don't know what it is, but I am in awe of these creatures. Again the tour guide let us know we must press forward, but Steven pointed out that this animal was one of my favorites. I suppose you can't argue with that.
The outside viewing area also had otters, wolves, a giant anteater, and another of my personal favorites, meerkats. You had the choice of viewing the meerkats through a tunnel which you could crawl though, making this viewing experience even more pleasurable. But forget the animals, Edmund was all about the jumping fountains he saw while we were making the outdoor rounds. Who needs wildlife when you can get wet? Not Edmund.
After lunch and exploring the dinosaur and health exhibits inside, we decided to hit the road. Edmund slept almost the entire way to the hotel in Charlotte, which was a blessing. Edmund was incredibly excited to arrive at the hotel. I was in awe. Steven stepped it up for this trip. There was a flowing fountain in the lobby and an entrance guarded by lion statues. If you know how we usually roll, the lions were a big deal. That night we hung out in our room and went swimming in the unbearably cold pool, yet had a relaxing time nonetheless.
The following morning, we got up bright and early (read 8 am) and had a delicious complimentary breakfast. With tummies full, we headed into downtown Charlotte, to check out the big children's museum, Discovery Place. Being Sunday, the museum didn't open until 12, so we took a leisurely stroll around the city. Edmund and I walked through the Settler's Cemetery while Steven parked the car. This led to a conversation about respect and death, a very difficult concept to explain to a 3 year old. We still have some work to do, since Edmund informed me, he wants to "live" in a cemetery when he gets old. At least I haven't scarred him.
Finally, opening time arrived. The museum is incredible, and free to members of the Museum of Life 
and Science (score!). We checked out exhibits on building and design, where we built a shelter, and Edmund designed a football field. While Daddy was working on a skyscraper, Edmund and I wandered off to catch a show nearby, entitled, "Will it Glow?". When asked for volunteers, Edmund enthusiastically raised his hand and was called on to be the second volunteer. When asked his name, he said "Edmund" giddily into the microphone. Steven recognized the squeaky little voice, and made it to the show in time for Edmund's big star turn. Unfortunately, we didn't get much video, but Edmund was definitely a pro. When asked what the item was he uncovered, Edmund confidently said "rock." Then when asked if it would glow under the black light Edmund jumped around enthusiastically chanting "yes." He really got the crowd going. Edmund's guess was correct. The rock was phosphorescent. Now, Edmund may have simply been saying yes to anything, but I'd like to think it was all that learning we did at the museum the day before, where we had also seen phosphorescent rocks. I'm sticking with my genius theory.
There were many other neat exhibits, but the big hit after lunch was the early childhood exhibit, KidScience. Edmund, er mommy, was enamored with a giant Light Bright. I think Edmund's favorite thing here may have been the build your own car and racetrack. He didn't care who won as long as car was "super fast." Since we were pressing on without naptime, we decided to hit Discovery Place's small aquarium before pushing our luck. For those of you who don't know, Edmund is beyond fascinated with jelly fish. He lovingly draws us pictures of them nearly every day at school, and knows more factoids on jellyfish than I can count. So we can't pass up any opportunity to see them up close and personal. Edmund saw some at the Fort Fisher aquarium, and several that had met their demise on the beach, but here he was able to look uninterrupted. We also got an incredible photo of Edmund with the jellyfish and the glow bracelet he got for volunteering earlier in the day. After our short visit to the sea, pre-meltdown whines began, so we wrapped up our visit. We finished with a trip to the gift shop, where Edmund finally got his very own jellyfish (pretend of course).
We spent the rest of our evening relaxing and meandering in the hotel. The next morning we hopped to it at 7:30 am sharp. We packed up and headed to the town of Spencer to visit the NC Transportation museum. The Museum of Life and Science membership again came in handy. We got in here free too. We arrived just in time for a ride on a tr
ain pulled by a steam locomotive. Edmund wasn't sure about this at first, because he's a little wary of tunnels, but after telling him it would be just like a monorail, he got on board, literally. We took a short ride to the roundhouse. This is one of the few still operational roundhouses around today. We even got to take a ride on the turntable, just like Thomas.
We learned more about the differences between steam engines and diesels, as well as why roundhouses began to be phased out when diesel engines came on the scene. For the reason, you can contact Edmund. The rest of the morning we toured the roundhouse where we saw a variety of steam and diesel engines, train cars, and cabooses. There was more information than I could take in our short visit, so I resigned to taking part in Edmund's production of "Mommy and Daddy Ride the Caboose." Even though I couldn't read everything, I still felt like I learned more about trains than I did, and Edmund felt like he had stepped into an episode of Thomas the Tank Engine.
We ended our short getaway and got home with enough time to play that evening. However, it was at bedtime that we discovered our loss. "Polar Bear", one of Edmund's favorite stuffed toys, and who is know
n to eat "mummus" (a spicy applesauce), was nowhere to be found. We called the hotel and the Olive Garden, to see if they had seen Polar Bear. Unfortunately, no one had seen him. We are 99.9% sure that Polar Bear is still in the hotel room, perhaps stuck inside the pull-out sofa, but I guess we'll never know. I have to admit I shed a few tears over the missing bear. However, yesterday afternoon when I finally told Edmund the news, he was perfectly fine. In fact, I think he was a little envious Polar Bear was still living it up at Embassy Suites. Since the loss of Polar Bear was no fault of Edmund's, he is now excited about choosing a new stuffed friend who can correspond with Polar Bear in Charlotte. Although my view is often clouded by 3 year old chaos, I have to say the kid has some imagination and an incredible outlook on life. Thanks Edmund for making this trip another great one.
Headshot for Booking
Edmund: I have a joke.
Mom and Dad: We can't wait to hear.
Edmund: A puppy was walking down the street and bumped into a paint can. (followed by hysterical laughter)
Mom and Dad (quizzical looks and chuckles)
Edmund: Do you know a joke about a cinnamon roll?
Mom and Dad: No, let's hear it.
Edmund: A cinnamon roll was walking down the sidewalk and bumped into a flower. (more hysterics)
Mom and Dad: (knee slaps and more chuckles)
You can look for the comic stylings of Edmund Jack at a comedy club near you. He'll be telling these jokes and more all month.
Hole in One
Every year since Steven and I were engaged, we've gone to Holden Beach. Steven's family holds a reunion of sorts there every July for a week. Sometimes we stay all week, and sometimes we only get in day or tw
o of sand and surf. This year Steven used his vacation for the full week, so we got in lots of swimming. Edmund's swimming lessons the two weeks prior really helped...not with the swimming so much as conquering his fear of the water. Edmund still refuses to blow bubbles in the water, but he doesn't scream (as much) when his face gets wet. He got in the ocean on Day 1 this year. Even if the waves were still "scary," this was a big accomplishment.
The beach involves swimming, reading, shell hunting, game playing etc. Since you get the gist, and in order not to bore you with minutiae, I've decided to focus on one annual beach tradition..miniature golf, or putt putt if you'd like. Each year we head over the bridge onto the mainland to play golf at Treasur
e Island. The last three years we've left Edmund asleep in his bed. This year, we decided he could handle it, and off we went along with Aunt Alison and cousins, Ian, Susie, Andrew, Emma, and Drew.
When we arrived, Edmund just had to ride on some quarter operated vehicles. He was lucky Ian was there with a quarter to spare or he may have missed some mail truck fun. After all that excitement we went to pick out clubs. Edmund was excited to get his very own toddler sized one. We showed him how to putt on the first hole and to our surprise he picked up the concept in no time. You may notice from these photos, Edmund has perfected his own signature grip, and we learned quickly you don't mess with the master.
We decided against keeping score for Edmund, but perhaps we should have because he was getting the ball in the hole in 3 and 4 putts. This was even better than his daddy was doing :) Edmund couldn't contain his excitement and quickly completed each hole. Before he got to the 18th hole we prepared him f
or the tunnel that takes balls to the land of no return. We weren't sure if there would be a club throw down. Fortunately, Edmund was fascinated by the tunnel. Since he completed the course first, he was kind enough to let his aunt and cousins know about the tunnel's existence. He didn't want them to be disappointed.
Edmund was a miniature golf natural. It's too bad we don't have a course for him to play closer to us, or we'd have him out practicing his swing. Edmund ended this excursion with a ride on the carousel that made it's debut appearance at Treasure Island this year. Because what is miniature golf without a ride on a painted horse?
Bilibo Play with a Friend
Edmund now has one full week of "big boy" school under his belt. He is transitioning better than I could have imagined. He has three "old" friends to pal around with in his new classroom. According to his teacher Ms. Katherine, he and one of his Infant/Toddler Site friends, Maya, are inseparable. The two of them didn't play much together in my classroom, but they must have realized they were in this thing together.
Ms. Katherine is amazing, but unfortunately I feel like I don't know what Edmund is doing most of the day. This is not because Katherine doesn't let me know. She writes emails and sends pictures like you wouldn't believe. It is simply that I went from knowing everything to knowing very little, and Edmund likes to shrug and say "I don't know," when asked about his day. Fortunately, I've gotten many reports that Edmund is as happy as can be when various parents and friends see him at the other site. He always seems to be having a great time at pick-up, so I can't complain too much.
Edmund and I have also started planning fun, healthy snacks to make at home, since he no longer gets an afternoon snack at school. Edmund is "so hungry" when I arrive at school, and waiting until we get home will just not do. He enjoys sitting on the bench outside the school and snacking. Sometimes he'll have his snack with his old pal, Rita. On Thursd
ay, the two of them were jumping in the monkey grass after snack, and Edmund disturbed a nest of yellow jackets. It was then he had his initiation into the painful world of bee stings. Rita's mom was so helpful getting us something to put on the sting, but Edmund couldn't be calmed. We went to the hospital to see daddy, who gave us some ice, but the screams continued. In fact the screams continued for two hours. Edmund took a small break from his cries to let me know he wanted to read his Babybug magazine. In one story Kim and her bunny, Carrots, make cookies. I suggested we make our own cookies. Guess what? Making cookies is the ultimate bee sting cure, and we haven't heard about the stings since.
*Pictures courtesy Ms. Katherine :)
Santa and Edmund
