I’m slowly trying to gain some perspective on our issues with EB. As I mentioned before, it has been a very rough week. Very. Rough. Week. Everyone kept telling me that once I was passed the “Terrible Twos” that it would be smoother sailing. They obviously weren’t aware of the latest trend in toddlerhood…THREE is the NEW TWO!

In any case, I remember reading an article in a magazine not too long ago that said instead of focusing on what your children do wrong, list all of the things they do right. So the following below is not bragging, it’s therapy. I need this in writing to focus on when we’re having weeks like this.

1. EB has NEVER given me a problem about going to church. In fact, this child talks about going to church all week long and is so excited when we pull up in the parking lot. People, THAT makes this mama so thankful and I sincerely hope he will always be so eager to learn about the Lord.

2. My baby can draw! He is quite the little artist and can copy anything you draw on a sheet of paper. OK, so I stick to drawing trains and stars, etc. But he watches intently and can duplicate it.

3. My baby loves to sing. Everytime we watch Pinocchio he sings “When You Wish Upon A Star” and it nearly moves me to tears. Everytime.

4. He’s very empathetic. It concerns him when someone is hurting or upset. He freely offers his hugs.

5. He’s very imaginative. I think a vivid imagination in a child is so important, and EB definitely has this.

So no, it hasn’t been all roses and cakewalks this past week, but the last thing I want to do is make my son out to be a heathen on this blog, because he’s not. There’s so much more to this little guy and all of these things definitely outweigh the hurdles we climb.

So, tell me one good thing about your kid or a terrific kid you know.

My 17 year old cousin and I were having a conversation of nostalgic sorts today, at least for me. He was laughing at his car, which to his credit he paid cash for. Cash he had saved himself. True enough, his car is no woman magnet. It’s an older model, practical, and not the stuff of 17 year old dreams, for sure. I remember back in the day my dad coming home with the first car he bought me when I turned 16. This would be it: (not the actual car, but same color and model)

My 16 year old self felt pretty much “eh” about it. It wasn’t a beauty or anything, but darn if some of my best memories weren’t made in “Betsy” Not those kind of memories…just riding around with my friends kind of memories. Everything soon started falling apart on this car. At one point my muffler had to be rigged back into place with a coat hanger while out one night! And I was trying to explain to my cousin that all kids need to first drive a hooptie to appreciate a better car someday. Of course, you couldn’t convince me of that at his age either.

Eventually, I turned 21 and Daddy came home with another car.

The stuff of my dreams. A 1994 white Ford Probe SE. I could have died, y’all. Sunroof, power everything, 10 disk CD changer. Roomy and practical? Heck no, but darn if my friends and I didn’t take some awesome trips in that car! Ah, the memories. And I kept that car for 6 more years, until I graduated college. And then Daddy had another bright idea.

Meet the current car:

In hindisght, I can see now this was a smart move. My mom got a new car and they traded in my Probe on it. I got her old car, the 1996 Ford Taurus, which I drive to this day. At the time it broke my heart to give “Baby” (the Probe) away. To this day I can still see a Probe somewhere and have a sudden urge to ask the owner if I could just sit in it…drive it around the block…anything? At the time I poo-poo’d the need for a 4 door car. And 3 years later, we had EB. Thank you God for the Grocery Getter GT, my new name for this car. Do I feel smokin’ hot in this car? Does it turn heads? No and no. But I’ve made peace with that. Sort of. It’s been pimped, mom style:

So that’s how this mom’s car has evolved. What’s your car evolution story?

We spent Saturday at a local arts and jazz festival here in our hometown. The weather was perfect, there was lots of fun stuff for EB to do, lots of wonderful smelling crawfish filling the air. Oh, and art. Lots of art.

EB tries his hand at painting. Or “panking”, as he calls it.

He also made this fabulous snowman sculpture from clay.

The awesome banners hanging from the courthouse:

On a side note, have you ever seen a child that had a double crown in his head? Check out EB’s noggin’.

EB and I, along with my parents, made a very special trip to Memphis today. EB had his first appointment at LeBonheur Children’s Medical Center. Around Christmas time we noticed EB experiencing what we thought were tics. We took him to our pediatrician who was able to actually see EB having one, thanks to us catching it on our digital camera recording, and he referred us to Memphis to a pediatric neurologist. EB’s doctor didn’t want to scare us, but there was mention of Asperger’s Syndrome and speech delays and I have been on pins and needles ever since.

EB was treated like a prince from the moment we arrived at LeBonheur. He was fascinated with the escalators, elevators, and all the cool artwork in the halls. They are under construction right now, but everything still looked great.

EB had a great appointment and the doctor thinks that these are only tics he is experiencing and he will most likely grow out of them. We’ll have to go back for a CT scan in a couple of weeks, but we are so relieved that all initially checked out well and our little guy just may need some speech therapy, which he will be evaluated for next week.

As we pulled away from LeBonheur, it hit me all at once how incredibly blessed we were to be taking a healthy EB home with us this afternoon. Most children that stay at LeBonheur aren’t so lucky. I have nothing but the highest praise for this hospital and thought I’d share a few pics we took inside:

But the best part of the day for EB? The rockin’ new frog boots Grandmama and Pawpaw bought him at Target. Which he HAD to immediately start wearing in the store when he saw them. Which I had to carefully peel off of his little feet tonight for bed, taking care not to wake him up.

I’ve seen the culinary light! I’m in love! I found something that will make my life easier!  It’s Farberware knives!

I finally have crawled out from under the rock I’ve been under for the past few years and have totally fallen head over heels for a gift my husband got for Christmas. He asked for a knife set and my parents got him one. At the time I thought he was nuts. We had knives….why the heck would we need a butcher block set of BIG knives? He insisted we did. Whatever.

So tonight I’m making a chicken and rice casserole and have to cut the chicken breasts. Just for giggles I grabbed one from the butcher block and used it.

Ohhhhhh. THAT’S why.

Y’all, these Farberware knives shaved at least 20 minutes off the prep time of cutting these chicken breasts. Yes, I was the poor soul who had been using a regular old kitchen steak knife to cut her chicken with.

It almost pains me to type that.

Update:  I wrote this post back in 2008.  It’s 2019 and we still have and still use this amazing set of kitchen knives!  I am sad to say we have lost a couple from this set, and we plan to retire this block set and buy another one very soon.  We will definitely be purchasing this again, because it held up quite nicely for so many years!

I love Olive Kids. It’s actually more like I lust after all of their cute merchandise, but we’ll just call it love to keep it Rated G. I’m so glad I discovered Olive Kids children’s bedding as we were moving into our new house. EB has the best looking room, hands down! We did his room in Olive Kids Planes, Trains, & Trucks and it is so cheery and inviting. We are 100% sold and won’t look elsewhere for anymore of our children’s bedding needs.

Olive Kids sent EB a beautiful framed print with his name on it to hang in his room. It just completes the room. Made from solid wood and framed with a white mat, it’s just THE cutest thing. The quality is just amazing. See?

With so many super cute styles to choose from, you simply won’t find a friendlier, customer oriented company to buy your children’s bedding and accessories from.  Mamas, you know how hard it is to find cute children’s bedding, especially for boys!  These Olive Kids bedding sets are hard to resist and it’s tough choosing just one design to go with!

Here are a few of my personal faves:

Olive Kids also has an amazing collection of lunch boxes, bedding accessories, children’s furniture, and so many more items that are unique and perfectly designed for kids!