Potty Training update

OK, time for a potty training update since all the lovely craziness of the holidays is winding down.  Will did fantastic!!  I couldn't be more shocked, surprised, and elated at how well the old boy has done.  We started the use of the potty in early December (if i am remembering correctly).  There were about 2 weeks where we had some accidents but then after that I don't even remember the last time he had an accident.  Not even the 6 hour car ride with only 1 stop did he have an accident.  I mean the boy is good.  It makes me realize I started Caroline way too late but hind sight is always 20/20.  Or so they say!  Will even has the pooping thing going right!  It was forever with Caroline to get that, just ask aunt Susan, she was brave enough to change poop-y panties courtesy of Caroline.  It just makes that Aunt bond that much stronger right Suz!!

But Will being a typical boy doesn't always have the aiming thing down pat and the floor and little potty often get a pee wash!  Then yesterday he finally realized that there is a hole in his boxer briefs.  He has been wearing undies with the "hole" in them since the beginning but just now found it.  I explained that the hole was for his penis although his isn't quite big enough to use the hole yet.  So instead the conversation went like this:

Will - hole mommy

me- yes i see that, it is for your penis not for a few more years.

Will- where'd hand go?

me- I don't know ( I was cooking and not looking)

so I turn around and his hand is in the hole all the way to his wrist!

Will- here hand!

So he realized he can play peek -a -boo with the hole in his undies!  Always fun stuff with a boy around.  Gosh I sure do love you Will!!

Holiday sing

On December 18th all the 3 year olds in the preschool program got together and performed some holiday songs for parents and grandparents.  Since the grandparents couldn't be there I took some video of some of the songs but haven't been able to get them to load yet so I will keep trying.

Caroline so proud after her sing.
The whole group.  Caroline is on the back row next to  the Christmas tree.
Caroline leading the whole group in.  Justin and I can't decide if they put her on the back row to help lead the singers back there or to hide her since they weren't sure what she was going to wear!

I will try the video again tomorrow.

The first round of Christmas

The long table that almost everyone ate at for a delicious dinner.
The tree over flowing with gifts!
There were lots of laughs all around.
Marie with her new prized possession for the White Elephant gift exchange.

 
Last Friday I packed the car and kids up and we went and picked Justin up from work and then headed on down to NC for a long weekend of early Christmas celebrating.  We had a blast!  Saturday was spent with my dad and all my uncles, aunts, and cousins.  We watched Wake beat Navy and then I think there were about 40 people there for dinner.  It was so nice to see family and visit with everyone.  Thanks Dad and Marie for hosting and letting us stay with you guys!

Silver tooth and coughing

Well for all those keeping up with the previous postings about the trouble with Caroline's teeth there is a resolution finally.  Last Friday she went to the dentist for the first of four visits to take care of all the cavities.  This was to be the big one since they were probably going to have to put a cap on the broken tooth.  Well I am so glad that I didn't take Will with me since it ended up taking 2 1/2 hours.  Wonderful Ellie watched Will for me!  I got to read a lot in a really good book so I didn't even notice how long it was taking.  Caroline went to the back and I stayed in the waiting room.  Apparently it took so long because they had trouble getting the tooth to go to sleep.  Which doesn't sound fun to me.  The dentist said she did great and she didn't even cry.  They did have to put a cap on that tooth and basically had to do a root canal.  My brave girl!  She was completely distracted by Aladdin playing on a TV mounted to the ceiling.  They kept her or a while after so that some of the numbness would wear off.  It wasn't completely gone when we left and she was hungry so it was only a milkshake for her.  The numbness finally started to wear off right before nap time and it was a little hard for her to all asleep but she did. and the numbness was all gone when she woke up 2 hours later.

Then another health issue that happened recently is Caroline got a head cold a few weeks ago.  I know you are thinking, what's the big deal, just a cold.  Well I know but when ever she gets a cold she gets this horrible cough that has a hard time leaving.  I had not taken her to the doctor until the cough started keeping her awake during naps and waking her up at night.  So last Thursday I took her to the doctor.  All the previous times I had taken her I get the usual doc talk saying  the cough will eventually go away in about 6 weeks.  Which is an answer that always frustrates me.  This time was finally different.  The doctor say her and then consulted with her boss and they cam to the conclusion that she has a type of Asthma.  It is only brought on by a cold.  So I got an inhaler and learned how to use it and we do that every morning and night until the cough goes away.  At the end of the second day the cough was significantly less and she was able to sleep through the night!!  So we had a followup yesterday and the doctor said that since the inhaler worked so well she definitely has asthma and that it will probably get worse.  Which is not what I wanted to hear.  But I have another inhaler for when she gets a cold again and the coughing starts again.  Finally I felt like the doctors we listening.  And as a side note I have to say every time I talked to my dad about Caroline's coughing he would say Julie you really need to consider asthma.  And now I finally saw enough doctors for them to recognize a pattern and try something different!!  Glad you were right dad, and thanks for all your medical advice that I ask you for all the time!

Hopefully Caroline is on the road to recovery now.

Also last Saturday

Last Saturday was a busy day as you saw from the previous posts.  Well after all the party festivities at Walter Reed we thought why not have just one more!  We meet Susan and Graham between their house and ours for an early birthday dinner for Susan.  It was great to be able to meet them and give her her present.  Caroline took this picture of herself.  Not looking much like a toddler anymore is she?

Susan was just a little bit happy in this picture!  We brought and ice cream cake with us to the restaurant and then sent it home with her.  Hopefully she will have another piece tomorrow on her real birthday.  
We love you Susan!!!  Thank you so much for all you have done for me and my kids.  There are times when I couldn't have done it with out you being there!!!

The best part of Saturday

Will and I holding the massive amount of balloons.  Notice how full his little hand is.

The biggest surprise of the afternoon was Adam Sandler and Rob Schneider showing up.  The USO brought them and the place went crazy.  He spoke a little bit but was there to sign autographs and take pictures mostly.   

Justin is a huge fan to say the least.  We have most of his movies on VHS even.  I have to admit we don't have or haven't seen all of his latest movie Since having Caroline but He is still Justin's favorite movie star (male at least!) Justin got a signed picture of Adam and Rob and got his picture taken with Adam.  He was so excited it was hard for him to contain himself!

There aren't many places that the Army will send you were you get a holiday party like this!!  Justin and I always feel guilty for getting so many things at these events.  So this year we decided to give our gift cards to our preacher who keeps gift cards in his pocket at all times in case he meets someone who might need a little help.  We are so blessed and we hope you and your family are blessed as well this holiday season!

Now I know this seems like a lot for one Saturday but it isn't all we did.  Stay tuned for what happened later that day!!!

Saturday part 2

After the great party Justin had clean up duty and we all stayed to help.  Caroline and I went around and collected balloons in the hopes of making her fly.  You can see how many strings she has in her hand.  It was a lot of balloons.

Even though we got tons of balloons Caroline was disappointed that she never flew!  It was lost of fun trying.  We ended up with a few more than this total, people just kept bringing us balloons and thought it was the cutest thing, which of course it was.  I mean how often do you get to hold that many balloons!
Will as you could tell was not too thrilled to be sitting with Mrs. Claus.  All the kids that saw Santa got a Target gift bag with a book, stuffed Spot dog, and a $50 gift card.  Barnes and Noble was also there and gave each kid a book.  All the kids also got a stocking with a stuffed bear, and several other little toys.  Caroline and Will got a barbie type doll, a matchbox car, a book, headbands, and a little stamp set.
This is a very of part of the hall that we were in.  I am standing up near the stage looking back over the tables.  there are 2 more rows of tables that are out of sight to the left.  The catered food was delicious and included food from various regions like German, Mexican, and American.  All the desserts were homemade and outstanding.
Caroline and Aidan dancing while watching some of the performers.

Our Saturday

Well yesterday was a memorable day to say the least.  It started with us going to pick up Caroline's boyfriend Aidan.  She has called him her boyfriend since they first met and has even said she is going to marry him.  All of this makes Justin very uncomfortable but she is just 4 so not too many worries. YET!  We took Aidan and our kids to our friend Sara's apartment to help her decorate her Christmas tree.  The kids had a blast putting the ornaments on the tree and playing with Sky, her lab golden mix.  Then off to Walter Reed for Justin's work holiday party.  I have lots of pictures and they always load in reverse order so the ones from Sara's are at the bottom.  There was a choir group from UNC Asheville that were fantastic and then some high school group that sang and did some tap dancing.  That is what the kids are looking at in the picture below.

In the lobby area they had craft tables set up and there were several different types of holiday themed crafts that the kids could do.  I really wanted to try all of them but the attention span of the kids prevented me and the fact that I didn't want to use the materials and not have enough for all the kids that ended up being there.

More crafts with Sara helping.  

Sara trying to take a picture of Aidan and Caroline.
Caroline, Will, and Aidan enjoying some donut holes at Sara's.

Nativity Scene

I will just post a quick one tonight.  We had a great day today but am really tired and it is already 10pm.  

The other morning the kids were too quiet so I went to check on them and this is what I found.  They were playing with the nativity.  Caroline loves Mary and the wise men.  Last year when we would discuss the people coming to see the baby Jesus she would ask what their names were.  There are the usual ones, Mary, Joseph, Jesus, the shepards, and the wise men.   But with Caroline just saying that they were wise men didn't cut it.  So leave it to Justin to help her out.  The one carrying myrh is named Murray.  The one carrying frankincense  is Frank.  And then the wise man carrying gold was named something like Bob (don't remember exactly).  Caroline loves playing with them and now has a play mate to join in the fun.  Will's favorite is the shepard's staff.  Which isn't really surprising.

The kids are looking forward to Jesus's birthday and having more cake of course!  I am sure my grandmother (mommom, who gave me the nativity) is looking down with joy in her heart watching her great-grandchildren play with this.
OK, I will post more about the Christmas party and meeting Adam Sandler tomorrow when I can type coherent sentences.

Potty Training

Every mom knows what those two words mean.  Here are some phrases that Will hears.  

P oop

O h, my

T inkle (our word for pee)

T ime to go

Y eah

T reat for making it

R ight there

A aargh, wet again

I n the potty buddy

N ot there

I n the potty (he hears this a lot)

N ice job

G reat job

Yep that's why the lack of posts lately.  It has been a week since Will has been freed from the constrains of a diaper.  While Will has been freed I have been tied to the washing machine!  

I started this journey last Wednesday afternoon and that night was second guessing my brave decision.  You see Will is only 27 months old.  But now is as good as any I guess.   I have to admit that I was pushed in to it by my favorite guy, John Rosemond.  His take is that if you wait much past a child's second birthday to potty train them it is an insult to their intelligence to let the soil themselves all day.  So off I ventured.

So Wednesday afternoon after nap I got started and he went through 5 pairs of undies! After the 5th pair I just didn't put any more back on him and he did go to the potty 1 time.  Thursday I was thinking do I really want to put him in the car even for the short ride (13 minutes to get there) to take Caroline to preschool.  He went before we got in the car and made it all the way home with no accidents.  Already better then the afternoon before.  Overall Thursday was better than Wednesday with a success rate at about 50%.  Friday was even better.  But the true test was Saturday.  We had lots of places to go and things to do that day.  Justin was getting Will dressed and asked if he should put a pull-up on him.  I said no way and ruin the progress I am making!  We went to the gym, the church, Lowe's, and Wendy's.  Then after naps we went to run another 2 errands and out to eat.  He did fantastic, not 1 accident!!!  Then we got home and while Justin and I are hanging coats the playroom door shuts.  I take off running to get Will.  I was too late, the dreaded poop in the pants had already happened.  I let my guard down for 2 seconds and that is what happened.  Oh well, it's going to happen a lot more I am sure.  Sunday was even better since he even pooped in the potty at church.  Then comes Monday and there is a setback.  I forgot to send undies to preschool with him and he did use the potty once and then wet himself once too.  They put a diaper on him and when I went to take it off he was none to pleased.  Noooooo, diaper on!  So there were a few accidents after that.  Tuesday was better only 3 accidents.  

Today was a break though.  He told me he had to go tinkle, several times.  This is a first.  All the other times I have just taken him to the potty.  This time he has actually gone in the bathroom by himself.  He didn't want me to come in with him either.  He made it in the potty for the most part and also on his pants, undies, and shirt.  But most of it was in the pot and he did it himself!  Then later he didn't want me in there but told Caroline to come in.  I am a little scared about having 2 kids in the bathroom by themselves but I gotta let them figure it out sometime.

So here's to using the big boy potty and no more diapers.  Even if it does mean more laundry!  We are on our way to being a diaper free house!  

Nutcracker

Today Caroline and I had a girls afternoon out.  After church and lunch we headed off to Baltimore to meet up with Susan and go see the Nutcracker at the Baltimore School of the Arts.  We had a great time and Caroline loved all the dancing and seeing the beautiful costumes.  After the performance we went to a coffee shop and got some desserts for a snack before heading back home.  Then this evening after dinner we were hanging out watching some football and I got the camera out for some silly pictures.

Here is Will taking after his daddy and picking his nose.

Will with a singing Elmo stocking.  HE calls that hat he has on an Elmo hat since Elmo has one on too.

My two silly kids.  

Justin and I put the lights and fragile decorations on the tree tonight after the kids were in bed and I am excited for them to see it.  I also have several decorations set out on the sofa that are "theirs" to put on the tree.

First snow...sort of

It snowed!!!  Yesterday afternoon after naps Caroline comes downstairs and immediately heads to the bathroom.  While she is in there she yells, there's snow on the ground and it is still snowing!  Sure enough she was right.  Below are a few pictures of the kids enjoying the snow.  All they wanted to do was eat it so we had to teach them not to eat the snow off cars.

Caroline was obviously very happy eating snow.

You can tell by the pictures that we didn't get much snow at all but it was still fun to watch it come down and the kids loved it.  

I can't wait for lots more of the snow!

A little bit of the finer side

While Julie and I have been at Walter Reed, we've been very lucky.  Our health, kids, family, new friends, and old friends have all been great.  

On Thursday night, we added another great experience to the list.  There is this little hotel chain called the Fairmont.  They have hotels in San Francisco, New York, Maui, Chicago and Dallas.  There's also one in a little place called Washington DC.  That's the one close to where I live.

Going to this kind of place is what us normal folks call a "boondoggle".   It falls under the 2nd definition on Merriam-Webster online.  The people that own their own companies and have their names on their parking spots at work go to the "Fairmonts" when they want to get away and unwind---or the Waldorf Astoria.  

Somehow, a company that does business in DC had coordinated for a full five course dinner at the Fairmont with open bar, free valet parking, and all the fixins.  Somehow, this company forewent their opportunity to have their event but decided to donate this event to a group of Soldiers at Walter Reed.  They graciously donated this opportunity to our Brigade.  It was awesome.  There were seats for 150.  There was holiday music.  We found a babysitter on short notice.  We had filet mignon and crab cakes for the main course.  This place was so nice that there were no paper towels in the bath room.  There was a stack of cloth ones white as new fallen snow.  

Now, I've lived a pretty good life and I've been so fortunate.  I've even been pretty lucky (Julie married me!).  This little event was one of the coolest free things I've ever done.  

Toy Library

We have tons of toys.  We have the bottom of an armoire full of toys plus the den has a whole host of trucks and dress-ups covering the floor.  On top of that the playroom is stuffed full as well.  After reading more of John Rosemond ( I know all my ideas are his these days!) I realized, or rather he helped me realize, I really needed to get rid of most of our toys by creating what he calls a Toy Library.  I am hoping that by getting rid of some of our toys the kids will actually play with the toys instead of aggravating me and not playing with the toys they have.  Rosemond says a lot about limiting the number of toys but mainly they get overwhelmed by all the choice and then can't make a decision.

So yesterday afternoon I got a big Rubbermaid container out and had the kids lay out all the toys in the den and armoire.  Then they picked 2 toys each.  I helped Will decide and then I left the Lego's and dress-ups out as well.  The rest are all put away.  WOW!  My den looks normal again instead of a daycare center.  The kids did better today with limited choices and I am hoping it only gets better.  Caroline could have cared less about the toys being put away.  But Will on the other hand has had a few more problems with it.  Surprisingly he will ask for certain toys that were put away and then cry about it.  Even with it being my Wednesday for Ashley and Juliet there were plenty of toys for them to play with.  I haven't done the same with the playroom yet. Just haven't had the time.  The whole point of putting the toys in the so called library is that they can "check out" different toys every so often.  I am thinking right now we will return and exchange toys every Sunday afternoon. 

Thanksgiving weekend

Well, the whole extended Thanksgiving weekend was fabulous.  It started with Justin coming home before 7pm which is the first time in about 3-4 weeks.  Thursday we went to Susan and Graham's in Towson, MD and ate some wonderful food and stuffed our bellies for both lunch and dinner.  Everyone in the house took a nap after lunch to prepare for the delicious dinner.  It was great to be able to spend yet another Thanksgiving with Susan and Graham.  This was our second in a row and third overall.  Friday was also a great day.  In the morning I cleaned and Justin cut up Mackerel for the fish fry we had that evening.  All told there were 24 people (incl. us) at our house!  By far the most Justin and I have ever hosted.  It turned out to be perfect.  Justin fried and grilled the fish and then we had lots of sides and of course plenty of desserts.  The 8 kids that were in our house played with all the toys we own and we very well behaved considering 7 of them were under 4!  

Our honored guests of the night were dad and Marie since they offered to stay all day Saturday and babysit the kids while Justin and I went out on the town and did all of our Christmas shopping.  We were so successful that we even had a chance to see the new Bond movie!    We were out for about 11 hours without the kids.  Justin and I loved every minute of our time together that day.

Sunday morning we awoke to rain and cold.  After church and a bible study we had our usual picnic lunch in the den watching football.  After we all napped we went back to church to help decorate the sanctuary and fellowship hall.  After the decorating there was a potluck dinner.  What a great way to end our weekend of giving thanks.  

Thanks to all of you who bless our lives!