That's What I'm Talking About

It's been a while now since we had Micah's potty party to help him potty train. Just to give you a little background on my potty training experience... With my oldest, I had no idea what I was doing and it was... um, let's say... "challenging". And I'm trying to be very positive here. With my 2nd, I read the Potty Train Your Child in Just One Day. Great book, would recommend it. Luke did spectacularly. He really did potty train in just one day. Hardly had any accidents - ever. Very impressive. I thought then that the author of that book really knows what she's talking about! So, with Micah, once I determined that he was really ready, I pulled the book out again and read it a 2nd time. I was ready for another success story. Well... Micah didn't respond as quickly as Lukey did, unfortunately. I am now convinced that you can potty train some kids in one day, but not all kids. :-) And I wonder how much birth order plays into it all, but that's another story. Micah did great at the party and really seemed to want to go potty like his big brothers. He certainly understands how and what he's supposed to do. Just being the 3rd born, motivation is not always so high for him. So, we're still having accidents from time to time. I think overall he's doing great. Just sometimes he'd rather do something else than make it to the potty on time. And being forced to wear the wet pants does not phase him in the least. I've started rewarding him for the days he doesn't have accidents. Maybe that can get us out of the accident slump. He already gets special green frog stickers for putting all (emphasis on all) his poo-poo in the potty. One day he earned a frog sticker on his chart (posted on the bathroom wall). He looked at the chart and said, "Now that's what I'm talking about." If only we can talk about it all the time! :-)

Here are a few pictures of the potty party day. We had a "bear picnic" theme. The bathroom was the bear's clubhouse.

Not a Fan

My husband's family is from Boston. He grew up in New England loving the Red Sox baseball team. I've always been a baseball fan, so it's been easy to catch on to the Red Sox craze. One of the first things you learn when you become a fan is that you have to NOT like the New York Yankees. It just goes without saying. To love the Red Sox = to hate the Yankees. Naturally when both parents are fans of something it's only normal for the children to become fans as well. Our boys call the Yankees the New York "Yuckies", though I don't let them use the word "hate". :-) Now we live in a country where people wear things with English writing on them that have absolutely no meaning to the person. There has been more than one occasion when we passed someone on the street wearing a Yankees jersey or ball cap. The boys always seem to notice and exclaim how terrible it is. Thankfully most people can't understand what they're saying. But the other day one of the boys was in the elevator with Daddy and a man wearing a Yankees cap. Our son (who shall remain nameless) started pointing and making gagging noises in reference to the hat. Daddy was doing his best to calm our child down and make him stop pointing, but to no avail. And how do you explain that in another language to a stranger who you're in the elevator with for 1 minute? Maybe we need to keep working on how to "not like" the Yankees tastefully. Or at least not point at people in elevators whilst making gagging noises. No matter what hat they're wearing.

Show Me That Smile Again...

Shopping here is almost always random. I was at this market type place yesterday and scored a major find. I wasn't even looking for movies, but this lady enticed me to look at her stash. After sorting through all the trashy t.v. shows and movies as I was wondering why I was wasting my time, the last one in the pile was Growing Pains seasons 1-7! I asked the lady if it was real and she said it was and that the price was less than $6.00. So I bought it! We watched the first one last night and it seems like the quality is actually quite good (often a problem when you get them so cheap). It's fun to have an old school show that we would actually watch now and enjoy. We already own all 8 seasons of The Cosby Show. Woo-Hoo for Growing Pains!

On a different note, the countdown is on for my parents to arrive!!! They leave the States on Saturday afternoon and get here on our Sunday night. Can't wait!

The Bow Era Has Ended

You all know how I have enjoyed putting bows on Mercy. And up until now she has either just not noticed that the bow was there or didn't care. Well, after she turned 1, she started caring. :-( She won't leave the bow on her head anymore. Sometimes she'll leave it in for a little while, but eventually it always comes off. I'm so sad! Her hair is getting longer, so she is looking a little more "girly" herself. The boys are always disturbed when people outside think she is a little boy since her hair is short. They want everyone to know she is the little sister! I've been experimenting with little barrettes, which are also very, very cute. They tend to slide out after a while, but when they're in it's very cute and girly. I so love having a little girl!