2, toes, duct tape and table

Kate has surpassed several milestones in the last couple of weeks.

Two: I noticed recently that when I would start counting she would chime in, so I would say, "One" and she would pipe in with, "Two". "She is BRILLIANT!", I thought and so I continued, "three" and she would smile and say, "two". Okay, so she may not be Einstein, but she knows the number two...that's a start, right?

Toes: I painted Kate's toes for the first time last week and she loves them. She proudly shows her toes off to anyone who stops by our house and loves to point out that her toes and mine are the same "pretty" color. Too fun.

Duct Tape: Really this milestone should be titled "potty", but to grab your attention I decided to focus on the duct tape side of this story. It was quite a while ago now that Kate sat on the potty for the first time and not too long after that she actually went. Well, for the past 2 weeks Kate has been obsessed with the potty. I vented to a friend one day that by 11:16 a.m. she had sat on the potty 8 separate times! "Mommy Potty!"...off comes her pants and diaper...the little naked 21 month old runs to the bathroom...puts the potty seat on the toilet and climbs on...I take my seat on the floor and she proceeds to tell me which song she wants to sing..."pop-pop" (aka popcorn popping on the apricot tree)...clap-clap (If you're happy and you know it)...etc. etc...after a few minutes she announces, "all done!" and hops down...over and over again...AHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! I am starting to feel insane. I will say, to her credit, that she does actually go once or twice a day. Unfortunately she still has the timing off, however and several times now has taken a poopy diaper off outside of the bathroom and I won't go into that mess any further. It is now that we come to the duct tape. I will admit that I have used duct tape on her diaper to keep her from taking it off before she gets to the bathroom. That worked really really well for a day or so, but she can even get that off. One of these days all of this will click for her, right???? I used to think that it would be fabulous if Kate was potty trained before the baby came. Now I am wondering if two in diapers would be better than the hours I am spending in the potty!

Table: Kate got a "new" little table with two chairs (the table belonged to Carmen--thank you Carmen!--and then I painted it pink to make it special for Kate. The chairs we got at Target). She has been loving it and I am hoping that we will see her distracted at her own little station there more and more often.

Uchtdorf and Tetanus

I am not sure if I have told this story before or not, but I mentioned it in a talk that I gave today in church and it still makes me laugh. Davis got a Bounce Back Racer (love it!) for his birthday last fall. One night Jed came in our room, after the kids were in “bed” and he was laughing out loud. Then he said, “Do you know what the boys have named that car?” We went to the door and listened as Owen was yelling, “Come on Uchtdorf!” Dieter F. Uchtdorf (from Germany) is one of our church leaders and they thought it was also a great name for a race car…too funny.

The week before last I cut my finger on the caddy in our shower…not a big deal really, but after telling my friends about it and calling my doctor, I had to get a tetanus shot…something about how tetanus in a pregnant mom can lead to her unborn baby’s demise kind of caught my attention. I have to tell you I have never seen my kids more helpful or excited to go to the doctor as when I told them that we had to head out so that Mommy could get a shot. “I am going to help you be SO brave”, Davis exclaimed. I think they enjoyed having the tables turned a bit too much!

Pen-Pals in South Africa!

Some friends of ours are currently serving a mission for our church in South Africa. The kids sent them some Valentines that they made and in return each of them got their own personalized postcard. Needless to say, they were SO excited! Davis was dancing around the house singing, "I got a postcard from Af-rica...I got a postcard from Af-rica..." Unfortunately I couldn't capture that on video, but I think this clip gives you an idea of how thrilled they were. Thank you Barbara and Ed for writing to these little pen-pals. We miss you!

Note: Yes, Davis is still wearing the "awesome shirt" at least 2-3 times a week.

Primary Spotlight 2009

Over the course of the past several weeks both Owen and Davis have had the honor of being the "Spotlight" at church in our primary (the children's organization/Sunday School). I thought that their answers to the questions were amusing, so here you have them for your enjoyment.

My name is: Davis
My favorite food is: Spaghetti, ice cream and cake
When I grow up I want to be: "an army"
My favorite story from the scriptures is: "the pictures of the storms"
My favorite primary song is: If you're happy and you know it
I think the best thing about being on a mission would be: "trimming trees" (huh?)
The thing I like best about primary is: "learning about Heavenly Father's Plan"
I am 3 years old.
I have 1 brother and 1 sister (almost 2!)
My favorite book is: "my Dinobot book"
My favorite thing to do is: wrestle with my dad, play transformers and army

My name is: Owen
My favorite food is: cake
When I grow up I want to be: a police boat driver or a spy
My favorite story from the scriptures is: Captain Moroni (from the Book of Mormon)
My favorite primary song is: Book of Mormon Stories
I think the best thing about being on a mission would be: teaching and helping others
The thing I like best about primary is: sharing time and class
I am 5 years old.
I have 1 brother and 1 sister (almost 2!)
My favorite book is: The Dangerous Book for Boys
My favorite thing to do is: "play with my Star Wars Legos!"

Davis' Church Bag and Jed's cake....

When Kate was born my mom came and stayed with us to help us out. While she was here she made Owen a "church bag", which he takes each Sunday full of quiet activities and books. Recently I have started some serious "nesting" and have made several "to-do" lists. On one of the lists was a church bag for Davis. Then without him knowing that I had already thought of this a few weeks ago Davis says, "When can Nana make me a church bag?" Well, that task immediately went onto Nana's list (don't worry Nila I will have tasks for you too!). Yesterday our family friends moved up here from my home town and what do you think they brought with them in the truck...THE CHURCH BAG...and a few other surprises...
A Speed Racer Calendar...he loves it!
Kate could not hug her dog enough...she just kept saying, "Pa-pa, Pa-pa..."
And now the ultimate gift...a mint chocolate cake for Jed! Jed said that the only thing he wanted from my parents for his birthday was my mom's mint chocolate cake...she is famous in our family for it...so the cake got a seat of honor on the floor of the moving truck and just look at how happy it made my Jed. Who knew it was that easy?

And now for a message for Nana and Papa...

Does this look like the face of a nursery bully?

At the end of December Kate was officially old enough to go into the nursery at church--OH HAPPY DAY! Of course we had put her in there a few weeks early, with the permission of the teachers, and she had no problem. It did help that Davis was still in there and her idol...Ellie. Then the new year rolled around and all of the big kids moved on to Primary (or in other words, the big kid Sunday School--Davis still complains that he misses snack time). Well, one of the nursery leaders is a friend of mine (Grandma Cherie we call her) and she called one day to ask about something else and then casually mentioned that there are a few really aggressive kids in the nursery now. I told her that I knew she was talking about Kate, which she admitted before telling me how surprised she was because the boys had both been so calm in nursery and when they visited her home--HA! I asked her to please discipline Kate by putting her in time-out for any inappropriate behavior (ie. pushing, hitting, etc--pushing being her torture of choice). Just last week I walked by the nursery door and heard, "Oh, that's a time-out. Kate you are in time-out for pushing". When we picked her up at the end of church the teachers said she had a great day and was only in time-out once...ugh. I always thought that if I ever had a daughter I would want her to be a strong woman, but a nursery bully...I think that having two older brothers may have something to do with it. What do you think?

Curious Sleeping Habits

Owen has always had very curious sleeping habits. Knock on wood, but I think that the days of night terrors are behind us and it is now very rare that he will come in our room anymore, but he still likes to sleep in strange places. In true younger brother tradition, Davis almost always follows his lead. This week they made a special bed in the toy box in their room. Owen slept in it one night and Davis in it the next. Davis is still quite a bit shorter than Owen, so he slept much better in the new "cozy" bed, while Owen woke up after just a few hours and finished the night on the floor.

Oh, and this may be a good time to note, for my own record, that Davis is currently going through a “crying wolf” phase. Every night last week he emerged from his room complaining that something hurt or that he couldn’t sleep for whatever reason. My favorite, by far is “I have a stummyache”. I guess he can’t decide if he has a stomach or a tummy. Owen went through a phase like this too, so I am hoping that it is just that, a phase?