If a Tree Falls in the Forest and There's No One There to Hear it Does it Make a Sound?

I read an interesting blog post last week by the mom of Design Mom.  She is the mother of at least 2 kids that are blog famous, and a slew of kids that seem to have their stuff more together than the average person.  Anyway, in her blog she quotes her diary as a mother in 1973 talking about how no one is noticing how good of a job she is doing as a mother.  She talks about how painting and cake decorating and things on the side were not enough to help her feel "fulfilled" and that she needed some fans to praise her homemaking talents and empathize with her when things went wrong.  She goes on to say that blogs are making of homemaking because they create a fan base, fun, and support group.  I guess that I must blog for these reasons- I don't know what it is in many of us that thinks that others desire to read about our kids potty training.  Or the cute dress that we made, or the bad day that we had, or our vacation stories.  But, we do want to hear about it.  I know I'm not the only one that spends an hour a day or more reading blogs and keeping up with people that I know and that I do not know.

  Can you believe how color coordinated we are with each other and the party decor?  Kismet, I tell you. (sorry about the wind hair)

But, blogs are not enough.  One of my biggest fans and my bestest friend moved away 2 weeks ago, and I find that I am quite lonely.  At first I just tried to pretend that she was on vacation, but yesterday the horrible reality hit- I do not have this amazing, supportive, wonderful person to share my daily life with any more!  Hopefully this doesn't sound like too much of a eulogy, but Andrea was my go-to person in all ways.  I could talk about anything- and she would listen and have a solution.  All of those mundane things that I care about but maybe my husband didn't (husbands are awfully supportive, but they just don't get it sometimes, do they?) were cares that my friend had too -or at least she pretended that she did- just so she could support me.  I learned to love fuchsia from her.  I learned to take more risks with dressing, parenting, emotions, my relationship with God, my relationship with Paul, and my life, from her.  I could ask her (or not even ask- she would just volunteer when I needed it- she's that good) to watch  my kids at a moment's notice and she would be game- or if not game, willing to pretend that she was just to help me.  And she's fun, smart, insightful, a wonderful mom and wife, and different enough from me that I was constantly learning new things from her.  Oh, and did I mention that our husbands worked at the same work and they were great pals and our kids were all great pals with each other?  We'll always be great friends- but I miss the daily interactions.  And I wish that I could move to Boston to help her as she transitions too.  Oh blah!

Oven TV

Since we don't watch TV on Sundays the kids turned to the next best thing- watching the biscuits bake in the oven.  This held their attention for 7 minutes.  Quite a bit shorter than with normal tv, but amusing (to me) nonetheless.

Allowance

We just started giving Camille and Grace allowance.  It's not very much- they just get 25 cents every day if they clean their room and do whatever other chores I say to do which is usually helping to unload the dishwasher and help with Clark.  If they actually cleaned their rooms every day then they would get about 8 dollars a month, but they are completely unable to do it.  Cleaning their room is just too hard or too boring.

But, Camille was able to save up 6 dollars.  And today when we were eating dinner, she asked if that was enough to take us all out to get ice cream.  She didn't have enough to go to Weinerschnitzel, so she decided to take us to McDonald's instead.

$6 in front of Mickey D's

$.58 inside Mickey D's

A happy family and some proud parents.  We love our Camille.



U2

Two years ago in preparation for my 30th birthday I decided to buy myself tickets to a U2 concert.  Even though I hardly ever listen to anything other than children's tunes these days, I have always loved U2, so it seemed like the perfect time to go.  In an attempt to pamper myself further (I was turning 30, you see, and thought I should do something grand), I bought tickets for the show in Chicago.

Paul later talked some sense into me, and as they opened up a second show in Anaheim, we decided to get tickets there and sell the ones in Chicago. 

Then Bono hurt his back, so the show was rescheduled to the next year.  Then we didn't actually have to sell back the Chicago tickets.  We just had to wait another year to go in Anaheim.

The day of the concert my mom came to watch the kids.  Since this was Paul's first ever concert (not counting symphonic performances) I thought I'd take pity on him and get actual seats instead of being in the pit. When we were about to leave I went to get the tickets out of the drawer that they had been sitting in for 2 years.  Imagine my craziness when I discovered that they were our old Chicago tickets.  I couldn't find the Anaheim tickets anywhere and I was extremely frantic until Paul realized that he had purchased the Anaheim tickets and actually had an e-ticket e-mail sitting around in his inbox for 2 years.  We finally got on our way and got there early enough to get dinner with a flood of other fans. 

Then we found our way to our seats.

 And watched Lenny Kravitz perform.  Yes, that is Lenny way down there.  Maybe next time I'll figure out how to use my camera.

U2 taking the stage

A terrible picture of an awesome show.

We really had a great time.  The 360 tour is pretty much the best way to see a concert.  Just about every seat is a great seat.  And, it was an amazing experience for me to see U2 live.  Hearing the songs that have been so meaningful to me was really moving.  It was fun to be there with Paul- who regretted that he didn't bring his earplugs (too loud!) and we both regretted having to stay up past 11pm.  Yes- this proves that I am too old for the concert life- and may even have been when I was 30 instead of 31.

Freestylin'

Clark's prayers are always pretty freestyle.  He's sure to mention friends, toys, naps, shows and the like when it's his turn for family prayer.  My favorite supplication recently was: "Thank you for the choo choo train.  Thank you for the potty train."

He keeps us laughing, and is redefining the term "reverence".

Potty Training

I can't believe that I've been blogging long enough to write about potty training twice, but it looks like we're about to get in the thick of things again.  Clark actually knows how to go in the potty- like you stick him on there and say, okay, can you pee?  and then he pees.  And then you say, do you have any more? and he says, yeah! and then he pees some more.  You can do this a few times.  It's kind of amusing.  So, we bought underpants yesterday (Thomas and Diego) and I think we'll switch over to them next week.  Crazy.

So, every kid is different, and I guess that my kids definitely prove that adage.  My girls were "potty training" for about a year before they got it, and Clark's personality is much different from either of their's.  He's very outgoing and happy to try to do new things.  He also loves to do what his big sisters do, so that is a big help.  But, there are a few things that I learned last time that I am for sure not doing this time.

1.  No pullups!  Those things are so expensive and so pointless.  They will not help with the training process at all as they are exactly like diapers (in terms of absorbancy, not in terms of ease of changing or cost).  I'm pretty sure that Clark will need some backup at night and during nap time, but diapers are for sure the way to go.

2.  No little potties!  Now, with the girls, I felt like I had to have 2 potties together so they could sit at the same time, but I think that it ended up being a hindrance to us in the long run.  I had to carry a potty seat around with us everywhere we went so they could actually sit on a toilet when we were out and not freak out.  Now, this may just be a personality thing, but I'm pretty sure if we had just started out with a stepstool and a regular toilet, we would have been just fine.

3.  No rewards!  Since Clark doesn't know that potty rewards exist and he's happily going (thus far) we're not doing rewards.  The girls got a jellybean every time they went, which I eventually had to wean them off of.  I'm fine with bribery, but in its place.  If your kid needs an incentive to sit on the potty and go, then I think it's a great thing to do.  But since Clark is so pleased just to be doing this on his own, I don't think that bribery will be an issue.

Knock on a billion porcelain potties, I know that even writing this post puts me in line for some serious retribution, but I hope to be able to report back in a few weeks with some positive potty news.  Are you glad that you don't have to read the word "potty" any more?

Your Firearms are Useless Against Them

We have a wasp's nest  in our chiminea.  You know, that outdoors fireplace thing.

Anyone not scared to get it out?  I will give you anything if you will come over and remove it.  Or even just knock it down and spray water on it or something.  Cake?  Cookies?  A new skirt?  Money?  But not fudge.  I have not yet mastered the art of making fudge.