We're at about two weeks that we've been letting Evan run around the house sans diapers. He's been doing pretty well, as long as we don't put pants of any kind on him. As long as we do that, he doesn't have any accidents.
But...he does not fare as well once he's wearing something on the lower half of his body. He's trying, but he seems to not be as aware once he has something on. Today we tried new Sesame Street underwear. We figured he would be so excited about Super Grover on his bottom that he would have less accidents.
So far, so good. Super Grover seems to be working some magic. The only consequence to the new pants would be that they seem to have encouraged him to be a super hero himself. A super hero armed with a super-powered oven mitt. Beware, Henry, Seth and Caroline!
There is no doubt about it. Our children love exploring our back yard in search of little critters that they can call their own, if only on a temporary basis. Just yesterday they found a little toad. Young Caroline was bursting to tell everyone, including my Aunt Shirley, who I had just been talking to on the phone. She repeatedly told her Great Aunt how cute the toad was, how sweet and little. Evan knows just what to do to keep a toad contained, but was also thrilled to keep peeking in at and showing off his little temporary pet. They are always a little sad to let their pets go, but I think that it is easier for them to accept when they know they'll probably catch something else, possibly even the next day.
And it turned out that Caroline did catch something the very next day. Something she thought was even cuter and sweeter. Something that she wanted to keep forever. Here's a picture of what she caught. Any guesses?Caroline had been in the backyard today while Dave was playing with Seth. Dave noticed that she was digging with a little sand shovel in the corner of the yard. A few minutes later she came running over to Dave, saying, "DADDY, LOOK AT THESE CUTE, LITTLE CATERPILLARS I FOUND!!!" Dave took a look, and marveled at the little creatures with her. He insisted that she show what she found to me when I was done putting Evan down for his nap. While she waited, she drew that picture. Any guesses yet? Hint: They were NOT caterpillars.
When I came downstairs, Caroline quickly ran up to me and showed me what she found. I looked into her bucket and saw...
GRUBS!
Now, I have to admit, I did not find them cute or sweet. In fact, I did have to stifle a natural "Ewwww" reflex in order to protect my daughter's feelings.
They really are not a good looking insect, and they really are not that little. They were the size of a cicada.
We observed them for a little bit, and I did bring myself to call them interesting...fascinating even. And then we put them away for Dad to "release" later. ;)
Guess what Dave was doing tonight? Despite my daughter's wishes, I really don't want to keep those lawn grubs forever. God bless the people that make Grub-X.
That's right! This young man did it! He pooped on the potty for the first time today. Peeing...that's old hat. He's been able to do that for ages. Standing up even. (Are you impressed?!) But pooping on the potty has been a little tougher.
As you may know, bigger challenges lead to bigger rewards. And in Evan's book, bigger reward=chocolate popsicle. So, after the big event today, it was chocolate popsicles for everyone.
We have been to the zoo two other times this year, and we really covered a lot of ground in those visits. However, everything that we visited, we've visited before. Yesterday, we went to the zoo with one of my high school friends and her two children, and they showed us a part of the zoo that we've never seen before (aside from Henry who had visited this particular spot on a field trip with school). It amazes me, and also slightly embarasses me, that we were not even aware of a whole section of the zoo. Those of you who know me well might understand that reading maps is not one of my strong suits, but I am working on that.
So, we went to The Living Coast, and it was the general consensus that it is our new favorite place at the zoo. The kids got to climb on a life size replica of a leatherback turtle see giant waves crashing over them, get eaten by large fish (borrowing a line from Henry's blog!), and see large alligators just a few feet away. After that exciting exhibit, we headed to the butterfly house, where the highlight of the visit was a butterfly landing right on Evan's tushy. As you might have guessed, hilarity ensued. Right outside of that exhibit, I snapped this picture of my favorite 7 year old. And, as the grand finale of this post, here's the whole motley crew from our day at the zoo together.
Not only has my son caught my "shutterbug" in that he is taking about as many pictures as I do, but he is now also blogging. When he asked me if he could start a blog, I told him yes, he could as long as I am his editor-in-chief and he checks all of his entries with me before he posts them. He agreed to my terms, so now we have another blogger in the family.
If you'd like to check out his blog, and perhaps leave a comment to encourage him, just click on this link: Henry's Happenings
...that about sums it up for our Saturday night. We went to my cousins' house (Tom and Diana) for their son's high school graduation (Eric).
Eric and Diana Cousins Tom and Jim as well as a friend
We were sooo excited that so many of our relatives, even some of our Florida relatives, could be there. My Uncle Bob and Aunt Pat (my mom's sister) drove up...
...and my cousin, Jim was also able to make it (although we missed his wife, Marci). Having everyone together was so much fun, and it brought back such fond memories all of the family gatherings at my Aunt Pat and Uncle Bob's house when I was growing up.
There was live music, compliments of The Spectacles. Their name is derived from the fact that they all wear glasses. :) My cousin, Pat, plays drums in the band, and my cousin, Jim, made a guest appearance. They seriously sound amazing. Their renditions of the classics are HUGE crowd-pleasers... Caroline was so happy that she wore a "spinny" dress, and was convinced that some of the music was "Hannah Montana"!
Evan and my cousin, Mary, did a little dancing too. (I love her smile...it makes me happy!) There was a little swing in the backyard that the kids loved. Henry informed me that it was the perfect spot to listen to the music and still be able to talk. It was there that he decided that he wants to start playing the guitar. Henry and I were talking about it on the swing when my cousin, Jim, joined us. He is a very gifted guitar player, and has always played the guitar at our family gatherings. (His version of Cat's in the Cradle is my absolute favorite!) He was so dear talking with us about Henry learning how to play the guitar. Jim even asked Henry if he could check out his hand, looking at the size of it and checking his strength. Jim said that with a lot of practice, Henry could do well. Henry was beaming! We not only have future guitar talent in this family, but we also have future basketball talent. He needs a little boost now, but give him a few years. ****What a great party, Tom and Diana! Thanks for the pictures, Mary!
On the last night of camp, they put on a big cookout and show for all of the families. Tonight was that night, so we packed up the family and headed over to the camp ground together. It was fun to be with all of Seth's friends' families. I think Seth will miss this camp next week!
Here's a clip of a very long, mostly enthusiastic camp song performed by Seth's pack. It does have its funny moments, so watch if you'd like!
The past few days I feel like I've been stalking our mailman, watching for him and running out to the mailbox as soon as he delivers our mail.
You see, Kindergarten class placement letters were supposed to be delivered sometime this week.
I told myself as I waited that:
it didn't matter which teacher Caroline had for Kindergarten, that both teachers were very good.
Caroline will do well where ever she is, as she seems to adapt well and is an eager learner.
it didn't matter if she had morning or afternoon Kindergarten.
even if none of her friends are in her class, she would make new friends quickly and have playdates with her old friends.
But despite all of this positive thinking, I was still anxious about it.
Thank God the placement letters came today. I was driving myself a little crazy.
I'm happy with her teacher, the time she goes and how it fits into our schedule, and that she has a couple of friends in her class.
She was happy too, especially about her friends, and the fact that she has the same teacher that Henry had for Kindergarten. She told Henry about it, and they were so excited that they went running upstairs to get Henry's Kindergarten Memory Book. He proceeded to show Caroline a picture of "their" teacher, as well as pictures of things he did (and what she might do) in Kindergarten. Here's some of what she saw:
Kindergarten Henry
A sample of Henry's written work (Click to enlarge...I love the cross eyebrows and broken glasses in the picture.)
A memento from Hennnry's first day of school...really, he did know how to spell his name, but he was apparently really into those n's. :)
