Going with the flow

Back in September Oliver decided that he was going to start pooping in the potty - and, ever since he decided to do that he has. Since September we have had just one accident (I say accident, but it was calculated - he declared he was going to have a "massive blowout" "just like Henni"). Since September we've had some conversations about peeing in the potty, but they usually ended with Oliver saying "I just love my diapers so much." So I ordered a book and downloaded the three day potty training boot camp. I started reading the guide while pumping in the parking lot at work the other day (ah, the joys of motherhood). Only a couple pages into the boot camp guide I decided that this potty training stuff is serious business, and that Davis and I would need to sit down and mark out three days on the calendar - the guide was clear that we would need three days with nothing - nothing but potty. I decided we'd think about it after our trip (as much as I wanted Oliver out of diapers the idea of a weekend of nothing but potty was not very alluring).

Well, eleven days ago Oliver declared that he didn't want to wear diapers anymore. I had a momentary freak-out - I didn't get past page three in the guide and never read the book! How do I potty train a child?! Well, just like Oliver trained himself to poop in the potty, he trained himself to pee in the potty (and behind the rhododendron in the backyard, and behind the cedar tree at the playground, and behind the rose bush in the neighbor's yard...). Amazingly since he decided to give up his diapers he's had only 5 accidents. Once again I am reminded how much our children teach us, how all the books and guides and craziness are not really necessary, and how going with the flow is really the best approach (and how crazy life is right now - 11 days to document this amazing milestone!).

The Wall

Every parent knows the dreaded Wall (cue scary music)- that is, the point in time when your child goes from a wonderful, happy child who is full of smiles, imagination, play...to a child who can't stand up, is irrational, irritable, unable to play, unable to do much of anything at all. The Wall (scary music again, please), is something that can be avoided - most of the time. However, when a two and a half year old is transitioning (or arguably has transitioned) out of his nap, the Wall sometimes appears rather suddenly, with no apparent warning at all.

The other night both kids were super happy and loving being in (somewhat) matching jammies. Davis ran downstairs to get the camera to snap a picture of their cherub-like faces, when - XZ*%$! - the Wall appeared out of nowhere and by the time he got back upstairs they two kids were melting down in a manner similar to the Fukushima nuclear reactor.

When I got downstairs after getting the wee ones to sleep I found that Davis had sent me this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7cn46HSuHc and had included the following "I think this about sums it up- Green hat, blue hat, oops! Dump truck, block wall, high speed...oops!"

As I said earlier, it is usually possible to avoid hitting the Wall. My day usually involves quite a bit of planing and fancy footwork to make sure that neither Oliver nor Henni crash. Somehow in and amongst everything I forgot about the lesser known Wall - the one that can result in a mommy crashing. Last week that Wall appeared out of nowhere (although some might say it was there, in plain view, I just chose to ignore it). Over the last month I have taken on a number of things - heading back to work, painting class, yoga teacher training, getting myself back to the gym, doing some work at a local yoga studio, and taking on a consulting job. This is in addition to all the wonderful things we moms get to do (20+ loads of laundry a week, pumping, cleaning, grocery shopping...) in addition to our full time job of being a mom. Things got so crazy that we managed to run out of toilet paper, diapers for Oliver, and shampoo and (almost) soap. Dirty and tired I began to realize that I had hit that wall and was probably suffering from some sort of delusion - that I could, and should, do it all. After some consultation with some super smart moms (thank you!) Thursday night I decided to put the yoga teacher training on hold til the fall and not work three jobs (clearly delusional - when is that ever a good idea!?). Saturday morning dawned and I headed off to painting class (where I finished my painting and I am in love with it) and returned home to find flowers, and even more wonderful, that Davis had gone to the grocery store. I exhaled and looked around for my list of things to do - then realized I had been too busy to make a list - I decided that meant nothing had to get done - a free weekend!

USS Albacore

You know how people say there are no stupid questions, well I beg to differ. This past weekend I asked probably the stupid question ever - Do you think I should bring the stroller on our visit to the submarine? Davis gave me a look that said, I am not even going to acknowledge the question. Then we opened the door to the submarine, and even before we climbed through the little (maybe) three by 1.5 foot opening (that was about a foot off the ground) it was clear that I did manage to ask not only the stupidest question, but perhaps the stupidest question ever.

Stupid question out of the way, we had a great time exploring the submarine.

I have decided that there is no way I am going on one - especially not an old one. Seriously, there was one room the size of our downstairs bathroom (really small) that slept 20 people. The bunks were so narrow that think they must have only allowed anorexic seamen to be part of the crew.

(This picture is one of the "luxury suites" - 12 people in a room the size of our bathroom - I couldn't maneuver well enough in the other room to capture the crazy cramped quarters, and couldn't convince Davis or Oliver to try out the beds in the other rooms.)

Seriously though - if you are ever in Portsmouth and looking for an activity, visiting the submarine is worth it - and worth it for people of all ages. I have a feeling we'll be back again soon (and I will be sure to not even bother to throw the stroller in the back of the car).

My four month old (guinea) pig

I think I have created a pediatrician that does not exist (although I am not quite willing to fully admit that as of yet). The pediatrician that Oliver goes to is very nice and has lots of wonderful reviews from parents in our community, but I am just not sure the fit is right for our family. So when Henni was born I decided to test drive a new pediatrician - one that got rave reviews from the midwives. Dr. X, as we'll call him, was incredible. When he left our room at the hospital (after agreeing to sign us out a day early - yea!), I was smitten - he seemed perfect. Because infants have to see the doctor a bazillion times over their first few months I had many opportunities to test Dr. X out. Although I continued to be smitten with him, the 40 minute drive to and from his office and the 30-45 minute waits I usually had before our appointments made me decide that things had to change. I briefly entertained the idea of asking him to leave his thriving practice and open a new one closer to our house, but soon recognized that was a crazy thought. So, on to Dr. Y.

Since Henni is little and has to see the doctor so much, I decided to use her (again) to try a new doctor on for size. We saw Dr. Y on Thursday for Henni's four month appointment. While it is difficult to learn everything I'd like to on a healthy, no questions visit, I do think I like Dr. Y - a key feature is that it took me less than 2 minutes to drive there. Since it will be a few months before either Oliver or Henni has to go back to the doctor I think I'm switching Oliver to Henni's (#2) test doctor. I am otherwise envisioning trying to schedule two different sick visits with two different doctors, two different after hours calls, two different who knows what - if they get sick. Sounds not so fun. Hopefully Dr. Y proves good in the long run and can live up to my Mary Poppins-like vision of a pediatrician - I really hate the idea of doing more testing of doctors on my children.

Dr. Y declared my little (guinea) pig very healthy. She's now 15 pounds 4 ounces and 25 inches long. Again, I am astounded by how fast kids grow. He was also pleased with her tricks and smiles, and with how mad she was when she got her shots - she literally stared them in the eye and yelled - not a yell of pain, but a yell of - "You bastard, we were just smiling together and then you stick me with two needles - that is not, at all, acceptable to me." She yelled for a moment, just to get her point across, and then smiled again (saving all of her post-shot anguish for me that evening (poor thing really gets affected by shots)).

One of Henni's new favorite things is the swing - I think she'd happily stay in the swing all day (the playground one - at home she has no use for something that keeps her contained).

Jacques Cousteau

One of my favorite things to do is to explore. I love heading off and exploring new things and new places. This is something Davis loves to do too - and, thankfully, Oliver and Henni seem to be up for our craziness. I say craziness because it is once in a blue moon that explorations go off hitch-free. But, I think that rolling with the unexpected or halting one adventure (say because the trail chosen turned out to infested with poison ivy and ticks) to begin another (going out for lunch) is a big part of the fun - and my love for exploration.

This past weekend we went to North Andover to explore Ward Reservation. Oliver took control of the map as soon as we got there and directed the way - "Turn left! Turn right! When possible, make a U-turn." In case you were wondering, his directions were given in the accent of an Australian woman. Ok, not really, but I wouldn't be surprised given how much he's picked up from my GPS. Anyway, Oliver proved himself to be a regular Jacques Cousteau albeit quite a bit cuter (in my opinion).

(Alright people, stop your chatter. This is serious business.)

(Here is where we want to go.)

(Daddy, we want to go right here. I keep telling you to turn left. That's because we want to go over here. Not over there. I want to find some snow I can make yellow and it looks like the best snow is over here.)

Our exploration turned out to be a bit shorter than expected (the weather was about 20 degrees colder than we had thought it was supposed to be), but other than that - it went off hitch-free. Probably because of our little and littlest explorers.

With the melting snow, mud, and warmer temperatures - I am looking forward to more explorations, especially those directed by Jacques Cousteau.