Spelling Lessons

There were a couple of cuties today, but I am in the midst of a full-blown head cold...so this will be short.

After sending (a very upset) Tyler to clean his room today, I heard him trying to spell something out. I turned off the water running over the dishes & tried to listen.

"Y-O-U S-T....T....I...NK".

I was simultaneously proud of the fact that he was spelling something out & quite taken-aback at the gift I knew was coming.

When he brought me a small piece of paper with a frowny-face & what I would assume were meant to be the the words "You Stink" written on it, I told him that "That is not very nice & it hurts mommy's feelings. What do you say?"

He said "I'm sorry" and immediately came over to take his "gift" back. He said, "hold on" and came back in 2 minutes with another picture he had drawn...of a smiley face. He ripped up the "mean one" while saying "I...DON'T.....LIKE.....THIS....ONE."

The smiley face is now up on the fridge.

We worked on spelling some nicer words this evening.

All I can do is sigh.

Potty Training

I've added more about this at my main blog (lifeunity.blogspot.com) but had to share about this day of ...ahem....awesomeness.

We've decided (ok, I decided) that it is time for Dilana to be potty trained. So today we started the all-or-nothing path, which is basically letting her run around without a diaper & getting used to the icky feeling of going without it on. We had thousands of false alarms ("gotta go potty"..."dont gotta go"), 3 pees outside the potty, & two successful trips to the potty!

I let her go once on her own and this is the result:

Here is her excitement after her first successful trip:

I can't imagine being a diaper-free household but am dreaming of the day.

Creative Sleeping

I know I haven't posted here in awhile. I've been quite busy on my other blog (lifeunity.blogspot.com) and I've quite neglected recording the cute things the kids continue to do.



Recently, both kids introduced us to new night time challenges.



I discovered one on a particular morning while stumbling out of bed and heading around the other side to exit our room. Usually, Rocky (our Shih-Tzu) sleeps under the bed. His little nose or tail often sticks out so I've learned to be careful where I step. This is a very good thing, because apparently, the previous night Tyler had gotten lonely. He decided (after Chris & I were asleep) to join Rocky. This was how I found him that morning:

Hopefully he at least had sweet dreams.

Speaking of...

A few nights later, Dilana had some troubles falling sleep. She finally did, but probably 10 minutes after I'd climbed into bed I heard her crying.

When I went in her room, she was obviously still quite out of it. I set down next to her, combed back her hair, and asked what was the matter.

In a very sleep, dreamy voice, she whined, "I want a hot dog..." ...then proceeded to fall back asleep.

At least I know what to prepare for dinner instead of the Orzo.

Bath Time

This morning I gave my daughter a bath. She fought me the entire time. I picked out a few toys for her and got her undressed as she screamed, "No bath!". I used the shower head (she wasn't about to sit down) as she stood up screaming, "No bath!". I asked her to raise her arms, tilt her head back, and lift her foot, all which she easily did while continuing to scream, "No bath!". We finished washing and I pulled her out of the tub. I wrapped her in the towel, dried her off, and got her dressed...all the while, she was screaming - you guessed it - "No bath!!".

I'm too tired to be angry this morning, so I found it more humorous than anything. It made me wonder about the bigger picture. Even though I don't believe in the omniscient god with the long white beard sitting on the cloud and looking down over us, I imagine our lives would often look to him just like our bath scenario did this morning.

How funny when something happens to us that we don't like - from the loss of a job to the loss of a family member - we fight it the entire time. God is sitting there gently moving on, sighing and hoping that next time bath time rolls around that perhaps we'll fight just a little less.

What I Learned from (Tyler's) First Day of Kindergarten (Part 1?)

1) Life is ever changing. In case you forget, take a look at photos of you or your kids when they were born and on their first day of school, only 5 short years later.

2) Just because you receive a post card showing the bus stop time, that doesn’t mean that is the time the bus is going to show up.

3) Waiting 30 minutes at the bus stop is exciting only for the first 10.

4) The first day of kindergarten is often more stressful for the parents than for the kids.

5) Sometimes, it is more stressful for the kids.

6) If you have two kids and you get one excited about riding the bus, you need to make sure to explain to the younger child why they can’t ride the bus.

1 (child getting to do something) + 1 (child not getting to do something) = 2 (hours of screaming)

7) The invention of digital cameras in addition to nervous parents makes for an impromptu anxiety-party outside of the kindergarten classroom on the first day of school.

8) Six hours isn’t as long as it might seem, particularly when there are things to get accomplished.

9) Exhaustion is contagious. A day at kindergarten exhausts not only the kindergartener, but all family members surrounding the student.

10) Cranberry-Orange Muffins can temporarily solve almost any problem.

11) You can learn more about your child’s day at school by listening to his conversation with grandmothers than by asking him about his day.

12) Life goes on the next day. And the next. All we can do is enjoy the beautiful flow of it and try to be present for it all.

In the Doghouse

I love the decision making process of a 5-year old.

The other day we were all going through our morning routine. Tyler had gotten dressed and had asked daddy if he could watch a kids show.

(I generally frown upon watching random t.v. ...it is on if we have to shower after the kids are awake or if we are watching something together, for example.)

Chris knows this and replied, "No, Tyler, I think your mom would make me sleep outside if I let you watch a show."

Tyler protested for a bit and finally went to the other room to play with his toys.

After a few minutes, he found Chris again, and, after a big sigh, said,

"Sorry daddy, but you are just going to have to go outside. I want to watch a show."

Lyrical Laughs

(I keep wanting to add photos for the funny things the kids say - it just adds something to each post. In so doing, however, I've fallen behind on updating. In order to keep this blog going I may have to forgo some photos....but for now....)

A couple of weeks ago I had a song stuck in my head. I was singing it while preparing lunch for the kids as Tyler sweetly painted his craft project at the bar. After a few rounds of singing the chorus, "Kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep", Tyler turns around and looks at me.

"Mom, I don't think you are supposed to say that."

"What, Tyler? Mommy is just singing."

Tyler paused for a minute, looked around to make sure no one else was listening, and whispered, "ass!!".

It took me a minute, but then (somehow without laughing) I said, "No, Tyler, the song is 'Kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep." (We discussed how, yes, we aren't supposed to say the other word.)

He quickly said, "Oh" and fidgeted for a minute. After a long pause, he said,

"I'm just going to go back to painting".