First Article of Faith

So a friend of mine was telling me that her friend's 2 1/2 year old daughter knows all of the names of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles by heart and in order. I was pretty amazed by that and started thinking about what Clark might be capable of that I have assumed he could not know or understand.

So for family home evening a couple of weeks ago, I decided to try to teach Clark the First Article of Faith by him repeating the words after me. I figured since he almost has the whole prayer thing down, this might be doable. I was surprised at how fast he caught on and we have been practicing it every night before he goes to bed. He LOVES saying "Holy Ghost" at the end. I am convinced he knows what a ghost is and so he thinks it's pretty funny every time he gets to say it. We still have to help him out in the middle of it, but I'm pretty proud of him. It really is amazing (and scary too!) what they can pick up on and retain at this age. I figure he is going to eventually embarrass me with something bad I have said that he will decide to repeat, so at least now I can say "But hey, he knows his first article of faith too!" and continue digging a hole like I normally do in those kinds of situations. But for now, I will just focus on how smart and spiritual I think he is...at the ripe old age of 2.

We did the video a couple of times to see if he could get it completely right all by himself, and I think he finally realized what I was trying to do, and in complete Clark fashion...he decided he was done and it was time to be funny again. Seriously that kid is a clown. A smart and spiritual clown!

Is This Me?

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Potty Training: Day 1

So, I decided that this afternoon we would start potty training. I went and bought Clark's favorite treat, Dum Dum Pops, took off his pants and sat him down on his toilet. He ate 5 pops and didn't do the deed. He is only allowed Pops while he sits on his toilet, if he gets up, I take the pops away. I put on some pull ups that are supposed to make it cold when he goes to the bathroom, and he didn't seem fazed at all by that. Later, I loaded him up with fluids and coaxed him back onto the toilet. 5 more pops later and after watch half of Cars, he had gone poop and pee in his toilet! We showered more treats and praise on him. So now, I have a toddler on a sugar high, but also a toddler who went to the bathroom in a toilet for the first time!
I am sure I broke all sorts of 'rules' of potty training, but we'll see if this continues to work. The next trick is to get him to tell me when he needs to go and then get him to go to the bathroom without candy. Any advice?

The Little Things

After conference, I decided I needed to focus more on the little things I enjoy about being a mother and less on the "You're hungry AGAIN?" and the "Don't put your peanut butter and jelly hands on the couch" part of mothering. For the most part I LOVE the whole bed time routine. Yeah, it can get a little long, and sometimes I am itching to get out of the door so I can have 2 minutes of peace and quiet before I turn on the tv and blare American Idol through my house. But I really do LOVE singing songs and reading bedtime stories with Clark. He loves being read to, and that makes me happy because I LOVED being read to growing up. He knows Hop On Pop by heart and I really am starting to think he understands the real meaning behind The Sneetches. Every time I read it to him now, he points out who has stars and who doesn't and seems very concerned about the machine that changes them all. Always at the end he seems content when he points to the two Sneetches standing together, sighs, and says "Star and No-Star."

This week I was called as the CTR-6 primary teacher in our ward. I am actually VERY excited about this calling because a) I have never served in primary before, and b) I was starting to get a little RS calling burnout of counselor, enrichment leader, teacher, REPEAT. I was chatting it up with the primary music leader and I asked her what songs she sings with the nursery kids because I wanted to see if I was practicing some of the same ones with Clark at home. She went through some on the list, and the one that stuck out to me that I hadn't ever sung with Clark was "Do As I'm Doing". I had totally forgotten about that song! So, we added it to the repertoire of night time songs in bed and Popcorn got put on the back burner (I'm not sad about that). He LOVES it. Tanner joined us on the second night of the new song and I told him how good Clark was at it. So Clark and I start and Tanner is just watching us sing "Do as I am doing" while clapping our hands. All of the sudden Clark stops, looks over at Tanner very seriously and says "Dadda, Follow Me!"

I love the Little Things.

The Happy Boy

Andrew has had a couple of rough weeks, and we were starting to wonder if he was just going to be a fussy baby permanently. He would pretty much go through the cycle: Eat, Cry, Sleep, Eat, Cry, Sleep. The only good part was that the sleeping would take up most of the day and he has always been a good sleeper at night. He would usually decide to cry the most the second Tanner would walk in from work and continue for the remainder of the evening. We recognize that we are a little (okay a lot) wimpy when it comes to dealing with whiny infants. Clark was not a whiny baby at all, and when I hear stories from some of my friends about their colic babies, I want to cry just thinking about it. Even Andrew was nothing compared to some of the stories I have heard, but like I said, we are wimpy.

Then...

My mom came to visit! And after she left, Andrew has been more and more wonderful every day. So we think she did some special Grandma thing while she was here and cured him. She "says" that babies just go through phases and that he just needed to grow and mature...which may be true, but I prefer to think that Grandmas have special powers and they work their magic every time! So here are some pictures of our new happy, smiley and giggly Andrew.

Saturday is a Special Day

This is the first Saturday that we have been able to hang out at home and just do normal regular Saturday type stuff like wash the cars. It has turned warm and beautiful here in Virginia and it was so nice to just enjoy being outside.

Growing up, whenever my dad did Saturday jobs around the house, my mom would usually sit by him and chat with him while he did his work. I am not sure if she did it so she could make sure that he stayed on task, or if it was just nice to spend time with him. I think it is more the latter, but the former is definitely a benefit. I always thought it was nice that she did that and I enjoy doing it too. Clark just HAD to help dadda with the car and he was a VERY good helper. Our neighbors are older people and he was outside on his tractor mowing the grass. Clark saw him and ran over yelling "Papa!" I just wish it had actually been his Papa. :-(

I would also like to take this opportunity to post pictures of the NEW and improved MONTE! Some of you may remember a previous post about our Monte (probably not, it was a year and a half ago). It is old, but it still runs okay, so we decided it would be worth a paint job and some cosmetic fixes here and there. Only those who have seen the Monte at its worst can truly appreciate its makeover. Tanner even went to a junkyard and got a new rearview mirror and gear stick for $7! We didn't put a ton of money into it, and it will probably die tomorrow now that we fixed it up a bit, but it is worth it because the Monte has been good to us.

Ka-Chow! (Just don't look at the peeling seats through the rear window)

The Monte sat outside my parents house in Florida for over a year while they were living in Argentina. The sun worked its magic and the leather had peeled up and away from around the passenger airbag. It was a total eyesore, but with the help of a new dash cover, a razor blade, and a handy man (that would be Tanner), VOILA!

10 Deer

We live off of a relatively busy road, but our backyard backs up to a forested area. Tanner and Clark have seen a few deer back there a few times since we moved in. Well tonight I was busy making dinner when all of the sudden Tanner yells to me to come out to the front room to see the deer in our front yard. At first we just saw a couple of them, but more and more just kept coming around the side of the house. We finally counted 10 DEER!!! It was CRAZY! People were pulling off the side of the road and taking pictures, and I was taking pictures from our living room front window. After grazing for a few minutes, they made their way back around our house and disappeared into the forest. It was amazing!

Clark and The Throne

So, I have been nonchalantly trying to get Clark to like the toilet...and after numerous failed attempts at asking him if he wanted to try the toilet, he actually said YES! It may have been because he was actually on his way to bed for the night when I asked him and I think he thought anything is better than bed, but STILL! We gave him lots of praise and even though he has yet to produce anything of substance while on the toilet, just the fact that he is willing to go near it is a huge step in the right direction.
Here is video Tanner took of Clark while "the boys" were outside trying to burn down the deck, oops..I mean, BBQ some chicken. Yes, we let our children play near fire, and yes we let them play with lighters...but only ones with safety locks! ;-)

2 Months Old

By special request/sisters bugging me, here are some cute shots of baby Andrew. We were worried because he initially hated the swing, but now he likes it much to the relief of his parents. When we were at the doctors yesterday, he weighed in at 12 pounds...he is over double his birth weight now at two months. He is sleeping well at night, and gets up usually just once, and I even got almost 6 hours straight from him the other night! woohoo! He has even started smiling at us, especially when dad does Rap noises. Clark still loves him and goes running into the room whenever he hears him start to cry. I was doing the dishes last night and didn't hear Andrew crying and Clark ran into the kitchen and said "Mama, Andoo pappie (Clark's word for pacie)." Clark is starting to be a really good helper and he definitely looks out for his little bro.



Remember how wide Clark's eyes could get? We even called Clark "wide eyes" for a while. It looks like Andrew also has the gene, which I think is from me.

CVS

I love CVS Pharmacy.

Where else can you buy storage bins, milano pepperidge farm cookies, an audio/video cable, a rug, diapers, and organic makeup?

Okay, maybe Walmart or Target, but apparently I live in a zero tolerance zone for Target or Walmart as the closest one of either brand is 20 minutes away. But even at Target and Walmart they don't print out nifty coupons that actually save you a good chunk of moolah.

I could wander around that store for a good hour being amazed at the products that they actually have. I was first introduced to CVS when I was trying to find a special kind of photo album and could not find one anywhere. I was talking to my sister Melanie about where I should look next and she said "Have you gone to CVS...I bet they have one." I said "Whatever...it's a pharmacy!" Melanie said "Dude, CVS has every random thing you need." And I now must concur.

As if all of these things weren't testament enough...I was browsing through my local store last night, when Bette Davis Eyes came on the store music speakers. I think I might have gotten some weird looks as I was slinking down the aisles singing "All the boys think she's a SPY..." This song is a family favorite, and it gave me warm fuzzies after hearing it. Now, when was the last time YOU got warm fuzzies at Walmart? Yeah, didn't think so.

Thrills of Moving: PART 2

Oh how I wish there wasn't a part two, but there is...all for your reading pleasure. Thankfully, it doesn't involve getting locked out, but it does involve keys.

So, Clark and Andrew have been congested the last few days, but I haven't worried about it because it has seemed relatively mild, and I haven't noticed any changes in their behavior...until yesterday. Clark is all better, but Andrew was up a lot of the previous night seemingly very uncomfortable, which I thought was a result of my eating some chocolate earlier on in the night. I still think that was part of the problem and have now cut out chocolate from my diet for now. weep! Yesterday he was really congested and was having trouble eating and staying asleep because he was so congested. I would clear out his nose using the almighty bulb syringe only to hear him stuffed up again a few minutes later. At one point he woke up from a nap and was burning hot. I took his temperature and he was 101.1. I became a little concerned, and decided I should take him to the dr. But wait! I don't HAVE a dr. yet because you may remember we just moved here. So, I looked up the closest urgent care center and called the bishop's wife to see if she could watch Clark while I took Andrew in. I was hesitant to do this because I knew that her 8 year old daughter had her tonsils removed a week ago, and didn't want to ask too much, but I honestly couldn't remember anyone else's name from the ward. She answered the phone and sounded TERRIBLE. The first thing I asked was if she was sick. She said she has been very sick and that her daughter has had a terrible recovery from her tonsil surgery. Yikes...time to change strategy. So, I asked her for the names of people I described from the mother's group I attended last week to see if I could have one of them watch Clark. She sounded relieved that I wasn't asking her to watch him and gave me the names. Shea said at the end that if I couldn't get a hold of them, to please drop Clark by at her house if I needed to. What a nice lady...but I would never do that to a woman.
So I called a very nice woman in our ward who was more than willing to take Clark. I got the kids ready and dropped Clark off and arrived at the Urgent Care Center. So far so good right?
We ended up having to wait two hours to be seen, and of course, by that time Andrew had decided that he wasn't really that stuffed up after all, and he didn't feel nearly as hot and also decided to have a full feeding. When the doctor came in, he took about 5 minutes...listened to his chest, looked in his ears and pronounced "your son has a cold". Thaaaanks doc. I said, "Of course, but I was worried about how high his temperature was and if there was anything I needed to do about it." He looked blankly at me and stated "that's how the body helps fight infection is by running a temperature". Thaaanks doc. Now that I feel totally stupid...not that I am upset because I would rather feel stupid and have nothing seriously wrong with my child than the other way around, but seriously? Is that it? I asked at what point I should be concerned about the temperature. He said 103. oookay...that's not what my other pediatrician said but whatev. He also then said to try to maybe give him some water. I said, "Well, I am breastfeeding so should I give him water in addition to that? He said, "No, I guess that's good enough." Get me out of here. Quality care, I am telling you.

So, I go to leave. No keys. Empty the diaper bag. No keys. Empty Andrew and his BundleMe out of the carseat. No keys. Go back and look in the room. No Keys. Look by where we weighed Andrew. No Keys. Look by the seats in the waiting room. No Keys. Go out to the car to see if it is still there. There IS a car, and it IS locked...which means I had them when I entered the building since I only lock my car from the outside. Lay on the ground and look on the asphalt underneath the car. No Keys. Go back in, empty the carseat and the diaper bag two more times. No keys. Look in the waiting room two more times. No keys. Even look in drawers, I am that desperate. No keys. People are now helping me, and others in the waiting room are "betting" they are back in the room somewhere, we just can't find them. Whatev!
Finally, after 30-45 minutes, I give up and realize I can't call Tanner because our house phone still is not working because Verizon is LAME! So, I sheepishly call the very nice lady who was watching Clark. She reported that Tanner came and picked him up, and I then reported to her that I had lost my keys. I was sure she was now loathing the fact that we have moved into her ward. She said "Oh my goodness, I'll be there in 10 minutes". While I waited for my rescue ride, I bonded with the others in the waiting room. We all HATE Verizon, we all HATE moving when you have little kids, we all HATE losing our keys, and we all HATE the doctors office. Suddenly someone said, "Is that your ride?" I looked out and there was a HUGE jet black Hummer right outside the door...and out stepped this 50-60 year old woman to come rescue me. She brought me home and before I got out of the car, I said to her "Do you love your car?" She laughed and said "ummm...I like that it makes me feel safe, but it was all my husbands idea...I would drive something different if I could do it over". I don't know why, but that totally cracked me up.
I opened the door to the house and said to Tanner, "I lost my keys, we need to go pick up the car at the doctors". He kind of looked at me with the same blank stare that the doctor had for me. This was all becoming very reminiscent of my younger days when I would lose everything, and my parents just could not believe that I had lost my fountain pen, my shoes, my backpack, and my underwear (another blog, another day). We went back to the doctors, and I ran in to get some paperwork I had also forgotten (shocker) to get in the midst of losing my keys (and apparently my mind). I walked in and said, "No luck with the keys yet?" They said "YES, WE HAVE THEM....we just tried calling you." I couldn't believe that they had found them in the office. We had practically turned that place inside out. Except that they didn't find them in the office. The person sitting next to me had accidentally picked them up, and was back getting treated while I was trying to find them. They had actually left the office and got home and realized they had them and came back. I was very relieved, and I told Tanner I was going to pick up dinner for all of us...since this adventure started at 3:30pm and it was now close to 8pm. As I was just about to pull into KFC, I decided I needed something a little more comforting tonight after my day, so I went home and made French Toast and eggs. That, and talking to my mom made it all better.
I have decided that since these kinds of experiences are just going to be a staple in my life now, I need to identify the blessings that either helped me get through them or made it so it wasn't an even worse experience. So here goes:

I'm grateful that nothing is seriously wrong with Andrew. A trip to the hospital would not have been enjoyable for anyone involved.

I'm grateful for the nice male nurse who kept coming to check on me even though they were taking FOREVER to see me.

I'm grateful for health insurance so that when there is a bill for $164 to see a doctor who does practically nothing, I don't have to pay for most of it.

I'm grateful for the nice people in the waiting room who felt my pain about Verizon, moving, lost keys, and doctors offices.

I'm grateful for the 10th grader who was the one who picked up my keys who actually was good enough to tell her dad that she did, and didn't steal my car.

I'm grateful for the dad who was willing to bring the keys into the office to allow his daughter to avoid the embarrassment.

I'm grateful for the bishop's wife who was still willing to watch Clark despite her own trials.

I'm grateful for Tanner, who didn't make me feel like a total doofus, and who fed himself and Clark.

I'm grateful for Judy who watched Clark, rescued me at the doctors office in a Hummer, and who, despite telling me I will never be completely free of these kinds of experiences in life, assured me that there will always be people who will be able and willing to help.

Next time, I want to be the person doing the rescuing instead of being the one who needs to be rescued. Only time will tell.