November Toddler Moms Thread

[nori]

I know it's still October, but we only have a few hours left!!! So I'll start a new thread.;)

How was everyone's Halloween? We had fun. We decided to go to the local zoo for their event Saturday night. My friend told me that it was fun. Well it was quite different from what I was expecting...there were so many people we had to wait more than 30 min. to get in, and once you're in, it was one-way and couldn't just wander around. Zoo was lighted up nicely and it was fun, but too many people! And some costumes scared Noah off...one was a gorilla, and the other was the big firefighter balloon costume. It was like 8 feet tall. He liked parrot and bear costume staff were wearing, though. Another thing I didn't like was, they charged for Mary Ann, too!:eek: I've never heard of charging infant. Noah was the only one with the basket so it wasn't like Mary Ann got tons of goodies. Anyway, now I know how that event is. I'd probably stick with neighborhood trick-or-treating.

Tonight we went out to a few houses together and I came home with Mary Ann to give away candies, while Noah kept going with daddy. He loved it! He loved carrying the basket and pumpkin flashlight. As for candies, I'd take any hard candies, gum, peanut contained candies etc away from his bag. He likes to hold lollipop but he doesn't really eat it. He likes kitkat.:)

Here's some pictures.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid145/pae2b89f18f06ee4d8c73831198e7b1ca/f66e0d03.jpg

And I know she's not a toddler, I just wanted to share those:

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid145/p49436579548870d5fcad9061c3477c9b/f66e0cdd.jpg

And this is what she wore to the church this morning. SIL got that hat. Onsie is what Noah wore for his first Halloween.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid145/p3ed84e104f94eb6bc703ec2091bd9f79/f66e0cf3.jpg


Oh, we got some individual applesauce cups and granola bars for treat. I thought it was very nice.

We didn't have many visitors tognight to our house. One family was amazingly rude, though. It was 2 boys (about 7 or 8) and one baby, and a mom. I gave them candies, and was talking to mom about her baby. I stepped a bit outside, and two boys sneaked inside the house (without me inviting them, of course!), and went to the kitchen, and touched the computer and just nosing around. I couldn't belive it. It was so rude. Their mom of course tried to stop them, but in my opinion, she wasn't strict enough. Right after that, Noah and DH just stopped by (DH needed to use the bathroom), I told him this story and he said, "Oh we saw them. Her kids tried to grab Noah's flashlight so I had to tell them they can't have it":eek: Amazing. When those boys got into our house, they acted it's normal to wander around stranger's house. Mind you, we do not know them at all...if we knew each other, this won't bother me that much. But I was just so surprised some kids do something like that.

Helene, good for you taking a day off to catch up on your sleep. Hopefully Victor's sleeping will improve.

Susan, It's so cute about Casey saying she loves her daddy! How sweet.:)

Paula, sounds like fun to get together with Heather. LOL about "coffin":D

Better go to bed now. Hope everyone had a fun weekend!

[tbb113]

Nori: The pictures are great. Noah and Mary Ann are both adorable (and you are very cute too ;) ).

Alex dressed up in his Julius Caesar robe and handed out the candy. Had more kids than I thought...it was a good thing I bought more candy (Michael and his friends had hit my original purchase).

[MrsReber]

Nori, I love the pictures. So very cute. I do like the one with the three of you. As much as I sometimes hate being in the pictures, I realize that my mom was never in many of the pictures with us as kids. I can't believe they charged for Mary Ann! That's just not right at all.

We decided not to go to the Halloween parade. I'm glad we didn't. Casey fell asleep on the floor in her room at 6:30 Saturday night. Brenden fell asleep at 7:00. The parade started at 7:00 and it was about 3 hours long. Of course, both kids woke up again around 9:30, but they weren't up for too long. It was kind of foggy and damp out, too.

My mom came over around 1:30 and we took the kids around our neighborhood. They got tired pretty quickly and didn't seem to have a whole lot of fun, though they did like getting some candy. I guess we were out for just over an hour. We went home and my mom left. I asked if they wanted to go to Brenden's friend's house a few towns away. They said yes. At first, Casey didn't want to trick-or-treat again. She wanted to go inside and play with the toys at Melanie's house! Brenden wanted to go again, though. They live in a neighborhood where the houses are fairly close together. Everyone has kids there and all the houses were decorated. What a difference! Casey had a blast and didn't want to stop going to all the houses. They're all rather large, expensive houses, too, so they got a ton of candy. DH had gone over his brother's house for a while so there was a ton of candy leftover when we came home. We're in trouble! We ran out last year so I was pretty surprised to have so much left. I'll have to bring it to work. Not all of it, of course ;) ! I need to get my pictures developed so I can post them.

Helene, I'm sorry your nighttime is becoming so stressful. I hope things calm down a bit. I realize that I'm not alone with my problem when I talk to the other moms from daycare. Most of those kids go to bed around 9:30 or 10:00 because of the huge nap they all take there. I wish I had better or more advice to give you. Every time I think I have it figured out, something changes. Casey has actually been sleeping in her bed more- twice this weekend, she stayed in her own bed all night. She's so proud of herself when she does that.

I have a conference call at 1:30 today. I sure hope the kids don't fight and stay away from me. I'll have to put something really good on tv and maybe set them up with some Halloween candy. I know, it sounds terrible, but it's just for one hour. They should be a bit tired by then, too, with the time change and all the trick-or-treating yesterday. I hope. My boss just HAD to have the call today, even though our attorney can't be there and we don't have everything that we need. It's his way of showing me that he's in charge. He does the same thing to other people- or I should say other women- in the department.

[HRJ]

Nori, those pictures are adorable! Those costumes are great -- did you have any trouble getting Noah to wear his? And I agree -- I can't believe they charged for Mary Ann!

Susan, good luck managing your conference call. Sounds so typical of your boss. :rolleyes:

Saturday was very drizzly/misty/rainy, so we didn't go to the Halloween parade like we'd planned -- ended up spending the day running errands, and getting Victor to take a nap while we were in the car.

On Sunday, we ended up being invited over by the parents of Victor's friends, the twins, from day-care. They had two other families with little kids there, and served dinner for everyone, and then the kids and dads went out trick-or-treating in their neighborhood. Victor had a blast!! He was so excited about the trick-or-treating, and being with his friends. He got the t-or-t concept down right away -- DH said Victor even tried to "double-dip" at some of the houses. :o The only problem was when we got home -- he was furious when he realized we weren't going to let him eat ALL the candy in one night! :rolleyes:

We got home about 7 p.m. -- I was hoping there would still be trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood, because I'd bought all this candy. We didn't get ONE trick-or-treater! :eek: So after running out of candy last year, I've got TONS left this year. I'll send most of it to work with DH.

I also had a bad head-cold over the weekend, which turned into laryngitis (sp?) last night. Today, I can't talk at all above a whisper. DH is working at home, from his office in the basement, because I was concerned about having to take care of Victor all day without being able to talk.

Last night, the return to Standard Time came to our rescue. We did story-time at 8:30 p.m., turned out the lights at 9 and Victor was fast asleep by 9:30 -- I'm sure because his body clock thought it was really an hour later. Ideally, I'd like to him be asleep a *little* earlier, but I can live with this, if we can keep it up. He woke up at 6:30 this morning, without any prompting from us -- again, if we can keep this up, that would be great, in terms of making our mornings less hectic. We'll see what happens -- I don't want to jinx myself.

Haven't downloaded our photos yet -- will post when we do.

Helene

[HRJ]

Victor just came in and asked when we were going to go trick-or-treating today.

When I told him, in a hoarse whisper, that there was no more trick-or-treating, he said, "OK, we go tomorrow."

Yes, he's really caught on to this Halloween thing .... :rolleyes:

Helene

[RunnerKim]

Here's Lainey's photos

http://www.wierhere.net/portland/images/elw/Fall04/HalloweenGiraffePumpkins.jpg

and my favorite photo of Lainey with her cousins

http://www.wierhere.net/portland/images/elw/Fall04/HalloweenCousinsHug.jpg

Lainey loved trick-or-treating. We went a little early and DH joined us for a few houses and then went home to pass out treats. We ended up going around the whole block with my sister and her boys becasue Lainey has to do everything they do. She loved ringing the doorbell the most I think - although she definitely double-dipped at a few houses :eek: She did great, even with people answering the door in a scary mask (although they didn't act scary) until we hit a house close to the end that had one of those bowls where there's a hand in the middle that grabs you as you reach for the candy - she saw it happen to her cousin and kept saying all the way home "no like hand" and I told her Alek would get any candy for her from any scary bowls, so she added on "no like hand, Alek get it"

We didn't have as many visitors this year - 43 compared to around 50, I think people found other things to do during the day since it was on a weekend. Great weather for us - not raining :D

Nori - cute cute cute costumes! I cannot believe they charged for Mary Ann either - that's very greedy/poor customer service. I think our Zoo does something like the lights thing for the winter holidays.

Helene - glad the time change gave you a reprieve - let's hope it's permanent! Didn't help us any - Lainey woke up at 4:45am both Sunday and this morning. Even though we put her to bed on the "new" time. I'm not surprised as her wake up time has never reflected what time she fell asleep. Hopefully our weekday routine will adjust her soon.

Susan - I agree with you about being in the pictures. I'm definitely the photographer in the family and I'll ask DH to take a picture every once in awhile to get one with me in it.

Glad Casey warmed up to the trick-or-treating. Good luck on your conference call!

Kim

[MrsReber]

2 hours and counting until the conference call. I have them jumping around a bit now. Keeping my fingers crossed. I hate to have a blood curdling "mommmmyyy!" when I'm on the call.

Kim, that's cute about Lainey and the hand. I haven't seen those bowls. Casey and Brenden only got scared at one house and I had to laugh. They had a strobe light and some scary sounds. I think the light scared them most of all. They went running to the door and then stopped. They came back to get me. So many people just held the bowl out for them to grab something. Brenden has pretty big hands so he'd grab three and even four things at a time! The people told him to take it,though. Nobody wanted leftovers. DH always sneaks candy from them, though. I'm sure it won't last all that long. They tried several things that they didn't like, too. I took some stuff away that they can't have.

Helene, I was wondering if my kids would be asking to trick or treat again, but they seem okay with it being one day. Hey, you can come trick or treat at my house! I wish I could hang a sign out for the kids to come back today for leftovers.

Great pictures, Kim! My computer is being slow today! I really like Lainey's outfit. She's adorable in it.

[tbb113]

Kim: Lainey looks great and I really like your pumpkins too. I stopped doing pumpkins since nobody will scoop them out (excpet me). I still miss have a jack-o-latern so maybe next year I'll do one for myself :)

[JoanneOR]

Kim and Nori, I love the pictures. Everyone looks so cute. We took lots of pictures, but our Internet is still out at home, so I can't upload them to shutterfly to post them. Our CD writer doesn't work either, so I can't put them on a disk and do it here at work. But, we did take some with our 35mm, so I'm going to have those developed and put on a CD. Hopefully I'll be able to post something eventually!

Nori, that is really rude for those kids to walk into your house. I don't know how that mother could have allowed that to happen. And, that's crazy for the zoo to charge for Mary Ann!

Susan, I've done those conference calls many times at home with the kids there! Not easy! Especially before the boys were in school all day. Usually DH will take them out or try to keep them occupied and I'll go in another room and close the door. But, of course, DH will get immersed in his TV and the kids will sneak off and knock on the door and ask for things. Or start fighting or being really noisy. It's very awkward, especially when you know you are on speaker phone in a room of 10 people!! The most embarrassing was when I had to wake up DH to get the kids from school. I had the phone with me, but thought I had covered up the speaker part. I'm telling him to wake up and he's all groggy saying "what, what". Then I hear on the phone my boss saying, umm, Joanne, we can hear you. Kind of embarrassing!

Sounds like everyone had a good Halloween. Helene, that's funny about Victor asking to go again. We have an incredible amount of candy in our house. The boys had parties at school on Friday and came home with big bags. Colin decided he was going to give all his away to Ian. Ian couldn't fit it all in a regular trick or treat bag, so he asked me for a kitchen garbage bag and put it all in there. This is all before trick or treating. A few of the husbands on our block took the kids and the wives sat in front of one of our houses with our candy. It was fun. There was about 10 kids all going together. Caitlyn only went to a few houses, the rest of the time she rode in the wagon. She also wanted to eat it all at once. We now have three more huge bags on our dining room table that I haven't even looked at yet. There's no way they will eat all that. I'm going to have to sneak some into work. I have to get it out of the house before I start eating it.

Saturday night we had an Octobfest on our block. It turned out really nice. All the kids played in our house while the adults were outside. We had a big tent set up with heaters inside. Everyone brought food. My house was a bit worse for wear after having all those kids in there, but nothing was broken!

Gotta run...be back later!

[JoanneOR]

I forgot to post before that Caitlyn had her cardiologist appt. on Friday. He said she's doing great - she's up to 27 pounds now. He said she can now eat and drink whatever she wants. We go back in a month. She also had her speech evaluation. Her therapist was amazed at how much progress she's made since she saw her last in June, I think. I didn't really realize it - I knew she was saying more, but I guess I didn't realize how behind she was before. The therapist said she probably won't qualify for therapy - there needs to be a 30% delay. But, she would recommend it anyway considering Caitlyn's circumstances.

Her physical therapist did an evaluation on Thursday and also said she's doing great and doesn't need anymore therapy. I think the surgery really helped her stamina and strength.

[tbb113]

Great news Joanne. It has to be a huge relief to know that Caitlyn continues to improve.

[RunnerKim]

Joanne that is fabulous news! Go Caitlyn Go! :)

I have a music CD recommendation for you - we checked it out from the library based on recommendations on this thread a long time ago. I think it's Ralph's World. DH really like it - love the 18 wheeler song where he counts backwards and forwards, by roman numerals, divides by pi! (really appeals to DH's "engineerness") and a comment about exostentialism after the Itsy Bitsy Spider song had me LOL but then.... there's a Cubs song on there! His heart bleeds Cubby blue, etc. DH said i could buy the CD and then copy it and delete off that song. :D

Nori - I forgot to write about how shocked I would have been for kids to walk in my house while trick-or-treating!! I would have been quite suprised and dismayed by that.

susan - hope you survived the conference call.

Kim

[Julia1Pin]

Joanne - That is awesome about Caitlyn. It must be such a relief. Ocotoberfest sounds like fun. I wish we were so close to our neighbors. DH isn't real big into making new friendships.

Nori - your little ones are so cute. My friends went to a Zoo thing in San Francisco but I think it was better organized. Abigail loves lollipops. But she takes maybe 3 or 4 licks and then puts it down. you know, you look like a kid yourself ;)

Susan - The neighborhood makes all the difference I think. We're now on a street with tons of kids and everyone is out trick or treating. How's your writing going? Can you quit this horrible job yet?

Helene - I hope you feel better soon. Victor is a true American boy now ;) Isn't Halloween a great holiday? I'm glad the time set back worked to your advantage.

Kim - Lainey looks great in her costume. She looks so tall. I guess being a giraffe will do that ;) DH is usually the photographer in our family so I am usually the one in the pitcures with the kids.

Abigail and Nicoel went out trick-or-treating. People were surprised that Nicole didn't have a basket. Um, she's 5 months old. What's she going to do with the candy? Heck, Abigail won't even eat all hers. Alot of people gave Abigail extra for Nicole. It was nice fo them. I carried Nicole in the baby bjorn and my MIL wheeled the stroller in case Abigail got tired. We went up and down our block and abigail was careful to only take 1 or 2 pieces. When we came home Abigail helped my hand out more candy. she was such a big girl doing it.

I dressed up too. We had a haunted house on our floor on Friday (the theme was Pirates of the Carribean) and so I had a pirate costume that I wore. It was actually pretty cool - we had over 1000 people come by and the props we used to decorate (aside from what we made) were from the real movie. In fact, when we were picking stuff up from the prop house there were people there from the sequal getting props becaus ethe movie is already in production.

Here is a picture of us before we went out:












http://images.ofoto.com/photos899/1/87/43/37/8/7/708374387105_0_ALB.jpg

[nori]

Julia, your girls are so cute! Are they Snow White and Dumbo??? You look pretty cool too....so you had a hounted house AT your house? Wow! Sounds like fun, though. Wish we could go visit.:)

Kim, Lainey looks adorable in the giraffe costume. I agree, she looks so tall in that. I love the one she's hugged by her cousins....that's so nice. How funny about the scary bowl. I've seen one of those and it scared me! (Because I didn't know) Good thing Lainey has a nice big cousin to help her out. Thanks for recommendation on CD...sounds great. I have to see if our library has it. My DH is an enginner, so it would probably impress him, too.:D

Joanne, that's great about Caitlyn! Must be a relief for you. I'm so happy to hear that she's doing so well.:)
You seem to have a nice neighborhood. We know some neighbors, but we don't get together for anything. We invited them over for dinner couple of times, but that's it. I don't really know most of them. Like Julia said, I wish we were closer to our neighbors, too.
Candies in a garbage bag!? That's a lot of candies.:eek: How long would that take them to finish them all?;) :D


Tyra, we didn't carve pumpkin this year, either. I don't know why, it just slipped off from my list. We just put the pumpkin out last night. I hate scooping inside of pumpkn, too! But it's fun when you light the jack-o-lanten. We have to do that next year.


Susan, I don't get in the picture with kids a lot either, because I'm taking pictures usually. That night DH happened to have the camera. But you're right, I think it'll be nice for them to look back to see those pictures with mommy or daddy. Hope your conference call went well today. I don't blame you on putting TV for kids with candies during that time...it's not that you're doing that all the time!!

Helene...How funny Victor wanted to go trick or treating again!:) But like Susan said he could come to our house! We got tons of leftovers. Noah didn't want to wear the costume at first (on Saturday) before we went to zoo. Both me and DH tried to encourage him to wear it, saying if he wears it, he can go to the zoo and get candies. And we showered him with a lot of praises when he got his suit on...like "Wow, you look so good in it!" "how cute!!" The next day (Halloween day) was better, because he knew wearing that means something fun. We didn't have any problems at all. I was a bit surprised that he kept his hat...but I guess he understood that bee costume includes the hat.
Hope you have another better night tonight!

My friend who recommended the zoo thing to me said they went too, but last year was better. Seems like they gave away better goodies. Those goodies looked like all advertisement from sponsors and most of them hard candies...which Noah can't eat. Kim, they do Christmas light-up, too...haven't been to yet, though. I wonder if they'd chage for infants, too.:D I guess I should have said something at the counter when we got tickets...well DH paid it, and I was holding Mary Ann and wasn't exactly at the window. Oh well.

It's finally cooling down here too, and it was perfect to play outside this morning. Noah had fun at sandbox and trucks, and later I fixed hot cocoa and had it outside patio with him. He kept saying "hot chocolate, hot chocolate" and if I said "yes, do you like hot cocoa?" He'd say "No, chocolate!". I warmed his a bit, but mine was pretty hot. It was so nice to warm my hands with a cup of cocoa.

Kim, you have one of those infant swing from Little Tykes..? Does Lainey still ride in it? Noah got in it today after for a while and he seemed so big in it. I forgot the weight limit, but I think he may be kind of ready to move on to the regular swing. He can still fit in, though. He liked to go so high. Later he was trying another swing and while I wasn't looking, he managed to fell and cut his lip. When I got there he was bleeding and crying. It wasn't too deep, thank goodness, but it was still scary to see blood coming out that much. He's fine, but I think he was in shock when that happened.

[JoanneOR]

Kim, I'll have to look for that CD. Susan, I don't know if I posted this before, but Ian loves the CDs you sent to us last year. He plays them in the basement and him and Caitlyn dance around. It's so cute.

Julia, you and the kids look so cute! Abigail looks so grown-up and Nicole is a doll. Was that haunted house at your house or at work?? 1000 people? Wow, that's alot!

Nori, we really didn't start to get to know our neighbors real well or do things with them until the last couple years or so and we've been there about 10 years. I think what got people to know each other better was our first block party two years ago. Also, younger families with kids have been moving in. There's now a group of about 10 kids that play together. It's great for them. I'm just wondering how it will be when they are all teenagers!

I had a pretty easy morning today. The kids don't have school, so I only had to get myself ready. It's funny, when they have to go to school, I'm dragging them out of bed. Today, they all woke up early except Ian.

Susan, how did your conference call go?

[MrsReber]

Joanne, how embarrassing about your conference call! I would've been mortified. My call went okay. I owe a great debt of gratitude to the person who put a mute button on my cordless phone. I just had it on mute most of the time. Unfortunately, my one hour call turned into a 2 1/2 hour negotiation session. The kids were pretty good. Casey got the idea that she wasn't supposed to bother mommy. She did forget, though, and ran into the room to tell me that she went potty. I don't think anyone noticed. Then Brenden somehow unplugged the cable box, which caused the dvd player to stop. Crisis!! I was praying that the mute button was working and nobody was hearing the Drgaon Tales theme song in the background. Brenden is not so easily entertained by TV. I'm actually very happy about that, but it would've been nice yesterday! He came into the room. I looked at him, put my fingers to my lips and said "shhhhh." I can't even believe this happened, but he didn't say a word and closed the door all the way! My boss didn't mention any background noise, so I guess I did okay. Whew! I have called people before, but I had the luxury of calling on my time so I could arrange it around nap time or when the kids were involved in something. I also have never tried to be on the phone for a whole hour, nevermind over 2 1/2!

I felt so bad because I had said I'd take them down to the park after my call. It was 4:00 when I hung up and I had to go check my email. The park closes at dark so I knew we wouldn't have enough time to go. We did all go out in the yard to play for an hour or so. It was dark when we came in.

With the time change, Brenden fell asleep sitting up on the couch around 9:00 and Casey followed shortly after. I like the time change.

Julia, I am almost ready to submit a manuscript for consideration. I just have to finish my bibliography and put it in the envelope. My manuscript and cover letter are done and my envelope is stamped and addressed. I just need to check on on line source and I'm ready. I'm halfway through my course already. I have to get working on my next assignment.

Joanne, I'm glad the cd's are a hit. I love to get the kids to dance around to the Wiggles. I told them we have to practice. The concert is only a couple of weeks away. That's so great that Caitlyn is doing so well. She's going to be a tough girl growing up (in a good way). She's overcome so much already.

Nori, what a nice morning with the hot chocolate. I can't get Casey or Brenden to eat or drink anything hot. They frequently argue with me about food temperature. They'll tell me that something that has been sitting on the counter for 20 minutes is still too hot to eat.

[tbb113]

Nori: Sorry that Noah fell and hurt is lip. A great thing to keep on hand is popsicles for accidents like that. The cold will help with the swelling (if any) and it tastes good too :D

I can't imagine being on the phone and not being interuptted for 2 1/2 hours. My kids STILL need me when I'm on the phone :rolleyes: . The only time I tried to work from home was when Michael was first born. I averaged 10 hours a week, but it was on my own schedule and didn't require phone calls.

[JoanneOR]

Susan, I need to look into a new phone with a mute button! 2 1/2 hours is way too long to be on the phone! I've had a few of those and they're terrible. My ear is numb afterwards.

Susan, is this your children's book? That's great that you are so close to sending it in! Good luck. Hopefully we'll get a chance to read it someday in print!

[MrsReber]

Well, it's not a book, just a nonfiction article that was one of my assignments. The instructor is encouraging me to send it in. Nonfiction is a pretty easy way to break into print since there are so many children's magazines and they all need new material each month or so. I really want to get my feet wet and get my first formal rejection letter so I can get that over with :D ! I know I'll probably get lots of rejections before any ever happens. I wish I had more time to put into it.

Nori, I missed the part about Noah's cut lip. Those wounds seem to bleed forever. Brenden fell and bit his lip last weekend. It was so swollen. It must've really hurt. He cried for a long time. It scared me, though, because there was so much blood. At first, I didn't know where it was coming from. DH told me to be calm, mouth wounds tend to bleed like that. I was sitting there wondering if we'd need to go to the hospital or not.

Joanne, the mute button will be my savior. The only time I had a problem was when I had to comment on something and Brenden was running around. I went to hand him some fruit snacks and he hit the button on a very loud toy! I ran out of the room. I did have the mute button on, but I wasn't taking any chances. After the call, I told them both that they did a great job and that I was proud of them. Casey eats it up when you give her praise. I don't know if Brenden understood. Considering their ages, I do think they did great. Now I just hope it doesn't happen again!

[Julia1Pin]

Nori - Yes they were Snow White and Dumbo. But for some reason I though Nicole's costume was Eeyore. I bought the costume before Nicole was born and totally forgot what it was of. the color is the same, so... It wasn't until a friend reminded me what costume I bought (yesterday) that I took a closer look at the pictures and remembered:rolleyes: Abigail has the little tykes swing and is getting slightly big for it but she loves it. I hope Noah's lip isn't too swollen.

Joanne - The haunted house was at work. People from other departments and other building come to see it. It's pretty intimidating when people start coming through becuase alot of these people are creative for a living. We're a bunch of accounting and finance people faking it for a day. When I get my pictures developed I'll post them here.

Susan - That's great that the kids were so well behaved during the call. I remember once being ona call at home and Abigail screaming bloody murder at having to let go of me. Thankfully the people on the other end all had kids and understood (it was a 6pm call so most were out of the office by then). Good luck on the manuscript.

[HRJ]

Joanne, that's great news about Caitlyn doing so well!! :)

Kim, Lainey is adorable -- she looks so sweet! And your nephews are such cute boys, too. THat picture of the three of them is great.

Unfortunately, I can't see Julia's photos -- that seems to happen with Mozilla, a lot of times the BB pictures just don't show up -- I don't even get the little box with the red X. The only reason I know the picture is there at all is because you're all talking about it. I'll have to try using Explorer.

Susan, that call must have been horrible. Of course, sitting in a meeting in person for 2+ hours is no picnic, either.

About the "hot" food that's been sitting out for 20 minutes -- Victor is exactly like that!! I've even put room temperature food *in the refrigerator* to chill it bit, before he'll eat it. If we have soup, I throw a few ice cubes into his bowl, even if it already seems cool enough to me.

Nori, hope Noah's lip is getting better -- poor lil' guy. Those mouth injuries are very scary -- last year, Victor was jumping on our bed :rolleyes: and fell and hit his lip on the corner of DH's night-table -- it was bleeding like crazy. We panicked and took him to the ER -- where they gave him a popsicle!

Thanks for the CD recommendation, Kim. Right now, Victor loves dancing around to some of those "world music" compilation albums by Putomayo (don't know if I spelled that correctly). One is meant for kids, it's called "Latin Playground" and has a lot of really lively, upbeat music in Spanish and Portuguese. The other is a collection of soca and calypso music.

Last night at dinner, as Victor was finishing his last bites of food, he says to DH, "Daddy, get my costume, please." He *really* thought we could do the Halloween thing again. We finally had tears when he realized it was all over. (In fairness to Victor, I realized that almost all the holidays he's experienced so far -- Hanukkah, Passover, Rosh Hashana -- last more than one day. Even Christmas has Christmas Day, and Christmas Eve. And his birthday is the day before July 4th. So why should Halloween only be one day?)

I still really can't talk, and I'm getting some chest congestion -- hope this doesn't turn into bronchitis. I left the house to vote, but, otherwise, DH took Victor to day-care. I've been using the day to get some rest.

Helene

[tbb113]

Helene: Hope you feel better soon.

Instead of throwing ice cubes into Victor's soup, I used to add frozen peas or frozen corn. The soup cooks the veggies, the veggies cool down the soup and my kids got extra veggies.

I can understand Victor's confusion on Halloween. Its such a great holiday when you are a kid...it should be more than one day ;)

[Julia1Pin]

I kind of wish that it was more than one day too :o

[RunnerKim]

Julia - you look like your kids' big sister! Very cute. Helene, I couldn't see it at first either for some reason, so I right-clicked on it and selected properties and highlighted the url and then copy & pasted it in address bar of my browser. Once I'd viewed it, it shows up in the thread now too. Who knows.

We realized we were serving Lainey's food too hot, too often when her teachers thought she was saying pizza "hut" when pretending in the kitchen area of the room. We almost always make our own pizza - she was saying hot.

Susan - I'm so glad the meeting went well. I'd never ever be able to even have a 30 minute phone conversation. At the very least, Lainey would want to talk on the phone herself.

Oh poor Victor! That is an interesting insight about his holidays being more than one day. Halloween was kind of like that this year in that Lainey went trick-or-treating at daycare on Friday, had playgroup on Saturday (no trick-or-treating but she did put her costume on) and then Sunday of course. I hope you're feeling better soon, I know you had plans for the day.

Susan - I can't wait to hear where your article will be published! :D

Nori - all that blood would be scary. Our weather here hasn't been so conducive to playing in the backyard but I think Lainey would still fit in the swing fine (I'm pretty sure I have the same one you do). I thought I remembered she'd be able to use it until she was around 3 or so. I'd think the weight limited would be on the swing intself, I sure didn't keep the packaging. Our fort isn't really set up for a swing - a rope was hanging from this spot before so it's just 1 eye hook. I don't want to "upgrade" with #2 coming along anyway. On the other corner is a trapeeze bar, I could see replacing that with an older kid swing maybe.

Lainey hasn't switched over to the new time yet. Ugh. She's compensating by sleeping through my after-nap visit time :(

Kim

[nori]

Kim, the swing didn't have any packaging as I recall...it may had some paper wrapping thing (like a label) which of course we didn't keep. I have to look at the swing tomorrow. Maybe the bottom of the swing... That's funny about pizza "hut". Noah says hot a lot, when we serve something he has to wait until it cools down. Hope Lainey'll get over the time change so you can visit her when she's awake!

Tyra, I was going to suggest the frozen veggie thing...I think I've read it somewhere in the magazine one time. I thought that's a great idea. I have to remember about the popscicles.....never thought of that. When you see bleeding, you just can't think anything.

Helene, hope you're feeling better now. That must be hard not to be able to talk. Sounds like Victor really, really liked Hallween! How cute.

Julia, I didn't think of Eeyore when I saw it first, I just thought of Dumbo. But after reading your post, I looked at the picture again and yes, it does look like Eeyore too! They're Disney characters, anyway.

Susan, you really have to tell us if your article is published! I'm so looking forward to seeing your name on the magazine!! How exciting.

Joanne, that's nice kids on the street can play together. Did you start organizing the block party? That's a great idea, but I'd be anxious to plan on it at first. You really don't know those people...some houses we went for trick-or-treating people weren't so friendly. Some people were nice, though. So the kids had a day-off? Is it because of the election?

Noah is getting a bit clingy. In not so bad way. He likes to rock with me in the rocking chair, which I don't mind. I like him being cuddly. He's been not-so cuddly so it's a nice change. But I'm wondering if this is anything to do with having Mary Ann around? He especially comes to me when I'm holding her etc. Not too bad, though. But he's getting whiny too, so we just have to see.

We went to vote at 7am this morning and it was great. No waiting at all. I went first and DH watched kids at the entrance. Then we switched. The location was very close to home (actually it was our church) so that helped, too. After that DH went to work.

[JoanneOR]

Yea, our Internet is working at home again!! DH has been trying to fix it and getting very frustrated. I had some ideas on what to do, but if we try to do stuff like that together we get very impatient with each other and start arguing. So, I figured I'd try it when he wasn't around. We got a new modem and I knew that we needed to somehow install it because the computer wouldn't recognize it. DH said it didn't matter. Well, I installed it tonight and reintalled our DSL software and here I am!!

Our Halloween did seem like more than one day! The kids had a Cub Scout party on Thursday, parties at school on Friday and a party that night, then the real Halloween on Sunday. Their costumes got so much use that Ian's Shrek costume split in the pants. Colin's also started to rip at the seams. DH took a bunch of their candy to work tonight. I'm glad to get it out of the house. I have no willpower when it comes to chocolate.

Nori, we did organize the first block party, but a few of the neighbors that we already knew helped out. We had meetings every week or so to plan it and that's where we started to get to know people. I never really was close to any neighbors growing up, so I'm really enjoying having friends close by and watching the kids grow up together.

Yes, the kids had off for the election. I'm not sure why. DH took them with him to vote. They had a mock election set up for kids where they could vote for George Washington or Abraham Lincoln for president. I thought that was cute. They all got "I voted" stickers. They had a mock election at school for Kerry and Bush and Ian and Colin voted differently and DH said they were arguing in the car about it. Pretty funny. Political discussions already.

Nori, enjoy Noah's cuddliness! It probably does have something to do with Mary Ann. After Caitlyn goes to bed, the boys all try to snuggle with me. We used to all be able to fit in one chair, but now they are getting so big, two of them barely fit. So they fight about who gets to sit with me.

Ian decided to have his party at the same place as Jameson's. He decided against the dance party at home because I told him he'd have to limit his guest list. I invited his class to his party. With his cousins and some other friends, it's about 25 kids. I can't see that many kids in our basement!

I better get to bed!

[JoanneOR]

Well, instead of going to bed, I downloaded the Halloween pictures from my camera. Here's a picture of my bee and one of all the kids:





http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4cf23b3127cceaa5abf016c400000003610 http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4cf23b3127cceaa5ab9386c7a0000001610

OK, now I'm really going to bed!

[cchhbb]

Hi everyone.

I just read through a mile of posts in the last two days. I haven't been on the boards lately.

Garrett's birthday was great. He had a ball. At preschool, they gave him a crown and he wore it for about 3 days straight. If he had his way he would have worn it to bed and bath too. My parents were here for a week and Garrett really loved having them here. He got some great toys and has really started to be able to play by himself for awhile now. He got the Fisher Price Little People Zoo and Farm and a ton of trains to go with his new train table.

Garrett also got the book I'm going to be a big brother. I'm through my first trimester now and I think starting to feel like a real person again. I'm still sick, but it not as bad as it was when I was pregnant with Garrett. We still haven't told that many people.

I got a flu shot on Friday and waited in line at the clinic for 4 hours with Garrett in the stroller. He was remarkably good. I couldn't believe it as he generally hates the stroller. I did pack a lot of food and he spent a huge amount of time eating. I was surprised when we were done that he wanted to go have lunch.

I went and voted yesterday after I dropped off Garrett at school and went to the chiropractor. It took about 1 1/2 hours. Two people in line directly in front of me ended up having issues. One guy hadn't voted in 4 years and had moved twice and didn't re-register to vote. He started yelling about voter suppression.

Garrett loved trick or treating too. He had a blast. Like Victor, he really thought it could be everyday. He wanted to wear his lion costume to Costco on Monday and he did go to three neighbors houses and knock on their doors and yell Trick or Treat.

This is funny. About a month ago, we tried on Garrett's costume and then put it away. He was a lion. He loved the tail a lot. He decided then that he had a tail and would tell me things like his tail hurt. We asked him what color was his tail and he said orange. If you ask him where his tail is he pats right about his rear. It is really funny. He also is convinced that I have a tail too.

Sorry that this is all about Garrett. I'll try to keep up better. I've been sleeping a lot lately so haven't been on the pc. That and having company. My mom and dad left less than a week ago and my inlaws showed up yesterday. I have no idea when they are leaving either.

Cheryl

[MrsReber]

I need to get my pictures developed so I can post them! I'm shooting for this weekend. I went to vote last night so DH picked up the kids. It only took me about 15 minutes so I got some quiet time. It was nice to get dinner in the oven before everyone got home and the cries of "mommy!" started.

DH wasn't feeling good. First he was freezing. He was really tired and didn't even eat the dinner I made (CL's whisky flavored pork chops, sweet potatoes and broccoli). He fell asleep by 7:00. He did wake up once and we took his temperature- it was 101. He said he had a back ache so I'm worried about the flu now. Hard to tell since aches and fever could indicate a number of viruses. He said "it'll be good. We'll all get it now and be done with it." I straightened him out with that one. We're all staying away from him. With my luck, I'll get the virus along with the kids and I'll be stuck taking care of them!

Anyway, thanks for all the positive thoughts on my writing. I plan to mail my manuscript no later than this weekend. It is kind of exciting, but I'm not very optimistic. Although I really enjoy writing fiction, I was surprised at how interesting it was to research a nonfiction article. I thought of a few more topics, too. No harm in trying. I just know I can do this and fulfill one of my childhood dreams!

Back to the kiddies- Cheryl, my kids love Little People stuff. We have the farm, the doll house, and the garage. Casey keeps asking for the Dora talking house for Christmas. It'll probably be the one big thing that she gets. I know that grandma (my mom) already bought her a bunch of stuff that she'll love. Now I just have to figure out what to get for Brenden. More Thomas, I think. He loves his trains.

Wow, 4 hours is a long time to wait for a flu shot. That's great that Garrett was so good for that long.

Joanne, your kids are so cute. You have such a beautiful family. I can relate to the chair. We have a recliner that I used to sleep in on those nights when the kids wouldn't sleep. I haven't slept in the chair in a long time! I also used to rock them to sleep in it. Now I try to get both of them to sit in the chair with me and it's getting kind of crowded. I do miss those days.

On a good note, Casey slept in her bed all night long for 2 nights over the weekend. She's working on it. She likes to tell her teacher, Miss Amanda (her favorite) that she slept in her Dora bed all night. We ran into Miss Amanda at the store over the weekend and Casey told her how she spent all of Friday night in her own bed. She was so proud of herself. She even tells me to put her in her bed if she's sleeping on the couch.

I'm doing okay with the chocolate at home. For some odd reason, I really don't want any of it. Maybe I'm getting sick, too? I got on the scale at the gym this morning and I was thrilled to see that I finally, finally, finally got past my plateau! I can't believe it since I ate a lot of Halloween candy on Sunday. Maybe all the walking? I have to keep going. I have a dress I need to wear for my mom's 60th surprise party in (yikes!!!) 4 weeks. So there is hope for losing that last 10 pounds. I hope it goes away.

[RunnerKim]

Congratulations Cheryl! (This is new news right?!) When's you're due date? must not be too long after mine. Lainey loved the tail part of her costume too - defitinely her favorite part.

Joanne - what cuties! (even though it's really only Caitlyn's face you can see ;) ). I like how they all pick different things to be. I remember you organizing that first block party (or one of them at least). And good job on getting the internet working. DH and I are the same way - that stuff can get rather frustrating and it can get rather tense if we both try to work on it together - good plan of action.

Susan - I hope your DH doesn't share his virus. If the kids get it, let him take care of them ;)

Nori - there's a National Night Out program that happens during the summer I believe and lots of blocks have parties. I'm not sure how big it is where you live but normally you can get support from your City for blocking off part of your street (need permits etc.) and it's a good external excuse for organizing something like that. That might help you out.

Lainey had a rough night last night and we eventually brought her to bed and she slept until 6! Yeah!! Maybe, just maybe, she'll have switched over to "new" time. Her hand is in her mouth a lot but she says her mouth doesn't hurt - I'm pretty sure it's a top molar coming in. 1 more to go. There aren't any more of these molars for awhile are there?!!

Kim

[HRJ]

Cheryl, congratulations! :)

Joanne, your kids look great -- wish we could see more faces! Caitlyn is precious in that costume.

Kim, sorry Lainey had a bad night. I'm pretty sure you get a break on the molars after this, for 3-4 years or so.

Tyra, thanks for the tip about the frozen vegetables -- I'm always looking for ways to "sneak" veggies into Victor. But, this is the boy who will pick out the pieces of onion and pepper out from the meat and beans when he eats chili. :rolleyes: He's pretty vigilant about doing "search and destroy" missions for any and all vegetables. But, I"ll give it a try.

Susan, hope your DH doesn't have the flu! Glad you set him straight on "getting it over with." Glad that Casey's been staying in her bed -- hope it becomes a habit that sticks.

Victor has been much better about going to bed, these past few days, about getting into bed and falling asleep pretty quickly. I'm hoping that becomes a habit, too. (He's still been waking up in the middle of the night, but we'll handle one thing at a time.)

On my part, I woke up still feeling cr@ppy; called in sick to work again. After DH took Victor to day-care, I got back in bed, and ended up taking a big giant nap -- from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. :eek: It feels strange to have slept the day away, but I feel sooooo much better now.

Helene

[JoanneOR]

Cheryl, congratulations!! Garrett will have fun being a big brother. So, who's next?? :)I was just realizing that most of the moms on here have had new babies or are having babies soon. Julia, Erin, Nori, Kim, Cheryl...

Thanks for the compliments on the pictures. I know, it would be nice if you could see the boys faces. Although Jameson looks mad. He's on the end in red. I also had to crop out Grandpa who is holding Caitlyn. I don't know if he'd appreciate being on the Internet! I'll probably have Christmas pictures taken of the kids again and I'll post those. I might actually have some on shutterfly of the boys that I can post.

Caitlyn has gone back to being super picky about her food. I've been giving her some turkey sausages for breakfast and she loves them. Well, I tried to give her something else for dinner last night and she screamed until I got out the sausages. Same thing for lunch today. I don't think you can survive on sausages alone. If I put something else on her plate she picks it all up with her hands and says "all done" but won't let you take away her sausage.

Helene, glad you are feeling better. Sleep can do wonders!

Kim, I think the next molars come in around six. Ian recently got his. I noticed Caitlyn has one coming in the other day. You can only see half of it. I hope that explains some of her horrible sleeping habits!

Susan, hope DH doesn't have the flu and that none of you get it. I'm not looking forward to cold and flu season. Although it seems like it never really went away this summer.

Susan, congrats on the weight loss. I've got to get the chocolate out of the house! We also have one of those tins of caramel, cheese and butter popcorn that we bought for the party. No one ate it, so it's at our house. I keep snacking on it. I may just throw it away tonight. We are going to a dinner dance on the 20th and I need to fit in my dress. It fits me now, but just a couple pounds will make it too tight.

Editing...I found a good picture of the boys with faces exposed!
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4d625b3127cceb3f1f0e8256e0000002610

[tbb113]

Cheryl: Congratulations :D

Joanne: I can guarantee you that I won't be the next one ;) I'm thinking that this thread is done with new babies for a while once the current pregnant ones deliver (unless Susan gets brave ;) )

All three of your boys look similiar. Strong genes there ;)

[JoanneOR]

Tyra, me either!! I'm done, finito, finished! Are you brave, Susan?? :)

That picture was taken right after DH gave the boys their summer crew cuts! Poor Ian looks like he's bald.

[nori]

Cheryl, congratulations!!! Sorry you have been feeling ill. I know how it is...hope it won't last so long. Mine (with Mary Ann) was almost all the way until delivery, although it got much better than first. Sounds like Garrett had fun birthday. LOL about his tail story!

Joanne, cute pictures!!! I was about to say the same thing about not be able to see boys' faces so I"m glad you posted another one. They're so handsome! Caitlyn's bee is so cute, too! I wish we could line her and Noah up side by side and take a picture. That'd have been so cute!

You must be relieved that Ian decided to have his party somewhere else not at his basement. 25 kids? Yikes. Just thinking about cleaning up makes me tired.

Susan, sorry to hear DH being sick. Hope no one else gets that. Flu season is coming.....I see less kids at the nursery at the chruch, or Noah's gym class. Noah is teething and eating his hands like crazy so I'm trying to wash his hands as often as possible but it's hard. he doesn't really like it.

Yay on Casey sleeping in her own bed! Cross your fingers so that this trend continues.:D

Kim, thanks for the information about National Night Out. I've never heard of it, but maybe I can check it out. Sorry to hear that Lainey had a rough night.. Teething sucks, isn't it? We gave Noah another Tyrenol today. He said "hurts" and after he took 2 tablets he said "better".:) But he's still eating his hands and drooling like crazy. It's been quite a long time for him...wonder how long it'd last.

Helene, glad you're feeling better. Sleep really does a trick. Sometimes I feel like I don't really need any sleep and kept going, but then I just crash. So I try to get more sleep if possible, because I don't want to be cranky and moody because of that. I sometimes don't realize I'm needing more sleep. Sounds like Victor's also on track on sleeping issue. Yay!

[MrsReber]

I'm not the one who'd have to get brave. DH has already been, uh, fixed :D ! I tell his guy friends "it's great. He stopped peeing on the rug and he doesn't run away anymore." :D There are so many pros and cons to having another one. DH really doesn't want more, but I do still get that urge for just one more. I was the youngest of 3 (then my dad had 2 more after he remarried). I would have a ton of kids if I could, but gaining another 40lbs is not all that attractive to me at this point. It really is nice to have my body back again. Well, almost back.

I'll be back later to catch up. I have to go to the gym and see if I still weigh what I weighed yesterday. I have to remember not to eat too much. I love to eat food. We have DH's Christmas party on Dec. 10th. I already asked Casey's favorite teacher if she'd be interested in watching the kids. I think they'd let us go more easily if they knew they'd get to play with Miss Amanda all night! I'll be asking for tips on payment and stuff like that. We never had a real babysitter who wasn't a close friend or relative. We also don't leave the kids home very often.

Joanne, you and your DH must be so proud of your kids. I know I'd be bursting if I had such beautiful, great kids like yours.

[paula]

What about me? We haven't ruled out additional kids, we just started a little quicker than the rest of you.

One of my favorite stories about my pregnancy is as follows: Abbout 2 wks before we discovered that I was carrying twins, DH and I had a conversation about when we wanted to have a second child. At the time, we decided that we really needed to wait until DH was finished with school (he was and is a full-time graduate student). We didn't see how we could afford daycare for two kids until he was gainfully enmployed! Oh well... Now, the transition to three (or four) kids requires more than just additional daycare. We would have to get a bigger car (our Corolla is maxed out with two car seats) and probably a bigger apartment/house.

Actually, our biggest concern about another pregnancy is the high probability of having another set of twins. The odds that my ob/gyn provided (1:20) suggest strongly that I release two eggs most of the time and that the probablility of twins is linked directly to the chances of fertilization, implantation, and survival of each egg (1:5).

So, barring any "surprises", we are not likely to try until DH gets closer to graduation (our best guess is aboout 12-18 months).

Paula

[MrsReber]

Paula, wow, that's amazing that you have such a high chance of having twins. I can see why you'd want to wait it out a bit! The vehicle situation is one reason why I can't see us having another child. We might be able to fit 3 seats in DH's truck, but no way would they fit in my car. We own our vehicles and we really don't want another car loan right now. Daycare for 2 kids is expensive enough. I don't know what 3 would cost us, but I can safely say that for three days a week, it'd be over $2100 a month. Forget full time. We'd go broke.

DH did go to work yesterday and he says he feels better, which is a good thing. He's pretty miserable to be around when he's sick.

Nori, I hate to say it, but it seemed to take forever for Brenden's 2 year molars to come in. I hope Noah goes through it more quickly. Got to love Tylenol! I was giving Brenden the chewable Motrin two weeks ago. He was just out of control.

Cheryl, I wasn't sure if this was new news or not. I didn't comment before because I thought maybe I had missed an earlier post, but congratulations! I think it's a lot of fun having 2 kids. It's a lot of work sometimes, but it is definitely fun. I really love to see these two different personalities developing.

They're sitting Brenden on the potty at school, but for some reason, he'll only go when I sit him on the potty. Maybe they aren't looking closely enough, though. It never makes any sound when he pees so I have to really watch. However, when I ask him if he went at school, he always tells me no. I wonder why.

[HRJ]

Originally posted by MrsReber
I tell his guy friends "it's great. He stopped peeing on the rug and he doesn't run away anymore." :D

LOL! Susan -- I literally spit a mouthful of tea on my keyboard when I read that.

Here's Victor as Elmo on Halloween:

http://www.ragovin.com/photos/vic_as_elmo.jpg

[JoanneOR]

Helene, love the Elmo costume! Victor looks so cute.

Originally posted by MrsReber
Joanne, you and your DH must be so proud of your kids. I know I'd be bursting if I had such beautiful, great kids like yours.

Susan, that's so sweet of you to say. Sometimes I have to remind myself how lucky we are when they test my patience! I understand your feelings about having more kids. I love the size of our family, but I must admit, it is a bit overwhelming at times. But they are great kids, and make me laugh all the time. I do sometimes get an urge to have another, but I think it would just be too much. Plus, I'm getting too old. Although when I see new babies, or look at some of the baby pictures posted here I almost want another. DH refuses to get "fixed", so if we do it's his fault! Maybe it would help with his peeing on the carpet. :) :)

Paula, I can see where the thought of another set of twins would be a bit scary! It's hard to commit to having another baby, but when you know the odds are that it could be another two at once, that makes it even harder! Do you have twins in your family?

Nori, yes, I am a bit relieved that Ian decided to have his party somewhere else! We'll have to hold off on the dance party.

Susan, have fun on your night out! We don't have babysitters very often at all and when we do I have no idea how much to pay. We've only had the teenage girls down the block a couple times. I've asked ahead of time what they charge and they say whatever you want to pay is fine. They are very sweet, but I don't know if I'm over or under paying them. I paid around $6-$7 an hour for our kids. And they were in bed for most of the time. I think one of the times Caitlyn wasn't born yet. It's only been 2 or 3 times. We need to get out more!! Maybe $5 an hour for your kids?

[RunnerKim]

Susan - LOL!!! You had me too. That's hilarious, and I hope to borrow that line some day. DH being Catholic it's a bit of a sell but I think he grasps the fair is fair concept (i.e., that I've been having to deal with bc all these years that it's his turn). Although after temping for a few months he did inquire about me just continuing to do that - I don't think so!

I know a couple of the teachers in Lainey's room babysit and I heard them talking and I think charge $8-10/hour. They're professionals (and adults) so I'd expect to pay quite a bit more for them than I would a teenager.

Paula - 1:20 is pretty high odds, but maybe if you look at it as 19:20 that you would have singleton it might be less intimidating. But if you do have another set of twins at least you have a bunch of twin stuff already. :D

Anyone else out there thinking about another one... being snoopy today.

We're stopping at 2 but do already have the minivan - we outgrew our compact 4-door because of having a big dog. It's the house we're outgrowing and it'll be another couple of years before we upgrade there (before Lainey starts school is our thinking). In an ideal world I would love to have more than 2 but I'm really not all the fond of being pregnant (and I haven't had tough pregnancies, knock on wood). So if we do end up with a larger family it'll be through adoption or bring in some neice/nephews (my parents are raising 3 young kids and we've agreed to raise them if my parents can't - no reason to expect we will be called upon but it's a possibility).

Nori, I did a google search and found this Web site for National Night Out (http://www.nationaltownwatch.org/nno/) and it looks like the next one is Aug 5th, so you'd have plenty of time to plan.

Helene - How handsome Victor is (I suppose that's kind of an odd thing to say when he has an elmo costume on). and Joanne that's a great photo of the boys - you can see how proud they are.

Lainey slept until normal time this morning (actually later) so I think she's successfully converted to Standard time. Yeah.

Kim

[tbb113]

My ex got fixed after Alex was born. I knew I only wanted two children and he sure didn't want any more kids. Even though I had planned C-Sections and tying my tubes would have been easy, I knew I was in a bad marriage and at 33 wasn't willing to commit to no children if we did divorce and I remarried. He wasn't about to start a third family (he has a daughter from his first marriage)...so he got fixed.

Victor looks great in his costume, such a serious look on his face.

Joanne: I know what you mean about looking at babies and wanting another. I figure in 10 - 15 years...I might have grandchildren. That kills the urge :D

[JoanneOR]

You're right, Tyra, I can wait for the grandchildren!

Kim, I've tried that fair thing with DH. He's not going for it. I think he's afraid of anyone messing with "that area". Although my "area" has certainly been messed with! Four pregnancies and births, a surgery to find out why we couldn't have kids many years ago, and having to give myself shots to stop contractions with Caitlyn. Oh, and about 10 years of taking BC before we decided to have kids. I think it's his turn. In fact, I think I'm going to bring up the subject again tonight!

OK, now I really need to get some work done.

[MrsReber]

That's pretty much how we settled things. I don't like the idea of taking birth control medications and, obviously, we're not very good at practicing other methods. I told DH that I had 2 children and went through 18 months of pregnancy in a very short time period. MIL commented "can't you just have your tubes tied vaginally when you give birth?" Aside from wanting to know what med school she graduated from, I refused to discuss it with her. Besides, I'm not so set on the idea of not having more kids. So I let DH take steps. I hate to think of this, but if anything ever happened to him, I can't say that I wouldn't want children with someone else. He was able to say that.

Helene, Victor is so cute! I love those big brown eyes of his.

I was thinking about paying $40-$50 for the evening. It sounds like a lot, but no doubt my kids will be awake for most of the evening. Also, we hardly ever go out and we have never paid a babysitter. The party is usually from 7:00-11:00, but we have never stayed for the whole thing. It'll take us an hour to get there and back, too.

I was leaving daycare yesterday and the mother of Casey's friend started talking to me. Her daughter is only there on Tues, Wed, and Thursday, too. I didn't know that. She only works three days a week, though. She told me that if I ever needed someone to watch my kids on a Friday, I should let her know. That was really great of her to say that. Casey and her daughter always play together.

Joanne, one thing DH tells me all the time is that he had never seen me laugh so much before we had kids. They do make me laugh each day. Casey has been calling her Dora costume "my Dora Alphabet." I think she's confused with alphabet and outfit. I laugh each time I hear that. I was explaining election day to her last night. Just a very brief "in this country, we all have the right to vote for whoever we want." She said "I vote for Santa!"

[tbb113]

Originally posted by MrsReber
I was explaining election day to her last night. Just a very brief "in this country, we all have the right to vote for whoever we want." She said "I vote for Santa!"

I think Casey has the right idea. He would make a great president :D

[MrsReber]

Wouldn't he, though? Oh, to be three again.

[JoanneOR]

I think Casey has the right idea, too. My kids were pretty interested in the election this year. Well, Jameson and Ian were. Wed. morning they asked me who won and I was trying to explain the Electoral College to them. They were looking at me with blank looks. I finally told them to ask their teachers to explain it!

[HRJ]

Yes, Victor does look serious in that photo -- I think he looks tired, actually. It was taken at the end of the night.

We haven't entirely ruled out the idea of adopting a second child. It's a subject that drives me crazy -- sometimes I'm so certain that I want another one; other times I'm convinced our family is perfect just the way it is. I'm not good at handling ambivalance. (I don't think I can spell it, either. :rolleyes: ). One thing we've definitely decided is that even if we do want another child, we wouldn't start the process for at least another year, for a number of reasons.

About babysitting rates: I pay $8 an hour for a high-school senior for evening babysitting. I pay $5 an hour for a junior-high student to do mother's-helpering, while I'm here in the house. My understanding is that in this area, adult sitters get anywhere from $10 to $15. Of course, the cost of living in general is higher around here than in other areas, too. (Yes, even higher than in NJ! :eek: That was a real unpleasant surprise!)

Helene

[MrsReber]

Miss Amanda is probably in her early 20's and living at home. The girls that are there in the afternoon tend to be the part time ones who are going to school.

I can't even imagine living somewhere that's more expensive than NJ! I do have great sympathy for you.

Joanne, that's funny about the electoral college. I always want to explain things to my kids and then I have trouble putting it in easy enough terms for them. I'm getting a little better at it and sometimes Casey will chime in with "yeah, that's like..." and she'll come up with a good analogy. She's a smart one.

I was talking with our neighbor the other night. He stopped by to talk to see DH. He and his wife have a little boy who is a few months older than Casey. They have him in a daycare that they like, but he said he was wondering if it was the best place for him when he saw the things that Casey was able to do. It's a tough call. I can't say that our daycare is the best. It's really the only one that we know. Also they need a full five day week, which we could never afford. They're still torn on having a second child. They had a hard time concieving with their son and it was a rather difficult pregnancy on top of that.

[RunnerKim]

Helene - I can relate to your feelings. I'm still wondering about having #2 and it's a little late now! Life is good, why mess with it, but then I see Lainey play with her cousin and I know how much I've enjoyed having siblings (at least most of the time - as a child and an adult) and I just have faith in the bigger picture. I do wonder how any child can be as special as Lainey though.

Thinking about these rates, I'm so glad I have my sister (and her us). That can add up fast. Lainey's teachers all have their college degrees and living on their own, although several of them are in school (i.e., teaching masters). I don't know how we compare to East Cost but we're pretty darn high COL too - I'm sure the midwest is cheaper. Susan I think $40-50 sounds right for that amount of time and 2 children.

Susan, I hear you on the laughter. One of Lainey's teacher commented to me once that she could count on Lainey tolaugh about anything - we're pretty silly in our house. Most days I think Lainey is one of the most fun things we've ever done.

Kim

[JoanneOR]

Kim, I kind of had some of those same feelings as you before each new baby, "life is good now, why change things"? Usually after I was already pregnant. :) Also the feelings of how can I love another child the same as this one or how could they be as special. Without getting really sappy, each kid is different and there's no limit on how much love you can feel for the them. I love each of my kids for different reasons; they all have unique personalities, talents, senses of humor, etc. and I can't imagine our family without any of them. I have to admit, I resented Ian a bit when he was born. I think it was part of the the whole baby blues thing, too, though. With Jameson I could pick up and go anywhere anytime. He was such a good baby. It's just harder with two, and Ian was pretty fussy. Chances are good he would have a screaming fit when we were out somewhere. Those feelings quickly passed when I realized how much joy he brought to us and after watching Jameson kiss him for the first time. To be honest when I had Colin I don't remember too much about him as a baby. I was really overwhelmed with three kids under three. But, when we found out about Caitlyn's heart defects and were worried about other possible birth defects, I was so upset. I kept thinking, what have I done to the family. I was so worried about how it would affect the boy's lives. I kept thinking, everything was so perfect, why did we have to push our luck and try for another child. But, I wouldn't change a thing now. Except to have her born healthy, of course. The boys just love her to death, and even though things are quite hectic, she just brightens us all up. OK, I said I wouldn't get sappy, so I'll be quiet now. :)

It looks like I might be underpaying our babysitter! She's babysitting for us on the 20th and it'll probably be 5-6 hours. This could get expensive!

[tbb113]

It always amazed me that the sitter doesn't know how much they charge. When Michael was born and I found a neighborhood girl (actually she found me) to sit, I asked her how much she charged and she didn't have a set price. After we moved and I used two brothers (it was great...when the first got too old, the second was the right age), they didn't know how much they wanted either. I think I was paying around $5.00 an hour for two kids six years ago. I may have been paying too much, but they were always willing to sit for me :)

I don't know what going rate is...but I would think if either of my kids were to sit, they would expect alot of money (maybe $8 - $10 an hour?)

[lhall]

For normal babysitting I pay $5.00 per hour for 2 kids. I have a friend who pays $6.00 per hour for 2 kids.

I've currently got the HS girl next door watching the girls for me twice a week. I pick her up at school, and I'm paying her $10.00 per hour. BUT, I've asked her to put dinner in the oven, make sure Ginger does her homework, and usually have some kind of craft for her to do with them. I'm paying more for the extra work.

Leigh

[nori]

We started to use a teenager babysitter the other day about every other week for our bible study night. We'd used her only once so far, and we paid her $7 an hour. She said she doesn't need to be paid (she's from our church and knows Noah pretty well from nursery), but we wanted since that's her time spent to watch our child. It was about 3 hours so we paid her 21 bucks. But I was talking to the study group's leader who has 2 little girls and she said they pay 5 bucks for babysitting for 2 kids! So maybe we're overpaying her around this area. I'm not sure. But, like others on this board, we don't use them so often and she's a good kid, if she's saving money up for her college or whatever, we'd be glad to. We came up with $7 just discussing between me and DH. We certainly didn't want to underpay, but didn't want to overpay either. Now that we offered that amount, it is hard to say "Look, we overpaid you so we're going to pay less than that.":o

About having more kids......for me, going through pregnancy is the worst. Actually right after I had Mary Ann (at the hospital), I felt like I want to have another one. Then I watched her growing up so fast, due to maybe having Noah aorund to take care of, I just felt time is going so fast. I already miss her being newborn....she's outgrown some of her outfits and she's wearing size 2 diapers now. Although taking care of newborns is a lot of work, but it is well worth it. DH wants to have another one, but he said two is fine, too. I just have to get over with the fact that I'd probably have hard pregnancy again. And like Susan said, I'm kind of looking forward to get my own body back...I've been pregnant or nursing past 2 years....it'd be nice to (at least )feel like getting yourself back. Then, again, I'd miss nursing Mary Ann when she weans, I'm sure.

I'm not so looking forward to taking pills. We used to do condoms before Noah, and now DH said he doesn't like to do that.:rolleyes: I was on minipill for a while after I had Noah, but quit after taking it for about 3 months. I have minipill prescription now just in case, but haven't taken it so far. (Is it dangerous??) When Mary Ann starts solids and less nursing, I'd probably have to go with regular pills. Why it's always women who have to deal with those things??? Eventually DH agrees to do fixing but he doesn't want to do it now, of course. If we happened to have third, then he said he'd probably do it. But at this moment, the plan is "stop it for now":D

I also had those feelings...like we love Noah so much that it's impossible to bring someone else in our house. But when Mary Ann arrives, we learned that the love can be divided equaliy..and that's a great thing. And like Susan said, they really make us laugh. Noah's such a clown in the house.

Susan, have fun at the party!!!! You deserve the night out with DH. I'm sure kids will be fine with Miss Amanda. I love Casey's answer to the election conversation.....I'd vote for Santa, too!!!

Helene, Victor looks so cute in Elmo! We saw one kid dressed up like Elmo at the zoo, and Noah was very excited to see her (or him?). How long does it take once you start the process for adoption? I know it's case-by-case, but I'm just curious. Would you adopt a kid from Guatemala again?

Paula, wow that's a high odd for having twins! I understand you feel intimidated by that thought. I didn't know they could tell you the percentage of having twins in advance like that.


Kim, thanks for the link. So that day is associated with police? Tucson was already registered so I bet there are some areas participating this activities. You're right, there will be a lot of planning time by the next Night Out day!

Joanne, how did that conversation go with your DH?:D

Noah still hates brushing teeth. Lately he wants to brush by himself...I mean, all by himself. I tried to finish it up and he threw a fit. So tonight, I thought I'd brush first and let him do it later, so I don't have to worry about it later. Well he cried and screamed and didn't let the brush go. Boy I don't know how 2-year old can be that strong to hold onto something! I managed to get it done, but he kept crying and whining, so I let him. He was on the floor, hands in his mouth (must be teething, still), for about 15 min. He got a little bit calmed down so I went in to ask him if he wants to have a story time. He said "no". I said "then you want to go to bed now?" he said "no". I said if he wanted to ahve his water bottle. He said "no", and again started to whine and cry. So I told him that he needs to be calm down so he'd stay in his room for a while. I shut his door. He kept crying for a while after that. Eventually I went in, asked the same question again and this time he said "yes" to the story time and brought me a book. After that, he was just acting normal...couldn't believe he was crying and screaming a few min. ago. But this is tantrum, right? I feel like it's getting worse lately....along with teething, his mood isn't always good. Seems like a lot of complicated factors involved..having a new baby in the house, teething, terrible twos etc, etc.

Tomorrow DH is taking a day off since he worked last Sunday. He said I can sleep in if I want, he'd take care of Noah and make me a breakfast.:) We'll see how it goes.

[MrsReber]

Nori, I hope you get to sleep in today! I can't wait for weekends so I can sleep "late". I usually end up getting out of bed around 6:30 or 7:00, but it's still later that 4:45.

Brenden fights me on brushing his teeth. He wants to do it by himself. When I took Casey to the dentist earlier this year, they gave her a Dora spin brush. They said it'd help her brush better. The dentist said she should brush twice a day and that we should help her at least once. They're pretty good about letting DH help them. I bought a spin brush for Brenden, too. It has a race car on it. I think it does help him do a better job on his own, when he refuses to let me help. I tell him how to brush and will brush my own teeth with him to set an example and show him. They do love to brush, they just don't want my help!

[HRJ]

I just got Victor one of those kids electric toothbrushes -- are those the same as spin brushes? This one has Big Bird on it. He likes it a lot -- although he also liked the "manual" toothbrush -- but I do notice that it helps him brush better, and longer. Nori, maybe you should try one of those for Noah? Also, maybe it's the teething that's making him so particular about brushing right now.

Nori, it took us 14 months for Victor's adoption, from the day we filled out the application to the day we brought him home. That included time for our home study (even though we've had one before, we'd have to have another one if we adopt again); background checks; approval from INS; getting our documents approved by the Guatemalan gov't; waiting to be matched with Victor and getting Victor's case through the Guatemalan legal system. (We did have a bit of a set-back during the process -- we were initially matched with another child, who was then found to be legally "ineligible" for adoption. That was heartbreaking -- some of you may remember I posted about it at the time -- but now that Victor's here, I can't imagine having any other child in the world.)

Even with the delay, that time frame is pretty typical for Guatemala -- we know some families who went through much quicker, and others who encountered lots of delays and waited much longer. I'm not really sure what the timeframes look like for other countries right now. Yes, we'd most likely go back to Guatemala.

Tomorrow, I'm taking that Red Cross course in child safety (thanks again, Paula!! :) ). Turns out the Red Cross building is just down the street from our favorite (and only!) Guatemalan restaurant, so DH and Victor will pick me up afterward, and we'll go out to dinner.

On Sunday, DH's company is having its annual Family Day at Borders books. The store closes early, and from 4-8 p.m., it's open only to employees of DH's company (it's a huge company, though, so the place is pretty packed.) The "price of admission" for each employee and family is a bag of food, which the company then donates to a food pantry. There's going to be music and food; and there will be "personal appearances" by Winnie the Pooh and Arthur (I love Arthur!). And employees get 20% off all purchases!! (I'm planning to stock up on children's books, and cookbooks. :) ). We went last year, and had a really good time, although Victor was a little scared of Winnie the Pooh. I think he'll handle it better this year.

What are you all planning for the weekend?

Helene

[RunnerKim]

Lainey's mostly okay with brushing her teeth. She and DH do it together in the morning. He doesn't push it much if she doesn't want his help, and most days she's fine with him doing some of it. Maybe we should be more aggressive about it, but we didn't want to make it a huge struggle either. It has been more difficult lately with her teething though. Susan - I'll have to look for one of those spin brushes, I bet Lainey would like that.

Helene - would you adopt again from Gautamala? I don't know much about international adoption, but I assume you select the country first and then go from there. Family Day at borders - that sounds very very dangerous! :D

Nori - how was breakfast? That's great that your DH can take some comp time and give you all a long weekend. On the National Night Out - I think it varies a lot on how much if any participation you get from the police. The block parties I've been too haven't had any. Mostly just a potluck for the neighbors and maybe some games for the kids. I haven't ever organized one though.

I appreciate all you chiming in with your feelings about #2 (and more). I have my 17/18 week appt. today and should schedule my ultrasound too. I thought it would be great to be pg over the winter and take advantage of the little heater - but that doesn't seem to have kicked in yet and I had realized how much harder it would be to control weight during all these food holidays.

We don't have too much planned this weekend. We've started providing a meal to a local shelter once a month and this weekend we're doing that. It's a pretty big undertaking so we'll work on it off and on all weekend. I need to come up with some good basic meals that travel well in ziplocs (I need to price those disposable foil pans to see if that's an option). I think we're going to do chili this time but I don't really know how to round it out. Cornbread. But what kind of veggie? Lots of young kids there too and I don't think chili is very kid-friendly.

Kim

[MrsReber]

Kim, what a great thing you do, providing dinner. That is a big undertaking for a pregnant lady with a toddler!

I'm a bit bummed. My mom called to tell me that my SIL called her earlier. My neice has off from school today so they wanted to know if my mom and the kids wanted to see Shark Tale. I wanted to go to their first movie with them. :( But I told her to go ahead. It's just as well since my neice and SIL will be along to help with the kids. DH is not a movie person. We have seen 3 movies at the theatre in 8 years. He wouldn't be into going with me and the kids. Besides, my mom already told the kids about it and Casey was ready to go!

Tonight, DH's friend from work invited us to meet them and their friends over at a campground. They all have campers. DH wants to go (guy thing- fire and stuff) I like this guy and his wife. She's really great. I just hope we're not freezing while trying to roast marshmallows.

Nothing else planned for the rest of the weekend, just Casey's gymnastics class tomorrow.

Helene, I really like the sound of that family night. I'd definitely participate in that.

I started my Christmas shopping on line yesterday. I have to get Casey the Dora talking house. It's the only thing she wants. I should have it next week. I just need a big gift for Brenden now. I got some other smaller things- some Jay Jay characters, Spiderman on a motorcyle, some Thomas puzzles and a parquetry (is that how it's spelled?) set for Casey. It's the thing where you get a bunch of shapes and you have to make the pictures on the cards. (I hope somebody knows what I mean!). They have a set at Goddard and Casey just loves it. They said the other kids didn't have the patience for it, but she could do it all by herself. My mom did get Brenden a very cool Home Depot kids tool set and tool box. He's going to go crazy over that. She got him a tiny tool box last year and he plays with it constantly.

[JoanneOR]

The boys all have the spin toothbrushes, too. Caitlyn just has a regular one; I don't know if she'd like the spin one. She has to brush her own teeth. I'll usually let her do it first and then I'll do it again. Although she's not happy about letting me do it. Now she's into this thing where she loves to wash her hands. She pulls the stool over and asks me to turn on the water. She'll stand there forever with her hands under the water. If I try to turn it off she gets so upset and yells "way" (I'm assuming that stands for Go away!) at me.

Nori, that definitely sounds like a tantrum! Caitlyn will lay down on the floor and kick her legs if she doesn't get what she wants. It sounds like you can reason with Noah a bit. Caitlyn doesn't seem to respond too well to any reasoning yet! Lately she doesn't want to sit in her own chair for dinner or have her own plate. She wants to sit on my lap, take my fork and only eat off my plate. It doesn't matter if she has the same food on hers. Last night I would up eating standing up. It was the only way I was going to be able to eat.

Helene, family day at Borders sounds great. Although I would probably come out of there loaded down with books!

Kim, maybe you could make a batch of chili with pasta in it. Would that be more kid-friendly? I don't know about the vegetable. Maybe just salads?

This weekend is not too busy. Tomorrow Ian has a birthday party at Burger King. Then tomorrow night we are going to the Cub Scout spaghetti dinner. Sunday we have no plans yet. Oh, tonight I'm going to my neighbors for a Tastefully Simple party. I normally don't like going to those things, but if it's food, I'm all over it! I do like the Pampered Chef ones, too. DH keeps saying he's going to come for the food. I said, no, you have to stay home with the kids and it's only women.

[HRJ]

Susan, is that the Home Depot tool kit with the "Talking Tool Belt"? Victor got one of those at his birthday party. He loves it, but I'd *seriously* suggest you consider taking the batteries out of the tool belt first -- that thing drives me crazy!! :rolleyes: It's too late for us to take the batteries out -- Victor already knows that it talks. :(

Speaking of Christmas shopping, is anyone interested in this: I got a coupon in the mail yesterday from Toys R Us, for $30 off if you spend $300 or more. No way am I going to spend $300 at TRU -- but for those of you with big families, or who shop for extended families, I wondered if it would come in handy? If anyone wants it, just PM me and I'll mail it to you.

Helene

[RunnerKim]

Joanne - your pasta comment made me wonder if it would be weird to do a man 'n cheese side dish? We did Baked "ziti" with a tossed salad and bread last time, and although I'm sure they would be fine with us repeatng the same meal (not sure how often women move on/new ones arrive even) I want a little variety. I've been avoiding things like Mac 'n cheese because I figure that's something they might do regularly. Chili (with meat) would be more expensive and time consuming. Maybe I should go post on the Great Food board.

And you reminded me - my pampered chef stuff arrived at my sister's house and I need to go pick it up b/c she's threatened to keep it.

Susan - I can totally understand your disappointment about the movie. Have fun roasting marshmellows (and stay warm!)

Kim

[tbb113]

Kim: The temple I belong to volunteers to cook for a homeless shelter a few times a year (a full week). This is the menu plan

Monday: Macaroni and cheese or broccoli and dessert
Tuesday: Chicken dish (not in sauce) or rice, carrots and dessert
Wednesday: Meatloaf and gravy or mashed potatos, green beans and dessert
Thursday: Tacos (with fixings) or burritos or corn and dessert
Friday: Spaghetti and meatballs or salad, garlic bread and dessert

People either provide the main dish OR the side and dessert. Each person's meal should feed 10 people.

[tbb113]

bump

[tbb113]

please bump!

[paula]

I received a neat catalog in the mail this week from Birthday Express (www.birthdayexpress). They have themed material for children's parties at 'not too high' prices. We are not planning any particular theme this year, but I can see this store being very useful in years to come.

My children have received goodie bags from every classmate who has had a birthday, so I feel that I need to assemble something. Our debate is whether we should make separate goodie bags for Rachel to hand out and for Alex to hand out. I know that they are unaware and don't care this year, but I am afraid I am slighting them if I don't make separate bags. Susan, I think you previously posted an address for store that offered cheap goodie bag stuff, and if you still remember it, would you please repost it? I am hoping our local dollar stores have some good deals, as well (and also for stocking stuffers!).

I don't have "twins in the family" with the exception of mine... The biggest increase in odds of having twins is to have already had them. (The second biggest factor is to be a twin!) Overall, the odds for the general public are 1-2 out of every 100 pregnancies, so my odds are only about 5-fold higher than the general public. However, the odds increase with maternal age, and I am not getting any younger!

Paula

[tbb113]

I would do separate goodie bags. If they were in different class rooms, you would need two bags.

[MrsReber]

Paula, I bought some stuff from Oriental Trading. I think they're just Orientaltrading.com. I saw a lot of stuff in their catalogs that looked suspiciously like the crafts that Goddard does with the kids. I did find some little notebooks, plastic fish, and bubbles. I don't know if I'd do separate goody bags. I can appreciate you wanting to make sure your twins are treated as individuals, but from the standpoint of another parent, I'd rather only get one bag. Maybe next year I'd go for separate bags. Casey didn't think twice about birthdays or themes until she was 3. Brenden is into birthdays now, but not themes. Probably next year. Just my thought, though. I always put way too much thought into things where the kids are concerned. DH tends to lean the other way, so I guess we balance out.

We get tons of Birthday Express catalogs. I can find some of the stuff cheaper at a Party Fair near my house, but other than that, they were the cheapest I could find on line. The kids love to look through the catalogs when they come. It actually keeps them occupied for a while!

[JoanneOR]

Kim, I really like Tyra's idea about the taco bar for the shelter. That would be fun for the kids, too. I saw that you got alot of good responses on your other thread.

Oriental Trading has all kinds of stuff for goody bags and crafts, too. Paula, I've been thinking about your question and I'm just not sure what I would do! I'm sorry, but I don't remember how old the twins are? Are they going to be 2 or 3? If they are in the same class, which I'm assuming they are, I would probably only do one bag from both of them and put a little more in it than you would from just one child. Is this just to pass out at school or are you having a party? But, then again, I can see the point of twins wanting to be individuals and not have things always be from both of them. But, I'm sure yours are too young to feel like that yet. I just don't know! Susan, I tend to overthink things, too, which is probably why I don't have a good answer for Paula!

I need to think about what to put in Ian's goody bags for his party next week. It's hard because his is so close to Halloween, I don't want to do much candy. I may just order the goody boxes from birthdayexpress. The Shrek ones look cute.

Susan, my DH just called and said him and our neighbor are taking all the kids (6 together) to see the Incredibles later this afternoon, so I know how you feel about not seeing a movie with the kids! I wanted to take them to see it, but I know they'll have fun with the other kids. I have a feeling DH will be chasing Caitlyn around the theatre, though, or be out in the lobby with her. When I took her to see a movie about six months ago she wouldn't sit in the seat at all. I warned him, but he'll find out for himself today! It'll be weird coming home to an empty house.

[tbb113]

My thought was just the opposite on the bags. I would have the two bags, but split the contents of one bag between them. I just think that they should each be 'special and unique' as opposed to 'the twins'. There are a lot of twins that Alex goes to Hebrew School with (I think there are 6 sets) and there are 79 total kids. They obviously share their B'nai Mitzvah date but I know that one set chose to be with different teachers on Sunday.

[JoanneOR]

Another idea on the bags....have one for the girls in the class and one for the boys. Rachel would give the girls theirs and Alex the boys. I hope I got their names right! Just another thought...

[MrsReber]

Joanne, I like the girl/boy idea! That way they can each retain their uniqueness (you know what I mean, right?). They're going to be 2. I know that at 2, Casey wasn't much into interactive play with her classmates. I didn't do anything for her 2nd birthday, except bring some cupcakes in at lunch time. Brenden does interact with his classmates, though, and would enjoy handing stuff out to them. He seems much more aware of things than Casey was. I think it's because he has an older sibling. He's the only 2 year old that I've ever seen blow out his birthday candles in one breath. Casey taught him that. Each kid is so different.

[RunnerKim]

I love the taco idea too! I'm really thrilled to have found this volunteer opportunity - it's perfect for us and makes us feel good.

I was going to mention Oriental Trading Company too. I'll have to check out the Birthday Express place. Paula, I don't think it's a bad idea to start the seperate thing now, even if they're too young. My sister's boys aren't twins but have birthdays within 2 days of each other (and 2 years) and have shared a party so far. I don't think she'll be able to do that once the youngest is in K next year and has his own set of friends (or she'll have to have it outside her home!). She does have everyone sing entirely seperate birthday songs for each (not just saying both names) which I thought was a good idea and gave each the limelight to blow out their candle etc.

Let's talk more about cool holiday/Birthday gifts. I need a little inspiration. What does this toolbet look like/do? I want to get that Leapfrog Alphabet thing for the fridge that was talked about on another thread (Susan I know talked about it). I think Lainey would enjoy it and her older cousins that are working on reading. I have a few things tucked away in the closet I need to remind myself about - I know i have some wood puzzles for ages 3+ that I might try out. She does really well with the ones for her age and I think gets bored with them. Oh and i want to get her a doll since she doesn't really have one - I just scheduled my u/s for the day before Thanksgiving, so hopefully that will give me enough time to order one for Christmas (I want to get the same gender).

Kim

[MrsReber]

Kim, I love Fridge Phonics. I spoke with quite a few other moms who also love it. I'm also getting Casey a dr kit because she loves to pretend she's a doctor. I found a nice one for about $20 at TRU.

I have no idea about a talking tool belt. My mom showed me the box that the tool kit comes in. Both my kids love the Thomas train set. The doll will be great. 2 seems to be a good age for that. Brenden loves playing with Casey's dolls. He even brought a doll to gymnastics last Saturday. They particularly like the stroller and the feeding accessories.

Well, I have to run and catch my train. I hope this wind dies down! I love hearing the building creak all day. At least I can't feel the sway on the 6th floor the way we could on the 23rd floor. One day it was so windy here that a window blew out at some guy's desk (I didn't know him) He wound up getting hurt from the glass. Sorry your day isn't over yet, Tyra!!

[JoanneOR]

Kim, I'm getting the Leapfrog Alphabet thing, too. I have it in my shopping cart at Amazon. :) Does Lainey have a play kitchen? Caitlyn has one and enjoys it. I'm also ordering this for her: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005TQI7/ref=ord_cart_shr/102-2078589-7114552?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=A1PA6795UKMFR9&v=glance

She loves to empty out my purse and play with the stuff inside, so I thought she might like a purse of her own.

Caitlyn also has a toy stroller that she loves to push her dolls around it. Since you are thinking about dolls, maybe Lainey would like that.

I also got her an Elmo with interchangeable face parts, like Mr. Potato Head. She loves both of those, so I think she'll like it.

It's probably a bit soon for a doll house; I'll probably get one for Caitlyn next year.

I'll keep thinking....

Can you tell I'm really bored here at work today?? :)

[tbb113]

Originally posted by MrsReber
Sorry your day isn't over yet, Tyra!!

Thats okay...Kim's isn't over yet either ;) And when I saw your wake up time...I don't mind at all, my alarm goes off at 6:30am :D Plus, I'm going to leave early to go to the JV game (it starts at 4:30).

have a great weekend

[RunnerKim]

Yep, tyra and I tend to hold down the fort (explains all those particuarly worthless posts on Friday afternoons ;) )

ooooooh good one on the stroller - she was nuts over one at a friends house. I've thought about the kitchen stuff because she likes to play with it at daycare and we cook a lot at home so she naturally imitates it. But we have a small house and getting a kitchen unit thingy doesn't appeal to me and I'm thinking she can just play with the real stuff/help us cook. Also since it's a big thing at daycare, I figure I'll leave that for something for her to do there. We quite frankly end up with a lot of stuff (tons of hand-me-down toys) that don't get used regularly because she's in daycare (i.e., not home to use them during the week). I wish we had a better way to store her toys instead of in a large laundry basket.

I made a batch of play dough for playgroup this past weekend and that was a lot of fun and her older cousins enjoyed it too. I know they do it often at daycare too but *I* like playing with it. Do you all have any good ideas for play dough toys - the garlic press was a huge hit and I think I'll buy another one just for the kids to use. The pie crust/ravioli sealer thingy was popular too for making choo choo tracks - it's worthless for ravioli/calzones so I'm just leaving it with the playdough stuff. Cookie cutters of course. Anything else...

One thing I'll share that Lainey has gotten a ton of use out of and was a big hit with 2 of the others at playgroup - beads. I brought back a bunch from our New Orleans trip earlier this year and she'll spend quite awhile putting them all on and taking them off.

Kim

[tbb113]

Another great thing to play with (once they are past the eating stage) is shaving cream. You can finger paint with it, build with it, etc. And then it washes right off (also cleans the table). A very messy art project is to let them play with corn syrup and food coloring on finger painting paper. This dries to a great gloss (assuming it doesn't attract ants). After this one...you need bath time though :D

I'll have to think on the playdough toys. Only other thing I can think of is scissors and butter knives. Forks make good patterns too (you can criss-cross them as well).

[JoanneOR]

Tyra, I think I'd have my kids in the bathtub while they played with shaving cream or corn syrup and food coloring. :) With the shower door closed so I could just hose everything down including them at one time!

Kim, I can't think of any other play dough things around the house. I saw this on Amazon and it's pretty inexpensive. Looks like something Lainey might like: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00008MIFF/qid=1099691144/sr=1-10/ref=sr_1_10/102-2078589-7114552?v=glance&s=toys

I'm sneaking off a little early today..."talk" to you all next week! Have a good weekend.

[tbb113]

I thought of another playdough tool - a potato masher

[LaraW]

Kim,

Play-Dough makes a thing called a "fun factory" and its a thing that looks sort of like a garlic press, but you can change the shape of what comes out of the thing.

Here's a picture

http://edge2.hotshed.com/images/570/570567_1_215.jpg

dstore.com has it listed for $10.95, so not terribly expensive.

Sorry the picture is kind of small, hopefully you'll be able to see it. I had one when I was a kid, and loved it.

[HRJ]

Playdough ideas ... I got Victor a "kid's cooking set" -- it has a child-size rolling pin; tongs (which he calls "tongues" :D ); citrus reamer; whisk; etc. -- we use them all with homemade playdough.

About the toolbelts -- I took a look on Amazon, and there are apparently several varieties of Home Depot tool sets for kids. The one Victor got for his birthday has a bunch of plastic tools, nuts, screws, etc; a hardhat; goggles; and a battery-operated toolbelt that "talks" -- it says things like "Hey, work buddy, make sure you always use safety equipment!" or "Urgent! Call the office! We have a big job for you today!" I find the mechanical voice on this thing really annoying -- I think a kid can have lots of fun with a toolkit without any asides from his/her toolbelt.

Kim, does Lainey like the Little People stuff? We have the farm, garage, schoolbus and construction site -- we got most of them as gifts when Victor first came home. What I like is that they're so adaptable, as the kids grow -- he loved them when he was a young 2, and they still keep his interest at 3. Lainey might particularly like the construction site one.

Oh -- we also have the Little People Hanukkah set -- it's a catalog-only item -- it comes with a Little People Jewish family (the men are wearing yarmulkes!), a menorah that plays Hanukkah songs, and a table that has latkes and challah on it. Victor has been playing the Hanukkah songs all year -- can't say that I'm not a little tired of "The Dreidle Song." There are also a bunch of Little People Christmas sets, and a Kwanzaa set, I think.

Since Lainey likes beads, does she have those big beads you string together?


Helene

[RunnerKim]

Okay today is my day to ask for ideas and to get a million great ones.

Little People are pretty big in our house too. We have the farm, school bus, garbage truck, zoo train and Sesame Street club house (from when i was a kid so I'm sure the little people it fits with her choking hazard or something but it is by far the favorite, it's very interactive). My sister is about to pass me several items too. The two things I really remember from my childhood are little people and legos. Helene - the Hannukah set - that would be great to get along with the Christmas set (I like to have a little diversity in her toys even if it's not a holiday we celebrate). Do you order directly from Little People then? I'll see if I can't google their web site. I'd love to look at the construction site.

Lara I was able to see a bigger picture of the playdoh thing you talked about on Amazon (it's packaged with a few other things so not called the same thing, but it looks the same). Lainey has a tough time with the garlic press at this point, and I bet that would be easier for her to use.

Okay now Santa needs to bring us a bigger house with a playroom in it. ;)

Kim

[MrsReber]

Wow, I didn't know you could ask Santa for a bigger house. What was I thinking? ;)

Kim, we have the fun factory. The only problem I have with it is that the kids have figured out how to take it apart and I have to put it back together 20 times. We were hysterical last year, though. Casey loved the fun factory and got the hang of it right away. She played with it when Brenden was sleeping because I didn't trust him to sit in one place. The first time we brought it out when he was awake, he was terrified! He screamed when he saw the play d'oh being squeezed out the other end of the fun factory. He'd come running to me and refuse to sit on the floor.

I have the same problem with a play kitchen- no room. The kids love playing with the kitchens at school. My neice won't part with hers yet. She's 12. It's a really nice wooden one. My brother spent quite a bit on it. If my niece ever decides to give it up, we'll have to put it in the basement. For now, we have a set of toy pots and pans. They look like the real thing, only smaller. My mom picked up a toy stovetop since we don't have room for a kitchen.

Poor Brenden has quite a cold. We went to the campground last night. Both kids fell asleep after about 1/2 an hour. DH has Casey and I had Brenden. He seemed fine then. Around midnight, he woke up coughing and his nose was all stuffy. I'm still surprised at how quickly these things come on. I hope it goes away just as fast.

Tyra, hope you enjoyed the game. No, it's not much fun getting up so early. I do that so I can go to the gym and still put in a 9 hour day to compensate for my Mondays at home. I am so very glad when Friday rolls around each week.

I'm making sourdough bread to go with my stew. I love the fall!

[tbb113]

The game was okay...not as cold as I feared it would be. Unfortunately, both JV and Varsity lost :( Only one more game to go for this season.

I bought a small play kitchen when Michael was little. I placed it in my kitchen/dining area. He used it but not as much as I thought he would. I think he preferred helping me really cook much more. Actually both the boys have helped out since they were little. Alex was very disappointed with how basic cooking is at the middle school. He came home complaining that they were teaching him how to break an egg. :rolleyes: He does like it better now but it really isn't keeping him that interested. He doesn't like to work in a group....

Hope Brenden feels better soon. Maybe it was just the cold air and the smoke?

[nori]

Wow you guys were so chatty on Friday!!! Great discussion on holiday gift ideas....I got a catalog from HearthSong and they had this neat town building toy: Wheel Town Road Systems (http://www.hearthsong.com/hearthsong/product.do?section_id=0&bc=1005&pgc=184) This company has a lot of unique toys that you don't see so often at ToysRus....We're thinking to get a set of this Wheel Town Road System for Noah as a big present for Christmas.

Kim, that's great you're volunteering to cook for the shelter. What did you end up making this time? Being pregnant with a toddler, it IS a big undertake! When I was pregnant, I just didn't have any energy. I wanted to cook and freeze some meal for ourselves but I just couldn't stand the thought of standing in the kitchen all day cooking (which is usually my favorite thing to do!)

Susan, hope Brenden is feeling well. How did your kids like Shark Tale? The paper didn't have a good rating for it...did they like it? I"m sorry you had to miss the opportunity to watch movie with them, though.

Tyra, sorry Michale's team lost this week.:( This is his first year, right? Is he going to play next season, too?


Friday morning was nice. I woke up around 5:30 when Noah woke up, and Mary Ann was awake, too. But DH got up with him so I went back to bed with Mary Ann. We fell asleep, and I slept until 7:30!!!! I felt so good getting that extra hours of sleep. This weekend's big task was re-organizing Noah's room and getting him a new bed. DH found one today....it was not brandnew, but it was in good condition and great price. It's a twin size. We moved the crib to our bedroom and Mary Ann is "supposed to" be sleeping there. I went to Target to get him a new bedding. I picked construction cars pattern and he loved it! Unfortunately I couldn't find bed rail at Target so tonight we're trying it without rail. He may fall once or twice, but I'll be up pretty often so I'll check on him. So far, he's doing great. Oh, and I couldn't find waterproof pad for twin bed so I'm using the one for the crib for now. At least, better than nothing. Where do you find those? Maybe I missed it at the store?

Thanks for tips on toothbrush. That may work. I haven't thought of that. So that thing basically clean teeth while he stuck it in his mouth? That'd be great. And I know they make tons of varieties I can look for something he'd be interested in.

Potty talk again....:o Lately he hates, hates changing diapers. I thought of Helene, becuase I believe you posted when you were struggling with Victor's resistance to diaper change. Noah's just like that now. He hates, it, although he has a poopy diaper he doesn't want to be touched. I think it's something to do with his independence but then, he's not really interested in potty yet.:rolleyes: Do you think giving him rewards (like M and Ms) just for sitting on the potty, even with clothes on? Or rewards for that is too much? I want him to get used to sitting on potty. I've been trying to let him flush his own poopy if it's easy to get it off from the diaper (not always so:eek: ). He likes it, but he's not crazy about it and I don't think it's not going to be any motivation for him. I know I shouldn't be pushing, but I'm trying to find some ways to get him more interested....

Tomorrow is DH's birthday, but since he didn't want to make a big deal with it, we did birthday dinner tonight since we're supposed to have friends over for Venison Chili tomorrow night, as a casual dinner. He requested Filet Mignon. I made butternut squash risotto and broccoli to go with. Noah ate bunch of broccoli and it was his dinner. He had one bite of risotto and that was it. I thought he'd like that, but I guess I was wrong. I'm making a photo frame for DH, with kids pictures in it. I thought he can bring it to work. I'm still working on it, I better get on it now!!

[tbb113]

Nori: Yes, this is the first year Michael played football. When he was younger, he couldn't play Pop Warner Football because he weighed too much for his age range (problem when you are SO much taller than the average kid). Freshman year he didn't want to play. He is planning on playing next year for Varsity. Hope your husband has a happy birthday. :)

[MrsReber]

Nori, I got a full mattress cover for Casey's bed at target. It's like a full waterproof bag that fits over the matteress and zips up. I got one for her pillow, too. It has come in handy. She wet the bed a couple of times and sometimes they get other stuff on the sheets. The cover prevents it from leaking through.

Hope your DH had a nice birthday. DH loves venison chile. I'm going to have to make some soon.

Brenden still has his cold. He gets these bursts of energy and then he loses it. He is also prone to meltdowns at any time. We were eating lunch yesterday just before 2:00 and he fell asleep before he ever ate. He slept until about 5:00 and then was lying on the floor again 2 hours later. While he was asleep all afternoon, I rode Casey on my bike over to the park by the lake. We played there for a bit and then I rode home. There's a big hill on the way there. Instead of encouraging me while going up the hill, she said "Mommy! You're not going fast!" I was trying to wear her out, but no luck. We got home and she ran around the yard for another hour or so. She finally fell asleep at 8:30, which was good.

I finally got my pictures developed so I'm going to post a few in a minutes. I'm putting the album together on imagestation as I type here.

Tyra, that's too bad that they lost the game, but it sounds like they've done well overall.

I don't know if they liked Shark Tale. Casey won't talk about it. My mom said she was very serious the whole time. Brenden fell asleep. I had a feeling he would do that.

I use m&m's as potty rewards. I don't know if it'd work for just sitting on the potty. I believe at Goddard that they give out jellybeans, but only when they actually go. Of course, it might work better there since the kids see their friends getting rewards.

Here's Dora and Spiderman:


http://http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid146/pc29bf0d173a2bee4310fcae0199c3d66/f6553b9b

[MrsReber]

Ahhh! I can't see my own pictures. I have to figure out what's wrong....

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid146/p3675d4b25cbbba186dccc29261b08ddc/f6550dca.jpg

[paula]

Susan, My Halloween costume was "doctor". I wore an old pair of scrubs and bought a FisherPrice doctor kit from Walmart for $10. It had a stethoscope, a blood pressure cuff, a thermometer, a syringe, and plastic bandaid/bracelet, an instrument for looking into ears/eyes/mouths, and a carrying case. It has been a great hit with my kids.

Thanks for all of the suggestions about gift bags. Fortunately, I have a little time because Alex and Rachel won't be two until late Dec. Their class is small (total of nine) and heavily weighted toward younger kids. There are three kids with Dec birthdays and everyone else is under 16 months. At this point, I think I will either prepare two bags, each, or simply ignore the peer pressure and skip them altogether. Although my kids have enjoyed the toys provided by other parents in their giftbags, they don't understand either the giving or receiving process. I expect that the younger kids will be even more clueless.

We have decided that, for the most part, we will not purchase any toys/gifts for Rachel and Alex until after the holidays and their birthday. Once January dawns, we will re-equaluate our toy collection and our space situation, and then I will go to Walmart... We will be traveling during their birthday and over Christmas, neither is cognizant of the implications of Santa, and this policy saves me a lot of time, stress, and money. Next year will be another story.

Interestingly (regrettably?), the connection between Walmart and toys has been established. Alex and Rachel were with me when I toured the toys section of Walmart looking for the doctor's kit. Now, whenever we see a Walmart sign or a Walmart truck, someone wants to go "shopping"!

Paula

[MrsReber]

Okay, very strange, but I think I found the problem. Here's one more:

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid146/pbbe6cc04335eb5b4f942666b7c7bedd4/f6550f76.jpg

[JoanneOR]

Susan, the pictures are great. The kids look so cute. It looks like Casey and Brenden are the same height?

Nori, I found those same mattress covers that Susan mentioned. I'm not sure where though - it might have been KMart. I've never seen the one for the pillow, I'll have to look for that, especially after last night. Caitlyn woke up crying around midnight. She had thrown up. I was hoping maybe it was just a one time thing, but I changed all her bedding, threw her pillow and blankets in the wash and gave her a bath. I put her back down, and not 10 minutes later she threw up again. So, I had to change everything again. Poor thing. She threw up a few more times during the night. She doesn't have a fever; I don't know what it can be. Hopefully it will pass quickly. I felt so bad for her last night, she was just miserable.

Jameson asked me this weekend if Santa was real or if your parents bought your presents. He totally caught me off guard. I asked him, what do you think? He said I think Santa brings them. So, I said, well, as long as you believe he does, he will. I think he kind of understood that Santa doesn't exist, but that I didn't want to tell him. For a minute I was wondering if I should tell him the truth. I will if he brings it up again. I know he'll be good about keeping it from his brothers and Caitlyn. He just has too much common sense to believe that big man can deliver all those presents around the world in just one night!

Nori, I think you'd be better off saving the M&M's as rewards if Noah actually uses the potty. If you give them for just sitting on it, you'll have to come up with a bigger reward for going!

Speaking of treat bags, Ian went to a birthday party this weekend. The mom must have spent at least $10 on each bag. She gave the kids each a spin toothbrush (Ian's was a Bionicle), some modeling clay, and a few other things. I don't think Ian's bags will compare this weekend! His birthday is Friday. I'm still trying to decide what to do for the bags. I was going to get the Shrek ones from birthday express, but I looked at them again and they seem more for girls than boys.

Nori, happy birthday to your DH! How was the venison chili?

[nori]

Susan, Casey and Brenden are soooo cute!!!!!! Brenden is such a handsome guy! No wonder you're so proud of them.:) Is he taller than Casey? It almost look like he's older, or they're twins. How cute.

Thanks for advice on sheets. Past 2 nights, Noah fell from the bed at least twice:( so today I'm off to search for bed rails. I know One Step Ahead has one, but I want to get it today. I can't sleep well since I"m worried about him. Last night he fell twice, and for the second time, he didn't even cry so I didn't know....I went to check on him around 4am and found him on the floor, sleeping. DH thinks we don't need rails, but I disagree. He thinks he'd get used to it soon. But I'm not sure how long it'd take...he's all over the place when he's sleeping.

Gotta go for now. Check in later.....

[MrsReber]

People always ask if Casey and Brenden are twins. DH measured them again the other night. I think the last time was about 2 months ago, maybe a bit more. DH has a board that he uses to mark their heights. Casey grew about 1/4 or 1/2 an inch. Then it was Brenden's turn. He grew at least 2 inches. DH and I just said "wow." He is very close to her height, if not the same. Right now, he's actually wearing a 4T outfit. It's a sweatsuit so the pants aren't falling off him. Normally the waist is too big on him. Casey just outgrew her 2T stuff and is wearing 3T. I know he needs new shoes. I should take him today, but I think we'll have to hold off until Saturday.

Nori, I really like the bed rail from One Step Ahead because it's almost as long as the bed. I don't think anyone else has one that long. Casey still uses hers so I would have to agree with you and not your DH on that one. Noah won't just get used to it. Brenden is all over the place when he sleeps. I know he'll fall off. When I was little, my dad says I always fell out of bed. I don't remember any of that. He said I used to sleep right through it.

Joanne, I almost feel bad telling Casey about Santa, but it is kind of fun for them. It's going to be a tough situation when those questions start. My neice is 12. She still believed last year. We think she's just afraid not to believe. Most of her friends don't believe. It's going to be so much fun this year.

[nori]

Noah's busy playing with bubbles now....

Joanne, that's a good answer for Santa question. I have to remember that. I agree, probably rewarding him for just sitting on potty won't do any good...I'm getting impatient here. I wish he shows more interest in potty....oh well.

I called around and probably one of the big Target has the bed rail. I'll go there today, so I'll look for those waterproof sheets, too. We also have Kmart close by so I can check that out, too. Hope Caitlyn's feeling better now. Poor little girl!

Venison Chili was from this months' CL. It was good. It was even better the next day, less game-y taste.

Paula, good idea about holding buying any toys! As you said, it probably won't work next year ;) so this is your chance! We don't like to bomber kids with tons of toys so I try to eliminate some of them before big holiday rolls around.

[RunnerKim]

Susan - cute pictures! It's strange seeing Casey with such dark hair. I hope Brenden is feeling better soon.

Paula - isn't it amazing how they can make some of those connections. I think that's a smart thing to do with waiting on the toys. I'm really looking forward to the decorations and lights this year as I think Lainey will be enthralled by the tree and outdoor lights.

Nori, glad you had a nice sleep in day and hope your DH has a nice birthday. We ended up making the chili, cornbread, some coleslaw and the Texas sheet cake. DH did the chili and coleslaw so it's not so bad as if I did it all myself. Lainey helped with the cake - she has to sample everything though. I must have said a hundred times this weekend that she's such a toddler. It's my why of trying to recognize her behavior as being normal (and not just frustrating!) Testing, testing, testing.

She has to sit on the top stair (of 3) in our kitchen while the animals eat their dinners - she'll purposefully scoot down or lift her bottom up, just to get a reaction type thing. And diaper changes - I don't think shes' reached Victor/NOah's stage yet but her big thing is "pokies" - I think it's often the tags of her diapers that might poke in to her but sometimes there's just no resolving the pokies (particularly if it's nap time and I think she's using it to procrastinate). I don't think she's any more ready for underwear though than when we tested her a couple of months ago - but I do tell her the underwear doesn't have pokies! Good thing there's lots of fun things about toddler-hood too. :D

Tyra - seriously - breaking an egg at middle school age? That's kind of sad actually and I can see why Michael would get turned off. (unless there's some really advanced egg breaking technique I haven't heard about yet!). Lainey is already breaking eggs - I had to convince her to give them a good whack though because she would be too tentative about it and just fracture the shell and then I'd get lots of little pieces when I re-cracked (I do open the egg and put it in a little bowl for her to dump in the big bowl). Sorry about the football losses, hope they end the season on a good note.

My sister took her kids to see the Incredibles (is that a kids movie out now?) and said it was excellent and very well done. Both adults and kids were laughing (hers are 5 and 7 so older than most here but she thought if Lainey were a year older and actually watched tv she'd enjoy it too). I shouldn't have said anything about being thankful for my sister's free babysitting - she's pretty serious about this guy she's dating (even though it's been only a few weeks) and they're talking around the marriage issue. But he lives in a town an hour away and can't move because he has custody of his kids every other week and their divorce decree requires them to live in the same school district. DH and I have only met the guy briefly but seems to be a good guy, it just concerns me a little that things are moving so fast and will require my sister to make more of the "compromises." Nothing official yet though.

Kim

[JoanneOR]

Nori, none of my boys were potty trained before age three. So, maybe it's just a bit too early for Noah yet. I think it's a good idea to introduce him to the potty, but he just might not be ready to actually use it yet. I did try with the boys earlier than three, but it just wasn't going anywhere. Jameson was actually three and a half before he was trained. Ian was exactly three and Colin somewhere in between. I figure I'll start with Caitlyn in a few months, maybe in the spring, and see how it goes. When she's out of diapers, it'll be the first time we will be diaper-free in over 8 years. Definitely calls for some sort of celebration! :)

Wow, Susan, Brenden is a big boy! Caitlyn is in 2T's and some are a bit big. She finally made it up to a size 7 shoe, though.

I called home and DH said Caitlyn hasn't thrown up anymore. That's a relief. This may sound kind of crazy, but I'm wondering if she got sick from holy water at the church yesterday. She kept running out of the crying room (yes, I gave up on sitting with the general population :), tired of mean looks) and a couple times she put her hand in the water and one time she put her hand in her mouth afterwards. I remember thinking at the time, that's gross! Think of how long that water has been there and how many people have stuck their hands in it. Maybe that could have gotten her sick, who knows? Then there was Colin who was putting both hands in and then running them through his hair.

Nori, hope you can find the bed rail and sheets today. I'd be worried about them falling out, too. Caitlyn is still in a crib, I'm not sure when we'll move her to a bed.

Susan, this really will be a fun year for Christmas for you. Casey probably understands everything more this year than last.

[JoanneOR]

Kim, I think we were posting at the same time. DH took the kids to see the Incredibles and they loved it. Well, the boys did. DH spent most of the time chasing Caitlyn around the theatre and up and down the stairs. :( I didn't think she would sit through much of it. The boys came home and wanted to act out the whole movie.

That's funny about the "pokies". Colin used to have a thing about tags on his clothes. He said they were itchy and I used to have to cut most of them out for him.

[RunnerKim]

Joanne - I was thinking but forgot to type. Glad to hear that Caitlyn's not throwign up anymore. Lainey threw up Saturday moring. She had seemed kind of off that morning and not too long after breakfast puked. then acted very normal and chipper. Friday morning I'd felt a little queesy myself but never know what is pg related and what isn't. So maybe there's just some little bug like that going around. I'm certainly not a doctor/scientist but I'd think she was just as likely to pick it up from many things she touched as the holy water, but I can see how that would have made you cringe.

DH got asked lots of questions this week because Lainey didn't go with him last week (my sister's boys spent the night and playing with them was more enticing than going with Daddy). I don't know how many "single" men attend with a kid, let alone at the 7:30 mass, so I think he's much more known than his quiet persona would expect.

Kim

[MrsReber]

Joanne, I'm laughing at your son putting his hands in the holy water and running them through his hair. Your kids are so funny.

[JoanneOR]

Yes, Susan, I had to stop myself from laughing, too. We were in line for communion and he had quite a few of the mothers giggling.

Kim, I see alot of moms with kids (like me) but hardly any dads with kids at church. I wish my DH would come with, but he's usually in bed already. That's nice that your DH takes Lainey with him. A little father-daughter bonding time and some quiet time for you!

[tbb113]

Its a tough call about Santa. When I was around 3 or 4 my brother (6 or 7) told me that I was stupid to believe in Santa since I was Jewish. I told him that as long as you believed you got a present, so he was stupid if he didn't believe in Santa :)

When Michael asked me, I think I said something similiar to what Joanne said. When he really stopped believing, I explained that by doing nice things, etc we ALL were like Santa and that he should be quiet and let his brother believe. He was fine with that and actually liked 'being' the tooth fairy, etc for Alex.

Nori: Both of my sons were trained somewhere between 2 1/2 and 3. I wouldn't give a reward unless Noah actually went. You don't reward him for sitting on a chair, why reward him for sitting on the potty?

Susan: Great looking pictures.

[cchhbb]

Hi everyone.

Kim, I'm due on May 6 so I think I'm about a month behind you. I still have some pg sickness, but feel a lot better than when I had Garrett. I'm with you about not wanting to be pregnant again. After this baby, I'm done. If DH is serious about wanting more, he will have to find someone else to have them with. :) My 3rd ultrasound is December 14. My mom is so excited that she will have a whole year to finish the baby's stocking. She made Garrett a beautiful cross stitched stocking that took a lot of hours.

I used to cook for a shelter once a month when I lived in Wisconsin. They had different organizations provide meals daily. Our entree was a taco rice cassarole. It was pretty inexpensive to make. I've lost the original recipe, but I think I got some help from the bb to replicate one similar. It was ground beef, onion, rice, canned tomatoes, taco seasoning and cheese. I used to buy ground beef on sale and freeze it since I used to make 2 of these cassaroles a month. I also used to feed DH it at least one night too. We used the disposable pans. I know I bought them at the dollar store, so they were pretty cheap.

Nori, I know Babies R Us has the bed rails. I actually took two of them for one side of the bed and overlapped them so they went the whole length of the bed. Garrett is still in his crib. He started climbing out like crazy around his birthday so I went and bought a crib tent at BRU and it was the best money I've spent. Garrett just wants to get out and run around. I'd put him back in bed and by the time I got to the door he'd be out again. It became a big game.

Garrett has been using the potty before bathtime every night. He seems to like to dump it into the large toliet especially. We read some books while he's sitting there. He hasn't started telling me he has to go yet, but he seems to be able to relax and go after I put him on the potty. The other night, he was sitting on his potty and he passed some gas and then he yelled pee pee in the potty. I thought we might have gotten lucky and he had a bm, but a very small amount of urine did end up in the potty.

Garrett had his 2 year check-up Friday. He is now 36 inches tall and 24.5 pounds. He's in the 80% for height and 10% for weight. He was a monster at the doctor's office. I'm sure he remembered the stitches. Poor kid. I need to check to see if our insurance co pays for Hepatitis A vacine. I guess the AAP has started recommending it. It's $150 if the insurance co doesn't pay.

Susan, Brendan does look as tall as Casey. I bet she was thrilled to be Dora. I need to download some pictures of Garrett still.

Paula, Garrett hasn't made the connection for toys at the store yet. I don't end up buying many toys new and I rarely take him with me when go shopping. He does love to go to Home Depot and he especially likes the reindeers that they have displayed. Yesterday, he went twice. I can't even drive by the store without him getting excited about seeing reindeers. Our Home Depot shares the parking lot with Costco so we end up there a lot. That and remodeling at house.

Our screened porch is finished with the exception of the switchplates. It is really nice. My parents bought us a large table and 6 chairs for Christmas and we put them up over the weekend. We are getting ready to start the renovation of the bonus room over the garage. We are taking attic space and turning it into a large suite with a bathroom, bedroom, and closet. It will be about 300 square feet when done. After that we can start work on the kitchen. I can't wait.

Cheryl

[nori]

Cheryl, wow that's a big remodeling going on at your place. We've been wanting to do kitchen remodeling since we moved in here:o , but all this baby thing plus financial situation kind of kept us away from it. Hopefully we can start soon. Noah had Hep.A vaccine at 2 year appointment, and I remember getting a bill for that to cover copay...that was about 30 bucks or so, I think. I was confused about getting that bill, though...usually those were covered fully by insurance. I thought of BabysRus when I was thinking about the rails. But I wasn't sure, since it's not particually "baby" stuff. So the crib tent worked for you? I've seen it and wondered if it really works. That's great! Although Noah never tried to climb out from the crib, we moved him because Mary Ann needed the crib. He's been doing great, except fallin off part.:)

Tyra, I think you're right. But since he just isn't even interested in potty, I thought I might be able to use some incentives.:)

Joanne, when you said kids are "trained by 3 1/2 years old", does that mean by that age it was completely done? How long (on average....well I know each kid is differnt, but I ask anyway) did it take for them to be completely trained? I know Tyra's kid (was that Michael?) didn't even need any training.... Anyway thanks for reassuring I don't have to hurry about this thing. I guess I'm being so impatient. You really have a reason to celebrate when Caitlyn's out from the diapers!!! Wow 8 years!!! That is something. I also don't think holy water was the particular reason to get sick, as Kim said they can get germs from anywhere. But I understand your feeling. Noah's teething and his hands are always in his mouth. He'd do that even after he played outside, rolled his car on the floor for a while, after riding the shopping cart etc, etc. And I'm trying to keep them clean as possible as I can, but it is hard. Luckily he's not getting sick so far. Sounds like Caitlyn's doing better now. Hope you have a better night tonight.

Kim, I hear you about testing, trying on things. As much as I hate it when he does that, I just try to remind myself that it's normal for him to do that now. But I get frustrated easily. I can picture Noah doing the same thing Lainey's doing. We'd seen Incredibles at the drive in theather last weekend. (Gotta love drive-in...that's the only theather we can go now.:) ) DH thought Noah'd like it, but it was more older kids. But now he recognize the character in that movie. Today we're having picnic lunch with friends. They had Happy Meal for lunch, and the box had the Incredibles' character on it. Noah wanted to have that "box".
Is your sister the mother of Lainey's cousins who are in the picture you posted? Lainey would miss the boys too, if they're going to move out.

Susan, yes if I thought of it earlier, I would have gotten the one from One Step Ahead. Okay here's what happened about the bed rail... after I found out that Target has one, I called DH (I'm not sure why I did that) and told him that I"m going to get one today. He told me that he wants to check on secondhand store before heading to the Target. I told him going to the kind of store with 2 kids is just crazy (they don't have shopping cart to put kids in), I don't want to do that. If DH's willing to do that, I wouldn't mind. He told me that he'll check around and if they didn't have one, he'd go over to Target at night to get it. Guess what he had when he came home....one of those PCB pipes (is that a name?? I forgot....the pipe lines you use for gas etc.) and some small parts from Home Depot.:eek: :rolleyes: I asked him what's going on and he said he couldn't find the secondhand one, and Target's one was expensive (30 bucks) for this temporary-used item. He said "Those costs 6 bucks, I'll make one tonight":rolleyes: I was upset, because I wasn't expected to see those "parts" to be assembled by himself, I wanted to have a nice, safe rail! Plus those pipe looked so yukcy for bedroom. I let him do it, but told him that I'd take it off while not use since it'd be so ugry in there. Well, I can't say I love it, but he made somehow "rail". It looks like a rail they have for the hospital bed...Not fabulous looking, but I guess we can give it a try. DH just refuses to spend money for something that's not going to be used for long time....how does he know that Noah won't be using it that long? I didn't mind spending, but he said "we have no money":rolleyes: I was about to say that I'd spend my Christmas money (from last year) for that. But the rail doesn't look too bad as I thought it'd be, so I'll give him a chance.

Okay I wrote a book here again. Gotta go to bed now.
:)

[tbb113]

Nori: I think Michael took a couple of weeks before he had it all down pat. I know he was peeing before he was pooping...and I had a week or so when he was pooping in his underwear (which was really disgusting). Alex was the one that trained himself overnight. Neither one of my kids used a rail (but they didn't fall out of bed either). I understand what you mean about not spending money, but you still need Noah safe. We used the pvc piping to fence a yard once. Worked great...looked like a horse ranch :D

[nori]

Tyra, that's it, PVC pipe.:o I don't really know why I called him to tell him what I was going to do. Anyway, DH thinks that Noah probalby doesn't need it in near future, thus spending that much money is too much. He also said we can put body pillow if he'd fall between those spaces. We'll see.

I just came back here to say that tonight we had spaghetti squash for the first time and Noah loved it! We just ate it like spaghetti, with tomato sauce. (Pure Vegetarian night!!) He had about 4 kids serving, I believe...he ate more than I did!!:eek: It was good, though. I never had it before and now I'm interested to learn recipes for those squash! It cooks very easily, too.

[MrsReber]

Nori, I do wonder sometimes if our DH's weren't separated at birth. Mine is always trying to make some homemade thing for the kids as opposed to spending money. You should see the slide in the backyard. He got just the plastic slide from his brother (it was DH's nephew's slide) and connected it to an old ladder that he had. I was a bit skeptical. It looks like cr@p, but I suppose it works okay. He refuses to get a nice swing set because he feels they're too expensive.

Cheryl, you're quite ambitious with all the remodeling. I'm jealous! Well, we did do our bathroom. Unfortunately, it's still not completely done. DH still has to fix our new little closet in there and paint. I'd paint, but he says he still needs to sand and spackle some more. No hurry, though, it's only been this way since June :rolleyes: .

Casey is still asking me when I can stay home with her. It just kills me. She's growing up so fast. On Saturday, she was the only one who could answer all the questions in gymnastics. The instructor asked everyone what the different positions were. She knew every single one. I wonder if she'll stick with it or if she'll want to try something else. It's funny, on those days, she and Brenden will always take a nap. It seems to wear her out in some way.

I got most of my Christmas stuff delivered yesterday. Casey didn't even ask what was in the boxes. I was pretty suprised. Usually she demands that I open them. I want to get them walkie talkies. Does anyone know anything about them? I want a decent set that's not too expensive. I think it'd be pretty funny to see them talking to each other.

Last week, Brenden insisted that I get a pineapple at the store. They were on sale so I got one. He loves it. I can't believe it. Poor guy still has his cold. He seems a little bit better, but his nose is still running and he has a couple of coughing fits each night. I hope Casey doesn't get it. She slept in her bed again all night last night.

[JoanneOR]

Susan and Nori, I think my DH could be a distant relative of yours! He also would rather try to make something than buy it. The difference is, he usually never gets around to making it. So, I've learned to just go out and buy it before saying we need something. Then he'll say, you know, I could have made that myself for a lot less money.

Caitlyn is still sick. Now it's mostly just diarrhia (sp?). She threw up once during the night, too. I'm so tired today. I was up most of the night with her for the last two nights. She's also running a fever now, too. I'm hoping this runs its course soon. I'm hoping the rest of the family doesn't get it.

The walkie talkies sound fun for the kids, Susan. We've never really had any. Colin did get some Spiderman headphones that were like walkie talkies for his birthday. They had fun with them, but couldn't seem to coordinate holding down the talk button with listening to the other person. They'd wind up yelling across the house "I can't hear you!" I haven't seen them in awhile; they must be buried in the toy box.

Susan, that's great you've already got some Christmas shopping done. I did order a couple things that should be coming soon. I usually have it all sent to my mom's house so the kids don't see them. I need to have them make a list so I can get going on some more shopping. I think I'm actually done with Caitlyn.

Nori, by completely trained, I mean they were in underwear all day with no accidents. For Jameson it took a couple months from when we started to try until we felt safe going out of the house with him in underwear! I think we started around 3 with him, but weren't getting anywhere, so gave it a break for awhile. Colin was probably just a couple weeks. Ian was one day. He said when I'm three I'll wear underwear. He put them on that night, had a few accidents the next day, and that was it. If you know Ian, you know that fits his personality! He wants to do what he wants, when he wants to do it!

[RunnerKim]

Nori, I'm glad the homemade bed rail is working out okay - I would never have thought of making one. I can understand your frustration though. Yes, it's my sister with the 2 boys that *might* be moving (she reminds me that nothing is official). Having grown up as a military brat, I thought it was great that my sister and i had ended up so close to each other (and really she wouldn't be moving that far) but that Lainey would have a close relationship with cousins was something I never had and hope she can still have, she particularly adores Corbin (the one closest to her age). It's been a long time since I've done spaghetti squash, I should give it a try again.

susan, I remember having walkie talkies as kids. We had a blast with them. We have some 2-way radios now that we honestly haven't used that much (we forget to take them when it'd be useful to have). Maybe with #2 coming along we'll find times it's good to have them.

Cheryl - you are doing a ton of remodeling! Are you doing much of it yourself or mostly having it contracted? Are you going to find out if your having a boy or girl? Does Garrett understand it much?

Well our cats are lucky to not be dead today. They decided to have a fight with each other at 4:30am - right outside Lainey's door. Just about the time DH got up to shoo them downstairs she wakes up and it being that close to her normal wake up time (6ish) there's no way she'll go back to sleep. DH tried for a little and then just took her running with him which she likes to do. I have such weird and intense dreams while I'm pregnant (anyone else have those?) and sometimes I just don't feel that rested when I wake up even if I do sleep okay. I'm grumpy today can you tell. :rolleyes:

Kim

[MrsReber]

Kim, sorry you're not feeling so great today. That's even less fun when you have to be at work.

I'll have to investigate the walkie talkies. We were at a ball game a couple of years ago. DH's co-worker used them with his sons since they kept running off. I just think it'd be so funny to watch Brenden and Casey talking on them. I just sit and watch them play sometimes because Casey comes up with the funniest scenarios for them to act out. They play that one of them is a cat (they alternate) and the other one is taking the cat to the doctor. Yesterday, they were going to catch the train. I guess they get that one from me. They said "we're running late! Bye Mommy. I love you!" and ran off.

Joanne, sometimes I wish my DH wouldn't make things. I told him I asked my mom for a stability ball and handweights for either my birthday or Christmas. He insisted that he could easily make me a set of handweights at work! I told him thanks, but no thanks. I know what kind I like and what sizes I need. I can only imagine what he'd come up with.

I'm excited. I found a slightly used Thomas set on ebay. It's $64, but that includes 40 peices and a nice big storage case! I'm really after the storage case. It seems like a deal to me since I know each engine costs about $10. Looks like there are about 15 trains, trucks, and railcars included. I told DH I feel bad giving Brenden a used toy for Christmas, but it's such a deal. I hope it looks as good as the picture. Ebay is dangerous. I seem to be winning an auction for the Dora talking house furniture. Nobody has it in stock so the prices are a bit high on ebay. For some reason, I am winning a set for $9.50! Can't figure that out unless someone is waiting until the last minute to outbid me. I feel like I need to spend the same amount on both kids. I think the Thomas set will do it. I could go crazy buying stuff for Casey.

Joanne, I'm sorry to hear that Caitlyn still isn't well. Brenden seems to be getting better. I'm just waiting until I get his cold. I know I will. He spends way too much time being very close to mommy. I have a scratchy throat today so I know it's coming.

[tbb113]

Speaking from personal experience, the trains are an addictive toy to purchase. I spent more money than I care to admit buying Michael Brio trains & tracks. No matter how much track he had...he needed more. Same thing with the trains. Fortunately he played with it for a long time and I have saved them for my potential grandchildren. I tried many different types of storage. The best was when I bought plastic stacking drawers (some like shoe boxes, some that were long and flat). I put the trains, cars, boats, etc in the shoe box type of storage and put the different type of tracks (straight, curves, up/down) in their own flat drawer. I then had one big box for the bridges, supports, etc. It made building the track so much easier when you could find the type of track you were looking for :D Putting away was a pain...but I still think it was worth it.

Don't feel bad about giving a used toy...its new to Brenden and he truthfully won't know the difference.

[cchhbb]

Kim, We've been remodeling our house since we moved in 4 years ago. We're taking one room at a time primarily. Until the screened porch project, we did all the work ourselves. We did hire a handyman type person to do the screened porch, but DH did a whole lot of it too. John, our new handyman is going to do the bonus room. He's a good worker when he works and very trustworthy. I still expect DH to get heavily involved.

Kim, I will definitely try to find out the gender of the baby. I am such a planner that I would be at a loss if didn't know. I need to decide what prenatal testing I want to get done. I did get the first trimester downs screening done which came back great. I qualify for a amnio since I'm 36.5 years old. I don't think I'll get that one though.

Nori, DH would have made a railing too if I hadn't found one at the conignment sale. I wouldn't worry about how it looked if I were you. It's in his room, not in the middle of your living room. Poor Noah falling out. Garrett would never get around to sleeping if he wasn't contained.

I finally bought my tickets to Thanksgiving. I'm leaving the Sunday before Thanksgiving and coming back that Friday afternoon. I was able to get Garrett and I tickets for $145 including tax. DH has decided not to go which is fine. Since he is Canadian, it's not really his holiday to celebrate.

I've been up cooking since 6:00. Yesterday, I made pound cake and pumpkin/pecan cookies. Today, I made the pumpkin shaped cheese ball, brownies, and deviled eggs. I still need to make some meatballs. I have to bring snack to 60 people to my Disciple class. My partner who doesn't cook is bringing a fruit and veggie tray, paper products, and drinks.

I need to finish my reading for tonight still so I have to run. I'm really enjoying this class, but it is about 45 minutes a day of reading and preparation time.

Cheryl

[nori]

Cheryl, wow you were cooking a lot!!! You reminded me of pumpkin cheese ball that was discussed here before...I'm going to make that for next week's gathering. That sounds like an intense class...I'm part of weekly bible study group and our homework is not that much, but I found myself getting behind on it.:o

Tyra, we have Brio trains too, and DH got this plastic box for the storage but it's overflowing right now! We have to get another box. DH is almost addicted to get that stuff for Noah. I admit, it is fun, too. There are so many kinds of trains and building, bridges etc. Noah'd roll the train on the track for long time. It keeps him busy.

Susan, I somehow knew you'd understand my frustration about DH wanting to make stuff. Yes it is nice, but sometimes I wish he'd just go out and buy stuff. When we got married, he made an entertainment center, coffee table, side tables and futon couch from rumbers. We still use them....not the prettiest, but at that time we didn't have money to buy nice furnitures. He also made a computer desk....he didn't like the one I got at the Home Depot while he was gone.:eek: I had to laugh about your DH tried to make handweight and stability ball etc. That's something mine would try to do!

I got a catalog from Lillian Vernon today and found walkie-talkie.....Lilly's Kids....Walkie Talkie (http://www.lillianvernon.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&productId=49347&addOn=485&categoryId=&catTree=&clearance=&sid=eas) It is pretty inexpensive, and looks like fun! I bet your kids would have so much fun with them.
I think buying used stuff for kids is nothing to feel bad about. They don't care...they're still new toys for them. What a great deal at ebay! You know, I personally never bought stuff there.:o DH bought and sold some stuff before, though.

Kim...YES, YES, YES to that weired sreams while being pregnant!!! I had such strange dreams, like you, I was so tired when I got up in the morning. I was talking to other friends and they said the same thing. Must be hormone doing something there. Sorry your cats started to fight that early in the morning. Noah wouldn't go back to sleep if it's that close to the wakeup time.

Joanne, that's what my DH says...he can make it with less money. Well truth is, sometimes he spends more money than what I'd spend on something. He says it's still better quality but I can't always say that's true. He enjoys making things, but not only that, he completely refuse to call professionals when we had some trouble at home. He wants to fix it by himself before he calls someone. He's done plumbing, electic work, gas etc., he wouldn't call someone unless it's really out of control. This is also to save money, but sometimes he'd spend more than he expected on tools etc. Sorry Caitlyn's still sick and you didn't get enough sleep. Hope tonight will be better for you all.

Thanks for clarifying about potty training. That's what I thought...although I didn't know how long it took for each kid to do that. I wish Noah would be like Ian....if the training period would be shorter, I don't mind delaying the potty training!!

Tonight I had made a big culinary mistake.:o I made Helene's Skillet Yellow Rice with Chicken. I got caper from the store last week since we didn't have any. Well it turned out I got green peppercorn in vinegar instead of caper!!!!! They're on the shelf next to each other at the store. I didn't notice, until I served it to Noah and he got teary from the spiciness. I first thought I put too much curry (I used curry instead of turmeric) but then I tasted mine and realized caper tasted funny. I went back to the kitchen to see the bottle...sure enough, it said "green peppercorn in vinegar":eek: I had to ask DH to remove all those pieces. I gave Noah some of this after removing all peppercorns. That way, he ate some. But I gave him last night's leftover. I can't believe what I did.......but they do look similar. I thought those capers were rather small.:o

[MrsReber]

Nori, yikes on the culinary mistake! Those things do happen, though. I understand about the do-it-yourself stuff, too. DH will say "Yeah, I can put windows in. It's no problem." It took literally FOUR years for him to finally do it. And we still have 4 more windows to go.

Well, I was outbid on the Thomas set. It was a great deal and I was willing to go to $100, but then the auction ended. Someone was battling me at the last second and they won. Oh well. I bid on some other Thomas stuff and ended up getting more track, the aquarium cars, and James (the red engine). I see how people can get addicted to ebay! It's a dangerous place. I got Casey's Dora furniture. The woman emailed me and asked if I wanted her to throw in another set for a few more dollars so I said yes. Now I just have to figure out how to pay her. It said she accepts cashier's checks and money orders. I'm guessing that's why nobody outbid me on the furniture. I actually got the sets for less than the store price ($10.00/set in the store). The thing is that they're sold out everywhere so ebay is my only option if I want to get them for Christmas. I'm going to try to get some more fun Thomas stuff for Brenden, too. Last night, Casey said "I want my talking Dora house!" I told her she has to wait until Christmas to see if Santa will bring one. She then got Brenden to say he wants a talking Spiderman house. They don't make those. I don't think Santa can bring that!

Cheryl, you sure are busy, especially with being pregnant. Where do you get all that energy? can I have some?

I officially have Brenden's cold. I knew it would happen. Also, everyone who sits near me at work has been sick over the past month. I have a sore throat and I want to sleep. I would've stayed home today but I have a meeting later on. Tomorrow, I have a lunch n' learn session. Megan Kanka's mom will be here to talk about how to protect your children. She's the one who lobbied for Megan's law, named after her daughter who was killed by a neighbor's son. I think she's a pretty great lady and I'd love to hear what she has to say. Hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow.

[RunnerKim]

Nori - :eek: I'm actually pretty impressed that Noah would eat it after that first bite. I don't think Lainey would be willing to give it another try that night. At least you could save the dinner by removing them.

Okay, you guys are getting me to think about these Brio trains. So far we've resisted our own collection. They have a small set up in the daycare lobby that Lainey likes to play with but she's not obsessive about it so I haven't felt the need to do it at home. Do you all have a table for it or just set it up on the floor and take it down each time? How long (age wise) do kids play with this set? My almost 10 year old nephew has a cool electric lego train set that he's had for a couple of years. Speaking of trains, I ordered Lainey some Robeez "shoes" to use as slippers in the house during the winter (her shoes and socks never stay on long after were home, sometimes not even that long). I'd picked out the purple ones with butterflies but DH convinced me to get the train ones and she loves them (ordered a pair of 0-6mo for #2 and had to whisk them away or she'd want them too).

Cheryl - It must be pretty neat to be customizing your house but a lot of work too. Sounds like it's going great though. I'm with you on wanting to know the sex. Every time I'm swapping clothes out of Lainey's closet, I wish I knew whether I should keep stuff or find someone to pass it on too. We're having a rough time coming up with boy name possibilities so I'll be glad to know if I need to get serious about it or not. That is a lot of cooking but I'm guessing you don't mind so much since you're on the CL boards :D Hope your efforts are appreciated.

Susan - I agree ebay can get addictive, I haven't done too much on it. A couple of things i was looking at recently the shipping charges were so outrageious it turned me off (I know it can vary greatly be sellar). We give Lainey used toys all the time as gifts since we were passed down so many. She doesn't know any difference and is just happy to get something. I don't mind the message either that something still has value even if it was previously used. One of my favorite and most-used wedding gifts was a used pie dish from a professor of mine.

Helene - is Victor still in a better going-to-bed routine in the evenings? I was wondering if that was helping him be more cooperative in the morning or if that was still causing lots of frustration?

Kim

[MrsReber]

Kim, I agree with you on the shipping charges. I hate them. However, I hate going to the mall even more :D ! But seriously, I do check the shipping charges and I refuse to bid on anything that costs more to ship than it does to buy! I keep a close eye on those charges because some of them are ridiculous.

Brenden plays with his trains on the floor. He usually sets them up in the kitchen while I'm making dinner. Sometimes he gets mad at me if I am in Thomas' way. And some days, he just lets Thomas run over my feet. He's really good with putting the track together. I got an email from a guy on ebay who was selling 5 Thomas pieces. I bid $20. His reserve price was never met so he asked me if I still wanted them for $20! I said absolutely since each one of those costs $10 or more by themselves. Brenden is going to be thrilled.

The reason I told my mom to buy the Thomas set in the first place was because every time we went to Barnes & Noble, Brenden was so excited to play with the Thomas set they had there. It keeps him busy for a long time and I can see that he's getting imaginative with the trains, too, and making up stories for them as he plays. Casey doesn't play with them as much as she used to. A few months ago, she asked if Santa could bring her her very own Thomas set.

Nori, I'll have to check out those walkie talkies. I know they'll be abused so I don't want to spend too much. I'm also looking for this toy that they have at Goddard. Both kids love it. It's a soft little bench where you can hammer plastic nails. I should say the top of it is soft, like a foam kind of thing. I can't seem to find one anywhere, just the normal little workbench with the hammer and nails. This one is different than that. They love to play with this thing.

[tbb113]

Kim: Michael played with his trains from the age of 2 or 3 until at least 7. And truthfully, I think he would still play with them if I put them out :D He built track on the floor. A table was WAY to small and would limit what he could do. Especially with the ferry boats. Also the track didn't always connect so he would just run the trains on the floor. I know that Lillian Vernon used to make compatible sets at a much more reasonable price. You might check that out as well as the official Brio or Thomas trains.

[nori]

I'm not so familiar with ebay, but who decides shipping cost? My guess would be a seller...do they make money in that way??

Susan, I think I've seen that Dora talking house in Target's advertisement..haven't seen the real one, though. LOL on spiderman talking house! I wonder how his house would be.:D Sorry to hear that you have a cold, too. Noah has been coughing a little bit, I"m wondering if he's catching something, too? I hope not.

Kim, I was a bit surprised that Noah had second bite yesterday. I served leftover for his dinner (since our dinner tonight was kind of spicy thing), removing all peppercorn. He had one bite, and second, and said "It's spicy!" It was the first time he said "spicy" and the way he said was so cute, we had to laugh.

We don't have a playtable for Brio train. First, we don't have enough space....we just play on the floor and then clean up. It used to be cleaning up every night before going to bed but now we sometimes keep it overnight, so he can play next morning. It is fun to build the railroad...Noah can build it pretty well, but not be able to make it like circle so the train can go round and round. So every morning, he'd ask me to build the track. It's my morning chore.;) Kim, I think you get to build it at least once a day. Probably your DH would have fun if he's like my DH. And I'm expecting this to last long, and possibly like Tyra, pass down to grandkids. That'd be neat. I can also see Noah (and maybe Mary Ann) playing with them even when they're older. (Heck, DH still plays with them)

I ordered the road system toy from Hearthsong today. We got deluxe road system, and firestation and helicopter. Can't wait. I'm sure Noah'd ask to open it, though. I just have to tell him we can't.

[nori]

Hey I just wanted to report a sort of good news....Noah told me right after he went poop! He came over to me and told me he had "poop". Now, he hasn't been sitting on potty but we've been telling him that when he goes to poo on potty, daddy is going to get him a toy. It was yesterday. He did tell me yesterday morning, and he did this morning, too! This is a progress, right?:o I know it's not a huge step, but I'm glad he's getting uncomfortable sitting on his poo.:eek:

Now he says "potty, daddy, big toy". We repeatedly tell him that he can get a toy when he sits down on his potty and do poop there. Would be interesting how it goes.:cool:

[MrsReber]

Nori, that's definitely a step. That says he's aware of when he has to go and when he's gone. Brenden tells me (only me, for some reason), but refuses to poop on the potty. He even tried to go in the bathtub one night instead of on the potty! It took Casey a while so we're not pushing. I know they can be trained earlier, but it was my experience with Casey that the process just took longer. I also think I wasn't "forceful" enough in that I was afraid to just put her in underwear and leave the house. Yes, we had accidents, but when I became more confident about it, she became more confident about it.

The seller does decide shipping costs on ebay. They normally post them, however the guy selling me the 5 Thomas engines and vehicles still has not responded to my request for the shipping amount. I can't complete my purchase. I'm paying $20 for the set of 5. I know there is more track on the way so we can build a better play area. Brenden had the trains out in the kitchen again last night. Casey tried to "fix" them since she didn't like that it didn't connect all the way around. He got so mad. I had to tell her to just leave him alone, it's his train set.

Last night, I asked Brenden what he wanted Santa to bring for him. He said "peanut butter and jelly." Me and Casey had a good laugh over that one. She said "no! You pick a toy, not food!" Maybe he was just hungry? But we asked him again later so DH could hear his answer and he again said "peanut butter and jelly."

[MrsReber]

I just came back from my lunch n' learn session with Megan Kanka's mom. She is an awesome lady. Her presentation was great. I know that NJ has a sex offender website where they register pedophiles in the state. They're not all on there, but it's certainly a start. Some people have been questioning the legality of having a site. They claim in infringes on their rights. It was sad to hear Megan's mom talk. She said that had she known a sex offender was living in the house across the street, her daughter would probably be alive today. Her daughter had gone over there to see if her friend could come out to play. The friend wasn't home so the guy lured her into the house to "see a puppy." She was then raped and killed. This woman has done some great things in NJ to encourage parents to empower their kids with knowledge and to try to make sure no other child suffers the same fate as her daughter. I got some coloring books about "good touch, bad touch." I think Casey is old enough to be aware of these things. I haven't looked at the website yet, but if anyone is interested, it's www.magannicolekankafoundation.org

On another note, the kids have decided this week that they will no longer take a bath together. In one way, I'm happy because if we stop now, it won't become an issue later. In another sense, I'm sad because it'll take me twice as long at night! Oh well. DH was trying to convince Casey to get in the tub with Brenden last night. I told him to just back off and accept that this is what they want. Better to have them decide on their own. My sister's kids took baths together for a while. Her son is 2 1/2 years younger than her daughter. Her daughter decided she wanted to bathe alone a few years ago and her son was devastated. There comes a time, though.

[tbb113]

Susan: At least getting Brenden the PB&J will be an easy present :) I personally would buy it for him if he still wants at Christmastime.

I hear you on the bathtime. It was easier when they shared a bath, but truthfully privacy is a good thing. You might alternate nights instead of trying to do back to back baths.

[nori]

Susan, the link didn't work. Sounds like it was a great session. So the guy who killed Megan was a father of her friend? I've heard of Megan's Law but not familiar with what really happened etc. How sad. But it's a great cause she's doing to other people. Now that I have a daughter, I'd like to know about those dangers. Of course, I know boys sometimes are assaulted so it can't be ignored. I've seen the map of sex offender living in this town on the paper before. Not many on our area, but there are some. I should probably get more information on that.

LOL on peanut butter and jelly! I agree with Tyra, if he still wants to have them for Christmas, you should get them.:) I remember when I was a kid me and my brother loved, loved cashew nuts. One Christmas we each got a big bag of cashew nuts and I was so happy.:D

It is intersting that Casey already doesn't want to take a bath with Brenden. I myself recall taking a bath with my brother (3 years younger) when I was 2nd grade.....:o Okay probably it's too old but we just had fun playing in the water together. I guess it depends on kids. I'd be sad because that means double-bathtime!!:p But as Tyra said, you can alternate them. That sounds like a good idea.

Does Brenden go pee in the potty? Noah told DH tonight "poo" or "potty". He brought him to the potty, and I asked him if he wanted to sit on the potty and he was trying to sit down! (with clothes on) Then I said, "Do you want to take diaper off?" and he said yes, so I took it off.........yes, poop was already there.:eek: It seemed like it's been a little while, but still he reported us so I still take it as a good sign. One step at a time, right?

Some Thursdays DH goes to this sports bar to play trivia game with his buddies. He usually go after dinner. Tonight Noah wanted to go with him. I asked him if he does mind and he said he doesn't, so they're gone for a while. And Mary Ann's sleeping!!! (Due to wake up anytime, though) So I'm having a little bit of quiet time. Hooray!!

Happy Friday, everyone!

Editing to add...Tyra, good luck on Michael's game!!

[HRJ]

Just stopping in to say hi -- it's been a crazy-busy week, DH has been sick and I've had to work some long hours -- there's a lot I want to respond to, so I hope I can get some time later this afternoon or evening.

Happy Friday, everyone.

Helene

[MrsReber]

Nori, I see my mistake! I was trying to be so careful typing the link in. It's www.megannicolekankafoundation.org I spelled her name wrong in the last one! I don't know if it was the father of her friend. For some reason, I remember it being a younger man when it happened. It was all over the news here for some time afterwards.

I love cashews, too. That sounds like a good Christmas gift to me.

DH took baths with his sister forever. They're almost exactly one year apart in age. If Casey wants her privacy, that's a good thing. I did think about alternating nights, but that won't work right now. Casey tells Brenden to go in first and then she tells him to get out so she can have her turn. At least they're a bit older now so I can still run down the hall to the kitchen to do stuff while they're in the bath playing. Also, they still stay in the bathroom together, just not in the bathtub. Brenden will brush his teeth while Casey is in the tub and vice versa.

Brenden has peed in the potty, but only for me. He is so attached to me that I think he may just do it to make me proud. They sit him on the potty at daycare every 2 hours, but he refuses to go there. We're letting him take his time. That's a very good sign with Noah. He definitely has the idea.

Nori, quiet time is great. I'm really happy that you got some. How cute that Noah wanted to go with his dad. I bet that made your DH happy, too. That's great.

Hi Helene! Sorry you're having such a busy week. I hope you get to relax this weekend.

[hrk]

I have been reading about the train tables with great interest since that is what DH and I thought about getting Logan for the holidays.
So I have some questions that I hope you guys can help with:
Those of you that have the train sets woould not recommend a Train table since they are too small and confining?
Does anyone have the playboards that they sell to set the trains up on?
Are the Thomas and Brio sets compatible so you can mix and match?

I also have a question about art stuff- we were thinking abou getting Logan an easel since he loves to draw. Does anyone have an easel and do you kids use it?
If not where do your kids draw, color etc?
Do you have a set of little chairs and table for them, an art desk, etc.
There are so many options it is so overwhelming, but Hanukkah is coming fast so DH and I need to get a move on.

Thanks so much for the advice, it is great to see what the older kids are doing.

Heather

[MrsReber]

Hi Heather! I believe the Brio and Thomas sets are compatible. It should say "wooden train set" I think. We have no place to put the table or else I'd seriously consider getting one. It'd be great if you have a big play room. I believe all the pieces can be stored in the drawers in the table. However, at age 2 (and 4 months), Brenden is fine with building the track each time. He enjoys that part of it and is so proud of himself when he puts all the pieces of track together.

My kids love to draw, paint and do crafts. I thought about getting an easel for Casey, but have no plans to do so. We have a little table and chairs that they normally sit at or we'll set them up at the dining room table (mind you, our table is a piece of cr@p, so I don't really care what they do to it. It was free). I do put plastic down on the rug for extra messy things- paints, mostly. They both have big plastic smocks that they wear. I bought them in Target for Christmas last year. They willingly wear them. Michael's aslo had some nice plastic smocks. They were up near the front and not in the regular cloth smock area. Best investment ever. I bring them to birthday parties for when they do crafts and there was a pumpkin party we went to where they painted pumpkins. We brought our own washable paints for that. Be warned, washable paints do not come out of everything!

Glue sticks are a big hit with the kids. I cut out shapes from construction paper and they glue the shapes on another peice of paper. Around Halloween, I cut out some pumpkins, stems, and faces for the pumpkins (eyes, nose, mouth) and Casey spend at least an hour putting them together.

I ran into a woman who was at the lunch session yesterday. She said it was great, too, and she doesn't even have kids! She was getting information for her sister and friend. She said Maureen Kanka is a very strong woman and also thought she was fantastic. I wonder if my daycare would bring her in to speak to the parents.

Speaking of daycare, I'm so excited- they're going to have a bake sale for the kids in Casey's room! They want to "adopt" a tiger from the Popcorn Park Zoo. It's run by the Humane Society. You can sponsor animals. Her class is going to sponsor the tiger for $36 for the year. They're having a bake sale to raise the money. Now I just have to figure out what to bake! It'll be some kind of cookie/bar or maybe the Khalua brownies. I have to write down what I'm bringing and I'm having a problem settling on one thing!

[JoanneOR]

Hi everyone. We had the stomach flu bug hit our house hard. Ick! is all I can say! Caitlyn had it first. Then, DH called me at work Wednesday and asked me to come home as soon as I could because he was sick and needed help with the kids. So I went home early. Then I started feeling sick. Wed. night was bad. DH and I were both sick. Jameson and Ian both threw up during the night. So far Colin has stayed healthy. Must be something in that "chocolate butter"! Caitlyn is still not herself, she's not throwing up, but has diarrhia (I can't spell that word!). DH, Jameson, and I are feeling better today, just pretty tired. Ian's still not too good. He stayed home from school today. Tonight is supposed to be his birthday party. I don't know what to do. I don't know how to get in touch with all the parents if I had to cancel it. We told Ian that Jameson can stand in for him at the party. He wasn't too excited about that! Hopefully he'll be feeling better by tonight.

Heather, we have a wooden train set, and I think the table might be too small of a space. My kids can make tracks that cover half the room. I think it's easier for them to make the wider tracks when they are younger than to try to make them small enough to fit in a smaller space. We got ours when Jameson was 4 or 5 I think and they still play with them alot. We had an artist's easel and they really didn't use it too much. They seem to prefer to draw and color on the kitchen table.

We have a few sex offenders living within a mile of our house. It is really scary. I think the closest is about five blocks. It's kind of sad because I remember being a kid and you could go off and play in the neighborhood with your friends and not have your parents with you. Now, I'm always outside with the kids and I'm afraid to let them out of my sight when we are outside. Maybe I'm too paranoid, but it's just too easy for something to happen really quickly. I can't imagine letting them walk to a friend's house alone or go to the park alone, even when they are older.

Nori, it sounds like Noah is definitely making progress! That's nice that your DH took Noah along to the sports bar. Good bonding time and nice quiet time for you!

Susan, maybe Christmas morning you could have a PB&J waiting for Brenden and have it for breakfast and say that Santa left it. That's cute that he said he wants that. Easy to please, huh? My SIL called to see what Ian wanted for his birthday. He told her a hot tub. Somehow I don't think he'll be getting one!

Helene, hope your DH is feeling better (and that you and Victor don't catch it) and things slow down soon!

[RunnerKim]

Joanne - I'm sorry to hear everyone is sick in your house and at birthday time too! :( And Helene I hope things slow down a bit for you too.

I'm glad the craft subject came up because I've really been wanting to do more of those activities. Now that the weather isn't as nice outside we're looking for more indoor activities. Glue sticks are a great idea. My MIL gave Lainey (and her older cousins) a container of stamps that I haven't used yet - I don't even have paint in the house. We've mostly done crayons and playdoh, so I'm ready to expand my horizons. They do a ton of great stuff in her class. I should get a book that gives ideas (any one of have one they'd recommend?)

susan - what fun for Casey to adopt a zoo animal. That's very affordable too. I bet it was interesting to hear Megan's mom speak. I didn't have kids at the time that occurred so only remember it vaguely. LOL about the PB&J. Is it something he normally eats?

Nori, I hope your DH and Noah had a good time out together. bonus getting some personal time. And I agree - it's definitely a positive step about Noah telling you he's poopy. Awareness is a big part of it I think.

Does anyone have a good way of telling if a kid has peed in a regular potty? Lainey prefers to sit on the big potty (with an insert) and I *think* she peed once last week. She said she did and I thought I heard something but I'd just turned the bath water off too and it could have been the faucet. I was happy/excited but not very much because I wasn't sure. We've been keeping the whole potty thing low key since we tried underwear a couple of months ago (mentally she seems ready, but physically it became clear she's not). She's starting to talk about wanting to wear underwear and seems to be going longer without peeing in her diaper. So it might be time to be a little more encouraging and then I wouldn't run bath water while she's on the potty etc. I just can't really get over that she hasn't perhaps ever peed on the potty (the little one way back when we first got it) but it's been months of her willingly sitting on the potty before her bath and occaisonly some other times (at daycare) and nothing. I'd think random chance would have given us something (and maybe she did last week). We read a couple of books and she seems relaxed. I don't mind our current routine at home as we just wait for her to be ready but when she asks to sit on the potty at daycare it can take quite awhile to get her undressed and get a diaper back on - I wouldn't mind being a little late getting/returning to work if I knew it was for a good reason - seems more of a stalling method right now, but do I say "no you can't sit on the potty" (or essentially the same thing would be having a teacher help her).

DH and I both had yesterday off and it was a nice break although it felt more like a short weekend than a bonus day this morning. This weekend DH and i are going to a collegue's beach house and we're leaving Lainey with my sister! She's over 2 and this will be our first night away.

Kim

[tbb113]

Heather: Michael's tracks were way to big to fit on a table. He could easily build one that took up the entire room :eek:

I did have an easel for him to use outside. It was a wooden easel (I have no idea who made it). It worked great for painting with a brush or markers. I never could get either kid interested in crayons until recently when they realized how much faster coloring is with crayons vs markers for a school project (color pencils are faster than markers also).

Kim: Can't help you on the potty issue. Its pretty obvious when a boy goes :) Enjoy your time away.

Susan: Our local zoo offers the adoption as well. We adopt a zebra one year as a Hanukkah present.

Joanne: I'm sorry everybody is so sick. Hope Ian gets better in time for his party tonight. I was a member of a mother's group when the boys were little. We had the local police come and speak to us. The question came up of when do you let your children have freedom like we did. Their answer was that it really is safe out there, its just that our perception has changed because of the news coverage. You might want to ask your local police what they feel. I have always allowed my kids to go to their friends, ride their bikes, etc. And yes, I do worry but I figure that I have taught them well, I really do live in a safe neighborhood (even though there has been stranger abductions in nearby towns, the Bay Area has more per capita than anywhere else). I decided that if its going to happen it will and I can't let fear rule me or my kids lives.

[MrsReber]

Most of the people in the session were saying the same thing- "gee, it was safe when I was a kid. What happened?" As Tyra pointed out, the coverage is better and people are actually put away. The parents are listening to the kids, too. It's not something that parents are afraid or ashamed to talk about anymore. It's something that needs to be discussed with them. I'm going to go through the coloring book with Casey and talk to her about it. It's a scary thing for parents to think about and the best we can do is to educate our kids.

Kim, have fun! I'm sure you'll miss Lainey, though. She'll probably have fun with her cousins. I'm curious to see her reaction to staying away from you overnight. My kids are pretty freaky about it.

I have trouble telling when Brenden goes (he sits instead of standing). I actually have to stand in front of him and watch. If I could only get him to stop asking for toilet paper!

Joanne, I feel so bad for you. That sounds horrible. I sure hope the birthday party can go on as scheduled.

Kim, I just got Casey a bucket of those foam shapes. She has letters and a bunch of Dora ones. The Dora ones are self adhesive, which is nice. She likes to stick them on paper and make pictures. There are also great paint books where you only have to wet the paint brush and the color "appears" on the pages. Casey loved those and they weren't all that messy. We have Spongebob and Little People ones that we got from Target.

[JoanneOR]

Kim, I'm not sure what you can do to tell if Lainey peed or not. All I can think of is to use those things that turn the water blue - I can't remember what they are called. Then when she peed, the water would turn green. :) Just a thought. I don't think it's bad to have her sit on the potty even if she's not doing anything. At least she's gotten used to it and isn't afraid to sit there. Caitlyn won't sit on the big potty at all; I haven't even gotten our little one out yet. But, then again, when I asked her if she wanted to pee in the potty she stood up next to it like the boys. :)

Kim, have a great time away! Sounds like a good time and a chance to sleep in!

Tyra, you're right, you can't let fear rule your life. It's just hard to know when to let loose a little and let kids do some things on their own. I have started to let Jameson walk down the block to go by his friends house without me. Of course, I can see him all the way. He's only 8, though, maybe when he's 10 or so, I can let loose a little. :) It's probably alot safer than I perceive it to be, but I have heard of a few cases of attempted child abductions not too far from us since we've lived here.

[tbb113]

Joanne: I hear you. I make Michael walk his female friend home if its dark out (she lives two doors down). I think its the gentlemanly thing to do :) The boys don't have school today. Alex just called and asked if he can ride his bike down to the Denny's Restaurant (about 1 mile away). I told him yes, since he is going with friends. I feel better when they are in a group then when they go by themselves somewhere. ;) But I still worry.

I have had to call the police on both of them. Michael disappeared at a park when he was 4. He was found safe and sound (fortunately). Last year, Alex didn't come home after school. I drove around looking for him, still couldn't find him. Called the police. They found him at the school (he was in the bike cage when I went by and didn't see him). I do like the fact that Michael has a cell phone (mind you he doesn't always answer it :rolleyes: ). When the boys were younger, they would take the two way radios with them. That worked 80% of the time. Its a matter of trust and maturity. If your kids have the right level, its a lot easier to deal with.

[cchhbb]

Susan, LOL on the peanut butter and jelly. Garrett doesn't seem to understand that Santa brings presents.

Heather, Garrett has the Thomas train table. I bought it at our church consignment sale. He just turned two and loves it. I also brought a ton of trains and track there. They do seem to be interchangeable. He doesn't really build the track yet, but we've never shown him how. He came down from his nap on his birthday and found the table and track set up. I do think he prefers to stand to play toys like trains instead of using them on the floor. He will actually play with the trains for about an hour by himself.

Garrett just got an easel too. One side is a chalk board. I don't know if you have a Costco near you, but I saw the coolest one there last Christmas. It was magnetic on one side and a chalk board on another. We have a small table and chairs and he uses it to color and do puzzles mostly.

Kim, I always can tell when Garrett goes to the bathroom, but DH can't seem to. DH also forgets to point Garrett's 'thing' down. He got sprayed the other night. One thing the ped. told me was if he was on the big toliet to make sure his legs were at a 90 degree angle. He should have something to support his feet. I guess it makes it easier to push things out.

Today I was in the laundry room and went to check on Garrett. He had opened the door to the bathroom and taken his little potty out of the bathtub and was sitting in it in clothes. He told me he needed to pee pee in the potty and toot (poop). I took off his clothes and he sat down and did both. I was so proud. I think after our Thanksgiving trip I'll start working with him. Now he just sits before bathtime and when he gets up in the morning and I read a few books to him.

I got a note sent home from preschool yesterday. Garrett refuses to sit at the table during snack time. I don't think he is hungry since he doesn't finish eating breakfast until 8:30 and snack is at 10:00. He doesn't get up until 7:45 so I can't really move breakfast up unless I wake him up earlier. He is a bear if he doesn't wake up on is own so I'm not excited to that either. His teacher really wants him to sit at the table with the other kids and he would rather go play. I brought in his little table and chairs into the kitchen and we've been eating meals there. If he is hungry he'll stay pretty well, but once he's full he says play please and runs off. I'm trying to convince him to wait until I say he is excused.

Nori, I went to a seminar last year at church and was surprised to find out at 1/3 girls were sexually assulted before 18 and 1/9 boys. So Noah isn't safe either. This seminar is required for anyone who will volunteer around children at our church. We also had to submit to background checks. We were told that churches are one of the last places that molesters have left to prey upon our children.

Susan, I went to a Stranger/Danger presentation on Tuesday. It was really good and gave some techniques to teach your children to stay safe. I think Garrett is still a little young to understand.

Cheryl

[MrsReber]

We've been having trouble at home because the kids will unlock the door and open it whenever they hear someone out there. We keep telling them not to do that. I tell her if someone comes to the door,she needs to get mommy. We're trying to explain that there are bad people in the world who hurt others. It's a difficult concept and it's sure difficult to explain. By the way, that's so true about so many kids being molested by age 18. And it most often someone the family knows and trusts, which makes the kids less likely to tell an adult. I'm still not sure if I was one of those kids or not. My mom had a boyfriend and he doted on me. There were many times that I was very uncomfortable around him. My mom even seemed jealous of me at times. The whole situation was weird. It lasted from the time I was about 7 until I was around 11 or 12. He continued to live with us until I was 14, but he largely ignored me after I turned 12 and began to look more like a woman than a little girl. Also, he began cheating on my mom with a woman who was in her early 20's- very thin, flat chested woman. After hearing Maureen Kanka's story about a man who married a woman to get to her son, well, I kind of have to wonder. It was a weird situation that I still can't talk to my mom about. I have read articles by other people like me who aren't sure what to make of what happened to them. There was no outright contact, but there were instances where things didn't seem right to me. That just tells me that there's a lot more abuse going on out there than we really know about. Oh, and his punishment? He married the woman he was cheating with and had 2 sons. He's miserable and lost his very lucrative business earlier this year due to some stupid errors in judgment (my mom used to work for him). I guess my experience makes me a little more passionate about supporting the Kanka's cause.

Kind of heavy for a Friday afternoon. I can't wait to leave. I may go early. My boss is at our nuclear facility for the outage. It can last several weeks. Gee, I'll miss him :D !

[RunnerKim]

Cheryl - Garrett seems awfully young to be required to sit at a table when he's not eating/hungry. Do they want him to sit there with nothing to do or do they give him some crayons and paper? Or are they saying he won't even come sit down? To me, I'd be completely fine with him not eating and thus not sitting at the table. Is he wanting to eat shortly after the snack time is done or is he okay until the next scheduled meal? If he's not hungry why sit at the table as long as he's not being disruptive to the other kids who are eating and is doing something quietly in the room. Food is not something I'd want to turn in to a power struggle. I don't stay for meals/snacks at Lainey's daycare but I know they don't require kids to stay at the table (maybe that changes in the pre-school rooms - ages 2.5 and up but I doubt it since they've specifically said they're philosophy is never to force a kid to participate in any activity). Well that's my 2 cents!

That's excellent potty progress!!

Susan that is pretty heavy but it is incredibly sad how common abuse is. I couldn't believe the number of issues my sister's in-home daycare kids had. :(

Okay, I just ordered a basic Brio set off amazon (and got a free expansion track set with it, which I thought sounded like a great deal and free shipping). You all were right, DH likes the idea. :D

Happy Friday
Kim

[cchhbb]

Susan, I'm so sorry about your experience. That had to be a very tough situation to go through.

Kim, She wants him to sit for a minimum of 5 minutes during snack time. He is not hungry. He comes home at 12 and eats a big lunch. He also eats a large hot breakfast daily finishing about 8:30. When he doesn't go to school, he doesn't eat a morning snack most days. He does usually have some fruit during afternoon snack. I'm so with you about kids not having to sit at the table if they are not hungry. They don't let him do anything while at the table other than eat. I don't think he is being disruptive, he goes and plays quietly by himself. I'm going to call the teacher on Monday to discuss this further I think. This class ranges in age from 26 months to 18 months. His teacher from last year and I talked about it and she doesn't seem to think it is a big deal.

Garrett does have an underdeveloped sense of hunger compared to most children. He very rarely asks for food from me and I know he doesn't ask for it at school. I could see it being an issue if he was going around begging for food.

I am working with him at home, but I really don't want food to be a struggle. I am making him ask to be excused before he can leave the table. I think that is just good manners.

One thing I'm not thrilled with is Garrett telling me on Tuesday that he got in trouble. We don't use those words in our house and I know he had to pick it up at school.

Garrett ended up in timeout about 4 times today. He kept crawling over the back of the couch. He also pulled my hair hard once. I hope he's in a better mood when he wakes up today. He was really testing me.

I'm co hosting a holiday cookie exchange in early December. We're inviting 15 people and asking everyone to bring 6 dozen cookies. I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to make broccoli cheese and lentil soups and we're going to have salad and sorbet for a light supper. I think it should be really fun.

We're having some friends over for dinner. I'm making flank and tuna steak on the grill, roasted broccoli, and black bean and corn salad. I also have pumpkin/pecan cookies and fresh strawberries for dessert. This is one of my best friends now and I still haven't told her I'm pregnant. Tonight is the night. I've been trying to tell her for a few weeks and everything has been so crazy.

[JoanneOR]

Mmmm, Cheryl, can I come over for dinner? :) We're having bad pizza at Ian's birthday party. I talked with DH and he said Ian seems OK, he hasn't thrown up, so we're having the party. Some friends of ours think their son has whooping cough. We haven't seen them for at least a week, so hopefully the kids haven't been exposed.

Susan, it does sound like you were abused. Maybe not physically, but certainly emotionally. I'm sorry you had to go through that.

Cheryl, it sounds like Garrett is getting close to being potty trained. Wouldn't it be nice to have only one in diapers when the new baby comes? I agree with you and Kim, it's crazy to expect Garrett to sit quietly at the snack table if he's not eating. Especially if he goes and plays quietly. If he's not disrupting the class, it shouldn't be a problem. Hopefully you can work something out with the teacher.

OK, does this make sense to any of you? I don't understand men sometimes. It's not a big deal, but DH stopped at the store to get treats to bring to Ian's class for his birthday. That's when Ian told him he was sick, so DH kept him home. Well, DH brought the cupcakes and juice to school anyway. The teacher called and said don't you want me to wait until Monday to celebrate Ian's birthday (they just sing and have the treats) when he's here? My DH said, no, pass them out today. OK, Ian's not there. Why wouldn't you tell them to wait until he's actually there to celebrate his birthday. So, today at school, without Ian, they celebrated his birthday. I'm sure Ian would have felt special. I'm thinking of sending something else with Ian on Monday so they can celebrate it again with him actually there.

Tyra, I think Jameson has a higher level of maturity than Ian or Colin. Colin is still quite a bit younger than Jameson, but Ian's only a year younger and there's a big difference. Jameson just seems more responsible and I think I'd feel better about letting him do some things more than I would Ian at this point. Ian is alot more impulsive than Jameson. More of a free spirit, I guess you could say. :)

[paula]

Heather,

With regard to drawing and other crafts, we have and use a Little Tykes table and chairs which we purchased at a yard sale. It is composed of solid plastic and is virtually indestructible. It is also very light weight, and the kids can move it themselves. We bring it into the kitchen, and off the carpet, when we planning something messy.

We (I) love, love, love paint with water books, but have had a hard time finding them. Occassionally, I find one at Target, but not always. I have looked a couple of other places, no with success. We recently purchased the Crayola finger paints that only work on the special paper, but have not yet tried them.

When I was a kids, my Dad constructed a huge train table for us from plywood and two-by-fours. It was probably 6x9-foot when folded, and unfolded to double that size. The hinged "doors" along both long sides folded inward like French doors, and all of the tracks, trains, and small components were inside, and unaccessible to younger siblings. We painted grass and rivers inside the table/box and painted game boards on the outside of the doors. When closed, we had a huge work surface for many, many activities. It was fairly low to the ground (24-30 inches high?) but study enough that we could climb into it to adjust the trains. We also stored tubs and large toys underneath it. Does this desciption make sense? I was about 12 at the time, and the table only lasted a couple of years until we moved to a smaller house.

I had to laugh about Joanne, Caitlyn, and the Holy Water. The water may be blessed at our church, but that doesn't keep nasty stuff from growing in the bowls. The bowls are disgusting - I know because my kids think it is great fun to play in the water. Actually, they do a decent Sign of the Cross when prompted (well, they get through the Father and the Son...), but left alone, they are playing, drinking, and generally making a mess. I have to trust that the germs are Holy, too, and are all part of God's plan!

On an odd note: we have had reoccurring difficulty with yeast-based diaper rashes for a couple of months. We have repeated used a standard presciption cream, and while it worked the first 3-4 times, the rashes were no longer completely responding. Rachel was put on Ceclor on Tuesday to treat bronchitis (our first antibacterial antibiotics in over a year!), and immediately was covered in red welts. When I spoke to our pediatrician, he gave us a prescription for "Greer's Goo". It is an ointment that is compounded by one pharmacy in the Baltimore area - very strange sounding, indeed, and especially to a medicinal chemist (me) and a pharmacologist (DH). However, within 24 hrs and two treatments, there was a dramatic improval. I don't know if this is available from other pharmacies in other areas, or if it is a local thing, but it sure helped us. Rachel is much, much more comfortable.

Paula

[BeckyM]

Hi Everyone! I bet you all thought I dropped off the earth -- at least those of you who remember me. Well, I've been AWFULLY busy since I went back to work (over a year ago), and it's been really difficult to find time to come to the bulletin board. But today I decided to read some posts and let you all know I'm still around.

In case you don't remember, I'm the mother of Katie, who just turned two on October 1st. It's so interesting to hear the stories about your kids, because I remember being on the boards when we were pregnant together and then reading the stories as all the kids were younger. It's still very easy to see how different kids develop at different paces and in different ways. And congratulations to those of you who have had additional children or are now expecting. I'm sorry I've missed out on hearing about all that.

I'm still working three days a week, and Katie is attending a great daycare. We actually switched her from her original daycare, because it was brand-new, and they were having real difficulty keeping staff. We felt that the "teachers" in Katie's room were just watching the kids and keeping them out of trouble rather than really helping them develop. We switched Katie to a daycare that is sponsored by my employer and is strictly for kids of employees. It's run by Children's Hospital here, and it is wonderful. There is a very good teacher to child ratio, and the teachers all have great education & experience. Katie enjoys going and is really blossoming there.

Katie seems to be developing best in her verbal skills. She talks A LOT and seems to remember new words very quickly. She is also really into music and wants to sing songs and dance all the time. In fact, today when she was supposed to be going down for her nap, I could hear her on the monitor singing all sorts of songs to herself. Of course, as a two-year-old, she also has many times where being in control is important to her. DH and I struggle with when to be firm and when to let her have her way. We're trying to make sure she knows she is not always in charge and to know that there are limits, but we also try not to fight her on unimportant things.

Katie hasn't made much progress on the potty-training front, though we're not really pushing it. She has a little potty, and she really likes sitting on it with her clothes on, but she won't sit on it when we take off her diaper. I think she's still a little afraid of it. She will tell us when she needs a new diaper, and she even quotes her book "Big Girl Potty" to us, but she doesn't want to actually do anything about it. Since we're going to Montana to see my family over the Christmas holidays, I actually think it would be easier for her to be in diapers then anyway. Maybe after the holidays I'll try encouraging her more in that area. Daycare will also work with her on it when she's ready, and other kids in her room (ages 18 months - 3 years) use the toilet, so she sees the example there.

Anyway, I've really enjoyed reading a few posts and catching up a bit with all of you. I'm especially glad to hear Caitlyn is doing well -- that was one of my biggest concerns about not being on the bulletin board so long. I wanted to make sure she was doing well. I'm not sure how often I'll get back, but I think about you all often and wish I had more time to keep in touch. Take care.

Becky :)

[tbb113]

Both of my kids are very mature for their age. Michael is more social though and would prefer to be with friends than be home alone. Alex is perfectly content to play video games/watch cartoons/read and amuse himself by himself. Sometimes I think he just tolerates his friends instead of really enjoying them :rolleyes:

Paula: that train table sounds amazing. With one that big...you wouldn't need to play on the floor :)

[nori]

Hi Becky!!!:) I was wondering how you are doing. Glad you and Katie are doing well. That's great she likes the daycare and enjoying it. I also feel the same way as you do....we "virtually" know each other since we were pregnant and look at our kids now! They're not babies anymore.:eek: That amazes me. Anyway, you seem pretty busy but drop in when you can , and take care of yourself!!

Paula, that train table sounds awesome!! Something my DH would like to make if we had enough space.:) Glad Rachel's diaper rash is getting better finally. It is painful to watch when they have those. I hate changing him when he has diaper rash. That's a funny naming for the ointment..I've never heard of it.

Hi Heather! I think most of your questions were answered here, but I give my 2 cents anyway. If we had enough room, I thought it'd be nice to have a table because then you don't have to clean up each time. But as others mentioned, the space seems like not enough to play big....I think that's true. Plus Noah likes to build the track, like Brenden, and that's how we taught him to clean up at the end of each day, before bath time. It's part of our routine. Downside is, since Noah can't build complete circle train track yet, I have to build it for him every day (one of my morning routine). It's kind of fun, too, if you don't mind. I've seen (I forgot where) the playtable thing which you can store under the bed. I thought that's a clever idea.

As for drawing, Noah used to love but not lately. We just used kitchen table and chair, and he's been pretty good at keeping everything on the paper. When we do playdoh, we used some papers on the table. Mind you, we don't have funcy kitchen table either.:D Easel might be fun. I might want to get one for Noah.

Joanne, my DH would have done the same as yours, I can tell you that.:) I think that's just the way they do things. I'd probably send something with Ian on Monday. He'd like that, too. Sorry your family is being so sick.:( Stomach flu is around this area, too. Some of Noah's friends had it. They said it was short-lived, but still they had hard time while they were sick. Glad everyone is getting better, slowly. I better start eatin the "chocolate butter" as a immunization to the stomach flu.:D

Cherly, I'd like to come over for dinner, too. You're having tons of energy, being pregnant and all. When I was pregnant, I didn't have much energy. With Mary Ann, I never got my energy back, until I actually delivered her. That's great, though, you're doing so well.

I agree, for Garrett's age it's hard for him to sit down while do nothing. At least they can give him a paper and pen? You should ask teachers the reason why he should be sitting down....sometimes even being quiet, getting away from table while everyone else is sitting is distracting for some kids. I remember when I was teaching 2-3 years old at Sunday school some kids were just running around while others sitting doing crafts. We just couldn't get those kids to sit down, so we let them play. But some kids at the table asked us why they can run around while they had to sit and do something? I remember I had hard tim explaining that and I tried to get those kids sit down again, just to ensure other kids that it IS time to sit down and do crafts. I'm sure if they provide some quiet activities for Garrett, he can sit down at the table. Hope your talk with the teacher will go well.

That is a scary fact that lots of kids were molestered at young age. I wish my church does screening of teachers..our church is fairly small, and most of teachers or caretakers are well-know to most of members. They just don't take strangers, but still, I'd rather have them being more strict on that aspect. It's sad that you can't trust even church anymore.

Kim, enjoy your time away from Lainey! We did leave Noah last year for our anniversary (December) at our friends house for one night. It was from Friday evening to Saturday morning, around 9am. He did fine, to our surprise. They had kids (10 and 8, I think) and he had fun playing with them. My friend said he did well at night, too. I bet you'll miss Lainey, but what a treat before you start taking care of another little one!

Free expansion set is a great deal! DH got an expansion set for Christmas last year. It's a great toy! I'm sure Lainey will love it.

Susan, thanks for the link. I just checked out our local site for sex offenders. Currently (they only posted level 2 and 3 offenders), our area (at least our neighborhood, like across the street) doesn't have any, but there are some in the area. It's good to know. They also posted their photos, too.

I am sorry too that you had that experience with your mom's boyfriend. So glad you were not hurt physically, though. It's scary.

Have fun deciding what to bake. Adopting the tiger sounds like fun idea. Our local zoo does that, too. Seems like popular for school classroom etc.

Okay I thought Noah had some progress but today he didn't tell me when he went.:( Well actually seems like he went when he was napping:eek: so I had to change him right after he woke up. It wasn't fun. He also still refuses to sit on potty but talks about getting a toy. We constantly remind him that he'd get a toy when he sits on potty and go poop in there. Oh why my son even refuses to sit on potty? What's the big deal.....sigh.:o

Helene, hope DH is feeling well.

[MrsReber]

Hi Becky! I sure remember Katie. Glad things are going well for you and glad you have a better daycare situation. I remember when you were looking at the first place. A good daycare offers so many advantages for kids.

Joanne, that was kind of odd that your DH told them to celebrate anyway. He was probably thinking more of the cupcakes and wondering what would happen with them. Men don't think of the emotional aspect. They tend to focus on the practical. I yelled at DH last weekend because he's been going hunting every Saturday morning then coming home, napping all day and going back out hunting around 3:00! Each weekend, Casey asked "where's my daddy?" and gets very sad. I hate it. He said "just tell her I'm hunting. She knows where I am." He doesn't get it that she's not so interested in where he is, she just wants him to be home because she misses him. He came to gymnastics last Saturday of his own free will. Casey was so excited to have him along.

Yes, my experience was quite troubling and unfortunately, it shaped who I am today. My parents divorce didn't help much, either. I wound up seeking therapy in my early 20's. The therapist claimed that more happenend and I just didn't remember it. I don't think that's true at all, but it did sour my opinion on them. She sent me to a psychiatrist and he wanted me to take medication. I flat out refused. I was able to make some very positive changes in my life all on my own and learned some valuable lessons. Some good things came of it- I will always put my children first because I feel that during that time period in my life, my mom didn't put us first. I think she feels the same as, when she finally ditched the weirdo, she admitted that she hadn't spent enough time with us. But life goes on and I had to get past all of that. Now I do my best to make sure that my own kids know they are loved and that they are the most important thing in my life.

Joanne, was Ian okay for his party last night?

Cheryl, how fun that you get to share your news with your friend! I remember that it was always kind of hard for me to tell people I was pregnant. I would get so emotional over it. I felt like such a geek!

I don't think our daycare requires the kids to sit while the others are eating. I hate the food schedule, though. They have breakfast around 7:30-8:00. Then they have snack about an hour later. In Brenden's class, they have lunch at 11:30. My kids don't eat much to begin with. They often refuse their lunch if they eat all of their breakfast. And breakfast is only a slice of cinnamon toast or a waffle with milk. DH says the other kids have way more food. Like Garrett, my kids rarely tell me that they're hungry. If they say they're hungry, I jump to get them food because it happens so rarely.

We went out to eat last night at a restaurant nearby. It burned down about 3 years ago and was re-built. It was packed, but we got a table right away. The kids were so very well behaved. I was impressed, considering they told me they were tired on the way to the restaurant. I was pretty surprised when they ate part of DH's appetizer, some bread, and then proceeded to actually eat the kids meals we got for them. They go in spurts. They both fell asleep on the way home. It wasn't that late- at least not for them. It was just before 9:00.

I'm off to the shower. Then the bank, gymnastics, the shoestore and lunch for the kids. If they're still in a good mood, I may try to stop at the store. I think I'm going to need a new dress for my mom's surprise party next month. I only need to lose about 5 pounds and I'm having no luck. (I'm sure dinner out last night didn't help much :rolleyes: . Why does food have to taste so good?)

Have a great day, everyone!

[cchhbb]

Hi everyone. You all were busy Friday afternoon.

Kim, I hope you are having a great weekend. DH and I have both left Garrett overnight, but not at the same time. I would really like to get away for just the two of us. Maybe over the Christmas Holidays for a weekend if my mom and dad would be here.

Becky, I was just thinking about you and Katie the other day. Too funny. I'm so glad to hear from you again.

Joanne, my DH would have done the same thing. He just doesn't understand. Garrett loved being the birthday boy at school and he's only two.

Susan, I told DH that today is his day to spend with Garrett. I have other plans. Today is our Church's Holiday Festival and it is a really big deal. They raise $75K for Habitat during one day. We went this morning for the pancake breakfast, picture with Santa (a disaster), and a pony ride. Then DH brought Garrett home and I shopped for while. I really didn't buy that much, but I did find a Little People Noah's Ark, a see and say, and a bathtoy Noah's Ark for him. I also bought him the cutest plastic placemat and lap tray. Then they had a booth for gift wrapping so I had them wrap everything up.

My girlfriend is so excited that I am pregnant. She is too funny. She already asked to be the godmother. She loves little babies. I frankly like kids once they are about 6 months. Little bitty babies really aren't my cup of tea.

I'm off to watch the ball game. Hope everyone has a great day.

Cheryl

[nori]

Cheryl, glad you had nice day shopping. Noah used to have Noah's Ark bath toy. We gave it away, to make more room in his room. We actually have lots of Noah's Ark stuff (because of his name) but don't have Little People Noah's Ark. I wasn't sure if he's playing with it, but now he's more into moving animals or people figures around, pretending. It's so funny to see it. You sure sound like have a lot of energy while being pregnant...did you have bad morning sickness this time??

Susan, reading your post made me a bit teary eyes. I am always amazed how good you are to your kids, and now I know where it's coming from. Casey and Brenden are so lucky to have you. I think I have a lot common understanding with you (especially about kids, and oh, yes, DH:D ). Actually, come to think of it, people on this board are pretty much on the same page and I feel so comfortable being here. Anyway, I like your attitude to think positive that your past experience shaped the way you are now.

What type of dress you're going to wear for your mom's surprise party? Just curious.:D I was looking at Shape magazine (which I used to subscribe, but it was replaced with Parents magazine....I saw it today at the hair salon), and they had this nice looking velvet dress I'd love to wear. Where I am going, you ask??:D I don't know. Ask DH where he's going to take me. Anyway, I just realized since I became a mom I've been putting myself aside a lot and not care so much about my appearance etc. I know it's not everything, but I think I need to boost my self-confidence. I should take care of myself more. My problem is like yours, I just love to eat. Food tastes soooo good, you know. You seem like doing exercise and working on to shed those pounds....you look pretty great in the picture already, though. Okay, enough of off-topic here.:)

Got a lot done today...grocery shopping, Mary Ann's bath, and got Noah's friends' birthday present, and I went to have my hair trimmed. My hairstylist never called me back so I went to Style America, one of those walk-in places. I thought it's just trimming and not a big deal. However, they don't even dry your hair when done!! I knew it'd be additional cost so I ddin't even ask. They charged extra bucks for long hair, since she used more conditioner. :confused: Yes it was cheap, but I have to look for someone more decent...I didn't feel any special after I was done. But with kids, it's more difficult to make an appointment and go have my haircut.

Tonight we're going to my friend's house to watch Florida game. DH is graduate from UF and in 2 years we spent there, we were converted to die-hard Gator fan. Cheryl, I forgot, you're rooting for Ohio??? Or was it Becky...I knowo you're fron Georgia but something tells me that that's not where you're rooting for.

Boy I'm really chatty today. And tons of off-topic!!!

Joanne, hope Ian's party went well!

[HRJ]

Hello! I've really missed being here this week. DH is feeling much better today -- I wasn't worried about catching anything from him, since he apparently caught this from me :o -- it's the sinus-throat-chest congestion thing I had last week. Thankfully, (I'm afraid to even say this ... ) Victor seems to have avoided it.

Today was the most beautiful day -- we had an unexpected snowfall, and ended up with probably about 6 inches or so. Yes, I know those of you who love the warm climate are shaking your heads in disbelief, but this is what I think about when I'm enduring 85+ degrees days during the summer. This really makes me love living in New England. It was crisp and clear; we had no need to drive anywhere; and it was good, moist snow, perfect for packing into snowballs, making snowmen (snowpeople?) and riding the little tobaggin down the slope in our back yard. (Yes, it *is* a little early for such a big snowfall -- we hadn't even raked any leaves, or put away the hammock and summer stuff in our yard -- but this will melt soon enough.) I took a bunch of pictures -- will try to post some soon.

Victor was sooooo excited -- he's been talking about snow for weeks now. It started snowing Friday afternoon, and when we got home from day-care, he insisted on going to "play in the snow," even though we only had a dusting by then. We built a tiny little snowman (about 10 inches high or so), using twigs for arms and peppercorns for eyes, mouth and coat buttons. Then Victor insisted we bring the snowman inside for the evening -- we *told* him that snowmen need to live outside, but he *insisted* -- so we figured this was as good a time as any for him to start learning about the laws of physics. We put the snowman in a bowl in the kitchen, and, of course, he promplty started to melt -- but instead of getting upset, Victor was fascinated. When we got up this morning, there were just a couple of twigs and a bunch of peppercorns in a bowl full of water, and Victor thought that was totally cool.

All the kids in the neighborhood were out playing today, and one of the moms was making the rounds with a thermos of hot chocolate, and a can of whipped cream. :)

BTW, if any of you are looking for winter outerwear, LL Bean has some nice snow pants and parkas, in toddler sizers, at great prices on their sale website. I really like that they had snow pants, without bibs -- now that Victor's toilet-trained, it's nice not to have to take down the whole snowsuit every time he needs to use the bathroom.

Have to go check my rice pudding -- I'm making the recipe for Caramel Rice Pudding in the crockpot (from the Betty Crocker Slow Cooker Cookbook), and it smells divine. Will be back to catch up with everyone!

Helene

[HRJ]

OMG, that rice pudding is good!

Nori, looks like we were posting at the same time. I know what you mean about not taking time for yourself -- a week or so ago, I got a haircut, manicure and eyebrow shaping at the salon; it was the first time since Victor's been home that I had my nails and brows done. I'm always falling behind now on touching up my haircolor and walk around for weeks with these awful roots -- on the Friday Klatch thread, we used to refer to it as the "skunk club." :o :p

It sounds like Noah is starting off the way Victor did -- for quite a while, he would tell us when his diaper was wet or poopy, although not every single time. I think it takes them a long time to develop the sense that they don't like to be wet/dirty. I know I still haven't sent you that toilet training book -- I have it sitting right here, just need to get to the post office.

Cheryl, sounds like you had a nice day shopping. I've had my eye on the Little People Noah's Ark.

About the day-care situation -- Victor went through a period when he was in the 2-year-old room where he didn't want to join them for afternoon snack. The teachers just used to let him sit in the "book corner" and quietly look at books, but let him know that if he was noisy or disruptive, he wouldn't be allowed to do that. It was no problem -- eventually, he started wanting to sit at the table with the kids, even if he only ate a bite or two. Would Garrett's teachers let him sit somewhere to look at books, or let him look at books while he's at the snack table. I know you've said he loves books.

Susan, I'm so sorry you had to go through that experience when you were younger. :( And that therapist who jumped to the conclusion that you "just didn't remember" was pretty outrageous, IMHO.

Hi Becky -- so good to "see" you again. Glad Katie's doing well and you're happy with your day-care situation. I know having a day-care you're happy with makes life a million times easier.

To echo everyone else about the train sets -- we have the Thomas Wooden Railroad and about a million feet of track, and an average-size train table would be too confining. (Paula, your train table sounded fantastic!) Victor sets it up on the living room floor, and -- I'll confess, DH and I are such sloppy people -- we often let him leave it there overnight, and just kind of walk around it. :o Last Saturday, when I spent the day at the Red Cross class, DH and Victor built a layout that went all over the entire living room (not that our living room is very big, but still ... ) and in front of the door, so that we had to go in and out the kitchen door all weekend, until they took it apart. At first we had to put most of it together for Victor, but lately he can do more and more of it himself. I actually like putting the track together, when I have time.

Joanne, glad Ian was able to make it to his party -- Happy Birthday, Ian!! And no, I don't understand men at all -- I could see my DH doing the same thing with the cupcakes. :rolleyes: What are they thinking? :confused:

Glad to hear you're all recovering from that stomach bug, but, ick!! I'm so sorry you all had to deal with it.

Kim, hope you and DH are having a great time away together. We actually haven't left Victor alone overnight yet -- I consider it a triumph that we've finally gotten a babysitter and get to go out one Saturday night a month. DH took one business trip since Victor's been with us, but it was only for two nights.

About crafts -- Victor usually does that kind of stuff at the kitchen table -- it's good if I can get him to color or paint or glue while I'm making dinner -- but as he's gotten older, things are getting messier. I'm thinking of getting him an easel we can put in the family room.

Some painting products that I like (in terms of limiting messes, but still encouraging creativity) are those "Dots" painting sets -- I'll try to post a link or picture of them later. Elmer's also makes these brushes where you pour the pain into the handle, and then squeeze, and the paint comes out onto the brush. They're easy to use -- I found them at CVS.

Susan, have you decided what you're making for the bake sale? Our day-care does one every year to raise money for Heifer International -- the organization that buys farm animals for poor rural families in developing countries. Last year I made cream-cheese swirl brownies, and rugalach.

I hope this next thought doesn't come out sounding the wrong way -- I'm not trying to criticize anybody here, at all, but while all these charity "adoption" programs are a good idea, I wish they'd call it "sponsor-an-animal" (or whatever) instead of "adopt." I know it's a "fun" way to raise money for good causes, but sending some money for short-term maintenance is not really "adopting" anything, and I think it sends the wrong message, both for adopted kids and for bio kids, especially those who are not really familiar with the concept. I hate to get hung up on semantics, but I just wanted to mention my feelings on this. Again, nothing personal to anyone here.

At Victor's day-care, the teachers were planning to "adopt" a tree outside the building, and the kids would watch how the tree changed over the seasons. I spoke to the teachers and said I'd really appreciate it if they could find a different way to describe what they were doing, and talked with them about why I felt that way. I know there's at least one other adopted child in Victor's class, but I don't know if any other parents said anything. Anyway, they were very receptive to what I had to say, and agreed to call it the class's "special" tree.


Helene

[tbb113]

Helene: You have a very valid point about using a different word. I think people (including me) just don't always think about what they are saying and how other people might react to it. I'm glad that your school was willing to listen to you and change their terminology.

[cchhbb]

I just had the worst day.

I dropped Garrett off at Sunday School in a new room for the first time. It was his preschool room during the week so he was familar. He did cry a little when he saw a different teacher, but calmed down when his best friends (the twins) got there. I went to Sunday School. I decided to only have him stay one hour since it was a new experience for him. Usually he is in the nursery and stays while I go to church and Sunday School.

Well, after Sunday School I went down to get Garrett and he wasn't in the room. I called for him and he didn't come. No one seemed to think it was a big deal. The teacher said he was there a few minutes ago and I could come in and look for him. I walked into the classroom and he wasn't there. I said he's gone and ran out and started looking in the other classrooms. There are about 8 rooms in this wing. You have to have a security badge to get in the area and all the doors have alarms. No Garrett. Two of my friends started looking for him and one of the teachers went out to look for him. To make a long story short, Garrett had somehow gotten out the the classroom, the classroom wing area and walked through the lobby of the church and ended up on the back sidewalk.

Fortunately he was found by a very caring man who brought him back to the head of the nursery. We have no idea how long he was missing. The security person swears he didn't make it past her at the entrance of the wing, but obviously he walked out with another family. He actually had to get through 5 doors none of which he could open by himself.

I am almost sick right now. I stayed really calm until I found out he was out by the sidewalk or parking lot. Then I lost it. I actually had to get someone else to drive me home.

I really thought our church was a safe place to leave my child. They have a secured area, lots of paid workers, and background checks done on all volunteers.

I'm very lucky that Garrett is okay and a nice man found him that my best friend has known for 20 years. She told me she would let him watch her children anyday which makes me feel better. Thankfully, he wasn't kidnapped or hit by a car.

I'm very disappointed in the lack of a formal system to report a child missing. The church is starting to work on something today and I expect it to be implemented quickly. I'm actually waiting on the senior pastor to call me to tell him what they are going to do to make sure this didn't happen again.

I don't know when I'll leave Garrett again there. Right now, I'm not sure I can trust. I'm very emotional about this and cry whenever I think about it.

Thanks for listening. I just needed to share.

Cheryl

[BeckyM]

Oh, Cheryl!:eek: What a terrifying experience! I can imagine you must have been just frantic, and then overwhelmed with relief, but also furious that the people responsible weren't watching him closely enough. I can certainly understand how you'd be fearful about leaving him there again unless major changes are made. Hopefully, as bad as your experience was today, that will urge the church to figure out a way to make their childcare area more secure. How fortunate that a kind, helpful person found Garrett. I hope you're starting to feel better now. I can see why it would affect you so strongly though. You probably went through one of the worst nightmares a mother can have!

By the way, I often think of you and Garrett now that it's college football season again. I remember you talking about Garrett saying "touchdown" last year. Katie has learned that now, but everytime she sees football on TV, she says, "It's the Buckeyes!" Then she yells, "Come on, Buckeyes!" We get a real kick out of it.

I also was thinking about your preschool wanting Garrett to sit at the table with the other kids during snacktime. I can understand them wanting to work with kids on learning to sit together at the table, but if he doesn't want to do it after being encouraged to do so, I think they should just let him do his own thing. Katie's new daycare is very responsive to the different kids' needs. When we switched her there, she didn't want to do a lot of the group activities. The teachers would encourage her to come join them all for song time, but when she would rather play by herself, they didn't push it. She would observe the other kids and see how much fun they were having, and eventually she felt comfortable enough to join in. I think the important thing is that they encouraged her but also let her develop and do things at her own pace. Anyway, I certainly think you should talk to the teachers about WHY it's so important that he sit down with the other children and hopefully work out something that feels better to you.

Thanks for the greetings from everyone. I really am enjoying catching up with what you and your kids are doing. Nori, you and your family still remind me a lot of one of my college roommates and her family. She grew up in Montana but married a guy from Japan, and she has a little boy named Sam who just turned two and looks an awful lot like Noah. Now I've just found out you have little Mary Ann, and my friend is expecting a little girl in about a month.

And Susan, I can certainly identify with you and Nori about food tasting so good! I had actually done a very good job of losing the baby weight (and then some!) while I was off work, but now that I've gone back, I think the stress definitely adds to my snacking habits. I haven't gained it ALL back, but I'm certainly not where I want to be. I also haven't been getting much exercise. DH and I are seriously considering getting an elliptical trainer for our basement. Then I can get up about half an hour early, get in a good, hard workout, and not have to worry about lugging clothes to and from the gym, etc. I could also work out while Katie's napping. Anyway, I'm hoping that will help me get back in shape!

Helene, I really thought your comments about using the word "adopt" were helpful. I had never given that word much thought, but I can understand how it is an important word to families who have taken on the lifelong commitment to love and care for a child through adoption. Thanks for educating us!

Well, I've been interrupted several times, and I'm not sure if maybe I've even "timed out" on my message. I'll try submitting and see what happens. Hope the rest of you are having a great weekend!

Becky :)

[MrsReber]

Helene, I totally agree with your point on the word "adopt." Actually, I used the word sponsor when I was talking to Casey about it because she didn't seem to understand why her class would adopt a tiger. She told me she didn't want it in the classroom. Something about tigers eating people :D . Anyway, I went on to use the word sponsor because that's really what it is. Oh, and I decided to make turtle bars that I found posted on the Food Board. There was a picture posted, too. That's what really sold me. I bought all the stuff today.

Cheryl, that is a horrible experience! I can't even imagine how horrible it must have felt to not know where Garrett was. I'm so glad it turned out okay. I can't believe he made it out that far without anyone noticing, too. At our daycare, people certainly notice if a child is walking through a door with them. I have to wonder why nobody else noticed. I don't bleam you for not wanting to leave him there again.

Today, I told DH that I was going food shopping alone. I haven't been feeling so great with this wonderful cold I got from the kids. I went to a few stores and stayed out for 3 hours. It was so nice to be able to actually look at things. I saw those toilet targets at the store, too. They were in Linens n' Things, of all place!

I came home and the kids were so happy to see me. Before I left, I set them up with some paints and paint books so DH could take his deer apart (he got an 8 pointer last night). He was telling me how good the kids were while I was gone. I came into a disaster in the living room. They had the paints all over the floor (luckily none got on my carpet) and stuff everywhere. They also took every toy out of Casey's toy box. I cleaned everything up. Just have to finish up in the kitchen.

Quite a change from Saturday. Casey's gymnastics class was cancelled so we went to the shoe store and met my mom for lunch at 12:30. Casey and Brenden officially wear the same size shoes now! They fell asleep on the way home and slept most of the afternoon. I got to watch a movie on cable (Daddy Daycare - it was cute), and actually relax for a while.

Well, Dora is over so here come the troops! Ahhh! No naps today!

[nori]

:eek: :( OMG what a day you had, Cheryl!!! I'd be so, so upset, if that ever happened to me. I might have a heart attack. I'm so glad that Garrett was found safe and sound. I also wonder how in the world he ended up getting out from the building....your church's setting sounds a lot like the one we visited recently..had some wings for kids school, and each wing has several rooms. I'm guessing your church must be pretty big, but still...no one noticed that he was gone from the room? That's odd. Hope they'll come up with a big improvement plan soon. I would not want to leave my child there after that kind of incident.

Susan, I had to go to the Food board to check on that turtle bars. Those look soooo good.:D Mmmmm, dangerous. Glad you got a nice alone time. I found that without kids, going to several stores isn't a big deal. I felt so strange getting off from the car and just lock it and not getting kids out from car, though. I was just so used to do all that.

8 pointer? Wow that's big. I recently learned that's how they indicate "How big" the deer was. I kind of remember you asking me how big the deer my DH got this year, and I think I answered with poundage.:o Well, I'm sure my DH won't be happy to know that I told you this(but he won't know:D ), but it was 2 pointer. Wasn't so big. He said he'll get bigger one next time and save the antelet to hang on our wall. Do you have one of those in your house? Hope you're feeling well!

Becky, so your ex-roommate and I are almost same timing having kids!! How funny. Yes Noah's more like DH and Mary Ann is more like me. It is interesting. As for exercise, I've been trying to get it done early in the morning, but still after kids get up. (Noah's an early riser) I have step and some DVDs so that's what I do...with some interruption, of course, but that's the only way to get exercise done! We could go to the park, but then Noah wants to push his stroller so it's not really for my exercise. We just go to enjoy slow-walk.:) I really need to work on my eating habits, too...this nursing makes me sooo hungry I feel like I can eat a horse!

Helene, LOL on "skunk club"! I havne't colored my hair yet, but I've been wanting to do. But I was worried that if I couldn't make my appointment and my hair's color get messed up...I'd jsut want to add some color streak. That'd be fun.

Snow, huh? Actually in our area we're talking about snow up in the mountain today. It was pretty chilly and windy down here, and the mountain was covered with clouds. We might see some snow on the mountain tomorrow morning.

I completely understand your stance on the word "adoption". And I really appreciate you pointed out, because I myself would never noticed that.

Kim, how was your vacation?

Mary Ann woke up every an hour and half to eat last night, and I was wiped out today. She must be going through one of those growth sprouts. Being so tired from sleep-deprivation didn't do any good to my mood...I had some argument with DH about disciplining Noah first thing in the morning yesterday and it had been pretty rough day. We reconciled eventually, but once we argued in front of our kids and I broke down and cried when Noah was watching us. He came over to me and gave me a hug and asked me what was wrong (He was like, "mom? crying?" ). I felt so bad. We should try not to fight in front of kids.....it doesn't happen often, but seems like everytime we do, we have kids around us.

Anyway, besides that, DH cleaned the closet and refrigerator. I'm not the most organized person:o , and worse, a procrastinator. I meant to do it, but finally DH got to the action before I do. Well it was nice of him doing that, but beause of yesterday's fight, I felt like he's criticizing what I've been doing around the hosue....I know, I should just be thankful!!!! and I am.:)

Noah again told me he went poopy but wasn't before he actually did it. And he still refuses to sit on the potty. Tonight he sat very, very briefly before the bath time, but his b*tt was rather in the air. Oh well, we'll have to take it slow, I know.

[MrsReber]

Nori, we have 2 deer on the wall. The first one is a very nice 8 pointer. The tines are very thick and the deer was such a pretty color. Last year, DH got a 12 pointer so now they're both staring at us. It's a bit weird, but all in all, DH is proud of them. If it makes him happy, it makes me happy. I don't think he'll mount the last one. The deer around here are a bit thinner than the deer elsewhere. Casey tells me that daddy is going to get more deer for her wall! The last one was hanging in the backyard overnight on Saturday. He decided not to put it in the garage because of the kids and all the ticks on the deer. He did show it to Casey out the window. I don't think she liked it too much. She said she didn't want to eat deer. Brenden had gone out in the garage Saturday night to hang out with daddy and our neighbor so he had already seen it.

I'm trying to fit into the dress that I wore when I was in my friends wedding, back in May 2000 (one year before Casey's arrival). It fits fine in the waist, but the top is pretty tight. My chest never went back to my pre-pregnancy size. Not fair. There are things that I can no longer wear because of that and there's not much I can do about it. The dress is so pretty. It's floor length and navy blue. The back has straps the criss cross with a rhinestone clasp at the top. I don't want to buy a new dress! The party is December 4th, which reminds me that I need to contact them to talk about the details very soon. We have 25 people so far. I'm surprised that some of the others haven't called me back yet. There's a total of 45 on the guest list. Now if I could only figure out how to pay for it!

Cheryl, DH is a Nascar fan. His favorite driver is Rusty Wallace. Now the kids yell "come on, Rusty!" when there's a race on. Casey told me that my car has a number 2 on it, just like Rusty's car. It really doesn't, but I guess she figures it's blue like Rusty's car.

4 more days til we see the Wiggles! The kids are excited. I'm just a teensy bit excited, too :o :D .

Nori, I can relate. I'm not very organized either. DH frequently straightens out the freezer, refrigerator and the pantry. I always take it personally, like he's criticizing me for not being neat. I never was a very neat person. I do clean, but I'm not one to go crazy unless I'm just fed up with the kids' mess or if there's company coming. I do like a clean house, I just get tired of cleaning it 3 times a day.

The kid are now sitting at their little table and chairs eating plastic food that Casey made on her play stove. What great little imaginations they have. She made me some soup and bread. I'll teach her to cook yet!

[hrk]

I just wanted to chime back in and thank everyone so much for all their opinions. They have been so helpful and offered so much insight.
We happened to get a Babies R Us catalog Friday evening and they had the cutest table and chairs set in it that matches the nursery set that Logan has. So we have decided to forgo the easel and the table and chairs will be used for art, etc.
As for the train table, we are fortunate that we have a completely finished basement with no other purpose right now than to be Logans toy room. So DH is going to build a train table(I love having a handy DH)but we are going to build it to a larger size and juts make a custom playboard for it rather than using the premade ones. I think the biggest advantage will be Logan can walk arouond it and it keeps it up a little away from our dog.
Again thanks to everyone for thier advice, it was great to get so much input.
Heather

[paula]

Cheryl and Becky, In contrast, my kids both yell "Go Blue" and "Go Michigan" whenever they see football - regardless of who is playing! It looks like we have another year in which the OSU/UoM game decides who goes to the Rose Bowl!

Heather, It will be a few years before there are any tables that Logan can reach but that your dog can not. He was very well behaved when we met him, but I have a feeling that his height is deceiving...

Paula

[HRJ]

((Cheryl)). What an awful experience!! I admire you for holding it together as long as you did -- I don't think I could have done that. Hope you're feeling better today -- give Garrett a hug for me. Have you talked with anyone at the church about what they're going to do to make it safer?

Victor has gotten the idea sometimes that it's fun to "hide" from me when I come to pick him up at the end of the day at day-care. Usually, he'll do something like go into the "house corner," or stand in another corner with one of his friends, both of them giggling like crazy -- someplace I can easily see him. One time, however, he decided to crawl under the train table -- I scanned the room for him, poked my head into the bathroom, then asked the teacher where he was -- when the teacher couldn't locate him immediately, the fear was in my throat in about two seconds. Then one of the other kids yelled, "He's under the train table!" (I never would have seen him there).

He came out laughing -- both the teacher and I spoke to him very sternly, and I told him we were going to have to do something very serious if he ever did that again, because Mommy and his teacher very scared that maybe he had gotten hurt. I reminded him he always has to be someplace where he can see me or a teacher. (Thanks, Tyra, for the suggestion to word it that way). He seemed to realize he'd done something very wrong, and started crying. I hope he learned his lesson.

Paula, my MIL's a Michigan alum, so she'd appreciate your kids. :) Over the summer, I found a toddler-size Michigan jersey at Marshall's (what was it doing in Massachusetts?), and we dressed Victor in it when we went to visit my MIL (she now lives in Utica, NY). She got a big kick out of it. She put on one of her Michigan shirts, and we took photos of them together. At home, though, we don't watch much college football -- although I have a feeling Victor is going to turn into a little Patriots fan.

Victor has entered the stage where he is delighting in really gross things -- one of his favorite expressions has become "PU -- stinky and smelly" -- which he'll say about lots of things, even if they're not :rolleyes: -- and then he holds his noise. For emphasis, he'll say, "Stinky and smelly poopy!" and laugh like a maniac. I know we should ignore it, because reacting to it only encourages him, but we are trying to get him to stop saying it at the dinner table, at least. Oy.

Helene

[RunnerKim]

((((Cheryl)))) Oh my, I could not even imagine the fear you went through in your frantic search. How terrifying. I'm so relieved to hear he was okay, but understand your anger at finding him outside!

Becky! It's great that you could pop in. I remember all the issues you were having with the new daycare and whether it would open on time etc. etc. I'm gald you've found a place you're happy with, that makes such a big difference.

Paula - that is an amazing table.

Joanne - I agree about it being... odd for your DH to have told them to go ahead with the party but I'm sure he just reacted and didn't think it through.

Helene - I appreciate you bring up about the "adopt-a-" programs. I had never given it a thought and I have a sister who was adopted! I can easily understand your point. Snow?! Wow.

Nori - Lainey never tells me before she goes poopy but will often tell me afterwards. She never mentions going pee in her diaper. She happily sits on the potty (and will even ask to do it) but she doesn't go in it yet.

Lainey will yell "Go Cardinals" whenever she sees any sports on tv.

DH and i had a great weekend at the coast. Very relaxing and undemanding. It was a little warmer there than in Portland even. On sunday it was over 60 and I sat on the beach reading a magazine while DH threw a stick in the water for the dog to fetch. We did miss Lainey (mostly when we saw something we knew she'd enjoy). The worst was leaving. My sister said she did great. She didn't nap at all either day (I wasn't too surprised as both her kids don't nap and I didn't think my sister would work too hard to enforce the nap - she ended up sleeping longer at night which my sister certainly appreciated).

Kim

[JoanneOR]

Wow, this thread was really busy this weekend! I didn't get a chance to check in - so I'm a bit behind. :)

Hi, Becky! I have thought about you alot and wondered how your family was doing. So glad to hear Katie is doing well with daycare and that you are happy with it. It is hard to believe all our "babies" are now two years old!

Well, Ian was fine for his party. I'm beginning to wonder if he really felt sick Friday morning. Although I don't think he would have wanted to miss his birthday at school. This morning he didn't want to get ready (like usual!) and he said his stomach hurt. I could tell by the way he looked at me he was testing me to see if maybe he could stay home again. I told him he was going to school. Friday his teacher sent home a big card that the kids had made. It said thanks for the treats and that they hoped he felt better. All the kids and his teachers signed it. It was really cute. It made him feel really special. His party was fun. About 20 kids came. They all seemed to have a good time. Saturday he went to a party at a girl from school's house. He came home with a bag of slime he had made and a bag of rat bones. I'm not sure how they made either one of them!

Paula, that table sounds amazing. Is it still around?

Susan, I have a dress that I'm worried I won't fit into, too. We are going to a dinner-dance that the church puts on every year. This is the first time we are going, but it sounds like alot of fun. It's a dinner, drinks and a band or DJ, I'm not sure. Kind of like a wedding, without the bride and groom. :) We've got a table with some of our neighbors and they'll be alot of other people that we know from the school there. Anyway, it's pretty dressy. I have a long black dress that will fit me unless I gain any weight at all this week! I've been trying it on once a week or so to make sure it fits and so far, so good. I really don't want to shop for anything else, especially since we don't go anywhere to wear anything dressy.

Susan, it sounds like you went through alot with your mother's boyfriend and your parents divorce. You seem like a very caring and loving parent, now, so if anything good could possible come from that, it sounds like you definitely made the best of it. Don't know if that made any sense, but I hope you know what I'm trying to say! :)

Helene, I can't believe you had snow already. Sounds like you had a great time with it, though. How cute about the melted snowman! I absolutely understand what you are saying about the term "adopted". It makes perfect sense.

Cheryl, what a scary experience. I know that feeling of your heart just dropping. I can't imagine how he could get so far away and go through so many doors without anyone noticing. Ian got separated from us at a large outdoor festival a few years ago. One of the most scary moments of my life. Obviously we found him, :), but it's the worst feeling in the world. On a lighter note, one morning I went to wake up Ian for school. He wasn't in his bed, wasn't in our bed, wasn't on his floor. I started to panic. I knew it wasn't logical that he could have gotten out of the house, but I couldn't find him anywhere. I started to panic. I went into his room again and happened to see his feet sticking out of the closet. He was sleeping on the floor of the closet with the doors closed. I was just about ready to call the police before I saw him. I could just imagine them coming and finding him in the closet.

Nori, sounds like Mary Ann is growing. Is she sleeping better besides the other night? I know what you mean about fighting. DH and I have been having some "disagreements" lately. The other night I was just so mad that I didn't stop an argument we were having in front of Ian and Jameson. I was so mad at myself afterwards because they shouldn't have witnessed it. Ian even said something the next day when I asked him to be nice to his brother. They were arguing over something silly and he said, but, you and daddy were arguing. Made me feel really really small and terrible. I vow never to do that again.

Helene, I certainly understand the delight in saying gross things. Especially with three boys. The conversations between them can get quite interesting.

Kim, sounds like you had a great weekend. It's good to get away sometimes!

Time to get ready to go home...sorry if I missed anybody!

[tbb113]

I keep thinking about what you are saying about not arguing in front of the kids. I don't think I agree that you shouldn't (assuming of course that you don't yell, curse, throw things, etc). I think one of the advantages of having two adults in the house is that the kids can see you disagree, figure out a solution/compromise, make up and see that life goes on. If its not modeled for them, how will they know how adults get through disagreements.

I sometimes wonder what my kids are missing out by me being a single parent. They don't see that much adult affection (other than my parents and their dad and his wife), they don't see adults compromising/disagreeing over decisions (I make them all by myself), etc.

I'm not saying you should be having nasty, drag down fights in front of the kids, but a simple arguement....why not?

[nori]

Tyra, I didn't think that way before about the arguments...for me, the problem is that we both get so emotional over it and it's no more "arguing", more like "fighting", without going anywhere at that point. Yesterday morning was exactly that. It was like child's fight.:o But as you said, as long as we're calm and trying to come to the conclusion etc. by working things out, it'd be a good opprtunity for kids to learn something. I don't know how long you've been divorced, but I bet they're fine. From what you've been telling us about them, they're such sweet kids. I wish Noah would be as nice as they are when he's big.:)

Joanne, actually Mary Ann woke up just once last night and slept 3 to 4 hours stretch!!! It was very nice. I felt like I got some decent sleep. It is so different from Noah becuase he was the first and I didn't know anything, but now with that experience, I'm not freaked out by some small things....I'm more laid back, and like "Oh well, she didn't sleep well, that must be growth sprouts.":) Glad Ian had a nice birthday party. That's so nice of them to send a card from his class thanking the treats! Did you end up sending something with Ian this morning?

Kim, sounds like you had a nice getaway. Must be very nice to just sit down and read magazines without any interruptions. That's great Lainey did so well away from mom and dad.
Do you have any idea WHY Lainey asks for sitting down on potty? That's so nice. I mean, Noah just doesn't care for it. I told him we can read a book together, but he said "no". Oh well, I'll take it slow, I guess.

Helene, Noah somehow likes to say "yucky" and also he likes it when I said "Noah, it's yucky. You'd better stop it." He just giggles and get kick out of it. Must be a boy's thing. Can't wait to ge to the stage where he'd be more graphic about those description.:rolleyes:

Heather, that's great you have a nice empty basement for Logan's toy room. If we'd had that kind of space, I bet my DH'd be making a big train table for Noah....I think it'll be great.

Susan, I took that kind of personally, too....because I meant to do it for long time and it seemed like DH just fed up on those stuff. And it happened on that weekend when we fought so I thought he was doing some retaliation to make me feel guilty.:o I am not so neat either. I wish I was. I do clean the house but it's not my favorite activity.

So Wiggles this weekend, huh? Bet kids are excited. And you don't hide your excitement here.:D I'm sure we all feel the same if we were in your shoes.;)

Noah was so cute today. He somehow brought those tiny candles (from the drawer) which we use for Birthday Cake. He opened the box and started to line them up and kept saying "Birthday cake". So I took some of his playdoh and made a round cake (just flatten the ball), and told him that's the cake, so he can put the candles on it. He loved that, and he carried that cake with candles to the couch, and sat down and singing "Happy Birthday to You" (well not completely)over and over again. And he'd say "Cake, yum!!":)

Well we're having unexpected house guests now. DH's old friend and his wife is here in Arizona looking for universities. They'll be Univ. of Arizona (Tucson) or Arizona State Univ. (Phoenix), and have some appointment set up with them in next few days. They didnt' contact us, since it was the last minute trip but we got to know that they're on the way from anotehr friend so DH called his cell phone to invite them over to stay with us. That was this afternoon.:eek: So I spent all afternoon cleaning the house and changing the bedding for the guest room, and DH came home early to help out. We moved the rocking chair out to the living room, so except the drawers and closet which are full of Mary Ann stuff, the room is theirs for now. They're very nice couple so I don't really mind, but a little bit more early notice would have been nice.

[cchhbb]

Thank you everyone for the reassurances.

Our church is huge. About 3800 members. That doesn't count kids. We've been going through a building phase for the last couple of years and our new wing is opening on Sunday. It's really a crazy place with everything going on.

There is a task force being established to determine what needs to be done to improve security. I know at least two of the people and I know things will be done right. One of them is my best friend's dad who lives across the street. Garrett's best pals are his grandchildren. He has a vested interest in making things right.

I'm very disappointed in our church's response towards me and my family over this. I really don't think I've been 'ministered' to in the way I should. I think the most important thing to have occurred on Sunday was ministering to my family. I was too upset to drive and I had to find a friend to drive me home. The staff has really let me done. I think some have tried to minimize what happened since something bad didn't happen. We were very lucky something didn't. He had to be gone for a long time. Probably 20 minutes or so. He actually wasn't on the sidewalk the entire time, but was in the parking lot too.

I'm very upset with the way the nursery director has handled this. She actually blamed me and Garrett for this on Sunday right after this happened. Then she has gone around making sure everyone knows she wasn't responsible and it wasn't her fault. I'm going to talk to her boss about it this week. She has also told anyone that would listen that it wasn't her fault.

I'm filled with a lot of guilt over this. I'm the one that determined this was a safe place to leave my child. I decided to move him out of nursery and into Sunday School. I also have a lot of anxiety about taking him to school today. I talked to his teacher last night for a few minutes and decided to take him. I realize this is all about my problem not Garrett's. It's really hard for me to trust anyone with him right now.

If I would have lost him, I could have blamed myself and than made changes in what I do with him. I can control my actions. I can't control a third party.

I realize I need to move on about this. I realize there are a lot of stages someone needs to go through regarding this type of thing. I'm sure I'm feeling things much deeper due to my pregnancy too. I have an OB appointment on Friday and will talk to them about this too.

Cheryl

[lhall]

((((Cheryl)))))
Wow, how scary! I'm sorry I didn't respond sooner, but I haven't been checking this thread much lately. I am so glad you found Garrett ok. IMHO you are right to be mad at the nursery director. It is her fault. If she's in charge then she is ultimately responsible for anything that happens. It is very unprofessional of her to go around saying it's not her fault, but your. Do speak to her boss.

Leigh

[JoanneOR]

Tyra, I totally agree that it's OK to have civil (for lack of better word) arguments in front of the kids. If you're discussing something in a rational way, the kids can actually learn from it. Unfortunately DH and I have been having some real issues lately and some bad arguments. This one in front of the kids wasn't good. There wasn't any cursing or throwing, but there was yelling. We both said some not so nice things. Like Nori said, it gets emotional and its more like fighting than arguing. We've worked some of it out, but things just haven't been so good lately.

From what you've told us about your kids, it seems like they are great kids and you did a wonderful job raising them. It's got to be such a difficult situation to raise them pretty much on your own.

Nori, that's so cute about Noah and his playdoh cake!

Cheryl, I am so mad for you!! How can the nursery director say it was your fault. You left Garrett in HER care. She needs to be accoutable for each child in that room. She didn't even know he was missing!! To know how upset you were and then blame you, it's inexcusable. She shouldn't be working there anymore. You should not in any way feel guilty about this. You did nothing wrong.

Friday Jameson is in a Thanksgiving play. He's playing Arthur. He's been practicing with DH, so I don't know too much about it. Ian just told me today that his class is dressing up as turkeys to be in the play, too. It should be fun.

Susan, have fun with the Wiggles! I remember taking Jameson and Ian for the first time to see a show like that. It was Blues Clues and I think they were 2 and 3. It was probably just as much fun for me watching the kids as it was for them! It's harder now to take all the kids somewhere like that; I kind of miss it. Caitlyn doesn't like to sit at all, so if we go somewhere one of us usually is chasing her around and making sure she doesn't run off. Maybe in a year or so she'll be a little less "impulsive". :)

[MrsReber]

Joanne, here I thought I was the only one trying on a formal dress each week :D . Good to know that I'm not alone, anyway. I don't want to spend any money now. I have the party to pay for (my brother and sister don't seem to be able to contribute right now- yikes!) and then Christmas.

Nori, it's so funny to hear the things that Noah is saying because "yucky" has become a favorite around our house. I think Casey picked it up from school. She was calling everything yucky, but it seems to have slowed down a bit. Except for "Yucky Pete," that is! Guess that name will stick. That's DH's friend at work. The other thing that the kids do is play birthday cake all the time. They make a cake out of anything (play d'oh, plastic play toys, etc.), then they sing happy birthday to me and tell me to blow out the candles. It's so interesting to see that Noah plays the same games that they do when the have never even met.

Cheryl, how could that woman say she's not responsible? I can't imagine how upset and angry you must be. I agree with what Joanne said. Those children were under her care. I don't know how it works in the church, though. I know at the daycare, they have certain standards to adhere to. I hope for your sake and the sake of the other parents, they do fix things to your satisfaction. Are any other parents outraged by what happened? I certainly would be. I get annoyed some nights because I can't find Casey. Sometimes, after 5:30, they'll put all the kids in her room into other rooms. Then I have to figure out where she is. I did get scared one night when I couldn't find her. Turns out I just couldn't see where she was in the room. That particular teacher didn't know me, either, so she had no clue who I was looking for.

Me and my sister are talking about going to see the Polar Express the day after Thanksgiving. I'm sure the theatre will be packed, but my sister will only be here until Saturday. They're coming up on Tuesday night, but I'm working Wednesday. Also, Thanksgiving is with DH's family this year (MIL will be visiting) so the only day I can really see my sister and her family will be that Friday. I think all the cousins will enjoy going together, though. Wish me luck with MIL. She's flying in on my birthday (happy birthday to me!) so I'm curious to see if DH spends the evening with me or with her. Should be interesting.

Joanne, I can relate to the fighting. When hunting season is in full swing, as it is now, DH and I tend to fight a lot. That's mostly because he's out hunting, on the phone with his hunting buddies, getting ready to go hunting, or butchering a deer. I just make my own plans with the kids so they don't miss out on having fun. Then he gets upset that I don't include him in our plans.

Nori, I hope you enjoy your last minute guests. You're awfully nice to put them up in your home on such short notice.

Tyra, it doesn't sound like your sons are missing out on much. I love the way you go to your son's games and get involved in their activities. From the child of divorced parents, I can tell you that what you are doing is so very important. We weren't encouraged to join teams or do anything, really. My mom made it seem like a huge inconvenience since she worked all week and had to support us mostly on her own. You're doing a wonderful job.

[RunnerKim]

Cheryl - I agree with you and the others, there are some serious concerns and I'm glad to see that they're organizing a security task force to address it. The nursery director is acting way too defensive and not at all professionally - I'm guessing it's a paid position too. I would certainly talk to her boss - actually I think s/he should have already made an effort to talk with you. I'm so sorry you're having to go through all this and I can only imagine how hard it is for you to let Garrett out of your sight right now. ((Cheryl))

Susan, have fun seeing Polar Express! The kids will probably love the craziness of a full theater. Can you buy the tickets ahead of time? then you wouldn't have to wait around as long in lines which would help I think. I'm excited for you about the Wiggles this weekend. I don't know how Lainey would do with something like that - I think she's still to antsy. I bought for my sister and her family tickets to a theater production for kids/family but they recommend kids be age 4. I can't wait to take Lainey to something like that. susan, I'd forgotten our birthdays were close to each other - mine's the 29th. I hope you do have a good birthday (with your DH!).

Joanne that play sounds like it'll be really cute. I'm not sure who arthur is though?! :o

Nori, Lainey didn't want to sit on the potty in the very beginning. I think it scared so I probably helped her get on a little more than I should have but after that she was fine with it and just liked being like mommy and daddy. It's just part of the bath time routine now. She mostly asks to sit on the potty at daycare and I think that's due either to "peer pressure" or in attempt to get me to stay with her longer. Birthdays are a big thing with Lainey too - there's been several in her class and a couple of her teachers too. She can more or less sing the birthday song and often her bathtub toys will have birthdays. MIL's birthday was this past Sunday so I had her practice yelling Happy Birthday Grandma before we called her. She tends to whisper on the phone (I think it's because we'd whisper things for her to say while she's on the phone).

Kim

[tbb113]

Thnaks for the compliments :) I've been separated since the boys were 3 1/2 and 6 1/2 so this January it will be 9 years.

Last night was so nice....Alex and I were playing cards on my bed, Michael joined us and the next thing I knew we were all in a group tickle, hug, tackle, pile. I keep thinking that Michael is going to outgrow wanting my hugs and snuggles, so I enjoy them so much when I get the chance.

Cheryl: You have every right to be furious with the daycare. You did nothing wrong, it was their responsibilty to watch Garrett. They screwed up big time and they are totally in the wrong to not be profusely apologizing and making changes so it doesn't happen again.

[MrsReber]

Kim, my fellow Sagitarius- I forgot we were so close together, too!

I forgot to mention that Brenden told me twice yesterday that he had to go potty. He went both times all by himself! He won't do it for anyone else. The fact that he told me twice yesterday ahead of time leads me to believe that he does know the feeling of having to go. I told DH to make sure his teacher knows this and tries to work with him. The problem we're having is that they don't focus on training until the next room. I spoke to another mom who was having a problem with them not helping her daughter. Her daughter lost interest, though I don't think they blame the school for that. I'm not so sure what else I should do with him at home. My mom tried to sit him on the toilet at her house and he freaked out and screamed. She has a seat for him and a stool, but he wouldn't go. I went to pick him up. He heard us talking about the bathroom episode. He went right in and peed on the toilet by himself. Only for mommy.

Tyra, I dread the day my snuggly little guy doesn't want to hug mom anymore. I get sad thinking about it.

Kim, I was actually thinking of buying the tickets ahead of time. I don't know what theatre we'd go to. I need to check to see where it's playing. Wonder if Brenden will fall asleep again. My kids, for some odd reason, understand when it's important for them to sit still for a long period of time. I always get so nervous about it, and then they make me so proud. They do have their moments and I did remove Brenden from a restaurant once. I know he was just over tired that day. The Wiggles will be all little kids and probably very noisy so I'm not worried at all about that! I always want to take Casey to plays. They have lots of little local stuff going on, but they also specify 4 and older. I don't think that's really fair. In reality, they wouldn't know anyway. Casey sat through a 3 hour dance recital right when she turned 3 and loved every second of it. I do try to explain the situation a few times before we get where we're going. Like, on the way to the restaurant on Friday, I told the kids that we were going to sit nicely and have a nice dinner. They did great. When we went to a wedding, I explained several times that we speak softly in a church. They were exceptional. It's such a simple thing, but they have no idea what you expect from them unless you tell them.

[cchhbb]

In fairness, I need to clarify something.

Garrett was in a Sunday School class ran by volunteers which is the responsibility of the children's minister. The class is located in the nursery area. So the nursery director probably doesn't have much responsibility in this manner. She is responsible for the security doors which we have to be buzzed through to get our children, so she does have some responsibility.

I had a meeting with our senior pastor and I really walked out dissatisfied. Instead of listening to me, he just wanted to talk. I told him several times that I know the task force leader and I know he will do a great job in making the recommendations required to fix this security issue. But all he wanted to do was tell me the details. I finally interrupted him and told him I really don't care about this part, but I need the *noise* that the director of the nursery is making to stop. I also need people to quit trying to minimize this problem.

I then went and talked to Diane who has worked for the church for a long time. I'm not really sure what her responsibilities are, but she is responsible for all the background checks on the volunteers. She was very understanding. I think a lot of this has to do with a difference between men and women. Our senior pastor just wants to 'fix' things. I need some emotional healing and I don't think he gets it.

Last night I called Garrett's preschool teacher and that conversation is haunting me. Without intending to she really made me feel like I'm not a good mother. She had heard the nursery director's version of things. She told me that Garrett is immature for 2 (well, he turned 2 3 weeks ago) and that I give him too much freedom. She also told me that the director of the preschool and she had talked about how to approach me on this topic. Frankly, it pisses me off to feel like I'm being managed.

I don't know if I can continue to go to church at this place. My heart is hurt so much by the administration of the church. I feel like I am being victimized over and over again.

Garrett and I are going to Ohio next week so I won't have to address the going to church issue this week.

I've started to move towards the mad stage now. I've quit feeling guilty. Garrett had a great day at school and had a blast at their fall party.

Cheryl

[tbb113]

Originally posted by cchhbb
I had a meeting with our senior pastor and I really walked out dissatisfied. Instead of listening to me, he just wanted to talk. I told him several times that I know the task force leader and I know he will do a great job in making the recommendations required to fix this security issue. But all he wanted to do was tell me the details. I finally interrupted him and told him I really don't care about this part, but I need the *noise* that the director of the nursery is making to stop. I also need people to quit trying to minimize this problem.

I then went and talked to Diane who has worked for the church for a long time. I'm not really sure what her responsibilities are, but she is responsible for all the background checks on the volunteers. She was very understanding. I think a lot of this has to do with a difference between men and women. Our senior pastor just wants to 'fix' things. I need some emotional healing and I don't think he gets it.



I would really hope that a senior pastor understands that people need emotional healing and the ability to listen to people. Kind of scary that you didn't get that type of response from him.

I think you need to decide what you really want the resolution of this to be. Given all of the time and effort you have put into the church, don't make a hasty decision. Think about it and then if you still feel that you will be unhappy, by all means, switch churches. I switched temples when my oldest was in first grade because of an incident that happened early the previous year. I didn't care for how it was resolved so I left for a temple that my kids adore. I feel your pain, it was a tough decision to make, but it turned out to be the right decision for the boys and me in the end.

[RunnerKim]

(((Cheryl))) I'm so sorry you are not getting the emotional support that you should expect to get. :(

The preschool that he goes too - is connected (but seperate) to the nursery/Sunday school classes? I don't know how they can even imply that Garrett is immature. He's 2 years old (barely!). There's such a range of social development and we already know that he's very bright (vocabularly etc.) which I thought was enforced by his preschool teachers??? (they don't seem very consistent and in conjunction with the whole snack table thing, I'd be evaluating what kind of expectations they have for 2 year olds). And most importantly what does that have to do with him getting out, no one knowing he's even missing and you finding him on a sidewalk!!! They really do not seem to be handling this well.

But I agree with Tyra, you've put a lot in to this church. Hopefully the week away will give you some time to evaluate all your feelings about this church.
Kim

[MrsReber]

I agree, what does his maturity level have to do with the fact that he got out of all those doors and wound up outside? And nobody noticed that he was missing? It's like smoke screen and an attempt to put the blame on you. If they felt that he didn't belong in the Sunday School class, shouldn't they have told you that up front, before you ever left him?

I'm still just so amazed that people opened doors for him without ever realizing he was not with an adult!

And please, somebody, give me an example of a "mature" 2 year old? :rolleyes:

[nori]

Cheryl, from what you said your pastor doesn't seem like the type he should be doing that job. Yes he is a man, but he's a pastor!! He should be able to take care of your emotional needs. That's his job, isn't it? He's too much business like, I think. I agree with what's been said, probably you need to reevaluate your home church. It is hard when you have to switch the church, but you may have to, if you don't feel comfortable being there, or if you feel like you're victimized by them. I wouldn't be happy with any of those responses, either. Have fun in Ohio! At least forget about all those troubles for a while.

Susan, Brenden must be such a mommy's boy.:) But the fact that he can go when you're around tells me that he's very close to potty-trained! Hopefully you can work things out with daycare teachers and they can try to encourage him more about using potty. As for Noah, before he went down for nap he told me peepee so I asked him if he wants to sit on potty, with a diaper off. He said yes, so I (happily) undressed him and took him to the bathroom. But seeing the potty, he refused to sit on it. So I put a new diaper, got back on the bed, and again he said he was touching his area and trying to tell me something, so I asked if he wants to go and he again said yes. So I did the same thing...undressed him and took him to the potty. But again he refused to sit on it. The diaper didn't look like wet at that point, but you never know with those super-absorbent diapers. Then I started to think that maybe the potty is too cold or uncomfortable to sit on? Well he never even tried to sit undressed, but that's what crossed my mind. It's a plastic potty...just regular one, nothing fancy. Should I try to make the potty more comfortable?? I don't know..
I thought Polar Express seems pretty good. Have fun your time with your sister...is she the one living with your dad in AZ? And what a birthday present you're going to get on the day!! ...Your MIL!!!:eek: :D Hope you'll survive the holiday week.

Kim, That's so cute Lainey shouting Happy Birthday to grandma. I might have to teach Noah that...my dad's birthday is in January, and he'll be around on that day. Maybe we can plan some birthday party!

Joanne, so you all are going to see Jameson's play? Is Ian going to be in that play, too? What fun!!! Good luck to Jameson, playing Arthur!

Tyra, yes you gave us boy's mommies some hope! Like Susan I sometimes think of the days Noah won't come to hug me anymore and that makes me sad. Hopefully he'll be as cuddly as your boys until....well whenever the longest possible!!:)

[tbb113]

Nori: Have you thought about just having Noah stand and pee in the potty instead of sitting on it? I didn't use the little potty for either of my kids, but they got the hang of standing and peeing pretty quick. The only reason I could see having him sit is if you think he is going to go poop. Most of the time, he'll stand anyways :)

[MrsReber]

Tyra, that's interesting about standing. Nori, does Noah see your DH standing to use the toilet? Maybe that's why he's upset? My DH is lazy- he says "why stand when you can sit?" Less mess for me! :D but I know we'll eventually have to teach him to stand.

Nori, this is my sister from NC- my older sister. She has 2 kids, ages 7 and 9. They adore their little cousins, but sometimes get too carried away with affection. We're working on finding a happy medium so my kids can warm up first before getting their cousins right in their faces. I know they're just excited to see them. My sister keeps reminding her kids to back off and let Casey and Brenden come to them. Her son and Brenden are the only 2 boy cousins on my side of the family. My sister's son was the only boy until Brenden came along so he's very happy to have a boy cousin. Brenden has been talking about his cousin, "Ham" (Sam) for a while so I'm hoping he's excited to see him, too. Sam loves being called Ham. I'm glad he thinks it's funny! Brenden says "My Ham!" lately.

Time to run and catch my train!

[JoanneOR]

Cheryl, is the preschool Garrett goes to in the church? Or are those two separate places? I know he was in the church on Sunday, but during the week, it's a different place? How in the world can you say a two-year old is immature?? What does that mean? What else should they be? And, to say you give him too much freedom? That's absurd. Freedom to do what? He's two! I'm really sorry you are going through this. The church needs to take some responsibility and stop trying to cover their a**. They need to make sure it doesn't happen again. It could have had a much worse outcome. How did Garrett get through security doors that need to be buzzed open?

Hopefully you can take some time for yourself this week away and figure out what's best for you, if you want to switch churches. You seem to be so involved and help out there so much, I know it's got to be a hard decision.

Susan, you should probably buy the tickets ahead of time. The kids would be so dissapointed if you got there and it was sold out. It's a big movie day and the kids are out of school, so it'll probably be crowded. Ian's class is going to see the movie on a field trip. I'd like to take the boys to see it; maybe I can leave Caitlyn home with DH. She won't sit through a movie!! I wish my kids would behave as well as yours seem to! Actually, the boys usually do, but Caitlyn is turning into a wild woman!! DH came to church with us this weekend and saw what I deal with every week. Actually they were pretty good because he was there. I sat on the end with Caitlyn. She kept walking up to the people at the ends of the aisles and poking them and laughing. Some smiled and laughed and others gave me "the look".

Kim, Arthur is a cartoon character. He has a show on PBS. I'm not sure what the play is about, but I saw the first page of his script and it's got the Arthur characters in it. I didn't want to read any further because I want it to be a surprise when I see it. I imagine Ian and his class will be running around dressed like turkeys and clucking!

Nori, I'm not sure what to do to get Noah to actually sit on the potty. Maybe have him sit on it while he's dressed? Just so he gets used to it. Then when he's comfortable, try it without the diaper. Or, maybe have a doll or stuffed animal of his sit on it and pretend they are going potty. You could try the standing part, too. It sounds like everyone is making progress with potty training. Maybe I should get ours out and see how Caitlyn reacts to it. She does tell me when she goes.

Susan, sorry to hear your MIL will be arriving on your birthday! Probably not your ideal gift, huh? Just keep reminding yourself that she will eventually leave!

[tbb113]

Susan: Another thought on your MIL is the one that I use when my father is visiting. "Everybody does something that drives me crazy, my father just does a lot of them". Surprisingly, once I took that attitude, he doesn't bother me as much :D

[nori]

Hmmmm, let Noah do his pee standing up might be a good idea. Susan, I'm not sure how often he got to see DH in the bathroom. But when he does, I know DH does his standing up:o so maybe he's seen it and thinking that's the way it should be? I'll try to encourage him do that. Tyra, did you use a stool to reach the big toilet for boys? Obviously Noah's not tall enough to reach the toilet bowl by himself...Joanne, I'll try using his stuffed animals, too. Noah likes to play "pretend" with those so it may work. Thanks for all your advice!

[HRJ]

Nori, we use a stool to help Victor reach the toilet when he pees (he's now going standing up). Otherwise, he wouldn't reach. He also uses it to climb onto the toilet insert when he sits down to poop.

I've recently seen an "Elmo goes potty" play set -- it's an Elmo toy with his own potty -- that might catch Noah's imagination. If I'd known they existed earlier, I would have gotten one for Victor. One thing I'd say, though -- hope this isn't unwelcome advice -- is not to let it become a power struggle between you and Noah. He's at the age where he's really discovering his independence and individuality, and bodily functions like peeing and pooping are one of the few areas where he can really get the upper hand on you, if he decides he wants to. The thing isn't so much whether he learns to use a potty, toilet, etc., but whether he is able, at this point, to learn to tell when he has to go, and to control himself until he reaches the bathroom.

Cheryl, I'm so sorry you're not getting what you need from the people at your church. That business about Garrett being "immature" is absurd -- what *are* their expectations for a 24-month-old? :confused: And, FWIW, from what you've written about here, you sound like great mom, very hands-on. The nursery director's behavior is totally unacceptable. And if I were the parent of any of the other kids in that Sunday school program, I'd be outraged, too, and unwilling to trust them with my child.

Susan, sorry your MIL is arriving on your b'day -- talk about unwanted gifts. Ugh.

Joanne, I love Arthur!! Can I have Jameson's autograph? ;) Victor's just a little too young for that show, but DH and I like to watch it :o .

There's no way Victor could sit through a movie yet -- well, if he had to, I think he could sit quietly for that long, maybe .... but I don't think the movie would hold his attention. We're going to try to take him to the children's service this Saturday at a temple we're considering joining -- the service for kids under 6 only lasts about 45 minutes. We'll see how he does. There is synagogue around here that has a "preschool" service that lasts for 2 hours :eek: -- I can't imagine how they're able to do that, even with lots of singing and stories.

Kim, that's so cute about Lainey yelling Happy Birthday Grandma on the phone -- I'm sure your MIL loved it. Glad you enjoyed your weekend at the coast -- sounds very relaxing. Ah.

Helene

[MrsReber]

Helene, your right about the power struggle thing. My SIL recommended I read Dr. Spock's take on potty training. He basically says that children do take ownership and pride in this function. It's theirs and, like you said, it's one of the few things they have control of.

They tried working with Brenden yesterday at daycare after DH told them how he has been using the toilet at home. He sat, but wouldn't go. We brought in the m&m's to give him incentive. We'll see how it goes today. Last night, he told me he wanted to poop on the potty. He seemed to be trying, but after about 15 minutes, he said he was done and that the poop wouldn't come out. Of course, 15 minutes after that, he pooped in his diaper. He is trying, at least.

Last night, while Casey and I were in the bathroom with Brenden, Casey picked up the Dr. Spock book and told me she wanted to read it. I told her she should pick another book that might be a bit easier for her to read. She said no. She told me "I know all my letters so I can read." She picked out the word baby from the cover and told me what it said. She then took the book out to the living room and sat on the couch to "read" it. Hoo boy. Just like her mom. I was reading late teen/adult type novels by the time I was 10 or 11.

Casey likes Arthur. She's been into him for a while.

Tyra, thanks for the advice on MIL! :D I feel bad feeling the way I do about her, but you know it's bad when her own children say it's nicer with her living in FL!

[RunnerKim]

Susan - I find it so interesting that Brenden uses the potty for you when in the past he's "hidden" things from you - the crawling, walking etc. right? Maybe he's a perfectionist and will just present himself as fully potty-trained to everyone else!

ah Joanne - that Arthur. I know the character but didn't make the connection to Thanksgiving.

I'm going to a little scrapbook party at my sister's on Friday - just the kick I need to get working on Lainey's book again. I must must must have her first year down by the time #2 comes along (I'm close) -- I used to say have the 1st year done by Lainey's 2nd birthday :o

Kim

[tbb113]

Nori: The boys used a step stool for quite a while to go in the potty. You just need to make Noah be tall enough for his pee to go into the toilet.

[MrsReber]

It's starting already. The MIL nightmare week. DH wants to get the kids early on my birthday so he can go see his mom and then we can go out to eat. Then, the next night, they're all going out to eat at the restaurant we went to last Friday (apparently, DH had known this for a while and forgot to tell me) then it's Thanksgiving with them and then I'm getting together with my family (whew! relief!) on Friday. I nixed all of the eating out and told him we're not eating out 4 days in a row- so we're postponing my birthday and we're ditching his family the night before Thanksgiving :D . I will prevail! Sorry, just had to vent for a moment.

Kim, I always laugh when you remember something that I have already forgotten! He did hide his walking from me! I think this is a bit different, though. He is a little older now and he sees how happy it makes me. This is a kid who really loves his mommy to death. On Saturday night, I made some popcorn for them while we were watching a movie. Brenden threw his cup and Casey's cup full of popcorn onto the floor. I yelled at him and told him he better pick it up. He refused and started to laugh, thinking I was kidding around. I showed him that I was not kidding. Casey helped me pick it up and we threw it out (carpet fuzz!) Brenden went and stood in the kitchen by himself for a good 15 minutes. He sulked in there and then finally came over to me. He crawled under the blanket next to me on the couch and didn't say a word. He hates it when I'm mad at him.

Have fun with the scrapbooking. I just got back into it a little bit. I have 3 pages done of each of their books. The hardest part is sorting through all the pictures.

DH decided today that, since Casey asked him, he wants to go see The Wiggles with us. I'm pretty sure my mom will not have a problem with it, but I do feel bad telling her that DH wants her ticket. Casey said "daddy you don't like The Wiggles?" He said "Sure, I like them!" she asked "do you want to come with us?" He didn't know what to say. I knew it'd just be a matter of time before she started asking him directly instead of asking me. Now he's all into it, saying he hasn't been to the city in so long. I gave him a little lecture about how we both have the same amount of vacation days, but he chooses to use his for hunting and fishing. It doesn't sink in when I tell him, but I know there is absolutely no way that he can resist his little girl. Ha! I'm proud of her. She's learning. :D

[tbb113]

Susan: I'm glad that Casey can guilt your hubby into going to see the Wiggles. Hopefully she will keep doing it so that you all have memories of events that were shared.

I know what you mean about Brenden not liking you mad at him. Alex still doesn't deal well with that. He doesn't even like it if I talk in a stern voice.

[nori]

Susan, that's very nice that your DH decided to go to Wiggles with you and kids. So he'll listen to his sweet, little girl, huh?;) I can kind of imagine that it's going to be that way in our house, too. I'm impressed that Brenden sat on potty for 15 min, just trying to poop. That's something. Today Noah sat on the potty (clothes on) for about 5 min., twice. I know it's so tiny, but I take it as a small step forward. He even refused to sit down with clothes on before.

Hope you'll survive MIL's visit. So can we expect some "stories" from you after Thanksgiving?:D

Kim, did you have fun at the scrapbooking party? Sounds like fun. I'd like to make scrapbook for them, too...I only have an album with photos birth-first birthday for each kid. I recently finished Noah's and of course Mary Ann's I just started. There are still many pictures I didn't put in it, I can probably make fun scrapbook from those. Where can I find some extra time of the day?:D

Helene, the Elmo toy sounds like a good one! I have to look for that at the toystore. Noah likes Elmo too, so that might work. Thanks for advice on power struggle....it really does make sense, and I'm glad you mentioned that. That's why I didn't really force this on him. I have a feeling (okay, just *feeling*) that once we start on seriously potty training, he'd get it fairly quickly. No guarantee, just my feeling. And I'm hoping I'm right on this.;)

Today's accomplishment was that (as I mentioned above) he sat on the potty with clothes on. I also asked DH to take him to the bathroom when he goes, so he can see how DH"s doing. I'll continue to encourage that.

I have a question...I just noticed today that his left eye has this a bit inflamed, red spot in it. It's on bottom-eye lid (is that the way to say it??), and you won't notice unless you look so closely. He's been rubbing his eyes for some reason sometimes, so maybe got a little infection? Should I take him to the doctor?? I guess I can always call the office to ask the question but I thought I would ask you guys first. Is there any eyedrop for kids, to treat those light symptoms? He's not too annoyed by it right now, though.

I went in to check on him last night and I almost stepped on him! Yes he fell and sleeping on the floor!:eek: Since we got that handmade rail, he had been okay but last night somehow he managed to fall again. I didn't hear him cry or anything so he must have not waken up. I put him back on the bed and after that he was fine.

[MrsReber]

Nori, that almost sounds like a sty- is it a little bump on his lower lid or just a spot?

Last night, Casey went in the bathroom. Brenden went with her so she told him to sit on her little potty while she sat on the toilet. She showed him how she poops on the potty! He was trying, but nothing happened. They were insisting on a bath so they both got undressed. As I'm running the water, Brenden tells me he needs a diaper. He never wants a diaper so I knew what was happening. I told him he should just wait because he was getting in the bath soon (after Casey was done with her bath). He insisted again. I asked if he wanted one because he had to poop. He said no. I didn't put one on him right away. He asked a few more times and then got very upset. I finally put a diaper on him and- yes, he pooped in it. Casey used to do the same thing to me. They have ownership of that function and the results of that function. They don't like to give that up!

Nori, that's good news that Noah sat on the potty. It is definitely a step. I bet Mary Ann is easier just because she'll have her older brother as an example.

I had to tell my mom that DH wanted to go. She said she was disappointed, but that it's more important that DH go with us. I knew she'd say that. I told Casey that daddy was going and we only have 4 tickets so now Grandma can't go. She said "Oh! I have to tell daddy that he can't come!" I told her no and that Grandma would come with us to do something fun another time. I had to tell her a few times, but she's okay with it now because she does want her daddy to go.

Nori, I'm hoping I don't have too many stories after MIL's visit! :D Really hoping! DH said he's going to try to pay more attention to her this time. She acts nobody cares about her when they all cater to her. SIL had plans to go away with her DH on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. MIL is already mad at her for making other plans while she's around. Never mind that she has 4 other children and 7 grandchildren she can visit with for those days :rolleyes: . Oh well. I'll just try to keep a positive outlook. And get plenty of exercise to keep my stress level in check!

[nori]

Wow so it was only you, Susan, today?? Where did everyone go?

It's not a bump, it's more like irritated-looking. But it is not obvious....more like a bit reddish area. Noah's not bothered by it so much so it's probably nothing. I'd call the doctor if it gets worse..Hope it's nothing!

So you're going to Wiggles on Friday? That's cute Casey trying to tell your DH that he can 't come. You're mom is so understanding...quite opposite from the other grandma, huh?:D Your MIL sounds like pretty high-maintenance woman.

That's great Brenden knows/controls the poopy issue. I'm sure it's frustrating for you, though, knowing that he can poop in potty and not wanting to do so. I'm sure he'll get it soon. Yes I'm hoping Mary Ann will pick this up from Noah and would be much easier to train her.

Today once he said he wanted to sit on regular toilet so I told him we have a ring for him that i can put it since the regular one is too big for him. But he saw the ring, and he said "no". and lost interest in potty for today.:rolleyes: He still talks about getting toy, though. I should go to the toy store to check on that Elmo toy Helene was talking about.

This Sunday we're going to Sears to take family photo. Last time we did professionally was 2 years ago:o . I'm thinking to go and get Christmas-y outfit for kids.

We'll be visiting DH's family on Thanksgiving in TX. It'll be an all-day drive on Wednesday, and we'll be back on Saturday. I'm planning to get that big sticker book from Costco for this trip. And maybe some small new toys to get him occupied. Oh, and DH fixed this laptop so we'll probably be able to see DVD in the car. You know what we'll be bringing..."Finding Nemo".:D

Happy Friday everyone!! And enjoy Wiggles encounter, Susan!:) ;)

[JoanneOR]

Yesterday was just crazy here at work. I keep getting these last minute projects. I don't know how I'm going to get all this done, but life goes on! I guess not being on here so much might help. :)

Susan, have fun at the Wiggles! That's great that your DH is going. I'm sure your mom understands. Sorry about the MIL visit on your birthday! I hope everything goes as well as it can. Good for you for putting your foot down about all the nights out.

Nori, good luck with the pictures. I need to make an appt. for the kids. I don't know if I can talk DH into taking ours with them. We'll see. I was looking all over for a Christmas dress for Caitlyn. I happened to find two at Costco. They were really cute and only $15 each. Everything else was too expensive and just not what I was looking for. Now she has one for Christmas Eve and one for Christmas Day. If you're going to Costco for the sticker book, see if they have the dresses there for Mary Ann.

We have another busy weekend. DH and I have our big night out Saturday. Then Sunday the Cub scouts are going to the zoo to decorate the tree. It's supposed to be pretty cold, so I don't know how long we'll stay. Maybe it'll be less crowded than usual, though. I'm thinking of taking the kids to see the Sponge Bob movie. They love him and Caitlyn is always excited when she sees him on TV. She yells "bonge bah". Took me awhile to figure out what she was saying. Maybe she'll actually sit through some of the movie.

This is just a short visit, just wanted to check in! I'm leaving early to go see Jameson star as Arthur and Ian play a supporting role as a turkey. :) Need to get some work done here. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

[tbb113]

Nori: Noah doesn't need the ring, it just makes it easier. He will need to learn to balance himself when you are out shopping, etc. If he wants to sit on the big toilet, I would let him do it.

Susan: Have fun at the Wiggles.

Joanne: Enjoy the show. Its nice that you can kill two birds with one stone so to speak and only need to sit through one performance instead of two ;)

[RunnerKim]

Hmmm, this thread didn't look like it had any activity on it yesterday. Sorry Nori, wasn't ignoring you!

The reddish area doesn't sound like what Lainey had but just in case... Her whoe eye became swollen - turned out to be a sinus infection. And I think that is a big step with him sitting on the potty. It all has to start somewhere. Good luck on the long drive.

Susan - have a blast at the Wiggles. It wonderful that DH is joining you.

And Joanne enjoy the play. Post a picture if you can/want.

We don't have much planned for this weekend. If the weather stays dry DH will put up the outdoor Christmas lights (we won't turn them on until after Thanksgiving). We passed a house last night that had theirs on and DH grumbled about it. Personally I wouldn't mind lights being on all during the dreary dark months. A co-worker told me about a really cool train show/exhibit that's happening this month, but we'll probably do it after Thanksgiving if the weather is nice this weekend (since it's indoors).

I had a little inkling what it's going tobe like to have more than 1 kid. We picked up my sister's boys last night because she had to work late. The number of "bad" things Lainey did during dinner increased 10-fold in her attempts to mimic her cousins. Things like stuffing her mouth full and spitting food back out. :eek:

Kim

[JoanneOR]

Kim, that's just a taste of what's to come! :) My kids definitely egg each other on. It's pretty funny to watch, sometimes. But sometimes things get a bit out of hand. Last night DH, Caitlyn and I were downstairs and the boys were playing in Ian and Colin's room. They were kind of noisy and we could hear lots of jumping around. DH said, don't worry, they're just being boys, it's normal. Then we hear a loud thump. Then nothing. Then Jameson comes down looking really scared. He tells us Ian's night light fell down and broke. He's on the top bunk and has this red night light. It's a big red ball that lights up and turns around. Well, they were wrestling on the bed, knocked it over and it broke. It's filled with red liquid. So, there's glass everywhere and red stuff all over the beige carpet and their bookshelp and stuffed animals. A huge mess. DH just about lost it. I had to be the calm one. It was kind of funny to see them all try to explain how it happened without implicating themselves. Luckily no one was hurt. I guess I should expect these things with boys.

This is weird, but Caitlyn woke up this morning with a red spot on her bottom eyelid. How is Noah's eye?

If I can get a good picture or two today, I'll try to post them next week.

Kim, we have a couple houses in our neighborhood fully decorated for Christmas. It reminds me I need to do some more shopping so I'm not scrambling at the last minute. We usually do ours the first week in December. I love the way all the houses look at night with the lights.

[tbb113]

Joanne: Glad the boys didn't get hurt. Everything else can be cleaned. Hope it comes out of the carpet okay. Only mishap I've had so far is that Michael and a friend broke a window. They were goofing around and Michael hit it with his elbow. Fortunately, he wasn't cut.

[HRJ]

Yes, it was pretty quiet yesterday. Things were busy at work -- it ws one of the very few times during the year that I had to work late -- DH worked from home so that he could pick up Victor from day-care. But today I'm celebrating, because I just made my last deadline for this semester <whew!> -- the semester doesn't really end until mid-December, but we work with a lot of lead time in my office.

OK, Susan, 'fess up -- who is your favorite Wiggle? :) Enjoy the show.

Joanne, glad no one was hurt -- I guess that is the sort of thing to expect with active kids. Have fun on your big night out.

Nori, have a good trip to Texas, hope Noah handles the car trip well.

Kim, I remember as a kid, my brother and I had a sort of running contest going for years, about who could gross the other one out more at the dinner table, without actively provoking my parents. Sounds like what was going on at your table.

We have a busy Saturday -- in the morning we're going to try to make it to synagogue; then Victor has a playdate with his friends the twins; then, we have a babysitter booked for the evening -- although I realized I forgot to call and confirm with her at the beginning of the week. So I hope she's still on. I have no idea what we'll do -- I don't even know what's playing in the movies, guess I'll check the schedule.

Sunday, we have to finish the MASSIVE HOUSE CLEANUP. :eek: My mother is arriving Tuesday and staying until next Monday; my brother arrives Thursday morning and will be here for the long weekend. I'm looking forward to having everyone here, but there's a lot of work to be done before our house is ready for overnight company.

I'm also going to go get our turkey on Sunday, probably while DH and Vic watch football -- since my mother keeps kosher, and we all prefer light meat to dark meat, I usually get a "double" frozen kosher turkey breast; put it in the fridge Sunday, and it's all ready by Thursday morning. I prefer the kosher turkeys because they're basically "pre-brined."

Where is everyone else going, and what are you serving, for T'giving?

Helene

[MrsReber]

Helene, I think Captain Feathersword wins, hands down. I always thought he was kind of cute! But Anthony is my kind of guy with the way he loves food. ;) The bios in the program were pretty interesting. Jeff is the oldest, then Murray, then Anthony and Greg is a couple of years younger than me! Yikes!

I don't have much time. The day was a LOT of fun, even DH enjoyed it all. I thought the show was awesome. The kids were motionless, but they couldn't take their eyes away from the stage. No dancing for them. The wiggles come out into the audience so I was literally about 3 feet from Murray. He came through twice and Jeff came through a few times, too. Since we were right on the aisle, I was right by them when they walked down. The theatre is great. I don't think there's a bad seat in the entire place. We walked over to Macy's afterwards to see Santaland, but it wasn't open. Casey loved walking around. I was pretty surprised by that.

The kids fell asleep on the way home. DH fell asleep when we got home. I'm dead tired and my head hurts. I have to make sure we torture DH. He is NOT allowed to sleep when I don't feel good! The kids were playing in here. They found an old cup of milk under my bed. I'm afraid to open it. I'm debating just throwing it out. I know that cup has been missing for a while :o I was just on the computer to see if I won shoes for Casey on ebay. Yes, I'm hooked, but I'm being cautious. For $20, I got both kids dress shoes for the holidays. Casey's shoes are really cut patent leather shoes. They just had their feet measured last weekend so I'm pretty sure the sizes will be just fine. My mom got Casey a really cute dress at a store near her house. She got Brenden some 3 piece outfits for $18 each. She also gets coupons for the place so it works out great.

Nori, good luck on your trip!

Joanne, glad nobody was hurt. Sometimes I wonder how I'm going to keep a straight face when I hear the kids explaining how something happened. They crack me up already.

Kim, yep, having two is twice the fun! Casey and Brenden are very calm kids when they're apart. The trouble starts when they're together. They really draw energy and confidence from each other.

Well, I better go- yes, I know, I said I'd be quick and here I am writing a novel! I'm going to relax. We left at 7:00 this morning and got home at 4:30.

[JoanneOR]

Susan, sounds like you had a good time and enjoyed the Wiggles as much as the kids! Hopefully you were able to get to sleep early. I'd be poking DH telling him get up, it's my turn to relax! Not that it would work :), but I'd try. I've found cups like that from time to time, too. I admit, I've thrown a few out!

Helene, good luck with all the house cleaning! We are going to FIL for dinner on Thanksgiving and then probably to my parents. We switch years. Last year we were at my parents for dinner. It's about a 45 minute drive, so I told my mom we'd stop by there if the kids were not having any meltdowns!

The play today was cute. Jameson did great. I was really proud of him. The whole thing was a grand total of about 10 minutes. But it was really cute. I don't know where Ian got the idea he was going to be a turkey in the play, but the 1st graders weren't in it at all. They came in the room to watch, but that was about it! He keeps asking me if Jameson is the only 2nd grade class. It's not, but I don't know what the other one is doing. They only have school Monday next week, then they are off for parent teacher conferences and Thanksgiving. Ian's class is having a Thanksgiving dinner at school Monday. Just for them, not the parents. But they are having turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, etc. I don't know how they are going to cook all this stuff!

OK, I'm off to bed.

[nori]

Glad to see everyone is still around.:) Thought you guys left for early vacation or something.

Noah's eye's redness is almost gone. I can't really tell now. He's still rubbing it but it's mostly when he's tired or sleepy. Kim, hope Lainey's eye will bet better soon. Sinus infection makes eye swollen? Interesting. Joanne, how's Caitlyn's eye? Must be something on this BB.;)

Joanne, I also wonder why Ian thought he'd be a turkey in Jameson's play. It's kind of cute, though. Sounds like you had fun. If pictures turned out great, please post! I went out to Target to get kids clothing and I couldn't find a good one for Mary Ann. They didn't have her size for the dress I wanted. But I got 3 months anywa, just in case if I couldn't go anywhere tomorrow. If I could find something better, I'd return the Target ones. For Noah, I found 3T sweater and pants plus shirt set that has truck with Christmas tree on it. He likes it, but again, if I find something better tomorrow, I'd return it. I'm not sure if I could make it to Costco tomorrow but if I do, I'll make sure to check it out.

Tyra, long time ago we tried to put him on regular seat and he almost fell off and got scared. But it was when DH was pushing him to sit on the potty so maybe this time it'll be okay...but as you said, he needs to balance himself, if not using the ring.

Susan, sounds like you all had fun. Hope your headache will go away soon. I'd probably be so afraid to open that cup, too.:eek: I found a cup that was missing for a few days and it had juice in it. I cleaned it, but opening it required some courage!!

Helene, congrats on making the deadline! Wow you'll be busy having house guests coming week. As I said we're visiting DH's aunt so no cooking for me. However, I'm planning to bring hostess gift...probably Orange-nut Bread, Sugared Cranberries, and spicy nuts.

Kim, my DH is like that about Christmas decoration...he insists no Christmas things before Thanksgiving. Men are like that somehow....I know one of my friends is crazy about Christmas and she starts to decorate in late October. I think her DH has already given up on that issue.:D Train show sounds like fun. I bet Lainey will enjoy it so much.

Okay so we went to Target this morning and after the shopping we stopped by the Starbucks (in Target) to have some treat. I got Gingerbread Latte and muffin to share with Noah. I got latte, muffin and came to sit down with Noah. Just then someone I know from church came to talk to me...she recognized kids. We talked for a while, and when she left I realized Noah ate all the muffin by himself!:eek: He just had some crumbs on the table. This is after he had a good breakfast. He may be going through the growth sprouts again.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend!

[nori]

BTW what do you think about sucking fingers/hands? As most of you know Noah's been doing that for quite a long time. We thought it was due to teething, which it was before. But now, I think it's getting to be his habit....Yesterday DH tried to put tabasco on his finger and I had to stop him. He thought he should reinforce it since I've been complaning about it. (Because his hands get so wet and his shirt, too, he often asked me to change, but then, he'd suck it again and make it wet anyway) Yes I've been complaning and trying to tell him to stop but it was because if it'd be convenient to me. Is there any harm sucking fingers/hands at this age? I'd rather not to use tabasco (not for my convenient reason, anyway), but if he should stop doing that now, I might have to. What else can I do to help him stopping this (we thing) habit??

He's probably still teething, so maybe that's the reasl of sucking. I'm not sure.

[HRJ]

Nori, my main concern with putting the hands/fingers in the mouth would be about spreading germs/getting sick, particularly this time of year. But I don't have much advice about how to stop it -- that was really only an issue last year, when Victor was getting his 2-year molars, and it more or less stopped after that. Sometimes, at night, if he's very tired, he might put his fingers in his mouth, but he'll take them out if we ask him to.

I know there's been some discussions on various threads about products that are made specifically to put on kids fingers to keep them out of their mouths -- I tried to do a search, but got too many results. Maybe you can try to narrow it down.

Susan, glad you enjoyed the show, and that you all had a good day.

Joanne, it's funny that Ian told you his class was going to be turkeys -- but they weren't. :D That T'giving dinner at school sounds very ambitious, for the teachers!

We had the babysitter, so DH and I got to go on a "date" last night -- it was very nice. :) We went to a coffeehouse to hear Vance Gilbert, a folk singer we both like a lot. We got home after 11 p.m., and Victor was STILL up!! :eek: He just would not go to sleep for the babysitter. (She said, "He's a great kid, very well-behaved -- he just doesn't sleep!!. ). He got all excited when we got home, and it took us a long time to calm him down, so it was a much later night than I would have liked. But it was worth it to get out alone with DH for a while.

Gotta get moving; I've got lots of grocery shopping to do today, and more cleaning!!

Helene

[tbb113]

Nori: Sucking fingers is a form of comfort. If it bothers you that his shirt is getting wet, you could put a bib on him so that he stays drier. Michael sucked his thumb until almost 4 (I think) and Alex did until age 8 when he needed an appliance in his mouth (a wire) to help him stop the habit (he stopped overnight since he really disliked the wire). As opposed to putting anything on his fingers, you can tell him he can only do it in one room and just put him there when he sucks. Truthfully at 2 years old...I'd let it go.

Helene: Glad you had a nice time out. Couple time is great :)

[nori]

Tyra, it was his sleeve gets so soggy Noah wanted to be changed. I don't 'mind if his sleeve is wet for a while...it'd get dry pretty soon, if he's not sucking that often. I know this may sound selfish, but I got annoyed he asked me to change him often for that reason.:o But he's not been asking for change anymore, and I really think it's okay for 2 year old to suck his fingers. I just worried that there maybe some harm (like alignment of teeth etc.) if he does that...I started to tell him to stop it whenever he does it and I notice it. Do you think it's okay to tell him to stop, when I don't really strongly reinforce him to stop it? ( I'd just tell him "You'd better get your hand out from your mouth. It's yucky" and help him pull his hand from his mouth. But if he does that right after that, I would probably not say or do it again. Does this mean I"m not being consistent?) We'd probably let this go at this point, but thought telling him that it's not really great habit may help him stop doing this. I don't know.

Helene, I didn't know there was some discussion about that on this board. I have to do some search. Thanks for heads up.:) Sounds like you had a nice day. Glad to hear that babysitting worked out great, except sleeping part. I bet Victor was too excited to sleep, having someone to play with him.

We went to Sears to take family portrait today. We got one with 4 of us, and some photos just with kids. Noah got to get in the car thing they had, and was so excited. She also took one with Noah kissing Mary Ann but Mary Ann wasn't cooperating well (couldn't sit up so well..) so we ditched that shot. Oh well. We have bunch of pictures him kissing her, I guess. It was so cute, though. We did one with Mary Ann only, with her tummy on the floor and she was supposed to rise her head up. But she kept sucking her hands and was happy resting on her arms. She lifted her head some moments, but I think the girl who did our session missed some shots there. She took one anyway, looks like she's eating her arms. It's kind of funny, but cute.

Noah didn't nap today. DH was working around the house and he was just too excited to nap. I wanted him to sleep, especially knowing how bad he can be when he's overtired but I gave up after a while. I didn't want to stressed out over that. Besides, it's weekend! But "I" needed nap so I went to the room with Mary Ann and locked the door, and slept a bit. It was nice, although several times Noah came over and bang the door shouting "mom? mom?":D We were invited to this event at our friends' church to celebrate their 10th anniversary, and they were roasting a pig.:eek: I was worried about Noah's meltdown but he did really well. He was happy, no tantarum etc., thank goodness. Pig was very good...they buried it in the ground and cooked 10 hours. Yum!

I'm guessing this week it'll be very slow here...we'll be leaving on Wednesday but until then, I'll be around.:)

[JoanneOR]

Nori, I wouldn't worry too much about Noah sucking his fingers. Maybe if he was older, but he's still only two. It's probably just a comfort thing for him. I probably wouldn't tell him to stop doing it, if you don't enforce it. Because then when you do want him to really stop, he won't take you seriously. I have a confession to make :( ...Caitlyn still uses the bottle. It's a comfort thing for her. I had no problem switching the boys to cups, but Caitlyn is a different story. She was just about off it when she had her surgery, but then we started giving it to her again in the hospital. Then when she couldn't eat, we weren't going to deny her the bottle, even though it was just that icky formula. Well, I had her off the bottle during the day, she would just get one before bed. Then DH started giving them to her again during the day. I was so mad when I came home and saw her walking around with it. He hates to see her cry at all, but she needs to get rid of the bottles. It's not good for her teeth and the speech therapist said it might hinder her speech, too, if she has it in her mouth all the time. Well, today I told DH no more bottles. He seemed to agree. I told him if she wants the bottle only put water in it. Give her milk in a cup. She starts out throwing the cup, but if she knows that's all she's getting her milk in, she eventually will drink it. So, we'll see how it goes today.

Colin used to chew on the collars of his shirts. Drove me crazy. The collars would get ruined with little teeth marks and his shirts would be soaking wet. He finally seems to have stopped doing it.

We went to our "ball" on Saturday night. We really had a good time. We went with four other couples on our block and we rented a limo. It was really fun, lots of dancing. We called home around 9:00 and the babysitter said everyone went to bed with no problem. I wish they would do that for me! It would be nice to use her again and go out to a movie or something. Then Sunday we went to the zoo and decorated the tree with the cub scouts. We only went to see the monkeys and the reptiles, then went out to lunch. I've never been to the zoo when it wasn't really crowded. It was a good weekend, but I'm still tired from it!

[RunnerKim]

Nori, Lainey has her hands in her mouth a lot more than she ever did before and I do think it's related to teething. She also puts stuff in her mouth more and has been getting her teething ring out of the fridge frequently. But she doesn't drool so much that her clothes get that wet. (oh and the sinus infection/eye swelling was from last Christmas, as soon as she had antibiotics it cleared up). Editing to add: My parents did the tobassco thing to me but I was much older and chewing on my shirt (I'm thinking 5 or 6)

Susan - what a great time at the Wiggles. Glad everyone enjoyed it. You're finding some great deals on Ebay!

Joanne - that's really funny about Ian not being in the play?!!

Helene - that's a super late night. Glad you had a good evening though. Good luck with the cleaning.

We ended up going to the model railroad show this weekend as it was really cold (below 40). It was great! It's a club that does this and there were over a dozen people running the whole thing. They have a large room set up and it basically replicates the Portland/Columbia Gorge area and I couldn't tell you how many trains they had going. Set up in around the 40s/50s era. We spent over an hour just going back and forth watching all the different trains.

DH got the outside lights put up and still has the inside window lights to do. But come Friday evening, I'm ready to go. :D

Our ultrasound is tomorrow, so I'm excited about that.

Kim

[nori]

Kim, sounds like a neat show! Bet Lainey was so excited. I think Noah wouldn't want to leave the scene.:D Have fun at ultrasound tomorrow! Is it the one you're going to find out the sex of the baby? How exciting!!! Let us know when you find out if it's a boy or a girl.

Joanne, I wouldn't blame you for using the bottle for Caitly now. She had gone through a lot, and she needed that comfort. One of Noah's friend is about the same age, but he's still using his bottle. But he talks pretty well, so hopefully it won't affect Caitlyn's speech. Is it the same thing with pacifier? Do you have to wean them from pacifier at this point? But I've seen so many toddlers with pacifier in their mouth.

Wow limo!!! Sounds like fun. Must be a fancy party. I know it's not everyday occasion but I'm hoping that we'd have that kind of special time soon. It'd be fun to dress up and do some luxurious thing for one night. Did you rent a regular limo? I know they make limos out from Hummer, pickup, or Expedition now. I've seen them.

Joanne, I think you're right about not telling him to stop when I'm not really reinforcing it. I guess I can deal with those wet shirts a little longer. Noah's not really "sucking" it...it's more like his hand is always in his mouth and maybe touching his gum etc. (I don't see any sucking motion) Kim, did you have any "trauma" from having that tabassco method?:D I just can't imagine how it'd taste like for 5 or 6 year old. It's sooo spicy for me, even one drop.

Noah's been getting up in the morning around 7am now. It's so nice. Actually this weekend he slept until close to 8am! It was nice to sleep in, but the day felt much shorter when you got up late. It used to be we start our day at 5am, but this weekend when we finished our breakfast it was close to 10!! Well I"m not complaining. Last night Mary Ann slept from 9pm to 4am. I actually had to get up and pump before she woke up since I was feeling so full. She sleelps like that several nights a week and I think she'd start sleeping through the night earlier than Noah. I bet you remember how hard it was for me when Noah wasn't sleeping long enough at night. I guess as everyone says, every baby is different.:)

[MrsReber]

Hi everyone! I am so furious with my boss. I have to get this off my chest! He sent out an email asking everyone when they were planning on taking vacation through the end of the year. I told him that I had scheduled the week between Christmas and New Year's, but I could work some hours remotely, if need be. I have to take off since the daycare is closed that week. I have taken that week for the past three years. Also, I only get 10 vacation days each year. I saved 4 of them just for this purpose. He responded that I have to wait because all the vacation requests are not in. He said he may not be able to approve my time off. Out of curiosity, I asked my co-worker (a man who also scheduled that week off) if he was told the same thing. He said he got no such response and that our boss seems okay with him taking those days! What is going on? I have been told that he likes to exert his "power" over women and that he is known for discriminating. I have seen very subtle examples of this over the past couple of months and I don't know quite what to do about it. If he says no, I have already decided that I will call in sick each day as I still have one more sick absence that I can use. I'm just so angry.

Other than that, I'm unhappily back at work. I think Brenden is getting a cold. He kept coughing last night. Both kids have been pretty tired lately. They've been taking very long naps all weekend, which is unusual for them. On Saturday, they slept for almost 3 hours. Then on Sunday, DH took the kids out for pizza :eek: while I went shopping. I had to get some presents (Christmas and birthday) and I finally gave in and bought a new dress. I brought 2 dresses home and asked DH which was better. It actually felt really good to buy a new dress. It's been years since I bought myself a nice party dress. It's a shimmery blue dress that gathers at the waist. It has spaghetti straps, which I'm not thrilled with, but the dress fits so perfectly. I was torn between 2 dressed, which never happens! My mom came by to take me to lunch yesterday so I asked her which one she liked better. Little does she know, I'm wearing it to her surprise party! I told her it was for DH's work party. She offered to lend me some nice dress shoes. :D

MIL is flying in today. SIL told DH that she's having food tonight since she figures the family will all come over. He said he may stop by on his way home from work, but it's a weeknight. I have to make mashed potatoes for the kids' lunch feast tomorrow and we do still have to go to work. They want to go out to dinner Wednesday and then see a band. I told DH to go. The kids don't need to hang out at a restaurant/bar for hours on end to hear a band. He may or may not go. On Thursday, I'm going to take the kids up to see my sister and their cousins in the morning. DH is going hunging. We're going to SIL's house for dinner. On Friday, I'm taking the kids up to my mom's. We're going to celebrate her birthday a week early since my sister is up from NC with her family. My mom has no idea that my sister is coming up again next week for the surprise party. I hope we pull this off. Anyway, we're planning on all going to see The Polar Express on Friday and then having dinner and ice cream cake. My sister is leaving Saturday morning. I'm sure we'll be getting together with MIL again before she leaves next week. SIL is taking MIL fishing on Friday.

I'm just really looking forward to spending time with the kids, no matter where we are. They grow so fast and change each day. I hate missing out on any of it.

Joanne, that is so weird about the "turkeys!" The play sounds cute. What great things I have to look forward to. I like the limo idea. Sounds like you had a really nice time.

Nori, I hope your trip goes smoothly and you enjoy your visit! I talked to my dad on Sunday. Casey and Brenden talked to him, too. He was thrilled. He said he was getting ready to paint and then it poured rain! Very unusual.

Both my kids are thumb suckers. We just remind them not to do it. Every day, Casey says "I stopped sucking my thumb!" Then ten minutes later, she's got it in her mouth again. We say "good thing you stopped sucking your thumb!" I think it's so much of a habit that she doesn't even know she's doing it. Her teacher told me last week that she very rarely sucks her thumb at daycare. They tell her that big girls don't suck their thumbs. I know she's trying and I know it's hard for her. We go back to the dentist next month. My point is that Noah might reach a point where he doesn't realize he's sucking on his fingers. However, DH's neice sucked on two of her fingers until she was at least 8 or 9! No problems with her teeth. You just never know.

Kim, that train display sounds great! Brenden would go crazy over that. We're going to try to get tickets for the Santa Express at a park near our house. They have a very old railroad, The Pine Creek Railroad. The train runs most of the year, but at Christmastime, they have special rides with Santa. We went last year. Our neighbors were all sick and couldn't use their tickets. The kids were afraid of Santa. We're hoping they have a better Santa this year. Last year, he was a skinny kid! It was pretty funny, but the kids are more in tune with the "real" Santa this year. They'll notice if he doesn't look right. Casey still says she's going to hug Santa. I wonder if she will.

Well, I better get back to work. Only today and tomorrow to go!

[RunnerKim]

Susan, it's your birthday today, right? Happy Birthday The dress sounds amazing. When's your Mom's party? I cannot even find words to express how mad I'd be in your work situaiton. Write it all down of course, in case you feel you need to use it.

Nori - I think it would be hard for Mary Ann to take longer than Noah to sleep through the night ;) :D I'm glad she seems to be a better sleeper and that Noah is making up for lost time himself. I certainly remember the tobasco sauce but I don't feel traumatized by it. I don't recall it being done punitively, I was old enough to understand I needed to stop. I'd have to ask my parents if they found it effective, I don't chew on my shirt now though, so I guess it was. Of course my hot spicyness tolerance is rather minimal, so maybe it did affect me?

Joanne - I missed your post right before mine. What a grand evening out. Good luck with the bottle transition, they can be incredibly stubborn at this age. What does she think of straws? maybe that would help satisify her sucking need??? Don't beat yourself up about it, she's (and you guys) have had so much going on, still using a bottle at this age is hardly a major thing. And there are certainly kids in Lainey's class that still use pacifiers and I'd think the issues might be the same??

My u/s is later today, I should have enough time to report in afterwards. Let's hope baby cooperates. I need to run off to the bathroom before I'm "not allowed" to go again.

Kim

[tbb113]

Happy Birthday, Susan :D

[JoanneOR]

Kim, good luck with your ultrasound! How exciting! Are you going to let us in on whether Lainey will have a brother or sister? Can't wait to hear!

Susan, that's terrible about your vacation time. I would be so mad, too. Why does he have to wait till all the vacation requests are in? If yours is already in, you should get it. Sure sounds like discrimination. I don't blame you for wanting to call in sick if he doesn't give it to you. You offered to work remotely, I think that's very generous of you.

Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY, too! It's today, right? Your description of your upcoming days is making me tired just reading about it! I'd skip what you can and just try to enjoy some time with the kids. I know what you mean about wanting to spend time with them and not miss anything. Although, I have to admit, sometimes a little time alone would be nice!

Nori, that's great that Mary Ann and Noah are both sleeping better. Finally you can start to get some rest! I remember the problems you had with Noah sleeping when he was a baby. Thankfully it sounds like Mary Ann is doing better! Yes, the limo was just a regular one. Although we really had to sqeeze in there. There were 10 of us and luckily we all like each other cause we were really squished together. It was a short ride, so it was fine.

Thanks for the comments about the bottle. I think it's worse for their teeth than the pacifier if they use it alot, which she did. But I think the pacifier might be worse in terms of speech if they use it all the time. The milk pools in their mouth more from a bottle than a cup, so it's bad for the teeth in that way. Yesterday I talked to DH and I could hear her crying baba (bottle) in the background. He didn't give her one all day, though. By the time I got home she wasn't asking for it anymore. She drank a little out of the sippy cup and she stopped throwing it at us :). We actually do have one with the straw, that's the one she seems to like the most. I noticed she's eating way more since she's not drinking from the bottle. She's not drinking as much milk, so she's hungrier, I guess.

[MrsReber]

Thanks for the birthday wishes. DH took the kids to buy cards on Sunday. He told them it was a secret. Well, Sunday night, Casey said "Mommy, we bought you cards today. Want to see the one with the penguin?" I laughed and told her that she's supposed to wait until my birthday! She's just too excited about it. It's so cute. Last night, DH said "boy, she's a good little secret keeper." Then I told him what she said. He's getting a cake for dessert. I'm not sure if he's going by SIL's house to see MIL before he comes home, though. And Joanne, I'm just as tired as you thinking about this week! Hopefully it will all be fun. I'm trying to keep a positive attitude for dinner with the in-laws.

Kim, glad you stopped chewing your shirts! :D (sorry) That comment was so funny, I was laughing out loud at my desk.

Joanne, lately Brenden has been drinking milk like crazy. We bought a gallon Friday night and it was gone before noon on Sunday. However, he tends to eat less when he's drinking so much milk. Yesterday at lunch, he drank all his milk before our food was served (mom took me out). When the food came, he wouldn't eat it. I hope he's okay. DH said he seemed fine this morning.

My mom's surprise party is December 4th. We're always so lame when it comes to planning things for my mom (mother's day and birthdays) so we're really using that to our advantage. We haven't even mentioned doing anything on her actual birthday. We only said we'd celebrate it this Friday since my sister will be up with her family. I think on Friday, my brother and I are going to throw out the idea of going somewhere, oh, gee, maybe we have a coupon for some place up north. Then, on the day, I'll say I'll go up there with her. Then I'll call and say that I'm running late because of the kids and she should meet us there. It'll be our usual completely unorganized behavior. She's not saying anything, but I think she's secretly upset that there's not more going on. My poor mom. We're so cruel. It's not a huge party. We have 35 so far and I'm assuming only 3 others are coming. But the great thing was that every one of her friends said "I wouldn't miss it for anything." They're all so excited, which is great. I'm glad she has such caring friends.

Our "acting" manager came over to me this morning and asked me for my vacation days out of the blue. I told him about the situation. He said to send my request to him and copy my boss. :D Evil. I said "you got it!" And I do keep every single email from this guy. I don't trust him. He tried to burn me 2 weeks ago by saying I sent him the wrong contract on something, which in turn meant that the vendor had signed the wrong contract. I pulled up my email to him and pointed out that he simply printed the wrong document. Oy. Why me?

Kim, I really hope you can find out the baby's gender! I remember how we were excited to find out with Brenden and then they couldn't tell because of the umbilical cord. Good luck and don't drink too much water! I think they lie about the amount as some cruel joke on pregnant women.

[RunnerKim]

I'm back and thank god I was finally allowed to pee! I'm such a dweeb and follow the directins and it gets so painful, it's hard to enjoy the experience.

Short of it though.... we're having a boy!

It's so amazing to see the baby, makes it so much more real. I am a little intimidated about having a boy, but all the fabulous mother/son stories that are shared hear really have helped me (along with my 2 nephews that live in town of course). I still remember Susan, you figuring out you had to point the ***** down in the diaper - so see I already know something. :D

Kim

[tbb113]

Kim: Boys are wonderful. I really wanted one of each, but I wouldn't trade either one for a girl (at least most of the time ;) :D ).

[HRJ]

Just jumping in real quickly to say

Happy Birthday, Susan!! :)

And, glad the US went well, Kim -- little boys are wonderful, and yes, a bit scary.

If I don't have a chance to get back, have a great Thanksgiving, everyone!!

Helene

[calebashtonsmom]

Hi, my name is Cindy, I was on this site over a year ago, when I was pregnant and joined in on the pregnancy thread. I ended up getting laid off at seven months pregnant and time just flew by. I now have a 15 month old named Caleb Ashton. He is a handfull. The reason I am writing is because I wanted to see if anyone had experienced this. Caleb is constantly hitting himself in the head. Is this normal??? It is usually when he is being scolded or sleepy. It is really starting to bother my husband and now I am getting worried. He also has a bad temper. He will hold his breath and tense up. Very different from my mellow first boy who is now nine.

Anyone have this happen to them or ask their doctor before? any help would be appreciated.

Cindy

[Julia1Pin]

Happy Birthday Susan!

Kim - Congratulations on the next one being a boy!! Lainey will make an awesome big sister - she can teach him sign language :)

[nori]

Congratulations Kim!!! As everyone said, boys are fun.:) And that's good you already know something about boy's care....I've learned that ***** pointing down in the diaper thing in hard way. I'm sure Lainey'll be a great big sister. Sorry to hear that you were uncomfortable during the ultrasound....my tech never told me to drink a lot of water, but I've heard stories about it. Really, talk about tormenting already stressed-out pregnant women.:p

Susan, Happy Birthday!!!! So cute Casey not be able to keep a secret from you.:D Hope your mom's birthday party will be a big success!!!! Sounds exciting. How old she's going to be, may I ask? Is it a big milestone? You're such a great daughter pulling something like that together. If you don't mind, please share how it went!
Glad to hear that your vacation day issue seems to be resolved. Good thing you have a nice manager. I can't believe your boss is so discriminating....:mad: :mad: I'd be so mad!! Oh, and by the way, it was pouring down here yesterday ,too. Seems like mountains got some snow. It was all covered with clouds today.

Joanne, hope Caitlyn's transition will go well this time. I think milk really fill them up....even Noah, when he had lots of milk before dinner he wouldn't eat any dinner. That's good that she likes straw cups, though.

Cindy, welcome.:) I don't have any good advice, though....what would he do, if you ask/tell him to stop hitting himself? Do you think he'd stop if you and DH keep telling him not to do it? If it concerns you so much, you can always talk to the doctor. Noah does it sometimes but not much so that we have to worry. He also does it just for fun, but nothing serious. Maybe someone else have better experience??

Okay I've been working so hard today all day and I think we're ready to go tomorrow! We'll be leaving around 4am:eek: . Oh, DH couldn't get DVD thing working from the laptop so no movies for us. We're optimistic, though, just keep telling ourselves that people traveled with toddlers even before those portable DVD/video comes around. So we can do it!!!!

Hope everyone has a nice holiday. Happy Thanksgiving!!!

[MrsReber]

Kim, congratulations!! Boys are great. I love having one of each and seeing the different personalities. I find that my son was so much more baby-ish for a longer period of time. He is such a sweetie. There is definitely a different relationship between a mother and son and a mother and daughter. I can't explain it and I refused to believe it existed until it happened to me. And you WILL get peed on. There's just no way around it, so be prepared at each diaper change. We had towels and cloth diapers on hand each time and we used 2 changing mats because inevitably, one would get peed on and we'd need a dry one.

Cindy, my gut feeling is always the same. If you are seeing behavior that is not normal, then you should talk to your doctor. I don't know what the hitting could signify. Maybe he's frustrated that he can't communicate effectively and that's how it comes out? That's my only guess. There could be a medical reason (teething pain, ear infection) and (in my opinion) it's best to rule that out before focusing on the behavioral aspect. Otherwise, you could be focusing on the wrong thing.

Nori, you have probably left by now or are just getting out. I hope you have a wonderful time! Sorry you couldn't get the movies going, but you'll be just fine. We actually had more problem travelling with Casey when she was younger because she couldn't do anything or talk to us and couldn't understand why she had to stay in her seat for so long. At least at this age, you can entertain Noah by singing, talking, reading, etc.

DH told Brenden's teacher that it was my birthday so she made a card with him yesterday. It was so nice and the funny thing is that, if Brenden could express his thoughts and feelings in adult words, I honestly believe that he would have said everything in the card. It was his handprint with a rose in the middle. The hand is him, the rose is me and it signifies how we are best friends. It was so sweet. DH had them sign a card for me and he bought me a nice pair of earrings, which I really wasn't expecting at all! The kids sang happy birthday and helped me blow out the candles. I loved seeing their excitement at celebrating my birthday. I asked Casey how old I was. She said I was three, just like her. Then she said "but I'm going to be four." I told her that I'd be four now so when she turns four on her birthday, we can be four together. She said "that's a great idea!" So we put four candles on the cake. :D I like being four!

[JoanneOR]

Kim, congrats on your baby boy!! I'm so excited for you! Boys are great and I think it's fun for siblings to have a sibling of the other sex, gives them a different perspective on things. Although I guess now you'll have to buy lots of boy clothes.

Hi Cindy, welcome! It sounds like you son is probably hitting himself out of frustration. Maybe he can't communicate what he wants or he's frustrated about something. I'm really not sure how you should handle it. My kids have occasionally banged their head on the floor when they were mad. Really only happened a few times, though. I guess they realized it hurt and stopped doing it. Maybe it's worth a call to your doctor to ease your mind and rule out any medical stuff.

Nori, I'm sure you're on the road already, but hope you have a great time and a peaceful :) ride there and back!

Susan, that sounds like a perfect birthday! If only we could be four again! Unlike Casey, Ian always likes to remind me that I am 42 and getting old!

Last night I got home from work and Caitlyn was walking around with a bottle! I was a little upset at DH. :( He took the kids to the library and didn't want Caitlyn crying there. So he gave her a bottle. I gave her a cup later on and she drank it with no fussing. This is weird (but great!), but she's slept through the night the last two nights since she's not drinking so much milk. She's eating more, maybe she was hungry during the night? I don't know, but I hope it keeps up.

Yesterday we had parent/teacher evaluations. All the teachers had good things to say about the kids. The best news was that they said Colin has really come into his own the last month or so. All of a sudden he's really catching on to everything and doing great socially and academically. What a change from preschool last year.

[RunnerKim]

Joane - that's great news about Colin, because I know you were worried about how he was adjusting. I think you're probably right about the reduced milk leading to eating more solid food and also the sleeping better/longer at night. Hope it keeps up for you!

Nori, best wishes on your car trip. (or I hope you had a good one, depending on when you read this).

Welcome Cindy! I don't have any experience to share with you though. As others have mentioned.. is he talking or signing much? You could try teaching him some sign language (at that age he'd pick it up farily quickly) if he's not speaking much and maybe that would help with his frustration. I know a certain amount of head banging is suppose to be normal but if it was me, I'd still check with my pediatrician about it. That must be very tough to experience.

Susan, I'm so glad you had a nice birthday - 4 huh. Sounds like a blast!

Julia - Lainey still does a few signs (especially if she's frustrated/upset) - I hadn't thought about her teaching #2 - that would be cute to see them signing together.

DH called his mom last night and she said our timing was good (April baby) because in her experience (and she had 4 boys) that it was the babies born during the late fall that you got peed on the most by - because you'd take the diaper off and the cold air would cause them to pee. Interesting theory, might be turning the thermostat up a degree or two ;)

The hunt is on for a name now... we of course were having the most difficulty with boys names. If anyone is bored today and has suggestions, here are our "rules"
Has to be more than 1 syllable (to balance our short last name)
Needs a nickname
Can't be a popular name
Shouldn't begin with the letter K, C, or E (preferablly not L) as we like everyone to have unique initials
Middle name will be Bird (my maternal grandparents last name)
Should go with Eleanor/Lainey
Can't be Alexander/Aleksandr (or Andy/Andrew)
Joseph
Corbin
Parker

DH says we have 2.5 months to decide otherwise we're too close for comfort - I thought i was the anal/overly-prepared one of us. :D

Kim

[tbb113]

Kim: Both my boys are summer babies (May and July) and they both peed as soon as the diaper came off. I just learned to have one to cover, one to put on at all times :D

I really like the names Daniel (Dan, Danny) and Jeremy (no nicknames though). A matter of fact I would have loved to name one of the boys Jeremy Daniel. Most women liked it but every man got a sick look on his face. I also like David (but Don has a nephew David). While it wouldn't have bothered his side of the family to have two Davids, it really bothered me. I didn't want a Dan and a Don in the same house (thought it would be confusing).

I also like Joshua, but that is probably to common.

[MrsReber]

Kim, you only have 2.5 months? How funny. We literally decided on Brenden's name about 2 days before he was born. We didn't even come up with that name until about a month before he arrived. It wasn't even on our (my) list. I had thought about it, then DH mentioned it one day out of the blue. The funny thing is that the name is so very perfect. It's like it was meant to be his name. I didn't feel that way with Casey's name. Although I like her name, it wasn't my first choice. DH nixed most of my girl name choices.

I'll have to think about boy names. The couple of other ones we were considering don't fit your parameters. I had liked the name Logan. My mom's fiance thought it was an awful name. He said it reminds him of Logan Airport in Boston. Well, his daughter gave birth to his first grandson in January. His name? You guessed it- Logan. I laughed.

Joanne, great news about Colin. That must be nice to hear.

I fell asleep on the couch with Brenden the other night. I woke up to a stinky boy so I had to change him while he was half asleep. He peed on me for the first time in a very long time. I was totally unprepared for that. Luckily, it stayed on the changing table and didn't get all over. I thought those days were over!

[JoanneOR]

Actually Caitlyn has peed more on the changing table than I think the boys ever did! But, at least it doesn't get you! She also seems to like to pee after she gets out of the bath and before I get her diaper on. :(

Hmm, let's see, boy's names. We had the hardest time with all of the boys names. Jameson wasn't named until he was born and I think the nurse suggested it. Ian and Colin were both decided within days of their birth. Caitlyn was probably a month or so before. OK, how about
these:

Ryan (love that name, but my SIL stole it :))
Luke (I know it's only one syllable and starts with L, but I know a little boy named Luke and he's so cute, now I love the name!)
Patrick
Michael
Aidan

I'm having a hard time, too! Let me think and post some more later. :)

[nori]

We got home late last night. The trip went pretty well. On Thanksgiving night, Noah developed symptoms like asthma (sp?), wheezing and coughing really hard. It continued all day on Friday, and he was hard time breathing. It worried us a lot, but actually when we went there 2 years ago for the first time, I had almost exactly the same condition. I used to have atshma as a kid and I"m wondeirng if that's something to do with the environment, but then he's been there already twice, not counting this year. Mine was also worse at night and got cleared up next few days. I had never seen Noah cough so hard. He might have asthma, which is a bad news but good news is it's probably not so serious.

Oh I just remembered the big problem while we were traveling....maybe too much information. (This is about potty training) on the way there, he started to push while sitting on the carseat. We waited until he's done, then stopped the car and changed him. Well....he had a big, leaky mess in his pants and I didn't know it, so I just grabbed the pants and grabbed those c@ap, too.:eek: I had to scream in shock beause I didn't expect that at all. We cleaned (I mean "I"....DH was reading the direction in the front seat while I chaged him. So helpful.:rolleyes: ) the mess eventually but I think what happened was he just pushed through while sitting (which he ususally doesn't do), so it got pushed off from the diaper. Gross, I know. We were scared on the way home and we decided when he started to push, we'd stop the car and let him finish, standing up. But he didn't have that urge when coming home so it was okay. DH was telling him "You're too old for this. You really have to start using potty." Yeah, as if he'd listen to him. This morning he was obviously pushing so I asked him if he'd use the potty and get the toy(I didn't forget to remind the incentives), but he refused. Oh well. Lately it's like it used to be...he won't really tell me when he went.

He did great with everyone there. They had a tractor in the garage and he loved to ride on it (without the key). He was so comfortable with all relatives. DH's aunt (who was the hostess) prepared some toys for him and it was very nice. Due to the illness, he didn't eat much, but I think he had fun. Great-grandpa (who turned 96 on Thanksgiving!) was glad to see Mary Ann, too. Noah was giving him high five and it was so cute.

Joanne, you must be so proud of Colin making such a good progress. Of course I don't have any experience being in those meeting and talk about kids with teachers, but I can imagine how nice to hear such a thing. that's a good news Caitlyn's eating better and sleeping better!

Susan, sounds like you had a nice birthday. How cute about the card, and must be nice to be 4 years old.:D It is so funny how they think. How nice of your DH getting earing fof you.

Kim, Noah's a summer baby and living in Arizona, but still he peed on me.:D Oh, he also did it in the bathtub a lot, and I can't really say Mary Ann ever peed outside of diaper but then, it's hard to tell about girls.

I had hard time picking boy's name, too. I like Joshua, too. Have fun picking.:)

Hope everyone had a nice holiday!

[MrsReber]

I like the name Ryan, too. I do like Aiden, but I know 2 boys born last year with that name. Seems to be gaining in popularity. Boys names were harder for me. The list was much shorter than my girls name list. However, DH didn't agree with any of my girls names so he shortened my list dramatically. I couldn't win.

Nori, sounds like you had a great trip, in spite of Noah's coughing. I hope he doesn't have asthma.

Great news for us. On Wednesday night, Brenden was running around without his diaper on. Then, as usual, he told me he wanted a diaper. I knew he had to go. I said "this is your big chance! Go on the potty!" He ran down the hall and pooped on the potty. Then he said he wanted a Spiderman toy! Of course, that was the first and last time he pooped on the potty. He hasn't done it since. At least I know he can do it, he just chooses not to right now. Oh well.

Our weekend was pretty hectic. Thursday morning, I went to my mom's to see my sister and her family. Then I came home and we went to SIL's house. SIL set up a children's table for her son, DH's nephew, and our kids! I laughed. Was she serious? I was going to let my 2 year old sit at the kids table by himself? Of course, you know where I wound up sitting. There were enough chairs at the "adult" table, then SIL's 2 stepsons walked in and sat down. They ate and then walked out the door! They're in their mid-20's. Seemed very rude to me. MIL was very annoyed with them because she was also sitting at the children's table with me! She also gave me a beautiful birthday card and wrote the nicest message in it. I was very surprised. The night went okay. I chased my kids around to keep them from destroying BIL's instruments (piano, drums, guitars).

Friday, I took the kids to my mom's around 11:00. My brother and neice came up and we all went to see The Polar Express. Casey sat in the row in front of me with her two cousins (the girls). She was thrilled. Brenden sat on my lap and ate more popcorn than I could have ever imagined! He stayed awake this time and enjoyed watching the movie. He was so good. After that, me, my sister and my mom went to a children's clothing store near my mom's house. Good thing it's not closer to my house! That store is amazing. I can't believe the prices on brand name clothing. I got DH's neice and nephew Christmas presents there. Brenden came with us. What is it with kids? He realized that he could fit in the clothing racks, between the clothes, and told me we were playing hide and seek. My sister and mom thought it was pretty funny. Well, okay, it was funny, but it's hard to keep an eye on him. We had dinner at my mom's for her "birthday" and me and my brother said "don't worry, we'll take you out and do something next week." She is definitely clueless about the party. Nori, it's her 60th. Hard to believe. She still looks great, though!

So Saturday, we actually had no plans. Casey had gymnastics and I picked up a birthday present for a party on the 11th (Brenden's classmate). Sunday, it was DH's nephew's 21st birthday so we went there for yet another big meal. I must've gained 20 pounds this week. Same thing- I sat at the kids table with DH's neice and her 1 year old. She was as annoyed as I was, having to do everything for both kids. I told her I know how she feels, but it does get better. Her youngest is 5 months old. I was in the kitchen and my kids left. I asked DH if he felt concerned at all that he couldn't see them. He said "no, where are they going to go?" I said "it's not where they're going, it's what they're doing." He really does not get it. They were playing with the instruments again. I went and got them. About an hour later, they were in the livingroom. I could kind of see them, but there was a couch in the way. DH's 2 nephews (15 and 21), DH's brother and 2 BIL's were all in the room with the kids. I walked in there and saw them playing with 4 D batteries. Not one person in the room stopped them or said anything or took the batteries away from them! I just don't understand these people. The men all have their own children. I was a little annoyed. I said something on the way home and DH said "oh, I remember playing with batteries when I was a kid and putting those 9 volt batteries on my tongue." Yeah, well, guess that explains a lot. :rolleyes:

So, here I am in front of my computer working again. The kids are asleep. They're exhausted from their long weekend. They didn't sleep enough at all. I took them for a holiday picture yesterday morning. Brenden was not coopeating at all. Then the photographer gave him a pinecone. He was thrilled and he smiled. She got a bunch of shots. When we looked at them on the computer, we saw that Casey had a very weird smile on her face. I think she picked it up from her daycare pictures. She knows not to say cheese so she gives us this smile that looks like a marionette (to me, anyway). We had a hard time picking out a picture of the two of them. We did get a great shot of Brenden by himself, though.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I have to get to work, though it seems pretty quiet so far this morning. My boss is still giving me a hard time about taking off at Christmas. I found out that he is concerned about losing his job. That was what I figured. The acting manager told me that the VP approached him and asked if he wanted to take over my boss's job. He said they want to consolidate the 2 positions and this gave them a chance to do it as a trial run. It'd be a good thing for me if it happens. It'd be good for the company because they would eventually eliminate 4 positions. We'll see!

[MrsReber]

I also liked the name Zachary, forgot to add that one. My 7 year old nephew has a cute little friend named Grayson. DH's nephew is named Hunter, which I like, too.

[Molli526]

Originally posted by MrsReber
I do like Aiden, but I know 2 boys born last year with that name. Seems to be gaining in popularity.

Probably b/c of Sex and the City. Aidan was such a likable guy.

[RunnerKim]

Susan! your weekend exhausts me and I'm just reading about it. Whew. Yes, what is it about clothing racks and kids hiding in them.

I *love* the name Zachary but we feel it's too common for us, we know several but if we're stuck that's what we'll use. Aidan, believe it or not, is a top ten name too. Sigh.

Nori, glad you survived your trip. At least you can tell when Noah is pooping, I can't tell at all with Lainey, until she tells me (or I smell it). She's been wanting to be changed immediately after pooping these days, I take that as good sign of progress. Trust me Mary Ann is peeing in the tub - Lainey stood a lot for her baths and it was more obvious then. What you don't know doesn't affect you as much though. ;)

we had a nice and fairly quiet weekend. Lainey loves pumpkin pie. She and DH ate some for breakfast on Thanksgiving because Wednesday night I baked it just didn't seem right. I realized I'd left the eggs out :o DH sampled it and said it tasted fine, so of course Lainey wanted some too. I made another one for dinner but he took the rest of the "bad" one in to his office on Friday since he had to work. Lainey and I put up our Christmas decorations.

Okay I need some help from the Jewish moms - I got Lainey the Little People Hannukah set (along with Christmas village) and I couldn't remember what some of the things were. There's challah on the table and then on their plates are pancake looking things - would that be latkes or something else? And the gold coins on the corner represent something right? Turkey is in the oven and peas on the stove, are those "traditional" (I'm not sure how much tradition there is for Hannukah compared to the bigger holidays???). Lainey is very cross-cultural. Mrs. Claus comes to dinner a lot (Santa is busy with the sleigh).

DH and Lainey set up the Nativity and he put it in a place that she can easily reach it. It's so fun to watch her playing with the figures.

We were really impressed by her sentences this weekend. After nap when she was still groggy we were sitting at the table and having a little hot chocolate. DH filled the mug too full and it was rather heavy so he took it to dump some out and Lainey says slowly "Daddy took my cup away" with kind of a puzzled tone.

Cheryl - are you back yet? Just wondering how you're doing?

Kim

[tbb113]

Okay I need some help from the Jewish moms - I got Lainey the Little People Hannukah set (along with Christmas village) and I couldn't remember what some of the things were. There's challah on the table and then on their plates are pancake looking things - would that be latkes or something else? And the gold coins on the corner represent something right? Turkey is in the oven and peas on the stove, are those "traditional" (I'm not sure how much tradition there is for Hannukah compared to the bigger holidays???). Lainey is very cross-cultural. Mrs. Claus comes to dinner a lot (Santa is busy with the sleigh).

Pancake looking things - potato latkes (latkes is yiddish for pancakes I think).

Gold coins (gelt) - traditionally you would get coins for Hannukkah, today you get the candy coins instead :) You could also use them for ante when playing dreidel instead of nuts (traditional) or pennies.

Only real traditional food for Hanukkah are foods cooked in oil (latkes for Ashkenazi Jews, jelly donuts for Israeli and Sephardic Jews). Turkey sounds good, so does a brisket.

The other traditional food (for some people) is cheese (preferably as blintzes). Thats from a story about a woman who got a general drunk from wine to quench his thirst from the salty cheese she was feeding him. When he was drunk enough, she beheaded him and stopped the soliders from attacking. :D

On the subjects of boy's names. Many of the names that we grew up with (Mark, Robert, Richard, etc) aren't used that much any more. If you want to go with a less common name, you might think back in that direction.

[Molli526]

Kim,

We didn't want a common name either, so we checked our boys names n the SSA website before even putting them on the list.

SSA Website (http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/)

[cchhbb]

Hi everyone.

Garrett and I got back from our Thanksgiving travels with no problems. He did have a cold while we were gone and was generous enough to give it to me. I barely got out of bed the last two days. Now my mom has it and she is leaving for Europe on Wednesday. I hope she gets better soon.

Being sick and pregnant really is terrible. No one will give you anything. Your lungs are already working at a diminished state due to the pregnancy and then to have a terrible cold makes it worst. There were several times I couldn't catch my breath after walking up the stairs.

Kim, Congratulations on the announcement of a baby boy. I have my ultrasound on December 14 and hope to find out then. Garrett was anything but modest during all the ultrasounds so let's hope this new baby is too.

I think we had several of the same rules you do for names and had a really hard time. You might remember, DH wanted to call Garrett Maverick. I vetoed that. We were still negotiating after we had him. Frankly, I was so tired after a 24 hour labor and so happy not to have him called Maverick that I compromised quickly. One thing DH did agree to is that I get to name our next child. I hope he remembers. I would suggest not telling everyone names you are considering because everyone seems to think it is their business to tell you what they think.

Garrett was an angel while flying. He loved playing with his toy airplane and looking out the windows. I actually sat and read a novel for a little while.

The kitchen designer's guy is on his way up here now to measure the kitchen so we can work on the plans for it. We start work on our bonus room (above the garage) tomorrow. I have to figure out the lighting plan tonight so we can rough in the electrical.

I'll try to catch up some more later.
Cheryl

[HRJ]

Hello, all!

Kim, two boys names that I *love* (but that my DH does not :rolleyes: ) are Spencer and Gabriel. I also love the name Elliot, but that's an "E" name, so doesn't meet your criteria.

We really had a dilemma about boys' names. When we first started the adoption process, we had decided that we wanted to give a name of our choosing to our child (instead of keeping the birth name). We had a big list of girls' names, but no boys' names that we both really liked. So, we get the "big call" from our social worker, and she tells us that our child's birth name is Victor -- a name that we probably never would have thought of on our own, but that we both loved the instant we heard it. (We ended up keeping his birth middle-name too, and then adding a second middle name, in memory of my father, in keeping with Jewish tradition. It's a lot of names, but they're all short.)

About the Hanukkah set -- Tyra explained it all. I thought the poultry in the oven was a chicken, but it could be a turkey, too. For a long time, Victor would say that the chicken was "sleeping" in the oven. I didn't have the heart to tell him otherwise. Victor also has visitors from other Little People sets come visit the Hanukkah table -- sometimes the farm animals even gather around. (don't think the pig really belongs there, being unkosher and all, but ... ;) ) He also uses the Hanukkah figures with other Little People stuff - - sometimes the Jewish grandfather drives the school bus, or the Jewish grandmother parks cars at the garage.

Cheryl, glad Garrett was so well-behaved on the plane, but sorry that you ended up with such a nasty cold.

Nori, glad you had a nice trip -- hope that respiratory trouble doesn't become a big issue for Noah. He must have looked so cute "riding" the tractor. Sorry about your very, very icky diaper experience. Ugh.

Susan, sounds like you survived your MIL's visit pretty well, and that the kids enjoyed the long weekend. Glad to hear Brenden's making progress on the potty.

We had a very nice holiday -- but I'm looking forward to resting up a bit. We're not used to having extra people around the house. On the one hand, my mother did a lot of stuff to help around the house, but on the other, she has a tendency to get rather bossy, and to forget that she is a guest, so we had a little friction over that.

Victor watched his first full-length movie -- we bought "Shrek 2." He sat, mesmerized, through the whole thing -- I totally didn't expect that. Then, the next morning, he started asking to watch it again. (The movie is actually a little more violent than I'm comfortable with, as far as Victor is concerned, so I don't want him watching it over and over -- the DVD does have a bunch of games on it, though, so Victor and DH were playing those over the weekend.) Victor was also very excited about having popcorn with the movie -- neither DH nor I are really crazy about popcorn, so it's not something we usually keep in the house.

We all went to the aquarium on Saturday, which was fun. Last night, my mother and brother baby-sat, and DH and I went out to see "Ray," the movie about Ray Charles. Very good film. This morning, both my mother and brother headed back home.

Anyone looking for gift ideas: Ofoto (and probably the other online photo services) has a function that lets you make your own calendar, using your own photos for each month. I'm making "Victor" calendars for my mother and MIL. It's the kind of thing that most grandparents would probably enjoy.

Helene

[nori]

Helene, has Victor seen Finding Nemo? That's still Noah's favorite, and that's the only movie he'd sit through. Last night at friend's house Shrek was on TV. Noah was watching for a while but then started to do something else. Nemo is pretty much violence-free, I think...we like that movie, too. "Victor" calender idea is very good. I got this photo frame that rotates, and I'm planning to put some pictures for my parents' present. We used to order from ofoto, but not recently. I have to go and check it out.

Cheryl, sorry to hear that you were sick.:( Yes being sick while pregnant is not fun. Hope you're feeling better now.

Kim, yes, it's better not to know what's going on in terms of that peeing in the tub. But my guess was she was probably doing it more often than I noticed.:D That is impressive sentence Lainey speaks....Noah does put several words together but most of the time they're all mixed up. For example, if I'm holding Mary Ann and he wants to be held too, he'd say "Ann, down, swing, now!":rolleyes: Oh BTW, usually I can't tell when Noah's pooping. This time, though, was in the car and he was really pushing hard. That's why. If we were home, I'd know by smell.

Noah plays "pretend" using his mini cars. He'd roll cars and say "shopping" "go home" " up hill, down the hill" etc. We don't have any little people toys....that might be fun to get that for him. He also likes to play with stuffed animal and sometimes put them on top of the car and roll it with them.

Susan, it drives me crazy too, seeing DH seems not to care so much about kids' safety. It's not that he doesn't care, but he just take some things for granted and don't pay attention as much as I would. Must be a guy thing.:rolleyes: Yay on Brenden pooping in the potty! That's great. I bet it's not too far away for you to be diaper-free. Is he peeing in potty regulary? Sounds like your MIL has been nice this time. What a welcome surprise!

We went to our church to help decorate for Chrsitmas. Although they didn't have a childcare, my kids did great. Mary Ann was just sitting there, happily most of the time and Noah was having fun helping us out. He carried some stuff from storage to the center and helped us fluff the ribbons. Then this afternoon I took out our Christmas decoration boxes. He was excited to see Christmas bears and snowmen. We're going to get a tree this weekend. I'm sure he'll be thrilled.

Today's weather was very wintery. High was low-50s and that's pretty cold in this area. We made a fire tonight, and I had some hot chocolate in front of the fire. It was very relaxing.

[MrsReber]

Cheryl, that's great that Garrett was so good on the plane. I'm impressed that you could actually read a novel while he entertained himself. I hope you're feeling better!

Helene, I'll have to check out that calendar on Ofoto. I've never been to their site. I have thought about making calendars.

Nori, when we're home, Brenden will pee on the toilet. However, he is usually running around without pants and a pull up when he does this. He knows when he has to go and he will go if he's not wearing anything. He refuses to wear diapers and will only wear "Buzz Light" pull-ups. They're the ones with Buzz Lighyear on them. The daycare will only accept the pull-ups that open on the sides so I have to buy those. He calls them underwear. Since he is "NOT A BABY!" I can't use diapers at home anymore. He is a pro at getting his pull-ups out and putting them on without help. When he pees, he says "I pee pee on Buzz!" and takes them off. It's a bit frustrating because 1) I'm finding pull-ups all over the house; 2) he knows he has to go and he's not going to the toilet and; 3) pull-ups are not cheap! But I think we're at least on the right track. Still hasn't ever pooped again on the toilet, but he at least peed at my mom's house.

Last night, DH put the lighted deer out on the lawn. He set up the baby deer inside first. Brenden first tried to shoot, but then Casey came along and said "he's a nice deer!" They decided it was a pet after that. When DH took it outside, they got upset, telling us that he'll be lost out there and he needed to be inside because he was scared. Luckily, mommy and daddy deer were soon out there with him. I can't wait to get our tree now. I think we're going to try to get it this Sunday.

Against my better judgment, I did buy Shrek for the kids for Christmas. I really didn't think it was so much a kids movie. I asked another mom. She said her 3 year old watches it all the time. I was torn, but I went for it. I'm hoping it's okay for them. They do like Nemo a lot. Casey watched The Wizard of Oz and part of It's a Wonderful Life last week. She enjoyed both of those. Now she's always playing that they go to the movies.

I was cleaning the kitchen floor last night and Casey comes in with a toy guitar. She started singing a song that was a mixture of about 4 different songs. It was the funniest thing. She was making up songs at SIL's house, too. She was playing the piano with Brenden and singing Mary Had a Little Lamb. Then she changed it to Mommy had a little lamb, but she doesn't have it anymore. And, my favorite, Mommy Had to Go to Work and we had to go to school. DH came in and heard part of it. Brenden really just wanted to bang out Hot Potato on the piano. He's been very into The Wiggles since we saw them.

MIL has been very nice. DH says she has "the fear of God in her" because she's been working at a church in FL. :p

[RunnerKim]

Cheryl I'm also very impressed that you could actually read with Garrett on the plane! Glad to travelling went well. I hope you're feeling better. I agree, we're not sharing the name we finally pick. The only exception would have been if we were having a girl and I probably would have PMed Susan because we both liked the name Casey and were considering it (probably with the Cassandra as the formal name). We've actually settled on one we like and we'll just see if we continue to feel that way (or if I run in to a zillion young kids with that name in the next couple of months!). For awhile we were thinking about Xavier and I noticed 3 of them on the baby photo wall at my doctor's office!

Susan - that's a cute story about the deer. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop in regards to your MIL - just doesn't sound like her :D

Nori - check out the little people Garage (we don't have it yet because my sister keeps saying she's going to give me hers, but Lainey likes it a lot and they can use anythign with wheels on it). She also has a trash truck and a fire engine that she likes a lot.

tyra - I like your salty cheese story, but hmmmm maybe I'll wait until Lainey's a little older to talk about it. Don't the gold coins represent something historical though - why are they a part of hanukkah? I know the oil part.

The holidays are so much fun this year. Helene, the calendar idea is a good one. I've been really working on Lainey's scrapbook recently and I'm pretty much a year behind now (which is a big improvement!) and it's neat to read about what Lainey was doing a year ago and looking at the pictures.

I've been sleeping so poorly lately (a combination of work-related stress, staying up to late scrapbooking while DH stirs peanut brittle and just plain pg related issues). Last night I fell asleep while putting Lainey down. Our glider isn't that comfortable but I slept for probably 30 minutes. Of course taking a nap like that so late in the evening meant I couldn't go to sleep an hour later. Grrrrr.

Kim

[tbb113]

Kim: I don't think there is any significance to gelt. It was just a small gift to give to children for Hanukkah. Outside of the US, Hanukkah is a pretty minor holiday. It only became important here because of the fact that it falls close to Christmas.

[MrsReber]

Wow, Kim, that's really cool that you considered Casey if you were having a girl. I considered the name when I was in high school. I had a guy friend and one of his girlfriends was named Casey. She was so pretty and so sweet. I really wanted Caterina, after my grandma, but DH squashed my hopes of that. My former boss has a daughter named Casey. I can't remember what her full name is- maybe Kristina Catherine? They called her KC for the initials and then made it into Casey. The funny thing is that I didn't know they called her Casey until I got a card from him right after my Casey was born. He put his wife's name and his 2 daughter's names on it.

Glad you have a boy's name that you're happy with. I hated sharing potential names with anyone becuase each person always had an opinion. In the end, they always grow into their names and nobody gives it a second though by the time they're 2.

We have the Little People garage. The kids love it. Brenden uses his matchbox cars with it, too. It's in the basement now since we rotate the Little People house, farm and garage. DH just mentioned it's about time we put the farm downstairs and get the garage out again. Our kids don't have that many toys compared to what I see at other people's houses, but DH thinks we have too many. He's going to have a fit after Christmas when Santa delivers even more toys! :D