VICTORY!!!

I walked into the kitchen today and saw Andrew place a paper towel over his bowl of saucy ravioli before microwaving it! Wow, maybe they DO listen to what I say sometimes. ;)

I Can't Even Go to the Bathroom!

Before you get the wrong idea from the title, let me explain. It's 2:00 and Hannah and Logan are all ready to go to Hannah's well child check at 2:30. I went into the bathroom to finish getting ready. When I came out, I realized that it was very quiet in the house...too quiet. You know what that means. My first thought was that they had escaped out the side door, but was relieved to find the door still locked. I thought, maybe every thing's okay... until I saw these little footprints on the carpet leading to the back porch.Oh boy. They had dumped out a bag of potting soil and several of the little seedlings we had been growing out on the porch. They must have dumped it on their heads and rolled in it too, because they were COVERED head to toe! I had to take these pictures to keep from strangling them! It's a pretty good parenting strategy, I've found.

Isn't she adorable. Keep in mind that this was 15 minutes before we were supposed to be at the pediatrician's office. Lovely.

They're So Cute...When They're Asleep!

Logan has to sleep with at least 10 stuffed animals every night. He calls them "my fwends." Infamous Kitty has been missing recently. Logan told me sadly, "I lost Kitty. He was my best fwend." Lately, he has insisted on sleeping in his "sports hat" too.

A little while ago, when we were painting the boys' bedroom, we moved Logan's toddler bed into the master bedroom so they could sleep while we painted. We told Andrew he could sleep in our bed, but when we peeked in to check on them, we found they came up with a different arrangement.

I often like to peek in on my kids after they've fallen asleep. They are so quiet and peaceful and I am reminded of their innocence. Sometimes I find something funny to laugh about and take pictures of, but more often it's a reflective time. Sometimes I feel sadness for how fast they are growing, and I feel regret for my shortcomings as a mother. But I always feel so much gratitude for the opportunity to be a mother and whisper a quick prayer of thanks to my Father in Heaven for trusting me with His sweetest spirits.

You Can Lead a Horse to the Potty...

...but you can't make him pee!!!

We are on DAY 3 of intense potty-training with Logan. We have been encouraging it for months, but have been pretty easy going about it because he has shown little or no interest. But now that he's graduated nursery at church, several of his fellow preschoolers (all boys) are potty-trained, AND he's coming up on four-years-old (for heaven's sake), we decided to really start pushing him. Plus, we don't have many plans outside the house right now, so what better time to run around bottomless, right? So we've been trying to get him to drink a lot and have basically followed his little bare bum around the house with his little potty, making him sit on it every 20-30 minutes.

Potty-training Logan has been a very different experience than training Andrew. Andrew took his sweet time too, but he was very easy to bribe. All it took was a sticker on a chart to get him to try. Logan however, is much more stubborn! We've tried every bribe we can think of, but if Logan doesn't want to sit on the potty, NO bribe will change that. It usually takes a threat of time-out just to get him to SIT on the potty. Here are just a few things I'm really tired of hearing:

"NO!"

"NO, I CAN'T!"

"NO! I already did!"

"NO! The air won't let me!" - not really sure what this one means, but he sure likes to use it!

Once in a while he does cooperate and has actually peed in the potty a total of 5 times! YAY, LOGAN! (I won't tell you how many times we've had to clean up puddles of pee on the floor and/or in Big Brother's Spongebob slippers...it's much more than 5!) When he does succeed, we make a big deal about it and let him put a sticker on his sticker chart. It warms my heart to see how proud he is of himself at those times. That helps me remember that he really is trying and wants to succeed, and that he's not peeing on the kitchen floor just to spite me...I think.

2008 Reads

2008 was a great year for reading!!! I found more time this year to read then I ever have before. I also have tried to read the monthly book with my ward book club (even though I have never been able to actually make it to the book club meeting). By reading with the book club, I have read several really good books that I would NEVER in a million years choose for myself! I also joined GoodReads, where I found several books recommended by my friends. I read a total of 29 books this year - a record for me (unless you count the Babysitters Club books I used to devour as a tween)! My favorite book I read this year was The Host by Stephenie Meyer. Reading has been such an enjoyable outlet for me this year!

Inspired mostly by my friend and supermom, Lisa, I started reading chapter books to Andrew and Logan at bedtime. I was nervous at first that the boys wouldn't pay attention or be very interested in books with few (if any) pictures, but I was pleasantly surprised! Sometimes I have to remind Logan to lay down and listen, and I'm not sure if he gets anything out if it yet, but I think he'll grow into it! Andrew really seems to love it and often begs for, "One more chapter, PLEASE!!!" Reading aloud at night has really become a special time for me, to share some of my old favorite books with the boys and discover some new ones together too! I'm exited to include Hannah in the ritual in the future and read some more girly books like Anne of Green Gables, and the Little House on the Prarie books. I hope they will let me read to them for many years; I think it would be so cool to read the Harry Potter and Narnia series together, and when they're much older, maybe even Lord of the Rings and some of the Classics. Do you think they will still want to read with me when they're in high school?

Chapter Books We've Read Together in 2008:

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard Atwater
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
My Father's Dragon (Trilogy) by Ruth Stiles Gannett
Stuart Little by E.B. White
The Mouse and The Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary
Runaway Ralph by Beverly Cleary
Ralph S. Mouse by Beverly Cleary
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl
Dinosaurs Before Dark (Magic Tree House #1) by Mary Pope Osborne
The Iron Giant by Ted Hughes - this was Andrew's very favorite book of the year!

My Six-Year-Old is a Better Parent Than I

Bedtime at our house is usually a struggle. The boys go to bed just fine, it's just the staying in bed that's the trouble. It seems like it takes hours some nights before they're down for good. Andrew claims that he only gets out of bed to tell us that Logan is out of bed. Our attempts to keep them in bed usually include begging ("PLEASE stay in bed, Logan. Mommy is SO tired!"), shouting ("You get back in your bed RIGHT NOW! And stay there!"), and threatening ("If I see you out of bed one more time, we will NOT be going to the pool tomorrow!"). Very effective, right? Not so much.

So it was a great surprise when two nights ago, Logan only got out of bed once. I didn't think much of it. Then, last night, he didn't get out of bed at all! This morning, I noticed Andrew sit down with Logan and open a folder of stickers he has been collecting. He said, "You were so good last night, Logan. You stayed in your bed. What sticker would you like?" Logan picked a nice lollypop sticker and placed it proudly on his PJs. Come to think of it, didn't he have a little sticker on his PJs yesterday morning? My mouth dropped wide open. MY SIX-YEAR-OLD HAS STARTED AN INCENTIVE PROGRAM FOR MY THREE-YEAR-OLD! And it's more successful than any of my parenting attempts! Should I be jealous?!

Really, I feel so blessed to have Andrew as our oldest child! He is so responsible and obedient and is such a good example to his younger siblings. It feels good to know that Logan and Hannah will always have him to look up to. I am so grateful for you, Andrew!