Potty Book

Joshua's intelligence amazes me more and more everyday. A couple days ago, he dug and dug through his book bin, looking for a specific book. I cracked up that he grabbed his potty book and ran into the family bathroom with it, reading it on his little potty! I assumed Shawn had recently read him the book since I hadn't picked it up in months. Shawn said he hadn't even seen the book in months - it had been buried underneath other favorites. So, even though Joshua hadn't heard this book in a loooong time, he remembered his potty book and associated it with his potty. I was impressed! I didn't have the camera ready to go that day, so I asked him to re-enact the event.Like I said, Joshua amazes us almost daily. On Saturday, Joshua had one of his t-shirts in our bedroom. Daddy asked him, "Why are you playing with a shirt?" so Joshua dropped it. I asked Joshua, "Can you please put your shirt back in your big boy room rather than leaving it on our bedroom floor?" I followed him into his room to make sure he did what I asked, and he did even better! He opened up his dresser drawer where his t-shirts belong, threw it in, and closed the drawer. I've never asked him to get a shirt out of there, nor have I ever asked him to put one back before. But, he knew where his shirts belonged.Then yesterday, he was playing with the little boy Evan from down the street again. The two were playing with a ball and Joshua tripped. Evan gently helped him back up (he is the sweetest little boy I think I've ever seen!) and asked Joshua if he should kiss his knee. Joshua understood the word 'kiss' and puckered up his lips and leaned down to Evan, who looked like a deer in headlights. Haaaa! He gave him a quick kiss and they continued to play. I was highly amused!Saturday morning the Smoketown Airport had a Mission Aviation Fair. If you've ever seen the movie "End of the Spear," the special speaker was the son of the missionary who was killed by the natives after he created an airplane and the 'drop' method of getting supplies to native people. They had airplane rides, helicopter rides, little tike barrel rides, air balloons, ice cream, and different booths of information about missions. The emcee of the event asked me how old my baby was, and I told him six weeks. He then asked Joshua if he was the big brother, and gave him a soccer ball with "Jesus Loves Me" written in a ton of different languages. He said that he "won" the ball for being the big brother of the smallest baby there.The funny thing was, I ran into a friend of my sister Becky's. She was also wearing a baby strapped to her in a snuggli. I asked her about her son, and she said that his name was Caleb and he was born on 7/7/08, or the day before our Caleb. Wow! I've now heard of more than three babies named Caleb, and it was a name I hadn't heard much before.Joshua was a little overwhelmed at the fair with all the people, so we didn't stay too long. He enjoyed our little picnic better, where he had a front-row seat. Hope you enjoy the pictures of him on the potty reading his potty book! I guess he's ready!!!

Barf-a-rama...on the Mama!

Last night just before 3 am, Shawn was woken up from a dead sleep by the sound of his wife screaming... It all started when Caleb woke up around 2ish to eat (notice the shirt I wore on him today says 'party at my crib 2:00 am'). I was exhausted! I went into the bathroom and splashed some cold water on my face before picking him up and changing his diaper in preparation for him to eat. He was not thrilled at having to wait for his 'meal' and cried away. But, it didn't take too long until we were settled in and he was eating away.
He was gulping like a champ, and I remember groggily thinking to myself "He must have been really hungry. Did he eat well at his feeding before this? I don't think so..." When he was finished on the first side, I sat him up to burp him. No burp. He doesn't always burp in between, so I wasn't that concerned. I simply switched sides and let him continue to eat.
He again gulped hungrily and I thought, "He should sleep well the rest of the night now." Less than 10 minutes later, he started to squirm. I thought he had gas (this is often the case), but this time he erupted like a volcano...while he was still latched on eating! I was covered in vomit in less than a second. In my tired state and disbelief, without thinking of my poor husband who had to work the next day, I let out a shriek....a very LOUD shriek. Shawn woke up with a startle and threw on the light. Our bed looked like someone had dumped a half gallon of milk all over it.
Poor Caleb...poor Mama. Poor Dada who graciously started changing the bed while I got cleaned up. I think Caleb must have had a burp in there before he started eating from when he was crying as I changed him. The air came out after he had eaten and eaten. The sad thing was, he still acted hungry. I let him eat another 10 minutes (even though I was nauscious from the evening's - or early morning's - events) and laid him back in his pack 'n play. He wasn't too thrilled and woke up off and on throughout the night. Ugh!
Caleb is also starting to lose his hair on top, just like Joshua did. Here's a picture for his memory book!

Have You Seen a Chocolate Bean?

Why You Should Never Let Your Kids Eat in the Car

Airplane!

Yesterday I took Joshua & Caleb over to my sister's house, where we met up with Aunt Jen, Grace, Faith, Emma & Daniel. Our whole clan walked to the park where the kids played. Unfortunately, Joshua fell and skinned his knee upon entering the park and wasn't too thrilled at the wood chips getting into his Crocs. He kept coming to me saying, "Momma, toes???" and I kept cleaning out his shoes. Eventually, we went back to Aunt Jen's house where I bought pizza for everyone (she bought last time) and we enjoyed a nice lunch. Joshua loves playing in her backyard, too. I'm amused how much he's saying "Momma" and "Mommy" these days. He's never been real clingy with me, and always seem to favor his "Dada" which I don't mind. But the last week, he's been coming up and giving me hugs and kisses and asking for me when I'm not in the room or next to his side. It melts my heart.This morning started off another busy day as I got the two boys dressed in their cute outfits and we went to get their pictures taken together by professionals. I didn't have any real good ones of the two of them together, and these turned out great. I can't wait to get them!From there we went to Grandma's work and picked her up for lunch. We had packed peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, bananas, animal crackers, granola bars and drinks, along with a blanket, and headed to the Smoketown Airport. There we spread out our picnic lunch and waited for an airplane to leave or arrive. Our time there started off being pretty uneventful. Joshua heard a "woof woof" keep barking from the Smoketown Vet (poor puppy!), we saw three horse 'n buggies from Abe's Buggy Rides (Joshua delightedly yelled out "horsey!") and we saw the Amtrack train go by twice (Joshua of course pointed and said "Choo choo!") We also saw the fire trucks at the repair shop nearby. But, still no planes yet.Soon, though, we spotted one circling in for a landing. Grandma (in her postal uniform) pointed it out to Joshua, who ate like a champ. He had an entire PB&J, two bananas, granola bites, one hershey kiss, and a ton of animal crackers in addition to drinking lots of water. Good boy!You can see the airplane coming in the picture below. I put an arrow so you can see it in the distance. It wasn't that far off, if you consider its size compared to my car!Within seconds it landed. I didn't realize that we were within two feet (or less) of the actual runway, but Mom knew when she picked out the spot. I felt like the plane could have hit us, but none did!Mom and Joshua watched it land. He was so excited!So was she, as you can tell by this picture. It's so neat to see the world through a child's eyes!
Then we saw another plane take off within a few minutes. You can see it far back on the runway - we were so close to it! And they only take seconds to come in or go out. As we were packing up then, we saw another one land. Hooray! It was a great experience. A cheap delicious lunch, free entertainment and sweet company - you can't ask for more than that!
Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, depending on how you look at it), Caleb missed the entire thing and simply napped in the sun. When he's older, I'm sure he'll enjoy watching them too. After our eventful day, Joshua is now napping in his room, and I'm contemplating napping myself. I could clean, I could do school work, but a nap with my boys sounds the best. We'll see...

Observant

If there's one word I could say to describe Bean at this age it's "observant." Last night when Caleb was napping, I sat down for the first time in awhile to play piano. Joshua loves the "ni-ano" and will often ask to play it by himself. Last night he asked to sit up with me. Then, he took my highlighter and started acting like he was marking the music, much like I do when I'm practicing. I was amazed...he hasn't even seen this for over a month and yet he didn't miss a beat! He loved playing and singing with me. I like this picture above because of Joshua's serious face...ever watching and ever learning.

This morning I was brushing my hair, and he opened the drawer and handed me my bottle of hairspray. Again, these aren't things we've taught him, he just does it himself. Last night after his bath, he grabbed Daddy's deoderant, opened it and put some under his arms (but over his PJ's). We were amused. He also tries to pat Caleb's back after he's done eating because he watches me trying to get Caleb to burp. Then after Caleb does, Joshua cries "S-cuzee." He's so cute!

Celebrating Success!!!

Tonight, August 20, was Joshua's first successful attempt at the potty. Even when we're not ready, he is! He came into the bathroom while I was finishing up going (which is nothing new - he loves to flush the potty). Then he said to me "Poo poo!" I quickly asked "Do you have to go poo poo?" He said "YES!"I yelled for Shawn to come help! Joshua's only interested in sitting on the potty when we're sitting on the big potty, so I didn't want to move and distract him. Shawn yanked off his shorts, unsnapped his shirt (ugh!) and pulled off his diaper. Joshua cried "shirt! shirt!" so Daddy took it the whole way off, too.Then I'm proud to say with some coaxing, the naked Bean sat on his little potty. And he did poo-poo! It wasn't much (barely the size of a dime) but to sit there and do anything was amazing for us. We praised him and praised him and let him flush the potty. Hooray for Joshua!!! An hour or so later, he finished the job in his diaper and didn't tell us until after he was finished. But, we'll take any successful attempt! My little boy is growing so big! And we're so proud of him!

Six-week Check-up

I can't believe my little boy turned six weeks old yesterday! The time has flown! I can't believe school starts next week for me, and I'll have my first evening away from the boys. It makes me kind of sad.
Caleb is a delightful baby. He's very easygoing and loves to cuddle. And his grin melts my heart. Tomorrow I'm getting the boys' pictures taken together at JC Penny's. I can't wait to see how they turn out!
Today was my six-week check-up. Everything looks great! My blood pressure was 110/64, which is low. Hooray! My weight was also less than before I got pregnant with Caleb. Double hooray! Now all my restrictions have been lifted.The nurse (an older lady) asked me what the baby's name was and I said "Caleb." She said "Joshua & Caleb...that's definitely better than Cain & Abel." Haaaa!!! Caleb has blessed our family so much. I'm thrilled to have such an adorable baby that looks up at me with his big blue eyes. Joshua loves his little brother, too, I can tell already. And Daddy said tonight as we were bathing him together (this little purdue-chicken is slippery when wet!) about what an easy baby he's been. Thank God for our bundle of joy!

Chuck E. Cheese

Last night was our first adventure to Chuck E. Cheese. Since last year it was cold on his birthday, we decided not to have his party here and find a nice indoor spot condusive to children. We've been looking at a couple options and decided to try Chuck E. Cheese, too. Unfortunately, it wasn't a great experience. Joshua doesn't like any rides that move (that's 90% of what they have). The other 'games' were mostly broken. He ran up to the ducky race, we put in a token and then noticed that one of the ducks was off the track and wouldn't move. The ABC "whack-a-mole" was also broken, along with the one behind it. And so on and so on.

The only one he liked to do was hitting the mallet on the machine with the dog and then balls would pop up and feed the puppy. However, he wasn't quite strong and accurate enough to hit it most of the time. He enjoyed the slide and the phone next to the slide (which he liked better when it wasn't talking), so we ended up taking some of the tokens to the "big kid" area. Joshua enjoyed sitting on Daddy's lap and aiming the water gun at the target and controlling the steering wheel in a nascar race (where he crashed consistently into the wall) and "helping" Daddy play ski ball. We still left with a TON of tokens.

He also didn't really like the greasy pizza (a new first), so overall it wasn't a fabulous experience.

Thus, we booked his party for Gymboree, where he seemed to love it from the second he entered the door. His party is going to be Saturday, September 20, at 1:30 pm. Now I have to start working on the invitations.

Happy Birthday, Aunt Becky!

Happy Birthday! Hope you have a great year!

The Luau

This past weekend was a very busy one for us. Like I said before, Friday consisted of cleaning, laundry and yard work, along with time at the park. Then Saturday morning was my cook-a-thon with my sister and Grandma & Grandpa Dziedzic visited. But, the best part was when my good friend Suzanne came over. She was in town for a family function and stopped in, bringing with her our favorite Starbucks drinks. We talked about kids and old friends and life in general. She's one of those friends where we tend to think the same things on the same subject, and no matter how long in between times we see each other, we seem to be able to pick up where we last left off. We've been close since the second grade and were roomates in college. I love Suz! Then on Sunday we went to Nonie & Poppy's to celebrate Nonie's birthday, Aunt Alicia's birthday and Aunt Missy's birthday. They had decorated their backyard/patio with Hawaiin decorations, which was so cute. Poppy grilled and we enjoyed the company, outdoors and food!
I had a "nada-colada" (or non-alcoholic pina-colada), which was delicious. The party reminded me of my favorite Homestar Runner episode: http://www.homestarrunner.com/luau2.html. My favorite part, of course, is the "personalized name tags."Caleb slept the entire time we were there, literally. But, he slept well that night, too, so I can't complain!Last night we visited Gymboree in Lancaster, and tonight we went to Chuck E. Cheese. More from our experience there to come!I asked Joshua today, "Do you know how much Mommy loves you?" His response? "YES!" Okay! My little ones (and big guy!) are so adorable.

So What?

I realize that I start a lot of my conversations with "So..." I'll say "So...the other day I was...." One thing that made me realize this? Joshua started plopping down next to us and saying "So..." which made me giggle. Shawn would reply "So what?" Now Joshua says "So...so what?" Too funny!

This morning I gave him a choice for breakfast. I often give him choices and he doesn't typically respond (most of the time I don't think he has a preference). This morning, though, I asked him if he'd rather have waffles or 'hoops' (organic cheerios). He immediately replied "Faffles!" So, waffles it was!

Today was also a new first when he said "Now what?" when we were playing. I often say that to him to see if he'll find a new toy, etc. This time he was asking me. He's like a little adult!

Celebrating Joshua's 2nd Year of Life

Now Hiring...

Now Hiring All Shifts! Will work for toys...
Will sweep for fun...