The Potty Train Express

I dread potty training. It was the hardest, most frustrating thing I ever did as a new mom. When Colin came around I did not want to do it. I tried with him for a while but he wasn't getting it so I stopped. Then a few months later we tried again and he was trained in about a week or 2. With Logan I just didn't want to do it again. We're busier now and I knew I would need at least a week where we were home all day. But with the boys in school and errands to run I just didn't know when I'd have the time. Logan's been going pee in the toilet for a while now, just not consistently. I never pushed it or encouraged it, just let him go when he wanted and got excited when he did. I heard stories from friends who told me their 2 year old boys were potty trained and I felt like I was behind somehow. But then they told me how long it took (1 or 2 months) and I was not ready for that. A while back I decided to try and potty train Logan over Christmas break, but the first day he had like 5 accidents in a row and I was not going to do that. I pretty much wanted Logan to train himself. I wanted to just wait until he totally wanted to do it. On Monday we jumped on the Potty Train Express. Logan asked to wear underpants like Colin and Trevor did. He had some in his drawer that we kept around for when he was ready. We put them on and the rest of the day he went to the bathroom in the toilet. He had a few accidents but he did pretty good for the first day. Tuesday was even better. We took the boys to school, went to Target and he stayed dry the whole time. He had maybe 3 accidents. And he went good ol' number 2 all by himself. Today was even better. One accident all day. He pretty much trained himself. But don't think I'm bragging here. I'm not. I'm just letting everyone in blogging land know that it's okay to have a 3 year old in diapers still. For real. It's okay if everyone else has kids younger than your kid potty trained already. It's totally okay to wait until you kid is ready to potty train. I am sure some of his success has to do with being the youngest and seeing his older brothers go. But I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that this was very low stress, no pressure at all, no expectations, no worries. If he went, great! If not, oh well, we'll try again. I sure wish I knew all of this 5 years ago when I potty trained Trevor. Who cares what other people do? Who cares what they say or think? All that matters is what's best for you and your kid. Raising kids is hard enough. The last thing we need to do is put more pressure on ourselves and our kids to be like everyone else. I love my Logan. I love that he did it all himself.

Testimony

I ran into Trevor's Primary President at the grocery store last week. We were chatting and we were talking about Trevor when she said, "Do you know my favorite thing about Trevor? I love the questions he asks. He wants to know for himself if what we're saying is true." I took that as a compliment. Last night for our Family Home Evening Trevor picked a story from the new Friend magazine to read. It was about a little girl who told someone the things she believed in. I asked the boys what things they learned at church or in the scriptures that they believed were true. They both made some comments and then I asked, "What about Joseph Smith? What do you know about him." Colin said, "He prayed and saw Heavenly Father and Jesus." Then Trevor said, "Well, I don't know if I believe that. I know he went to the Sacred Grove and said a prayer but I'm not sure he saw Heavenly Father and Jesus."

Now when he said that I got worried. Did we not teach him well enough? Was he not going to be ready to be baptized in 2 weeks? But then the words of his Primary President came to me and I realized he needed to know for himself. Dave and I asked Trevor what he needed to do if he wanted to know if that really did happen to Joseph and he said he needed to pray and ask. I was talking to him about how to pray for that and he said, "I think I already have the answer. I feel good right here (he pointed to his chest) and I hear 'yes, yes, yes' in my head. So it's yes. He did see them." And I knew that was the beginning of my son gaining a testimony of his own.

Date night

On Saturday Dave and I had plans to go to my friend's house for a homecoming party for her son. He just got home from his mission. Dave got a babysitter and I suggested we go to the party for a while and then go on a date. We decided our date would consist of going to RC Willey and Home Depot. Not super romantic but we've been wanting to go to those 2 places without the kids for a while now and this was the perfect opportunity. We want to get a new kitchen table when we move and we wanted to look at paint colors and see what furniture there was, get some ideas of prices and see what we might like. We found a table we liked and then we were just looking around for fun when I saw this denim sectional. I just fell in love with it. It looked like a pair of comfy jeans. I have ALWAYS wanted a denim sectional but I could never really find the right fabric. But this was it. Exactly what had always been in my imagination when I think of what I want my family room to look like. We didn't buy anything but it was sure fun to look. We got some ideas for paint for the new house and we had fun walking through Home Depot and dreaming about what our kitchen will look like someday. It was a fun date. A fun night to spend together and do something we never get to do. It was fun to go out with Dave and dream and imagine what we're going to make our home into.

Wonder Woman

With three boys (oh, I mean 4) in the house there is often talk of Super Heroes, fighting skills, super powers, magic, bad guys and all of that good stuff. The other day when I came out of my room dressed in my new Wonder Woman t-shirt my boys' eyes got wide. "Who is that?" they asked. I told them she was a super hero, one that I loved when I was little. "Well what does she do?" I proceeded to tell them all about her golden lasso, how strong and fast she was and how she could stop bullets from a gun with her wrist bands. Needless to say they were impressed. When I told Trevor I used to pretend to be Wonder Woman when I was little he smiled. He runs around the house imagining he has powers and he fights off the bad guys, so I think he was glad to hear that when I was little I did the same thing. Putting on my Wonder Woman t-shirt brings a little smile to my face. I remember watching that show when I was little and then dressing up as best I could to look like her. Yellow construction paper for the crown, a jump rope for the lasso, some red boots from my mom's closet and scrunchies for my wrist bands. The first time I wore this shirt Trevor kept saying, "We should call you Wonder Mom!" Because Moms are a lot like Wonder Woman, right? We might not fight bad guys but we get bad kids to behave, we fight dirt and germs when we clean the house, we can magically make a sad kid smile and kiss hurts to make them go away. We can quickly, in almost a whirlwind of speed get three kids (or more) ready for school or church or whatever and get everyone out the door so we're not late. We can take a few ingredients from the pantry or fridge and make up a dinner that everyone will eat and they will think it took a lot of planning. And some of us even train in the mornings or evenings to get stronger and improve our speed. I like being Wonder Mom. I like my kids looking at me like I really am a super hero. But I can't take all the credit for the shirt. My friend had it first and I had to copy her. So, thanks Jen!

Happy Day

Toady Dave was over at our new-house-to-be to see the new pool fence going on. That's right people. The house we are getting has a pool! And now it has a fence to keep the kiddies out when we don't want them in. A few weeks ago we signed a contract to do a lease-to-own with the current owners of the house. They are both retiring and moving to Cedar City and they called us one day and asked if we'd be interested in buying their house. They knew we had moved out of the ward under circumstances that weren't very happy and so they wanted to see if we wanted the opportunity to move back. We love their house. It's close to where we used to live, it's right around the corner from Trevor's good friend, and one of Colin's friends from kindergarten lives 3 houses down. The house has 4 bedrooms and a bonus room. I has a big kitchen which I can't wait to start cooking in and a HUGE master bedroom. I love the floor plan and love that the laundry room is it's own room and not connected to the garage. The current owners will be moving out in June as soon as school is out (she is a teacher) and then we will slowly move things over and we'll need to be out of our rental by July first. We are so excited. It will be so nice to have a place that is ours again and to know we will be there for a long, long time. I like feeling settled and grounded. I just wish June would get here just a little bit faster.

The Suit

Today is Trevor's 8th birthday.
I wanted him to have a suit when he got baptized and my mom offered to buy it. On Saturday we went to a clothing store so Trevor could try some on. He was not too excited. The comments we heard that shopping trip: "This is so boring", "I don't want Grandma to see me naked", "Are your eyes closed?", "Can we go now?", "Are we done yet?" And we didn't even come home with a suit. Nothing really fit him right since he is so skinny. Then my smart mother offered to go to a store and buy several suits in different sizes and then Trevor could just try them on at home. And we found one that fit perfectly. It's not too big and he can grow into it. I am also glad to have 2 other boys below Trevor. This will be a good suit to hand down. When I was done with Trevor last night after having him try on the different pants and jackets I sent him away to play. I put the suit back on the hanger and as I did my eyes started to tear up. I wasn't sure why. It was just a suit. But then I realized that it's the first suit. The next special one will be when he turns 12 and gets the priesthood. Then he'll get another one when he turns 19 and becomes a missionary. Dave and I have been married 10 years this June and it's gone by so fast. In another 10 years Trevor will be 18 and graduating from high school and getting ready to leave for 2 years to serve a mission. I think those years are going to go by fast, too. He was my first baby and now he's turning into a young man. He's not so little anymore. He said something the other day about how soon he'll be as tall as me. How is that possible? It must be so strange to wake up one day and stand face to face with your child. And then to notice that you look up to him, instead of him looking up to you. And here I go crying again. I just don't know how he got so big so fast.

Celebrity Sighting

I have seen very few celebrities in my life time. The first one was in Washington DC. I was a senior in high school and it was school trip. We were in the Capitol building and we got into an elevator. Then this guy steps in and my friend said, "Hello, Senator Bono." I didn't even know who it was at first until when he stepped out of the elevator my friend turned to me and gushed, "We were in the elevator with Sonny Bono!" The second time I saw someone famous I was at the mall with my sister and we were leaving the mall and she swore we were walking behind Robin Williams. So we walked a little faster and followed him out of the mall and into the parking lot. It was indeed Robin Williams, complete with a body guard. He's super short. Anyway, the third time I saw someone famous was on my honeymoon. Dave and I were staying at a hotel close to the Los Angeles airport. We would be leaving for a cruise the next day and we wanted to go someplace fancy to eat. We were told to go to a particular restaurant in the airport and we were told lots of time famous people ate there on their way in and out of town. So we get there, get our table and ask the waitress if she had served anyone famous. She said she had but that she had to treat them like everyone else. Interesting. So Dave and I are sitting there and we look over and at the very next table (and these tables were close together) was no other than Ian McKellen (I didn't even know his name back then). I remember Dave leaned over to me and said, "Isn't that the guy who plays Magneto in X-Men?" We had just watched the movie so we both look and it was! We were so excited. We kept watching him the whole time. It was the coolest dinner ever. So today I was at the auto shop getting my car's oil change and a smog check and in walks this guy and I look at him and think he looks just like this chef who I know has a restaurant here and was on Top Chef as a judge a number of times and then on Top Chef Masters. And then I listen to his conversation with the lady behind the counter and I knew it was him. It was Rick Moonen! But after my initial excitement I thought, "Even people on TV have to get their cars fixed just like the rest of us."

Sharing rooms

When we lived in our previous house we remodeled the upstairs and closed off a loft so we could have enough bedrooms upstairs for the boys. We had Trevor and Colin in one room and Logan in the other. Then, when we decided we wanted a guest room downstairs, we moved all three boys in a room and used the other room as a play room. It worked out pretty well. As we've been talking to the boys about moving we keep trying to figure out what do do about rooms. Should Logan still get his own room? Should we let Trevor have his own room? We had it all figured out and then last night changed our minds again. I was reading a blog, trying to get some decorating ideas when I came across a post where this woman had all three of her boys sharing a room. She said she loved it because no one felt left out and they all got to be buddies while they were young. She said she would probably not always keep it that way but while they were little, why not? So it got me thinking. I asked the boys what they thought about all three of them sharing a room in the new house. They liked it. They really liked it. They liked that they could all be together, that they could have a room with just their toys and another room for just the couch and TV. It's not set in stone but I think it's a great idea. Dave and I like the idea of them sharing, even when they are older. And the rooms in our new house are bigger so it won't be too bad for all three to be together. Hopefully it will work. Hopefully they will love it.

Getting your kids to eat

Logan is a very picky eater. He would eat cereal all day if I let him and sometimes I do. He loves snacking during the day and by dinner he is either not hungry or else he doesn't want anything on his plate. He's left the dinner table before not having eaten anything and I am sure lots of kids are that way as well. One of the rules I started when my kids were little was that if they are hungry for dinner they eat what I make or they don't eat anything. I love it because eventually they will be hungry enough to try things on their plate and that has often led to the boys learning they actually do like something they thought was yucky. Recently, Colin (who was pickier than Logan) has been trying more and more foods and eating more at dinner each night. Last night I made cranberry chicken for dinner, green beans and rice. When everyone was finished eating Logan had yet to start. He ate a few green beans (a real shocker) but had not touched anything else. So I looked at him and said, "Did you know that chicken gives you big, strong muscles? And rice makes you run super fast?" Logan immediately put chicken in his mouth and proceeded to flex for me showing me his muscles were getting bigger with each bite! He ate all of his chicken and then tried his rice. By the time he was done he's eaten almost all of his dinner! This incident reminded me of the time I told Colin that Batman's favorite food was green beans to get him to eat his veggies (and he did). I sure felt like one smart mom last night. I wonder if I can work my magic on Logan again tonight.