Toddler Life

This boy charms the pants off everyone, and it’s sure that everyone is interested in seeing his chain saw. 

He’s two going on 90. 

He has so many words that we can’t count them all anymore. He verbalizes some emotions. What’s that? You feel sad? Because your brother hurt your arm? You’d like a hug? Can do, kid. Thanks for telling me what the problem was, and how to solve it for you to boot. 

I tell you what. It’s the most convenient thing in the world knowing exactly what your toddler wants and how to solve his problems!

He ate his first colache. 

He poured over the Home Depot ad and worked his Montessori puzzle before breakfast. #90yearoldman

He ate a sensible breakfast with his babies. He always wants a waffle. But don’t be a fool and put it in the toaster. No no. Just straight out of the freezer for this one or he’s MAD. 

He sat still and listened at story time while looking confused as to why all the other toddlers were running amuck. #90yearoldman

He sits for long periods of time and imagines with any toy that’s in front of him. 

He shoots the breeze with Grandpa Mike. They usually read as many books as Grandpa’s voice will last for. 

He prefers to be cautious when being exposed to the sun. #90yearoldman

Watching the dryer get a thorough cleaning was the entertainment of choice last week. 

With a little art and play dough on the side. 

Elias is 2

Elias loves tree trimming and chain saws so much that we decided a lumberjack irthdya party was fitting. He LOVES his lumberjack shirt. He wears it whenever it’s clean.

Grandma Susan made him a log cake and put it on the logging truck. 



Elias got a new chain saw, and it was one of the first gifts he opened, so he opened every.other.gift. with it. 



He also got new tools to replace our current “set” that is a jumbled mess from random thrift stores. 





We had his party at snack time on Easter Sunday since we were hosting everyone. All these guests happily changed into their lumberjack attire for snack time, which was really fun! Cousin Thomas even made a homemade (pretend) ax for Elias. My boys played with it so much that it broke. 


The biggest cousin read the smallest cousin one of his favorite books from when he was little. 
Grandma Kathleen took us out to dinner one evening, and since it was so close to her birthday, my birthday, and Elias’ birthday, we celebrated! Elias liked the hat...

but he really loved the singing!

He also tried a huge treat called dessert with dairy in it. Boy was it good

Yesterday was his real birthday so I ordered his favorite dairy free pizza. He had an Oreo for dessert. I love it when they’re so easy to please!

Happy Birthday Elias! We love you!

Easter

Logan and the big boys carried on the Holy Thursday Pilgrimage tradition. Lewis made it to 5 churches and Augustine made it to all 7! They wrote down their prayer intention for each stop. 

On Holy Saturday we dyed eggs.

It went surprisingly well. My boys like hard boiled eggs a lot, so dying them fun colors was just icing on the cake. 

Easter Sunday was full of excitement! We went to Mass, the boys had fun discovering Easter basket treats, I had fun with new Easter decorations, and we hosted Easter dinner this year so all the extended family members could see our new house. 

We have been working on bringing our Lent/Easter season up to par with Advent/Christmas since each are such big seasons in the liturgical calendar. I found decorations for Easter the last two years, and we started simple family traditions as well. We’ll add a few new things again next year. Viewing Lent/Easter in a similar light of Advent/Christmas was a game-changer for me. I could finally see how to make the season special with little touches and build anticipation for the feast. 

I realized that decorating our home brings me a lot of joy, opportunities for meaningful conversations with my boys (and Mormon missionaries, turns out), and keeps my mind focused on the season. And it’s a well known fact that the mom is the thermostat of the family, so when I’m focused and joyful and excited...everyone else is too (like it or not). 

Early morning Easter basket fun! When I thought of Easter baskets being equivalent with stockings on Christmas morning, I suddenly had a new view of how meaningful I could make the baskets. 

Elias’ first bite EVER of a Great Grandma Helen roll. It’s a rite of passage in the Carlson family. 

Lewis helped make the Easter egg cookies, and Augustine helped make the nut bread. 


My dining room combined with the playroom makes for plenty of space to host a lot of people. It’s a dream come true!

Lewis loves statues. He looked at this one for a very long time. I tried to have a conversation with him about it, but he really just wanted to be quiet and think his own thoughts. So I sat down and watched him. He still whisper-thinks, so I could listen to most of what he was thinking. Then all of a sudden he was done thinking about it and went outside. 

He is risen! Alleluia!

Lewis At School

Gifts

That sounds like a great gift!

Dinner with friends last week was a gift. 

An early birthday gift from my parents! 

Imaginary Travel

Maybe we should let him know there’s more out there to explore...