WARNING: this is a long post!

well if you want blog posts, you're going to have to imagine pictures in your head based on careful descriptions and my flowing imagery. i broke the camera. i left it in my purse without the case and the screen is blown out. oh well. it was kind of old and the delay was really annoying but still, it was better than nothing. but for now, you'll just have to imagine what afton's hair looks like with applesauce rubbed into it like hair gel. it's pretty funny i must say.
it's beginning to resemble spring up here in chicago. we've had two nice days in a row of over 60 degrees and we're loving it. of course, it's supposed to snow again on sunday which is abhorrent. afton wants to be outside every minute now and throws monster tantrums whenever it's time to come in. he's definitely an outside boy.
terry, vicky and carlee all came to visit last weekend and we took the train downtown for the st. patty's day festivities. they dye the river green and have a parade and everyone dresses up in the strangest combination of green apparel and basically do what most people do on st. patty's day- drink green beer. we did not partake but walked around in the cold, misty weather and afton was all cozied up in his backpack carrier on dustin's back. it's a great piece of equipment with a rain/sun shield so he didn't get wet at all. he likes to be up high so he didn't complain as long as we kept feeding him garrett's famous popcorn like he was a baby bird.
dustin is about to leave on a trip for work again and afton and i are trying to decide what to do with ourselves. we don't really do so great being home alone for more than about 5 days at a time. we both get cranky if it's longer than that. :) we may go and visit some friends in michigan or in minnesota for a few days.
we want to go to oklahoma but i think we're going to wait until mid-april. this way we can go to the arts festival which is one of my favorite events! we went last year and we're trying to make it an annual thing!
yesterday was my birthday and i turned 31. i don't really think of myself as 31 yet, i was just getting comfortable with 30! my brother's birthday is today and we always used to have joint birthdays when we were little and i hated having to share them with him. now i wish we could celebrate together!
we also may be moving soon. the house that we've been renting here is going back on the market soon. who knows how long it will take to sell, probably not long though. work is changing for us and we're being forced to make some hard decisions. i hate making decisions and i hate moving! we've moved too much in the past few years and i know it comes with the territory working in motorsports but it gets old. everyone working in racing is feeling the same way. not a great industry to be in right now.
but anyways, we'll figure it out like always! hope everyone had a happy st. patty's day and drank some green beer and ate some corned beef and cabbage! we did!
some things afton's doing:

• running
• climbing
• refusing to eat cut-up food
• refusing to eat food with his fingers
• refusing to use toddler utensils- insists on full-size forks and spoons!
• refusing to eat foods that are taken out of their wrappers; i.e. MUST eat bananas in the peel, MUST eat fruit snacks in original packaging. (lots of refusing here, get the picture?)
• reading to himself
• talking on his cell phone very loudly (must have listened to me on the phone with customer service0
• spelling his name (when prompted)
• hiding things like milk-filled sippie cups, mommy's brush, mommy's toothbrush (after using), one shoe, measuring cups, and other important things.
• using the word "no" as often as possible, usually in repetition.
• putting his hand into his diaper when it needs to be changed - don't need pictures for that visual do we?

but he also does good things like:

• blowing kisses
• coloring on paper
  
• carrying around his two blankets like linus and putting his head on your shoulder when he's tired
• calling mommy and daddy when he wants something
• putting his toys and cars away when asked
• saying words like; milk, more, grandpa (paw paw), kitty, dog, baby (he loves babies and often gives kisses to pictures of himself as a baby), mommy, daddy, race car, tractor, book, hi, buh bye, socks, shoes (obsessed with shoes!), kiwi, apple, uh oh, banana, french fry, water, juice, these are all i can think of now!
• using his language and pointing to communicate

Hopefully we'll have pictures of some of these things soon!!
xxxx
much love,