TAXI DRIVER

Some days are just like this….even if you only have one child…I’m sure.

We got some school done. The older three finished. The two that depend on me got about 75% done. We’ve really struggled this week – and I’m not sure why.

I dropped Josiah off at work. I had to run some errands on the base. I had to pick up some more thyroid meds and pay for Saturday’s birthday paint-ball bash. I met Mike for lunch. I dropped by the peds clinic, hoping to make Stacia’s 4 month well-baby appt…YES, SHE IS SIX MONTHS OLD! GRRRRR…..They still don’t have any appointments but I’ll call at 0700 on Friday and maybe they can get her in a month from now. Then, horrors, they realized that if she was 2 appointments behind then her shots would be behind. Not a problem. We delay shots. I did think that 6 months was a good time to start. I denied several shots and agreed to three. The tech recognized Stacia’s last name as “the chaplains” last name and told me how much she enjoys Mike’s weekly "Word from your chaplain". She said they made her cry every day.

While leaving the Peds clinic I got a call from a friend who I had told about the Feingold diet. She was excited to report that she’d seen marked changes in her son after two days. We used this diet for about 1 ½ years when Jamin was 4. We are gathering all the info to begin it again with Zander. I raced home…had 5 more min to talk with her on the phone…then drove Jamin to FOOTBALL PRACTICE! Can you believe it? What’s up with football practice in FEBRUARY when the first game isn’t until the end of AUGUST???? Jamin isn’t sure if he will join the team next year, but coach thought the training would be good…so off we went. It turns out that the “practice” is only one hour a day…but its five days a week. Not sure what Jamin will decide to do. This is amazing….9 months out of the year devoted to football. Wow. I came home and began dinner. I ran to pick up Jamin. Next stop was the mall to pick up Josiah from work. Then home. Finished dinner, talked with a friend on the phone, served dinner, cleaned up, family worship and now it’s time to end this day.

My calendar for tomorrow looks horrendous….lots and lots of conflicts. My friend asked me how she could help and I couldn’t even figure out what I needed. Driving Josiah to work and Jamin to practice is a kink in my schedule…..Josiah could drive himself but I need the car to get Jamin where he needs to be…it’s too far to ride a bike and we don’t have buses out this way. I need the car to take Nolan to speech anyway…and pick up cake and balloons for the shower….THAT will be fun! I’ll just keep thinking about being able to rest and relax with a houseful of ladies celebrating the addition of a new blessing to a friend’s family…and I’ll get through the rest of the day the best I can.

Potty Training update

It was not a fluke! He got up this a.m. and "made bubbles" again. He's quite proud of himself. He was wet when he woke up...but he's getting it.

I was sure you'd want to know.

WELL!!! WHAT do YOU know???

Zander loves his new cloth “pull-ups”. I am convinced that the disposable ones keep an unobservant child from realizing when he is wet. All morning he would start to go and say, “oh no” and then we’d run to the toilet. He’d sit. Nothing. We’d repeat.

Around lunch time I was thinking “Well at LEAST he now knows what we mean by wet and he doesn’t like it.”

He was in the room and said again, “oh no”. I rushed him to my toilet. I had a bit of a time convincing him to go to my bathroom. I finally told him I’d be right outside the door putting on my makeup. He was content to sit. Soon, I HEARD the most welcome noise I’ve heard in months. I didn’t want to rush in and stop the flow – know what I mean? I waited. Then I peeked around the corner. He was staring at himself and said “WELL!! What do YOU know?” :::snort::: I made the appropriate celebratory noises…o.k. I was excitedly screaming and applauding his accomplishment. Josiah came in and gave him a “high 5”. He told Cy, “I did that in the toilet”. I continued putting on make-up and he proceeded to go back into the bathroom and create a potty training dance. Yep, a dance for EVERY occasion seems to be his motto.

Later today I had to run out for a bit. When I got back home, Zander met me at the door and said, “MOM – I made BUBBLES in the toilet!!!”

I think we are well on our way now. In fact, if he keeps this up, I think he’ll be trained within the week. I went to put a diaper on him at bed time and he really wanted to wear a pull-up. I still have some of the disposable left and put one of those on him. I suspect by the time I’ve used the last of these diapers and pull-ups he’ll be trained.

Yippee…doing my own potty training dance! {vbg}

Brother Love

What fun it is to watch Stacia interact with Josiah. When he gets home from work she starts squirming and smiling and reaching and nothing will do but for Josiah to pick her up. She really does seem to notice when he is not around.



He'll be working 30 hours this week because it is the "stock show and rodeo" week around here. I guess Chick-fil-A has a booth on the grounds so they need to run both spots. They did make sure he has Saturday a.m. off so if it is NICE we can have the paint ball party.

ZANDER

I finally found some REAL training pants for Zander to try. We gave them to him last night after Jamin opened his gifts. He isn’t quite sure of the new “pull ups”. We aren’t making big progress yet on the goal to accurate toilet usage.

Ah…sure…here he is dancing on the table again. Furniture is so very boring when used for simple sitting and such….

Jamin’s Birthday

Jamin chose Chinese for “dinner”. He suggested one spot but Mike directed us to a brand ne Chinese Buffet in town that was much better and cheaper than the one that we had gone to before. Lins for any local folks gets our vote of approval. Since Cy had to work 4 – 8 p.m. and Mike was off for most of the day yesterday we opted for lunch. Yum. Stacia even ate Chinese today (see story below).

Here are some shots of gifts!

Paper? Confirmation of gifts ordered that we can’t get locally – Hogan’s Heroes season 3 (to be released next month) from Cy, Jared, Arielle and Nolan and Imagine If (a board game he wanted) from Zander and Stacia.



Jamin requested a Paint Ball Gun and an Athletic watch. I’d never heard of such a thing. This will keep track of his heart rate, work outs, countdowns etc. He can program in his target rate and it will alert him when he is below or above it…Mike figured he’d use this every day and so chose it over the gun. We did buy him a few paint ball accessories that he can use when they play at the Base paintball field. Zander promptly got his arm stuck in the “quick loader” (for paintballs).
Jamin chose ice-cream rather than a cake. A month later…and pay back is SOOOO fun!
We’re going to have a Paint Ball Party bash on Saturday to celebrate he and Josiah’s birthdays…..if it doesn’t SNOW again. {g

A Star

What must life be like when every minute is eagerly observed and recorded???? (We certainly aren’t finding that we take less pictures of the youngest ones ). We all watch as Stacia tries rice for the first time.  So far so good.
 This stuff is really pretty good – Stacia attacks the spoon.  OK Dad….ENOUGH PICTURES – Let a girl EAT!