Girls Night Out

Following a tradition, Jeff went to dinner with his dad and brother, and then to the priesthood session of General Conference. So I decided to have girls night out with Rachel and Gabi. We went to Chick-Fil-A. I thought it would be fun since both girls like chicken, and they have a fun playground. The evening did not proceed without mishaps. I was holding Gabi and the food, and opening the door to the play area. Gabi knocked over the girls' drink, and as I tried to save it I knocked over my drink. Fortunately, the kind employee who cleaned up my mess also brought us new drinks.

The rest of the time there was pretty uneventful. They had a really good time on the playground. I was worried about Rachel's potty habit, so I was constantly asking her if she needed to use the potty, and she kept saying no. Her potty training lately has been something less than reliable. Finally I asked her and she didn't say no, so I took that as a yes and we went to the bathroom. Right in front of us was another family, so Rachel had to hold it while we waited for them to finish. I was pleading with her to hold it, and thankfully she did, and she peed in the potty.

When it was time to go home I reminded Rachel that we were going to watch a movie (Kung-Fu Panda), so she didn't resist the idea at all.

We went home and watched the movie for a while, and then it was time for the girls to go to bed. Rachel wanted to sleep in my bed but I wouldn't let her because she doesn't sleep very well when she sleeps with us, but she was being pretty funny. We were laying there and she said "Go to sleep!" So I closed my eyes and pretended to snore. Rachel liked that, so she pretended to snore too. The only thing is she doesn't know how to, so she was making all kinds of weird noises. We were laughing about it pretty good. I finally got the girls to bed and they went down without a peep.

Earlier today Jeff took Rachel to watch her cousin Grace play soccer. I stayed home with Gabi because it was her nap time. Rachel had a great time, and Jeff took some pictures.


It is so easy to dwell on the frustrations surrounding potty training, and believe me, there have been some major frustrations, but I have to say how wonderfully sweet Rachel has been lately. She has been very kind, very generous, very forgiving lately. The other day Gabi bit Rachel on the hand. Rather than retaliate, she came straight to me for some sympathy. She has been very good about sharing her toys, or at least making sure that Gabi also has a toy to play with.

Gabi, meanwhile, has entered the terrible twos somewhat prematurely. You would think that I would know what to do with my second, after having experimented on Rachel, but I don't. Rachel's temper tantrums were fierce, but very infrequent. Gabi's tantrums are not nearly as fierce, but much more frequent. So I'm learning all over again.

Gabi at the playground at Chick-Fil-A

A Week of Birthday Celebrations

I don't know how Rachel managed it, but we had three parties for her. One last Monday with the extended family, one on Wednesday, her actual birthday, with her immediate family, and one on Saturday with her friends. I guess when you turn 3 you get 3 parties. I hope that trend doesn't continue as she gets older!

Anyway, on Friday evening I was working in the back yard getting everything ready for the party. During the course of my work I stepped on a rusty roofing nail with my bare foot. It went in pretty far, and it hurt pretty bad. On Saturday morning I went to the Urgent Care office and got a tetanus shot. I came back home with just 30 minutes to spare before the birthday guests were arriving.

The kids all seemed to have fun. They played on the jungle gym, the played in the sand/water box, we had bubbles, we had face painting, and I made balloon animals. It would be more accurate to say that I made balloon dogs because that's the only animal I know how to make. Then we had cupcakes and ice cream and opened presents.

The number of kids and the length of time all seemed to work out perfectly. They all seemed to have fun, there was no crying, no fighting, and I think they all went home happy.

Happy Birthday Rachel

Today Rachel is 3 years old. Where did the time go? How did she get to be so grown up?

We started today's celebrations by going to the dentist. You might think I'm cruel to make her go to the dentist on her birthday, but believe it or not Rachel has been asking to go to the doctor for weeks now. She is always saying something like "My leg hurts. I need a doctor." So we went to a tooth doctor. She did okay for her first visit.
She really liked the air/water syringe. She practiced a little air/water dentistry on Gabi.
That went so well she decided to try it on herself.
I forgot to mention it yesterday, but as a present to Rachel we got her toenails done again. It's supposed to be candy. When you are only 3 it's hard to stay really still, so it got a little smudged, but there you have it. (Photo forthcoming)

The girl who did Rachel's nails convinced me to let her paint one of my toenails. I was good and held very still. (Go Yankees!)

A Full Week

It has been a very full week. If I were smart I would have kept this blog more up-to-date because now I have to remember all the things that have been going on.

I started potty training Rachel for real last Wednesday. This attempt has been much more successful than previous attempts. First of all, she has been accepting of wearing panties after Day 1, and second, she has been willing to sit on the potty when I want her to, at least most of the time. Nevertheless, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday our success was moderate at best. On Sunday, however, we started making real progress. Rachel didn't have an accident all day until late afternoon. Monday she didn't have an accident at all, and not today either. So I can't say she is totally potty trained, but she is certainly on the potty train.

Friday night I was wanting a snack, so I toasted myself a pop tart. When it came out of the toaster I gingerly picked it up, but dropped it. I lunged to catch it and ended up burning myself really badly on the frosting part. I ended up with a huge blister, and it hurt a lot. I kept it in cool water for a couple of hours because every time I took it out of the water the pain was really bad. Jeff, my knight in shining armor, went to Wal-Mart late at night to get me some gauze, medical tape and ibuprofen to treat my burned finger. I went to bed with my hand in the cool water so that I could tolerate the pain. When I woke up the next morning it didn't really hurt very much anymore. The lesson that I learned: you're never to old for pop tarts. Just be more careful!


Saturday we spent the day at Jeff's parents house building a ramp so that Jeff's grandmother wouldn't have to use the stairs. It took us pretty much all day, but our final product was pretty good. The next ramp will be even better.


Monday we had a birthday party for Rachel with the extended family. It was a great success. Rachel had a great time and loved all of her presents. She is really growing up. I keep saying it, but I am constantly taken aback by how grown up she is.
Today we took Scout to the vet for a haircut and some shots. He was not enthused to go to the doctor, but the people at the office said he was very sweet. I agree.

Gabi really likes corn on the cob.

Rachel making a new friend at Stake Conference.

Tomorrow should be exciting too, but I will not tell you what's going on. You'll just have to wait and see.

Today Gabi is 16 months old

Today Gabi turned 16 months old. To celebrate we decided to start potty training Rachel. Again. I figured after yesterday's adventure she has shown that she's "ready." We'll see. We had less than an auspicious start to the day. I put Rachel on the potty when she woke up. Nothing. Ten minutes later she pees on the floor. An hour later I asked Rachel to tell me if she needed to use the potty. She assured me that she didn't. Not totally trusting her I was going to take her to the potty as soon as I did something (I don't remember what, but it was just a minute.) When I got back, she had peed. An hour later I was about to take her to the potty again, but again was just a minute too late. Each time I took her to sit on the potty anyway, and the third time she actually pooped in the potty.

Gabi took a great nap, but it was quite a bit earlier than normal. I put Rachel down for her nap/quiet time and Gabi was still asleep. About an hour later Gabi woke up. When I went in to get her up Rachel was still awake. Rachel said to me "My arm hurts. I need a doctor." I let Rachel get out too without a nap because I didn't want her to take her nap too late. That meant I had to try to get her through the late afternoon without falling asleep. I succeeded, but it wasn't pretty. And she pee peed in the potty at that time. By late afternoon I had some really tired and really grumpy girls on my hands. I fixed dinner as quickly as I could (and it was delicious by the way) but I was constantly being interrupted by fighting, crying, hanging on me, etc. All the things that tired little girls are likely to do, and during all that keeping an eagle eye on Rachel to try to get her to the potty when necessary. By the way, I was successful. So I fed the girls, then we went outside and the girls enjoyed fudge bars. What can I say, I was trying to keep them happy until Jeff got home and I could put them to bed. (Jeff is working late this week because of a project they have to finish soon.)

Enjoying fudge bars

While we were outside Rachel came over to me and I detected a hint of eau de toilet, a.k.a poop. I figured that was my cue to take the girls in and put them in the bath tub. I got them up to the bathroom, turned on the water, and the handle broke. This is not the first time this has happened, but it meant that I didn't have any water in the tub. Being ingenious, I put enough water in the tub by transferring it from the sink using a cooking pot, just enough to get the girls cleaned up. Jeff got home at this time and thankfully he took over for me and got the girls to bed. Since Gabi's nap was so early, and Rachel's nap was non-existent, they both went to sleep immediately. Meanwhile, I was really looking forward to a shower, so I called a friend and they let me take a shower at their house. Needless to say, I'm tired and ready for bed!

Day 2 of potty training Rachel is tomorrow. I hope I can endure.

What is worse than changing a poopie diaper?

Disclaimer: this post is about poop. Read it at your peril.

After lunch I took the girls upstairs for their nap. First I had Rachel sit on the potty. She had already peed in her diaper, but I didn't let that stop me. Who knows when we might have success? Anyway, she sat there for close to 30 minutes. She was happy, Gabi was happy, but nothing happened. Fine. We tried. So I took them into their room and put them to bed with a kiss.

Rachel is in a transitional period where her nap is inconsistent. Nevertheless, I have her stay in her room and at least make it be a quiet time. (She still needs a nap every day, but there are times when she doesn't sleep during quiet time only to fall asleep right before dinner. It is inconvenient, but I haven't figured out how to solve that puzzle. That is for another post another time.) Anyway, today was one of those days when she was less than inclined to fall asleep. After a while I heard her moving around and then she made her way out the door. So I went to meet her on the stairs to put her back in her room only to be greeted by her ladyship in all her naked glory. I asked her "Where is your diaper?"

"I poopie," she responded.

Oh, great. Okay, lets go take care of it. I went into her room to find the entire box of wipes on the floor with a few specks of poop on some of them. I got her cleaned off and a new diaper on. I found the poopie diaper on her bed, and next to it was a large quantity of poop in a wipe. Unfortunately Rachel hasn't quite mastered the skill of cleaning her own poop, so poor Dora on her Dora the Explorer bed sheets had a chunk of poop on her face.

Rachel said "Poop Dora."

I agreed, "Yes, Dora has poop."

Anyway, we got the whole thing cleaned up and Rachel said after I finished, "thank you."

Made the whole thing worth it.

Sort of.

Gabi kindly slept through the whole thing.

The answer to the question posed in the title of this post is cleaning up after Rachel changes her own poopie diaper.

Out of compassion for my dear readers, there are no pictures at this time.

Why did no one warn me how extremely complicated potty training is?

A New Tooth

This morning while I was brushing Gabi's teeth I felt another tooth that had broken through the gum. That makes eight teeth now. Of course it wasn't the 8th and final incisor (front tooth). She is sticking with 7 incisors for now. This new one is the upper left 1st baby molar. That might account for the low-grade fever she has had since last Friday. Probably also accounts for the grumpy mood. Hers, not mine.

The girls' room is not very brightly lit, so this picture is not as good as it could be, but I still thought it was sweet, therefore worth sharing here. Daddy is reading the girls their bedtime stories.

Gabi on the "big" slide.

Play Date

I think I've been doing Rachel a disservice by not making a greater effort to have play dates with friends. I'm repenting of my evil ways, and we had a little girl over this morning to play. They had a great time, and everybody was well behaved.

First they played on the slides. After a while they moved over to the sand/water box. Next they rode around in or pulled the wagon. They wrapped up playtime by chasing Scout (our dog) around the yard. Everybody seemed to have fun.
Gabi was just relaxing in the sunshine.

Baseball

I have had a plastic bat and ball for quite a while, but recently Rachel has shown interest in it. She even wanted to sleep with it during her nap a couple of days ago. So we're taking up baseball.

Rachel is not quite ready to hit a ball that is being pitched, so I used a water sprinkler that was the perfect height to act as a tee, and Rachel practiced her new craft.

Gabi was the outfielder.

Random Pictures

At the fair

At the playground

Twirling