Last Saturday, when Davis woke up, we threw his diapers in the trash and started potty training. After about 4 days, he "got it" and stopped having accidents. At his age, it was really about behavior (on his part) and commitment on ours. He has had a couple of accidents this week, but has generally been doing great. We are very proud of him and he is proud of himself.
The best $37 I've spent in a long time: http://ohcrappottytraining.com/
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Alex is mobile
Alex has made leaps and strides in his mobility in the last week, almost literally. In just over a week, he has gone from mostly sitting to crawling wherever he wants to go, to sitting up and finally pulling himself up. His progress and determination has been amazing -- and not something we were ready for.
I hope to have some new pictures up tomorrow.
I hope to have some new pictures up tomorrow.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Homemade stories
Davis and I made up two stories today (initial ideas by Davis and main story by Mom). I thought it would be fun to write them for posterity and maybe some day we can illustrate them. Fact corrections appear in italics for the more discerning audience.
Davis: Mom, tell me a story about the shark!
Mom: How does it start?
Davis: In the beginning!
Mom: Oh, OK.
A story about a shark in the beginning:
In the beginning, when dinosaurs roamed the earth (That's not really the beginning, but time is really relative anyway, so for this purpose it is the beginning), there lived a shark. He was a lonely shark, there was no one else like him. In fact, he scared all the fish in the ocean because he was so big and had such big teeth.
One day, when Pterodactyl was hovering close to the surface of the ocean, the fish popped up to get his help. "Pterodactyl there is a really large and scary beast in our ocean, can you help us do something?"
Pterodactyl flew off to ask Tyrannosaurus Rex for help. Tyrannosaurus Rex could hardly believe that such a large and scary animal could exist as what Pterodactyl was telling him about. So he suggested they find a good scout and they headed off to find Brontosaurus.
"Brontosaurus, do you think you could use your long neck to look in the ocean and see what the fish are talking about? If we know, then maybe we will know what we can do to help."
Brontosaurus paused his tree-eating and grudgingly said "I suppose so. While I'm there I guess I could snack on some yummy seaweed". So Brontosaurus slowly carried himself to the ocean where he stuck his head in as far as it would go. He was there sometime eating up the seaweed before he saw a large and dark object slowly swim toward him. Brontosaurus was scared indeed. This new animal didn't just have teeth, it had rows and rows of teeth.**
Brontosaurus quickly pulled his head out of the water and told Tyrannosaurus Rex and Pterodactyl what he had seen. They immediately called a meeting of the dinosaurs. That night Diplodocus, Stegosaurus, and Triceratops joined them at the fire. Brontosaurus relayed what he had seen to the rest of the dinosaurs. They were all very alarmed. They thought some about how to help the fish and decided to build a large net, which they would use to catch the shark! They worked all night and the next day they set their trap. (During this story Dad asked how they made a net without opposable thumbs. They don't, it's make believe, just accept it).
Only..they didn't catch the shark, they caught all of the fish! The fish began to panic as the shark came closer and closer. They thought there were done for when he opened his great big jaws and bit into the net. It took a few minutes after the shark ripped open the net for the fish to realize they hadn't been eaten! The shark had set them free! They and the dinosaurs rejoiced in the realization that just because something looks different than you, it doesn't mean it's bad!
**Alternate ending.
I had to work very hard to steer my mind away from this version of the story that had popped into my head. When Brontosaurus is watching for the shark in the ocean, Tyrannosaurus Rex realizes he is quite famished and Brontosaurus' tail is looking quite tasty. At the same time T-Rex can no longer stand it Brontosaurus' head and butt are eaten at the same time!
Perhaps someday, when Davis is older, that ending will be fine.
I think that Davis and I will refine our other story about the Seahorse, the jellyfish, the sharks and the turtles.
Davis: Mom, tell me a story about the shark!
Mom: How does it start?
Davis: In the beginning!
Mom: Oh, OK.
A story about a shark in the beginning:
In the beginning, when dinosaurs roamed the earth (That's not really the beginning, but time is really relative anyway, so for this purpose it is the beginning), there lived a shark. He was a lonely shark, there was no one else like him. In fact, he scared all the fish in the ocean because he was so big and had such big teeth.
One day, when Pterodactyl was hovering close to the surface of the ocean, the fish popped up to get his help. "Pterodactyl there is a really large and scary beast in our ocean, can you help us do something?"
Pterodactyl flew off to ask Tyrannosaurus Rex for help. Tyrannosaurus Rex could hardly believe that such a large and scary animal could exist as what Pterodactyl was telling him about. So he suggested they find a good scout and they headed off to find Brontosaurus.
"Brontosaurus, do you think you could use your long neck to look in the ocean and see what the fish are talking about? If we know, then maybe we will know what we can do to help."
Brontosaurus paused his tree-eating and grudgingly said "I suppose so. While I'm there I guess I could snack on some yummy seaweed". So Brontosaurus slowly carried himself to the ocean where he stuck his head in as far as it would go. He was there sometime eating up the seaweed before he saw a large and dark object slowly swim toward him. Brontosaurus was scared indeed. This new animal didn't just have teeth, it had rows and rows of teeth.**
Brontosaurus quickly pulled his head out of the water and told Tyrannosaurus Rex and Pterodactyl what he had seen. They immediately called a meeting of the dinosaurs. That night Diplodocus, Stegosaurus, and Triceratops joined them at the fire. Brontosaurus relayed what he had seen to the rest of the dinosaurs. They were all very alarmed. They thought some about how to help the fish and decided to build a large net, which they would use to catch the shark! They worked all night and the next day they set their trap. (During this story Dad asked how they made a net without opposable thumbs. They don't, it's make believe, just accept it).
Only..they didn't catch the shark, they caught all of the fish! The fish began to panic as the shark came closer and closer. They thought there were done for when he opened his great big jaws and bit into the net. It took a few minutes after the shark ripped open the net for the fish to realize they hadn't been eaten! The shark had set them free! They and the dinosaurs rejoiced in the realization that just because something looks different than you, it doesn't mean it's bad!
**Alternate ending.
I had to work very hard to steer my mind away from this version of the story that had popped into my head. When Brontosaurus is watching for the shark in the ocean, Tyrannosaurus Rex realizes he is quite famished and Brontosaurus' tail is looking quite tasty. At the same time T-Rex can no longer stand it Brontosaurus' head and butt are eaten at the same time!
Perhaps someday, when Davis is older, that ending will be fine.
I think that Davis and I will refine our other story about the Seahorse, the jellyfish, the sharks and the turtles.
New Videos
Its been a rather normal week around our house: crazy. Davis is potty training, Alex is crawling and Evan is rolling. I've managed to catch a little bit of it on video. Some of it is out of focus - I'm still learning how to use our DSLR for video. More on youtube!
Sunday, July 15, 2012
New Photos / recent highlights
I've been pretty lazy about blogging and posting pictures/videos, so this is a little bit of a catch up.
- Davis and I took a 6 day trip to Seattle to visit with my mom, brother and his family (Stephanie, Melanie - age 3 and Allison - age 10 months). We had a fantastic visit and the cousins had a great time seeing each other again. Kristen had some good bonding time with Alex and Evan while we were gone and got to do a lot of little babies things we haven't had the time for with them.
- Alex is nearly crawling and Evan is a very serious roller. If you turn your back on the twins, they will not be in the same place when you turn around. I've got a little preview of the trouble we are in for when they start crawling: mainly around getting Davis' toys and trying to eat them.
- Buddy Megan came for a weekend visit. It was fantastic to see her and we had a great time. We took a trip to the zoo, went to the water park, spent lots of time with babies and Davis, had lunch downtown (no kids) and went out to dinner (no kids).
I'm sure there is lots more going on, but those are the big highlights.
Here are a bunch of recent pictures. Many more are on picasa.
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| My brother James and Allison |
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| Davis (top, pink hat), Melanie Bottom (missing her hat) |
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| Running back up the hill to roll down again (Pt. Defiance Zoo) |
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| Allison |
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| Davis and Melanie |
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| Stephanie's uncle got us a tour of the pilot house of a ferry. Davis and Melanie both got turns driving the ferry (note: controls were disabled) |
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| Davis on the ferry |
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| Davis and Grammie |
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| Davis and Melanie |
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| Davis at Kingson farmer's market |
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| Davis and Melanie on the ferry |
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| Grammie and Davis |
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| At the space needle |
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| Davis at the space needle |
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| At golden gardens |
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| Watching a ladder truck practice |
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| Kristen and Megan got pedicures so Davis wanted his toes painted also. |
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| Megan and babies |
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| Showing off purple toes |
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| Reading books with buddy megan |
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| Classic Evan pose |
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| Alex getting close to crawling |
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| Alex |
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| Alex |
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| Brothers. Alex and Evan. |
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| Evan |
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| Alex |
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| Evan eating Alex's head. Everything goes in the mouth at this age, even brothers. |
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| Evan |
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| Evan with his two fingers in his mouth (its always the same two fingers on the same hand) |
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Disease Migration with Three Kids
A few weeks ago, we went to the Magic House with Davis, Alex and Evan. We had a great time there, but I'm pretty sure Alex picked up his first serious cold there. Both Alex and Evan have had a lot of congestion, high temperatures and general cold symptoms that turned into ear infections and required anti-biotics. Its taken about two weeks, but everybody who has been in our house has slowly gotten this cold. This made me realize that with three kids, we'll be in a pattern like this for the next few years:
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