Smart Alecs

Last night, I spent the better part of the evening filling out foster care/adoption forms and whatnot. Jeff took care of the kids. When Jeff told them that it was time for bed, they raced to our bed, hopped in, and pretended to sleep as evidenced by their fake, loud snores.

I stayed up incredibly late getting my class materials together. Managed to get a couple hours of sleep.

On Wednesday, Jeff took the day off work. It sounded like they had a great day. They slept over 2.5 hours during nap time. But they both are still sick with coughs, runny noses, and low-grade fevers which come and go.

When I arrived home, it was almost dinner time. Henry begged for us to have a "picnic." The kids sat at their picnic table, which is attached to their playhouse. For whatever reason, the kids seemed more intrigued by what was on my plate than theirs (it was the exact same food!).

That was about it. The kids hopped in our bed again trying to delay the inevitable. They are in their beds now.

Sick Days (Plural): The TV Prescription

The past couple days have been rough. I just started feeling somewhat better (although I sound horrible) on Monday.

We kept the kids home on Monday, which meant that I get to start my semester off completely unprepared, which is a lousy way to start off a new year. I'm backlogged on email, student recommendations, journal reviews, manuscript revisions, a book proposal, and having some lectures for tomorrow would be nice.

Henry rather enjoyed staying home yesterday b/c it meant hours and hours of Sponge Bob. Miss R was happy to snuggle with me. The kids acted fine yesterday, but their cough and fevers merited a sick day. Miss R threw up a couple times (drainage). Her fever went up to something like 103.9, but came down with motrin. Henry's didn't quite touch 102.

The kids are home again today. Ensures that I'll be up all night working, which will probably send me into a relapse, but I don't see that I have a choice. I'm currently working on more adoption paperwork (finally sent information that I should have been spent last week...grrrr).

Henry enjoyed watching The Sponge Bob Movie today. If he could be a couch potato, he would. He also got to watch Mickey Mouse's A Christmas Carol.

In the morning, I called the pediatrician's office. One of the ped's nurses called back. She said that we could bring them in but it didn't sound like their lungs were bad enough yet but it was my call. It's so hard. I really want to catch these things before they become "bad enough." But as our medical system doesn't really offer preventative care, I didn't see the point in bringing them in after talking to her. Per her recommendation, I'm giving the kids lots of liquids and juice (would have done that anyway). And fruit. Miss R isn't interested in eating anything...except mandarin oranges. The nurse also said to prevent them from running around. Keep them quiet with books and TV.

Henry will probably start faking illnesses if he thinks that he gets to watch TV b/c of it. Nevertheless, I'm letting the kids indulge. Henry has been doing his best to break the "No sitting right in front of the TV rule." We have his chair set up five feet back. He was trying to inch his chair forward when I was distracted. Always pushing the limits.

The kids are currently taking a nap. When I told them it was nap time, they shouted "No! No! No!" in unison.

As they have fevers today, that means they'll be staying home. I'm teaching tomorrow, so Jeff is going to have to take tomorrow off.

OK. Off to do paperwork. My favorite.

The Z-O-O

This morning, we decided to go to Joel's for breakfast b/c we didn't have eggs in the house for pancakes. As we got ready, I had the following conversation:

KATE TO JEFF: Do you want to walk around the UofA after breakfast, or go to the p-a-r-k, or to the z-o-o?
HENRY: I want to go to the Z-O-O! The Z-O-O!
JEFF TO HENRY: What's at the z-o-o?
HENRY: The animals!

We were a bit flabbergasted. We sometimes spell out words so that Henry doesn't latch onto them. Park being the one most often spelled. I'm certain that I've never spelled out zoo in Henry's presence.

Henry said and did the sign language for "I Love You, Mommy!" and "I Love You, Daddy!" Miss R soon followed. Nice to start off the morning with so much love in the car!

We had a nice breakfast at Joel's. Then, we headed to Reid Park for some playtime on the slides. Henry, of course, climbed up a ladder that probably wasn't age appropriate and headed down the biggest slide he could find (two stories). Miss R stayed on the smaller equipment, working on her confidence with those gross motor skills. She was very cute. She yelled out "R did it!" after climbing up any step or sliding down a slide.

Henry's cough is becoming more pronounced. Once home, we gave him an albuterol treatment before naptime. He informed me: "I took my medicine!"

A Tribute to Uncle Jim

On Thursday, we went shopping for new glasses. We found a store that can order "Flex-on" frames. They didn't have ones in Henry's size in the shop, but they have ordered them. We also went to the other store where we originally got Henry's glasses. We've re-ordered one of the two pairs as a backup set to the new Flex-on ones. Then, we had dinner with Grammy and Poppy.

On Friday, we picked up dinner and took it to Grammy and Poppy's house. When we picked the kids up at daycare, Miss Diana said that Miss R is doing really well with the potty training! Hopefully, we'll have one child out of diapers soon!

I'm sure that the kids did funny stuff that I'd normally mention, but I'm currently battling bronchitis again and a head cold. My memory isn't particularly keen right now.

On Saturday, we had waffles for breakfast. And fruit. Henry ate a lot of blueberries. Then, he spied that I was eating cherries and wanted some. They were fresh cherries, so it took some time slice the flesh from the pits. Miss R wanted some too b/c Henry was getting some. And she loved them! She had three helpings, which is a rarity when it comes to healthy foods.

Jeff put together the kids' playhouse. That has been a big hit. They played in the house all morning. Henry sang the song "It's the Mickey Mouse club house. Come inside. It's fun inside." Jeff went to Uncle Jim's funeral. I stayed home with the kids because of my cold. There were a few people going to the funeral who have delicate immune systems, and I didn't want to risk it. Henry unfortunately is coming down with my cold. Runny nose. And a cough that makes it difficult for him to sleep. He's been active but he didn't take a long nap b/c of that cough.

In the afternoon, the kids played in the playhouse while Jeff watched the Wildcats b-ball game and I read a book (fiction, not academic work!). We took the kids for a trike ride and walk in the late afternoon/early evening. They got to meet Cinder, a super sweet and bouncy poodle. We also ran into Hal, Annie, and Luke. When strapped onto his trike, Henry proclaimed "I'm a prisoner!" Where does he get these things?

We had a good sit down dinner. If I feed him (reminding him to eat), Henry will take in a decent amount of food. I had weighed him earlier today and I think that he's about 28 lbs 5 ozs. If that's right, that's about a 1.5 lb increase since the third week of December. I think that the keys have been eliminating straight cow's milk in favor of goat's milk and me essentially spoon feeding him. Miss R had been in panties all day. She did a good job until dinner. She had an accident in her booster seat. Given the curvature of the seat, it wasn't a bad place for an accident. We watched Wall-e after dinner. Miss R had her second accident before bed. Unfortunately, it was on our couch. Then it was teeth, books, and bed.

UNCLE JIM
This picture of Uncle Jim and Henry was taken in March 2008.











Jim Kluger, one of my parents' best friends, died late on Monday. He'd been battling a host of issues for several months. Uncle Jim spent all major holidays, sporting events, and birthdays with our family. This past Christmas was the first one in years that Uncle Jim didn't have dinner with us. And there's an emptiness not having him with there.

Uncle Jim was one of the funniest people whom I've ever met. He could tell jokes in ways that most people couldn't get away with. About 20 years ago, he received a kidney transplant. He had some hilarious stories involving bodily fluids that would seem crude if told by anyone else. But Jim always had people rolling on the floor laughing.

After college and European travel, I took some courses at Pima to fill my time and to sort out what I wanted to do as I filled out graduate school and law school applications. I took two of Uncle Jim's American history courses, which were excellent. He was a fabulous teacher. He made history exciting.

Uncle Jim was an active man. He participated in the Transplant Olympics several times. That first kidney lasted him 19 years, 9 years above the average for the life a kidney transplant. He received his second kidney transplant this past May from his brother. We really thought that it would work. But other factors were at play.

Uncle Jim was a wonderful cook and loved to socialize. During his hospital stays starting this summer, he was rarely alone. He had numerous friends who visited him often.

I am saddened that I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to him and hadn't seen him since the summer. Jeff's and my ongoing lung conditions kept us down beginning in July. Someone in our house is always sick, it seems. I was afraid of getting Uncle Jim sick and was hoping that he would recover. I feel like I don't have illusions about death. Death is a part of the "life" cycle of course. But somehow, it just feels like people who have lived their lives well should be granted an earthly stay into their late-80s or 90s if they so desire. In May, before his transplant operation, Uncle Jim was tired, but his wits were about him. He came to Henry's birthday party. I would have liked to have had another decade of birthday parties with Uncle Jim. May he rest in peace.

My, My, My

On Tuesday afternoon, I picked up Henry. Miss R had a sibling visitation, so she was picked up by CPS. I took Henry to Trader Joe's. He had a temper tantrum in the parking lot because he wanted to stay in the car and watch Monsters Inc. Unfortunately, we had left the DVD players in the car after the trip. Henry decided to play the dead weight game in the parking lot. I picked up Henry, kicking and screaming. He didn't want to sit nicely in the cart, so I had to strap him in. He managed to entertain himself by singing "Mamma Mia!" at the top of his lungs, which made one customer laugh. She told him to "Rock on!"

When we got home, Alison from A Place to Call Home had already arrived for the monthly home inspection. Miss R had arrived as well. No real news. We gave her some paperwork. We still have some to fill out. She says that it will take about 6 months to adopt. I don't quite understand why the adoption paperwork didn't get done sooner since we knew that was our goal.

We had dinner and gave the kids a speed bath. That was about it.

On Wednesday, the kids went off to school without too much of a hitch. I dropped them off quickly as I had a telephone meeting and two classes to attend. It was the first official day of term. Grammy picked up the kids after school. They watched Pirates at Henry's request. That made my mom happy as she is a Johnny Depp fan. I didn't get the kids home until 9PM.

On Thursday morning, Henry demonstrated the kids' "My, My, My" phase. Everything is about "my" this or "my" that or "that's mine." Jeff heard Henry say, "No, R. Not yours. It's my train room. Go with Daddy and brush your teeth."

Our plan is to take Henry to get new glasses this afternoon. Hopefully, this weekend, we will have time to put together their big "Christmas" present that arrived January 6.

Disneyland!

On Friday morning, both kids were feeling well, so I took them to school. Jeff and I decided that if both were well by the end of the day, we'd fly by the seat of our pants, get in the car, and take them to Disneyland. I picked them up around 4:45PM. The director of the daycare told me that Henry had informed the daycare census takers who count up the number of kids in each room every few hours that he was going to Disneyland. When I picked them up, Henry was in a great mood and showed off his new skill...galloping. We went home, Jeff took Lily to a nearby kennel, we packed, and then we headed to California around 7PM. The DVD player kept the kids occupied. We stopped by Carrabas in Mesa for dinner. The meal was nothing short of a disaster. Henry was in a mood and irked that we wouldn't let him wander around the restaurant. We arrived in California around 2:30AM. The kids were asleep. They woke up when we transferred them to the hotel beds, but they settled down relatively quickly.

Henry had told several people that we was going to see the castle at Disneyland. So we decided to make that our first stop on Saturday.

















We went to Peter Pan's Flight. Then Miss R had a request for the horsies (which meant King Arthur's Carousel). Next was Toad Hall for Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.





















We went on Pinocchio's Daring Journey and Snow White’s Scary Adventures. The lines were short, which was nice. We were beginning to wonder if the rides were a little overstimulating as the sounds were very loud. From there, we decided that it was time to find a play area, so we headed over to Toon Town to Goofy's Playhouse (playground). After lunch, we saw Donald Duck. Henry gave him a big hug. Miss R was excited to see him, but she preferred to keep a little distance.






















We went to "It's a Small World," which still had its holiday decorations. The kids loved it. We visited the Innoventions exhibits. The kids loved the video game of soccer that was projected onto the floor. When they touched the projection of the ball, it would move. Henry got into a tussle with another young boy over the virtual soccer ball. By then, it was time for a nap, so we headed back to the hotel for a couple hours.

After some order-in Chinese, we went back to Disneyland for another round of Small World, Nemo's Submarine, and fireworks. We then headed to Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters, which includes laser guns to point at targets for points. With some help from Jeff, Henry got a few points. We went on a boat ride in Storybook Land, which was nice. We topped off the evening on an Alice in Wonderland ride. We all slept well!

On Sunday morning, we started off on a Jungle Cruise in Adventure Land. The kids liked the animals. We went on Pirates of the Caribbean twice. Henry liked it. Miss R was not a fan. The one thing that is missing at Disneyland is toddler play areas. There's only so long that a toddler is going to wait patiently in a line and sit on a ride. But at least there was Tarzan's Tree. Miss R climbed all of the way to the top by herself. I carried her down. Henry and Jeff were well ahead of us. Henry met a girl (probably 4). They held hands down the tree. He had fun with his new girl friend. She was unhappy when her father said it was time to go.





















We had lunch at the Hungry Bear Restaurant. Henry didn't want to sit down and acted out. Jeff and I questioned our parenting skills b/c Henry was by far the most fidgety toddler in the park. Whereas other kids would sit still and eat, Henry always had to be moving and exploring. After lunch, we went on a Winnie the Pooh ride in Critter Country. The kids got to meet Winnie the Pooh and Tigger whom they loved. Henry wasn't interested in posing for pictures. He just wanted to hug Winnie and Tigger. We heard lots of "Awwws" from the people in line behind us at Henry's cuteness when he hugged them.





















We took the train from New Orleans Square to the Main Entrance. The kids liked the dinosaurs that we saw on the way. Miss R especially liked the deer that we saw.

We decided to search for a play area in California Adventure. On our way to the Tug Boat area, Henry fell asleep for over an hour. So we kept walking until we found a nice bench near the carousel. Henry slept. Miss R showed no signs of drowsiness. She rode the carousel once with Jeff and then four times with me.

We walked to the Bugs area and saw A Bug's Life 3D. Henry claimed to like it, but Jeff asked him if he wanted to do it again. He said "No!" I think that it was a little scary and overstimulating.

We went on a flying ride. Miss R didn't like it. Henry did it again with Jeff, while I went over to the spinning lady bug ride with Miss R. She liked it. We did it again with Henry and Jeff. Henry wasn't a fan. Then we went on a caterpillar ride, which we all found kind of boring. We headed back to the tug boat play area for awhile. It was OK, but not inspiring or interesting. We had dinner, and Henry actually behaved throughout the meal more or less. After dinner, we went on the Monster's Inc. ride, which was a huge hit. We had repeat requests from both kids, so we went on that ride five times in a row. We went to see Muppet Vision 3D, which the kids seemed to like. Not as scary as the bugs show.

We then headed back to Disneyland because Henry had a "Buzz Lightyear" request. I got us FastPass tickets, which meant that we wouldn't have to wait in line but had a half-hour to an hour do something else. Miss R fell asleep at this point, not having napped at all. We decide to go to Small World again. Jeff took Henry once. Then I took Henry.

After Small World, I took Henry on the Buzz Lightyear ride. I hadn't ridden with Henry on it before. I handed him the laser gun and he managed to get to Level 2 all by himself (1700 points!). He really seemed to get it. Then Jeff took him, and Henry obtained 1400 points (Level 2 again!). We have a video game expert on our hands.

We watched the fireworks with a view of the castle. They were fantastic. Henry loved them. Miss R woke up and didn't like them. She cuddled into me. Although the park still had over an hour to go before closing, we decided to go to a store in Tomorrowland and call it a night. Miss R got a Nemo stuffed toy. Henry insisted on getting a Nemo bucket.

On Monday morning, we went to IHOP for breakfast. Again, we had a relatively problem-free meal. We got to the park before it openned and converted our 3-day hopper passes into annual passes. We headed straight to Fantasy Land for a ride on Peter Pan, the carousel, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and Dumbo. Henry went on Dumbo twice. Miss R conveyed that once was enough for her. Both kids enjoyed the train around Storybook Land. Then we fit in one more Peter Pan Flight into our schedule.






We went to Toon Town to let the kids run off some steam. The Chip'N'Dale Tree House was pretty lame. We walked around a "boat" which was OK. The kids played on some cars. We ran into Goofy on our way to his Playhouse (the only toddler playground in the park). Henry gave Goofy a hug and a kiss. Miss R was scared of Goofy and refused to go near him.





















We had lunch at the Blue Bayou, the restaurant overlooking the start of Pirates of the Caribbean. The food was excellent. The drinks came with little clip on lights (my drink had Tinkerbell and Jeff's drink had LightningMcQueen on it). The restaurant is dark, lit with Chinese laterns. So the clip on lights entertained Henry. Miss R napped through most of lunch. Toward the end of lunch, Henry decided to go looking for "The Rat!" from Lady and the Tramp under our table. I'm sure that the staff was pleased to hear a child exclaim "Rat!" while in the restaurant.

We then walked to California Adventure to get our picture id cards for the annual membership. It was near the Monsters Inc. ride, which we proceeded to ride twice. We also saw princess Jasmine from Aladdin. Miss R was very fond of her but Henry wasn't really interested. Seems Henry likes the characters in suits while Miss R prefers people to masks.

It was a little after 3PM when we left. Henry fell asleep in his stroller. Miss R was awake. We checked out of the hotel and got on the road at 4:09PM. Big mistake. Monday late afternoons are not a good time on the SoCal freeways. It took us 2.5 hours to drive 68 miles.

We stopped in Blythe, CA at about 9:30PM. We went to a McDonald's that has a play area. The play area was admittedly awesome for toddlers. More stimulating than the playground area at Disneyland or California Adventure (a weakness of both parks). Henry was very funny when I told him that the cubbie holes were for putting shoes.

HENRY: What's that?
KATE: A place to put your shoes.
HENRY: I want to take my shoes off.
KATE: OK. [I helped take off Henry's shoes.]
HENRY: I want to take my socks off.
KATE: OK. [I helped take off Henry's socks.]
HENRY: But...I want to leave my pants on.
KATE: OK. Sounds like a good plan.

The not-so-great part of our stop was that I became unnerved when a suspicious character followed me near the bathroom. I didn't go in. I went back to the play area but kept my eye on him and his friend. Long story short, we think that they were doing drug deals in the bathrooms. Very shifty behaviors. We were trying to get out of the restaurant quickly b/c I felt them eyeing us. Henry then acted up and refused to come down from the two story play area. But we made it out of there. We arrived home around 2:30AM. The kids were asleep.

On Tuesday morning, we got out the door around 9:30AM or so. Henry didn't want to go to school. He was excited to see the babies and told Miss Stephanie from the babies' room that he was going back to Disneyland. He cried and threw himself on the floor as I left. It was very sad. Miss R wasn't excited to go to school, but she didn't protest.

105.9...Not a Radio Station

On Wednesday morning, the kids slept late. Might have something to do with Henry staying up until past 11PM last night. Miss R got up several times too. Jeff was wondering if In-N-Out burgers contain a lot of sugar or something. We'll do an experiment with it again in a couple weeks to see if it was a trigger.

Henry seems enthusiastic about the first half of his meals, but then he'd gladly walk away given the opportunity. I ended up feeding him with my fork, which he seems to like. I showed him my scar from Bitsy...darn cat. He then said to Bitsy, "No, Bitsy! Don't give Mommy a boo-boo!" Glad that he has my back.

On the way to school, Henry had a Mamma Mia! request, so I obliged. Henry marched into Miss R's classroom. He wanted to play with their broom and dustpan, which I didn't allow. I talked with Miss Diana. She said that Henry and Miss R find each other on the playground and play together. A couple days ago, they were pretending to make food in a kitchen. Then Miss R ran up to Miss Diana and asked, "Where's the baby food?" Miss Diana told her that she'd better go to the store and get some. So Henry and Miss R pretended to go to the store.

My parents took the kids to Costco after school. They snacked their way around the place. Miss R didn't want dinner. She refused to eat and then crawled up on my mom's lap and fell asleep. When Jeff arrived to pick the kids up, he thought Miss R felt warm.

He came home with them around 8:30PM. I took Miss R's temp with our fancy head thermometer. It was 105.7. We gave her Tylenol and a luke warm bath. At 9PM, I took her underarm (axillary temp) and it was 101 with our old thermometer, but her head temp was 105.9 with the head thermometer. I took my temp with the head thermometer (98.2) and the under arm one (97.7), so we surprised that our thermometers were fine; Miss R was not. So I took her to the ER, while Jeff stayed with Henry. I went to the ER at UMC (where Henry was born) b/c it and TMC are the two hospitals in town with decent pediatric doctors. The ER is in a new facility and has a separate kids' wing, which is nice. The Tylenol must have kicked in b/c they took her temp at 38.3 Celsius, which is about 101. Her pulse was a bit fast (160), so they admitted her. The nurse heard some wheezing in her lungs and Miss R's demeanor was clearly off (withdrawn but irritable if I tried to interaction other than holding her). The first doctor we saw asked about her medical history which I gave with succinct detail. He asked me if I was in the medical field. He recommended a urine analysis b/c urine infections are one of the most common causes of fevers in girls. The next doctor added nasal swabs and a chest x-ray to the to-do list. We didn't get called for the x-ray until midnight, which is about when Miss R's fever broke. They'd given her ibuprofen, which I think contributed to the rapid decrease. Suddenly, Miss R was interactive, which was good. Then, we waited around for two hours waiting for a radiologist to look at the x-rays. The doctors didn't see anything, but they wanted the experts to take a look. When that didn't happen, they sent us home with the diagnosis of "virus." By the time we left, her temp was 36.3 Celsius. After filling out paper work, we finally got into the car at 2:40AM and arrived home around 3:15AM. Miss R didn't protest going to sleep, which was nice.

On Thursday at breakfast, Henry had a meltdown b/c his hash brown patty fell into pieces and he wanted a "big piece." Many tears were shed. I took Henry to school, but Miss R stayed home. We'd let Henry sleep in. This had the effect of him not taking a nap at school. When I dropped off Henry at school, we said "hi" to the babies as we do every day. As I talked with Miss Stephanie from the babies room, Henry told a passing dad "Hi. I'm going to Disneyland and going to see the castle." Miss R's temp was around 100. She watched TV and played with legos. Sadly, we very well may end up canceling our plans to go to California tomorrow in the late afternoon. Sigh.

Miss R did a good job today of telling me when she needed to go potty. I'm excited that she is making such progress on the toilet front...if only Henry would copy her!

Henry was picked up by Grammy and Poppy. They bought him a new train at Barnes & Noble. He was thrilled. They also went to Swensons where he had 1/2 of a large milk shake and downed an entire hamburger patty (no bun). Plus, he had 3/4 of his fries. He got upset with Grammy for eating one of his fries and demanded that she spit it out. As Poppy noted, he is a bit possessive of food for someone who doesn't eat all of his meals.

The kids played in the train room when Henry got home. Then it was teething brushing. I bought Henry some Sponge Bob toothpaste. He hates the taste. He spit it out at me. He wasn't trying to hit me, just trying to get it out of his mouth.

Miss R has gotten into a very annoying routine at night. We put the kids in bed. Then she requests to go to timeout. We put her in timeout. She cries. And then, once two minutes of tears are shed, she settles down and goes to sleep. I don't like this routine. But if I don't send her to timeout, she just cries in her bed, which disturbs Henry's chances of falling asleep. Plus, timeout has certainly turned into something other that what it was intended. Kids shouldn't request to go to timeout. Maybe she things that timeout is a place of meditation/crying. I don't know.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day. The last 24 hours haven't been how I envisioned the week.

Telling Everyone About Disneyland

Apparently, Henry has been telling everyone at school that he is going to Disneyland. I told Miss Stephanie that we may go this weekend, if we can managed to stay healthy that long. She said that he's been talking about it a lot. We had been thinking about leaving on Wednesday night, but Jeff and I have a lot of work to catch up on, so that's tentatively been revised to Friday night. We stayed up past 4AM last night getting things done.

This afternoon, Jeff took Henry to his eye appointment with Dr. Banuelos. I stayed home in case the appointment lasted an hour and a half like last time. Miss R had her sibling visitation, projected to return around 5:30PM. Jeff called at 4:30PM to say that the waiting room was empty and they saw Dr. Banuelos right away. She didn't notice any changes in his vision (thank goodness) and was pleased that he actually wears his glasses. His glasses got twisted up again at school however. We are going to look into getting him titanium frames.

Jeff came home with Henry after the appointment and stopped by the famed In-N-Out Burger for the first time. That left me free to run errands, knowing that Jeff would return before Miss R got back.

Miss R was hilarious when I got home. We were in the train room and she'd done something so I pouted like she does and stuck out my bottom lip. She sternly told me "No crying, Mommy! No crying!" (complete with finger waving at me).

Miss R LOVED her In-N-Out burger. She even relished the lettuce and tomato on it. Henry was a bit more picky. Dinner took over an hour. Miss R did extremely well. Henry didn't do poorly, but it took a lot of coaxing. Miss R was also a huge fan of my orange jello, which made Henry gag when he tried it.

Miss R had another break through on the potty. She went number two and number one, which means that she's officially a "big girl." Henry, on the other hand, who we know "can" use the potty (he does it at school), insisted that he wanted to go in his diaper. He knew exactly what he was doing. Why is the diaper preferred at home? Henry only knows. I've told him that he doesn't get to move up to Miss Casi's class until he gets potty trained, but I don't think that he's really listening. I wouldn't be surprised if Miss R potty trains quickly and gets moved up before he does. Miss Casi's class doesn't have a diaper changing station, I believe. So Henry has to be out of diapers for the move. It's frustrating knowing that it isn't a matter of him being able to control his bodily functions. It is a matter of him wanting to control his actions and our reactions. Sigh.

The kids had a bath with bubbles, which they enjoyed. Henry told us the story of Lady and the Tramp (at least the part about the rat).



We danced in the living room for awhile. And at 9PM, we took the kids to bed after teeth brushing (Miss R loves the new princess toothpaste). It is now 10:45PM and Henry is still singing to himself. Where does his energy come from? And how can we contain it?!?

"Congratulations!"

Miss R got up from her nap about an hour before Henry. Jeff entertained her for a little while but then she wanted to go wake Henry up. Miss R had a huge break through today on the potty front. She's been very enthusiastic about sitting on the potty, especially with the new Dora toilet seat, but we haven't seen much action on it. This afternoon, she actually peed, which Jeff said he thought surprised her a bit. She was very happy at having accomplished such a feat. When Henry got up, I told him that Miss R had been a big girl, peed on the potty for the first time, and suggested that he congratulate her. Henry was so cute. He marched right up to her and said "Congratulations! You are a good girl and peed on the potty." He patted her on the shoulder and then gave her a hug. She looked very pleased.

We went to dinner at Grammy and Poppy's house. Miss R told Aunt Carolyn about her accomplishment. Carolyn praised her. I tried to get Miss R to tell Aunt Erin about what she had done, but she was in a "No!" mood. So Henry jumped into the conversation "Yes, R. You were a big girl peeing in the potty." It cracked me up because I hadn't primed Henry to say it. His memory is excellent.

I told Henry in the car before we arrived at my parents that Aunt Carolyn was going back to Washington. When Aunt Carolyn mentioned that she was leaving tomorrow, Henry filled in "...to Washington." He then told her that he wanted to go to Washington. She told him that it was really cold here now, kind of like the "cold section" at Costco.

Henry did not eat much at dinner. The only thing that got a couple bites into him was Uncle Brian telling him that he was watching. Guess he wanted to impress Uncle Brian. Miss R ate some food but it took about an hour before she decided the pasta was worthy of her palate.

We are home now. I think Henry has finally nodded off to sleep. He was singing to himself a song that he made up about Disneyland.

Fabulous Start to the New Year

On Friday morning, Henry, Miss R, and I went to the Reid Park Zoo with Aunt Carolyn. We had a wonderful time. I drove to the wrong parking lot, which meant that we had to walk passed the "train." Henry and Miss R really wanted to go on the train and so we did. The four of us managed to fit into one of the little cars.

The kids were well-behaved, but as always, we had to keep a close eye on Henry. He has discovered how to hang by the rails with his arms and feet up in the air like a monkey. Carolyn has an excellent touch with the kids. They both adore her. We fed the zoo ducks. The only mishap there was Henry putting his hand in some duck poop. Nothing a wet wipe and some hand sanitizer didn't cure. The kids enjoyed the two-person stroller. We didn't make it through the whole zoo (skipped South America). We had a nice lunch. Miss R ate a piece of hot dog by request, which is unusual for her. Afterward, we went to the lake at the park and fed the lake ducks some hot dog bun. We didn't leave until 3PM. The kids fell asleep in the car.













Meanwhile, Jeff got to watch football at my parents' house. Carolyn and I managed to transfer the kids from the car to my parents' bed, where they took their naps. Then, Carolyn and I headed out the door to watch Nine, which was surprisingly well done. When the kids woke up, they had dinner. Then Jeff and I took them home. Jeff and I had taken separate vehicles. Jeff took the kids. When he turned on sports radio, Miss R told him, "No football! I want Mamma Mia!" That's my girl! When Jeff tried to sing along, she told him "No Mamma Mia!" Lately, the kids haven't enjoyed us singing to the music.

On Saturday morning, Henry and Miss R had a shouting match. It started off with yelling. Then Miss R put her finger to her lips and said "Shhhh!" They then had a shushing contest that resulted in giggles. We went for a morning trike ride. The sad news of the morning was that Lily caught a rabbit. I told Lily that she was a bad dog. I know that it is "natural" but our other dogs have managed to ignore that part of their nature. Apparently, Miss R was listening. When Carolyn arrived with lunch, Miss R told Carolyn "Lily bad dog rabbit" several times. While the kids took a nap, Carolyn, Jeff, and I watched a movie, which was fun (three movies in a week!). The kids enjoyed having Carolyn around and showing off their acrobatic skills. The kids ate pretty well at dinner. We watched Swiss Family Robinson afterward. I gave the kids some of the coconut ice cream, which was a huge hit. The kids had chocolate all over their faces. I think that the kids were dancing while I was cleaning up the kitchen. When I came back into the living room, Henry announced that he wanted to dance with Miss R again. Jeff went to the store. He bought Clif bars. I gave the kids one before bed, which they enjoyed. I think we did well on the calorie front. And then the kids played in the ball pit. Henry must be growing b/c he has to squat these days in order to do the back flip into the ball pit.

The kids had another screaming match. I'm pretty sure that Miss R started it. Henry finished it and was by far the louder child. This left Miss R in tears. While I was trying to comfort her, Henry yelled out "You owe me restitution!" several times.

Henry woke me up this morning. He crawled into bed to snuggle. I asked him what he dreamed about. He said "Disneyland!" I asked him what he dreamed about Disneyland. He replied, "The castle!" He spent the morning talking about us going to Disneyland. I keep telling him that if he is a good boy, we'll go on Thursday. He told me several times today that he has been a good boy and wants to go to Disneyland and wants us to get in the car. He is selectively not hearing the word "Thursday." We are hoping that we'll leave for California on Thursday. We are playing it by ear. We haven't made hotel reservations yet and probably won't until Thursday morning if it looks like it is a go! Tentaive plan: Leave Thursday night, return Sunday evening.

Toward the end of breakfast this morning, Henry ran to the train room and brought Miss R a pink football. He said, "This is a pink football. It's your favorite. I'll hold the football and you kick it."

We went on another trike ride this morning. Lily is back on the leash. She simply can't control herself and she's not very good about letting us get cacti out of her.

During lunch, we gave the kids some nuts. Henry tried peanuts, a brazilian nut, cashews, walnuts, and a candied pecan. He loved the walnuts. Miss R, however, loved the peanuts. This is good news b/c it is yet another potential source of healthy fats and calories for two kids who need to gain weight. At the end of lunch, I gave the kids a quarter of a small coconut ice cream sandwich. Henry said it looked like a skunk (b/c it was black and white). He makes the oddest connections between concepts at times.

The kids then took a nap. When they get up, we'll take them to Grammy and Poppy's house for Aunt Carolyn's farewell dinner.

In other news, Henry's imagination has been growing and growing. He really likes pretend. For example, the other day, he pretended that our little bathroom was an elevator. It has a sliding door. And after last night's shouting match, he said that he wanted to be Linus but then changed his mind to wanting to be Lucy. Both kids like to pretend that they are going to the store.