Thursday, May 22, 2008

Blake's Giggles

This is the happiest sound in the world - I could listen to it all day long.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Choo-choo Grandma & Everyday Magic

We had a wonderful weekend with Grandma Alley from Laramie. She came down for the weekend and spoiled all of us with her love and help. The kids got confused with two Grandma Alleys (my Mom and my Dad's mom), so Trenton started calling her Choo-choo Grandma because of the choo-choo trains he hears while we're in Laramie. The name has stuck and she's now one of the most magical women in my children's lives. They absolutely adore her, and it has been delightful for me to watch them make the same memories I remember making with her as a child. She has all the patience in the world with them and brings out and points out the best in each child. It helps me as a mother to see my children through someone else's eyes and to watch her enter each of their little worlds to understand them so well. There is a reason she is a Great-Grand Mother.






We enjoyed some time out in the hammock together - Grandma is incredibly willing to try new things. She has more patience for technology than I do - a sharp mind and willing heart. How blessed are we and our children to have her!

Here, little sister...let me help you up.

Steve drove up to Laramie to pick Grandma up, and they stopped on the way home to jump off rocks (the kids beg us to let them do that every time we drive by). They had an absolute blast. It got me thinking...how do we raise them to always love the true miracles of life; the flowers, clouds, bugs, the thrill of jumping off rocks. I don't want to 'pollute' them with our manmade technology, amusement parks, etc., as it concers me that filling their little hearts and minds with those things will push out the love for the simple. No 'super-vacations' yet, as Steve said. As parents it's certainly a time to relish in the everyday magic with our little ones.

My Creations




This blog should have been entitled "Why I Don't Do My Creations" with 3 kids under age 4...this is what happens to them. I had made a pan of brownies as part of a dinner I was taking to a family, and Kali got a spoon and just scooped away. I have what it takes to make a meal to take to someone down to a science...dessert first, nurse Blake, Kali on the potty, bodily fluid clean up, wipe tears, cook the chicken, change a poopy diaper, referee a fight, chop veggies, put child in time out, assemble casserole, talk on phone, take child out of time out, etc, etc. This threw it all off :).
I knew it was way too quite while I was nursing Blake. I usually read to her while I nurse to keep her within my sight; she rarely lets me do anything alone, she's my little shadow. But this afternoon I should have realized I would pay the price for a peaceful, solitary nursing. 6 minutes...I left her alone for 6 minutes.




Potty Training







Who says it's easier to train girls? To be fair, we are starting to train Kali 5 months before we started Trenton ( 2 yrs 4 months vs. 2 yrs 9 months), but Trenton literally got it in 4 days. We are on Day 10 and to count we have 3 pee-pee's in the potty and 2 poo-poo's. It's not the poor girls fault - I just get too busy to sit her on the potty and read books until she goes...over and over. I usually do good the first 5 trips, and then I get the illusion that she might actually act on the urge herself and ease up a bit. Acting on the urge has onl happened twice, but I'm holding onto the fact that it HAS happened...it can happen again! We don't have the luxury of waiting like we did with Trenton...her urine gives her horrible, painful diaper rashes that have sent us to pediatric dermatologists. So the adventure begins. I do have to say it is so fun seeing her delightful personality through all of this. Her latest line today went like this:


Mom: "Kali, do you need to pee-pee in the potty."

Kali: "Maybe next time." (in her sing-song voice, big smile, head bobbing back and forth)


This is Kali in her very first pair of underwear and her favorite bathroom pasttime (I wonder who she got this one from!).