A walk in the park...

Today was a great day outside so I decided to walk down to Sugarhouse Park with the girls for a picnic and fun on the jungle gym. Not to digress, but I've been trying and trying to get Ava officially potty trained for some time. I'm not forcing it and she's been doing a pretty good job of remembering to use the potty when she's wearing her "unders" (as she calls them). But, like walking, she is kind of taking her time deciding she wants to commit to it full time. I asked and asked and asked before we left if either of them needed to go potty, knowing the park's bathrooms were closed, but of course, they both said no. Caroline can hold hers like a camel, so I'm not too worried about her... but Ava's a different story.

And sure enough, after lunch on the playground Ava came waddling over to me saying she had to go potty. Then followed up with, "I tinkled a little bit already...and I pooped a little bit." Uh oh! I didn't know what I was going to find. She couldn't really walk with her little "present" in her unders so I picked her up under her arms and told Caroline to follow me to the bathrooms while I pushed the stroller with one hand and carried Ava like a football in the other. As expected, the bathrooms were locked so I told Ava that we were going to have to be adventurous. Thankfully it was a sunny and relatively warm day because I had to strip her from the waist down (including shoes and socks) so she could go potty on the grass. And no, I couldn't find a tree or grove of shrubs to hide her...it is winter after all. But she was a good sport and when I showed her how to squat she said giggling, "like a dog?!" She took her time, but she finally tinkled and thankfully, she had pooped all she was going to poop.

After I got her all dressed and cleaned up, but before I had a chance to clean up the poop, two little dogs came wandering by all excited. They got all interested in the area Ava had tinkled and I feared they were going to find the poop. Sure enough they did and even proceeded to pick it up. I yelled "leave it" and their owner (a cute young girl) did her best to get her dog to spit it out but it just dropped it and the two of them gobbled it up. She was quite embarrassed and mortified and I was just praying she didn't know it was my daughter's. I tried to make her feel better by saying that my dog eats poop too. Ava and Caroline just wordlessly watched the whole thing unfold then Ava turned to me and asked if that dog just ate her poop. When I said yes, she said, "He shouldn't do that!"

Yeah, I know honey.

All About Caroline

So it wouldn't be fair to do a post for Ava's day at school without mentioning Caroline's big day. Her day at preschool was back on October 27th. She got to bring snacks for all her friends and bring a poster with pictures all about her. I didn't get a picture of the poster before she took it to class, but here's a slide show of all the pictures from it. I could only choose thirty and I tried to find the ones that gave a little history, but let her latest personality and interests shine through.

How cool is that?!

If there's one thing this excercise taught me, it's that I have literally THOUSANDS of pictures of these two little angels and hardly any organization to them. Technology is indeed a wonderful thing, but it does have its drawbacks. I did, however, get to reminisce on the last three plus years and see exactly how much they've grown and how far they've come from their precarious beginning. It seems like yesterday that they were in the NICU and hardly big enough to fit in clothes that weren't made for dolls.

Just about to start the presentation
(by the way, that's the 'flowey' top she was wearing when she almost burned the house down)

Dad enjoying circle time with the kids.

All About Ava

It was Ava's day at preschool today. We brought snacks for her friends and she got to bring a poster with pictures that portrayed all of her memorable life moments, activities she enjoys and just the things that make her so damn cute.

She has been super excited about her day since Caroline had her day in October. Finally enough naps had gone by to be her day! (that's how they measure time these days) She did a great job talking in front of the class and was very thorough with her explanations. Good Job Ava!

Some more cute (and sad) Ava isms this week include this little gem: Yesterday when I was getting Ava dressed for school she sadly said, "When you're mad Mommy you don't love us anymore." Of course my heart sank. It was odd too since the morning was going along really well and we were all happy. I immediately stopped what I was doing and got at her eye level and had a little heart to heart with her to reassure her that I never, ever stop loving her. And the heartbreaking thing is that I think she meant whenever I'm mad...regardless of why, with whom or what degree, i.e. mild frustration or taking a stern tone to get them to pay attention. But regardless, I will think twice, three times, and even four before I act.

That alone is enough to warrant a post, but it gets better. After she felt better she pointed to my eye and asked, "Why do you have bunny ears there Mommy?" It took a second for it to dawn on me what she was talking about and then I told her, "It's because your mommy is old, Honey."

Yep, her bunny ears are what most people call "crow's feet." And I did ask....she came up with that all on her own. Frankly, I prefer the term 'bunny ears'....but on someone else's face.

And Ava is getting lots and lots of hugs from Mommy these days. I love you, love you, love you Ava....ALWAYS.

Jingle All the Way

Meet the newest seasonal member of our family, Jingle. He arrived today in the mail via the North Pole. Santa sent him as his "scout elf" for our family. His job is to report back to Santa on all of Ava & Caroline's activities so Santa knows if they've been naughty or nice.

Every night when the girls go to sleep, he heads back to the North Pole to make his report and then reappears in the morning. He finds a new place to sit every day and each morning the girls can see who finds him first. But Santa gave us some rules to abide by: 1. You can't touch him 2. He can't talk to the girls....only me and Santa. But they can talk to him all they want...especially if they want him to put in a good word to the big guy and give him their wish list.

The first thing we had to do was give him a name so he could become ours. We all decided Jingle was fitting. On the way home from Maga's tonight, I told the girls that I had someone to introduce them to when we got home. They were so curious and kept asking me who it was. I just told them it was a guy who will be doing a very important job for us. Caroline was getting kind of bugged by it and really wanted to know who it was...at least his name. But I wasn't saying anything because he didn't have a name yet. Smart little Ava thought for awhile quietly and then asked, "Is it an elf?" She's so darn intuitive. When we got home Caroline was really irked and stomped into the house saying, "I don't like this little guy! I don't want him at our house!" She hadn't even met him yet and didn't know anything about who he was.

How fitting she was most skeptical when we found him sitting in the chandelier in their bedroom and she wanted to get him down immediately so she could touch him. "But Mommy, he's not real!. Is he real? He's just a stuffed animal!" I told her he was real like Duckie and that if she didn't think he was real, then that meant she didn't believe in Santa Claus. She came around soon enough.

It's a good thing Jingle didn't show up Monday or Caroline would be in grave jeopardy of getting a lump of coal in her stocking. See, Caroline almost started the house on fire in Eden. And I'm not kidding. The girls were watching a movie in the living room while I was on the phone with Aunt Lisa in the same room. I stepped outside briefly on the deck and shortly after Caroline came running out frantically telling me, "Mommy, Mommy the towel is burning!"

I ran inside to find a bath towel on the living room rug smoldering and smoking. I hung up the phone, grabbed it and the only thing I could think of was to run outside on the deck and throw it over the railing to the grass below....it was the closest exit. With smoke alarms blaring and Caroline running around in near tears saying, "Is this an emergency?!!! Is this an emergency?!! Is the fire chief coming?!!," I herded them downstairs with me in case the carpet went up in flames for some reason and so I could put the burning towel out before it started a grass and wildfire in the nearby brush. When I got outside it was in full flames. Since the hoses weren't attached to the house, the only solution I could think of to immediately extinguish the fire was to throw the towel into the hot tub. Sorry Brad, but figured it was better than letting the house take the hit.

Needless to say, I was a wreck and Caroline and I had a good chat about the dangers of putting anything in the fireplace....even if you just want to get a towel warm. All I could think about was how she could have gotten hurt, burned or how easily her little blousey top could have caught on fire. But I am so proud of her for coming to get me rather than running to hide for fear of getting in trouble. What a big girl! And because of that, the only thing lost was a bath towel. I am so grateful! So next time I'm on the phone with you, please forgive me for not leaving the room to hear you better.

As far as Jingle is concerned, all I know is that the girls were in bed at 8 o'clock sharp, didn't give me any grief, didn't talk after I shut the door, didn't yell for me for over an hour to tell me something silly, and even scolded Duckie for not being quiet. If this keeps up till Christmas, the Easter Bunny will be getting an elf.

Merry Christmas and may you remember to count your blessings!

Wow, Wow!

So I took the girls to Gardner Village on Saturday to see the fun Halloween witches and displays and all they can talk about are the ducks in the water. We're walking toward the stream where the ducks are and they are super excited to see the ducks (there are a total of five). I'm holding both their little hands in mine and we are making quick work to get to the ducks....witches be damned, right? They were chattering about feeding them and I said that I didn't think they had food for us to feed them, and we certainly didn't bring any. And to that Caroline said with such sweet sincerity, "You gotta believe, Mom."

I took a moment to let that sink in, wondering if I heard her right and I asked her to repeat what she said. And she said again, "You gotta believe." I thought for a second and asked with true bewilderment and interest where she heard that....half expecting to hear some kind of Santa Claus or religious explanation when she said, "Wubzy says that, Mom. Wubzy says you just got to believe."

True, reflecting back, I do remember that Wubzy did indeed say that. You're right, Honey....you just got to believe!

Polka Dots on My Tummy

So since we're on the subject of Caroline, I figured I'd finally write the post I've been promising for some time. I better do it now before my momnesia kicks in and I can't remember all the little, but oh-so-important, details.

You see, Caroline has had some quirky little rituals that she implemented in her bedtime routine around age two or so. Even though I knew that the steps she insisted both she and I take as she went to bed were more about control than anything else, the insanity it created in me had me thinking she was showing signs of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). It wasn't until I uncovered some material about what to watch for in your children as they grow older...milestones, if you will...did I finally feel better about things. Apparently, around age 2-3 some children will concoct "elaborate and rigid rituals". Ahh, my kid is normal! Yeah, whatever that means.

Her ritual has since changed a bit since moving into a big girl bed and getting rid of bottles. And the ritual was, and continues to be, an evolving process where she adds and tweaks things as she deems necessary....constantly keeping me on my toes!

Here's how the original incarnation played out (for the most part):

First she would tell me to, "sit on the chair and watch me" as she climbed ("BY HERSELF') over her crib rails and balanced on her head before toppling over. Then you had to say, "Way to Go!" or "Good Job!" After that you had to place her bottle on the very edge of the table by her crib so it was almost teetering off, and then let her grab it "BY HERSELF!" At some point she added the new "lick the finger, wipe it on her wrist and then swirl it around the nipple" (the bottle's, not hers) action before she plopped down in her crib. Then you had to put Bobby (her stuffed teddy bear) in the bottom left corner of her bed sitting up. If he even slouched just a bit that would prompt screams and frustration from her until you fixed it. Then Duckie had to be up by her head which was to be on her C pillow placed in the right corner of her headboard on the north side of her bed. Then you had to put her "star blanket" on her (not any other blanket could be in her bed whatsoever) and you had to do it with the "POLKA DOTS ON MY TUMMY!"

When that was all done you couldn't just kiss her goodnight and leave the room. Nope, you had to (in this order) first bend down outside the crib so that you were level with her head and kiss her through the slats ("Kiss down here"). But not just any slat....it had to be the second slat from the end. Then you had to stand up, bend over the crib rail and give her a hug ("Hugs up here") while she was still laying down. But you couldn't groan, or make "mmm, mmm" sounds while you did it.

If you did any of these things out of order or God forbid, you weren't sitting on the rocking chair in time, you had to start over from the beginning. It's reminiscent of the sacrament prayer at church and the poor kids who messed up on the prayer in even the slightest way and had to start from the very beginning until they got it perfectly right.

That was pretty much the ritual (with few variations once in a while) until several months later when she threw in a surprise attack. One particularly hairy night when nerves were shot for all parties, she threw me a curve ball after all this madness and as I closing the door, she screamed, "Bonk the door!"

"What?!" I said half screaming (ok, not really....I was screaming). She repeated it and repeated it and repeated it, because I couldn't make sense of what she was demanding. Finally I told her she was going to have to show me what the hell she was talking about. (I was fried at this point and not very cool and collected).

She promptly got out of bed and ran over to the door and hit it so it "bonked" against the wall. Again, this was totally a surprise attack and something she just dreamed up on the spot. It was part of the process ever since until she modified it with "in the hole." That one took some demonstration too and I learned that it wasn't good enough for me to simply bonk the door. No, I had to do it "in the hole" which meant that it had to be somewhere lower than the doorknob where I hit my hand. Yes, can you say 'CRAZY'? I was seriously thinking she was losing it at this point, as I'm sure you are reading this.

The whole time this madness went on every night (and still does), litte Ava just laid quietly in her bed waiting for it to be over. She never says a word and is perfectly content to just lay on her bumper, pick a few tickle tags (more on those later) and go to sleep.

So, this was pretty much the ritual for some time until big girl beds came into the picture, then it all had to be revamped as we didn't have rails for her to climb over, kiss through and hug over and no bottles to grab. We then graduated to covering her toes with her star blanket and the "love you to pieces" list.

The "love you to pieces" list was her replacement for the above antics and one she derived from my nightly ritual of telling them that I loved them to pieces before I shut the door. Now she methodically goes through a list of people, animals (real and almost-real), and things that I have to say, "love you to pieces" to before I am excused. Of course, this is an ever-evolving list. It goes something like this:

"Say love you to pieces to me, say love you to pieces to Duckie, say love you to pieces to Ava, say love you to pieces to yourself, and go in the kitchen and tell Biggie love you to pieces real loud so I can hear you and call Dad on the phone and tell him love you to pieces."

I have to allow her to say all of this without interruption or we start all over again. On another difficult night when my patience was wearing dangerously thin and she was lengthening the list of love yous, I thought to myself as she stuttered to think of a new item that she was going to tell me to say "love you to pieces" to the wall. And I kid you not, that's the very next thing that came out of her mouth!! I drew the line on that one and said I would not tell the wall that I loved it to pieces. (Have to admit that I do throw it in now and then purely in jest...and we both get a chuckle out of it)

Why do I indulge this madness, you ask? Well, if I ignored it I would suffer hours of crying and screaming. And when the only break I get is at bedtime, I am anxious for my "me" time to begin with as much peace as possible. I figure that the few minutes of mayhem I have to endure to keep the peace and keep her happy is worth it.

I just keep telling myself, "this too shall pass." And one day I might just miss it.....

"Love you to pieces, Caroline! "

A Good Day

So we started the morning off bright and early. Ava woke up before the sun and was so kind to get the rest of us up. After ten minutes of fun and frolic in their room, the girls came into mine and Ava promptly crawled into my bed exclaiming, "Mommy, the sun is trying to come up through the darkness." I love the way she looks at life and how her little brain tries to make sense of things. Her expressions are priceless and pretty spot on.

The girls had a great day at school, finishing off their second week. They still get glowing remarks from Miss Jodi every day and have yet to get a report card that says they're anything but 'happy' at school. I get daily reports of what they did in school, any 'reminders' they may have needed with being a good student, how they ate, what their general disposition was and what they enjoyed doing that day.

Mommy finally made it to a doctor today for the first time since giving birth. I did something good for myself for a change....got a check-up, flu shot, tetnus shot and some nasal spray for those pesky seasonal allergies. Got an appointment for a mammogram too....gotta love turning 40! Not very fun, but a good gift for myself and my girls.

After school we headed over to the Gatway Mall to watch the elephants parade down the street to celebrate the circus being in town. It was pretty cool to be that close to them. The girls were more impressed with the cannon guy who held his baby as he rode a horse. Funny how that made a bigger impression than the ten or so two-ton pachyderms parading five feet in front of them.

The evening was capped off with baking cookies. I think more dough made it into their mouths than the cookie sheet, but that's the point, right? All was well as we headed to bed...no fits, no fighting, no monkey business.

"No, I didn't eat any dough"

"Ok, maybe I did"

Caroline's clown hat. Barnum & Bailey here I come!

Now it's a good night! Love you, Ladybugs. Thanks for a fun day and for being so good.