Such a Gentleman

Mr. A has done some of the cutest things lately.  In spite of his "I'm so tired from Kindergarten, I must meltdown at 6:30 every night," he has managed to pull some gems out.

Yesterday he asked me to lay down with him during SSNT (Seamons Sacred Naptime, for those of you wondering.  It happens every Sunday at approximately 1:00 pm).  DH was out of town for work and I decided to oblige.  It's only what a good mother would do, right?!  I had turned my back to his and within a minute this little hand started scratching my back.  He always asks for his back to be scratched, but this was the first time he actually scratched mine back!  Unprompted, nonetheless! 

Mr. A also has a baby sister, Baby S, who is OBSESSED with shoes.  She demands that they be put on the minute she gets out of bed in the morning.  I think she thinks she's going places immediately.  And, often, she changes which shoes she wants on.  This morning Mr. A was getting dressed when Baby S crawled her way into the closet in their room, picked out some new shoes, and immediately began demanding (with her loud grunts and holding her shoes in the air) that somebody put those shoes on.  Well, wouldn't you know that my sweet Mr. A sat himself down on that floor and velcroed Baby S's shoes on to her 2 little chubby feet.  It warmed my heart in an instant.  Once again, unprompted. 

And then tonight after I had picked him up from playing at his cousins' house after school, I asked him what his favorite part of school was today.  "I got to play with Warnick (his cousin) at recess, Mom.  He heard me call his name and he came and played with me." 

I think he's starting to figure out the Golden Rule.  You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours.  3 cheers for that.

First Day

Miss M was off to preschool with her hair in a "low ponytail" and Mr. A started his grand adventures in Kindergarten.  Lucky ducks!

A Wedding

My little sister, Kimmy, got married last weekend on the beach.  We all gathered for the grand affair and loved every minute of it. 

These 2 little beauties are just 8 months apart.  They sure loved each other.

Baby S perfected her "hairy eyeball" look while we were there

Cousins giving each other a "little" love

Mr. A is in his cheesy phase

Dancing Queen

She thought she had died and become a princess

GQ

Rare form this one was in - her hair looked like that all night

Good thing there aren't more of them, huh?! :)

Beautiful bride

Baby S and her mama

She was all over the place

Hair flower off...bring on the dancing, people.

A rare moment for this one to "sit it out"

Our 3 happy little people

The Happy Place

Sand.  Shovels.  Waves.  Boogie Boards.  The Ocean.  Shells.  Sand Castles.  Snacks.  Sun.  Breeze.  Rolling Tides.  Chairs.  Umbrellas.  Chit Chat.  Family.  Friends.  Smiles.  Squeals.  Laughter.  Beach. 

Teeth

She didn't really want to show it off

I've discussed Baby S's lack of teeth often on this blog.  And, so, I thought it important that I mention she finally got one.  12 months and 24 days after her birth to be exact.  She got 1 - the one on the bottom right.  And it solo'd it in her mouth for a good 2 weeks.  And, then, 2 weeks ago she got the other one on the bottom.  And then, last week, she cracked a top one through.  You go, girl!

For Me. And My Memory.

These next few posts are for me, my fading memory, and my kids who may want to remember things in years to come.  I hate to let it all slip away, so off we go...

How I Potty Trained a Freshly-Turned 3 Year Old

I thought she would go to Kindergarten in diapers.  I really did.  We begged and pleaded and bribed and sat and pleaded and bribed and begged some more.  NOTHING DOING.  This girl wasn't ditching the diapers for Starbursts, Little People Carriages, or even offers for anything she wanted.  I couldn't understand it.  Girls were supposed to be way more advanced on this stuff than boys.  She was supposed to potty train herself at 18 months, for crying out loud.  Her brother was 2 1/2 when he traded the Pampers for the Spiderman.  She was now 3.  And, it was slightly ridiculous.  Not even slightly.  I was so done with her not being potty trained. 

Wouldn't YOU be ready to see this face regularly if you were a toilet?!

But, as I might have mentioned previously, no amount of any efforts on my part were going to make a difference in that stubborn little mind.  And, so, I had given up.  "She'll go when she's ready," my mom kept saying.  I guess so.  I figured by the time we moved and had gotten settled, we could try again.  She'd only be 1/2 way to 4.  Who cares, right?

And, so it was very innocently one Monday afternoon in mid-June when Mr. A asked me if THIS was the week he was going to gymnastics camp.  "Not this week, I replied, but next week."  Miss M happened to be within earshot and quickly piped up, "I want to go to gymnastics camp!  Mommy, I go, too, with Mr. A?"

"No, you can only go to gymnastics camp if you go on the potty ALL the time - every single time - and wear big girl panties."

"Fine, Mom.  I do it.  I go ALLL the time.  I go get my big girl panties right now."

She had one week and I figured we'd see.  Gymnastics camp hung over her head like the biggest dangling carrot ever.  A few accidents here and there in the next 5 days, but wouldn't you know that this little girl got to go to gymnastics camp the following week with her big brother and did not have one accident.  Not even a squirt. 

Her best buddy, Mr. A., took her every time she needed to go.  He has a good heart, that Mr. A.  And, the 2 of them have a pretty tight squeeze on one another's hearts. 

I'm pretty sure they held hands just like this every time he took her to the bathroom.  Love these two.

I will most certainly not win any Mother of the Year Awards for how I potty trained my first daughter.  I don't care, though.  I bought her potty training-ness for a pretty penny.  And wish I'd done it 6 months earlier. 

Miss M, for the record, you were worth every penny anyway!  Sure love you!

Little by Little

My sister-in-law, Kelly, inspired me to post again.  She does it every day.  She's that kinda gal - she went from absolutely nothing to every day something.  I told her I didn't want to use my blog to whine.  She said sometimes that's what it's for, even if it's just a little something.  So, I'll start with my favorite little something.

Baby S.  She turned 1 on July 25.  1. Yes, 1 year old.  Time marches so quickly on.  I love it and I hate it all at the same time.  She is a peanut of a gal.  She weighed 19 lbs 2 oz at her check up.  She's in the 20th percentile for weight.  But, she was in the 75th percentile for height.  Go figure.  No teeth - not a one in sight, even.  She's crawling all over.  In the last 2 weeks she has started pulling herself up and letting us "walk" her around while her tiny little hands hold on to our index fingers on either side for stability.  I can make a little Bam-Bam pony tail on the top of her head.  And sometimes she'll even leave the bow in for 5 or 10 minutes.  Until she remembers it's there and pulls it out, tries to put it back in by putting it on top of her head, and then hands it to me to put back in and repeat that game until I'm done.  She L-O-V-E-D her birthday cupcake.  The big one I was planning to make her got packed up in the hundreds of thousands of pounds of stuff that is in storage, but a homemade yellow one with chocolate frosting sufficed.  We celebrated her 2 nights in a row.  Lucky girl.  And, lucky mom.  I love nothing more than watching a newly-minted 1-year-old smoosh that frosting and cake all over their face.  My son wanted nothing to do with it.  My girls, on the other hand.  Can't get enough.  And Baby S performed both nights.  Cake crumbles and frosting remnants all over tiny hands, and chubby cheeks, and a toothless wonder smile shining through.  I love my Baby S so much.  She is so entertained by her brother and sister, yet so into doing things in her own way and even by herself.  She gets fed when she claps (her way of signing "more"), and even other times if she can scream over the others.  She drinks her juice from her sippy and loves to chew on her toothbrush, even though she doesn't yet need it.  No teeth does not stop her from enjoying the finer things in life, however.  She still eats chicken nuggets, cheese, yogurt, peas, corn, cinnamon raisin toast, saltine crackers, pretzels, quesadillas, rice and beans, olives, ramen noodles, chicken noodle soup, etc, etc.  She just sucks a little longer, I guess, to soften it right up!  I'm pretty sure it's a testament of her tenacity and patience. 

And on to my next little something.  That little thing with a roof where we put beds and toys and belongings and make memories.  A house.  I think I miss my old house because we have yet to find a new one.  Well, I guess we've found one, but the powers that be are just taking their sweet time to realize that it's ours.  My DH is working his hardest on that one and it will all work out.  We'd really like for it to be sooner rather than later, though.  More on that if it works out.

My last little thing of the night.  My friends.  My sweet, Philadelphia-forever friends.  They'll never leave.  And, we'll likely never move back.  I'm starting to come to grips with that.  Little by little. The night I said goodbye to one of my best ones and walked back into the hotel at 3:00 AM (when we went back to pack up the house. I mean supervise others packing the house and loading the truck. we hung with friends as much as we could) my last night there, I'd been crying so hard and for so long that the hotel night clerk took one look at me and asked if I'd just broken up with my boyfriend.  No, sir, it's much worse than that.  Much, much sadder.  I then took my cryfest upstairs and sobbed into my DH's shirt for quite some time.  I didn't sleep that night.  It was finally real.  We were leaving.  I cried some more on the way to the airport and then when the plane took off.  And I still have days where I can't fight back the crocodile tears.  But, they are becoming fewer.  And, as I told a dear friend today - sometimes the right thing and the hard thing are the same thing.  And, thus it is for me.

I think that's all I've got for now.  Thanks, Kel.  Come back next time for a much more upbeat account of life in the place where I spent my first 65* and cloudy birthday EVER.  :)  

Looks Like We Made It

All in one piece. We have arrived in our new "home." I say that because we still have a real home to find and doctors and dentists and hairdressers, etc, but we are all finally adjusted to the time change and starting to assume a new normal.

The hotel we stayed in for the first 4 days was luxurious, our temp housing is not so much but it will suffice. The kids have re-discovered "spiderman park" and are in heaven. The weather has been awesome. We celebrated DH's bday in grand style with a day on the lake, a picnic on the shores, and a yummy dinner with family.

Speaking of family, we have had lots of family in town already! DH's parents came for a visit, my mom came to check in on us all (my sister, Kim, lives here too), and my other sister and her family are in town visiting multiple sets of family as well! It's been so nice to have helpers with our kids, consultants on our house-hunting, more party-goers for the birthday, grocery cart pushers at Costco, and on and on!

Baby S has a "little" big bday coming up and we're all excited for her. She is crawling all around (has been for a month or so), loves her big brother and sister, likes to try to eat what we're eating (which is slightly challenging because she still has no teeth). She loves her blankies and bedtime, is drinking whole milk like a champ, eats tortellini, olives, bread, yogurt, cheese, puffs, baby ma'ams, cheerios, and anything else we can come up with! She is starting to develop an opinion and stand supported for brief periods of time. At this point we are hoping just for teeth by her first birthday!

So this week we continue the house hunt, try to figure out how to talk to friends on East Coast time, resolve to spend less at the grocery store, and get all settled in, we will also work to find time to swim in the pool, run on the trail, play with cousins, and discover new places!

Ding Dong the B is Gone

Finally.  No more excuses.  After 3 glorious years, it was time to say farewell to Miss M's favorite possession - her "B" or binky or pacifier - whatever you prefer to call it.  She was only allowed to have it in her bed, so she spent a lot of time in that bed.  With that B.  She also slept for a long time with it.  And sometimes she'd still take 2 naps a day with it.  It was a blessing and a curse, though.  When she'd have it in her mouth and start talking through it, I couldn't have been more annoyed.  Yet, when she'd "cuddle with my B" and snuggle right in to our chests and just lay there, I couldn't have been more loving. 

Alas, it was time.  2 weeks ago she had finally gotten over her nasty sickness.  DH had gone to the gym and I was putting the kids to bed.  We had talked with Miss M about giving the B to the binky fairy, but she cried very very real tears.  Crocodile ones, I tell ya.  She wasn't putting it in a box and leaving it for anyone - not even Santa Claus or her sister, Baby S.  And, so, DH had put the B away earlier in the day, didn't tell me where it was, and I couldn't get a hold of him.  I told her to lie down and that he would bring it to her when he came home.

She did and when he came home she was still awake.  He marched upstairs, told her she didn't need it anymore, that he had put it away, and she would be fine.  She whimpered a little bit but promptly fell asleep.  She asked for it a lot the next day, cried some when I put her to bed again, but we stayed strong in our resolve and she even got a present from the Binky Fairy the next day (because Daddy had sent it to her).  Her very own Little People airport (thank you, Target toy sale).  She was delighted.

Every once in a while she'll still ask for it.  I can't say I miss it at all (except for the 6:30 wake up instead of the 7:45 wake up).  I know, however, that she sure does.  It was a good little buddy for her.  But, lesson learned.  Don't wait until Baby S is 3 to take it away.  Too.  Much.  Drama.