wordless wednesday #46{from the vault}

very successful week

If you hadn't guessed from Monday's post, we are all about the potty training around here right now. Josie has been intellectually ready for a long time, but despite my best intentions we were way too busy over the summer to carve out any time to work on it. This week I decided that enough was enough and we needed to focus on getting the girl out of diapers, at least during the day (goodness knows, nighttime can be a whole different story!). Every morning I stripped her out of her diaper first thing, and only put it back on for naptime or for leaving the house. Each day brought mixed results: she peed on the potty at least once and she peed on the floor at least once (except for today!). Each time we went out, she returned home with a dry diaper... which indicated to me that she was starting to get the concept of "holding it."

Today has been the best day so far. I've been having Josie sit on the potty every 3 hours during the day, but this morning after only 1.5 hours, she actually told me she had to go (and proceeded to do so). When we were at Target and then again at Cayden's tae-kwon-do class, she started dancing around (doing the potty dance, if you will) so we quickly made our way to the restroom. Although she was a bit fearful of the big toilet, she sat right down and went pee without much hesitation. I thought it was a huge leap that she'd wait until we got to a public restroom rather than use her diaper. All in all, she has successfully used the potty 5 times today... a big improvement from Monday!

So I feel like we turned a big corner this week. I am by no means saying that she is potty-trained (or even all that close to being potty-trained) but we're getting there. Each potty experience is getting easier and less time-consuming, and I no longer feel like the whole thing is a battle of wills between her and me.

As a reward for her most excellent week, Josie is now the proud owner of a set of her very own Littlest Pet Shop animals (she asks to play with Avery's every single day so she's pleased as punch to have her own now!).

this could get addictive real fast

You know, I was just thinking this morning that I didn't have enough stuff to do today. So I think I'll spend the entire rest of the day morphing tons and tons of photos into pseudo-polaroids at rollip.com. Who doesn't love fake digital polaroids?

someone needs to get this guy off the air

I don't consider myself to be much of an animal activist (I kind of don't really like animals, but don't tell anyone I said that) but this literally made my stomach turn. I'm sure people will be claiming it was all just a stunt tomorrow (it's debatable whether or not there's really a frog in his hands in the first place), but even if that's the case, it's still completely tasteless and just plain stupid.


Glenn Beck is such an idiot... everything about him irritates me and this just took it to a whole new level. I can't imagine he'll be on TV for long, but I never would have believed he'd be the King of Fox (quite an accomplishment!) after watching a few episodes of his old show on CNN. And to think, it's a neck-and-neck race between him and Rush to be the new leaders of the GOP. Good luck to 'em!

wordless wednesday #45

it's official... i think?

We visited Josie's prospective new preschool this afternoon for our "final interview."

[I swear, these folks are just trying to drive me away with all their formalities. It's basically an organized (very well-organized, I'll admit) playgroup... is there really a need for three interviews and all this back-and-forth?]

Anyway, despite all my hesitance along the way, I think we're sold... if for no other reason than the fact that Josie loves it there. She was so excited all day to go to her "different preschool" and jumped right in with the other kids once we arrived. Seeing her there today just reiterated to me how ready she is for something like this. So, barring any current co-op members who oppose our joining in on the group, we'll be starting up soon. Possibly even next week. Yikes.

Speaking of which, anyone interested in taking a CPR/First Aid class with me?

if you spell something wrong, do you really deserve surgery?

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

bladder of steel

I find myself at my wit's end today, because I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how to potty train a child who doesn't pee ALL DAY LONG. Seriously, Josie has not peed once since she woke up this morning. Granted, she slept until 9:15 (bless her heart)... but still. Doesn't that seem like a really long time?

This weekend she made a few steps forward with regard to her potty practices (I won't go into detail), so when she got up I took her diaper off and let her pick out some underwear to put on. We had 2 hours before we had to leave the house, so I was sure she'd need to "go" at some point. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be, so I put a diaper on her while we headed out to meet some friends for lunch, run some errands, and to pick up Avery & Cayden from school.

When we got home from school (at about 2:30), I took her diaper off again and discovered it was dry. I was quite surprised, but excited that she'd surely have to relieve herself soon. That was 2 hours ago and still.... no pee.

And now we're heading out again, so it's back to the diaper. Frustrating and perplexing, to say the least.

Update (Tuesday): Josie was up at 7:15am today, at which point I took off her diaper. Again, she was dry all morning, had a dry diaper upon returning from dance class, and remained dry through lunchtime. I postponed her nap as long as I could so she would eventually have to pee... and it paid off! She sat down on her potty at 1:00 with a book in hand and proceeded to pee (which means she either held it or didn't have to go for 5 hours!). She's peed a few other times in the potty, but this was the most "purposeful" time that I've witnessed. Is that a light I see at the end of the tunnel?

kids say the funniest things (not)

While talking to my friend about her decision to start playing the electric bass, I told her (with Avery listening on, of course) about how I was just thinking it was time for a new creative outlet of my own. I need a new project. I need to learn something new. Maybe I could take up a musical instrument of my own.

Out of nowhere, in front of all the parents on Cayden's soccer team, Avery chimes in, "Mama, maybe you could learn how to cook."

Ha ha ha.


(Sadly, I don't think she was trying to be funny.)

no ship

(Warning! This post contains inappropriate language and is not recommended for the younger set. Thankfully, there is no audio to accompany the text.)

* * * * *

On the way home from ballet yesterday, Cayden was showing off his new Lego ship to his sisters.

"New Lego shit?," Josie immediately quipped.

Of course, Avery & Cayden started cracking up. I tried to "ssh" them so Josie wouldn't make that her new favorite word, but it only took the tiniest crack of a laugh for her to know she was onto something.

"CayCay's shit. CayCay's shit. CayCay's new Lego shit."

On and on and on, while Avery & Cayden were laughing so hard they could hardly breathe. Trying to maintain some control of the situation, I attempted to change the subject.

"Yes, Josie, that's Cayden's new shiP. Did you know we're going to dinner at Yaya & Papa's tonight? Won't that be fun?"

"No! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!"

"Shit, shit, shit."

"Shit."

* * * * *

If I've learned one thing as a parent these past 9 years, sometimes you just have to recognize and accept when you've lost the battle.

zoo-bound

{L to R: Avery, Henry, Jackson & Josie. Not pictured: 1-month-old Zachary, who didn't feel like having his picture taken.}

Josie and I headed off to the zoo this morning with a whole gaggle of buddies. I was thrilled to finally have a chance to get some good use out of my new lens, which has more zoom than I really need on a day-to-day basis, but is perfect for getting up close and personal with the critters. First off, each child had to stop in for a sticker at the information booth. With four children ranging from 20-26 months, this was no quick task, believe you me.


Next up, we headed out to view the wildlife. The zoo has been undergoing some huge renovations lately (recession, what recession?) and has some gorgeous new exhibits. The chimps are no longer living in the same tight quarters, with plenty of room to roam.


This poor elephant clearly has some kind of facial injury but I was unable to find any info about it online. I know all the animals are watched carefully and cared for really well, so I'm assuming it's nothing too serious. Looks painful though!


The newest exhibit (I had no idea, but it apparently just opened 5 days ago) is the Predators of the Serengeti and it does not disappoint. I didn't notice a male lion anywhere, but we saw three females, along with a pair of cheetahs and some sleeping African wild dogs. The exhibit is beautiful and definitely worth a visit to check out.


Is it just me, or from this angle does this cheetah totally look like it could hop that fence without even really trying?

It was a big goal of mine to get Josie some more time with her friends this fall, and so far we're off to a great start, without all that much effort on my part. Thanks to Megan, we've got a standing weekly outing planned with the rugrats. (And dinner/movie plans next week for just the moms. Sweet.)

Edited: Sad news to report. Charlie the Chimp (I think the bottom chimp in the photo above, but it's hard to tell because they all looked the same to me) died later in the day on Thursday. Zookeepers say it was totally unexpected and they have yet to determine a cause of death. Charlie was 39 years old (give or take a few). On a much lighter note, you can check out some video of our zoo day here.

the wrath of the iphone

Before I begin, lots of prefacing:

• The following observations apply to any and all phones with the capability of connecting to the internet. For the sake of convenience, I will refer to them all as iphones because this is my blog and I make the rules.

• I fully acknowledge that my gripes do not apply to all iphone owners (especially not you).

• Some of my best friends and very favorite family members are iphone owners.

• I'm probably just jealous because I don't have one.

Okay, enough with the prefacing already. I'm pretty sure iphones are corrupting the human race. Ever since the crazy-convenient gadgets have become the most popular thing next to sliced bread, all I see everywhere I go is people quickly and easily accessing some type of handy information stored on their adorably cute little hand-held devices. Folks are checking email, scanning through (surprisingly high-quality) pictures, searching the web for directions to a restaurant, etc. Which can be fine and well in the right time and place, don't get me wrong.

However... there are also not-so-right times and places. Take a toddler dance class for example. No exaggerating, during Josie's 30-minute class yesterday, I spied four separate people checking email (or Facebook updates, MySpace comments, Twitter tweets, etc.) on their phones during the parent-participation class.

(And this was by no means the first time this has happened. In each of her previous five classes, there was at least one parent each week who slipped to the periphery of the studio to check his or her phone. This was just the first week that I noticed so many people during one class period.)

The first lady had a bit of an excuse because her daughter was not actually participating in the class. She was sitting out, just watching... so I could see how the mom would be bored and need something to read. Since 30 minutes is an eternity in this day and age. ???

But the other three parents, they had no excuse. Their kids were all dancing away, with the rest of the parents who were engaged and participating like we were supposed to. But apparently they just couldn't resist waiting another whole 10-15 minutes to check for messages they probably didn't even have, and certainly couldn't have been that important.

Granted, parent participation is pretty silly in some of these classes. It makes us all feel like fools and often times the kids don't even care if you're taking part or not. But it's the principle of the matter, goshdarnit. You're there with your child for 30 whopping minutes. You're probably on the computer or the phone for longer than you should be the rest of the day; why not just go out on a limb and set aside this 30 minutes once a week for some undivided attention?

One last preface (or is it a postface?) because, all kidding aside, I hate the thought of inadvertently coming off as "holier than thou." Undivided attention is not something any of us have a lot of these days, and generally, I think our kids are turning out just fine. But sometimes I wonder if all these technological (and networking) advances are really do us any favors.

wordless wednesday #44

kanye west is such a troublemaker

why?

why?

why? why? why?
why? why?

why? why? why? why? why?

why? why? why?
why? why? why? why? why? why? why? why?


why? why? why? why? why? why? why? why? why?


why?

eight years ago today...

...I found out I was pregnant with Cayden. Right in the middle of all hell breaking loose on the other end of the country, I got some of the best news of my life. I had no idea what was going on anywhere outside of my house. I had just gotten out of bed and hadn't turned on the TV yet. Andrew had left for work already and 14-month-old Avery was still sleeping (she's proud to tell you she used to sleep 10pm-10am every single day until her brother arrived).

Once I did find out what else was going on that morning, I had such mixed feelings. I wasn't sure if I could/should be happy about the prospect of another baby entering the world when I had no idea what that would would be like in 9 months' time. I didn't tell anyone, even Andrew, for a couple of days because, sadly, it seemed like kind of an afterthought at the time, and it just didn't feel right to be celebrating.

But now I'm actually glad to have a firm date to attach with that wonderful memory. The rest of the memories of that day are obviously horrible to think about, but I'm grateful that I remember so vividly everything that was going on when I first knew about Cayden, who was of course nameless at the time (although I did at least know he was a boy from day 1). It's hard to wrap my head around the fact that he wasn't here yet... that there ever was a time that he wasn't here.

And while none of us will ever forget the tragedies that occurred eight years ago, I am so, so thankful every single day that this tiny (on the grand scheme of things, obviously not tiny for me personally) piece of September 11th worked out so well. I just can't imagine life any other way.

does oprah even know what a flash mob is?

I just happened to turn on the TV this afternoon in time to catch this most impressive performance from The Black-Eyed Peas in downtown Chicago. Actually, it's not the performance that's impressive but the audience... just watch. The very funniest part is Oprah's reaction. She clearly had no idea any of this was going to happen. And I suspect the idea of a flash mob was a foreign one to her before today.

any doctors in the house?

Wasn't it almost a year ago exactly I was asking for medical advice? Well here we are again! What is with this girl???

Can anyone tell me what might be going on here?:

Or here?:

At some point this afternoon (I can't remember when exactly, don't judge me), Josie started complaining that her eye hurt. She was rubbing it for a minute, but not an extended period of time. I didn't think anything of it until I looked back at her in the car at about 6:00 and her left eyelid was really droopy. I immediately looked at her eye closely and it's not at all pink, it's not at all goopy (pink eye was my first thought) and there doesn't appear to be any obvious swelling (critter bite). I'm not loving the online descriptions, so I'm choosing to ignore those. If it's still droopy in the morning, I will certainly call the doctor. But in the meantime, if anyone has any helpful hints, that'd be great!

P.S. Is it Friday yet?

obama's uber-controversial speech

I was very curious to hear if the kids watched Obama's speech to schoolchildren yesterday. Not a huge surprise, I'm totally in favor of them listening to the President talk about responsibility and staying in school. But, I haven't really been keeping up on the news and wasn't sure if the speech would be shown to them.

I asked Avery first and she said her class was going to watch it tomorrow (which was today*). Then I asked Cayden. He paused when I asked if he'd seen it and said, "ummm, nope."

(30-second pause)

"Uh, yeah, I guess we did. It was really boring so I'm not sure if we did or not."


* * * * *
That reaction pretty much guarantees there was nothing controversial (i.e. exciting) in it!


*For the record, Avery agreed that it was boring after watching it today.

wordless wednesday #43

ring the bell, school's back in!

Yes, that's a line from an MC Hammer song, but that's how I'm rolling today. It's been a long summer.

As of this morning at 8am, we now have a 4th and 2nd grader on our hands. Both kids were excited to venture back off to school to see their friends and meet their new teachers. Both parents were more than happy to send them off.

nothing like 3 hours in the e.r. to sap the life out of you

[Before I begin, she's fine!]

Josie had an adventurous evening in the local emergency room today... and I've got the hospital band to prove it. Apparently they don't offer wristbands to toddlers who are screaming and writhing in pain???

On our way out of IKEA today, Josie was holding Daddy's hand and somehow twisted or slipped a little or something (Andrew didn't notice anything out of the ordinary) and was immediately in obvious pain. She was clutching her left arm with her right and wouldn't budge for anything. Getting her into her carseat, I knew something was seriously wrong. We ran home to drop the kids off and to grab a few essentials (cookies & milk... and Bear of course) and headed to the emergency room. I was sure her arm was broken, but Andrew texted me while we were checking in to say that he thought it was a dislocated elbow (aka "nursemaid's elbow"), based on Wikipedia's description. Yes, it gives the example of a parent tugging on the arm of an uncoopertaive child, and no, that's not what happened.

Anyway, back to the ER. Once Josie was in her stroller and got comfortable with her arm tucked into a blanket, she was relatively content. She loved watching all the people (there are some interesting folks in the ER, let me tell you) and even watched a bit of a NASCAR race on TV. She was all decked out in her ballet slippers & tutu, and got several comments about what a happy ballerina she was. As long as her arm didn't accidentally move, she was completely fine. But if it did move a bit, or the stroller got bumped, she would start screaming in pain.

When we got into the triage room, the nurse agreed that it sounded like nursemaid's elbow. Apparently it was the second one she'd seen today on a two-year-old, so she went and found the doctor who'd treated the other tyke earlier in the day. Dr. Rob came in and did some crazy maneuver to pop the elbow back into place. He warned that it would hurt A LOT but that Josie should be feeling better immediately.

He was half right.

It obviously did hurt A LOT but she felt no relief when he was done. After letting her calm down a bit, I tried to get her to move the arm and she seemed to be in even more pain than before. As we waited for the doctors to decide what to do next, she cried herself to sleep in my lap, after telling me several times that she was a sad ballerina. Totally broke my heart.

The next step was getting 2 x-rays (ouch!), which yielded no answers. The doctor was more convinced than ever that it was nursemaid's elbow, so he tried the manuever one more time (ouch!). And just like that, the whole ordeal was over. Within 30 seconds, Josie started hesitantly moving her fingers, then raising her whole arm. Before long she was walking around the triage room yelling at all the nurses that she was all better.

Somehow all that added up to 3 hours. I swear, that place is like a time warp. Walk in, blink your eyes, and you're another day older. Thankfully, we were in and out compared to most people. One poor mother came rushing in with a boy (who looked about Josie's age) who was just coming out of a seizure. Naturally, she was freaking out and they were both rushed into a room immediately. A little perspective on the situation at hand was nice... as worried as I was for the little boy.

A $100 co-pay and 1 vanilla milkshake later, we were home safe and sound. Josie might be sore for a few days and she's supposed to go in for a follow-up visit with her pediatrician in 2 weeks. Other than that, she should be good as new. Personally, I'm hoping she'll sleep in a little bit!

watching the swifts

We only learned about the phenomenon of the swifts a few years ago from my teacher-friend Amy, who seems to know about everything there is to do in Portland. Every night in September, an estimated 40,000 birds come home to roost in the chimney at Chapman School. They start swirling around the chimney at about 7:00 and it gets more and more dramatic until the sky is full of these birds. Pictures and words really don't do it justice... you just have to go for yourself. (There is a park playground right next door so it's kid-friendly.)

The photo above was taken at 7:20, when the number of birds was still relatively low. The next one was at 7:30:

These last two were taken at 7:45, at what I would guess was close to the peak (we had a tired, but still very chatty, girl on our hands so we had to leave before the fun was over):



If I heard correctly on the news, Friday was when the moon was actually full, but that did not take away from how beautiful it looked last night, full or not. We were in awe on the way home when we'd get a peek at it through the trees. Without a tripod, this blurriness was all I could manage:

1/1000th of the conversation on the way home

Josie: Where's my new book?

Avery: That book is not for you, it's for Meegan's new baby, Leo.

{Sorry to ruin the surprise, Meegan!}

Josie: Megan?

Avery: No, Meegan.

Josie: Where's Megan?

Avery: Megan's probably at home, but the book's for Meegan.

Josie: Where's "Different Avery*?"

Avery: Probably at home with her mom.

Josie: Megan?

Avery: Yes, Megan.

Josie: The book's for Megan?

Avery: No, the book's for Meegan's new baby, Leo.

Josie: That book's not for me. It's for Meegan.

Avery: Yes, Meegan's new baby, Leo.

Josie: Leo?

Avery: Yes, Leo.

Josie: Why?

Avery: Because he's about to be born and he needs a book.

Josie: Where's Meegan?

Avery: Probably at home.

Josie: Why?

Avery: Because it's night-night time.

Josie: I'm tired.

Avery: I'm tired, too.

Josie: Why?


*Josie's codename for Megan's daughter Avery, so as not to get confused with her sister, "Same Avery."

revelations of a cranky insomniac

I have not been sleeping well this week, at all. Tuesday night was the best night of sleep I had all week, and even then I was waking up at least every hour or so. Last night I could not fall asleep to save my life. I could tell I was tired, but my brain just couldn't turn off. Here are a couple of the semi-rational things that I couldn't stop thinking about:

• While the two older kids were at classes that overlapped by 45 minutes on Tuesday, I decided to try and sneak in a grocery store run. In the parking lot I saw a guy walking in with a shirt on that read "Stupid Begins with U." I was immediately irritated and kept thinking about how annoying that was while I was shopping. Wouldn't you know it, I accidentally got behind him in line. He took forever to get all his groceries unloaded, coupons scanned, wallet opened, etc. Keep in mind I was dealing with a very limited amount of time when I tell you that by the time he actually left the store, I wanted to hit him and scream that "first and foremost, stupid does NOT in fact begin with a U, dumbass, and second [this was where I wanted to pop him on the top of his head]." Why on earth would people want a shirt like that to dictate others' first impression of them???
• While I was trying to sleep, at about 12:30am, it started raining. I could tell because I was on the couch, which is right next to the window that's over a patch of gravel in our side yard and the rain hitting the gravel totally sounded like a scary masked burglar trying to break in. It quickly went from raining to pouring and I even saw three lightning strikes (but did not hear any thunder, no matter how hard I tried). This was quite irritating to me (I get irritated easily when I'm tired, I can't help it) in two ways. First off, I had just made a point to get back on my shoes at 9:30 to go out and water all the plants. I'd been meaning to do this all week because it's been fairly warm, but never got around to it. Second, I had just finished watching the news at 11:30 (weather report included) and there was not a single mention about rain being forecasted for last night. The guy said it would rain late this morning (I'm looking out the window now and there is not a cloud in the sky) but certainly not last night. So if they can't even predict that it's going to rain in one hour, why on earth do they try to predict what it's going to do ten days from now???
• This week hasn't been bad at all on the kid front. Besides trying to cram too much in by myself, it's really been quite pleasant. Looking back, I can safely say that Avery and Cayden have not argued once and they have gone out of their way to be helpful and agreeable. Maybe it's because they heard the desperation in my voice on Sunday when I begged them to behave this week. It's certainly not just because Andrew is gone because they're not normally like this during the work week (they're not terrible by any means, but the amount of arguing is certainly higher). But no matter how much I reward this improved behavior, I guarantee that will be back to their old bickering ways this evening at bedtime when Daddy is home. So if they are capable of getting along when they want to, why on earth would two people choose to argue with each other all day long when it never leads to anything positive, and usually leads to getting in trouble???

humpday

Today has been a long, tough day. It's 9:15pm and I just got the kids to bed, quite late for them. But that's been the story this week. With just one parent to do all the menial tasks that come with raising kids, it takes a long time to get everything done. Kudos to all the single parents out there (or parents whose partners travel a lot), because it's a helluva lot of work.

In order to speed the (never-ending) evening up, I decided I needed to streamline a little and force Josie to get over her fear of the shower. I tossed all 3 kids in at the same time, easily cutting 30 minutes off of bath/shower time. Honestly, I was going to skip her bath altogether but she actually seemed excited to try out the shower. Of course she changed her mind very quickly and wanted to get out, so I did have to "force" her to stay in for a few minutes to get washed up. So predictably, by the time I was done washing her, she was having a great time and then didn't want to get out. That girl makes me tired.

Andrew will be home tomorrow night and we will all be quite happy to head off to the airport to get him. The kids (i.e. Avery) have been much less dramatic about his week away than I suspected... no tears before bed or pouting all day because Daddy's not here. It's been hilarious to watch them talk to him on the phone. Cayden is very uncomfortable on the phone in general and he's not quite sure how to hold it so he can hear and be heard, so his conversations are short and slightly painful. Josie talks to him on speakerphone and is convinced that "Daddy's in the phone!" When he calls she immediately runs off to grab things to show him, and really believes that he can see them. Avery just retreats into an empty room and closes the door to talk to him, so I have no idea what she talks about... but the conversation obviously comes more easily to her than her poor brother.

Just one more day.

wordless wednesday #42

dumb thing to broadcast to the world (wide web)

It hit me sometime during the day that tonight will be is the first time I have ever spent the night (overnight) alone in this house... or anywhere else since we moved into this house 9+ years ago. I've been here alone with the kids overnight on several occasions, but for some reason that's more comforting to me than being here alone alone. Which is odd because it's not like 3 groggy kids are going to be much help to me if some masked burglar breaks in at 4 in the morning.

(Not that that's going to happen or anything.)

So tonight will be a good test. I just got back from a much, much-needed evening out with friends (with some awesome presents... life is so good) and the kids are tucked in safe and sound at my parents' house. Part of me wants to turn on some loud music and really enjoy the empty house.

But the other part of me is tired and thinks I might just go to bed. Since I'm so old now.