The Story of Spot

See Spot:

Out damn Spot!

Out I say!

Now Spot has gone away!

Spray, scrub, repeat.

Who says kids aren’t neat?

The end. 

A Boot Camp Birthday

Whew!  Thomas’ 8th birthday party wore me out.  He requested an army party, so I managed to get my act together and put together something entertaining for Thomas today.  Michael helped a lot with the set up!

When the boys got here, we gave them their dog tags, assigned them to alpha and bravo teams, and painted the faces of those who were interested in camouflage makeup.

Then Chris lined them up and put them through some ceremonial drills.

Then they went on a road march.  That speck is actually boys.

Of course, we can’t do a party without the obstacle course.  It has become a tradition. 

They had to swing across

Walk across a low balance beam and high scaffold then army crawl under the “barbed string”

Through the “jungle”, beat up the “bad guy”, and then up the ladder

Down the slide and under the deck to safety.  (or in this case, silliness)

We let the boys all have a dry run before we set out the “mines” (water balloons) 

After blindfolding them and having them help each other through a minefield, we turned them loose on each other with about 150 water balloons and squirt guns.  Our cameras aren’t waterproof so there aren’t any pictures of that.  Needless to say, the boys had much fun and got plenty wet and dirty in the process.

I let them play “carry the wounded soldier” for a little bit to help them unwind before being asked to be civilized long enough for cake and cheese puffs.  (Thomas requested the cheese puffs.)

I’m going to go a bit on a tangent for a moment and share about the cake.  Thomas requested that I make the batter camouflage, so I mixed it up in 4 different colors and plopped it into the cake pan.  Here’s what the cake looked like when it was mostly done, but before I added the detail work.

And after (Michael said “wow” enough times to make me feel good about all the time I put into it.)

The guests seemed to get a big kick out of it (even though the cheese puffs tried to steal the scene)

Thomas blew the candles out and the cake was history.

There was a quick exchange of gifts before the boys got busy with their water guns again.  They picked up goodie bags and their certificate promoting them from recruit to private on the way out the door.  They all left wet and worn out.  Most of them complained that they had to go home, so I’m assuming they were having fun.  I got a kick out of all the water wars.  Too bad I missed getting those pictures though.

A Little Potty Training Update

Daniel made it clear to me after the first 3 days that he was going to be potty resistant so I put him back in diapers and will give him another go at it in another 6 months or so.  He still goes and sits next to his sister on his potty (in his diaper) to get an M&M reward.  He goes running to admire her productions and tells me about them as though they were his.  He’s just not quite ready to actually do anything on the potty.

Gloria, on the other hand, seems to be taking to it well.  She hangs out at home in just a dress so that she has the air on her bum and no pants to worry with.  She goes whenever the urge strikes her, or whenever an M&M sounds good at the moment.  Several times over the past few days I’ve heard, “Mommy, you gotta flush my pee pee so I can make some more.”  For the most part, she’s the one deciding when to go.  I do suggest that she go in certain instances (before leaving the house, right after she wakes up) but I do NOT make it a requirement.  Most of the time she tries anyway, but she’ll tell me if she’s not interested. 

I load her up in the car every morning and set her in her car seat on a towel to take Thomas to school.  She stays as she is in the house (nothing on the bum) for the short car ride.  If we go out anywhere she’d actually have to get out of the car, she goes in loose pants and nothing underneath.  I think she’s only had 3 pee accidents since the first day of potty training and these were all while she was wearing pants.

We’ve been up to church to set up and copy bulletins in loose pants with no incident.  We even managed to make it all the way through Sunday school in loose pants with no issue.  Granted, she did have a little accident in the first pair of pants before we left the house, but she did stop herself and managed to finish in the little potty. 

Speaking of potties, the princess will only go in her own, so it goes with her wherever she goes.  Once she used Daniel’s potty because her potty was in the same room with her sleeping aunt and uncle and she didn’t want to make her cousin cry by waking her up.

She’s doing pretty well with number two as well.  She had one accident with that on the floor in the kitchen while no one was looking.  She was very vocal about it and shooed her little brother and her aunt’s dog away from it until her mother managed to clean it up.  She even redeemed herself that same night by sitting on the potty before bed and producing something a grown man would be proud of!

The thing that has surprised me the most about this experience is that Gloria has woken up twice with a dry diaper and announced that she wanted to use the potty.  She has yet to have a nap accident.

I think I’m just lucky.

Potty Training Boot Camp: Day 3

Gloria had a wildly successful day.  She had no accidents at all and took her nap without a diaper.  She still protested a bit at the first morning removal of her diaper, but it gets to be less each day.  She even pooped in it again!

Daniel, on the other hand, has pretty much told me that he does not want to go on the potty.  He is ok being without a diaper and will go hang out on the potty with his sister, but does not want to actually use it.  He is going through a stubborn streak right now, so it does not really surprise me.  At least he is learning his lower case “m” from all of the M&M’s that have been doled out in honor of his sister’s accomplishments.

I think Gloria might make it through church this Sunday!  Daniel will be in diapers unless he suddenly changes his tune.

For those of you interested, here is a link to the basic “method” that I am using.  Don’t let the title fool you though.  Potty training isn’t a 3 day thing, but the initial learning process is.  I think of it like learning to walk.  Babies take a few steps here and there before they start to seriously toddle around and once they are toddling, they then still have plenty of spills as they learn how to really use their legs. 

And, yes, they will be going around without pants on at home for a good month.  The more success they have with a bare bottom translates into less accidents with pants.  I would rather look at their behinds than clean up mess anyway!

And now, for a couple of “action” shots! 

Notice the strategically placed dress and book.  No, I’m not worried about the book as Daniel just doesn’t want to go on the potty quite yet.

Yes, that is chocolate on Gloria’s face!

Potty Training Boot Camp: Day 2

Day 2 started out in much the same way that day one began.  Gloria protested at the lack of bum coverage but got over it much more quickly this time. 

This time, however, we had to leave the house long enough to drop off Thomas and our carpool friend at school.  It’s about a 30 minute round trip including the waiting.  I suggested to Gloria that she go potty right before we left.  She refused.  I let it go.  She asked to sit on a towel in the car and I happily obliged.  Right after Thomas got out, she unhappily announced, “Mommy!  I made pee pee on my towel."  It was her only accident of the day!  In case anyone is wondering, the restraints in the car seat protected her modesty and no one knew she was hanging out in a dress with nothing under it.

Since Daniel sprinkles I put him in a diaper for the car ride. 

Once we got home, I made up some blue Kool Aid and waited for the fun to begin. ( It turns out that the orange yesterday was lacking in sugar.  Yuck!)  This time, Daniel didn’t sprinkle.  He power washed!  I pretty much heard it before I saw it every time.  He was fascinated with watching the stream come out.  One time he was standing next to an air vent and that’s right where it went.  Thankfully there is no strange smell when the air comes on!

Tinkle, tinkle in the pot.
Boy, my kids can pee a lot.
In the potty Gloria went.
Daniel just peed in the vent!
Tinkle, tinkle in the pot.
Boy, my kids can pee a lot.

Somehow I managed to catch him in the midst of a bowel movement, not once, but twice, and got him on the potty in time for him to finish.  We made a big deal about that and had a flushing ceremony.  He seemed a good bit unhappy during the process but proud of himself afterwards and talked about it a good bit.  I didn’t manage to get him to actually wet on the potty this time.  He did go and sit down next to Gloria every time she sat on her potty without prompting, so that is some progress on his part.

Tinkle, tinkle in the pot.
Show me how much pee you’ve got.
Potty training is such fun!
I can’t wait until we’re done!
Tinkle, tinkle in the pot.
Show me how much pee you’ve got.

Gloria on the other hand would periodically go sit on her potty.  I didn’t keep close track, but I am thinking that she actually produced about one time out of five. 

When Thomas came home and finished his homework, he went into the living room to play his video games and the princess begged to go in there with him.  Since she has been doing so well, I told her that she could go in there only after she went on her potty.  She promptly sat, got a thoughtful look on her face, and did just what I asked her to do.  So I put a towel down for her, at her request, and let her sit next to Thomas.

A few minutes later she came to the kitchen and asked to be let back in and pretty much went straight to the potty, sat down, and announced that she was pooping.  Based on her general attitude about it prior to this, I really figured she would save it and go in her night time diaper.  Upon seeing Daniel’s earlier achievement Gloria gasped , “I NEVER poop on the potty!”  She proved me wrong!  So now Gloria has achieved both pooping and peeing in her potty! 

Now this song is stuck in my head!  I started making up lyrics to “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” and decided to google it and see what popped up.  I found it in my search.  Let me stress that it is NOT me or my children, but they sure have enjoyed watching it.  Even Thomas gets a big kick out of it.

We may make it out of the house this week!

Potty Training Boot Camp: Day 1

With Thomas at his father’s, the grocery shopping done, and Michael in the basement for back-up, Gloria and Daniel braved the first day of bare bottomed, kitchen confined, potty training boot camp.

We got off to a bit of a rough start as Gloria was NOT happy about going in just a shirt and leg warmers.  There were serious tears and fussing and wailing about the fact that she had no diaper on.  During breakfast, she sat on a towel in her booster seat an bemoaned the fact that her beloved diapers were upstairs and her bum was uncovered.  Daniel, on the other hand, seemed thrilled to be able to visit his little friend so easily.

After breakfast, I didn’t hear another complaint from Gloria as she was too busy racing trains around the train table to notice her wardrobe was lacking.  Michael had brought the train into the middle of the kitchen and built a simple, toddler friendly  track around the edges.  The suspension bridges, tunnels, and drawbridges are sitting in the playroom pouting about how they were replaced with boring old straight tracks.

Daniel did a great job of setting the example by sprinkling on the floor every 2 minutes so that I could put him on the potty and explain that he could get some M&M’s if he put pee pee in the potty.  He wasn’t interested in it and protested a bit, but it helped get Gloria in the right frame of mind as she would come sit on the potty next to him.  My personal favorite sprinkle was the one where he stood at the gate and peed on the carpet.  The whole point of spending the day in the kitchen was to avoid this!

I made up some watered down Kool Aid to give them extra ammunition for practice and spent a good deal of time putting Daniel on the potty and cleaning up his sprinkles.  Pretty soon, it was obvious to me that he had a full bladder but wasn’t sure how to do it in the potty.  A time or two he would go over and look at the potty and then walk away and sprinkle a bit.  We tried hanging out on the potties and reading for a while to no avail.  I gave up on that and had them play some more and the sprinkling started again.  So back to the potty Daniel went.  I sat him on on it and tickled him until I thought for sure he would leak.  On a whim I pressed on his tummy a little bit.  Naturally this helped him to produce and we were able to celebrate and hand out M&M’s! 

After the initial breakthrough, Gloria went over of her own accord and produced on a grand scale.  After her first success, she would periodically go sit in the hopes that there would be more and thus more M&M’s.  Several times before lunch she went on her own.  Daniel on the other hand, just watered our tile.  Not that I was really expecting him to get it at this age.

After lunch Gloria went another time without prompting!  Then it was nap time and somehow I managed to convince her to sleep in panties and loose pants instead of a diaper and she woke up dry!  Michael was getting ready to make a run to Sam’s Club and the little princess wanted to go.  Now this was NOT in keeping with my plans and philosophy, but I gave her the chance by telling her she had to actually pee before she went.  Surprise!  Surprise!  She did!  Michael kept calling me to ask about things on my list while they were out.  Each time the phone rang I was sure he would be calling to tell me they were changing clothes or something, but apparently he really needed help with my list. 

When she got back, there were groceries to put away, dinner to make, and a big brother to welcome home.  In all that no one thought to take her pants off and she had her first and only accident of the day .    After that it was back to bare bum and sitting on towels!  (And peeing in the potty!)

We shall see how day 2 goes!

He’s Making a Liar Out of Me

So Friday morning I told the pediatrician that Daniel was trying to learn his letters, but didn’t really know any of them as he seems to just say random letters rather than connect the different names with the different shapes. 

Now before you gasp and start thinking that I’m some horrible mother trying to turn her kid into a super reader, realize that I haven’t worked with him on them.  We don’t sit down with flashcards or anything.  I don’t require him to say his ABC’s before he can eat and I’m not shoving letters at him and talking about them all day.  He’s just really interested in them thanks to PBS and his older siblings.

At home he’s been obsessed with the magnet letters on the refrigerator and picks them up and excitedly asks,” What’s dis?”  I really figured that any that he happened to get correct were lucky guesses or were because he recognized that particular magnet, in that particular color, in that particular font. 

Apparently, I was wrong.

After Daniel’s appointment, I went to the church with both toddlers to run off the children’s bulletins.  Gloria was on the floor playing with the Veggie Tales nativity set while Daniel climbed up and examined a wood carving of the word “love” in all capitals.  Then I heard him say “e, y, o, l.”  Say what?  I went over next to him and asked him to identify each one to make sure I hadn’t misheard.  I hadn’t.  He was identifying the letters correctly and consistently.  And in his defense, the V on that carving does look a lot like a Y with a short stem.

At lunch time he gleefully pointed out a “bud-you” (W) on a cup from Manchu Wok. 

At home he began telling me about the letters on the Huggies diaper box in his room.  Did you know that Huggies uses all caps?  At Waffle House, he was looking at the letters on the menu and identifying W, L, E, H, S, O, and U.  Today he has been pointing out D’s.

This is so different than his older siblings.  Thomas was still saying mostly “ack” at this age.  He wasn’t even talking much.  Gloria was talking, but I’m not sure if she knew letters existed outside of the Alphabet Song.  Now we have Daniel who is here to remind us that kids will learn whatever you put under there nose!

My Tough Little Guy

So Friday morning we went and Daniel had his 18 month check up.  I never know how these are going to go, but I’d say this one was definitely one of the smoothest ones I’ve attended.  Before we even got to the exam room, the nurse had Daniel take off his shoes and stand on the scale.  Gloria hasn’t done this yet, but Daniel had no problem and the scale read 26 pounds and 2 ounces-putting him right around the 50th percentile for his age. 
Then she had me undress him down to his diaper and put the infamous urine bag on him.  She took the opportunity to measure him and he was very cooperative.  It turns out that he is 33.8 inches long these days which puts his height around the 80th percentile.  I don’t remember what his head circumference is.  It’s on the paper I brought home, but I’m not going to go find it just so I can post it here, but it’s fine. 

Once all the measurements were completed, the nurse prepared to do the finger prick.  Daniel expressed some trepidation when the gloves went on, but calmly sat in my lap and watched in uncomfortable fascination as the nurse pricked his little finger and then squeezed little red “balls” out of his finger and into the straw.  He was going to undo the bandage until I called it a sticker and then he was happy with it.

When the doctor came in to examine him, Daniel was very cooperative and spoke to him a bit.  The doctor was very pleased with his overall health and development and commented that he was speaking well and a lot for his age.  I mentioned something about him trying to identify letters but not really getting them right and he thought that was cute.

Then it was time for the nurse to give him his two vaccinations.  I held Daniel’s hands across his chest while the nurse put the shots into his two little thighs.  Thankfully, he only expressed surprise and then said “Ow!  Ow!  Ow!” when the second needle went in.  He was very interested in getting more “stickers” on his legs and complained more about the urine bag being removed than the shots.  The bag was empty-as usual.  He never pees in that thing.  As the nurse left the room, unprompted, Daniel waved a sad goodbye to her.  By the time we got his clothes back on him and went back to the waiting room, he was all happy again.  I don’t think he even made a tear.  He’s my tough guy.  (Did I mention that Thursday afternoon he fell off the arm of the couch? Onto his head?  And Friday morning he was back on it again.)

Thomas: Breastfeeding Advocate at Age 7

This story is much more amusing if you read it first and then look at the picture, so resist the urge to scroll down and see it before you get done reading.

We all know that breastfeeding is best.  We also know that as a culture, a lot of kids don’t get exposed to the idea of breastfeeding until they hit the age where they have some sort of formalized sex education.  By then it sounds as weird and private as sex does.

Not so with my Thomas.  Having two younger siblings back to back that were attached to me during an age when he can remember and talk about it has completely normalized breasts as a feeding mechanism for him.  While he understands that they aren’t something to be paraded around exposed, he also doesn’t run (or get run) from the room when mine are being utilized in their most functional manner either.  In fact he’s recently had to be taught that unless he owns the breasts, he doesn’t get to offer them up as an option to little Daniel.

Now on to the cute story. 

So Thomas and his friend we drive to school every morning were in the back of the van looking at a National Geographic magazine making up silly songs about it. I’m listening and I hear:

Friend: Oh oh oh. I’m naked. With my bootay.

Thomas: (interrupting) That’s not a butt. It’s a breast.

Friend: What’s he doing with a boobie?

Thomas: (sighs) It’s called nursing. (said nice and slowly and clearly and it sounded like there was an eye roll involved) It’s completely normal. Babies drink milk from their mommies. Lots of babies nurse. Daniel (my 18mo) nurses. It’s not something to make fun of.

Friend: Um. Ok….Oh oh oh. I’m snuggling. With my boobie. Drinking my milk.

I’m not sure if he got the message or not, but I have to give Thomas points for trying! 

And for your viewing pleasure and amusement, here is the picture they were discussing:

Nope.  It wasn’t one of those tribal pictures at all!

Gloria’s Newest Dresses

In my quest to come up with a long sleeved dress for Gloria for the chilly weather, I came across a tutorial for a short sleeved peasant shirt.  I made a short sleeved one, then a long sleeved one, then another long sleeved one that was a bit too narrow, so I turned it into a dress for Little Miss Kinley Jo, the daughter of one of Michael’s co-workers, who is about 18 months younger than Gloria.  This is how it turned out.

The fabric is “patchwork” so, no, I didn’t sew a bazillion squares together to make this.  It was in the remnants bin at Wal-mart and looked fallish. 

After that, I took 2 yards of fabric that was originally intended to be part of my quilt that Mom made us.  It just didn’t quite fit in right with the other fabrics I had selected so we left it out.  I basically did the same thing with this one I did with Kinley’s.  I just did the sleeves a little differently and added about 5.75 yards of eyelet lace to the bottom tier and sleeves.  Gloria sees it and asks to put it on so she can “dance her dress.”  She has learned to twirl in it!

And to get a better idea of just how much fabric is around the bottom:

It hasn’t been washed yet.  It probably won’t ever stand up like this again!

Then this little girl from church showed up in a short sleeved peasant dress much like this next one.  I picked out some fabric that looked fallish and did long sleeves and this is what turned out.

It looks much cuter on the toddler than in the picture.  She’ll be wearing it tomorrow for Thanksgiving and I will try to get a good action shot of her filling it up.

And lastly, I fell in love with this Christmas fabric.  By the time I had decided exactly which fabric to pair it up with, it was time to feed the toddlers and get them in bed for a nap, so I did a really quick guestimation of how much of each fabric I wanted.  With the odd amounts I had cut, the dress practically made itself.  It’s hard to tell from the picture, but the fabric with red on green had a bit of metallic gold thread in the design that gives it a bit of sparkle.  I haven’t tried it on her with the red ribbon around the waist yet.  It may be too thin, but I sure like the way it looks on the hanger.

I have one last style kicking around in my head that I would like to sew up this season in a fabric I saw while picking out the Christmas fabric.  Then, I promise, I’ll be done with dresses.  Until summer.