Happy 1st 2nd Birthday, Al!

We had Alex's first 2nd birthday this last weekend with Josh's family.  I was actually pretty impressed with how organized we were.  We had pretty much everything done the day before.  Including this guy...

I asked Alex numerous times what he wanted his cake to be.  I gave him the option of a ball, a dog and a moo-moo cow.  He picked the moo-moo cow, so this is what we went with. 

So, as I was saying, we were really organized for this party.  One small issue was the fact that I couldn't remember what time I had put on the invite - 4? or 4:30?  Knowing the way these parties typically turn out, I figured everyone would be late, so planning on sometime between 4 and 430 should be just fine. 

Well, time slipped away from me and we were running a bit behind even the "between 4 and 430 time frame," which wouldn't have been big deal except that, just as I heard a car pulling up the driveway (at exactly 4 pm, mind you), I noticed a PIECE OF POOP ON MY BEDROOM FLOOR!  Yep - Al hadn't gotten his diaper on yet after taking a bath and decided to remind us of this fact by taking a poop in our room and then WALKING IN IT!  So, here we are - Josh hasn't showered yet.  Avery isn't dressed yet.  I'm not dressed yet.  CLEARLY Alex isn't dressed yet and not only is he not dressed, but he has poop all over his feet and legs.  So, now I'm being forced to give him another bath as someone is arriving for the party.  The good news is, it was Josh's parents, so of anyone to show up during all of this, they were ok as they have pretty much seen it all with my kids anyway. 

After that whole fiasco, the party went very well and I think that everyone enjoyed themselves. 

Alex still doesn't quite get the concept of presents yet, so Avery assisted with most of the opening process and he just sat there and smiled and laughed. 

All in all - a great day (poop and all).

N.H.

This morning, Avery was playing with a craft thing that she got for her bday and decided that she wanted to give it to one of her friends, Caitlin....

Avery - "Mommy, I think that I'm going to give this to Caitlin because she has a new hampster."

Whitney -"Well, that's nice, Aves.  She has a new hampster?  When did she get that?"

Avery - "No, Mommy!  I said that she is IN New Hampster!" 

Assembly Required

Avery's 3rd birthday party was the birthday of puzzles, educational toys, etc.  Avery's 4th birthday party?  This was the party of "assembly required" gifts.  You may not know this about me, but I actually love these projects.  I am that girl who will read the instructions from beginning to end and I love following them each step of the way.  So, I was actually OK with the assembly of most of these.  However, one thing that I did find is that a 4 year old and a 2 year old also love these projects and while it is great that they wanted to be involved, there are really very few things that they are actually capable of doing during assembly, which resulted in all projects taking twice as long as they should have. 

Another thing that I realized while assembling these things?  Apparently, I have a type A personality - who knew????  I tried so hard to allow for the kids to be creative, specifically while building this...

BUT, if I let them just build it the way that they wanted to and not follow the directions, who is to say that the marbles would travel down the path the way that they are supposed to??????  Clearly we can't have haphazard marble rolling!!!  Geesh.

Then, there was this.  I did let Avery and Alex help with screwing in the screws - of course, this led to a meltdown by Al because he thought that he should just be able to hold the electric screw driver himself and that he didn't need my help.  Somehow, "You will probably screw this screw right into your finger and it will hurt" just didn't quite process.  However, "If you don't give that back to Mommy, you will go to timeout" did, so we were able to complete the project.

And, while this wasn't necessarily and "assemble required" type of project, it did involve very careful reading of instructions.  Don't worry - I did let her paint her own beads (although, I have to admit - I bit my tongue on more than one occasion because WHY would you combine more than one color on one side of a bead to the point where the color is now brown?????).

And, the mother of all "assembly required" projects....

This would be the trampoline that Aunt Lexi and Uncle Will got for Avery for her bday.  Unfortunately for her, I had a friend over one afternoon for a play date and enlisted her help in putting this puppy together.  Whey didn't I ask my husband to help me, you ask?  Because, he would have called Earl. And, that is just embarrassing.  Anyway - it was put together and both kids love it.  Although, I will say that we found out the hard way that the bar that you see? Yeah - that isn't really meant for 4 year olds to be doing gymnastics tricks on.  We realized this as Avery catapulted over the thing and landed face first on the floor.  She hasn't touched the bar since.  Alex on the other hand, grabs ahold of the thing and bounces around like a mad man. 

Now for the neverending question - where are we going to store all of these things while not being used?  I think and addition is in order! Earle?????

Picking Your Battles

This would be Avery.  On June 18th.  After a bath.  About to eat dinner at home.  In her Christmas Dress.  Enough said...

Oh - one more thing.  Notice Al in the background following instructions to "Say Cheese!"

A Unique Rendition of Twinkle Twinkle by an Easily Distracted Toddler

Pee Pee in the Potty!

Alex went pee pee in the potty this weekend!!!!!

He also managed to get a huge mosquito bite on his forehead, but ignore that - that isn't the focus of this post.  What is the focus is that he is not even 2 years old and he went pee pee on the potty!  And, not only that, but he was actually in the bathtub and knew enough to tell me that he had to go (granted, he said, "poop!" and really had to go pee, but probably better that way, as "poop!" really had me moving quickly to get him out) and actually went!  Then, he went again yesterday morning!

This is all very exciting.  However, I will have to say - this process is a bit different with a boy than it was with a girl.  You see, with Avery?  We clearly didn't need that little guard thing on the front of the potty. So, I took it off and in the midst of moving, it disappeared.  Well, I need that.  Like, now.  As it is, I have to point "it" down every time he goes and inevitably, he thinks it is all sorts of fun to point "it" down on his own, but then lets go when he actually starts to go, so my bathroom floor?  Covered in pee.  I might as well buy stock in those Clorox wipes right now, because I envision needing a lot of them in the future. 

BUT - regardless, he has done it and we're excited.  Now, that said, I don't want you to think that I am so naive to think that we are already on our way to being potty trained.  I definitely do not.  And, I'm pretty certain I will be writing about our challenges with the process for a good 2 years to come, but still...it's a start and I'll take it! 

ANE or ANH?

As it turns out, I believe Avery may have a bit of her aunt in her.  As you can imagine, I was not really all that into nature growing up.  Don't get me wrong, I liked being outside (and still do) and nowadays, I have developed a slight obsession with birds, which I guess one could take as "liking nature."  But, bugs and other creepy crawly things?  No.  I don't like them.  Don't like to see them.  Don't like to touch them.  My sister on the other hand?  She was all about that stuff growing up.  In fact, so much so that she actually had a "dead collection" which was an old shoebox filled with various dead things she found outside.  Needless to say, it didn't last long, as my mom wasn't overly fond of the "dead collection" smell that began to permeate throughout the garage. 

Avery has yet to start a dead collection, but she does seem to like the creepy crawly things and has no problem holding them, playing with them, feeding them, petting them and calling them George (name that movie).  No, but really - she likes this stuff, which makes me think that a few of the ANE genes got to her.  I noticed it a while ago - she has absolutely no qualms smooshing any bug, spider, etc. that we find in the house and she will be the first to get the paper towel to do so. 

Also, As I mentioned in the post on landscaping, she has recently taken in worms.  It started with 2 - Lucy and William.  Well, William broke.  Like, literally in half.  So, then, during round two of landscaping (which I haven't posted about because I'm not sure how many more plants you can handle acting like you are interested in), we found another worm -Stella.  So, Stella and Lucy now live in the bucket of damp dirt with their meals of blades of grass and their toy, the bubble wand.  Avery checks on them numerous times a day and keeps them with her whenever she is outside.  As you can see, she has moved onto playdough, but don't be concerned - the worms are right behind her. 

We also found a slug while landscaping. She did hold onto that for a while, but decided she wasn't as big of a fan of the slime trail that he left behind on her palm.  I will say that I'm ok with this bug thing.  It is nice knowing that my daughter will come to my rescue if ever a spider crosses my path.  However, if she starts to collect anything dead?  We may have to draw the line...

Warning!

I've decided that it would be really helpful if all kids, when they are born, come with a label.  A label that would give their parents some indication of how they will eventually turn out.  For example,

Warning!  I'm going to have reflux for the first 6 months of my life, so let's just avoid the frustration and put me on meds on Day 1 or

Warning!  I don't plan to sleep through the night until I'm 9 months old, so just suck it up and deal with it. 

Or, the one that currently applies to our dear Al?

Warning!  I will get into everything and anything I'm not supposed to, so watch out!!! 

You see, if he had this label on him, I could have maybe been prepared and could have maybe known that I can't really trust him with the same things I used to trust his sister with (and, don't get me wrong - just because I could trust her a bit more doesn't mean she didn't need some of her own labels!).

Let's just run down a list of the things that he got into this last weekend (yes, all of this occurred in one weekend):

1.  Got a hold of the toothpaste - and, not just any toothpaste - the fluoride free, need to take out another mortgage to be able to afford, kids toothpaste and SQUEEZED IT ALL into the sink.

2.  Gold a hold of the LARGE bottle of bubbles that I bought and that should have lasted a good 30 bubble blowing sessions and spilled it ALL over the deck.

3.  Was asked to get a kleenex for his nose and instead, took every single kleenex out of the box and threw it all over the bathroom.

4.  Unrolled nearly and entire roll of toilet paper

5.  Got a hold of one of Avery's markers and drew all over his chin.

6.  Got a hold of a bottle of purell and turned it upside down and squeezed it all over himself and the carpeting (that one really sucked).

And, of course, let's not forget the sunscreen incident last weekend.  I mean, REALLY?????  Wow.  Well, you will be happy to know that, after 2 years of life and after a weekend filled with such events, I believe I have finally learned my lesson.  This little one?  Needs to be watched at ALL times...

And, yes - that is said marker on his face. 

Judgey McPhearson

Ok, I'm sorry, but does anyone else find it odd that, while driving the kids to daycare this morning, I drove by a minivan with this on the back...

And, then drove by to see this in the front...

Then again, if I had 4 kids, a cat and a dog and clearly took them all to Disney at one point, I guess I may need to light up every now and then as well...