Banana Monkey

Seriously, WHO doesn't want a monkey on a banana????

Noah and I had a "Mommy Date" on Saturday afternoon. We went to the mall, played, walked, bought chocolate, and rode the carousel.

And then we ran into brightly-clothed balloon people... And it was free.



It was an awesome date... :)

Ticking Bomb

A potty-training child is a ticking bomb... just waiting to well, explode at any second. Recently, as Noah has trotted around the house bare-bummed or donned the REAL underpants (not the pull-ups) as we venture out for a short walk with Abbie, I've been watching my little bomb like a hawk. I don't think I've ever spent so much time staring at my baby's cutie bootie as I have the last few weeks. Not sure what I was looking for. The inevitable wet spot or the dreaded "lump." Sorry. And then there's the ever so casual pat on the bum just to make sure he's dry and un-soiled (so to speak!). I'm SO guilty.

But I've been put in my place. Today marks the third day that my Noah has been in real underpants all day long and today is also the FIRST accident-free day EVER. Yay!!!

But today I also learned a valuable lesson from my sweet, sweet little ticking time bomb. Trust. The teaching moment came just after breakfast as I attempted to get Noah into a pull-up instead of his HAND-PICKED freshly washed Buzz Lightyear space ranger super awesome real underpants. We had some errands to run and I knew that we'd be gone for at least two hours. A pull-up was part of the plan. But as I got on my knees to assist with the changing of the underpants, my darling little boy took a step back, looked at me, and broke my heart. Looking a little sad, he said:

"... I can do it."

Yeah, you better believe I started to cry. What was I thinking????? The obvious message I sent to my baby was that I didn't trust him. I was putting a pull-up on him for MY convenience, and not for his benefit. I was so ashamed. Finally, I got out:

"Yes, Baby. Of course you can!"

He beamed and headed for the car. I didn't care if he exploded all over Target. My little boy was going to have his day with his underpants.

Three hours later, we arrived back at home... Car full of groceries and Taco Bell. And one giddy little boy. Who was DRY as DRY can be...

I hope that I can earn HIS trust again soon. :)

Love,
A proud mommy
@>->--

"These are not the droids you're looking for..."

I have a Jedi on my hands. Noah uses "the force" daily. I first noticed it when he was a baby. His little hand gestures and hypnotizing blue eyes were a dead give away. Check out the picture above. (Seriously, you'll want to enlarge this one...) This is Noah and my dad on St. Patrick's day (Noah is about six weeks old). He's pulling a Jedi move on me! Although I can't remember what exactly he wanted, but that was probably part of his plan. Maybe he also "flashy-thinged me" like from Men in Black. Very possible.

But Noah's connection with "the force" and his Jedi shenanigans have carried over into his toddler years and now into his 3's. A few weeks ago I was preparing his breakfast and I asked him what he would like. He looked at me with that little half smile and asked for chocolate... He is SO my son. But as you can imagine, I had to say no (even though chocolate was exactly what I wanted, too). He got a little sad and as I hugged him and encouraged him to have his favorite cereal and yogurt instead, he pulled away just enough to face me and said:

"Please chocolate?"

"No, sorry Baby."

"Yes."

"No."

(Then, with Jedi precision, sweeping his hand over my face and eyes...)

"..... Yeeeeeeeeeeesssssssss."

You have to imagine his low, calm, manipulative voice. Almost a whisper. After I died laughing, I presented him with lucky charms, vanilla yogurt... and a Hershey kiss.

Hey, I can't win them all. Besides, I'm helpless against the power of my little Jedi.

AND... I'm pretty sure that he gets it from his daddy. :)

Lucky...

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!




Old Irish Curse:

May those who love us, love us.
And those that don't love us
May God turn their hearts.
And if He doesn't turn their hearts
May He turn their ankles,
So we'll know them by their limping.



If you're lucky enough to live here... You're lucky enough. :)

Love,
One LUCKY Girl
@>->--

P.S. Photography provided by the amazing skills of my little dude. He's a budding talent!!! I'm not kidding... He pushed the button ALMOST every time.

Quote for the day

I got the cutest email from awesome Jewels yesterday. I LOVE this woman. She's an inspiration to me. :)

Anyway, at the end of the email (which was about National Girlfriends Day yesterday) was a quote that I'm going to try to live up to the next little while.



"Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor each morning, the Devil says 'Oh crap... She's up!'"



Join me, won't you Sisters?

Love,
Nicole
@>->--

Pancake phone

Noah recently discovered that if he emptied the contents of some of my lower kitchen cupboards, he could crawl inside.



Also, he thinks that the "plug dealie" for our griddle is a telephone. We refer to it as the pancake phone. Sometimes I catch him making phone calls with it. Sometimes I catch him INSIDE the cupboard making phone calls. When I ask who he's talking to, the answer is usually "Nam." (His Gram...)


And he always ends the conversation with the same phrase:

"Okay... okay... Well, I haf to go. Talk to you yater. Bye!"

He's just such a multi-tasker.

In Elmo jams...

Love,
Nicole
@>->--

WARNING: This post is about... um... Poop.

Yes, it's true. I have chosen a rather interesting topic for my next addition to our G-rated family blog. But if you knew what we've been going through lately on the Potty Training front, you'd jump for joy and blog about it, too!!!

Two weeks ago, I would have sworn that Mr. Noah would be wearing diapers happily until he leaves for college. I do not exaggerate... But then a break through. I found an AMAZING product that came at just the right time in his little Toy Story obsession. Huggies makes pull-ups that not only have Buzz and Woody on them, but they can peel open on the sides in case there's a... you know... "mess" inside. The first time Noah messed in his regular pull-up, I wasn't quite sure how to deal with it. But we managed. And there I go mentioning the main subject of this post again.

AnyWHOO...

The day before I discovered the Huggies, I had counted the remaining diapers in the house. Mainly just to torture myself. #23... Thanks for asking! Then I brought home these awesome Toy Story pull-ups and soon noticed that my little boy did NOT want to get them wet. (long inhale)

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaeeeeeeeeyyyy!!!!

I mean, sure we have the occasional accident. But he started to wake up at 2:00am and want to sit on the potty. And he would actually GO. Amazing. Then in the mornings, he would tell me that he wanted to sit on the potty before he told me Good Morning. AND he would actually GO. Incredible. I'd always heard that boys take their sweet, sweet time with some things: talking, potty training, learning to understand women, etc. I knew that there was a little switch that needed to flip inside and he would be "ready" to learn. And I also knew that until that happened, I was only training MYSELF and frustrating him. So Kevin and I bought a couple of soft, padded potty seats with his favorite licensed-characters on them and just kept encouraging our little boy.

BUT... he had yet to attempt the big deed on the potty. Noah would usually wait until I put him in quiet time and then he'd just take of business in his pull-up (or underpants if we were having a great day up until then... YEAH.) I'd read that a lot of kids potty train really well but get scared about the idea of going #2. So, I figured that we'd just deal with that awhile longer.


And then Noah surprised us. We all know that our children amaze us everyday, but sometimes they just flat out SURPRISE the socks off of us. Today after church, Kevin and I are trying to relax downstairs for a few minutes while Noah is in quiet time. True to form, about fifteen minutes after we'd put him upstairs, he opened his door.

"Noah, it's still quiet time."

"No, but I want to sit on the potty."

(Thinking it's a stall tactic) "Then go ahead. You know how."

See, at this point I've always been there by him, but let him do things himself. I was just tired and being lazy and didn't have the strength for a battle. That was the only thing I could say to him. About five minutes later, we noticed how quiet it was upstairs. Did he go back to his room?

I drag myself upstairs to find Noah in the bathroom trying to don another pull-up. He'd peed in the other one before he made it to the potty.

(Seeing the wet pull-up) "That's okay, Baby. Are you done?"

(Nonchalantly...) "I went poo-poo."

(Not sure I heard him right.) "............"

(Pointing to the potty) "See?"

I walked over and looked. Then I broke out into a dance, clapping my hands and shouting for Kev to come upstairs and see what his brilliant, BRILLIANT little boy accomplished all by himself while his lazy parents sat downstairs. Noah was all smiles while chewing his peanut butter M&M's (his reward for going potty). Kevin checked it out and asked, "Do you want me to get the camera?" (Inside joke for the Smith's... Go Hayley!!!)

I am in awe of those of you who have potty-trained and lived to tell the tale. You have my undying love and admiration. :)

Hurray and Hallelujah! We'll see if he takes the initiative again next time. Either way, I'm just so proud of him. ALMOST proud enough to take a picture....

YEAH.

Love,
Someone who will soon be spending diaper money on SHOES. :)
@>->--

OK Go

My mom sent me this video and there are no words to describe it. It's another awesome creation by OK Go. They're the group that did that amazing video on the treadmills awhile back.

Enjoy!!!! (You'll want to full-screen this one.)




Nicole
@>->--

Reason #10,962...

... Let me count the ways that I love HIM.

Another reason this week: Whenever I get in the shower and Kevin just happens to be home, he sneaks into the bathroom and steals my towel. Then he brings it back to me just as I'm getting out, only it's been in a nice warm dryer for about ten minutes and is all fluffy and delightful.

Goosebumps!!!

Love,

Nicole
@>->--

(Oh green grass... How we miss thee! It's officially March, so could you please hurry up and come back? I don't care if you bring spiders and mosquitoes with you. Well, at least not a first...)