The Best Things In Life Are Free

I think the whole Santoki family has been in a funk for about 2 weeks now.  And not the funkadelic kind of funk...more like sick, tired and cabin-fevered.  Owen had a yucky cold for about a week and the day he got over it, he passed it to us (not the kind of sharing we like to encourage.)  I think this is the first cold we've inherited from Owen (I could be wrong, but I think so.)

Anyway, we've been stuck at home because of sickness as well as rain.  I used to love the rain, but that was when I could curl up on the couch and watch movies all day/night.  Now, with a toddler who needs to roam and romp, the rain can get very frustrating.  So when the clouds broke the other day - even though I wasn't feeling well - I thought, "Let's just go for a walk.  I can wear my pajamas and you can look at airplanes."  As I looked at the clock, I realized it was close to quittin' time at the elementary school up the street.  So we hurried up the road to try and spot a bus or two (or as Owen calls them, 'Bees'.)

Sure enough, there were two 'short-busses' already parked in front of the school.  Owen was so excited to get such a close look at some bees.  His favorite part were the tires.  And then, the big bees arrived one after another.  Owen was in BEE HEAVEN.  He ran up and down the loading area looking at each one, then got to watch all the little kids as they lined up for each bee and were guided in by some of the older children.  Actually, there was kind of a sad moment when Owen took a liking to one of these guides.  She was a lovely 5th grader wearing a bright yellow reflective vest.  Owen looked at her like she was an angel.  She looked at Owen like he was in the way.  He kept saying "Hiiiieeeee!" and she ignored him.  Poor Owen.  Aside from that little downer, the rest was awesome and free entertainment.  Gotta love it.

Today, we spent another full day indoors and as usual I was scrambling to find something entertaining and out of the box for him to do.  I remembered that we had a Mr. Potato Head in the garage that our neighbors had given to us long ago and I had put it in a holding area until I was sure he wouldn't eat the pieces.  I brought Sir P.Head inside and Owen loved it.  I don't think he "gets" it, but he loved putting the pieces in and was actually pretty good at it!  He was very anti-feet, however, and very pro-ears.  But then...he found...the glasses!  He wanted MPH to wear them, he wanted to wear them, he wanted Mama to wear them, but in the end, he really wanted Ernie to wear them.  I took a 5 minute video of him putting the glasses on Ernie, taking them off, putting them on, taking them off.  So cute and again, free!