Quotable quotes

E is at a great age. I'll post pics from Christmas as soon as I find the time to get them off my camera. In the meantime, I'm writing these down before I forget them:

Today - I pull up in front of the house to drop off the key I forgot to leave for the nanny who is patiently playing with E on the porch as she is locked out and our lawn is being mowed. (I also manage to leave the car on and get out before I realize I've left the keys in the car - at least I remembered to put it in Park):

E: "Mama - be CARE-ful so you don't get run over by Mark."

Yesterday - E is playing on the back porch with play dough while I try to pay bills on the computer in our adjacent laundry room.

E: "Mama - I need company."
Me: "Huh?"
E: "I need company because there are train sounds and bird sounds."

Earlier - looking for photos of planes on the computer (a favorite past-time):

E: "Let's look for pictures of vehicles that transport people to the hospital." (word for word, I swear)

Over the weekend:

I started to pitch baseballs to Eamonn and showed him a proper stance (to the best of my ability) and told him to keep his eye on the ball. He hit two in a row! Cracked'em. But then - he started to miss. I cheered nonetheless.

E: "NO, Mama! Don't cheer! Eamonn didn't hit the ball."
Oh dear.

And a last few nuggets as they come to mind:

"Dada will come home from work and then he will sit down at the table and eat dinner with us."

"Mama - don't go to your office - because I LOVE you."

Me: "What did you dream about today?" (post-naptime)
E: "Calerpitters! And the fast slide at the park!"

Me: "Name one thing that made you happy today."
E: "Playing with Mama. And the fast slide at the park!"

E: "Where's Dada?" Me: "He's at work - but he will be home soon - for dinner."
E: "He's bringing home the bacon, Mama." (thank DeeDee for that one)

Oh! And post-Disneyland stress surfaced the weekend after we returned as follows:

We were playing outside, G was raking the leaves and E was happy as could be pushing his bubble mower when all of of sudden he stopped and got emotional. Something was wrong. He whimpered (but not in a whiny sort of way). I asked him if he had hurt himself (what had I missed?!?) He said no - "Eamonn's sad." I asked if he needed a hugh. "No - Eamonn wants to go inside."
OK - I led him up to the porch - and it became clear he wanted to bring his mower into the house.

Me: "Eamonn - you know the mower is an outside toy - we can't bring that inside, it stays outside."
E: face turns bright red, tears well up in his eyes - and he says
"But Mama, I don't want the pirates to get it!"

Uff. We had a long talk about pirates and reality. Days later, he occasionally talks about hiding his toys from the pirates. Poor kid.

Other common outbursts:

"Eamonn's frustrated!"

"Eamonn LUUUUUUUVES spices!"

"Eamonn LUUUUUUUUVES cookies!"

"Mama/Dada take off your work/exercise clothes and put on play clothes."

In viewing the nativity scenes around town - some honored the tradition of putting Jesus in the manger on Christmas Eve night. This concerned Eamonn - "Where is baby Jesus?????"

And now: "Where is Christmas?"

Disneyland

We went to Disneyland for the first time - G ended the fiscal year with a bang and, frankly, we all deserved a break after the months of October and November, so I selfishly set my heart on going to Disneyland to see the Christmas decorations and the boys indulged me. We stayed at the the Grand California which was gorgeous and involved multiple Santa sitings (on separate occasions, thank goodness). E wasn't a fan of the rides OR the noise, but he loved jumping on the hotel bed:

while his parents loved the sunset from our room:

And Cinderella's castle adorned with Christmas lights:

And by the second day we eked a few smiles out of Eamonn - mostly in Toon Town: