Not YET!

Well, we told Kellen on Saturday morning that he was going to be a big brother. It was actually rather anti-climactic.

Matt and I called him into the kitchen, I sat him on my lap and started off with, "You know how you've been wanting a baby sister or baby brother?"

Kellen: "Baby sister!"

Mommy: "Ok, I know, baby sister. Honey, Mommy and Daddy can't control that, ok? Well, Mommy and Daddy are going to have a baby and it's growing in Mommy's tummy, see?"

Daddy: "Kellen, this means that you're going to be a BIG BROTHER!"

Kellen: "Yay!" Slight pause..."I want to go and play with Woody and Buzz in my room."

He slides off of my lap and starts to walk away.

Daddy: "Wait Kellen. Do you understand what Mommy and Daddy are telling you? You're going to be a big brother, are you excited?"

Kellen: "Yes. Can I go and play now?"

****

This morning on the way to school, I asked him if he was excited about being a big brother. His response,

"I NOT a big brother YET! Not yet!"

Well alrighty then!

Tug at the heartstrings

Uhh....Kellen was so disobedient after I picked him up from school yesterday...For every 5 things I asked him to do/not do, he disobeyed 3-4...Before DH went to work, he went into his room and told me, "Go away please, Mommy" I was suspicious, since he's wanted to be around me all afternoon, so I asked him if he needed to go potty or poo poo. "No" was the reply (and I asked in a variety of ways). Ok, no big deal, so I left the room AFTER telling him that IF he needed to go poo poo or potty, remember to tell Mommy so we could go on the potty and not go poo poo in our pants. And I left it at that. (I'm trying really hard not to push this aspect too much, or to get upset/frustrated when accidents happen - SO difficult!!)

About 5 or 10 minutes later, while Matt was getting ready for work, I hear him say, "Well, you need to go tell your Mommy." So I go to find out what I'm now supposed to know...I asked him if he had poo poo'ed in his pants. "No." I asked him if he was lying to me (and in case you're wondering - he knows what lying is and that is isn't allowed or tolerated). "No." Well, I told him that I was going to check and we walked into the bathroom and, sure enough, Kellen had poo poo'ed in his underwear. After getting him on the potty and cleaning him up, I looked at him and told him that I was sad that he had lied to me and that he was not allowed to lie to Mommy or Daddy. (I'm ignoring the fact that we had JUST had a discussion about the potty, because I'm trying a new tactic of not focusing on accidents that occur). However, the lying is a no-no.

So, as a result, he went to bed early last night (~ 7 P.M. instead of his normal 8 P.M. bedtime). As I tucked him in, I put some of the smaller toys that I don't like him sleeping with on his bookshelf to "watch him sleep" - he likes for his toys to watch him sleep...just a thing that he does. Anyway, I told him that if I came into his room and any of those toys were in bed with him, that I was going to take them away from him and out of his room. "Ok, Mommy," was the reply. A little time passed and I hear a knock on the door and a voice calling out to me. I go into his room and he doesn't want the music on. Ok, no big deal - turn it off. A few minutes later, knock on the door and, "Mommy, I need to go potty." Ok, open the door and make a trip to the potty - take him and tuck him back into bed and loe and behold, there are two of the small toys that he's trying desperately to cover up. Uhhh...So I ask him what he has and he tells me. I thank him for telling me the truth and remind him what the consequence of bringing them to bed was...and proceed to walk out of the room with them. A few minutes later, "Mommy, I need a hug." I walk into his room and he's still in bed, with his bottom lip pushed out far enough for a plane to land on it...I go and sit on the side of his bed and give him a hug and a kiss and tell him how much I love him. "I love you too, Mommy." Then I tell him that I'm sad that he lied to me and that he has to go to bed early, but that I still love him. His response, "I am sad too...I'm sad that I disobeyed you and got Timone and Pumba off of the shelf."

Oh my gosh! That just made my heart melt! I sometimes get so frustrated with things, but this was (hopefully) verfication that he IS putting together action and consequence...What we're doing IS soaking in...He understands, but still makes poor choices, but then again, don't we all sometimes?

Hapes family update

Ok...I've been promising for a while to give a family update since I've been so bad at doing regular blogs...

Aside from the tumble down the stairs this morning on the way to school, and subsequent busted lip, bloody nose, and bumped noggin' on the concrete (final blow to the little guy), Kellen's doing great! I really feel like we're getting SO close to being fully potty trained (except for night time, when he still gets a pull-up). We're working on a reward system...and I really need to work up a sticker calendar or something so that he has a visual, but haven't taken the time to do that yet. So far, his rewards have been the rental of a movie after a week of no accidents. The first week this was implemented, we started on a Wednesday and he made it, but we haven't made any full weeks since then. I think we might need to rethink that particular reward system...doesn't seem to be working out well for him and if he has an accident at the beginning of the week, what's the incentive for the remainder of the week? Definitely needs some more thought...*grin* but we're getting there!

Matt has another two weeks (7 shifts, he reminded me as he went to work today) at the Med as a full-time employee. He's desperately missing being in the "field" and will be going back to EMT work. This change of schedule will actually help him finish up with his remaining paramedic rotations (OR and a few hours of ER, then he can begin his ambulance rotations), then on to the National Registry Exam. He's already signed up for it...and it's a November test date, so pray that all goes well as we are now really down to the last little bit of this. There are several companies hiring in the Houston area, so we're pretty optimistic about the prospects for a full time paramedic position.

Probably the biggest Hapes news, which some of you may already know, is that we're having another baby...with an expected arrival of March 19th. As of today (if we're calculating everything correctly), I'm 14 weeks along...so any day now I should be getting my energy boost...Right? So far so good in terms of how I'm feeling. Some mild morning sickness, but mostly nausea, which has been cured most days by a chocolate milkshake from Whataburger. Those are really easing my stomach...and have been a staple in my diet for the past 2-3 weeks. We haven't told Kellen that he's going to be a big brother, but I think that he knows...He's been turning lots of his stuffed animals, and even a football at school, into babies...wrapping them in blankets, holding them, putting them down for naps, you name it. Although it's obvious that I'm in the early stages of a pregnancy, we're thinking that we're going to try and hold off telling him for a little while still...Matt says we won't tell him until he asks why Mommy's belly is getting so big, but I'm not sure about waiting that long (well, it really might not actually be that long, I guess).

Hopefully I'll be getting some more energy soon, and will do my best to be more regular about blogging and updates on the fam...

Wow-what a funny boy

I know that I've been horrible about updating and keeping the blog current, so I promise a Hapes family update soon; however, here is a funny exhange that occured at our place last night.

Kellen: Mommy, my slkdndsknlsest hurts.

Mommy: What hurts?

Kellen: My slkdkjest.

Mommy: What?

Kellen: (motioning with both hands to his chest) My ...est.

Mommy: Your chest hurts?

Kellen: NO, my breast hurts.

Mommy: Kellen, you don't really have breasts.

Kellen: (with a puzzled and surprised look on his face) I don't?

Hmmm

I wonder what scares Kellen when he's going to bed? Last night he was up later than usual because he and I went to my book club meeting, and I could tell the effects of this less-than-normal sleep today...the aftermath wasn't all that great, although last night he got rave reviews on his behavior. Anyway, I put him to bed earlier than normal tonight and about 5 minutes later, I hear him screaming in his room. It's an "I'm terrified" scream, too. I rush into his room and hold him, but I didn't really get a straight answer from him as to what was scaring him....he blamed it on a Mickey Mouse stuffed toy sitting on his bookshelf, but that was after I asked him and he looked around the room...like he was searching for something to blame this on. Wierd.

The Wiggles

I forgot to post about The Wiggles gig and Kellen, Maw Maw and I attended on Thursday night. It was at the Toyota Center and luckily, Maw Maw drove (thank you!). It took Kellen just a bit to "warm up" to the live show(read: about 45 mintues or so, actually), but he was enjoying it during that time, he just wasn't singing or dancing (which he doesn't do much anyway when he watches them at home). Once he finally got into it, he did start doing the motions, dancing, and singing, etc. He was just too cute!

I'll have to post pictures when this site will allow me to do so...I can't seem to get it to work right now.

Still going...

Well, we're still in the "choices" phase, although I daresay it's getting a little better (should I even write that?). Kellen hasn't quite been acting himself for the past couple of days, but I really think it has a lot to do with his bowel problems (yes, we're still having those - poor guy). After a couple of tries tonight he finally had a BM. I'll leave out the details other than to say that since it hurts him so badly to go, it's no wonder he tries to hold it all in...So, we're back on the Milk of Magnesia, like the doctor had recommended at his 3 year check up. I get to play chemist again with the dosage, because I'm NOT giving him the dose that the doctor recommended - Whoa buddy! This weekend I gave him 1/3 of the dosage that was recommended and he went some, tonight I upped it a little bit, and I'm wondering if it was the medicine that kicked into gear so quickly for him. Who knows? So I'll keep it at this dose for a couple of days and we'll see how that goes.

Anyway...

I asked Kellen a question on the way home from school today, and his response to my question was, "What are you TALKING about, Mommy?" - And to drive his point home, he held up both hands in the classic "huh?" pattern. He's getting so grown up with his language and word inflections. He just cracked me up!

Choices

Well, Kellen got to live out the consequences of his choices tonight. He and I were having a night to ourselves, and he asked to watch Madagascar...I decided to allow him (which may have been my first problem) and he sat sweetly on the couch to watch it. Then he proceeded to go through two sippy cup fulls of apple juice/water. A little bit later we were eating our dinner on the couch (we were going pretty informal tonight) and I asked him if he needed to go potty. He tells me no, so I let it go (he hasn't been having too many accidents lately). About 10 minutes later, he gets off of the couch and heads down the hall...seconds later I hear him calling me. Well, he tried to make it, but ended up having an accident on the floor right NEXT to the potty...and it was a big accident. So, I had him undress and cleaned him (and the room) up. While I was finishing the room clean-up, he walked into his room and started pulling out drawers (which he knows he's not allowed to do, by the way). So, he got a talking to for that one. Since it was close to bedtime, I went ahead and got his night clothes and a pull-up out for him - when he realized what I was getting out, he started to throw a fit. I told him that we were just changing clothes because he had an accident, that he needed to stop throwing a fit, and that if he threw another one, he was going straight to bed (without finishing the movie, which at this point in time was still playing in the living room). Not even two seconds later he throws another fit...so what do I have to do? Put him to bed. Period. When he realizes that I'm serious, he REALLY starts throwing a fit, tears streaming down his face, the whole nine. Well buddy, mommy warned you!

After he got into bed, he reminded me that we hadn't brushed his teeth (yes, he's obsessive about brushing and flossing each night - and we just started brushing in the sink and practicing our spitting) so we went and took care of that. Then back in his room - I tucked him in and turned his music on. Then he decided that he didn't want that music, so I changed the CD, only to have him throw yet ANOTHER fit because he didn't want the music he had just told me he wanted. Who is this child? So, another choice for him to make. He listens to the music that he asked me for or no music at all (which, to him...is unthinkable at night and naptime - we didn't start out that way, but transitioned unintentionally to that when he moved to the toddler bed). He chooses the music, but is still crying as I turn it on again. Tucked in yet another time and that's it. Close the door to his room and that's all she wrote.

He MUST be tired, because I haven't heard a PEEP out of that room for the last 20 minutes. Lord, please let my child be the one who crawls out of that bed in the morning instead of this tantrum-throwing toot.

So serious

This morning, out of the blue, Kellen tells me, "Mommy I want to talk to you."

"Ok sweetie, what do you want to talk about?"

"I have a question."

"What?"

Then he would proceed to ask about watching something on TV or when he was going to go to The Wiggles, etc. But he was so serious about it! It was really funny!

Progress

Well, we're making progress on the home improvements...Over the weekend, Matt and Adam worked on building the deck, and despite the rain on both Saturday and Sunday afternoon, we now have a deck and functioning stairs. Still needed = railing, hand rail for steps, and the roof...But it looks great so far! The guys did such a great job.

Kellen's birthday party was on Sunday...we had it at a pool here in town with great slides, etc. However, the party itself was in the kiddie pool area, which had one frog slide. The depth of the pool was perfect...not too deep so that the kids couldn't touch, but deep enough that they weren't in water just up to their knees. It was great!

It was a Cars party, so Kellen's cake had a track and Lightning McQueen on it...he was so excited! And he did just a wonderful job of saying thank you to everyone as he opened his presents...Yay! In fact, when I would say who the present was from, many times he said thank you and then walked to the kid and tried to give the present back to the kid...it was adorable! I had to keep reminding him that his friends were giving him presents...he just needed to say thank you! It was offically from 3:30 - 5:30, but we ended up staying until almost 7:00...the weather turned bad and drove us (as well as virtually all the other pool-goer's) outta' there!

And today I was called for jury selection...It took virtually all morning! The 15-20 minute break before the lawyers were supposed to ask selection questions, etc., turned into an hour and a half break...Well, come to find out, they came to a resolution during this time, which I guess was the best thing. And, it was a CPS case...not the type that I would have really wanted to hear, but we'll never know if I would have gotten selected or not. Hmmm????

Growing up

My little baby isn't such a little baby anymore! He turned three this week...I can't believe it!

His birthday party is this Sunday, so we didn't do too much for his birthday...I made him his dinner request (pasta - he is his mother's child) and let him watch a movie - Dumbo...One of the times that he was asked how old he was, he replied with, "Three...I'm getting old" - he's such a hoot!

We had his three year check up Friday afternoon...we wasn't shy with anyone in the waiting room, or any of the nurses, but when the dr came in, he decided to act like he didn't want to talk! What a funny man...

When I told him that we were going to the dr, he said that he wanted the dr to take his yawn out because he didn't want to yawn anymore. Then he said that he wanted to talk to the dr about making his poo poo not hurt him anymore...So yes, we're still having trouble with this. Dr's suggestion: 1 oz of Milk of Magnesia once a day, every day for a week to, in his words, "clean him out" - then maybe his body will get used to going every day, which should help the problem some.

Otherwise, he's doing well. He's slacked off on the growth curve, and is now at the lower end of what is considered normal for the growth pattern. He's only gained ~4 lbs since his last visit/check up and only grown an inch in height. So he now weighs 30.8 lbs and is 36 inches tall. The dr didn't seem too concerned about this, especially after I informed him of the types and quantity of food that Kellen eats on a regular basis. The nutrition in there, and he thinks the growth will catch up once he turns 4 or 5.

Birthday party at the pool for him this weekend, so I'll try to post as soon as I can afterwards, with pictures and all.

Not tired?

Kellen didn't get all of his nap out today...he slept from Conroe to CS, but wouldn't really go back to sleep again...so, just a little bit ago I asked him if he was sleepy and he responded, "Yes, just a little bit. I want to keep it safe in my mouth." Utterly confused, I asked him to repeat what he had said. "My YAWN...I want to keep my YAWN in my mouth." Then he let it slip and yawned, looked at me and said, "Well, there goes my yawn...I guess I'm not sleepy anymore."

Wild weekend

So I took off a little early on Friday to *attempt* to get out of town in time to get to the Astros game before it started...No such luck, we finally left town ~ 5 PM and headed to Conroe. We were listening to KSBJ (for those of you that are unfamiliar with this station, it's the Christian radio station out of Houston, 93.3 here, 89.3 in Houston). Their anniversary concert is this coming weekend, so they're having a contest for free tickets for the 24th caller during the new Building 429 song. Sure enough, on the way to Conroe, I heard this song and told Matt, "I think that's the concert song," then called into the station. Loe and behold, it was, and I was the 24th caller! I freaked out on the air (it was pretty funny to listen to when they replayed it after the song was over). So, I won 4 tickets to the concert, and my name went into a drawing for 20 more tickets and a super-nice guitar - they were going to have that drawing after the top 10 at 10PM on Friday night. Well, I didn't win that, but still ended up with 4 tickets! I was in a state of disbelief for quite a while. The funny thing is, I had been telling Matt that we really needed to go ahead and get the tickets, and we had planned to go online and purchase them Friday night! WOW!

Anyway, we made it to Conroe, then down to Minute Maid Park to watch the Astros...I'll just say...the fireworks were GREAT! (The 'Stros kinda' stunk it up on Friday night...actually all weekend, but anyway). The have fireworks, weather permitting, on Fridays after the games. They were awesome! And we had great seats for the fireworks, too..Saturday, I had a pamper morning at the salon I like there in Conroe, then Matt and I took the day for ourselves...Went and watched Superman (Wonderful!!), ate, got some coffee, shopped a little, and just hung out in Houston for the night. Date night!! Whoo hoo! (We've got to have those a little more often!).

We stayed in Conroe later than we had planned yesterday, and left ~ 1:30ish...Kellen slept the entire way in the car, went potty when we got into the house, then laid back down to finish his nap. THREE hours later, he woke up! Yes folks, 3 hours later...for a grand total of a 4 hour nap! It was unbelievable! Matt & I had taken the opportunity to take naps as well, so it was slumber-city at our place!

Then I tackled the bathroom and painted for several hours last night. And I'm almost done with that project!

Underestimated

Why is it that when you're (or at least me) working on a project the time-to-completion is grossly underestimated? I really thought I could get through with all of the trim work tonight with at least a coat of the color...but nope! After putting Kellen to bed virtually on time, I slaved away...and got half of the room finished (not a whole coat of paint, mind you...just the trim - well, the skinny areas of the wall got their first coat). Arg. And since it's almost 11...there's no way I'm going to stay up any later and work on it. I'm pooped! And sore...

Tomorrow is a new day...reset goals...finished by the end of the weekend? *fingers crossed*

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July...

Today was quite the odd day...the weather was overcast, stormy, rainy, sunny...I mean, I know it's Texas, but come on! For the most part, it stormed and rained, so we nixed our plans to go to the George Bush museum and festivities tonight. Kellen and I also didn't drive to Rockdale to see Gramma and Grandpa at Uncle Eddie & Aunt Glenda's because of the weather, either. So...poor little Kellen went a little stir crazy...and the added bonus: try to keep him quiet so that Matt could sleep! YIKES!

Apparently, we managed just fine on the quietness factor, because Matt was amazed when I woke him up at 5:30 to get ready for work...If he hadn't been laying down, I think he would have fallen over! He thought that I was going to tell him it was noon or something like that...but nope, he managed to sleep all day long without any interruptions (other than Bailey going in and out of the room).

So...Kellen got to watch lots of videos today, and in the midst of this, I managed to get started on the master bathroom paint project...Two good coats of Kilz on one side of the room and three good coats of Kilz on the other - I got a little off-sync there with my painting, and just don't have the energy to finish off the second half with that third coat tonight. However, what we managed to do was get the bathroom in such disarray that we'll be forced to finish the project quickly. *hah* Matt took the back off of the toilet, we're painting over the shower, nothing is hanging on the walls, so the bathroom is, for the most part, virtually unusable until this project is finished. So, that means I'm working on this every night this week until it's done! Judging by the rate that I was getting things done today, I'll should be able to finish the third coat of Kilz on the second half and possibly (probably) the edging with the actual color. Thursday night should be rolling on color (please let it take just one coat!), and perhaps the faux finish. Then Matt gets to put the bathroom all back together!

Let's all hope for some migraine-free days for Becca so that we can get this done!

Anyway...Kellen got to watch videos today, but I noticed that he just likes having them on in the background...He would be playing in his room and I would mention turning off the show, and he would (politely) ask me to keep it on. He wanted to play, but appeared to want them as background noise? Every so often he would run out (with the appropriate toy for the movie) and watch a certain part, or something in the movie would spark him to play something else (watching Shrek required all bicycle gear so that he could go and fight the "dragon" in his room - hilarious!).

I just can't believe sometimes that it's possible for him to crack us up more and more every day!

Fun night..

On the way to school today, Kellen and I made a deal that if he had no accidents all day, that after eating supper and when DH left for work that he could watch Lion King (he was begging to watch this movie, so I just had to put some strings to it and make it work for us!). This is a pretty big deal for him, since he doesn't watch TV/movies during the week - but hey, tomorrow's a holiday! Anyway, I picked him up from school and he hadn't had any accidents, so he got to watch his show...He was just being so adorable!

I did some quick projects around the house (ok...not quick, but I only worked 15 minutes at a time with breaks - the master bathroom is now taped off and ready for the next stage of the painting process, laundry is moving, dishes washed, etc.) then watched the end of the show with him...then he wanted to watch Veggie Tales (I relented - sucker mommy tonight, it would seem). Then I had the new Toby Mack CD in and it came on when Veggie Tales was over, and he wanted me to pick him up and dance with him...So sweet!

He even ate an entire green apple by himself as a snack while watching the video, and asked for another one that he so politely shared with me. Either I found the magic way to peel/cut the apple or we're just having a fluke day, because he'll ask for them all of the time, but take a bite or two and be done. Eating fruit! And liking it! I'm so overjoyed!

Oh...and it's the end of the day and still no accidents!! (But he went LOTS during the video/play time - every 15 or so minutes, it seemed!) Anyway, it was just a oh-so-fun night with my little man!

Ouch

So Kellen and I drove to Conroe on Thursday night so that Judy and I could leave first thing in the morning for the next step in my TMJ saga...we've decided to get a steroid injection in my jaw. This may not sound like a big deal...and really didn't initially to me at first, until the doctor told me that I would have to go under general anastecia (don't quite know how to spell that word right now, but you get the idea). So, I obviously had to have a driver for this occasion, and Matt had to work last night. I didn't want to put it off any longer, so Judy drove me and Kellen stayed with George. THANK YOU BOTH!

I really didn't think it would be too big of a deal and certainly didn't think the after-effects would stay with me as long as they have. The gave Judy the post-op directions (yes, it was actually considered an operation by that office and surgery (same thing, I guess) by my insurance) and a prescription for two medications...a pain reliever and an antibiotic. Took the meds with lunch after we got back to Conroe, and that pain med is stout! I had a salon appointment right after lunch (one that I had made thinking I would be just fine by then) and went in fairly woosey. When I came back from that, I tried to read some fluff magazines, but ended up taking a ~3 hour nap.

When I woke up, we all went to eat at an Italian food place in town so that I could take another round of meds (on a soft food diet today, so pasta I could do...*grin*). Kellen got spaghetti and meatballs, and his eating attempts had virtually the entire restaurant entertained! He wouldn't let me cut up his pasta, so imagine an almost three year old spinning his pasta on his fork and eating/slurping it up. He was quite entertaining and quite the little ham!

Anyway, just before going to eat Matt and I discussed our plans, and decided that it was better for me to stay over in Conroe so that I could continue taking the pain meds...I certainly couldn't drive while taking those things! Apparently, he had an idea that I would be in this kind of shape, but didn't think that I would agree with him, so he didn't share that with me. He was right...I wouldn't have agreed with him and I most certainly am being impacted by this much worse than I thought...

We'll take tomorrow (well, I guess today) and the plan based on how I feel. You may be wondering what the heck I'm doing up this late...well, I had that nap today and am on the meds, but I think I may have pushed through the groggy part to a state where I'm actually having a hard time going to sleep tonight. Just my luck.

Hopefully, this procedure will give my and my jaw some additional relief. Please pray that this works for me!

I'm back

Well, I haven't been gone, but have been horrible about posting! - Sorry!

To update: Kellen's doing wonderfully on the potty, including poo poo. He's gotten three busted lips in the past week and a half or so...



This is a picture of his 1st one (Thursday before last), then he got another one that mirrored this one (but not quite as bad) that weekend...those mostly healed up, then another one this weekend! Oh boy...

I'll try to get back in the habit of posting!!

Dry all night...and day!

Yup...Kellen woke up dry this morning. AND, he had ZERO accidents at school today! Whoo hoo! He had one accident on the way home from grocery shopping, but it really wasn't his fault. He was still buckled in his carseat and I was moving groceries around, so we're just chalking that one up to miscommunication.

We're getting there (and it seems to have taken us quite a while to get to this point, but that's ok!)

He's talking about wanting to go to swim lessons after school, so I think that Matt and I will look at the rest of the summer schedule and see about getting him in another set of swim lessons around his birthday. That way he could just do the Frog class rather than the Frog and Me class. I think that he would do really well in a class with just kids and a teacher, rather than having Matt or I in the water with him.

We'll see!

Jesus made the stars

So tonight Kellen and I went to a party hosted by one of my co-workers. She has had a fish camp named after her and was having a pool party & cook-out tonight for all of the counselors and invited some of us from work to attend. By the way, in case any of you were wondering, Kellen did GREAT in the pool. He jumped in, put his face under water, floated on the noodle chest down - both assisted and unassisted, and practiced his kicking and blowing bubbles in the water. He was so proud of himself and did not want to get out of the water when we needed to get ready to leave.

After getting out, he made up to one of the girls...wanted to sit on her lap and play with her...he's such a flirt! It was adorable! When he decided that he wanted to sit with her he asked me very quietly, "Mommy, I want to sit with her," and pointed to the girl. So I told him that it was ok and that he needed to walk over there and ask her if he could sit with her. The first time, he made it halfway and then ran back to me, acting shy...the second time he did it and just started playing like he had known her for forever!

So we say our goodbye's and are walking out to the car, when he whispers to me, "I didn't give kisses bye-bye!" We then turn around, go back in and he gives my co-worker and host of the party a kiss. It was just so sweet!

Anyway...we make it home and out of the car and he looks up at the sky, points out the stars, then remarks, "There are lots of stars up there. Jesus made the stars, Mommy." Now I ask you...how sweet is that?

Too sweet!

Ok, he made another comment that was so cute and sweet that I just had to post it! We left for swim lessons tonight after saying our good-byes to Matt, since he was about to get ready for work and will be gone until tomorrow morning. On the way, I asked Kellen if he was excited about going swimming, and he told me, "No, I'm not." I asked him why and his reply, "I want my friend Daddy." (Sidenote: He really ended up being excited about swimming and did great, but this comment was just too sweet. He just adores his daddy!)

Over the Hedge

Well, we finally delved into movies on the big screen with Kellen...we went and watched "Over the Hedge" this afternoon at Cinemark - and he LOVED it! (We had to get up only once to go to the potty, but he didn't have an accident! ). The movie was cute and although it's rated PG, I thought it was very appropriate for Kellen (has potty humor, which he gets from Matt anyway)...Matt and I were even laughing out loud during parts of it.Whew...Kellen really behaved well...he was getting a little impatient during all of the previews, but when the movie started he was just mesmerized! All in all, a very pleasant experience!

What a day!

I just have to start with out with an *ARG* and a *sigh*...but I'll end with a WHOOP...

Kellen and I made it home to eat and change for his swimming lesson tonight, but then right before we were about to leave, he gets in his poo poo stance (this may sound funny to some of you guys, but he's been perpetually constipated and/or has had BM problems/issues for at least 1 1/2 years now...prune juice has been a staple for him for a long time). Since we're working really hard on the potty training, I've been catching him in the poo poo stance and just putting him on the potty to go...not asking if he wants to, just doing it. We're really making progress that way (i.e., he's actually done some business on the potty and hasn't been holding it in) for the last couple of weeks. Anyway, he's on the potty, and I know he has more (he had a little accident before we actually made it) so I get a book to read to him. Finish that book and he asks for another. Finish that one and he asks for another. Ummm...by this point in time we're going to be really late for the swim lessons, IF we even get off the potty and leave.

So I have this internal debate raging in my brain about swim lessons (that we paid for) and him going to the potty (should I rush him, just get him off the potty only to have what will inevitably an accident - and possibly in the pool, at that!)... Realistically speaking, I'm not quite sure what my brain was truly debating or thinking, because it isn't like I could make him "go" any quicker or anything.

We completed the task at hand after the three books, but by this time, swim lessons had already started...and our house is a good 10 minutes away...the swim lessons are only 25 minutes, so I just gave it up for the night. What was the point? I want to cheer him for going on the potty... really...but it was frustrating to miss a swim lesson, as he has been making progress each day.

In the grand scheme of things, this really isn't a big deal...I just needed to vent!

Ok, next topic...although very closely related. I'm having a moment...A little bit before he went to bed, Kellen came to me and told me that he had to go potty. I immediately get up and go with him to the bathroom to help (I normally help him undress and put him on the potty) and he gave me a very emphatic, "I do it!" So he pulled down his undies, got on the potty himself, and goes pee pee. Then he looks up at me with the biggest grin...It was just precious (ok...how sad am I when I'm calling pee pee'ing in the potty precious - but anyway!). I then tried to help him off the potty, but he was having none of that either. He did it himself, flushed, put his undies back on, and there ya' go!

He's doing it, we're making it, and I'm excited about this! But, I'm also a little sad, because this is one more way of proving that he's growing up! I'm not sure that I'm completely ready for that? But are we ever?

He's doing really well at school, too...so I hope that he keeps this up!

Swim lessons...

So another day for swim lessons...and he did much better today, after a short period of time to get used to it. Once again, it was super cold...and threatening to storm the entire time. It even started raining during the lesson. *Arg* However, he did better today than yesterday, so if we can keeup up that trend, we'll be in good shape!

I need another weekend to recover!

We had such a full weekend that I need another day to recover...or two...

Thursday night Kellen and I went to MawMaw and PawPaw's and although it wasn't intended, our arrival was a surprise. Friday Matt and I went to my TMJ dr appointment to see if there is anything else that can be done right now for my jaw...I've been seeing the chiropractor twice a week now for a couple of months and I can notice a difference, but she's thinking that I need a night guard and we wanted to get his opinion...He's fairly indifferent on the night guard, but thinks that I need a steriod injection in the joint, which would require me to be "out" although it's a outpatient procedure done in his office. So, we're probably going to have that done in a couple of weeks. Back to MawMaw and PawPaw's afterwards to get set up for the first installment of the marathon family reunion weekend.

Friday night - pool at the park and then pizza and games at MawMaw and PawPaw's
Saturday - down to Chuck's for brisquet, swimming and games
Sunday - down to Channelview for the gameroom/pavilion
Monday - hang out with everyone that hasn't flown out or started back on their drive...

Kellen and I got back home around 8:30 last night. I'm beat! I could barely make it through work today, and have NO idea what I'm still doing up! (Actually, that's not true...I'm cleaning the house because we're going to have company tomorrow night). I'm doing a Girls Night Out and a friend of mine is coming over here with her kiddo and we're splitting a babysitter. Hence the need for some cleaning.

Tonight after work was Kellen's first swim lesson...and we managed to survive. That's about the extent of it today. After the rain this weekend, a cooler front (not a cold front, but just cooler - hey, we are in Texas!) came through and the air was rather chilly for those of us in the pool at 6:35 PM...His little teeth were chattering and his lips were turning blue! He just didn't want to let go of my neck! We were able to play some of the skill games, and he's ok with being on his belly, but NOT his back. We'll just have to work on that. I didn't want to push it tonight, as it's the first of nine lessons and I didn't want to take the fun out of the swimming lessons and swimming/pool in general. Hopefully tomorrow he'll do better - and hopefully it will be a little warmer! I don't blame him for not wanting to let go of me...It was COLD in the water!!

Monster man...

Well, we had a visit from the monster man today, and it felt like he stayed all day long! Kellen woke up on the wrong side of the bed, and we ended the day with having a fit at McDonald's, one so bad that we actually left without him even playing on the play area (he had played while the food was getting ready, but was told to eat first and then he could play). He just never made it...temper tantrum, throwing a fit, disobeying, etc. What a scene that he made! We had a nice long talk on the way home, and then again when we got home. He was still talking about McDonad's as I put him to bed...but we ended the day with him saying that next time he would listen to Mommy and Daddy and obey so that he could play at McDonald's.

My goodness!

He's Making My Day!

I just had to give a big, "Whoo hoo!" today!

We were out of town this weekend, and Kellen did wonderfully on the potty. During the ride home (3 hrs) he told us that he had to go twice (fortunately we were close to places to stop). AND, he fell asleep during the ride coming home, but didn't have an accident and when we got to the house, he asked to go pee pee. Whoop!

We got some clothes this weekend, and I had a feeling that the "right" big boy undies would do wonders for his...umm...motivation. And we might have found them...Shrek! He was desperate to wear them, but I told him that he couldn't because he was having too many accidents but that once he got really good at telling Mommy and Daddy that he had to go pee pee, that he could wear the Shrek undies (this was before our ride home, mind you). Well, perhaps something about that conversation - or the motivation for Shrek undies - might have really done it!

He woke us up this morning at his normal time with a loud yell...when I went into his room and asked what was wrong, he told me he had to go pee pee. And we made it! (Not that he was dry or anything, but getting him to sit on the potty first thing after he wakes up in the morning has been a bit of a struggle with us lately).

He only had 1 accident all day at school today, and none tonight while he were hanging out here at the house...AND during the day today (at school) he went poo poo on the potty, too! Throughout the day today after he would go, he kept telling his teacher that his Mommy was going to be so happy. How adorable is that?

When he told me that he had gone poo poo on the potty, it was immediately followed by a request for a sticker (we've implemented a sticker reward for that and a grab bag item as a reward for days when he doesn't have any accidents - we haven't made that one yet).

And it gets better...Kellen is just making my day today! As we were getting ready for bed, he reminded me that we needed to floss his teeth. Whoop! And he picked out the purple flosser with which to do it...I still do all of the flossing and we take turns brushing, but YEAH! He reminded me! And let me do all of his teeth!I'm so excited! (I'm having a good "Mommy" day today and just wanted to share my good news!).

Otherwise, the day has been a Monday...we had a water leak in the building over the weekend and my office suite was part of what got water damage. Arg. So I walked in this morning to the student worker computer in the lobby area of my office all disconnected and that desk in dissarray. But, it could have been much worse! It didn't get into the small conference room or the records room (two other rooms within my suite area), or my office. Whoop!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

It's Grandpa Gerren's birthday today, and I thought that Kellen was going to sing to him this morning, but nope...as soon as I got him on the phone munchkin man decided that he wasn't going to grace us with his singing. Little toot!

Things are going all right over here...just rolling along. Kellen's school pictures came in today and they are just too cute! He looks adorable! I just love his sweet smile!

His teacher told me that he's doing really well on the potty...we're averaging an accident a day (using the training pants only - no pull-ups even during naptime - whoo hoo), so I think that's pretty good. I think that perhaps next week I'll move to a reward grab bag system and start letting him pick something out of a grab bag on the days that he doesn't have any accidents or poo poo's in the potty...I think that might be an incentive for him to work on this a little more...Who knows?

That's about it for us...just getting ready to go away for the weekend...Ft. Worth Friday night and then to a welcome-back party and a wedding on Saturday in the Stephenville/Tolar area...we'll be back sometime on Sunday.

Happy Birthday to Me

So, today was my big day. I'm the age that everyone "holds" at now. That seems very wierd. My day didn't start out well, but it had virtually nowhere to go but up! My car had no gas when I tried to leave this morning to get Kellen to daycare and me to work, but Matt put some in it for me so I could make it to the gas station, then I burned my hand on the coffee while getting a filler at the gas station. But, I somehow knew that this was going to happen (all except the burn part) - so it didn't bother me at all! It's just one of those things. No biggie! My big plans for the day included: Work...birthday cake & ice cream...lunch with some of my co-workers...home to a wonderful spaghetti meal cooked by Matt...then watched Alias and Lost, and now the season finalie of Invasion.

Kellen was so cute today...he was talking about my birthday and asking where my, "Happy Birthday cake was?" and saying, "Happy birthday cake to mommy."

Too adorable!

Poor baby!

This morning was very odd. I woke up, got almost completely ready, and still not a peep from my Kellen. I went into his room a little before 7 and he was still sound asleep - tried to wake him up (didn't try too hard, but did hold his hand and rub on his back a little bit), but nothing. Still zonked out. So I finished getting ready and then went back into his room a little after 7. His door has been open since my initial peek, and still my little boy slept. What's up with that? I finally rouse him and after he stretches and rubs his eyes, he looks at me and says, "I threw up."

Huh?

Then he proceeds to tell me that he got sick last night, and shows me the spot on the floor by the door where he threw up (we're not talking huge quantities here, folks). I asked him if he called for me ('cause I most definitely did not hear him) and his reply, "I cried." Then he proceeds to show me his cry face. "See, like this." I never could get a good answer out of him about whether or not he called for me while he was getting sick. He said that he felt fine now, and that his tummy didn't hurt, but it certainly was an odd way to start the morning!

Minutes later Matt came home and was pretty much in shock to see that Kellen had just woken up. If you can't tell, his sleeping late is highly unlike our little guy.

Poor thing! I just can't believe that he didn't call out for me or that I didn't hear him last night while this was happening. He just wanted to snuggle and snuggle this morning, but he certainly wanted his Daddy to take him to school. There were no if, ands or buts about that one!

Mother's Day

My day began very nicely, my boys and I watched The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe at Maw Maw & Paw Paw's house (we stopped by just to see the new deck, and ended up being too tired to drive home, so we spent the night there on Saturday night), Matt stopped to get me a cappacino for our drive home, we made it home and our intent was to go to the late service at church (to no avail...a migraine kicked in for me), so Kellen and I took a very long nap when we got to the house (about 3 hours long - which is virtually unheard of for him!). I woke up migraine free to a wonderful husband who had been working non-stop on the yard and house since we went down for our naps. He served us lunch, then brought me my Mother's Day cards and presents - an 8 X 10 family picture (the Easter Sunday bluebonnet picture) and another picture of Kellen in an Aggie shirt with an Aggie hat on his head looking too cute for my desk at work. After that, the rest of the day was spent lounging, playing, and listening to the storm (unfortunately, the storm sidetracked our plan to go to the pool, then the other possibility was taking Kellen to go and watch Ice Age 2, but we figured that plenty of other folks would be doing that on a rainy Sunday afternoon, plus we didn't really want to get out, especially get Kellen out, in that nast storm!) Other than the migraine, it was a good Mother's Day...

Getting there...potty training

So today was the first FULL day of no pull-ups, just training pants for munchkin man. We had one accident at the house before we even left for school (somehow I have to get it across to him that the toast will still be there when he gets back from the potty - where did he get that love of bread? I'm sure it couldn't be from his Mommy???!!??), but then made it to school ok and made sure to tell the teachers that he was in training pants and not the pull-up. Well, I'm not sure if he just had a bad day or if he was just getting back at us or what, but he had several accidents today - lots of clothes wrapped up in the bags for Mommy to pick up when I arrived at school - Oh well! We expected that for the first few days!

His issue tonight was telling me he had to go poo poo, me sitting him on the potty, them him hopping right back off and saying that he didn't. I really think that he was holding it in so that he wouldn't poo poo on the potty, because he actually went pretty well in his training pants a little later on. I'm so worried about pushing this phase of it, because with his BM troubles, I don't want to push things with him and the potty and just make him hold it all in and make everything worse. I feel like he's just now growing out of the issues that we have been having and I don't want to go backwards. Arg!

However, we are putting him in a pull-up at night to sleep in. No way in getting around that one right now and I'm not even going to tackle it until we have the daytime worked out.

We're getting there, though! Whoo hoo!!

Bad Mommy

I'm feeling like a bad mommy right now. Kellen was outside with me on Monday night while I weeded the flower beds, and dumb-bo me forgot to put the insect repellant on him (and I just bought some, too!) and, like his mommy, he ended up getting eaten alive in the 20ish minutes that we were outside. After bath on Monday night we put the calamine lotion on the bites, and have been repeating the lotion in the morning and after bath. But we must have some mosquitos in the house, because he has more on his legs today then he had yesterday. During bathtime tonight I counted between 25-30 bites (some are hard to say because I can't tell if it's one big bite that he's been scratching or a couple of little bites just close together). Oh I just feel awful! I know that he wants to just scratch and scratch them, because that's what I'm wanting to do! I have him watch Mommy put the lotion on her boo boo's, so he's sees me doing it, too - and we discuss NOT scratching them, but it's just SO hard!! (As I sit here dying to scratch the ever-living out of mine!)

Anyway...moving on...

This morning he was so cute! He was intermittently running aroung sans clothing, eating his breakfast, and singing "Hakuna Matata" - I wonder if he'll ever really know how much he makes my heart melt? Kids - their joy, innocence, sweetness, goodness - it's amazing that we're entrusted to care and raise them. He just melted my heart this morning!

And today was parent-teacher conference day at school...no major problems but we're moving to training pants only at school - no more pull-ups because he's just being lazy sometimes when he has them on. He knows that if he has an accident it is no big deal and that he doesn't have to stop what he's doing to actually go potty because he has a pullup on. Well, he knows when he needs to go - so we're moving all the way there with the training pants. I hadn't realized that he had been wearing the training pants over his naptime, too - and lots of times not having an accident! Way to go buddy! Now we just have to work on it more at home - but being naked really seems to work for him. For some reason he tells me he has to go if he's naked much better than if he has clothes or even a training pant undie on. I've read and heard some stuff about this so it seems to be pretty normal.

Growing up little boy here we come, I guess...

7th Heaven

I've enjoyed this show off and on throughout the years, and tonight is its final episode. Hmm....

Kellen is just being Kellen. I did a stupid-mom thing today and took him outside with me to do yard work without putting insect repellent on him (I know, I know...stupid mommy thing to do) and he had almost a dozen bites all over his poor little body. He takes after him mommy on that one and the mosquitoes are just drawn to him! Poor thing! So after the bath he got a kick out of me rubbing calamine lotion on his boo boos...he just giggled his cute little giggle. It was adorable!

Day of Rest?

Isn't a weekend supposed to have a day of rest built in there somewhere?

There must be something in the air today, because while Matt slept (not that he was veggin', his new job just requires him to be nocturnal), my day went something like this:

To church (the early service) a little late (but that was ok b/c Kellen made a poo poo in the potty - that's pretty big for us!), after church went to Kroger, then to the Dollar Store, back to the house and while feeding lunch to Kellen got all of the groceries put away. Got Kellen down for a nap, then started on the laundry (the 7th load of laundry is finishing up in the washing machine now). Cleaned up the kitchen, which entailed two full rounds of the dishwasher, a good scrubbin' of the stove, the normal counters, floor sweeping & mopping, plus a not-so-normal deep cleaning of Kellens chair. I also managed dinner, which was just a simple salad, alfredo pasta, with a side of green beans, and got Matt's food ready for him for work. In the midst of this, Kellen and I managed some fun play time with a variety of toys, including making trains out of playdoh.It has to be something in the air...because this is normally what I manage to get accomplished all weekend long - not in one Sunday afternoon!

I feel a major sense of accomplishment here - but after the craziness of this weekend's schedule, it's rather exhausting as well!

Anyway...Moving on..

Tonight was our first try at flossing and Kellen did GREAT! He let me floss ALL OF HIS TEETH!! On the FIRST NIGHT! I was so amazed! I had wondered how he would do, because he's used to us working with his teeth, etc., since we've done his turn, my turn for SO long now...I thought flossing would be a whole new ballgame. At the grocery store today we went and looked for flossers...and I told him what we were doing and that we were going to start flossing his teeth. I couldn't find any character flossers at Krogers, (I had been told about some Buzz Lightyear flossers that we still might look for), but came across Fun Flossers (48 in a pack for $1.99 - all right!!) and they come in green, purple, yellow and I think maybe blue (he wanted the green, of course - his favorite color), tonight. The handles are super easy to grip (for Mommy at least- he didn't get a turn tonight - it was just me). There were a couple of times that he told me it hurt, and we took 3 or 4 breaks. Once I was going to put the flosser away and he said, "No, we have to finish all my teeth." Then we brushed just like normal. He even wanted to sleep with the flosser, which he does with new things that he likes. Maybe this transition into flossing will be easier than I had initially expected.

I'm doing a happy dance here!!

Ok...backtrack for the weekend in review..

Friday night I had a party to attend and the boys had a boys night in and watched the Astros...

Saturday morning was summer swim lesson sign up and I would say that it was my first experience into the foray as a beginner "soccer mom" - isn't that the term used as a generality for most all extracurricular activities for kiddos? Anyway...I had heard the stories about needed to get to the sign up early...and my goal was 8 AM...I actually got there at 8:30, and was #64 in line. OH MY GOSH! I talked with the #4 lady (mom of one of Kellen's daycare classmates), and she was there at 6 something, got her number, left, and came back again for the final wait. Wow! But...it was a successful adventure (after some of my signature stubborness took effect, I stood my ground and got Kellen into a class that he's officially too young for but I had been told repeatedly that he could take - twice before Sat. morning and then again before the sign up on Sat. morning). Whew! We're all signed up!

Then onto Toys R Us to get a birthday gift for the birthday party he was going to that afternoon...Home for an early nap, which he surprisingly took with NO problems...I just told him if he wanted to go to the birthday party he had to lay down and take a nap, and he hopped right into bed! Imagine that! ABS Reunion started at 12:30, but because of his early nap we were late and got there around 1:30...stayed until a little after 3:00...ran and got a bag for his present and made it to the birthday party between 3:30 - 3:45, and he was pretty well behaved there. It's so difficult for kids his age to see so many presents and understand that NONE of the presents are for them! However, he did really well with this! Back to the ABS center after the party around 5ish, hung out for a while and then the gang went out to each in downtown Bryan...swung some leftover food by for Matt and we finally made it back to the house by ~ 10:00 last night.

And for the schedule that we had yesterday, he was SO well behaved. There were some moments...but overall, he did pretty well. It was such a great weekend, starting wonderfully on Friday night, but I'm utterly exhausted from it all! These jam-packed schedules and work days just take it out of me!

Maybe the week will be more restful...Hmmm...

Best Friend

I guess it's about that time...tonight Kellen told me who his "best friend" is...We were saying our prayers and we started to bless our friends, and he named one of his friends in particular and then told me that he was his best friend. Is it too early for him to have a best friend? Well, I guess not...Where did he learn that terminology? I have no idea!! It was cute and scary all at the same time...cute and sweet, but then scary because I know he's getting to that point when it's possible that he'll become hurt by his "friends" and start going through those types of relationship issues that are just part of growing up. Man-oh-man...are we already there?

Weekend...

What an unusual weekend...it starts out with us leaving for Conroe on Sat. morning after Matt got off of work...with dog in tow, then getting a call indicating that the storm that blew through Conroe had once again knocked a tree over in George and Judy's backyard. What are the odds? Once again, the falled tree had damaged the fence, only this time it hadn't destroyed any property (whew!). So, Baily's status as a backyard animal was in jeapardy...kennel in the garage or boarding was in order, so we opted for the boarding route, which meant that I took a half day today since we couldn't pick him up until this morning. Wacko start to the weekend, I guess. Oh well!

Went to the housewarming party...which was nice, and ran after Kellen seemingly the whole time (I know that I had assistance on this, but I was WIPED out after this party was over). George and Judy offered to watch Kellen while Matt and I went to do something, but we were both exhausted! How sad...

Church on Sunday...Then finally got Kellen some sandals (bought 5 pair and ended up with 2 that he will tolerate/fit him) - Whoo Hoo! MawMaw is taking the rest back to the various stores from which they were purchased. We were supposed to go and see Tom, Cassie and Taylor, but Taylor had a stomach virus and the doctors had suggested she have no visitors...so that knocked that visit and part of our trip out. Stinker.

So, Matt and I decide to run a couple of Houstonian errands and make a night of it on Sunday night instead...and drove around for ages. We had a great date night that consisted of riding around Houston. Sounds like an odd date night, but we thoroughly enjoyed it!

Onto the week!

Is it Friday yet?

This week has been crazy! Somehow, despite open registration (work, work & more work), I'm actually getting things cleared off of my desk. Amazing.

Kellen is being Kellen. He's still learning the consequences of his actions, which he doesn't always like, but hey, that's what growing up is all about.

Come on weekend!

Prayers Needed

Matt's friend is in need of prayers again...It's so hard to understand God's will - and I'm sure that I never will on this one, not until I'm looking God and Jesus in the face and ask them "Why?" Will it matter at that point? I'm referring to his friend that he went to high school with, the one that's been battling cancer now for a couple of years. I guess Matt had a conversation with him today and it seems now that despite undergoing treatment for the last couple of weeks, the tumors are growing and he's going to have to make a decision between quantity and quality of life. As you can well imagine, this is hitting Matt really hard, so please pray not only for Tom and his family, but for Matt as he deals with this and the helplessness that he all feel as we try and understand why good people have to go through rotten things here on this earth.

All boy

Illustrations to solidify my "all boy" little man...

This is the climbing wall at the birthday party from last weekend that he successfully climbed on his first attempt. At the time that this picture was taken, I have NO idea how many times he had climbed this thing. When he started, he did have socks and shoes on, but after being in the moon jump, it was easier just to keep them off, and he seemed to do just fine without them on this. Go figure. Oddly enough, I wasn't even really worried about him getting hurt on this...am I simply getting numb to the minor injuries at this point in time? Hmmm...

Easter pics...

Then Easter Sunday afternoon when we went and got our wonderful spring pictures (then again...I could be a little biased)

We couldn't have asked for a more perfect setting for which to take these pictures, and for it being as late as it was - Kellen behaved remarkably well! With everything that happened over that weekend, I really appreciate the fact that we were actually able to get these done at all, but Matt knew that I really wanted to do this and we just wanted to spend some time together. Kellen was so entertaining in the car - pointing out all of the sights and "pretty flowers" along the way to our perfect spot.

Easter weekend

Originally attempted to post this on 4.17.06...Will try again today.

Well, it was Easter weekend this last weekend and it was a weird one for us. Matt was off this weekend, but we didn't end up getting to do all of the things that we had originally planned. His MeeMaw passed away on Saturday. It was something that we knew was coming, and is ultimately a good thing, as she is now with Jesus and Pee Paw in heaven. For those of you that don't know, this is the MeeMaw of the MeeMaw & PeePaw that Matt was so close to...the PeePaw that he lost in February of 2000, so this - as you can imagine - is bringing back those memories of his grandparents for him. Please pray for our family and his as we all go through this loss, but rejoice that she is now no longer in pain and is eternally at peace. The viewing is tomorrow afternoon and the funeral is on Wednesday morning, so we may be out of pocket for a few days...for those of you that want to get in touch with us, you probably have our cell phones and can reach us.

Kellen had another birthday party to go to on Saturday afternoon (in case I forgot to blog it, which I probably did - he had a birthday party at McDonald's on Thursday evening - and the indoor playground and party room there is GREAT!! - he loved it and loved playing on the slide!). Anyway, this party was an Elmo party...and man-oh-man was this an elaborate party! For a three year old! They had a moon jump, had hired a clown who was doing face painting and then did a magic show and made balloon things for each of the kids, rented a sno cone machine, and had different game stations set up throughout the entire yard...probably a dozen or so. In addition to this, they also had one of those MONDO play-things in their backyard...with the slide, swings, and a rock-climbing wall - one that Kellen successfully climbed on his FIRST attempt. (Oh my...what are we in for??) The owner of the house (after Kellen's second or third climb) came up behind him and watched him...asked how old he was, and almost had to catch his eyes when I told him that he would be 3 in July. I"m guessing it's not made for someone his age???

Anyway, then I realized again just how much of a flirt my little man actually is...there is this cutie pie of a girl in his class named Paiten...(her birthday party was a few weeks ago) went over to the play area where he was about to climb the rock wall again. He turned to her and so politely said, “Paiten help me, please.”

Umm…he had already done this very successfully close to a dozen times…virtually without ANY help, yet he wanted this cutie pie of a girl to “help him, please” with the rock wall. Her reply?

“Ok Kellen. I help you.” Then she proceeded to go into teacher mode and tell him how to go about the wall.

OH MY GOSH! Are you kidding me?

Anyway…so yesterday we went to church, then everyone took Sunday afternoon naps…Oh wow…That was SO nice. They were late and long! We got up and moving, then went for a late afternoon drive to take spring pictures. However, something had happened to Mommy slightly before and during the nap…something called the starting of a spring cold. Anyway, we drove to Navasota, then a little farther in search of the ‘perfect patch’ of wildflowers, heavy on the bluebonnets. We finally found them a little past 7:30 PM, parked and got ready for the pictures. We took some with all combinations of the family…and they really turned out great! I’m so happy about them!

I woke up this morning feeling even worse…and it’s progressing in a downward spiral – YUCK! Kellen and I were eating dinner and I was rubbing my head and mentioned something about not feeling well – he asked me about it and then said that he wanted to kiss it and make it all better; leaned over and kissed my forehead, leaned back, smiled really big and said with a smile, “Now you’re all better!” What a sweetie!

Vick’s vapor rub was my friend last night and he’s been my friend so far this evening. It’s the only way that I can breathe at this point in time…Surely these head colds can’t last that long…I’m just hoping that I’m not growing into allergies.

***

As you might imagine, a lot has happened since last weekend. At the time of this attempted posting, there was a problem with our internet or the blog or something, so I just copied and pasted the message I had written into a word document so I could blog it later...

Will update later...enjoy your weekend all!

Forgot his kiss

So we're trying to get into a routine with the new job, so forgive my lack of posting...Tonight, however, I just couldn't miss this one. Daddy picked Kellen up at daycare and I finished up with my chiropractic appointment, ran to Walgreens for Kellen's contribution snack for the spring party at school tomorrow, beat them home and started a quick supper (I've determined that grilled cheese is a great quick dinner for a "fend for yourself" night, which is what tonight had been deemed). Kellen was just being too cute all night long...just little comments that solidified that he was/is growing up.

However, the clincher came at bedtime...literally 5 minutes ago. It was a tug at the heartstrings & growing up moment - all in one.

After Daddy left for work, Kellen came into the room I was in with some toys and sweetly asked, "Mommy, you want to play with me?"

Oh my goodness...how could a Mommy refuse that sweet and innocent request?

So of course, we went to his room and played blocks, got his special book out (his LeapFrog book that he had a tendency to be a little rough with, so it stays in the closet unless he's supervised with it), and just played, played, played. What a nice time! Such a change from the grump-a-munch of last night and this morning. Whew!

At about 7:30 or 7:35, we go into the bathroom for bath time...he does some business on the potty (still making progress - YEAH!!) and then takes a 10 minute or so bath. Since the bathroom is 95% completed - but at least functional, bathtime is SO MUCH MORE enjoyable now! At about 7:45, it's time to get out of the bath, but he doesn't really want to...he enjoys playing in the bath so much (at least tonight I didn't have to take him out twice to pee pee like last night...but hey, at least he told me that he had to go and pee peed in the potty, right?). I let him sit in the bathtub while the water is draining, and he's watching the water drain, looks at it and says, "The bathtub is really thirsty!"

Kids and their perception...it's just hilarious!

Potty again, then he wants me to hold him like a baby...it's the only time he wants me to do it and I'll still take advantage of it...fingernail grooming (how DO the fingernails & toenails of a child grow that quickly?), then it's on to PJ's, brush teeth, read a book, say blessings (translation: prayers), music on and night, night. As I walk out of the room, he tells me good night and that he loves me...it just makes my heart melt.

I make it down the hallway and then hear a small voice yelling, "Mommy!"

I walk back into his room. "Yes baby. What's wrong?"

"You forgot my kiss."

"Oh ok sweetie. I"m sorry." He's sitting up in his bed at this point in time, he hasn't gotten up, which he knows he is not supposed to do after he's been tucked in. I walk over and give him a kiss and tuck him back in. "Do you want another one?"

"No, that's enough."

See what I mean? Tug at the heartstrings...he didn't want to go to sleep without his kiss from his Mommy...but growing up...he only wanted the one.

"Well," I replied, "I'm going to give you another one anyway." And I leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. Another exchange of 'I love you's' and he was officially down for the night.

Late night

Late night...and all my fault. Kellen went to bed tonight at...wait for it...9:30. YIKES! My appointment ran late this afternoon, so I didn't get to pick him up until about 5:40, then we had to swing back by my office because I forgot some plants that a co-worker had brought for me today for the flower beds that really needed to be planted tonight...made it home by ~ 6:10 or 6:15 to see Daddy only for a little while before he had to go to work. We're living in the house equivalent to Mother Hubbard's cupboard, so we went to Wal-Mart for some of the finishing things for the bathroom...and that took just a little longer than Mommy thought it would. Then on to Kroger (now it's 8:00), and we were back to the house by 8:40, but a quick bath and getting ready for bed...and by this time he was so tired that he was fighting it, not fussing, but..."read me a book, just one more book...I want to play with..." You get the idea...After he was in bed I went outside and planted in the dark...who knows how that will look in the morning! It's a good thing that it's wandering jews and they're supposed to be scattered throughout the flower beds!

I have absolutely NO idea what I'm still doing up at 11:30...I'm trying to be productive but am just exhausted...so I'm going to call it a night.

First night on the new job

So today is Matt's first "real" night at his new job. He went to work two weeks ago, but it was orientation and during the day...tonight is a twelve hour shift and he has to stay awake the WHOLE time...YIKES! He tried to stay up all night last night and sleep today to get his body adjusted and I think that he did a pretty good job of it, so we'll see how it goes. I'm sure that the first night will be the roughest on his body. Then we'll just be in for the rotation of this schedule, which I'm still not quite sure how it works.

Kellen got his finger stuck in the door at daycare today...he saw me arrive at school because they were outside when I got there, so he ran to the door and tried to open it up and was less successful than he had been in the past...it shut on his finger and I just heard this horrible scream! I knew that he was at the door waiting for me, but had no idea what happened...quite honestly, he was standing next to a kid that is somewhat of a tough-guy (I don't want to call him a bully, but he's really rough and we've had incident reports that don't name names, but Kellen can tell me who did what now), so I thought that the kid had done something to him. I ran over to the door and the kid pointed to the door and said that he had hurt his finger in the door and Kellen agreed with him. He told me that he had tried to open the door and that the door had shut on his finger and he couldn't get it out. Poor guy! He didn't seriously hurt anything (no broken bones or even broken skin), but it hurt him for a little while!

A good washing of the hands just in case and we were on our way home to see Daddy before he went to work...

Happy Birthday!

My love is celebrating his birthday today! We didn't do much celebrating, but I gave him every opportunity. Instead, we drove back from Conroe this afternoon, stopped off at Wal-Mart to pick up some landscape mulch for the flower beds that he wanted to work on and get finished, and made our way home. Kellen woke up just a little before we got home and was in a great mood - how nice for us! Matt worked on the flower beds and projects outside, and I did a test wall with the faux finish that was the #2 version for the bathroom - don't ask, but I'll elaborate anyway - I thought that I had the bathroom project finished last week only to realize that Matt (and ok - me neither) really liked the finished product. So I repainted the entire bathroom with two coats of the light color and we decided that I would do a ragging technique using a loofah or possibly a sponge. So anyway - after the test wall, we decided that we liked the loofah look the best and while Matt was working outside, I repainted the test wall, finished up the painting in the bathroom with the areas that I could actually get to...realizing that I unfortunately could NOT get to the small space behind the faucet OR the toilet...smudging ensued in both of those spaces in the most unfortunate of manners - fixable, but unfortunate. After Matt finished - er, took a break, from outside to admire *grin* the bathroom - I wrangled him into taking the faucet out so that I could get to that area...then a short time later after confirming the plumbing details, the back of the toilet was off as well. So...the painting is officially finished!! A big WHOOP on that one!

And...I'm not too proud to admit that Matt was - is - right...it looks great! The finish and technique works good in that bathroom - despite my reservations. I'm a perfections (surprise, surprise) and this is an imperfect technique...can anyone guess why it bothers me and will take me some time to get used to???

To fully complete the bathroom project, we will need to put the faucet & toilet back in working order, put the door back on, put up door trim & molding, pick out & put up a thingy-mi-bob for behind the toilet, get a new shower rod & hanging brackets, light switch cover (sometime in this project the original has been misplaced - hmmm), and just put all of the stuff back in the room....Doable, right? I think everything but the door trim and molding can probably get finished this week....

I'm so happy about the progress with this!!!

Anyway...on to Kellen...he was able to spend all day on Saturday with his MawMaw and I think that they had so much fun! We took Candyland and Memory this time, and he kept asking to play Candyland...he really likes that game! (Note: he actually plays by the rules at home, but I guess things are a little different at MawMaw and PawPaw's house...). He branched out movie-wise and actually watched Hercules and the Little Mermaid - two of my favorites! We got home tonight and he was singing the Hero song from Hercules - it was too adorable - and talking about an octopus, his memory just astounds me. Matt is talking about trying to count his vocabulary this week - his guess was that he was between 200-300 words...I told him good luck and that at one point in time I was writing all of his words down (of course, this was when he was first learning to speak), but stopped after a 6-9 months or so because I just couldn't keep up with how many words he was learning and using!

Lonely feeling

It was a wierd feeling today to wake up in a completely empty house (not including the dog) and I wondered...why is it that I can't really remember living like this? It wasn't that long ago that this was what it was like when Matt was at work...just me and Bailey. But I can't remember it...life before and without Kellen just seems hazy...a blur.

It was a really early morning (alarm going off by ~ 3:30 AM). I was waiting to meet my ride at 5:00 AM...and we were in Galveston by a little after 8:00 AM...the presentations went well - I don't think I have any student prospects out of this trip, but perhaps some seeds were planted. The folks down at the Galveston campus like to really roll out the red carpet for us, and today was no exception - they took us out to eat for a snazzy seafood lunch and I'm still full from all of the appetizers, seafood gumbo, and shrimp pasta that I had! They really spoil us on these trips!

Day care mystery

Well...Kellen has the folks at school stumped...on Monday, yes-his first day in his new class, he got a horrible cut on his cheek...about 2 or 2 1/4 inches long...right on the top of his cheek, under his eye, and stretching virtually to his ear/hairline. Well, when he did this/it was done to him - the exact details of this incident remain a mystery to all except Kellen, and his story changes each time it's told - he apparently did not cry, run to the teachers, yell, raise a ruckus, you get the picture. So, as a result of his apparent silence, the teachers weren't aware that he was injured until some time later, at which point in time they tried, to no avail, to determine what exactly had happened. Obviously, no such luck. When I arrived at school to pick him up, the teacher was incredibly apologetic, and I tried to ask Kellen what had happened as well...I got the same two stories out of him that the teachers had gotten, plus a brand new one! Oh boy!

We're keeping antibiotic ointment on it in hopes that it won't scar, but we'll just have to wait and see on that one I guess. He and I had talked about not touching his boo boo (I'm trying to get him NOT to scratch it...), and have been putting the ointment on it in the morning before school and then at night before bed, and have left instructions for the school to keep it on him as well. But he knows he isn't supposed to touch it because we've talked about it. When one of the teachers came into his class to put his medicine on his face, he responded to her with, "No, don't touch my boo boo! Mommy said we no touch the boo boo!" Apparently he was really cute about it...and it just cracked her up with how sweet and emphatic he was about not touching his face. She finally convinced him that his Mommy said it was ok and that she was just going to put the medicine on it like Mommy did.

Ok...so fast forward to tonight...I went to meet MawMaw because I have a work trip tomorrow and he's going to stay with MawMaw and PawPaw for a few days...Sidenote: I'm not sure who's more excited about this arrangment...the kid or the grandparents! Anyway...he was so sweet in the restaurant! At one point in time, he just looked at me, stroked my hair, and said, "Beautiful hair, Mommy. Beautiful hair. I want to kiss it." Then leaned over and just kissed my hair. Ohmygoodness.....For those of you wondering...yes, tears did well up in my oh-so-emotional eyes and I just wanted to hold him and squeeze him forever! What a blessing!

Waitin' for paint to dry

Well...as the title might indicate, we're actually moving forward on the bathroom project. YEAH! *Happy Dance* (and sore back tomorrow, I'm sure!) Matt finished the sanding yesterday morning and I damp wiped the walls to clean them off after the dust had settled somewhat. Started on the first coat of Kilz primer this morning and the first coat took a little longer than I had anticipated, but that's ok! Let that dry really well, caulked a little bit and smoothed that out, and on to the second coat...trying really hard to cut in on the edges, etc...[note: I am obviously NOT a painting pro]. As it stands right now, I've cut in again and am waiting on Matt to sand down some areas that need it...then I'll do another whole third coat, let it dry, and then it's onto COLOR!!! Our initial thought for the painting technique won't work, so I'm going to scour the DIY network to get some ragging painting techniques (scary thought, isn't it??). But we're moving on it and I'm seeing PROGRESS!!!

6:00 PM Update...The final (I think!) sanding is completed, and the 3rd coat of Kilz primer is on the walls. After looking at the DIY network website and then again at what we had initially purchased for our painting technique, I am thinking that it will actually work...they have included an edging tool in the package (smart folks), which is what I was concerned about...so...I think Matt and I have decided that we'll let this primer get good and dry and the color will go on tomorrow after work. Whoo hoo!

(I know this blog may be incredibly boring to some...but for those of you who are regular readers, you'll understand why I feel the need to include this project update *grin*)

My son the flirt...

Our little man is a flirt, and last night he ended up with a busted lip because of it...now let me explain. We went to the Aggie baseball game (and there's another funny story when I told Kellen we were going to the Aggie Baseball game that I'll write in a second), but he had such a great time during the game (except for the last inning and a half...it was an hour and a half past his bedtime and he was just ready to go...didn't misbehave, he just said he was ready to go and was tired and laid on my shoulder). But anyway...there were two girls and a guy sitting behind us and he decided that he was going to flirt with them...played with them and talked with them for a while, and then in the midst of flirting with them he tried to duck underneath the metal bleacher and hit his lip on the seat and busted it...good. What a ham!

So the other story...We were riding in the car when I told him that we were going to go home and get ready to go to the Aggie baseball game and he looks at me and says, "Watch the dancers?!"

Ummm...wrong sport sweetie! "No Kellen, that's Aggie basketball. We're going to watch baseball."

Three times we repeated this exchange, with all three time ending in him asking for the dancers. So does it surprise anyone that the night ended with him flirting with two girls sitting behind us???

Unfortunately we didn't pick up a "W" last night, but hopefully tonight will be better.

Backtrack to Thursday...Uncle Jonathan, Gramma & Grampa came to visit for Uncle Jonathan's birthday and we just had such a good time all day! They timed their arrival so that Grampa could make breakfast, which is always a treat, then Mommy and Grampa went to the store and got things for lunch. I think that Kellen played with just about every toy that he owned! The gang watched a couple of movies, and just enjoyed each others company...such a nice visit!

Potty man & tattle tale

Some days I really feel like we're making progress on this potty thing...then other days...well.

Kellen cracked me up on the way to school this morning...He had me wondering if Matt had gotten pulled over for speeding, because he asked me to "go fast like Daddy" and then said something about Daddy getting in trouble. I asked him if Daddy had gotten in trouble while he was with him...and asked him if Daddy had gotten pulled over by a policeman. He told me yes and nodded his head very seriously...I called Matt and asked him about it...told him that his little boy was trying to tattle on him. Matt laughed and said that Kellen had asked him to go fast, too, but that he had told Kellen no because that could get him in trouble and Kellen didn't want Daddy to get in trouble, right? Well, apparently the poor little guy just got all kinds of confused.

He's moving to the next class up in school on Monday, so tomorrow is really his last day in Ms. Christy's classroom and she's not taking it well. When Matt picked Kellen up from school yesterday and got his stuff from her room, I guess he mentioned something to her about it and she got upset, again...She's commented to us several times that she's really going to miss him and that he's one of her favorites, which is something that I'm sure she's not supposed to say. I made sure that I took a picture of Kellen today for her...one of his fall school pictures that is just oh-so-cute! He's going to have major adjustment issues as well, so I'm really not looking forward to that next week. He really likes Ms. Rhanda, but Ms. Christy has her own special spot in the nightly "bless" (prayer) time...he blesses his teachers and friends and then blesses Ms. Christy on top of that...We'll have quite the adjustment on this one!

Outta' whack

Outta whack is apparently what I am...and I'm not talking about my psychological self, for those of you wondering. *grin* After a conference in mid-February when a 10 minute massage that felt oh-so-good left me concerned because the masseuse indicated that my C1 was out of alignment, I was referred to a chiropractor and have been going to this Dr for the past week...after seeing the x-rays that she took...I concur...I'm outta' whack! My back x-rays look HORRIBLE! Nothing broken that a surgery could fix, but definitely misalignment issues that desperately need to be addressed. No wonder I almost always seem to be aching! She feels like many of my current issues (back pain, shoulders, lower back, etc., as well as my TMJ & migraines could all be connected). Finally...someone else that seems to think holistically...Matt laughed when I said that...I guess chiropractors are known for that philospophy...but anyway...she also gave some credibility to some other symptoms that I was having that had been dismissed by others, so that made me feel like I wasn't going crazy...just that my biomechanics are completely outta' whack and causing a host of problems that need to get fixed.

Anyway...I did a treatment on Tuesday, Thursday, and again on Friday...set up this next week for Monday, Wednesday & Friday...In her words, "We should have been friends a long time ago."

Wish me luck through this journey...I'm having to fight many of my bad habits, since I regularly pop my back (it's been out of alignment for so long that I guess I've just gotten in the bad habit of doing that...and I've been told I MUST stop) I'm now realizing just how often I actually did that! Who knew? (Other than everyone around me?!) I've always thought that I've been kind to my back since my wreck in high school, but apparently, that hasn't been good enough...or maybe it would be a WHOLE lot worse if I wasn't aware of my tendency for back issues...Who knows! Let's just pray that we can get me straightened out - Literally - quickly.

Date night...the grandparents version

This was just too cute...and I had to share...do you think they missed their grandson?

Written in an email from MawMaw this morning....

'We finally kidnapped the kid!

If only for a short while. We went to CS when Dad got home from shooting. Threw Kellen, the bicycle, football, and teeball set into the car, along with Woody and Buzz Lightyear who could not be separated from Kellen.

Spent a couple of hours at the park. He was on the bike for about 3 minutes, hit a few balls, threw the football a few times and the rest was all slidin'! Frontwards, backwards, on his back, on his stomach, sliding down, climbing up! He had a ball and so did we! The we went to Sonic for a Wacky Pack, which he wolfed down - looked like PawPaw eating. He was in a great mood and there was a lot of giggling and laughing. He got a little tiger/lion looking thing that is supposed to velcro on the seat belt - called a "seat-belt buddy). Anyway, we found out it eats hands and hair! How scary! He talks SO grown up now. Brought a tear to our eyes.

Oh yeah, he loved his Cheerios holder - we had a small snack at the park. I'm keeping the fish at my house.

He wanted to "run free" for a little bit so off he went. Headed straight for the soccer goal! Pawpaw showed him how to kick the ball into the goal, but I think he is going to be a goalie. The most fun was dropping Buzz and Woody through the net. "Uh oh, Woody!" "Uh oh, Buzz!"

Got him home and gave him a bath. The plan was to watch Matadgascar (spelling????) and "hold his book from Aunt Boo" but he spotted a Hermie and decided he wanted to watch that, all the while insisting that PawPaw read his new book. PawPaw got a kick out of him "multi-tasking" (or could it be hyper activity?). He would get interested in the book, then realize he was missing the video and peer over the book and then push it down. George would stop reading and he would want him to start again. I know, I know, we should have turned off the video. We did watch part of Mata whatever with Kellen laying on his couch (me hoping he would go to sleep BEFORE Mommy and Daddy showed up, but no luck). He had to be tired but was still in a good mood (around 9:00 by this time. He was a little sad going to bed - didn't want to give kisses or say goodbye, but I think he went to sleep quickly. I didn't hear any crying which would have made MawMaw and PawPaw feel guilty for keeping him up.

Anyway, since our schedule has been SO hectic and will be this week also, we had to settle for a short visit, but we had a great time! Matt and Becca got some stuff down around the house and then went to Snook to use a gift certificate at the steakhouse.'

I make you feel better

We've told Kellen that his hugs help to make us feel better, so after I dozed today and he decided that it was time for me to wake up, he showered me with hugs and after every one, kept saying, "I making you feel better, right Mommy?" It was just the sweetest thing!

I think that he's in the middle of a growth spurt right now...he ate two regular sized pankcakes this morning for a late breakfast (his Pap Pa Gerren would be proud), then snacked on yogurt before nap, finished it off when he woke up, then has eaten a Cheerio cereal breakfast bar, a strawberry fruit breakfast bar, and a Cinnamon Toast cereal breakfast bar. [just for the record - I don't normally let him eat this, but he hasn't been feeling well today and this was a simple solution to a somewhat peaceful food issue for him today] And he's been eating like this (volume-wise) for about a week or week and a half now...just abnormally large portions for him (at one point in time it was normal for him to eat 4 scrambled eggs plus 2 small pancakes for breakfast - NOT KIDDING, but not anymore).

We'll see how long this little spurt lasts and what we end up with afterwards.

Date night

Matt and I had a date night tonight...what fun! I had received a gift certificate to a steak house in Snook for Christmas, and MawMaw and PawPaw were in desperate need of a Kellen-fix, so they came over and took him to the park for a while and watched him while we went out to eat. What a treat! It was a well deserved reward for work well-done today (ok, so we, at least I, didn't get as much done as I wanted to, but we both did get quite a bit done around the house today...and we still have one more day left of the weekend).

Apparently Kellen repeatedly slid down the slide...over and over and over...they had taken his tricycle and baseball set, as well as his football, but he mostly wanted to slide...He just loves that so much!

And, for those of you who were wondering, the renting of Ice Age worked...he's no longer scared of the lion, and I'm still working on getting him to call it a tiger.

Grumpmeister

Grumpmeister...I think that's my nickname for Kellen for this week. He's been such the little grump - and it seems like it's been all week, but I'm sure it just seems like that to me right now because it has been such a rough night. He's 2 1/2...it's normal, he's 2 1/2, it's normal...perhaps if I keep repeating it, it will sink in, I'll remember it and be less frustrated...

I had really wanted to take him to the Night of Champions tonight, but decided pretty quickly against that once he started acting up...Got to daycare and he decided that he wanted a cracker...I didn't have any crackers and neither did his teachers at daycare...but he wanted one anyway...and made sure that everyone was quickly realizing that by getting louder and louder...I quickly picked him up, told him we were going home to get something to eat, and left. Immediately.

Swung by the Kroger pharmacy drive through...then home...on the way I told him that we would go home, get something to eat, take a bath and get ready for bed, then I would let him watch Ice Age, even though it was still a week day...if he behaved...did he want to do that? He said he did, but then said he was tired and wanted to go to bed. THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN MY FIRST CLUE...MY FIRST WARNING SIGN THAT SOMETHING WAS HORRIBLY WRONG. WHAT WAS WRONG WITH ME THAT I DIDN'T READ THE FLASHING WARNING SIGNALS RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME? I repeated what he had said back to me, asking him if he just wanted to go home and go to bed, he said yes, then said no, that he wanted to go and watch Ice Age. So I said ok, let's go home, eat some pizza (left over from last night), get our bath and watch the movie.

This suddenly was NOT ok with him. He didn't want pizza...he wanted pasta. Then decided pizza was ok since it was pizza or no Ice Age...then at home he decides that he doesn't want milk with his pizza, he wants something else, then milk was ok since it was milk or no Ice Age...then he wanted prune juice, but not in a big boy cup (sorry..all of the other sippy cups are dirty, other than what the milk is/was in)...now the prune juice in the big boy cup is ok since it's that or no Ice Age. He doesn't want his sleeves down, then he doesn't want his sleeves up...and none of these things are simple, soft-spoken requests, but all out tantrums and the world-is-going-to-end fits. Then he spills ALL of his prune juice...all over the table, chair, himself, and the floor. Oh boy.

Bathtime was relatively uneventful...as was potty time before and after the bath. So was getting ready for bed. I think at this point in time he was so wanting to watch Ice Age that just thinking about it was getting him mesmerized...

He really is sweet, he's just 2! But, on the grand scheme of things, I've got it really good! There are some days that I can actually reason with him...using consequences...today was (partly) one of those day...If you don't X, Y or Z...you won't be able to watch Ice Age...not a bribe...just a consequence of an action. And, for the most part, it worked.

By the end of the night, he was fed, bathed, dressed for bed, happy, we had said our prayers, and he had been tucked into bed...having gotten a rare treat (movie during the week) in the meantime. I do love my little man! And just have to remember...he's 2 1/2...he'll eventually grow out of this and I'll look back with fondness at this time and miss it!

Reflection

Matt and I attended the funeral of Mary Jo, the original director of Stepping Stone, Kellen's daycare, today. She was diagnosed with cancer only this past August and passed away on Saturday. Her husband made several poignant comments during the ceremony, to the effect that even if he had the power to bring her back, it would only be selfish to do it, because she's so much better off now...with Jesus and in no pain, and somewhere so perfect that our minds can't even begin to dream or comprehend it. I pray for her family and those closest to her for what they're going through, as I know that I'm still reeling with the shock of it all, as she didn't want anyone (or at least many people) to know about the cancer while she was going through, as she firmly believed that she was going to receive healing until right up until the very end. Her husband also made another point...she now has that healing, just in a different way than she had expected to receive it and they had prayed for it. Anyway, my shock comes from only finding out about her cancer toward the beginning of last week...so everything seems to have gone at such a high rate of speed because I barely had time to comprehend her cancer diagnosis and let that sink in when Matt told me yesterday that they'd posted a sign at daycare that she'd died.

She made Matt and I feel so at ease about our choice of day care centers...any concern that we had was promptly addressed, even something that could be considered trivial. I remember when Kellen was moving to an older classroom and the teachers weren't able to feed him breakfast any longer...he was having to feed himself "big boy" food. I was stumped as to what I was supposed to fix for him (I know this seems really stupid, but I really was stumped...we had been on baby food and mixed cereal for so long and my brain was trying to wrap around the idea of Kellen feeding himself mixed cereal...umm..how 'bout NO, but I hadn't transitioned my brain to him eating other foods). Mary Jo just giggled in a nondemeaning way, and suggested that other parents found it useful to make scrambled eggs, or big batches of pancakes, waffles, etc., and made lots of suggestions for healthy breakfasts that were age appropriate and that wouldn't take all morning to make. Thus I became known as Kellen's mom, the one who brings scrambled eggs and pancakes every morning, for the next at least 6 months (ok, so it was longer than that..but he LOVES them!). Anyway...I don't have any idea of how many kids there actually are at that daycare, but within days she knew our names, which kid we belonged with, and our family situation (Matt's work schedule craziness), etc., and I imagine she did that for every single family at that day care, plus every other day care she oversaw, since she was the area director in addition to the College Station director when we first began there. She was an amazing woman, and I'm so glad that she's no longer in any pain...