Potty Surprise

Guess who just went poopy on the potty?? Nope, guess again. It was Will. Yes, I said Will.

Two days ago Greg put Will on the potty just so he could see if the seat was cushy enough for his buns. He has been telling us lately that he needs a diaper, although he never needs one when he tells us that. I have noticed that sometimes shortly after he mentions needing a diaper, he actually does need a diaper.

This morning Will told me that he needed a diaper. He smelled like he did but I think he had just tooted. So, I put him on the potty to see what would happen. Nothing. He told me he was all done. I made him sit there for another minute just because he had only been sitting there for about 10 seconds. Then there was a little plop. I really didn't even believe it! I thought maybe he really did poop in his diaper and it had stuck to his bum and then fell off into the toilet. I called Greg to tell him and while I was on the phone, Will put on his poop face went a whole lot!!! There was cheering and screaming and good old Poopy Potty Party going on!!

I think Marcus wasn't too excited though that he wasn't the first. He ran away to watch cartoons.

Woot!! Woot!! Way to go Will!!

Two Toddlers and a Dog

One big PITA (which stands for Pain In The reArend) about having this house for sale is not just trying to keep it clean with two toddlers and a dog, but getting those two toddlers and a dog out of the place when people are coming over to see the house. Friday there were two showings, one of which was right in the middle of my kids' nap. Thankfully with their age, they are becoming a little more flexible with nap time. Still, we needed something to do. During the first showing we took a walk down to the neighborhood park. I took my camera along mostly just to entertain myself. This is what I came up with.







This is Marcus waving "bye-bye" before he went down the twisty slide. He calls the twisty slide "twisty" by the way. And when we left the playground he yelled, "Bye-bye twisty!!"





The pooch was rolling on the ground and Marcus kept throwing himself on the ground to roll around with her. I just couldn't get them both down at the same time for a picture.





Then in the afternoon it was time for outing #2. We went to a soccer field just down the road and took a snack to eat. There was no one there and the pooch was off sniffing around. Apparently another pooch had been there and forgot to take his or her ball home. After playing quite a bit of fetch, we headed home only to discover that the house showing was still going on. Back to the park we went again. Here we are at Fawcet Fields.






And for all my immature friends who think that Marcus's sippy cup is hilarious, this one is for you. (If you don't get why this might be funny, consider yourself highly evolved and better than the rest of us.)


During the course of typing this, I got a call that there will be a showing of our house tomorrow. Any ideas where I can go this time with two toddlers and a dog?

Cosmic Powers

I have this giant book that basically gives a personality overview based on what day of the year you were born. I bought it years ago because I thought it would be fun. Mostly I find it spooky. About 90% of what it has to say about each person I have ever looked up is completely true. I got the book out earlier this week and flipped to two different dates.

April 1 - Marcus's birthday. According to this giant book (can't remember the name of it right now and it is in a room with a sleeping kid at this moment) those born on April 1 are very serious about their work, their play is their work, and they tend to take on more responsibilities than their peers. Shortly after reading this Marcus proved this book correct. He wanted to go outside so I told him we had to put our shoes on. He pulled out his shoes and my flip-flops and put my shoes on for me. Then I remembered that I wanted to wear my tennis shoes so I told him that I would have to get some socks. He jumped to his feet, held up one finger and said, "One minute," and was off and running. A minute later he was running back towards me. He had gone to my room, opened my dresser drawer, and got a pair of socks for me.

December 19 - Will's birthday. Those born on December 19 will not compromise who they are for anyone, a trait that can frustrate their peers. And boy does it ever! There is absolutely no convincing this kid to do anything that he doesn't want to do. I realize this probably sounds like most toddlers out there but I assure you, there is a difference. Most toddlers out there you can show them how to do something or have them watch another child do something and suddenly peer pressure starts to set in and they give it a try. Or, with most toddlers, you can kind of convince them that the idea was theirs all along to get them to do what you want them to do. Not Will. He is what he is. You can tell him how fun something is, you can do it yourself, you can have Marcus do it, and you can laugh and smile and cheer and hoot and holler out of excitement while you do it. If he doesn't want to do it, he won't. I know this will probably thrill me later in life, like if someday down the road one of his friends is all, "Hey Will, smoke this. It is really really fun." I am fairly confident Will will say, "No," and that will be it.

Somewhere between all this book reading, I was watching a rerun on Oprah that I had DVR'd awhile back. I had heard about this exercise on the show before but once again they were talking about making a Vision Board. Basically it is a collage where you place words or pictures that represent the things that you really truly want to have in your life. Right now I really, truly want to sell this house so I figured, what the heck. I didn't want to have my Vision Board posted on the fridge where anyone who was checking out my house would see it so I decided to put a couple pictures on my desktop. I settled on two pictures Friday morning - a Sold sign and a stack of money. Three hours later our realtor called and said there was an offer on our house. Unfortunately the offer was either laughable or insulting (based on whatever mood I am in from minute to minute) and I see no chance of it actually going through. (Not that I am expecting to make a profit through the sale of my house, but I am not going to pay someone to buy it either.) It wasn't until a day later when I realized that offer was a result of the faulty Vision Board. The picture of the stack of money I chose for my Vision Board was about half the asking price for our house. No wonder the offer sucked. No fears though. The Vision Board has now been updated to represent the proper size of money stack and we should be back in business - and moving - in no time.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good
There are definitely some really good things about having two boys so close in age. Today I stopped in Target looking for snack cups with handles (which they didn't have) and walked out feeling like I robbed the place. I picked up a few things from the dollar bins and then headed back to the kids section. That is when I saw the clearance sign. I had to stop just in case there was something there that my kids NEEDED. When I saw the price tags on these clearance items, I decided they needed one of everything. How could I pass up shirts that were 94 cents?? I dropped the cashier a 20 and walked out of there with 11 shirts and 2 pairs of shorts. Just about everything is in sizes larger than my kids are wearing. I have absolutely no fear of buying bigger sizes for future seasons because I know that at least one kid in this household will be wearing that size during the appropriate season. And hey, if they aren't, I only wasted 94 cents.

The Bad
I suddenly realized the other day that after months of complaining about all the whining and temper tantrums that have been going on in this house, there really isn't much whining going on and even the temper tantrums are starting to subside. The bad part is that - as any mother will tell you - as one phase ends with kids, another begins. Now we have teasing and hair pulling and bullying and toy thievery and pushing and we also have...

The Ugly
Will is a biter. This isn't really a surprise considering when I brought him home from Guatemala, I was sporting a scabby bruised area on my arm that still vaguely resembled the alignment of the eight teeth he had at the time. Since then he has nibbled on Greg a time or two but nothing that left any marks. That was until Sunday. The kids were hanging out, playing, laughing, and then Marcus let out a huge scream. I looked up to find Will's jaws locked onto Marcus's back. This is no nibble but the result of a wide mouth full on latch. It wasn't even an aggressive situation. They were playing and suddenly Will must have got hungry for Marcus back. Then again today, Marcus was leaning up against the couch talking to me and Will walked right up and latched onto his back again. Someone today said that at least my kid isn't biting strangers. I actually think I would prefer that. Then I would just have a kid who bites. Instead I have a kid who bites and another kid who has bruises in the shape of mouths on his back. In his defense, Will does have four teeth coming in at the moment but I can think of tons of other things he can chomp other than his brother.

Cool Times in the Hot Summer

First, sorry to anyone who has called or emailed and I have failed to get back to you. I'm just a bad friend is all. Been having too much fun away from my computer and cell phone.

We went to visit Lola and Carey at their pool twice this week. The weather here has just been miserably hot and humid and I wasn't about to pass up an invitation to cool off.

Marcus has been practicing his jumps.


Will has been hanging out on the pool deck cheering him on with words of encouragement (words that sound like toddler babble to the untrained ear).


And although none of the kids look too pleased in this photo, they do seem to enjoy the company of friends.


When we visited Lola's pool on Thursday Will was getting much more brave. He almost seemed content to sit on the top step of the pool. At one point he slid off the top step on accident and found himself on the second step, armpit deep in water. I asked him if he was okay and he said, "Yeah," and stayed there for about 5 minutes just soaking up some rays. We will see how much he enjoys the pool next time though since just as we were getting ready to leave he took a tumble into the pool, completely clothed. I was more shaken up by the event than he appeared to be at the time so hopefully he will be up for swimming again (in a bathing suit and in the security of some one's arms) in the future.

All that swimming works up an appetite. Besides, it is just fun to eat snacks by the pool.


We have had a few people interested in our house this week as well. This means more cleaning like crazy people and hiding all our junk at a minute's notice. This also means more trips out for ice cream! Since Will is still afraid of ice cream or Italian ice each trip for frozen yumminess also has a built in savings of cash spent. Greg has got the wading pool set up and ready for us all to take a dip after nap time, so it looks like some more cool times are ahead.

Boot Camp - Friday #4

Today was the last day of boot camp. I can't believe that four weeks went by so fast. For the first two weeks it was just... well... hell. The second two weeks was like second nature. I just got up, did the workout, and felt great about it. Then of course I came home and ate like a pig. I just can't seem to get it through to my brain that just because I am working out it doesn't mean that I can eat whatever I want. The end result was a weight loss of zero, zilch, nada. Really I am okay with that though because I feel awesome. I went from wanting to die at the thought of running even a few steps to knowing that I could do more than just the one lap that our trainer told us to run. And although my wobbly bits are still somewhat wobbly, they are just the slightest bit more toned than they were four weeks ago. The first Friday of camp we did a little fitness test, measuring how fast we were at a certain drill and how many of a certain exercise we could do during a certain length of time. Today we did the same fitness test with the hopes of seeing improvements. The results are in.

Shuttle run: 7 seconds faster!
Push ups: 11 more push ups in a 2 minute period!
Plank: I held this yoga position for 30 seconds longer at the end of camp!
Sit ups: 7 more sit ups in a 2 minute period!
Squat thrusts: same results here
Squats: 4 more of these in a 2 minute period

Will I do this again? Probably not. Would I like to? Sure! Unfortunately I just don't think it is going to work out anytime soon. Since someone is going to buy our house any minute (that is me working on my positive thoughts) and there is no boot camp that is close enough to our new house, just probably not happening. Hopefully some of this workout motivation will carry over to me working out on my own. Hopefully...

Marcus

Marcus's new word is Marcus. He has known his name for an eternity (an eternity measured by a 2 year old that is) but has made no attempt to say it. For someone who can't pronounce R's or C's and has a very crude ability to pronounce S's it really is not surprising that he hasn't given his name a chance until recently. If it weren't for the fact that he points to himself when he says it or to pictures of himself I probably wouldn't have a clue what he is saying. It sounds so silly when he says it. Now if only I could get him to say "Marcus's lemonade" so I could get a double laugh out of it!

Splishy Splashy

Yesterday we went to visit our friends Carey and Lola and take a dip in their pool. Both kids were hesitant at first but I plopped them down on the first step into the water. Will never quite warmed up to the idea of splashing around and was more content to eat potato chips and play in the sandbox. Marcus kept a watchful eye on Lola aquatic antics and by the end of our swim, he was not about to be outdone by a girl. Only his second time in a pool this summer and he acted like he had been doing it his whole life. Check out the height he gets in these cannonballs!


In the end I am not sure who had more fun, me or the boys. Thanks again for having us over!

In Summary...

Been a crazy week so here is the quick low-down:

Greg's Pap died.

We put an offer on a house and it was accepted. The offer is contingent on us selling our house which hasn't happened yet.

Greg's mom had an accident in her house yesterday but seems to be okay.

Marcus is still convinced that everything in this world is yellow. I let him decide in the morning which type of undergarment he wants to wear. Sometimes he picks his big boy underwear and generally does okay, but I do take him to the potty about every 15 minutes.

Will's vocabulary is insane. There is no chance of me keeping track of how many words he says. I don't know all the time if he even knows the words he is saying or if he is just repeating words he hears other people say.

Boot camp is 3/4 of the way over. My body has given up but my brain keeps trying to convince it to keep going. My ankles are so sore that any exercise requiring me to jump is basically impossible so I end up modifying it. It kills me to run but I keep doing it somehow. I am really proud of myself for continuing to go go go.

I have poison ivy. It isn't too bad but it still itches which is no fun. And it's ugly.

Birds!

Today we went to my mother-in-law's favorite place in the whole world, The National Aviary. We opted to make the trip without my mother-in-law this time and instead went with Cara, Max, and Andy. I discovered last week that during the summer there is a Little Peepers program that is designed for kids ages 2-5. Plus, kids under the age of 6 had free admission so that just sealed the deal.

We got there a little early and heard that there was a feeding going on in one of the spaces so we headed there. As we were entering the room there was a large bird hanging out by the door. Will started completely freaking out. I was concerned that he had some irrational fear of birds, which is just a really bizarre fear in my opinion. After spending more time in the aviary though I think he just really didn't like that particular bird.

The Little Peepers program was cute. We tried to get close enough to the front to see but not so close that I would have to take my kids out of the safe confines of the stroller so not to block the view for other people. A woman next to me asked about the ages of my kids and then pointed out her son, a Guatemalan looking boy seated on the floor. I said that I had noticed him when I walked in the room and he was adorable. She said she thought my kids might be... I just said yes, knowing what she was getting at yet still understanding why you might not just want to blurt out ADOPTED to some stranger. I think adoptive parents should have some special code so you can ask but if the kids aren't adopted the parents won't have a clue what you are talking about and thus not get offended. Anyway, heard some stories and then a penguin came out so the kids could see that. After that a little craft took place.


Cara and I rounded up our kids and went to find some more birds. We had the joy of dealing with other people's kids which is not a joy whatsoever. Not sure if Cara was planning on blogging about this situation but really it is her story to tell. Will got freaked out by the same bird yet again. Then we stumbled into another room where a feeding was going on.

I really wanted to volunteer to feed a bird but didn't get a chance because an old lady and several adults decided to push right in front of me and my kids so they could see better. Seriously, what is wrong with people? Now that behavior I would have totally expected from kids but these are grown people!

Despite all the complaining I just did, it was a great way to spend the morning. Marcus kept telling me that he was all done each time we would stop to look at the birdies at first but after awhile he seemed to enjoy watching them. We got quite a show from this humongous hawk. This bird kept flapping its wings right in the window in front of us. The wingspan on this thing had to have been larger than the distance from my finger tip to fingertip. My mother-in-law would have loved it.

4th of July

Will got to celebrate his first 4th of July as an American citizen over the weekend. We headed south to the neighborhood where I grew up for our annual block party. It has been going on for at least 40 years and has grown from just the families of the people on the street to the families of people who used to live on the street (like me) and lots of kids of the kids who used to live in the street (like my kids).

Unfortunately, just as we were driving into the neighborhood, the rain arrived too. It rained for about 2 hours. Ugh. The rain wasn't about to stop some of the older kids who were dancing in the rain with their umbrellas. I did my best to keep my kids under the cover of the crowded garage. Marcus passed the time by eating. Will passed the time by socializing with all the people he could say hi to. A man had picked a bunch of wild raspberries. Will wasn't quite sure what to think of them at first. Marcus started digging in and then Will decided to give it a try. I am not sure anyone else got any raspberries. My kids had both hands in the bowl and were shoving the raspberries in as fast as they could.

Some of the older kids were applying temporary tattoos to the other kids. Marcus was all about the tattoos and got four of them, one on each of his limbs. Will had one too that he mostly enjoyed picking at.

Once our bellies were full and the rain had subsided, it was time for games. There was an attempt at a game involving water balloons but most of the kids opted to throw the balloons around and try to break them, Marcus included.

They also played a sticker tag game where you run around and try to put stickers on people. Will lost.


We didn't really get to see any fireworks since the kids were in bed by 9:00. I did catch a few out my window. All in all, a pretty nice little holiday.

One of my Guatemalan-American Boys:

I have been (half-heartedly) tagged

Jillious kinda suggested on her blog that maybe I was tagged so here it goes.

Name five things that you can't live without. It can't be a person, it has to be something material that actually makes your life easier. It can't be something in general, it must be exact. Also, it can't be the obvious like a cell phone or computer.

1. iPod - This is the first thing that came to mind and really the only thing that I didn't have to put any thought into coming up with. The minute I get in my car I have to have it plugged in. Greg probably thinks I am crazy because if I forget to grab it on the way out the door, I have to run back in, even if the car ride is only a mile down the street and it takes me longer to plug the thing in than I actually end up listening to it.

2. DVR - Just got our DVR in January or February. No idea how I ever survived without it. I really don't know when the last time I watched something that was not recorded on our DVR.

3. Timeout chair - Oh how I love thee.

4. Flip-flops - I realize that some people hate these shoes **cough cough Amy cough** but they are just fabulous. I wear them all the time, appropriate or not. Okay, not all the time because jogging laps around the parking lot at boot camp with flip flops on would just not work out so well. My current pair of flip flops I purchased at the end of the season at Target last year for $3. The sole is practically ripped off the right shoe and I often trip over it, but still keep on wearing them. Oh, and they smell horrendous which just makes them even more fun to wear around the flip flop hater I didn't mention above, you know, in case she might catch a whiff.

5. Simple Green - it is a cleaning product in case you didn't know. It can be found in the automotive cleaning area of our grocery store. It is biodegradable, non-toxic, and highly concentrated. And it cleans anything. Give me a bottle of that stuff in one hand and my Dyson in the other and watch this place sparkle. (Better yet, give the Simple Green and Dyson to someone else and have them make my place sparkle.)

I'm tagging Amy, Amanda, and Cara.

Does this for sale sign make my butt look big?

I would like to introduce you to my new best friend. We have always had a great relationship from the moment that we met. That friendship became even stronger as we added more kids to our household. Now that our house is on the market, I really don't know how I would get by without the daily visits from my friend. His name is Dyson.


Our house appeared on our agency's website on Sunday. Monday we had two agents bring people through our house. On Tuesday there was another showing. One more today. I don't know what is normal but I am thinking this activity is a good sign. Who wouldn't want our house? It is an awesome house in a great neighborhood with access to everything and a great yard! The whole idea of people I don't know walking through our house and basically judging it - without me even knowing what they are saying - weirds me out. We were joking about installing nanny-cams so we could watch people look at our house.

All these people in our house has meant that we have had to find places to go, and take the pooch with us too. On Monday the weather was kind of cool so we went to dinner at a pizza place and left the pooch in the car. Then we headed to one of the county parks and took a walk around a little island that we had never visited. Tuesday evening was also cool enough to leave the pooch in the car for a short bit so we headed to Home Depot to get a few supplies to make our house look even more stellar. Tonight it was much warmer so we went to the neighborhood park where the pooch could run and the kids (and me too) could slide. We headed back a good 30 minutes after we thought our visitors would be gone but they were still here. So we went and got ice cream.

All these people are checking out our house right around dinner time. I have been shoveling food into the mouths of my kids these past two nights so we can head out the door. Greg and I have skipped dinner which generally leads to me eating not so healthy food. Tonight my food intake wasn't so bad consisting of a salad and a banana. Oh, and that ice cream... Someone better buy our house soon or I'll have to get a new wardrobe to go with the new house.

Tomorrow is a big house hunting day. We have been casually looking around for months but haven't found anything that might be the house. I came across one online on Sunday and the minute I saw it I knew it had to be mine. Turns out it just went under contract on Friday. Our agent did some calling and checking around and suggested that if we really loved it that much we could put in a backup offer. Then today she called to tell me that the original offer fell through and the house will be put back in active status today or tomorrow! Is it a sign? Guess we will have to see it first. It isn't the perfect house, mainly because it really isn't that big. That is something that could be changed though. What can't be changed is the location and this house has location, location, location!

Off to rest up for a day of hunting!

Are we potty training?

I think we might be potty training. I'm not really sure. The first attempt went pretty well but Marcus quickly lost interest in continuing on that path. The attempt had me completely exhausted so I really didn't try to pursuade him to stay on track. We just went back to him sitting on the potty a couple times a day and then strapping his diaper back on.

Last week there were two evenings when Marcus spotted his big boy underwear in his drawer and decided he wanted to wear them. Off came the diaper and on went the underwear. Each evening we took him to the potty periodically but after about an hour I heard shreiks of, "Oh no! Potty!!" The first time he cried, completely shocked by the pee pee going down his leg. I thought he was scarred for life. Apparently not since the next night he was all about the underwear again. We cleaned up the accident together and talked about putting his pee pee in the potty. I gave him a choice of what sort of undergarment he wanted on after we took his wet underwear off and both times he chose something other than the underwear. (Can't remember now if it was a pull-up or diaper or what.)

This morning he spotted his choo choo underwear and was all about wearing them. I was all about encouraging him. We made a deal. He wasn't allowed on the couches and he had to go to the potty every 15 minutes and he could wear his choo choo underwear. He put his choo choo underwear on at about 8:15 this morning and around 11:30 I changed him out of them because they were a little damp. He did awesome! I am not sure if the dampness was a real accident, obviously not one big enough to cause pee pee to run down his leg. It might have even happened when I caught him doing something he wasn't supposed to and yelled at him.

We even headed outside to play in his big boy underwear. He was very proud to show them off.


The best thing about wearing no diaper and no pants, is that you are no longer weighted down. Look how high Marcus could jump!


We took our potty outside so Marcus wouldn't have to stop playing and go in to do his thing. He showed off his awesome big brother skills and demonstrated to Will just what to do.


Will was mildly interested, until I turned on the bubble machine.

Two Boys

I feel that recently I have finally began to get the taste of what life will be like with two boys. Up until recently, it was more like I just had two kids, not necessarily two boys. As Will is getting older, he has started showing all those stereotypical tendencies of boys. I have to admit, I am not liking this.

I had an older brother who was constantly tormenting me growing up. Actually, he still torments me now when he gets a chance. When he was in one of his moods, I got to play the part of the tormentee. My poor mother was left trying to discipline my brother and comfort me. With two boys, it is me constantly dealing with two tormentors and two tormentees. Most of the time I am lost on where I should draw the line and where I should just leave them to themselves to work things out.

Today I pretty much let them torment each other. Mainly their tormenting is done via toy stealing. It used to be that Marcus would be the sole stealer. Now Will waits until he sees and opening and swoops in. He doesn't just run away with the toy. He backs a few steps away and waits for Marcus to get mad. And of course, the madder the tormentee gets, the more successful the tormentor was.

This new tactic of handling this situation is working wonders for my stress level. All this tormenting is no longer tormenting me! I get to sit back and watch and hope that fists don't start flying. Then I have to get involved.