Teamwork

Aiyana was playing with a tow truck- "I'm a tow truck and I will tow your firetruck & your fire station."
AJ was playing with a firetruck and fire station- " I only need my fire truck towed, not my fire station!"
Aiyana- But I want to tow the fire station.
AJ- But I am a fire truck and I need to be towed!
Aiyana- OK I will tow the fire truck and the fire station.
AJ- No! Not the fire station, Just the fire TRUCK!
Me- I have an idea... You can do both, tow just the fire truck and then tow them both!
Aiyana- OK! First we will tow the fire station then we will tow the fire truck!
AJ- NO- first we tow the fire truck then we tow the fire station!

Take a good look at this smile!!

It will be gone soon. Aiyana has 2 loose teeth! Soon these pearly whites will be long gone. We have been taking lots of big cheesy smile photos.

Mommies do bad things.

Yesterday as I walked into the kid's room I was greeted with two little rug rats pointing wrenches at me as they were whispering, "There she is, there is the thief!" I know we have recently read Aladdin at least 25 times so they were simply acting out new concepts. But why do I have to be the "thief"? Couldn't they designate some random stuffed animal?

I continued on with my afternoon folding clothes and dancing around the house with the kids as we listened to Reggae music. At bedtime AJ again said, "Mommy you are a thief."
Me- "Really? What do thieves do?"
AJ replied after a moment of thought, "They do bad things."
Me- "Oh. Bad things like what?"
AJ- "They take things from happy people."

I was satisfied with his thoughts and really wanted to get him to sleep, so I left the conversation there and continued with our bedtime routine of blessings and affirmations.

This evening I walked into another ambush at bedtime. This time AJ informed me that I was a bad guy sometimes. I asked him why and he replied, "You are a bad guy because bad guys do bad things."
Me- "Well, what bad things do I do?"
AJ- "You take things from bad people."
Me- "If I take things from bad people does that make me bad?"
AJ- "Yes. And sometimes you take things from the other happy kids also."
Me- "Really? What do I take from the other kids?"
AJ-"Sometimes when you are a bad Mommy you take banging things and bats away from the other happy kids."

He really does think I am a bad guy. Well, I let it rest a bit and when I was brushing his teeth I reminded him that bad mommies aren't really trying to make the happy kids sad. They just have to make sure that the happy kids follow the rules with the banging things and bats and don't hurt anybody or break anything. I think he is OK with that because he grabbed my face and gave me a perfect kiss on the cheek.

Bowling with Gram

Last Thursday we went the Premier Bowling in Bonita to watch the kids Great Grandmother bowl in her league. Gram Curry taught the late Gpa Curry, her grandson Rich (my husband), and now her Great Grand kids Aiyana and AJ how to bowl at the same bowling alley.

We went to watch, but when she was finished we decided to let the kids go for one game.

Gram taught them how to hold the ball correctly and gave them a tip here and there to keep them on track. AJ was so excited to pick up his ball by himself and roll it down the lane. Just after he rolled the ball each time he turned around and with a huge grin on face he would yell, "I did it!"

Aiyana was focused on making sure her and AJ's ball came to the correct side of the rack. She did her best to be sweet with Gram and it was such a joy to watch her have a big girl day. I think all of the "oh you are so beautiful and pretty" comments from Gram's friends gave Aiyana a dainty girl attitude.

but... I caught her "slippin"

After her little spill, Aiyana recovered well and learned to stay behind the line.

Overall it was a great afternoon! Spending time with Gram is always fun. We need to do it more!

Preschool fun!

Aiyana has discovered a new talent. The photos say it all!
This little girl pushes her limits.

Spring is in the air!

It has been raining and/or windy so much lately. Now that the sun is out and warm we took a trip on Thursday to see Shamu. It was a beautiful day!

Potty training AJ

AJ has had a cold off and on for the past couple months. It has been hard staying at home because we are usually out and about exploring. However, this time has been perfect for potty training. 

 

fire truck, hose, potty training...get it?

We have played around with AJ sitting on the potty since he was 18 months. I always sing potty songs I would never demonstrate for an adult. It started slow with a lucky guess here and there on my behalf. I would sit him on the big boy potty and he would do something...or not.

The week of February 15 we tried going bare at home to potty train cold turkey. Primal yes, effective yes. Ha ha! Well, it actually went much better than I expected! He only had a handful of accidents including one situation where he approached me with a big pile of  "mud" in his hand. (I didn't take a picture of it.) Each time he had an accident I was very casual and just said, "oops you had an accident. That's ok. Let's clean it up." (Thank goodness we have tile flooring.) I would throw a towel on top of the pee and ask him to clean it up. I would help him clean it up and then sit him on the potty for a minute. 

Going bare bottom was a little too messy for me, but since he got the "hang" of sitting on the potty for an extended period of time, we put some regular underwear on him last week. (Hand-me-downs from Zen. Gracias Tia!!) We had two small accidents and the rest of the time he was able to sit on the potty for a while until he took care of his business. We did our special song & dance each time he had success and gave him a sticker for his sticker chart. Around the middle of the week he started telling me each time he had to go as opposed to me asking him every 5 minutes.

After that I thought we had better get some training pants. So off to the store to get some big boy underwear. I personally don't get the point of pull-ups. We went with the real deal. He has worn those for the last 3 days. We went for a walk around the block while he was wearing the training pants yesterday and they were dry when we returned. We haven't had an accident in them yet! He has only been wearing a diaper at nap and bedtime.

Today was preschool. I debated whether I should attempt to train at school or just put a diaper on him. I asked him what he wanted and he said he wanted to "wear big boy underwear at school". I was surprised! So I put a diaper on him anyway. I didn't want to risk it. He is only 1 year and 362 days old after all. Around 10am he started grabbing himself (new thing) and told one of the mommys "potty, potty, potty!" She asked me if he was potty training and I walked him to the potty. The preschool potty is so cute (if a toilet can be any kind of cute). It is preschool size. AJ was able to stand up in front of it and go. I was so happy that he was able to give me enough warning to get him there and then stand up too! What a day. He went one more time at school and didn't pee in his diaper at all. The rest of the day at home went great also. No accidents! I am so blessed to have children who potty train well. He knows how to use his hose!

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