Chocolate is the answer!!!

Leah's on her second week of potty training. She's got the pee thing down solid, but we've had issues with the poop. She held it for three days last week and then let it all out.....and not in the pot. We've tried stamp charts, stickers, lollipops. Nothing has worked until now. I've found it. I've discovered the secret to getting Leah to go poopy on the potty. How do I know? Well, she's pooped 5 times today. She keeps wanting to sit on the potty and push out little pooplets just to get her reward. What is it, you ask? What's the secret to my success? CHOCOLATE!! I don't know why this didn't occur to me before. She is my daughter after all. Chocolate is in her genetic make-up. Looks like the $18 a month I was spending on size 6 diapers can now be used for more important things, like the Getting-Leah-to-Poop-on-the-Potty Chocolate Stockpile.

Eli's 5!!!!

My little Eli turned 5 yesterday. I have a hard time believing it. He's so completely a little boy and no longer a toddler of any sort any more. It's cool, but sad at the same time.

He had a great day. Here are some pictures of the festivities:

Eli being goofy first thing in the morning.

Eli got to have a birthday lunch with two of his best buddies. Can you tell what the theme was? And are you surprised?

Here's some of the guests. Eli was nice enough to let me and Leah invite some friends too.

He even let Noah come to the party, but he was only allowed to eat an apple slice. No dinosaur chicken nuggets for you, Noah!!

The entertainment for the party. (Yes, that's just a few cardboard boxes and lots of tape)

The boys who had the most fun with the entertainment.

Eli's birthday cake. He wanted a red dinosaur. I kept adding red food dye to the icing and it kept looking pink. So, I added some yellow and got this color. It looks pink, but I swear it's orange. I would never make my son a pink dinosaur cake!

Of course there was the obligatory trip to Chuck-E-Cheese. We only won 1,000 tickets this time. Here are some of the spoils.

The proud and strikingly attractive parents of the birthday boy.

Pics of the Faves

This is pushing it

Leah copies Eli often. Lately, when he's scared of something, she is too. This is her newest phobia: "I'm scared of outer space." It's good to know. I'm glad I'm an informed parent and can ease any potentially frightening situations. I just need to ask her what "outer space" is, so I can help her avoid it.

Just so you know....

I got my hair cut a few weeks ago. It's REALLY short. Some may say I look like I'm 12. Others may say I look like a boy. And still others might say I look like a 12 year-old boy. To those, I reply, "Perhaps you're right, but keep your comments to yourself."

I don't love my hair, but I don't hate it either. It's more of a like/dislike relationship. I wanted a big change and I got it. My hair was a little past my shoulders and now it's nowhere close to that. The whole thing was very liberating. It feels good to know that I have the ovaries to chop all my hair off. I think every woman should do it some time in her life! And now that my hair is super short, I think I'll grow it out.

Pics of the Faves

Why I didn't post a cute Valentine's Day picture

I didn't post a cute Valentine's Day picture of my kids all dressed up in red because they didn't get dressed in red. As a matter of fact, they didn't even get dressed the whole day. It was great!!! We just vegged out in our pj's most of the day. I did eventually shower and get dressed at about 3pm, but the little ones didn't. Well, they got showered in the evening and just put on a clean pair of pj's.

Leah spent most of the day wearing only panties and a shirt. That's right, I said PANTIES!!! Since it was a long weekend, I decided to potty train in full force. Leah summed up her progress this morning in one simple sentence, "Mommy, I totally pee peed on the floor in my room." Actually, it's going pretty well. She's had a few accidents each day along with many successful pee pees on the potty. We're excited and encouraged. Maybe this time (we've tried two previous times) we'll stick with it. The hardest part will be getting her to go poop. She says she's scared and will NOT do it on the potty. I rinsed out my first pair of poopy panties yesterday and I'm sure it won't be my last. Got any suggestions?

Who needs rolling...

...when you can pivot? Noah rolled a few weeks ago and has only repeated the movement a few times since. Honestly, does he really need to roll? When he's on his tummy, he pivots in a circle instead. That gets him what and where he wants pretty effectively. Since he sleeps in a crib, he doesn't need to be able to "roll out of bed" either. Frankly, I think the whole thing is overrated! I might even save myself some time and stop rolling too.

12:43:12 pm

12:45:04 pm

12:45:48 pm

12:46:18 pm

12:46:34 pm

12:47:01 pm

Look what I did!!

I actually got Leah to sit still long enough for me to put 5 ponytails in her hair. It turned out pretty cute, but didn't last too long because her hair is just a bit too short. I figure that doesn't matter too much. I need to get her used to this now, so when her hair is long enough, I can do it with less complaining and pain. You have to be willing to sacrifice a bit in order to look this good. I'm willing to pay the price. I just hope Leah is too!

What Leah learned today

Eli and Leah had this conversation on the way home from church today. As you read it, imagine Eli talking in the kind of voice adults do when they talk to little children. You know the voice I'm talking about. You do it too. It's the high-pitched, condescending one.

E: Hey Leah, what did you learn about in nursery today?

L: Ummmm.....crayons.

E: And what else?

L: Umm...paper.

E: And what else?

L: Crocodiles. AAAAnnnndd SNAP!!

Translation: Leah got to draw a picture on paper with crayons. Then, they sang the song about the crocodile that snaps the monkeys out of the tree.

Googies

One of Eli's responsibilities in the house is to wipe off the table after dinner. He's been doing it every night since June. I had the following conversation with him Tuesday evening about his chore:

E: Am I all done?

M: No Eli. Look at the table. There's googies all over it.

E: EEERRRRRRRR!!!!!

(After this point, we were shouting at each other)

M: Come on Eli! You've had this chore for 6 months!

E: And I HATE doing it!!!

M: There are a lot of things I hate doing, but I do them anyway. I cleaned your pee off the toilet today. Would you rather do that?

E: No, that's gross.

M: Well, there you go!

E: And I hate arguing with you!

M: (all the anger melting away, but still shouting) I hate arguing with you too, so let's hug instead!!!

Then I proceeded to tackle him and hug and kiss him until he screamed for me to stop. How is it that after 7 months of having a chore, a little person can still complain and not do it right? And, how is it that with one simple statement that same little person can instantly make me forget my anger and only think of how much I love him?

Gotta love hand-me-downs

I completed a few do-it-yourself projects last week and I just wanted to share the before and after pictures. I got an old night stand and dresser from my in-laws that I wanted to use in Eli's room. They also gave us a head board that was bright red to go with his new bed. The night stand and dresser were in serious need of a paint job, so that's what I did. And I just painted the head board to match. I think it turned out great. I love the color!!!! It's perfect for a little boy's room. I just wonder how long the stuff will last because it's going in a little boy's room. Take a look:

The whole thing ended up being a pretty good deal price wise. Here's the breakdown:

Paint and tinted primer: $18

New brushed nickle knobs: $20

Painting and making a mess in someone else's house while my mother-in-law watches and feeds the kids so they are too distracted to want to "help" so I can get it done in one day with the help of my handy father-in-law who helped sand, prime, and paint everything and hauled the furniture back and forth between my house and his house a few times: priceless

He really does like her!

Eli has been going through a bit of a "I'm too cool to like my little sister" phase. I hate it because she's crazy about him for the most part. After prayer time at night, we give each other hugs and kisses. Leah stands there with arms open, making a kissy noise at Eli and he ignores her. He actually gets in a bit of trouble when he does because we feel what he's doing is rude and hurtful toward Leah. So, the past few nights, he lets her hug and kiss him, but he won't kiss her back. That's okay; we can only ask for so much, right?

Well, this morning, I asked Eli to get dressed for preschool. He groaned at first, but then said, "Hey Leah, want me to help you get dressed?" And that's what he did. She picked out a shirt and he did almost everything else. The only things I did were change her diaper and put her pants on her chubby little legs.

I honestly could not believe he did that. As he was helping her with her shirt, he was explaining the step-by-set shirt removal process. He even demonstrated by taking off his own shirt. What a great big brother he is...most of the time. It was also a big help to me because I was able to take a super fast shower while he was getting her dressed. Now, if I can just get him to do that every morning, I'd be able to shower before 2pm every day!

In the afternoon, Eli and Leah were having some bonding time playing on the computer. Out of the blue, Leah says, "I love you, Eli." Eli responded, "I love you too, Leah."

I was fortunate enough to witness both events today. It was wonderful. Now, next time Eli tackles Leah and rips her to pieces with his raptor claws, I'll have to remind him of today and how much he loves his sister.