Three years old already?

Where in the world did the time go? It seems like just the other day we had two kids and two babies. Now we have four, full-fledged kids. Helen and Will turned 3 Saturday, and were very proud of that fact.

We started the day by opening presents from family after breakfast. They got several fun things, including new baseball mitts from their brother Charlie. This prompted Helen to insist that now that she had a baseball glove and was THREE, she could play in Charlie and Joe's tball game later that afternoon.

They also had their first official party, at a place in the Heights called Wonderwild. Basically it's one of those indoor kid playground places, where they do all the party schmuck work for you. Kiddos and parents had a wonderful time!

We went home for quick naps, off to big brothers' tball game, and then dinner out (Mexican), where we convinced them to be pretty well behaved "now that you're three."

All in all, a great birthday for a couple of great three-year-olds.

Will unwrapping a birthday gift

Helen doing some unwrapping - they have this concept down pat now

Will showing off his new baseball glove

Helen riding the trains at Wonderwild with her friend Meredith

Helen enjoying the slide

Helen loved ALL the slides

Will preferred riding with Daddy, which he later said was his "favorite part"

All smiles and fun

Happy Birthday to You!

Mmmm, cake

Sharing with Daddy

Although she wanted to play, ultimately both Helen and Will settled for sitting in on the "team meeting"

Makes My Mother's Day

This morning when they got up, Charlie and Joseph both put on their A&M shirts in honor of me for Mother's Day:

Right before lunch, Joseph changed to a Texas Tech t-shirt in honor of Gransan (Charlie couldn't find the other Tech t-shirt):

Next they wanted to honor Gramma, an OU fan. They didn't have any OU t-shirts (Gramma, I think there's a Christmas gift idea there!), so they just went with red shirts:

Also, Joseph made me a card at school for Mother's Day. As you can see, it was a fill-in-the-blank sort of project. Note that he describes my hair color as "nutmeg."

Sure enough, that's what Clairol calls it too:

Thanks to my kiddos for making being a mom so entertaining!!

Up and Down

A year ago, or maybe more (I really can't remember anything anymore) we moved Will and Helen out of highchairs and into regular chairs at our table. Which meant that we had to put the leaf in the table, so it would fit 6 chairs. The consequence of the bigger table is that I can't reach all the way across it. So, this morning is an example of meals at our house. Cort made breakfast (breakfast tacos).

I sat DOWN and grabbed a tortilla and some beans.

Then I got UP and walked around the table to get some eggs.

I sat DOWN, added some cheese, and rolled up my taco.

Helen got in her chair and needed help strapping into her booster seat and scooting her chair up to the table, so I got UP to do so.

I sat back DOWN and took a bite.

Joseph asked for more beans, so I got UP and gave him some.

I sat back DOWN.

Before I could take a bite, Helen refused the half tortilla Cort had given her because she wanted a circle one, so I gave it to her, along with some cheese, then I got UP to move the cheese away from her because you don't leave the shredded cheese in front of Helen if you want any to be left.

Then I sat back DOWN.

I made Will wait while I took a bite of my taco before I got back UP and scooted his chair in.

I sat back DOWN, but then Charlie asked for more milk.

The milk was already out, but on the other end of the table, so I got back UP and got it, and poured some in Charlie's cup.

Then I sat back DOWN and took a bite.

Cort fixed Will his breakfast taco, but in a few minutes Will decided he also wanted some beans on his plate (not just on the taco), so I got back UP to do that.

Then I sat back DOWN, took a bite, and Will asked for cheese on his plate (again, not just on the taco).

So I got UP and obliged.

I sat back DOWN, took a bite, and Joseph asked for more milk.

The milk was on my side of the table now, because I had fetched it to give some to Charlie, but Joseph is not. So I got UP and poured Joseph more milk.

I sat DOWN, barely, but Helen asked for more beans.

I really only had to get halfway UP to accomplish this.

After sitting DOWN and taking a couple of bites, though, she then wanted more milk.

Since the milk was back on the other side of the table, I had to get UP to get it.

Once I sat DOWN again, Helen said she had to go to the bathroom.

So I had to get UP to help her get out.

I sat back DOWN and took a few more bites.

Then Will asked to go to the bathroom, so I got UP and unstrapped him as well.

I sat back DOWN.

Joseph asked for some eggs, so I got UP and got them.

As soon as I sat DOWN, he told me he ate the eggs just so he could have more beans (we've got a rule against having thirds if you haven't eaten some of everything).

So I got UP to give him more beans.

In doing so, I left the beans over by him, so as soon as I sat DOWN and Charlie also asked for more beans and eggs, I had to get UP again.

I sat DOWN, finished my taco, and then got UP to take my dishes to the sink.

I sat back DOWN (still working on my morning diet Coke), and Helen came back from the bathroom.

So I got UP to help her get strapped into her seat, and then sat back DOWN.

I got UP and DOWN several more times to fetch various food items for Charlie and Joe before they went upstairs to finish getting ready for school.

I got UP to help Will back into his seat.

I probably sat DOWN again before I had to get UP to help Helen down from her seat when she was finished, and I stood there to ensure that she took her cup and plate to the sink before I sat back DOWN again.

I got UP and DOWN a few more times to assist Will with various things.

Then I got UP to do the dishes, and I went upstairs to finish getting ready myself, leaving only one kid still eating and Cort on UP and DOWN duty.

We do this one to three times a day, seven days a week. Forced exercise combined with a reduced caloric intake. Why aren't I skinnier?

The potty training chronicles, part two

Part two, as in this is the second time I have done this. The first time did not get a blog post. All in all, the first time was fairly uneventful. This post, however, has literally been months in the making.

It all started last August. Yes, August. I prefer potty training twins separately (because there is only so much I can take), and we planned to start with Helen. Because she is a girl. Because girls are easier than boys (right?). Because she had already gone in the potty several times. Because she showed every. single. sign of being ready to potty train. Because she wanted to do it.

Her teacher and I planned to start her the day after Labor Day. But then the week before that, Helen really wanted to do it. So her teacher suggested she wear underwear to school the next day. We went to Target, picked out some undies (incidentally, when you are the sole girl surrounded by boys, they are "undies," not "panties"), and off she went to school. She came home at the end of the day, and she had not had a single accident. Not one.

I almost wrote this post that day.

She had only a couple of accidents the next few days. Then it went downhill. She refused to use the toilet altogether. She had LOTS of accidents. At school. At home. And best of all, often while we were out and about. And the wet clothes were nothing compared to the poop. She pooped in her underwear, or held her poop, or both (meaning that she would hold it until when she finally had to poop in her underwear, it was a huge, huge amount -- fun, fun). This went on for months. We would have stopped, except that by this time I had figured out that this wasn't about capability, it was about her stubbornness. And the only one in the family more stubborn than Helen is . . . me.

Will, meanwhile, showed zero signs of being ready to potty train. And since he was scheduled for surgery in October for hypospadias, our pediatrican recommended waiting until he had recovered before even thinking about potty training. I did not have to be talked into waiting.

So, the surgery and his recovery behind us, we finally bought Will some undies too. Then, one weekend in November, we spent Saturday with bare butts and Sundays with only underwear on (the kids, that is, not us). At this point, Will had never once used the toilet. I think he may have sat there once or twice, but he clearly did not even understand its function. But after a few accidents clued him in and he suddenly understood the purpose of sitting on the thing, he was a champ. We sent him to school Monday fully potty trained after only two days. He had a few accidents after that, but very few. Probably less than ten total since last November.

Helen, meanwhile, not so much. Her brother's copious collection of jelly beans and stickers for his sticker chart was somewhat motivating--but only in that she would use the potty right after he did, so she could keep up on rewards. She could even control herself enough to go several times right in a row (so as to amass more stickers). But she still didn't go every time that she needed to.

Finally, in late January she moved up into another class at school, and all the kids in that class are potty trained. And peer pressure can be a wonderful thing. She has been fully potty trained ever since.

That left only one remaining item. Will needed to learn how to pee standing up.

Charlie and Joseph did this almost immediately after they potty trained. I found out they had been standing up at school, so I told them to do that way all the time. Done.

Will, however, was having none of the standing up business. He could talk a big game, but when it came down to doing it, NO. CAN. DO. We changed the rules so that jelly beans were earned only if he went standing up. That had an impact--as in lots of crying and whining--but did not achieve the desired result.

Standing up may not seem like a big deal, but we have to take FOUR kids to the restroom (sometimes together, sometimes serially) in a restaurant, store, sporting event, airport, etc. -- and Will insisted on getting completely undressed to sit on the throne. Standing up would just make it all easier, and I'm all about easy.

Finally, finally, a few weeks ago he did it. And we are done.

And now, we hold the league record for time spent in port-a-potties at the little league baseball fields. But I'll take it.

No, Daddy didn't win

This past weekend, Cort (along with some friends) rode in the GHASP. That's the Greater Houston/Austin to Shiner Pedal. In other words, he pedaled his bike 100 miles to Shiner, Texas. Go Cort!

Charlie and Joseph were duly impressed, and enjoyed the updates Cort sent from his iphone along the way. They were also quite concerned, when he sent a picture of himself sitting on the ground at a rest stop, that he had fallen off his bike. And their first question, when he called them afterwards, was whether Daddy had won.

No, Daddy didn't win. But he made it! And we are very proud of him.

Wordless Wednesday

Kids Say the Darndest Things

It's been awhile since I have shared some of the things our kiddos say. But I keep track. I need to have something to embarrass them with later. Here are a few gems:

Both Will and Helen's first word, at age 11 months: "Hi!"

Helen

age 22 months - "Hap-py You You!" [said to the intonation of Happy Birthday to You]

age 2.5, when asked how old she is: "Twins!"

age 2.5, when told not to eat her boogers because it's yucky: "It's not yucky. I eat ALL my boogers!"

age almost 3, repeatedly when referring to herself and something she did: "Silly Goose!"

age almost 3: Me: "Helen, you're funny." Helen: I'm not funny." Me: "You're not?" Helen: No. I'm crraaazzzyyy!!!"

Will

age 22 months - "Nonny" [his word for "Helen"]

age 2.5, as his play vacuum runs out of power: "The batteries are running away!"

age 2.5, with a stuffy nose: "My nose needs new batteries."

Joseph

age 4.5: "Dad, does Maine have a football team?" Cort explains that Maine has a college football team, the Maine Black Bears, whereupon Joe says: "If you changed 'Bears' to "Berry,' you'd have a phone!"

age 5: "Can you tell me what happened to Yugoslavia?"

age 6, as we discussed the upcoming Go Texan Day for the Houston Livestock Show: "So. When is it going to be Go Wisconsin Day?"

age 6, to his brother: "Charlie, if you don't give me that ball I'm not going to be your friend anymore." [Charlie responds, "You're not my friend, you're my brother."] "Fine. Then I'm not going to be your brother anymore."

Charlie

age 6, as we are buying lift tickets (adult and child) to go skiing: "Mom, it's a good thing you have kids, so it's cheaper!"

age 6, when I was having trouble finding their Easter baskets for an Easter egg hunt: "If we can't find them, we can just use those plastic pumpkins from Halloween."

age 6, when discussing that he can get his driver's license at age 16: "But I'm not going to drive for real until I'm 20. Or maybe 21. Yeah, definitely 21. Because then I can have some beer!"

Naked living room skiing

Super (sick) Will

We woke up Monday morning to a sick little boy. Will threw up at least five times. When he wasn't throwing up, all he wanted to do was lay down on the cold, hard wood floor. At some point, he even fell asleep there. Sweetness.

The point of this post, though - the absolutely amazing thing -- is that each and every time he threw up right in the toilet. He pukes like a pro, and he's not even 3. This kid ROCKS.

Pinkalicious!

Gramma was in town recently. She gave Helen her very first manicure. Helen proclaimed her nails "pinkalicious."