Works-For-Me-Wednesday: Portable Potty

When you are potty training, the location (and cleanliness status) of the nearest bathroom is constantly on your mind. And after a few day trips in which there was either no potty or one so gross I was afraid of it, I decided to find an alternative.

When I was growing up (with 6 younger siblings), Mom kept a potty chair in the back of our van. It was well-used. I wasn’t all about carrying a potty chair around with me, but I found a great substitute.

It’s the Portable Potty. It works as a seat on a toilet or as its own little potty.

We’ve already taken it to a state park, where it was used three times. Just those three times have been worth every penny. You do have to be careful though, because Caedmon ended up pinching his fingers once. The “legs” it stands on snap into place, but don’t lock. So when we were parked on a hill and he sat down a little sideways, it collapsed. But we remedied that quickly and went on about our business.

I cannot tell you how awesome it was to just tie up that sack and toss it in the trash. No fuss over cleaning the potty out or worrying if water was available. And we were able to use it in the back of our SUV without any trouble.

You can buy refill liners if you wish. The reviews I read said that a grocery sack (with no holes!) along with a few folded-up paper towels in the bottom was an excellent substitute for the company’s liners. (They have an absorbent pad in the bottom, and the potty comes with three liners.)

I made my own refill liners as suggested in some of the reviews. I found several grocery sacks without holes, folded up 2 paper towels and stuck them into the bottom of each bag. Then, I folded them individually and stuck them into an old wipes container. And after using the refill liners that came with the potty, I think these will work just fine. If you wanted to go a little more high-tech, you could use a thin absorbent pad instead of the paper towels. They would stick to the bottom of the sack like the store-bought refill liners, but they would also cost more, though probably not as much as the refill liners.

The potty also comes with a heavy weight plastic carrying bag, which makes it easy to slide under the seat or store in the back of the car.

Action shots? Not this time.

And I will say that in a pinch, I might just end up using this thing myself. There won’t be any action shots of that, either.

It works for me. Head on over to Kristen’s for more Works-For-Me-Wednesday!

It’s Back…And Gone Again

Remember the weird fever from Saturday? It came back last night after dinner. And then went away by 9:30. And then game back during the night at least once. I say “at least once” because the boy slept most of the night and I wasn’t about to wake up voluntarily and go bother him.

Anyway, it’s gone this morning…so far. But I think a trip to the doctor might be in order, if for no other reason than for someone else to be scratching their head over this too. I’ll let you know what happens.

Is It Really Almost July?

It seems our summer has been busy. And I don’t really know how that happened, because I certainly didn’t plan it that way. I can’t believe it’s almost July already. It has been hot al blazes, though, so it really ought to be July already.

Anyway, the potty training is going pretty well. Caedmon rarely has an accident, but I’m still not sure if that’s because I’m making him go to the potty. So I plan on switching strategies this week. Instead of rewards each time he goes to the potty, I’m going to start rewarding him if he’s been dry for large chunks of the day. If he stays dry all morning, he gets rewarded at lunch. All afternoon, he’s rewarded at dinnertime. And from dinnertime to bedtime, rewarded again right before bed. And I say “rewarded” because I might switch from M&Ms at this point, but I’m just not sure yet. We’ll see how it goes.

Tuesday we went swimming at Mom’s, and I began to look for webbed feet on my child. Seriously, he loves the water, ya’ll. And I loved that Mom’s neighbors came down to swim with us. Caedmon had a blast and I was happy that he had some pint-sized entertainment.

Husband and I decided a few weeks ago that we wanted to go ahead and give Caedmon his birthday present a little early. I’d already bought it (on sale), and it was hidden in our closet. Husband has been complaining for weeks that our closet stunk and I couldn’t figure out what he was smelling. He has a nose like a pregnant woman, ya’ll. After we got the bike out and gave it to Caedmon, we figured out he’d been smelling the rubber from the tires on the bike.

But the bike? It was a hit. There aren’t many pictures because the boy would not be still and many of them turned out blurry. He was pretty excited about the whole getup.

But the helmet, he loves most of all. He randomly wears it around the house.

We took him up to the church where there’s a large, shaded sidewalk area, to try to teach him to ride. He’s never ridden anything he’s had to pedal, so the whole concept is pretty foreign to him. It still hasn’t quite clicked yet, but he had fun trying.

Saturday we took a little trip to a local state park. It was so hot. But we had planned on walking shaded trails and playing in the water, so we took Oz, our lunch, and lots of water to drink. It didn’t quite turn out that way. Amazingly enough, there wasn’t a lot of water to play in. And what was there was overtaken by two annoying kids having a mud fight, ruining the whole creek-wading experience for several families. And there was even less water to swim in. And it was so hot that we didn’t even attempt a trail.

I would just like to say that the car potty has already been worth the money.

But we did rent a paddle boat and put our legs to work. Caedmon wasn’t as impressed as I thought he’d be. He was dragging, too, and less than excited to be doing the things we were doing. Totally not like him. I realized something was wrong when we got back into the car, Husband cranked on the A/C, and Caedmon complained of being cold. Not good.

All the way home, Caedmon had chill bumps. And he was so exhausted and whiny that he fell asleep. I had hoped that he would continue to sleep once we got home, but when I discovered he had a temperature of 101, I didn’t blame him for not sleeping. He kept complaining of his head hurting, so I gave him some Tylenol. An hour later, he was back to his old self and getting into fever-free mischief. I expected it to come back during the night, but it didn’t. I have no idea what was going on, but he stayed fever-free and sassy all day Sunday. I was glad that it was short lived.

This week is supposed to be a little cooler and less humid. Maybe we can be a teensy bit less busy. We’ll see.

1,000 Words

Hot Town, Summer In The City

Just in case you hadn’t noticed, it’s hot. Super hot. So how have we been filling our days? Pretty much like this:

 

 

 

Works-For-Me-Wednesday: S’mores Remix

Brandon and Jill were coming over last week and I wanted to make S’mores. But as it was insanely hot and I had no desire to stand over anything warm enough to roast a marshmallow, I came up with this instead. And? It totally works for me! (Yes, I know you can make them in the microwave, but it’s just not the same.)

I didn’t start taking photos until part of the way through, and then I got all excited about the finished product and forgot to take more photos until we’d eaten half of it. But you’ll get the idea.

S’more-like Thing

6 (big) graham crackers, divided

2 Tbsp butter, melted

1 stick butter, softened

1 Devil’s food cake mix

1 egg

2-3 tsp water

Miniature marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350. Crush 4 graham crackers and mix with 2 Tbsp melted butter. Press into bottom of 8x8 (or 9x9) pan.

In mixing bowl, combine softened butter and egg. Mix on med speed 3 minutes or until doubled in size and lighter in color. Slowly mix in cake mix, and add water as needed. Batter should be very stiff. Spread onto graham cracker crust with fingers, leaving big dimples in the batter.

Bake 18-20 minutes, just until center is set and toothpick comes out clean.

Cool slightly. Set oven to low broil. Crumble remaining 2 graham crackers into ½ inch pieces.

Sprinkle onto warm chocolate stuff. Dump a bunch of marshmallows on top, enough to nearly cover the entire surface. Broil just a couple of minutes, until marshmallows are to desired doneness. Watch carefully or they will burn! Serve warm and sticky.

For more Works-For-Me-Wednesday, head on over to We Are THAT Family.

Callin’ The Hogs

Something else I did while we were taking pictures at the U of A…teach Caedmon a vital part of his Razorback education.

Woooooooo

Pig

Sooie!

Why Potty Training Reminds Me Of Having A Newborn

I have realized why I dreaded potty training so much. It wasn’t the extra laundry or the cleaning of bodily fluids. Let’s face it, Moms are used to that. But it has really cramped my style in several ways. A list, because I am too tired to put all the words together:

1. My independent child has suddenly become crazy dependent upon me and my ability to Mommy-sense when he needs to pee. It seems he used to do everything for himself and now we are suddenly at a stage where I have to be all over him all the time. I know it will eventually be over and he’ll be Mr. Independent again once he’s got this thing down cold, but it’s hard to imagine right now. Just like when I knew there would be a day Caedmon would be able to put his paci back in his mouth on his own, and when it came, I did a little happy dance.

2. I can’t leave the house. When Caedmon was a newborn, he ate every 3 hours. And a good 45 minutes of that time he was actually eating. So after 2 hours and 15 minutes, it was time to eat again. The countdown timer on the pee pee clock is shorter. And unreliable. As unreliable as Caedmon’s information about how badly he has to pee. And since he’s not practiced at using a big potty, public restrooms are, well, not a good idea. As if they were a good idea anyway.

3. I have ordered a “car potty”. That is all.

4. I can’t just grab and go. When he was nursing/eating baby food, getting ready to go somewhere was a chore. You had to have extra clothes, extra burp cloths, spoons, food, and all the stuff that goes along with all that other stuff. But since Caedmon was a “big boy” now, we were at the point where we just had to grab a few diapers and some wipes (that were usually already in the car anyway) and hit the road. Now I’m back to having to pack a bag before we leave – extra undies, extra clothes, extra shoes?, something to sit on in the carseat, plastic bags for wet things, etc. It takes forever.

5. If pacis are like crack for babies, M&Ms are like crack for toddlers. And instead of helping them calm down, they hype them up. Especially at 9pm when they were supposed to be asleep over an hour ago.

6. I am exhausted. Like, can’t make it without a nap exhausted. Constantly mentally hovering over the whole pee pee situation during the day along with Caedmon waking up super early (and/or staying up super late, also skipping naps) asking to go potty makes for a worn out Momma.

That all being said, Caedmon is doing spectacular. He definitely knows when he needs to go. He still doesn’t want to stop what he’s doing to go, though. Usually he will say, “I don’t want to pee pee in my undies!” And that’s your cue to make him go to the potty. Other than that, he’s got it down. He even wore his undies to church on Sunday and to Mimi's for the fish fry and stayed dry all day.

But Saturday, the boy was in full form. He’d done marvelously well when Husband took him out for a few hours in the morning, and I was hoping for a good naptime. Seriously, the boy played in his bed and yelled to go potty no less than 6 times over the course of 2 hours.

“Naptime/Bedtime potty rules” are such that the light stays off unless absolutely necessary, there’s minimal talking, and absolutely no toys/books. The first time he got up, I’d made it clear to him that this was not a game. During one of the subsequent potty trips where he was squeezing out 13 drops of pee so he could have an M&M, Caedmon looked at me and very seriously said, “Momma, this is not a game.” I almost busted out laughing. But the kicker is that he peed every single time except for the last time, when I declared him done and if he had to go any more, he’d just have to hold it until time to get up. Which was quickly approaching.

So at bedtime, I put him to bed and explained that he needed to go to sleep. No games, remember? Just a few minutes after I put him down, he was yelling to go potty. I got him up and took him. As he sat there trying to get me to name every item in the bathroom, I explained that I was going to get into the shower and I wouldn’t be able to take him to the potty again, so when we finished, he needed to just lay down in his bed and go to sleep. He looked up at me and said, “Daddy will take me.” Already playing the other-parent card.

He’s a smart boy, this one. Maybe I can convince him to use his powers for good…the good which is also potty trained and independent again.

Happy Father’s Day

Happy Father’s Day to Husband, my Dad, and Poppy! You are all men willing to sacrifice for your families and teach your children the important things in life.

Remember when Caedmon & I went to the University to take pictures? We snuck in a little side-shoot for Father’s Day.

A quick change on the lawn and we were ready for some SuperDad photos.

Getting his motivation.

Posing, saying, “Super Dad!”

 

And we went to the comic book store Husband frequents and took Caedmon’s photos by the Marvel comics. Captain America is Husband’s favorite. I even bought a miniature Captain America for Caedmon while we were there. I was afraid we’d be busted, but I think we successfully played it off, since we’d also been to Walmart that day and we were truthfully able to say we’d gotten it “at the store.”

My plan had been to sneak into Husband’s office on Friday or Saturday and leave them so he’d find them on Sunday morning. But that didn’t exactly happen. So we gave them to him on Saturday, along with what he called the Father’s Day gift 4 the ages…The Karate Kid movies. He and Caedmon watched them together and practiced some karate in the living room. I also grilled steaks for dinner.

Today we are celebrating with our entire family over at Mimi & Papa’s. There will be more eating. And maybe some more karate. With my family, you never know.

It’s On Like Donkey Kong

*Disclaimer: If you don’t like the word “poop” or “pee” and don’t want to know what potty training is really like, click away. Quickly.*

Well, this is it. We’re hard-core potty training now.

Can you feel the excitement? It’s oozing from every pore of my body.

Ugh.

Monday morning, Caedmon got up asking to wear undies. Nothing unique about that. But he kept them dry all day except for when I put him in a diaper to go to the grocery store & for a nap. Tuesday morning he also wanted to wear undies. And after our successful “#2 trip” a few days before, I decided it was time to take the bull by the horns and conquer this thing.

I am an idiot.

Tuesday morning by 9am, we were on our third pair of undies and I was rethinking my original plan to not worry about this until he goes to kindergarten. But we pressed on. Through two more pair of underwear before bath time.

I think the problem is that he just gets busy and forgets he’s supposed to go potty until…OOPS! So that can be remedied, but I know it will take some time. But by Tuesday afternoon, Caedmon was fussing when I would make him go to the potty. He didn’t want to go to the potty. He didn’t want to miss what was going on.

I made a big deal about him letting me know he needed to use the potty when he wakes up. Because we all need to pee when we wake up, so I figured I’d teach him to holler when he wakes, I’d get him, we’d go, no big deal.

Again, I am an idiot.

Caedmon was in his bed nearly 2 hours on Tuesday before he actually went to sleep for his naptime. Why? Because he was busy crying wolf. Or pee pee, as it were. I wanted him to understand that he didn’t get to get up and play, but that going to the potty to actually use it was fine. He got up three times, peed twice. At bedtime, he stayed awake a long time and yelled to go pee once – and actually did.

As I was doing a load of laundry Tuesday night filled with adorable little underwear, I decided that I am not above bribery. Of the chocolate variety. M&Ms, here we come. (I wonder how many kids have been potty trained thanks to those candy-coated pieces that melt in your mouth and not in your hand?)

Wednesday morning, Caedmon woke up at 5:45am (apparently there’s one of those in the morning) yelling to go pee. I think the yelling and trip to the potty was pretty much an afterthought, because his diaper was wet and not “just got peed in” warm. The most tragic thing was that nobody went back to sleep.

After we got up and I was finally able to wake up enough to pretend to be alive, I introduced the “go #1, get 1; go #2, get 2” policy. Caedmon was all about it. He actually stood in the bathroom for a minute or two and admired the clear plastic bowl (with a lid) of M&Ms. And even though he spent quite a while at the church nursery on Wednesday, he only had one accident all day.

He did, however, mooch the M&Ms for all they were worth. Naptime was again a time of playing in the bed, yelling to go potty and maybe or maybe not actually going. Once, he literally squeezed out three drops of pee and asked for an M&M. I gave him one. At this point, anything in the potty is good enough for me, even if it is three drops. We were, however, highly unsuccessful at the poop trip. He kept telling me he needed to poop, but could never make it happen. That, combined with the fact that he was out of bed for the third time during his naptime, finally resulted in me just putting him back to bed. And he ended up going in his diaper. He actually prefers that anyway, but I’m kind of over it. Especially after attempting yet again to return the crib of insanity – unsuccessfully. (More on that later.)

The evening was good, though. We had one close call (but no accidents!) and at one point Caedmon earned three M&M’s at once. *wink wink* And then when I put him to bed, he proceeded to play around, goof off, and ask to go potty three more times. I honestly don’t know how he was still awake, having woken up before the sun. He finally ended up asleep a little over an hour after we put him to bed.

So we’ll see what today brings. We should be in for an easy morning because we’re planning on going swimming. And if you can’t have fun peeing in the pool, when can you?

If you have any hints, suggestions, or tips, let me know. And if your kid was potty trained in one day and never had an accident, please keep that to yourself.

Works-For-Me-Wednesday: Fast First Aid

With a boy, I was prepared for scrapes and bruises. Too bad he was not prepared for the time it takes to clean those things up. My favorite scratch and scrape cleaner is plain old hydrogen peroxide. But I hate having to pour it everywhere or blot it on with a cotton ball.

But last week, I found a solution. Hydrogen Peroxide in a spray bottle.

I’m sure you can pour it in your own spray bottle, but I found this one at the store the other day (don’t think I won’t be refilling this baby). It was a little more expensive than the bottle of plain peroxide ($1.25 vs 83 cents), but it’s an expense I’m willing to incur this time. I am particular about spray bottles, so I was surprised to find that I liked the sprayer. It sprays a fine mist over a pretty large area without making a huge mess everywhere. It’s also grab-and-go, so you don’t have to have other “equipment” to clean that scrape on a wiggly little boy.

It works for me. For more Works-For-Me-Wednesday, head on over to We Are THAT Family.

God’s Image. Whose Standards?

Caedmon has discovered his birthmark.

The first time I noticed that he was aware of it was after our last laser treatment. His face was purple-spotted (as it always is after a treatment) and he saw himself in the mirror and said, “What’s wrong with my face?”

In the moment, it was surprising to me, and I didn’t really know what to say to him. I hadn’t really prepared myself for that conversation. I explained that the doctor was helping us with his birthmark and that the dark spots would go away and it would be just like normal soon. He seemed to accept that as an answer and move on.

He asked about it several more times before the purple bruising faded, and seemed to be satisfied with the answer I gave him.

What struck me about it was that as a 2 year-old, he asked what was wrong with his face. I know he looks at other kids and doesn’t see anyone else that’s “like” him in that respect. And I know that as a culture (and as regular people), we see things that are not like others as “wrong.” Not necessarily in a bad way, but they’re just not “right.”

People have commented about Caedmon’s PWS or asked about his treatments with a hushed tone to their voice, as if maybe it’s not something we should talk about in front of him. And I don’t blame them. They aren’t sure what to say sometimes, and aren’t always sure how to approach it. I never want anyone to feel bad for asking about it. But the honest truth is that there’s no reason for us to be secretive or embarrassed about it. It’s not like we could hide it from him even if we wanted to.

Here’s the thing. I don’t ever want Caedmon to feel like there’s anything “wrong” with him because of his birthmark. Because the truth is that God gave it to him. And he was made in God’s image. Now, I’m not saying that God has a mutton-chop port wine stain on his left cheek (Wouldn’t it be cool if He did?), but you get my point. Because Caedmon is created in God’s image, I want him to understand that his birthmark is not a mistake by or a surprise to our Creator.

(I also don’t want to pretend that his PWS is in any way equivalent to the many horrible illnesses and birth defects other children and families have to deal with. Because it certainly is not.)

That being said, I’m really not sure how to reconcile the laser treatments with his little mind. It’s true that we have pursued the treatments for medical reasons, not cosmetic ones. It would’ve been a struggle to decide what to do if it were a cosmetic issue. Because if we believe that God made him perfect in His image, why would we want to change things so that it was pleasing to our eyes? It just so happens that the medical treatment necessary does change the appearance of the PWS and makes it more acceptable to our world’s standards.

And yes, those are some big concepts that his little self probably can’t grasp yet. But I don’t want to be caught off guard again. Because one day a simple, “The doctor’s helping us with your birthmark. It will look like normal soon” won’t cut it. Especially when other kids start asking him about it.

Just last week, Caedmon asked me again about his birthmark. This time, I was a little more prepared. I explained that he had a birthmark on his face and that meant he was born with it. And he was born with it because God gave it to him – especially for him. I then brought him to the computer and showed him the photos that I’ve been taking each month, showing the progress of his treatments. He was able to see himself in pictures with the birthmark, I think, for the first time. Meaning, I think he noticed it in photos for the first time. I showed him how each one got a little bit smaller and lighter. And that the doctor needed to help us with it so he could stay healthy.

He nodded and said, “Otay” and we moved on to something else.

Half of it probably went over his head. And that’s ok. I’d rather provide too much information than not enough. I don’t ever want him to feel ashamed of his PWS. I don’t ever want him to feel like we’re not honest with him about it. I also don’t want to make it a big deal. It’s part of our life. It’s normal to us. And it’s a gift from God.

The Firemans

Friday was a big day. I had arranged a trip to the Fire Station for Caedmon and me. The Captain is a longtime family friend, and he was gracious enough to show us around and let Caedmon play on and around all kinds of things. I thought Caedmon would be pretty shy, but once he realized Mr. Phil was a Firefighter, he was good to go.

Caedmon loved getting in the fire trucks. He wanted to “get the keys” and “push the buttons” and “go to McDonald’s.” I don’t think those trucks would fit in the drive-thru.

Caedmon was pretty solemn until Mr. Phil’s grandson, Cade, arrived. Caedmon and Cade had never met, but pretty soon it was like they were old buddies. Which is pretty cool because Cade’s Momma and I are old buddies, even though we haven’t seen each other in forever. (Amanda, let’s do lunch!)

The firemen have a maze they use for training. The boys loved it, and I imagine they had a much easier time navigating the tight spaces than the big guys with all their equipment on.

See? Buddies. (I still cannot get over how much Cade looks like his Momma!)

Learning about how the water goes in and out.

Checking out all the gear.

Getting to wear the Captain’s helmet. (Those things weigh a ton! Well, not literally a ton, but a lot, especially for a little guy. Thus the helping hand.)

 

But then the boys got their own hats that didn’t weigh quite so much. So of course we had to get back into the truck to take a picture with it.

And slide down the fireman’s pole. Caedmon was really weirded out by it at first, but Cade did it, so he had to. Plus, Mr. Phil demonstrating a couple of times helped a bit.

While we were there, the other firemen were around the station, doing whatever firemen do when they’re not fighting fires. Caedmon kept asking, “Where are the firemans?” I would point at them and answer, “Right there, Caedmon!” He would look at them in their blue pants and t-shirts (not in their full fire gear), and wonder if I really knew what I was talking about. He finally decided they were real “firemans” and would tell me, “Momma, those the firemans!”

Many thanks to Mr. Phil and the Fire Department for letting us come visit. You made a boy’s day.

Life’s A (Petting) Zoo

Tuesday, we made a trip to Uncle Grade A and Aunt Trump’s. Also known as Aunt Trump’s Petting Zoo and Critter Emporium. It seems that they end up with all kinds of creatures in all sorts of ways, and of course we have to go see them!

The main attraction was HLB’s fawn (baby deer). HLB was working out off some random highway last week and found this little guy caught in a fence. Of course, it would’ve been great if HLB could’ve freed the little guy and he could go back to his Mom and live happily ever after. But that’s not exactly how it works. Even if he could find his Momma, she’d likely not take him back because he had people smell on him, and he’d starve to death. Having lived on a farm for a long time, my family has raised many deer fawns. Some were cherished family pets for many years. And some of them like bubble gum, FYI.

Bambi is a little guy still. He’s probably just a week or so old. And I know that Trump is grateful Bambi doesn’t like a bottle, but will lap his milk up from a dish. That makes life much easier. Babies are babies and pretty much eat all the time.

We decided to go outside so Bambi would follow us and maybe play a little bit.

 

He’s a little shy, but very sweet. Caedmon kept trying to pet his head and he didn’t care for that.

 

Bambi and Sugars were checking each other out.

Trump also had some baby bunnies. Grade A was brush hogging (mowing with a big tractor, for those of you who aren’t familiar with the farm lingo), and he ran over the rabbit nest. The babies started running all over the place and he jumped down and ran around like a maniac to catch some of them. (That was Trump’s description. I didn’t actually see it.) So of course, one of them had to be called Thumper.

After Caedmon was done with Bambi and Thumper (which didn’t take long), we fed the kitties and horses. And of course, played in the horse trough a little. Caedmon was determined to empty the water one cup full at a time.

We also went to see the chickens, but as they are no longer little yellow fluffy things, Caedmon was a little less interested in them.

As we were getting ready to leave, Trump found a baby toad and let Caedmon hold it. He wasn’t really sure why he was holding that frog. That didn’t last long either. I don’t think it even peed on him. Every kid should get peed on by a frog at some point. I guess he’ll have to wait a little longer.

After we left Trump’s, we went to Mom & Dad’s for our first big swim of the year. I cannot tell you how much Caedmon l.o.v.e.d. it. I figured he’d be a little reserved since it’s his first time in the deep water in a while. Um, no. I put his “swim backpack” on him (which helps him float enough to keep his chin out of water) and he was all about the big pool. He “swam” to and from the ladder, the float, and even wanted Papa Duke to throw him into the pool (where I was waiting). There are no pictures this time because there was too much splashing to even try to get the camera close. Needless to say, we’ll be going back again soon and Caedmon may grow gills by the end of summer.

Meanwhile, it’s been rainy-ish for a couple of days, and I think the boy is having water withdrawals. He might just shrivel up and blow away if I don’t figure out a way to get him in the water today. And we certainly can’t have that.

Thoughts of Randomness

1. I find myself simultaneously blessing and cursing Caedmon’s independent spirit. I love that he is learning to do things for himself, just not everything should be done alone when you’re 2. He doesn’t know the difference yet. I’m not sure I do, either.

2. I really need to put away the humidifier in Caedmon’s room. We haven’t used it in months. Yet, every time I put it away, he gets sick within 2 weeks and we need to drag it back out again. I think I may leave it out as a preventative measure.

3. Is it just me, or does anyone else lose the desire to cook when it’s a gillion degrees outside with 8,000% humidity? And don’t tell me that grilling is the solution. I love to grill, but standing outside in the heat over a blazing grill is just as bad as cooking in the house.

4. I am mentally in “summer mode”, even though no one in our house attends school. I feel the urge to stay up late, sleep in, and be lazy. That doesn’t quite work when Caedmon is waking up consistently early (6am - 7am almost every day) and yelling for me to a) come cover him up or b) turn cartoons on for him. I don’t know where he gets the idea that he gets to watch cartoons first thing every day. That’s not how we roll around here. Maybe he’s in summer mode too.

5. I have too big a To-Do list to be in summer mode.

6. Clearly, I have lost my mind, because I have decided to start cleaning out junk and have a garage sale. Ya’ll know how much I loathe, despise, and detest having a garage sale. I don’t know what’s gotten into me. My garage sale buddy Melissa’s not even here to do all the work (ha!).

7. Maybe I should just box up all my random junk and sell it in lots on eBay. Wouldn’t it make someone’s day to get some CAT5 cable ends and a couple random power cords mixed with some sci-fi paperback books and some half-used rolls of curling ribbon? Sounds like a winner to me!

8. The crib? Still hasn’t been shipped back yet. I tried. It wouldn’t fit in the box the new one came in unless I took apart every little piece. And there was no way I was going to do that. So it’s sitting in the guest room, waiting for me to take it to UPS for them to box and ship back. I haven’t taken it yet because I can’t fit it in the Xterra with Caedmon in his car seat, so it has to be a one-woman (or one-man) job. And neither man nor woman has had the opportunity to do a solo job yet. (Props to my man Sam, though. We already have our refund.)

9. We had a crazy thunderstorm blow through here on Monday that broke our single, solitary, precious tree in the backyard. Like, broke off the top half. I was at the grocery store when it happened, or I might have cried. So there goes 75% of the shade we worked so hard to grow the past couple of years. Hopefully the tree will live and we won’t have to cut it down. It sure has been a lot of trouble for a free tree. The one we just planted in the front yard had better not be that high maintenance, or I may just cut it down out of spite. Yes, spite. Where’s that on your return form?

10. There is no number ten, I just couldn’t leave a list with 9 points. Happy Thursday, ya’ll!

Giant Family Vacation Part 2

After our trip to White Water, we cleaned up, ate dinner, and got ready for some friendly family competition. Or torture, whichever you’d like to call it.

Our condo had a putt putt golf course, so Mom divided us up into teams and we all played. It was sort of like shotgun-style, because if we all played like you’re supposed to, it would’ve taken all night long and someone would’ve died or been horribly maimed. So we had 2 balls and each team just took turns with the players.

Team 1 was: Dad, me, Deputy Guy, K, Fidget, and Coe. (Since Coe was the odd man out, he got to choose his team. He chose us. That says something about us, I think. Or about the other team.)

Team A (Because there can be no team 2) was: Mom, Husband, Curly, NLB, and Squirt.

Caedmon was on his own team. For obvious reasons.

Cousin Q got to play too.

Preparing to play.

Waiting your turn is b-o-r-i-n-g.

Deputy Guy and Cousin Q pulled a Happy Gilmore.

Apparently Squirt and NLB were bored. Or providing distraction, whichever way you’d like to look at it.

I did actually play. Usually my turn came when we were backed into a corner, though.

Caedmon enjoyed the loop.

Coe ended up having to get the ball out of a rock during his shot. More Happy Gilmore.

And here we are afterwards. We were all hot and sweaty. Some of us were a little more grouchy than others. And all of us were a bit worn out. Coe was taking the picture, so he didn’t make this shot. K traded places with him and he got his pic with the family. You can see more in Mom’s Facebook picture album. She also provides great photo commentary.

That night we all got cleaned up, played more insane dominoes, and had a good night’s sleep. Thursday morning we got up, Caedmon asked if he could go to the water park again, polished off the cinnamon rolls and whatever other scraps of food happened to be laying around, packed up and headed out. Caedmon was exhausted, but that didn’t keep him from enjoying one of the best “vacation” foods of all time on the way home. White powdered donuts. Maybe that’s why he managed to stay awake all the way home.

We spent the rest of Thursday cleaning up and doing laundry and all the stuff you have to do when you come home from vacation. Friday, Husband worked, so Caedmon and I hung out at home and tried to relax some. And he swam in his pool. Imagine that.

So vacation is officially over. Back to reality.

In other news, our garden is still alive. And we have a squash that’s almost ready. We’ll see how this “when kids grow their vegetables they’re more likely to eat them” thing goes. We’d have bout 17 squash by now if there wasn’t some sort of rotting going on. When they’re tiny, they are starting to rot around the blossom. Any of you gardeners out there know what the deal is?

And today is Caedmon’s dentist check-up. Hopefully that goes smoothly. I’ve already promised a McDonald’s date afterwards. He did great at the dentist last time, but if our last haircut is any indication of what could happen, well, I could be the one with the screaming kid this time. Hopefully not. Because that reality would not be fun.