Little Ears

I had to take some work stuff home the other night. I try to avoid that at all costs, but the beginning of the school year has to be the exception. Garrett was helping me, watching me cut out some laminated picture cards. He says, "Pretend I'm Grandma and I work at Velmont (his way of saying Belmont). I said, "Oh okay, what are you doing at work, Grandma?" He says, "I'm trying to get this schedule figured out." (That's funny because that is exactly what I've been doing at work!). He said, "My Velmont is in Omaha." I said, "Omaha, really?" Garrett said, "Yeah, kind of outta the way." (Again, something that I say about Belmont because it is across town from our house.) At least I know he listens to what I say!

Bye Bye Binky

It's time. Time to ditch the binky. We're on day 2. So far, so good. Well...so far, not bad.

We've been saying we'll get rid of it by 18 months, but I didn't really think it would happen. We knew it would have to be cold turkey. She's only been using it at naptime, nighttime, in the mornings, in the evenings, okay, quite a bit. She fell asleep without it at Lynette's on Tuesday. We decided we'd try it that night and sure enough it worked. So that was it. There's no going back now. By morning she knew it was missing and she was MAD. She cried most of the morning while I got ready for work. Last night as I was putting her to bed, she was looking for it, peering into her crib and looking everywhere. We haven't said the B-word around her, but she knows it's missing! Luckily she's in love with her pink blankie (see above picture), so that helps. It looks like we're binky-free!

H2O

Garrett does NOT like to drink water. We are constantly preaching to him about drinking more water. Yesterday evening during supper Garrett finished his milk and asked for more. Greg told him he could have some water. He got the usual response, "Nooo!!!" So then Greg asked, "Would you like some H2O?" Garrett thought about this for a minute and then agreed. Greg walked to the sink. He said, "H" and put some water in, "2" and put a little more in, and "O" and added some more. He gave it to Garrett, who took a sip right away. Greg asked him, "How do you like it." Garrett said, "Mmmm, pretty good." Unfortunately these tricks don't work for long.

Stayin' Alive

We survived. Four days without air conditioning in 95 degree weather. Thank goodness our air conditioner will be repaired and running when I get home today. Our house has been about 90 degrees inside. It was so hot last night that Greg, Garrett, and I sat outside until 10:30 soaking up the cool breeze on our deck. Now we don't normally allow Garrett to stay up that late but he couldn't sleep after multiple attempts at putting him to bed probably due to the heat. He enjoyed looking at the stars with us.
I also survived my first week back at Belmont Elementary. We had some tears shed in the mornings before daycare, but both kids have thoroughly enjoyed being back at Lynette's house. By the time I pick them up after work, neither one wants to leave! In fact the first day, I had to chase Avery down and strap her in her carseat, kicking and screaming, because she didn't want to go home! That is a good sign.

Goodbye Cereal

I am always trying to turn myself into a cereal eater. I've never been one to sit down and eat a bowl of cereal for breakfast, but it's healthy and easy, so I'm always trying to find a kind that I like. I've been on a Multigrain Cheerios kick lately. Until now. Two days ago as I was finishing up my cereal, a dead weevil (spelling?) floated to the top. If you don't know what a weevil is, they are tiny little bugs that hatch out of grain foods (cereal, flour, crackers) etc, if you keep them past their prime. I managed to eat another bowl of cereal the next day. After at least 10 bites or so, a large housefly come crawling out of my Cheerios and milk. Apparently he had been under the Cheerios and couldn't surface?? I cannot figure out how a fly go in my cereal, underneath my Cheerios without me seeing it. So I may very well not ever eat Cheerios again. We'll see.

I Want Swim

This little girl is quite the talker. Yesterday I watched her dig thru our pile of swimming suits to find hers. She brought it to me and said, "I want swim." Unfortunately our pool was empty, but it will be filled up this weekend, when the weather will hit 100 degrees for the first time all summer!

Learning lyrics

This curious boy is always listening. We were in the car yesterday running errands when he began singing along to the radio. It took me a minute to realize that he was singing the chorus to a song before it had been played, so he had recognized it and remembered the words! He must be a country music fan. I can't think of the singer or the name of the country song, but the lyrics are, "God is great. Beer is good. People are crazy." Pretty cute to hear a 3-year old sing this!
By the way, that is Garrett at the zoo holding a giant grasshopper. I don't think you could pay me to hold one of those!

Summertime

It's official. Summertime is almost over. Next Tuesday I head back to work. I can't quite wrap my head around that idea yet. We've had a blast this summer. I've loved every minute at home with the kids, although my parenting skills have definitely been tested. Here are a few of my favorite things about summer:

1. the smell of sunscreen on baby soft skin

2. the sand that gets tracked all over my house from the kids' sandbox. this drives me crazy but still makes me smile.

3. sunbleached hair

4. pulling weeds and picking tomatoes in the garden with Garrett

5. pigtails and sundresses

6. chubby baby legs, although these are rapidly turning into skinny toddler legs

7. weekly trips to the zoo (see the above pics)

8. seeing the kids smile and hearing Avery's "choo choo" when we ride the train at the zoo

9. swimming in our blow up pool

10. lazy evenings in the backyard, sipping a cold beer

11. daily walks and regular trips to the nearby park

12. sitting outside with our neighbors by their firepit and chatting into the wee hours

13. water gun fights

14. playing fetch with Casey

15. the list could go on and on....

Sleepovers

Garrett is always begging me to sleep in his bed with him. He always says, "Sleep with me all night long," so finally last week we had a little sleepover. I snuggled up with him for the night. It is pretty cozy. However, I woke up at 2:30 am with a crook in my neck. When I got up, he immediately rolled over and took my spot. So I crept back to my own bed because I didn't want to disturb him and thought I could use a little room. In the morning Avery was the early riser so I was up with her when Garrett finally woke up. He was pretty disappointed that I wasn't still in his room. He said, "That makes me really sad." So we'll have to have another sleepover soon!

Avery's buddy

I haven't downloaded my picture of Avery and her buddy, Casey, but when I do, I will post it. She and the dog are inseparable. If Casey goes outside to go potty without her, Avery stands at the backdoor and cries and Casey justs sits and looks back at her. It's like I'm separating two best friends. So usually we take him out to go potty together. She tells him, "Go po-y, go po-y." I think she likes to tell him what to do. If he picks up something he shouldn't, she says, "No, no, no, no, no!" She also requests his "ball" all day long. We have to put his balls away so he will settle down during the afternoons, otherwise he could play all day. He drives me a little nuts by repeatedly pushing his balls just out of reach under the furniture. Avery also hand-feeds him his dogfood and occasionally eats it herself and tries to drink from his water bowl. As if that's not bad enough, when we took him to the vet, she licked the floor in the exam room. Yuck! Maybe she thinks she is a dog??
One morning last week as I was cleaning up after breakfast, I peeked into the living room to find her propped up on Casey like a pillow, watching cartoons.

Go Potty

Avery may toilet train very early. At least that is our hope. She has watched and admired her brother for some time now. Before she hops in the bathtub she tells us she needs to "go po-y" and she plops down on Garrett's little potty. She sits for several seconds and then hops up on the stepstool to wash hands. She's 16 months old, so we're hoping she might be training by 18 months?? We'll see.

Reverse Psychology

I have figured it out: how to get your kids to eat their veggies...
Just tell them, "You better not eat your carrots. Don't do it! Do NOT eat those."
I tried it with Garrett and it worked like a charm, several times actually. Until we had peas. He ate several handfuls in between giggles, then made a funny face and spit them out. He said, "I don't really like peas."

Obedience Training

We enrolled Casey in obedience training which was part of our adoption contract with Golden Retriever Rescue. Our first class was quite interesting. I don't know if Casey was really tired or if this was his reaction to the stress of being in a strange place with strange dogs, but every time we stopped walking during class he would curl up at my feet and appear to fall asleep. This dramatically different than the handful of older puppies in the class that are jerking at their leashes and gagging themselves. Everyone is probably wondering why we are there! We are headed to our 3rd class today. So far we've learned to sit, heel, begin to stay, down, and turning while heeling. Casey seems like a bright student!
We did learn something about Casey the first day of obedience. We had kind of figured out that he becomes car sick after about 35-40 minutes of driving. Obedience class is about 35 minutes away, but not wanting to medicate a dog unnecessarily, I decided to try the trip without motion sickness medicine. It worked fine on the way there, however, just as we rounded the corner for home, he began licking his lips A LOT. I pulled into the garage as fast as I could and jumped out to open his door just as he puked! Luckily on his dog blanket and not the floor of the van!!

Take-out Only

Our days of dining out are rapidly coming to a close. I just blogged about our disastrous meal at Cheeseburgers in Paradise and we had a similar time tonight! After church tonight, we decided to hit Applebees for supper since we had a gift card. It was pretty much a repeat of the night before. Avery screamed bloody murder the entire meal. I asked for boxes and paid the tab as soon as our food arrived, thinking we were going to box up our food and hit the road. We did manage to quickly scarf down our food while taking turns standing and bouncing Avery. If we attempted to sit down with her, the screaming would begin again. So I guess it's take-out only or "Brooke's Kitchen."

Back from Vacation

We just returned from a "mini vacation." We spent a day at Coco Keys Water Resort in Omaha and a day at the Henry Doorly Zoo. It was a wonderful time and we are all tuckered out. We had a blast at Coco Keys. The kids were too small for most of the water slides except for the area for small children and the "lazy river" as Greg and I dubbed it. We spent most of our time floating around in big circles on inner tubes with the kids relaxing on our laps. Avery even took two naps on our laps while floating around. I have to admit, this was quite relaxing. Greg and I did venture up to try out the biggest water slides for ourselves. Greg went first while I watched the kids and then I took my turn. He advised me to try the dark tunnel which sends you whizzing down a loopy slide in complete darkness on an inner tube. I think I screamed most of the way down! We also spent our first night in a hotel as a family of four. Garrett loved it and didn't want to leave the next morning! However, he crashed at 9:00 that night while watching cartoons. Avery on the other hand was running laps in our room until lights out at 9:45. By 7:00 the next morning, we were all snuggled together in our king-size bed.
We hit the zoo the next morning. Unfortunately neither of our kids are really interested in zoo animals. Garrett is more fascinated in comparing the dirt in each exhibit and picking up dirt, rocks, gravel, and sand everywhere we go. They both loved the train and we even tried out the new Skyfari exhibit which is like a ski lift ride over the zoo. I was a bit surprised that there were no age/height restrictions so both kids could just ride on our laps. Garrett loved this. Avery was very quiet but would wave at people below and say, "Hewoo" (hello).
We finished off the day by hitting a favorite burger joint in Omaha, Cheeseburgers in Paradise. Unfortunately Avery was exhausted and literally screamed thru the entire meal. If we attempted to talk to her, ask her a question, or tell her "no," she would just scream louder. We ordered Garrett & Avery a kid's meal and neither one took a single bite! All in all we had a great time, but it's good to be home!!