What its like to play with Brendan

Jason here. I ascribe to what is called "the Burger King theory of play." This just means that the kid gets to have things their way (you know, like the BK slogan). The other morning Brendan and I were playing and he says to me "Daddy, this is you" and hands me a garbage truck.

Then he went and got "the Brendan" garbage truck.

And that is Brendan, having it his way.

Blue or Pink?

Some of the funniest things people have say to me happens when I am pregnant. I have heard just about every wives tale in predicting gender, size, hair, etc. By the way, I had heartburn with both kiddos and neither had a lot of hair and it is not curly. I carried low with my girl and high with my boy (the opposite of what everyone was telling me I was "supposed" to have). I don't buy into any of these but they do entertain me. Today, just for kicks, I went to two gender predicting websites and both said we were having a boy. I have no preference but I think Brendan would dig a brother. To those mamas out there, what was the funniest wives tale you heard while you were pregnant?

The Great Toy Purge

I am sure every mommy of children over 1 has felt this desire - the need to purge yourself of all the unused, unwanted or broken toys that clutter your homes and hurt your feet as you walk barefoot through rooms to put away laundry or give goodnight kisses. I have been feeling overwhelmed by stuff lately. So when Brendan went to school today I went through the kids toys. I removed anything that was outgrown, a repeat (we have something almost/just like it), broken or unused. The outgrown but well-loved toys got put away for Baby #3 and the rest is being tossed or donated. I ended up with 3 grocery bags full. It feels good.

Free Pancake Day

So a friend of mine called me yesterday to invite me to Free Pancake Day at IHOP today. Thanks Annie! She and I took our kids over at 8am. I left the kids in their jammies because what is more fun than going out to breakfast in your pjs? Brendan surprised me by eating 3 pancakes and some scrambled eggs. Eva likes the pancakes too if they had strawberry syrup on them. It was a fun morning. What a way to start off the day.

Little siblings

Eva adores her brother. She follows him around and wants to do everything he does. I am convinced that is why she found walking so easy - she has to keep up with her hero. She has also picked up on how to get on and off the couch by herself relatively quickly. She likes to climb up next to him when he watches a show.

He loves to make her laugh by playing peek-a-boo and tells me to "get Babygirl" when he hears her wake up from a nap. He is doing better about playing gently with her but still gets "toy greedy" frequently. I figure that it must be hard to understand that all these baby toys that used to be his are now hers. In his mind he must wonder if all his trains will become hers too someday.

I have also noticed that he will lash out at her if he feels I am not paying enough attention to him. I guess he knows it is a way to get my immediate attention, though it is negative attention. I have come to see that parenting multiple children really is a delicate balance of individual time with each child. Anyway, I wonder how adding a third will be. Only time will tell.

Potty training update

Brendan is doing much better about using the potty. I took some of the advice I was given and let him be pants-less every day this week. It was fairly easy since it was rainy and we didn't go anywhere much. I also brought the potty downstairs since he is down here most anyway. He still gets a sticker on the Thomas potty chart and a potty treat for each successful potty sitting. I told him that after the chart was filled, he wasn't going to get any more potty treats but could wear his big boy underwear. He is pretty excited about the Wall-E underwear I got him. He also go to pick out some Bob the Builder and Buzz Lightyear ones that are coming in the mail (he loves it when mail is for him). Today he was dry all day (with a little reminding from me to "try" going potty - he was pretty engrossed in playing). We still have some work to do with going #2 on the potty. He seems to notice a bit too late that he has to go to get to the potty, arriving just after the fact. But he is making progress and I can tell he feels good about his new "big boy" status. Now the question is, will this carry over to school? Will he tell his teacher that he needs to go? We'll see on Monday.

Rain, rain, go away

Now I know we need the rain and I am grateful for it, but when you have a 3 year old who desperately needs to burn off some energy, you wish it was nicer outside. Well, today was gorgeous, a bright blip in an otherwise gloomy week. So I took the kids to the local Farmers Market by the Civic Center and then to feed the ducks (er, seagulls mostly). You can get a yummy, fresh sourdough baguette from a local vendor there for about $2. Eva and I just ate the bread.

Brendan loves the jumpy castle at the market and chasing the birds. His other favorite is throwing rocks off the dock.




You can see the Farmer's Market set up in the background.

I love the Civic Center area. It is beautiful!

Potty troubles

I am in the midst of one of the most frustrating part of child raising so far - potty training. I have read all about it, we have gotten all the supplies and tried different methods for a few days each (praise/candy/sticker chart, pull ups, reminders frequently, even the naked method today) but we have had little success. He was really excited when we started and went a whole day where he was dry. But after a day or two he fizzled out. He doesn't want to stop what he is doing to go use the potty. I don't see how that part of his personality will ever change. For those mommies out there who have successfully potty trained (especially boys) let me know your tricks.

And the winner is . . .

Eva received a soft doll on her birthday (Thanks Kara!!) which she has now adopted as her lovey. She hugs the dolly and cuddles with it and insists on sleeping with it. Whenever she sees it she says, "Dah" (translated - "doll"). I think that counts as a first word if she is consistent with it (and not just a random sound). Here are some pictures of Eva with her Dah (and a cute hoodie I found for her).

A new use for an old game

Brendan has been waking up really early these past few days and wanting to get in our bed. However, he doesn't want to sleep, he wants to chat and cough and roll around. It is very aggravating at 5 am. Before Jason puts him to bed they have been playing hide n seek. I taught him to say "Marco" if he can't find Daddy and listen for "Polo". It usually gets him good and tired before bedtime.
Well last night we decided to lock our door so he couldn't get in. At 6am he is banging on it yelling, "Mom? Mommy? MOM! Open the door. Open the door please. Daddy? DADDY!" and on and on. Suddenly there is a quiet pause and I hear a small "Marco?" It was so funny that we had to let him in.

Valinersary or Annivalentine

Five years ago Christine and I hatched this brilliant plan to get married over a long weekend instead of waiting until our school breaks. She was teaching fifth grade at the time and I was still in undergrad. I mean, we both had stuff and weren't really into a big wedding anyways. We are both pretty low key. A temple wedding with family and close friends would be just fine. Well, it just so happened that the best long weekend was Valentines Day/President's Day. Bonus.

I have congratulated myself on my good fortune to knock out two holidays in one for the last four years. I have a built in anniversary reminder. Its great. But there is no small pressure to come up with something awesome for this day.

This year we thought about taking a cruise. Decided against it for a number of reasons. Looking back I am glad we didn't now that Christine is prego and may have gotten really seasick. Also, the weather has been lousy lately.

What we did do is go this fancy shmancy restaurant the Lark Creek Inn. It was the nicest place I have been to. It had a valet, a french waiter (who I think was Russian actually), and outrageously priced food. As it was our special day, we threw fiscal caution to the wind and didn't look at how much this was going to cost. We ordered some appetizers and our main course. Then they kept feeding us bread. Every time my bread plate was empty some big Tongan waiter gave me two more rolls. I got so full on bread I could barely finish my meal. Here is a shot of our hors d'oeuvres.


We declined dessert so that we could hit up Denny's. Seriously. Denny's used to be our date spot when we were engaged. We would sit and order milkshakes and play backgammon until late at night. By the way, when ordering a milkshake from Denny's, never order the same flavor if you are ordering with someone else. If you do, then they will take the tin and fill up the other glass. If you order two different shakes, then you BOTH get tins. Again, bonus. Anyways, I ate so many stinking rolls that Denny's just wasn't going to happen. The food was pretty good. I got filet mignon and Christine got the cheese souffle and pot roast. I still prefer one of Christine's wasabi/horseradish Reuben sandwiches anyday although Christine said the butterscotch pudding was amazing.


So that was our dinner. We had a sitter so we lingered and chatted about nothing and everything for two glorious, kid-free hours. We dropped about a hundred and fifty bucks, and that was okay. Christine is special and awesome, and I don't make a fuss about her enough. It has been a wonderful five years, the best years of my life so far. Thanks Babe.

Truths

Today during "quiet time" I heard over the baby monitor something my son learned in Primary. He was saying, "The family is ordained of God" which he was assigned to say in opening exercises last week. I got a little catch in my throat as I realized how much truth he knows that even some adults don't.

Eva's party

Eva had her birthday party on Saturday. We were going to have it at a park but the rain canceled our plans. So we had in it the church cultural hall. Just a few friends and family and their kids. I think the kids outnumbered the adults. They had a great time running around the big open gym and playing with balls and bubbles. It was a lot of fun.
Eva was unsure of the cake at first but once she got a taste of the frosting (and a nice "face painting" with it by Aunt Amanda), she was all for it. It coated most of her hair by the time I cleaned her up.



Later she opened presents. The little girls there were more excited about them than she was. They knew what a birthday party meant. It was funny.

Thank you to all who came and celebrated Eva turning one!

Here we go again

Well, we had the opportunity to tell family over the weekend so that cat is out of the bag. We are expecting #3. I am not scared or overly excited - I just feel peaceful about it, like the Lord knows what is best for our family. This baby was only sort of planned. We didn't expect it to happen so soon.
I am tired more and feel a little nauseous from time to time. I am due on October 9th. That's about 9 months before we move. Since everyone seems to ask when we tell them - the baby will be in our room for the first few months and then possibly move into the kids' room for the last 3 months we are here. I know it will be a tight squeeze in the apartment for that time but I can hold out for 9 months until I get a real house. I can't wait for the kids to have their own rooms. So anyway, here we go again. :)

Alcatrash

Jason had an early day at school this week so the kids and I went into the city to meet him and go to Alcatraz (Brendan calls it "Alcatrash"). Eva loved the boat ride in and being in the baby backpack. Brendan only liked the boat ride enough to stay inside with me. He was too scared to go out on deck with his dad.


I must say that the island and the tour were very impressive. I learned a lot of things that I had no idea about. Those cells were TINY.

And I realized how much worse prison would have been there since they could see and hear the sounds of freedom in SF daily. Also, we learned about the families of the prison workers who also lived on the island. However, it was hard to get the full experience when you are carting about a whiny preschooler. Oh well, at least I can say I went.

After that we walked to Pier 39 and saw the sea lions and looked at the shops. Then we ate at the Hard Rock Cafe. The apple cobbler was yummy!
All in all, a fun time in San Fran. Driving in the city makes me so nervous and I'd never want to live there but visiting sometimes sure is nice. Next time we are going to visit the Grace Cathedral and maybe ride a cable car just for Bubbs.

Where has the time gone?

A year ago you were a (big) newborn and now . . .
our very own rockstar!
WE LOVE YOU BUNCHES, Babygirl!

Like a dog to his vomit

Jason here. Had some really early mornings lately to study for tests (and the TIVO'd Superbowl). To compensate, I went back to my Achilles heel - Low Carb Monster Energy drinks. I haven't had carbonated beverages since the end of first year. That pledge is in serious jeopardy this week. I could write poetry about the crack-in-a-can that is Monster. I love it so much. Time to buckle down and just get a glass of water.

Not so sweet

Sweet potatoes are the worst offenders of stains in my house. Sadly another of Eva's shirts has fallen prey to this orange monster, even with a huge bib and use of stain remover. Any ideas? For the new moms - beware of this "stain-inator". Best to just strip 'em down naked when you feed them this tasty stuff.

Daddy's girl

Eva has recently become quite attached to her daddy. I hope she will always see her dad as someone she can respect and trust.

This one was taken right before Daddy got a drool bomb on the face.

She still likes her mommy . . . most of the time. She doesn't care for me so much when I take things away from her like diaper cream, my bookmark, small electronics, sharp, pointy objects, etc. :) Oh, the things she puts her hands on. She's a curious little turkey.

Sundays

Is it bad that part of the reason I like Sunday is dressing the kids up?

Gee, I feel special

We bought The Blue Planet DVD series about a week ago. It is made by the same people who did Planet Earth and Brendan loves it. We watch an episode (or two . . . or three . .) a day. His favorites are called "Coral Seas" and "Ocean Deep". When I got him from Sunbeams today he was anxious to show me his paper. They must have talked about prayer and how we can say thank you to Heavenly Father in our prayers. I am guessing that the teacher asked each child what they are thankful for and wrote it on the paper. Yep, my son's first thought was not for food or shelter or even his family. He was thankful for . . . "the ocean deep."

P.S. Brendan does not like to color with crayons and usually won't do it. However, if you give him markers or paints, he has a ball. That is why his artwork from church is always very plain.