Adventures in Potty Training

Potty training is one of the few duties of parenting that I really dread. Our first experience was with little Ava, who actually broke us in easy, although it didn't seem like it at the time. Ava was a book girl so she was happy to sit there for hours with a supply of books and several sippy cups of different drink choices. She was 21 months at the time and she was following right after her big cousin Kayte so she was definitely interested and she caught on fast and she was pretty darn cute too:

Jack started the day after his second birthday. We don't mess around when it comes to potty training--I clear the calendar for a week and we don't leave the house. We throw away the diapers in a big show of confidence and we pull out the big kid unders. I spend days sitting on the floor next to them and I clean up more accidents than I thought possible and just when I think they will never get it, they surprise me with a whole dry day, which leads to two and then three in a row.

Which leads us to sweet Jemma Jane. Who started on Tuesday and has not had an accident since that very first morning. After 5 accident-free days, she's what we would call technically potty trained....except someone forgot to tell her. Taking Jemma to the bathroom is her idea of pure torture, she screams so loud I actually have to close the windows in case the neighbors think she's being murdered over here. She holds it for hours (and hours) and then tells us when she has to go and then when it comes right down to it, she is so freaked out that she turns into a hysterical mess. It is sad. Really sad. And immensely difficult at 8 months pregnant because it involves me sitting on the hard wood floors or the ottoman there and hunching over her for good chunks of time.

Who knew that our quickest potty-trainer would actually be the trickiest too?!

What's Jemma up to?

It's not nearly as fun as school and probably a lot more traumatic but Jemma's been doing a whole lot of this:

That's right. I'm taking advantage of the first week of school to hopefully potty train this little monkey before the next one arrives. Day One was a blur (more because of my pregnant brain than it being too terribly awful--although I do remember that as soon as Ed got home she sat right down and went for him no problem!). Day Two was a great success--she had zero accidents! And we are now in Day Three, which if I remember correctly, is a day of serious regression that ends with me wondering if she will wear a diaper to Kindergarten. Blech.

All tuckered out

When I picked up Jack from school today he didn't have much to say about his day except that he didn't get his name on the board (on the first day his teacher used his name to show what happens if they get their name on the board but he made sure we knew "it was just for pretend and she erased it right away!") and his little face was so sleepy I didn't think he'd make it through lunch but apparently he got his second wind because I put Jemma down for nap a little early so I could snuggle with my bud and I asked him if he had anything to tell about school today and his face lit up and he said, "Oh yeah! We had a fire drill! And I got to be the line leader out to the tree! Because I was the special helper today! I forgot to tell you that! And I forgot we had graham crackers for snack but one boy didn't cause he's allergic to wheat! And I got to pass them out cause I was the special helper! I forgot to tell you that too!" And after taking a breath he kept going, "and mostly we just cut and colored and cut and colored but we did get to use the glue sticks! I used a glue stick! And my teacher said I am good at glueing stuff! So I'll probably get to do it again!" I said, "so it sounds like you like school, huh?" And he said, "No! I love it!"

One of the things I love best about school is that it gives them their own stories and I'm excited Jack now has so many new and (exciting!) things to tell us. Plus it tuckers them out--here he is when I went to wake him up after a two and a half hour nap!

Ava's first day of second grade!

2nd grader!!

The gear: two school bags fully stocked, lunch bag, bag of treats for the teachers, and a bag of kleenex, handi-wipes, snack crackers and art shirts!

Ava was so, so excited to share the day with Jack!

We found cousin Kayte in the hallway

then her cousin Madison at the lockers.

Jack walked her to her classroom and helped check out her locker and her desk.

After school I took her to Starbucks for a pink donut and to hear all the details of the big day--so much to tell! She said at least three times, "I think it's going to be really fun this year!"

She picked dinner (peanut chicken, corn on the cob, and watermelon) and then we hit the park for some baseball:

and playing with Jem.

(who missed them very much!)

Jack's first ever day of school!

Can you stand this much cuteness?!

Heading in with Ava!

His best buddy and cousin Will was standing outside his classroom.

Handsome little buggers.

And his little cousin Sara was already inside.

One last shot with me before he becomes a real school kid.

Happy meal at McDonalds to celebrate!

(his buddy Bryce is in the back there)

The first thing he said to me was, "I got to use my scissors!!"

I am so excited for him!!

The night before school...

We were going to do the pool but it was too chilly so we hit the park instead:

big kids!

The kids talked Ed into doing a cartwheel.
yay for school starting!

It may have been too cold for the pool but we say it's never too cold for ice cream!

Jack said, "oh no mom! who's going to help you do the laundry tomorrow while I'm at school?" Followed soon after by "I think I will miss you, do you think you will miss me?"
Um, yeah.

Feels like Fall

Smells like Fall.

I so wish it was Fall!!

We've had two days of 70 degree weather--my absolute favorite. I baked (which I only do in the fall!) and Ed got to work attacking the pile of logs we had dumped in our driveway last week.

Jack had been actually helping (he's a great wood stacker!) but he eventually had to take a nap so Ava pulled up a booster to keep Ed company. I could hear her talking nonstop with the occasional um-huh from Ed.

Talk about fresh produce

Jack picked these huge cucumbers at Ed's parents'.

yummy.

School Kid.

Jack's going to school.

I can't believe it.

I am going to miss him. so. much.

The whole house is super excited for him, except Jemma who is going to be super sad and she doesn't even know it yet. I took him out the other day for his school tie (one of the things he is most excited about!) and then we hit Starbucks where he was kind enough to slurp up all the whipped cream from my drink. He likes Ava to read the class list for him and he smiles really big when she says the name of a kid he knows. He's not super into his school supplies (unlike his sister!) but he talks often about how he has to have 8 glue sticks (8!) and I can see his little mind thinking of all the amazing things he will do with 8 glue sticks.

He is funny and bright and a good friend and I can't wait to see him start this adventure!

The students are back.

If you live in a college town you know exactly what that means. I try to only complain about the students the first couple weeks they're back because they truth is that while we love our small town, we don't want it to be a ghost town which is what it would be with no university. So this is it for today:

I don't care where you come from, it is not okay to slam on your brakes in the middle of the street and then sit there for a full 30 seconds while you decide which way to go. And it is also not okay to walk down the middle of the turning lane in crazy traffic with headphones on while you text something super smart (like "hey I'm holding up traffic as far as I can see").

And this was just on my way to Winco. Which is something I try not to do at all till school actually starts but the crowds here at home were hungry and it was going to be a long weekend so I did my duty and shopped with the masses. The good news is that people generally smile and get out of the way of my huge belly when they see me reaching for the sour patch kids and the check-out guy opened up a new lane and grabbed me out of all the swarming people to help first. Yay for the belly!

Ruby

Ruby's now nine years old. I still remember the day we brought her home--she was so sweet and tiny and while Ed would swear I don't like her at all anymore, that's only 99% true...I like her when she's doing this. Outside. Where she belongs.

Jack

"I need to ask you som'pin."

Trying not to smile.

Ahh, there it is.

Ava Blythe

(with a bouquet she made for me while I was doing a wedding the other day)

Ed finished his combining vacation Saturday night so on Sunday we realized we had a whole day and so many things everyone wanted to do! I spent a good chunk of time (and a good chunk of change!) stocking up on baby supplies and cleaning out the nursery...yet again! (In the last two months Ava has turned it into her very own craft studio!). But we also got to have lunch with friends and go to the movies! I'm aware that we are probably the last people to see Toy Story 3 so how is it possible no one else has mentioned the beyond creepy baby?! Anyway, Jack of course loved it and Jemma just cuddled her daddy through it but my sweet Ava was seriously affected by it. I looked over at her at the end and she was biting her lip with huge tears streaming down her face. Then she was up tossing and turning all night, contemplating the horrible decision of what to do with all your beloved toys when you grow up, making herself sick by the morning. Then the whole next day she made a comment every hour or so, "that girl looked like she was going to take good care of Andy's toys, didn't she?....do you think Andy will get to go back and play with them sometimes?....that girl didn't mean to leave the teddy bear, why was he so mad?....do you think they would have been happy in the attic?....why do you think he called them junk?" All. day.long.

When we watched "Monsters vs Aliens" and the guy left the girl at the altar, Jack asked why and Ava said, "he decided he didn't love her anymore" then she looked at me and said, "but that can't happen, can it??"

Her little heart is so tender sometimes it hurts mine just to think about it.

Finally!

One of the things I'm not supposed to do these days is take a bunch of kids on errands (or anywhere fun like the pool or park or lunch) and since I have a bunch of kids, we're pretty much housebound but today Jack was with Ed so I figured I'd be allowed to take just two kids to Starbucks and then Paula called as we were heading out and said she'd take Jemma so I ended up with a whole hour of free time with just my Ava. Who is delightful. We hit Starbucks for our favorites and then we went shopping for school supplies. As we stood in the crowded Wal-mart aisles trying to find everything on the list, she said at least three times, "This is so much fun!" Which makes me think how great it will be when she can run errands without me!

Jack and I were supposed to go to dinner the other night but I ended up hanging out in the hospital lab instead so it was so nice to get out and about with at least one of my sweet monkeys!

Farmer boy

Ed's using several of his vacation days this year to drive combine for a farmer we know. It doesn't sound like much of a vacation to me but combining is one of Ed's very favorite things (in the whole world) so he's living the dream. And so is this guy:

who got to spend the whole morning with him--cleaning the combines and then driving a super steep hill. He says, "My daddy's a really good farmer!"

Shoes!

I've mentioned Jem's obsession with shoes but it seems to be getting even worse. Today when I went to get her up, I remembered she had a new pair in her closet that I wanted to try on her and as soon as I pulled out the box, she jumped up in her crib with a grin and when I opened it, she clapped her little and hands and squealed, "Shoes!!" and practically ripped off her pjs so I could try them on.

Like father, like son

Jack bowled a 216 (with five strikes!) on the Wii the other night. But Ed wasn't too surprised because, as I'm sure you know, he bowled in the Junior National Bowling Championships back in his good old days.

(for some reason I cannot say that without laughing!)

He's awfully cute...

but he's already causing trouble.

Our little buddy is floating along just fine and growing big (he's over four pounds and he's got some chubby little cheeks and a fat belly!) but he's wreaking havoc on me already. Even after 3 weeks of "taking it easy" (you can see my earlier post about how fun that is), he's got me to the point I was at when Jack was 35 weeks...and he came just a week later. This was my only fear when I found out he was a boy and sure enough he's already taking after his big brother. The good news is that I've had all kinds of labwork and shots and blood draws and so far so good! So here's to three more weeks of taking it easy (and then I have one big wedding!) and then he can come at any time!

Drivin' around

We do a lot of driving at this house. Pretty much every weekend (and lots of weeknights when Ed's working) we load up the kids, stop for a coffee (if we're lucky) and hit the back roads. Ed and Jack are always on the lookout for any kind of animal and during the summer we all get a serious crop education from our resident wheat expert (seriously, for almost every wheat field we see, Ed can tell you what breed of wheat, who produced it, and whose farm it's on--this is a game the kids never get tired of!). And we do a whole lot of music-listening. Our favorite stations are Sirius' best of the 80s and best of the 90s because we know pretty much all the words to all the songs and we like to sing. Loud.

Our kids are used to it. Jemma loves it and still joins in:

Ava pretty much tunes us out. And Jack just listens patiently until Metallica comes on and then he goes crazy too.

Which reminds me of what happened the other day when we had Kayte in the car and Jock Jams came on (you know the great compilation of jock songs like Whoomp, there it is, Let's get ready to rumble, and Pump up the jam, sprinkled with a couple key phrases like he.could.go.all.the.way). Ed was, of course, loving it and I looked back and Ava was apologizing to Kayte because her "dad is so weird" and Kayte just rolled her eyes at him and I flashed forward 5 years!

Harvest!

Harvest is now in full swing and my parents' field was one of the first to go. We usually jet out there as soon as the combines start rolling in and hitch a ride or two but this year they had a couple breakdowns and by the time they got going we didn't want to interrupt so we just enjoyed our front row seats.

Going to check out the damage.

Ed showed up and since he knows these guys (and is heading out to harvest with them later this week), he ran Ava out for a quick ride (Jack will get more than his share when Ed's driving).

What a goober

Gun fight!

Road work

The city is doing road work in front of our house and Jack watched for hours yesterday.

He started at the counter and then eventually got more comfortable here, where Jemma joined him:
He and Ava wanted to bring the guys drinks and snacks every few minutes but every time I walked by the window it looked like one guy was working and at least seven of them were watching. Tax dollars hard at work out there.

Laird Park

We love this place--shallow swimming hole, sandy beach, playground, and a fire pit...what more do you need?

She's pretty happy doing just this.

(love those little feet!)

Jack and his daddy could play with the fire all night.


S'mores! After she ate this, she went back in the water and swam like crazy but I was too lazy to get up for some pictures!