Have you ever met a 2 year old that will eat tomatoes over just about anything? I mean anything?? Mine will. He would eat tomatoes till his little insides were eaten by the acid, if we let him (my tendency toward delicate descriptions never ceases to amaze me). I guess this is so amazing to me because I've never been a tomato fan...only recently will I eat fresh tomatoes. And when I was little? Forget it!

In other news...

Yesterday was a holiday, and I was not off, but Nathan was. We went ahead and took Iliya to school, so Nathan could get some yardwork done...and then he picked Iliya up from school a bit early. Iliya was a bit confused by the fact that mama hadn't come to get him, but when daddy told him they were going to go home and play in the leaves...he was ALL for going to play! (have I mentioned what an outdoorsman my little guy is?? he & his daddy are perfect for each other)

Anyway, I got home to a pile of leaves at the curb, the camera sitting on the front porch, and Nathan and Iliya out in the backyard. This told me that they were finished working, had taken some pictures, and were now playing.

Here are some pictures of their fun (click to enlarge...and don't stop here, there's a story at the end!) -

Ready to go outside!






Believe it or not, this is his "cheese!" face - we have not taught him this. He has learned it - maybe from school??


Can you see the pine needle in his front pocket?




Just a swingin...


And two of my very favorites:

Now that you have a warm fuzzy feeling, let me tell you my story. (Just remember that very last picture. I really do love my child!)

I guess that you are not going to get the video of our Echo...or Parrot...or whatever you wanna call it.

See, I was trying to get a video last night and I did something incredibly dumb.

We were trying to act natural -- following him with the video camera (because that's natural, right?). I followed him right into the bathtub, trying to say things that he normally repeats without fail. Of course, video camera = stagefright, I guess. Or maybe it's just not a normal thing, so he didn't act like (or say things) he normally might. Either way...

In the doctor's office last week, there was a copy of The Polar Express and to pass the time, Iliya and I looked at the book. When we got to the part about Santa Claus...you can imagine how he reacted. Well, in order to keep him calm, we made a game that I cleverly entitled, "Find Santa!" We started at the beginning of the book and would turn each page and I would say, "Is he here?" or "Is he on this page?" And Iliya would say, "naaaaoooooooh" (imagine this being said in a cute little boy's voice, going up a scale). It really was cute. And it got to the point that he would play the game without me prompting him.

Ever since then, he'll look through his books (or even around corners in the house) - look at me and sign "where? Nahna(Santa)?" and then say "naaaaoooooooh" -- because, well, we can't seem to find Santa in any of our books...and of course, the big guy is nowhere to be found in the house because it is no longer Christmas time.

So that's the setup for my big mistake last night.

I SO wanted to capture this on videotape....and the thought occurred to me as Iliya was getting ready for a bath. So I had followed Iliya into the bathroom, where Nathan was giving him a bath. After the washing was overwith, Iliya was playing happily, and I was STILL attempting to get him to say things.

That's when I said, "Iliya? Do you see Santa Claus? Is he in the bathtub with you?"

I was totally expecting the cute "no" answer. Instead, I got the deer-in-the-headlights look. He glanced behind him to make sure Santa was, in fact, not in the bathtub with him, and then jumped up, screaming, "all done! all done! all done!" If it were not for Nathan's cat-like reflexes, Iliya would've scrambled right out of the tub & into his bedroom without drying off.

Bless his heart. He was so scared. And later, as Nathan & I were laying in bed, I said, "You know, I didn't think about it till right after it came out of my mouth, but that was mean, even if unintentional." And then we burst into laughter. Despite ourselves, we laughed until our insides hurt. Iliya's reaction had just been priceless - I wish you could've seen it.

Poor thing. Now I've gone & done it. He's going to be scared of the bathtub for the next two weeks. Just when we had come to terms with bubbles.