Just a quick update

I thought I would write a little update since I don't have much time and it has been a while.

Benjamin informed me last night that he is no longer going to play with dolls because boys don't play with dolls. I told that boys can play with dolls - that it is o.k. and he said that no, he just isn't going to play with dolls.

Ella asked me if she could be a kitty for Halloween. She also drew a picture and told me it was o.k. for me to take to work. :-D I thought Ella was doing better with going poo on the potty. She actually went while in Spokane in a restaurant bathroom all on her own doing, but yesterday, she had an accident at school. It wasn't really an accident as I know she knows what she was doing. UGH! Someone please tell me what to do!

Nicholas is now embracing his name and telling people that it is name rather than saying his name is Footy or Nick. He also tells people that he is two.

I am recovering from having my gall bladder removed on the 8th. It was an outpatient surgery though I did end up staying the night because of pain and nausea. I was back to work on my birthday (the 13th) though I probably should have taken one more day and if I had more sick time, I probably would have.

My mom is now doing oral chemotherapy because the other chemotherapy wasn't working. I hope that this oral chemo does the trick in kicking cancer out of her body.

I also learned that my dad has diabetes so now I'm even more concerned about my diet to make sure I don't have the same fate.

Well, that's all for now. Maybe eventually I'll write about our trip to Spokane this past weekend and the kids trip to a farm.

Quick Story

The other night Nicholas told me he wanted to sit on the potty. I took him. He sat on the potty for a full 5 seconds before he got up, stared into the potty, and saw that there was nothing there. He sat down again - this time lasting about 10 seconds. He gets up and I say - nope, there's none there. He then looks up to me and says "we need to go to store to get more." Ha! Silly boy!

He did tell me the other night he had to go potty and I sat him on there and he went pee! I was all excited, but he hasn't done it again and refuses to go on there each time I see him going poo. I offer, he declines. I don't push it as I don't want another Ella potty training time. Ugh - that was exhausting. I would love it if Nicholas trained himself. I already feel behind the curve when I hear that others have their 2 year olds trained already. Really? Am I just that bad at training or do other parents have more time to devote to it than I do?

"I'm Sleeping!"

Last night, my little 2 year old, Nicholas, decided he wasn't tired though it was 10 p.m. He came out to the livingroom and was resting with Jon on the couch. I came out to the livingroom and Nicholas exlaims "I'm sleeping, mommy!" Yep, it definitely looks like it Nicholas. Silly boy.

I went to bed before he did.

Surpisingly, both Ben & Ella stayed in their beds last night.

Now that Benjamin has figured out how to pedal his little bike (they have training wheels on), that is all he wants to do. We need more sunny days! Do you hear that mother nature?

Nicholas is also wanting to do everything by himself these days. You try to help him and he yells out "no! Myself!" He's becoming a big boy.

Ben & Ella are looking forward to their birthday. They know that their birthday is on June 12. Ella tells me that when she turns 4, she won't go poo in her underwear anymore (she's still afraid of going poo in the potty). I hope so. At some point soon, we need to potty train Nicholas. I am not looking forward to it as he seems as stubborn about it as Ella.

I can't think of anything else, so I guess that is it for now.

Zoo

Yesterday afternoon we took the kids to the zoo. They seemed so excited at first when we got there, but as it got later in the afternoon, they started to get cranky as they were starting to miss their nap. We saw the penguins, turtles, snakes, elephants (of which Nicholas asked "what's that?" with a bit of awe in his voice), lions (sleepy lions), bears (briefly), giraffes, and hippos. At first, Benjamin was sad that we would not see a walrus, but they are at the zoo in Tacoma. Nicholas enjoyed just running wherever he could and didn't pay too much attention to the animals. Over by the elephant barn, he just wanted to run inside the barn and out in a circle while making an "AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" sound. Thankfully, the weather cooperated with us and ended up being a really nice day. I was really exhausted toward the end there especially with having to carry a preschooler for part of that time! My back is killing me! The kids, of course, once we got home and they woke from their mini-nap in the car, they went outside and ran around. Where did they get this energy? They didn't have it when we left the zoo as they wanted us to carry them!

Other than that, I took Benjamin to the McDonald's play area for a reward for going poo on the potty. Unfortunately, we still need this reward for both of them. I took him there after their last swim class for a while. We are going to try other things for a little while like a music class! After McDonald's, I took Benjamin to the library book sale to look for some airplane books. Our first book we saw when we got there - an airplane book! How lucky for us! Then even later, we babysat a 3 year old child of our friend while she and her husband went to a wedding.

I think that about sums up our weekend. We finally got the toddler bed rail for N's bed but being so busy this weekend, we didn't put it together. Hopefully, we will very soon...

The Crazy & Funny Times of Having Children

Last night, we get home and I have the kids go play while I make dinner. Ella wanted Benjamin to come into their room and play with her, but he wanted to play with Nicholas' birthday present (a little motorbike/tricycle thing). Ella desperately asked Benjamin to come play with her and he kept saying no. One time, he turns and yells right in her face "NO!" Ella starts crying even more and says "this isn't the yelling place..." I asked her if Nicholas or I could play with her, but no, it was all about her Benjamin. She then starts crying "Benjamin is my friend and he should play with me!" I tried to explain to her that he didn't have to but maybe he will in a little bit. I did play with her for a bit and that calmed her down for a bit, but she went on to say she wanted Benjamin to play with her.

Then even later, Benjamin cried out that he feels he is missing out on an important part of dinner - the third vitamin. I give them 3 - one for calcium, one for the fish oil and the other for multi. All are kids vitamins. I gave him two with his dinner because he had already had the third one when he saw me giving one to Nicholas. He screamed and yelled for about 15 minutes about that.

Nicholas cried later when I tried to get him to put his clothes on after taking a bath. The humanity! The horror! How dare I clothe him for the bedtime! He can put on some rather spectacular tantrums - complete with jumping and landing on his butt. I really should try to get a video of that. I'm pretty sure he is learning this behavior from his siblings. For them, the twos weren't all that terrible...their threes are worse. But Nicholas - wow - his two's are definitely terrible.

In the funny times:

1. Nicholas, for a while, thought it was fun to sleep with socks on his hands or just to walk around with socks on his hands. He hasn't done that in a while.

2. Nicholas will sometimes will look directly at your face and rather close to your face when he is telling you something.

3. Nicholas told me the other day "I can do it!" Yep - I guess he's a big boy now.

4. Nicholas likes to tease me by telling me "I go potty?" and so I get him undressed to do so, and he just runs off. Someday I'll get him to go pee or poo on the potty again. Someday.

5. Speaking of potty training, Ella was so proud of herself for buttoning her shirt that she proclaimed that she is a big girl and can button her shirt. She can get herself dressed. She can even go poo on the potty! I said - that's great (and inside I said - I'd like to see that since she still struggles with the fear of going poo on the potty).

6. Ben & Ella fighting over the proper way to say "Bubble Guppies". Benjamin asking Ella "why do you like it so much? Can't we watch another show?" or something along those lines.

7. Ben & Ella calling President's Day present day. :-D

8. Fighting over mommy or papa. Nicholas is saying "my mommy!" whenever Ella sits on my lap or Benjamin. He didn't like it too much when I was in the church nursery and was holding Andre for a period of time to calm him after his mommy left. Ella one time said that we needed another parent so that there would be enough to hold each child. :-( and :-D

In other non-kid news, I went to go see Rock of Ages a while ago with a friend and loved it! If you are a fan of 80s rock music, then this is the show for you!

Swim Class & More

This past weekend we started Ben & Ella on swim lessons. I'm going to start something with Nicholas next session hopefully (hopefully, the first class isn't on his birthday party day!) Anyway, both kids were very hesitant about this whole getting in the pool thing. Thankfully, they were not the only ones so I didn't feel all too bad. Ella did go in after a while and even floated across to the platform on the other side with the help of the teacher. Unfortunately, she let go of the pole on the platform and went under the water. After that, she was rather nervous about the whole thing so she only spent a little more time in the pool.

Benjamin took more time to be o.k. with the pool. I tried putting him in there but he was lifting his legs up and had he just put his legs down, he would feel the bottom. Eventually, he went in and realized that there was a bottom and he wouldn't go all the way in. However, he didn't last long in the pool. I blame myself for not introducing them to the pool sooner (which is why I want to get Nicholas in there as soon as possible though with him it will be with the parent tot class as you have to be 3 to be in the class Ben & Ella are in.

We are going to try to make it to the Friday night family swim night so the kids can go swimming then with our assistance. I hope this will make them o.k. with the saturday swim class that goes on for another 5 weeks.

Speaking of the twins, one night Benjamin got hurt (he had bit his finger when eating a sandwich) and he did this thing he always does that I hate in which it seems he is not breathing and to top that off, he had food in his mouth so I got a bit nervous he would choke. Ella started to freak out then because of that and I thought it was sweet she was so concerned that something was really going on - but it wasn't. All was cool once I got Benjamin to actually breathe again to tell me what happened.

As for Nicholas - he is saying more and more sentances. He has been saying thank you for a while, but last night actually said you're welcome to me - though I think it was more you elcom. He also says "soos me" for excuse me and it was so cute because last night, he was riding on a little scooter car thing and he said "soos me mommy. Soos me!" Such a polite little boy.


Also - potty training. I THOUGHT we had made some progress when all 3 went poo on the potty over the weekend, but nope. It feels neverending.

UGH

Today has been a very long, exhausting day. I get really frustrated when my kids, who know how to talk, can't say what they want. They will either scream or just grunt. It really frustrates me. It makes me wonder if I'm really cut out for this. I just said love you to my kids and Ella yelled at me to go. Not something I particularly want to hear especially after a frustrating few minutes or hours.

Sometimes it makes me jealous of those with just one kid. They have no idea how easy they have it. Sure, raising one child is hard, but that seems like a cakewalk compared to 3 kids - all 3 and under.

I was going to talk about the fun part of the day, but the end part of the day keeps popping back into the forefront. We went to my work to get pictures with Santa. Ella was brave and sat on Santa's lap but the other two refused to be in the picture unless held by a parent so once again, we were in the picture. Then I couldn't get all 3 of them in the same shot for a Christmas card photo so once again, I'll have to split them up.

After that, we came home for lunch then I took the twins to their gymnastics class. They seem to have a good time with it that it is sad that there is only more class left on the first Saturday of December. After the class, I took them to Half Price books just for something to do. I managed to walk out of there without getting a book for myself but I did get books for the twins. A coloring book, that is. With stickers.

Then I made the mistake of taking just Ella with me to the store. We came home and Benjamin was awake but Ella was not. So I took Benjamin inside and took Ella to the store with me once she woke up (well, I thought she was awake but she wasn't so I woke her up when we got to the store). I came home and Benjamin was really upset that he didn't get to go too, so after dinner, we all made a trip to Target. We got them a caterpillar music toy that they love and fight over constantly. I guess we thought this would mean bedtime would go smoother and they would stay in their bed if they had one. They are still in bed...but asking Ella if she wanted lotion on her hands mean her saying yes then refusing to use any of the lotions I offered her. She grunted or just refused the choice by turning her back.

It has been a long day and this is probably just getting to me more because of it being a long day (and tomorrow is going to be busy in the morning too - I really hope they behave themselves since I am taking all 3 with me to a friend's house for a little party (this is a friend from support group and other support group ladies will be there with their kids). I'm taking them on my own, so I really hope they behave and go to the potty when they need to...in the potty. I hope they can give me potty training advice because I need it.

(also, part of my frustration is just me throwing my own little pity party)

Sunday

Aww, Sunday. Otherwise known as the day before I have to go back to work.

The children are napping. I just got finished cleaning most of the bathroom - the tub still needs to be cleaned. Working on cleaning some laundry - a big pile up as usual. Maybe even bigger than usual since we are trying to get the twins to not use pull-ups at all which results in some poo accidents (pee for Benjamin too). For naptime, I went ahead and let Ella have a pull-up though I probably shouldn't have. Jon is staying home with the kids all week since our daycare is closed and so he is going to try to get the kids to be better at going to the potty. I just don't know if it will work - Ella is afraid of going poo on the potty. She'll go pee, not poo. Benjamin just is rather stubborn when it comes to potty training. He was doing really well until we went over to Spokane one weekend for my aunt's memorial and since then, I feel like we went straight back to the beginning and haven't made any progress since...though the daycare says he is doing well there - just not at home. I don't understand why. I guess they feel like they can get away with more with us maybe?

I don't know - it is just completely frustrating and I feel bad that Jon has to be the one to do this all by himself this week. My work won't allow me to take time off during this month except Thanksgiving so I can't help him. How do we know we are doing the right thing? Are we making the right decision or are we going to cause the kids to get really constipated by not allowing them to use a pull-up? I wish I knew what the right thing to do here is and what I can do to encourage the kids to go on the potty. We tried a "big kid party" on Saturday night and I'm pretty sure that didn't work at all.

Potty training really, really sucks and I hope that other parents out there have a better time with it than we are.

Anyway - this wasn't the post I had thought I was going to write today so I'll try to write that one tomorrow.

One Thing

I was just washing my hands in the nice warm water and it made me think of a nice warm shower and that then reminded me of my time in the hospital. Why? Because if there is one thing that I miss from being in the hospital when I was pregnant with the twins - it's the jacuzzi. It felt so nice on my back and it was nice and warm. Oh, to have a jacuzzi. I can dream.

Anyway, last night the kids wanted to go to the park and well, normally I would take them, but it is already starting to get dark by the time I get them. We would be at the park for maybe 20 minutes before the sun went down...which, I guess, is at least, a bit of exercise, but my kids would want to stay even after the sun went down. So we went home instead - I feel bad about that because what do we do when get home? I let them watch 1/2 hour of tv while I make dinner (and my lunch for the next couple days). I need an indoor place close by to take them to when the weather is icky and dark.

As soon as we get home, Ella wants to put on her jammies. Not only that, she wants to put on a pull up. It frustrates me - not the jammies, but the pull up. I've decided I'm not even introducing them to Nicholas even if we have some extra 2T size for him to wear. It definitely prolongs things. So, for those of you who haven't gone through the potty training exercise - don't use them. Just get some waterproof underwear that they can wear.

I also feel that because the daycare wants Benjamin in pullups that he has regressed. He used to be good at least going pee - now, he just seems lazy about it. I told them that this is going to stop. As soon as we get home, it's to the potty and Benjamin is putting on underwear. If they want to watch a show, this is what they must do. And no more stickers for going pee - it's all for poo. However, I've tried bribing them with gifts and that just doesn't work. Although, I've heard you have to get the toy, let them play with it once,then put it back up until they start going potty. I'm just not certain that will work for my kids. Potty training is seriously the worst part of parenting so far. Sure, in the beginning, I was pulling out my hair because my infant twins were crying and I couldn't figure out why, but that seems like a cakewalk compared to this. I seriously want to throw in the towel sometimes and wonder what I was thinking. Of course, soon after that, my kids do or say something completely adorable and then I remember. The good times do certainly outweigh the bad.

Oh, and one more thing - blech on the election. People are so irritating. We'll just keeping on this ride of back and forth for the rest of time. And WTH people in WA state!?!?! Right now, I-1100 is losing! I. Just. Don't. Understand!!! (for those outside our state - I-1100 would have privatized spirits sales and done away with some regulations too that really shouldn't be there.)

Alright, back to work. Until tomorrow.

Progress?

I am probably jinxing myself for even mentioning this, but Jon noticed that Ella was trying to go #2. He put her on the potty despite her HUGE objections and she went. She cried out in that tearful way that she did it. She was crying but I told that she did a good thing and that got her to smile. I only hope that this is a sign of things to come. She also told me she did #2 at school too. I'm hoping once Ella starts doing that more, that Benjamin will follow her.

We're going to be carving/decorating our pumpkins tonight as we watch Charlie Brown. I'm looking forward to it!

Nicholas is repeating a lot of things that we say - before we know it, he'll be talking just like Ben & Ella. I'm looking forward to that. A while back he switched from calling me momma to mommy. So cute.

Catching Up

Well, in just under a month, Ben & Ella will be 3. Time goes by quickly - people who say that aren't kidding.

This past weekend, after learning about this place called Country Village in Bothell, we went to go visit it. I read on their website that they had a train and Ben & Ella have been talking about trains and busses all the time. So we went there this past Saturday when the weather was just beautiful. We got there, and the train ride wasn't ready yet so we played in a little playground that they have there for a while. Ben & Ella enjoyed climbing the ladder to the top of a pirate ship and also rocking on some horses down on the ground. They swung in the swings too. Nicholas enjoyed walking around. He was put into the swing but quickly voiced his disapproval as there were things to explore here. There were also roosters walking around - two of which started to fight when we were there.

After a while, the train ride was ready. It was a small little kid sized train but big enough for adults to go too. Ella & Benjamin really liked it and wanted to go on it again - as well as go into the bouncy house too. We decided to go into the Toys that Teach store. They got to play with a model train set for a while before we told them it was time for lunch. Benjamin went quietly after being told he could pick out a train to bring home. Ella - not so much. I had to take her kicking and screaming - ugh. Eventually, we went out. I went to go order some food while the other three watched the ducks in a little pond. The food was just eh and Ben & Ella apparently felt there was too much to look at to eat anything. Nicholas, since he didn't get a morning nap, was a bit cranky. So after lunch, we headed home so all 3 could take a nap.

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Apparently, the kids at daycare/preschool have been eating outside at lunch when it's been nice outside - as they should. And since then and since we went to Country Village, Ella keeps talking about a picnic. So when it has been nice outside, we eat our dinner outside. Ella wanted to eat outside last night but since it was windy and threatening more of a downpour, we did not. She was not pleased. No matter how much I told her it was cold and wet outside.

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Nicholas has been saying a lot more words lately. He said a big word the other day - outside. He hasn't said it since though. He knows what it means too. If you ask him to go outside, he heads straight for the door. He has said door before as well and something that sounds like bear. Before last night, if I needed to calm him down or get him to go to sleep I would give him this polar bear that he just is excited by. Last night, it just wasn't cutting it. I tried to get him to calm down (he was overtired - he fell asleep on the way home last night and the night before) but nothing was working...until I gave him this stuffed orange bull. He was happy with that - put it under his head and fell asleep using it as a pillow. Eventually, he moved off that so I could take it out of his crib.

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Other words that Nicholas has said - kitty or cat; nice (usually said when he is touching the kitty); and what's that. I'm sure there are others, but I'm blanking on them.

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Benjamin has informed me that his name is not Ben - it is Benjamin.

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Benjamin is doing better with potty training but still not quite there yet. I thought he was doing really well when we went to Country Village and to church and he wore underwear the whole time without wetting himself, but apparently, that wasn't quite yet the consistent behavior I want/need. He forgets to tell the daycare people when he needs to go and he forgets to tell us until it is just too late. We're trying though. He's only going to be 3 next month and I said my goal was to have him trained by the time he was 3 1/2 (at least day time training - nighttime training is something (I heard) I just can't control - that is more up to their body to mature to that point).

Ella - is great with her potty training...when it comes to pee. With poo - still an issue. I just don't know what to do. They have their 3 year checkup soon, so unless it has somehow worked out by then, I'll be asking the pediatrician for advice on this one.

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A while ago, I started to sing "lullaby" to the kids at night in hopes it would calm them down to go to bed (sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't - usually the latter). Anyway, the other day we were driving home and Ella starts singing it to her bear. SO. CUTE.

Now the version of Lullaby I sing doesn't have the same lyrics though it has the same melody and sometimes I forget my own lyrics. I'm surprised Ella hasn't told me that isn't the way it goes when I do that. It all started this way because I couldn't remember the actual lyrics. My lyrics are like this:

Lullaby and good night
Go to sleep my three children
Go to sleep now, Go to sleep
And rest your pretty eyes
Go to sleep my 3
Your mommy loves you
Go to sleep my 3
And I will see you tomorrow

Lullaby and good night
Go to sleep my little Ella
Go to sleep now, Go to sleep
And rest your pretty eyes
Go to sleep Ella
Your mommy loves you
Go to sleep Ella
And I will see you tomorrow

Repeat for Benjamin & Nicholas.

Potty training

Oh, the joy that is potty training.

Ella is doing really well at home and at school. I am so proud of her. She still pees her diaper at night, but during the day, she seems to be getting the hang of it. Sohad, our daycare/preschool teacher, said that Ella is about 50% there. She surprised me last night when she said she had to go pee. She just went over to her potty, pulled own her pants and went pee. Before I knew it, she was asking me to put her pee into the toilet so we could flush it! Hooray for Ella!

Benjamin - well, he's taking a little longer. He seems to want to do a lot of things Ella does and will look to her to see what she is doing before doing something, but not when it comes to potty training. He will sit on the potty and he has gone a few times, but I don't think he quite understands the feeling yet when he needs to go - (though he does do the potty dance). I do wonder if it is because that Ella has older girls at the daycare to model her behavior on and Benjamin doesn't have an older boy.

We'll see. I know that boys take longer with this than girls do, but I do hope that Benjamin will start to do this more because of Ella and perhaps Nicholas will be trained earlier because of his older siblings.

I am just so anxious to be done with diapers!!!

Stories

Some cute stories to share:

A while ago, I started singing a little song alone the tunes of "are you sleeping? Are you sleeping, Brother John?..." with the words of "Where is papa? Where is papa? I don't know. I don't know. I hope he comes home real soon. I hope he comes home real soon. Yes I do. Yes I do." Well, Ben and Ella have since started singing whatever they are looking for with that song and instead of saying "I don't know", they say "Don't I know! Don't I know!" It's rather cute. And if I ask them where something is and they don't know, they will say "Don't I know." I tried to correct them, but they won't change, so I let them go on saying that.

The other night, we went to Cos&tco to get some gas. When I got back into the car after getting the gas, they asked me where the gas was. I told them that I put it in the car, so the car would go. They seemed to accept that explanation. On our way home, Ella asked where the Cos&tco was and I said we just went there to get gas. Then we drove by Safeway, and she excitedly said "oh, I found it! I found it, mommy!" me: "what did you find?" Ella: "the cosco!" Funny.

Nicholas is now walking around with two hand assistance. If you even dare to think about stopping walking around with him because your back is killing you, he will CRY! One night, I thought he just wanted me to walk around with him as he didn't seem to want to go to Jon, but Jon works - he just wants to walk around. It's so AWESOME. I look forward to when he'll just do it on his own. My back will be much happier. While he walks, he also goes "ahh ahh ahh" like we do when we play our little crawling game - the same game we played with Ben & Ella when they were that age.

Nicholas also hates to be put into his car seat. He is doing a bit of arching his back or locking his legs so I can't bend his knees without some effort. That little guy is strong when he wants to be. He is almost a year old. I find myself reminiscing(sp?) about his birth. I have a calendar here at work and this month is a picture of me holding him shortly after his birth. How has it been a year already?

Right now, it is serious potty training time. We put them in their training underwear when we are at home. Last night, Ella FREAKED when she peed her pants, but when I went to go change her into new pants and sit her on the potty, she decided she could live with the wet pants. I don't like that - she's supposed to hate that feeling!

People keep telling me I'm on the early side of things, but I feel as if we are late. I hear of friends whose children are the same age as mine and they are already trained or seem closer than we are. My goal is to have them trained by the time they turn 3 in 4 months. I hope that will happen - I would LOVE to not have to buy diapers anymore or pull-ups (well, except for Nicholas who I hope will train early after seeing his brother and sister trained).

That's all for now. Time to start thinking about work stuff again. Blech.