3 Year Check Up

I took the boys for their three year appointment on Oct. 26. We went a two weeks early because they needed a well-baby check up for school paperwork. The good news was we didn't have to get any shots! The boys love the doctor and are actually very cooperative during visits. Every time we drive by the doctor's office they will say, "Mommy, I need to go to the doctor." It's quite funny.

Here are their latest stats:

Luke--33 pounds and 38 1/2 inches tall/75th percentile

Brody--38 pounds and 40 1/4 inches tall/95th percentile

It will be interesting to see if they continue to have a gap in their height as they get older. Brody started out a half inch longer than Luke and one pound more than him. I think Brody is going through a growth spurt right now because I am already going to have to get him some new shoes. The latest ones have already gotten too tight on his little feet! We will be going school shopping sometime here soon in an effort to build excitement about starting preschool on the 10th of November. Nothing like starting your first official day of "school" on the Marine Corps Birthday!

Harvest Festival

This afternoon we went to a Harvest Festival here on base. The boys had fun picking a pumpkin and climbing all over a fire truck. There were lots of other things to do, but the lines were long. We were hoping to take a ride on an antique fire truck, but when we got in line, they said the rides were over. There were lots of life sized characters walking around, and Brody did not like them one bit. He just about crawled out of his skin when we went near a life size stuffed walking turkey. Quite frankly, I don't think they really cared about too much other than the fire truck. After the festival, we went up to the squadron and let them climb on one of the helicopters. They were so funny pretending to fly. They kept talking to each other and telling one another what to do while they were "flying." According to Luke, "Mommy, I saw firetruck and a hoppahopper and I flew the hoppahopper!" At the end, Tom lifted them up to see the "Olaf" painted on the front of the helicopter. Once again, Brody did not like that and screamed. Silly boy!

Friday Funnies

Luke: while grabbing his belly, "Mommy, my body is telling my it's time my pee pee come out!"

Brody: At least four or five times a day....."Mommy, wwwaaaccchhhaaa doooooiiiinnn?"

Changes--They Are A-Comin'

I'm holding out hope that something magical will happen to the boys when they turn three. Two has been tough on me. Never mind the fact we moved in the middle of the twos, I just don't think I was truly prepared for the reality of having TWO at two. Two babies was a piece of cake. In fact, two babies, was like a piece of cake and ice cream with whip cream and a cherry on top. So sweet. Two, well let's just say that two knocked me to my knees. I'm realizing that it won't be much longer that I'll be able to say, "What do you expect, they are only two."

With that said, I am very excited about what three will bring. First of all, potty training is going faboosh! I can count on one hand the number of accidents the two of them have had combined since last Thursday. Second, I received a phone call yesterday saying that a spot has opened up in the part-day preschool. As of Nov. 10th, they will be going to school from 1-5 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It will be just enough time for me to run errands, drink a cup of coffee, go to the beach, get a pedicure, get a haircut, get a massage, etc. etc. etc. My mind is a twitter with all of the possibilities. This, of course, all hinges on the potty training success. Apparently they have a two week grace period when they start. If they have too many accidents during that time, they won't be able to come back. So, I figure between now and Nov. 10 gives me three weeks, plus the two week grace period equals five weeks to get them in line! Third, the base has athletic programs for three and four year olds with the goal of helping children get ready for sports as they get older. Well, this fall's program is flag football. I am so excited that they are going to get to participate in this. Can you imagine the folly of three and four year olds running around playing football. I think I may greet the coach with a hug because whoever volunteers for such a position must be a saint in my book.

While I'm not in a rush for the boys to grow up, I am excited for this new phase they are about to enter. Three to me seems like a magical land. And quite frankly, I'll be thrilled to kiss the two's goodbye.

The Narration of Play

L: Aaron I want to take the train off. Wait wait!

B: Ye (train noises).

L: No that cars go right here. It’s yellow. The dinosaur eats the big tree. That go guy on that train.

B: (car noises) No!

L: Dinosaur stay right here and the leaves go right here. I come back.

B: Hey! What are you doing?

L: I come right back.

B: I got rocks.

L: I gotta go get something

B: No, I love it! I get your rock.

L: I get it in back of you brother.

B: Thank you your welcome

L: wait wait I getting more stuff on the train. And cheeseburgers and a snake.

B: No, I got a snake. No I got a giraffe.

L: No get out of the way I go to the park.

B: giraffe noises

L: I go park the train. They guys going to the beach.

B: Woo Hoo Luke!

L: Buzz!

B: I have it in the bag (as he’s putting Buzz, Woody, and an alien in his Buzz lunchbox) Please Please fix it.

L: My Buzz hopper is broken. Fix it fix it.

(Lot’s of rocket noises and spitty sounds)

L: I go home

B: What are you doing Buzz?

L: I be quiet.

B: No. Stop. Buzz Lightyear!

L: Buzz and Woody!! (as he opens his lunchbox) Here, here! Infinity and beyond Buzz Lightyear!

And then a few minutes later they both went in the closet, opened the door and said that they were in an elevator.

Friday Funnies

Luke's Latest: "Mommy, I am a big tall man."

Brody's Latest: "Kachow!" said with one winked eye and a squished face in response to any request.

Goosey Goose

For the past few months, I have been doing an at-home preschool program with the boys called Mother Goose Time. The boys have decided to call it Goosey Goose and get really excited when it's time to start. It's basically a prepackaged program that comes with all of the supplies you need to do "school" at home. Each month has a theme and, quite frankly, the program requires little planning on my part, which is a big selling point with me. Each month includes a music CD, a book of some sort, arts and craft supplies, games, letters, numbers, and so much more. In all honesty, I would never have the time to come up with half of these activities. Even if I skip a day here or there, it's really easy to catch up. The bottom line is it gives us something fun and productive to do and allows me to tap in to my teacher side. However, I must admit, there is a reason I didn't major in early childhood education--it takes far more patience than I seem to have these days. This month's theme is Tree House. I thought I'd share some of the boys' latest artwork.

When I saw this project, I literally laughed out loud. I thought, "Are you kidding me? Toothpicks and two year olds?" But, I will say the boys took the project very seriously after I poked each of them with the toothpick to drive home the point that they would hurt if they played with them. Don't worry, I wasn't mean about it. They just needed to know that this was a serious project with serious consequences if they played with it. Then I had to explain why they couldn't play with the finished project. Luke's response was, "I hold him by the tail mommy."

Each month comes with a calendar and a small poster to reinforce the theme of the month. September's theme was the rain forest, and next month is transportation. I love the graphics and find the materials to be of a good quality.

This gives an idea of the types of things we do. I try to hang their artwork up for the month to just simply reinforce the theme. It's amazing the connections they seem to make. One of the activities had them feel a pine cone in a bag and tell what they thought it felt like. To my amazement, they said that it felt like a porcupine.

If you look closely you can see where they tried to scribble their names.

Today's project involved a skunk and finger paint. Luke freaked out about the paint. He's very particular about having things on his hands.

This has been my favorite project by far. It came with a cute story about a moose, and the boys had a grand time acting it out.

Paci Free Thanks to the Paci Fairy

Brody has been paci free now for an entire month! I had tried getting rid of it several months ago but failed miserably. He was hysterical and kept gagging himself. It felt too much like torture, so I caved and gave it back to him. Unfortunately, he regressed and started needing it all the time again. After seeing pictures of him from the change of command with his paci in his mouth, I knew it was time for it to go. I opted this time for the Paci Fairy to pay him a visit. On the last full day Joyce was here, we had him put all of his pacis in a box in the playroom. We then went out to run some errands. It was at this time the Paci Fairy came and took his pacis for all of the new babies in the world and left him a stuffed dog in return. I must admit I am amazed at how easily this worked! While he cried a bit, it was nowhere near like the first time I tried to take it away. After a few days, he stopped asking for it at all. Yesterday was the first time he's mentioned it weeks. It was funny because he said, "My paci" and then looked at me with sly eyes to see what I would say. I just ignored it, and he didn't mention it again. Now, if anyone has any suggestions on how to get someone to stop sucking his thumb, I'm all ears. I have a feeling that one is going to be a battle far greater. When I told them that the Paci Fairy had taken the pacis to the new babies in the world, Luke's response was, "Mommy, the Paci Fairy no take my thumb away." As you can tell, I'm already losing on that one.

It's a Potty Party

Today marked our first official foray into the world known as potty training. While I worked in several day care two year old rooms in college, potty training your own children is quite the different task. In the daycare setting, it seemed as if one simply followed the other, and there always seemed to be someone who knew what they were doing. Up until today, Luke has already been pretty consistent about peeing in the potty in the mornings and at various times during the day. He's a very reward driven child and loves getting a sticker for his efforts. Brody, on the other hand, could care less about stickers and has not been going potty at all.

It is for this reason and for the fact that I am over changing poopy diapers and spending money on Pull Ups that I threw the boys a Potty Party today. After lots of research (aka time browsing google), I tried a mixture of some different methods I had read about. We started the day with their taking off their diapers and throwing them in the trash on their own. For the party, I basically loaded them up on junk food and juice. This tactic seemed to work for Brody, for he loved the fact that he got to have chips for breakfast. And, he did indeed go to the potty about 8 times today. Unfortunately, all of the juice also resulted in a few accidents as well. As the accidents happened, I could see this look on his face that seemed to say, "Ooops, I don't think that's how that is supposed to happen." Luke had just one accident, and this occurred when he was in time out, so I can't really fault him on that one. The biggest accomplishment for Luke was that he actually pooped in the potty! Up until today, he had not done this.

After each time they went potty, I gave them a choice of getting some candy or a small trinket (think plastic dinosaur, army men, and slinky). They could also choose a balloon. Once again, Brody seemed very lured by the promise of a "PRIZE!" I also set a timer to go off every 20 minutes as a reminder that they needed to try to go to the potty.

All in all, I would classify today as a success. What is it they say about success? Something about beginning with a single step? Well for the boys, the journey to potty success started with a party and lots--and I mean LOTS-- of bribes. Hey--whatever works works!

Apples to Apples

Tonight I hosted my first official function as the "CO's Wife" aka COW. Ok--those who know me well know that I'm not a big entertainer. It's a rare thing for me to have large groups of people over to the house AND cook, let alone do both of those things on the same night. I decided that since I'm missing NC and the fall weather I'd go with a fall theme, so I went with apples. I made a super easy apple crumble, some spiced (and a little spiked) apple cider, and caramel covered candy coated apples! I really didn't expect the apples to go over as well as they did, but everyone seemed to like them, and folks were not shy about chomping into them either. The apples were relatively easy to make and turned out to be a fun addition. I would recommend, however, to those wanting to make such apples not get the caramel that requires you to open fifty individual pieces in order to melt them. It was fun to be able to use all of my Southern Living stuff and the new glasses I got when Tom's mom was here. All in all, it was a fun night. Everyone is very nice, and I am really looking forward to the next 18 months of getting to know them and their families. There are lots of little ones the boys age, so it will be good to have ready made friends for the boys to play with. The boys were super excited when "the peoples" started showing up and didn't quite understand why they had to stay downstairs and watch Star Wars with daddy. Any other night, they would have been all over the Star "Horse," as they call it. When everyone left, they were still wriggling in bed. We'll see how this 10 p.m. bedtime plays out in the morning!

New Blog

Ok--so I know I have a blog with my Mac account, but I want to be able to take that blog and make it into a book. With all of the cool things you can do on a Mac, you'd think that iPhoto and iWeb would somehow be linked and allow you to do so. Since that can't happen--or I don't know how to do it--I'm going to try playing around with this site as well. Like all things, I start out with the best of intentions... The problem is that I don't generally follow through on my intentions. So, we shall see how this goes. Consider this my first official test message. I plan to play around with this over the next few days to see how it goes and to see if I can figure it out. iWeb is so much easier, but it lacks the ability to use non iWeb templates and to be made into a book. Thus, it seems as if a "blogger" I may become.