Success (kind of)!

Avery officially stayed in her bed for 10 nights (and, it really only took about 13 nights to do it)!

However, my plan nearly backfired for 2 primary reasons:

1. Turns out, she is deathly afraid of "the bear" (aka, Chuck E. Cheese- I guess he kind of does look like a bear) at Chuck E Cheese, which in turn, has caused her to not really want to go to Chuck E. Cheese after all. Note to self - next time we try to bribe our child, we may want to pick a prize that she actually wants and will want to work for.

Anyway - we did end up going this last weekend and, although she nearly had a nervous breakdown on the way there for fear of seeing the bear and having him talk to her, we made it in the door. However, this was only after I convinced her that the bear was, well first of all, a mouse. But, second of all, a machine that stays on the stage and does not walk around. We had a good time, although, I have to say, Chuck E. Cheese is nothing like I remember it. It has definitely become more, shall we say, "rough" in terms of clientele. I think that Avery put it well when she stated, "Mommy, there are a lot of ladies with babies in their bellies here!" Too bad they were babies themselves, but whatever. That's another topic.

2. The night after she obtained her 10 stickers, I find her out in the hallway about 5 mins after we had put her to bed. When she sees me, she exclaims, "Mommy! I'm a lucky girl. Do you know why? Because, I got 10 stickers, so I don't have to stay in my bed any more." Clearly, I had to explain to her that wasn't really how it works. And, in the next breath, I told her that we would immediately be starting another chart and this time, she can go ice skating at the end. :)

Although, I have to say, I've been wondering if I should take a different approach and if I should take something away that she loves each night she gets out of bed. However, the only thing that I can really think of is that I could make her wear pants every day following the night she gets out of bed. But, honestly? I'm not in the mood to have an absolute battle every morning over this, so I think that we'll stick to wearing dresses and ice skating....

Ode to Al

Poor Al – he hasn’t gotten much attention on this blog lately, so I figured I’d dedicate a post solely to him. He really is in a fun stage right now. He has starting talking more than ever, but unfortunately, not in complete sentences yet (or more than 1 word sentences, for that matter), so it is harder to write about things that he does or says, as half of the time we don’t even really know what he is saying (or doing for that matter), but just a few of the cute Alex’isms…

1. He LOVES the phone – whether it is the real house phone, my phone or his toy phones. Every time he sees a phone or hears a phone, he puts his hand up to his ear and says “A-LOW?” I had to spell it that way so that you know just how it sounds.

2. Whenever you ask him a question and he doesn’t know the answer (like, Where is Daddy?), he turns both hands up so that his palms are in the air and shrugs his shoulders and says, “EYE-O?” As in, I don’t know?

3. He calls Avery Day-Dee and Deacon Dee-Dee.

4. He LOVES feeding Deacon every night. Both he and Avery come down in the basement with me to get his food and then they both carry his food to the mudroom every night together. And, for whatever reason, at one point, Avery said that she thought that the basement smelled good. Not sure what child would think that a musty, nasty basement smells good, but whatever…this is about Alex not her, so we won’t attempt to figure it out. :) ANYWAY – because of that, anytime we go down to our basement (or any other basement, as I’ve come to find out), Alex yells, Yum! While walking down. Weird, but cute.

5. He LOVES brushing his teeth. Every morning, I yell out, Who wants to brush their teeth? And, he yells (VERY enthusiastically), “YEAH!!!” so, I give him his toothbrush and then he proceeds to run around with it and then I proceed to say, “Alex!! Don’t run with your toothbrush in your mouth” and then he still proceeds to run with it and I yell….you get the picture. Point being, I lose many battles. Anyway – he brushes and then comes to me with his mouth wide open yelling “AAAHHHH!!!” so, then I brush his teeth and then he gets to put the toothbrush in the drawer all by himself. Simple pleasures at 18 months, I guess.

6. His favorite past time is taking everything out of my spice cabinets and then walking away. Awesome. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tripped over the freaking vanilla while trying to cook. And, then there was the time when an entire thing of rice vinegar got spilled. Oh - and, then the bread crumbs out of the pantry (note – these are extremely slippery, so avoid walking in a pile of bread crumbs whenever possible).

And, yes - half of the reason I included this on my list was to show all of you my spice cabinets - one of the many things I love about my kitchen. You have to admit they are pretty cool!

7. He loves giving hugs. Even to skulls at the Children’s Museum.


8. He will go to just about anyone who wants to hold him. In fact, just this last weekend, we pulled up to a friend’s house and my friend’s husband came out to the car – Alex has never met him, but held his hands up for him to take him out of his car seat. A bit different than his sister was at that age!

9. He is talking a ton. Some of his favorites are:
a. Cracker
b. Mama (or Mommy)
c. Dada (or Daddy)
d. Ba-Ba (for his sippy of milk)
e. Bye-Bye (which we have just recently mastered and no longer sounds like Ba-Ba)
f. Bar (for fruit bars, which he loves)
g. Moon
h. Car
i. Doggy
j. Boo-Boo (which he points to often and says every time I get the mederma out for it)
k. Mo (which is No, but with an M for some reason)

10. And, probably the coolest of all of his traits is that he LOVES his big sister. Loves her. She can get him to laugh easier and louder than either Josh or Me. He is also very into copying everything that she does, which often times results in both of them running around the house, jumping on things, etc., but it is really fun to watch them interact together. She is so good with him and I’m pretty certain they will be life long friends....as long as she doesn't choke him to death in the mean time...

The Dead Gingerbread Man

Yes, I know that the title of this post is disturbing. But, not nearly as disturbing as the story that goes with it. There is a hallway outside of Avery's classroom where the teachers will often times hang projects that the kids in her class have done so that EVERYONE at daycare (including parents, children, teachers, etc) can see how cute they are. So, of course, I always seek out Avery's to see what she has done. Well, the other morning, as we were walking in, I noticed that the project hanging was a picture of a gingerbread man that the kids had made and attached to it, the teacher had written what each child said happened to the gingerbread man at the end of the story that they had read that day. Most kids said something like, "He went to the playground to play with his friends." Or, "He went to his grandma and grandpa's house."

What did Avery say happened to the gingerbread man?

"He got sprayed with bleach and died and went to the hospital."


WHAT?????????? Who is this child? Where have we gone wrong? Does she need therapy???? Do WE need therapy????

When I asked her about it, she just kind of laughed and really couldn't explain why she said that (quite frankly, I don't even know if she knew what it meant, as I don't think that she understands the concept of dying). Well, after talking to her teacher, I now understand. Apparently, after making the gingerbread men, the teachers had them hanging on a clothes line that hangs near the tables where they eat lunch. And, every day before and after they eat, the teachers spray down the tables with bleach water (the bottles of which sit right below the clothesline). So, the teacher said that when they were spraying the bleach water one day, she made the comment that she should be careful not to get it on the gingerbread men becuase it would hurt them. Now, did she say that he would die???? No. So, still not sure where that came from and for all I know, she still may need therapy, but I at least feel better about where the concept of bleach came from.





Oh - and, in case you are wondering - I requested that the dead gingerbread man story be removed promptly. I'm pretty certain some parents have already given us a weird look and have sheltered their children from mine as they walk by, so it didn't escape everyone, but hopefully most...

Cake (or lack thereof) and Stickers

Scene: Josh, Whitney and Avery cleaning up in the kitchen after dinner last night

Whitney - Where did that last piece of cake go?

Josh - Oh, I thought that it looked good, so I ate it last night.

Whitney - You thought that it looked good, so you ate it????!!!!! I have been thinking about that piece of cake ever since lunch and you "just thought it looked good, so you ate it????"

Josh - Yep. Sorry!

Avery - It's ok Daddy, you can still have a sticker.

Josh - Thanks, Aves.

Avery - And, Mommy, even though you have a bad attitude right now, you can have one too.

I just hope she doesn't think that this sticker giving goes both ways because she will NOT be hearing, "And, Avery, even though you have not stayed in your bed ALL WEEK, you can still have a sticker..." any time soon.

Good thing she has absolutely no problem falling asleep (and, staying asleep through her brother screaming, running around and crying) on the couch, but can't manage to stay in her bed for more than one night at a time.

The Chart

I don’t really remember being much of a chart family growing up (mom, correct me if I’m wrong, here), but I’ve decided that the Holland family (or, more specifically, the 3 year old member of the Holland family) needs a chart. For what, you ask? Staying in her bed!!!!! My lord. Let me fill you in on the issue here. I don’t know if all 3 year old’s are like this or if mine just has an overly active imagination and is overly emotional, but wow – she wakes up nearly every single night with a dream and/or nightmare. One of three things happens:

1. She sits up in bed and screams until we come in and calm her down

2. She starts screaming in her room and then walks down the hall screaming and then enters our room screaming until we pick her up and carry her back to her room, praying the entire time that this screaming doesn’t wake her brother who sleeps right next door

3. She doesn’t make a sound and just comes into our bedroom and taps us requiring us to pick her up and put her back into her bed

I don’t get any of the above, but especially #3. SO – anyway, the new rule is, she gets to put a sticker on the chart every morning if she stayed in her bed the night before. And, once she gets 10 stickers, we will take her to Chucky Cheese. But, every time she gets out of her bed, we take a sticker off.

I thought of this chart idea a long time ago, but never did it because I never got to Michael’s to get poster board and markers, etc. to make the chart. Well, finally, last night, I decided that my desire for sleep could not wait for the creative side of me to come out (because, really, I have no idea when or if that will ever happen), so I made a chart. Right then and there – after dinner. And, here it is…





Fancy huh? And, if you will notice, empty.

The sad thing is that she did actually sleep in her bed all night last night, but this morning, when we went to put the sticker on the chart, she wanted to put 2. I said 1. She said 2. I said 1. She said 2. I said none. And, we left for daycare. Sticker-less.

An Enjoyable Kind of Hectic

Our trip to WI started at 3 am on Wednesday morning. Holy crap. That’s early. Somehow, (not to toot my own horn here), I managed to be relatively organized the night before (which was a miracle given all of the last minute Xmas stuff I had to do that Monday and Tuesday), which allowed for me to have just enough time to get up, throw on some clothes, get the car packed up and then wait until the very last minute before we left to get the kids up and in the car. We attempted to do this and not wake them, but Alex immediately woke up in his typical chipper morning mood and screamed, “Dada!!!” as soon as he saw Josh and then did not sleep the rest of the way. Avery slept until we put her in the car and then when asked, we told her where we were going. From that point on – she talked. And, talked and talked and talked. The one good thing about flying that early is that there are no flight delays. We managed to get in on time, get the car and get to Opa and Grandma’s house by 1:30 that afternoon. The rest of the day was spent sledding (first time for both kids – they loved it)

and relaxing while waiting for Lexi, Will and Annabel to arrive. The rest of the time at Opa and Grandma’s entailed more sledding, hanging out with Opa and Grandma





putting stickers on our noses



and then on our cousin's head



going out for all you can eat prime rib (which, in true Epting fashion, I managed to eat a portion and a half of even after being sick all that afternoon. I'm including a picture of just because I think that it is hilarious that Lexi has stickers all over her belly and left them there for dinner)




baking cookies

, terrorizing poor Annabel (this look on her face is pretty much a constant when around my children - I think that she was still mad about the sticker incident)



decorating the tree, wrapping gifts, getting ready for Santa (note - broccoli was about the only thing on the menu for Rudolph - we figured he wouldn't expect much from a house that had only been lived in for 3 days prior to his arrival!)




and then finally – opening gifts. Wow. There were a lot of gifts. Avery was in heaven.


Now, this is where the slightly more hectic part of the trip starts. That afternoon, we packed everything up (which is a job in and of itself – for any of you who know the Hollands, we aren’t the most “organized,” so, as you can imagine, our stuff and the kid’s stuff was EVERYWHERE) and headed down to Nancy and Tom’s for Xmas dinner. Of course, on the way there, we first had to stop at the hotel and check in. Then, we had to swing by Sara’s house to get the pack n play for Alex. Anyway – once there, it was great.

We had a great time seeing everyone and, as always, enjoyed our time at the “Kid’s Table.” To think, I used to be so angry when I had to sit there growing up. Now, it is the happenin' place to be - I think that it has something to do with the mass quantities of wine.

That night, we stayed at a hotel, which was a bit of a challenge, as Alex had no interest in going back to sleep once we got there. I think that we all finally got to sleep around 12:30 AM.

The next morning, we met up with Sara and her whole family for our annual Christmas get together. That afternoon, we went back to Sara’s to hang out and let the kids rest – note – Avery wanted nothing to do with a nap, as Chad no longer sleeps during the day and heaven forbid she can’t hang out with one of the big kids (not to mention, she was pretty obsessed with Chad – at one point, letting him have more toys than her “because he is a nice man.”)

Once the babies woke (and after I dealt with a massive meltdown due to Avery getting no sleep), we went to Becky’s house and spent the rest of the afternoon and dinner there with her kids and Melissa and her 3 boys. Clearly, Alex wasn't as thrilled with this photo op as we were...





As always, it was great to catch up AND to meet the newest member of the clan – little Brayden.



The next morning, we called a cab (which was somewhat chaotic, as I had to install 2 car seats in the car - the guy thought that I was crazy) and went to the airport. All in all, the flights home weren’t too bad. Although, we were 3 hours delayed, which was somewhat of a challenge with 2 kids in an airport that wasn’t at all kid friendly with about 100000 people running around and 4 sets of stairs which were ever so tempting for my 18 month to walk (aka, fall) down, but we managed. As you can imagine, I had no time (nor any interest) for photo taking during this airport adventure.


Poor Josh had attempted to leave one day before us and got stuck in Chicago for the night, but did get home the same day as we did and was able to deal with plowing the driveway and fixing our heat that crashed while we were gone. On top of it, he managed to get the flu somewhere along the line, so he got to deal with that while also dealing with the lack of heat and plow.

To top that all off, we arrived to find our car seat had been totally busted by baggage claim and then it was so windy and cold when we went to the car that the car door slammed shut on my head. It was at that point that I lost it. Calmly and Quietly, but I lost it. Just kind of sat there and cried for a minute with Alex looking at me going “Mamma. Mamma.” As though he was trying to say, “It’s ok, Mamma. Don’t cry.” But, there was no stopping me at that point.

So, yes, although, hectic, that last part of the trip was still very enjoyable. Until that moment. At that point, enjoyable hectic turned to really #$Q#$%ing, get me the hell home hectic.

Here's to a flu-free, less windy 2011...