"Santa" Letter

This is Elis' Santa letter he wrote at school:

After reading a whole packet of Santa letters with kids saying "I want, I want, I want" I had Eli write a letter to God, thanking Him for what we already have. He did most of the spelling on his own, but some words we helped him sound out. (thocs = thanks)

 He's such a sweet boy!

T - 4 Days

...til Eli starts preschool! 
...til I start toting all the kids back and forth from town twice a day, three days a week.
...til I start having to finagle Carter's morning nap so he can hopefully stay awake 'til we get back home.
...til I either go grocery shopping with just two kids, or have to rearrange my grocery schedule.
...til I get to spend loads of one-on-one time with Hannah.  {I'm thinking of doing tea time with her.}
...til I can maybe officially do potty training with Hannah, maybe.  =)
...til Eli gets to really be a big boy and have something to be so proud of!

I'm so excited and anxious and nervous!  A whole new life is coming.  T - 4 days!
 

I love mixing toys!

Sometime last year Eli was given a train set from one of Kevin's coworkers whose kids had outgrown it. Combine it with a small set he already had, a new box with some special connector pieces in it, and some of his other toy sets and he can make some really amazing tracks! It's fun for me even and with my help we can set up something quite elaborate!

Complete with a dinosaur park...that even has a entrance and ticket booth...a farm
...and a train yard

..and a gas station and parking garage

perfect for a tunnel!
Simple fun and wonderful imagination!! I love it!

As if I wasn't already an emotional mess....

Our MOPS group is participating in Operation Christmas Child, and I was showing Eli a short video clip of the children opening their presents. I was already teary just watching that. I explained to him that while we were at the store we were going to pick some small presents for a little boy his age and I wanted him to help me pick some toys. He says to me excitedly, "We don't need to get anything at the store, Mommy. He can have mine! I can share mine!"

Wow. Now that made me get all choked up. Sweet boy.

Breakthrough with potty training!!

FINALLY I had a breakthrough with Eli on the potty today!! Go read about it here at our family blog!

Just bragging on my boy!

Okay, so maybe, not bragging, because you know, that wouldn't be nice. But I sure am proud of Eli! Yesterday at Pamida (yes, that store still does exist in small towns such as ours) I found a big preschool workbook for only $4. While I know something like most of the pages could be found and printed free online, it sure is easier to do it this way. AND all the pages will be together so Eli can go back and see his work. The printed pages usually just get thrown away over time. So anyway, we did a couple pages yesterday, and I'm just so happy with his work! Lines are no problem for him, so we gave a shot at these. I thought the frog page would be overwhelming for him but he actually did really well! We didn't have time for coloring, but we did do the tracing part of it. Check it out!
Side note, Eli could not get the instruction of just tracing on the dotted part and not the solid line. (like half of a circle would be dotted and half would be solid and he's supposed only trace part of it) He can be really dense sometimes. Is this concept actually that tricky or is there more I can do to help him understand? I tried having him trace his finger on only the part he was supposed to trace, and absolutely nothing got through! I just know that a big part of these activities is teaching the child to follow instruction. And when he doesn't, I don't want to just quickly dismiss it. Any suggestions, or should I not even worry about it?

A necessary part of our day.

Besides Bible time and being filled with God's peace of course. This is a new routine I started last week, and I gotta say, I'm really loving it! Hannah recently started just taking an afternoon nap. Before that I'd do "school" with Eli while she napped. Then when we quit morning nap, I'd set up blanket time for Hannah and I'd do "school" with Eli while Hannah played on the blanket. Well, I've kind of been skipping school time lately (why pressure myself? Eli's still a little kid!) and instead I've been having the kids do a sort of blanket time at the same time. So for about 30-40 minutes Hannah does blanket time in our sitting room and Eli does room time in the play room. They're doing it right now as I type this, and the quiet, peaceful playing is glorious! I see how it's very good for them to have some time to play apart from each other, because they're otherwise inseparable! To be able to play without the constant struggle over who has what toy, or having to be gentle, etc. It's just a really nice break in the day. And while they do that, I have time to do whatever's most needed--housework, read the Bible, or a little of both. It's amazing.It was really hot yesterday so Eli was just in his diaper.Hannah's on the right and Eli's in the back room on the left.

Signs we eat out too much...

From Eli of course...

1. French toast is called "French fry toast".

2. My French horn is called a "French fry pump". (explanation on this one, my parents have a pump organ in their house, so Eli's confusing the "pump" from the music-making organ with the music-making French horn. Or something like that.)

3. He stands under a small step ladder and pokes his head out the side saying, "hamburger and fries please!"

4. A nearly complete train set thanks to Sonic kids meals.



have a good day!

A proud mama!

ELI WENT POOP ON THE POTTY FOR THE FIRST TIME TODAY!! I am so excited, I just had to share!! Eli really hasn't been taking any interest in potty training so we haven't been working on it lately, but every time we change a poopy diaper we tell him that someday he's (and Hannah too) going to learn to go in the potty, that's where poop and pee belong, etc. He knows this. Yet he won't do it, and I've been getting pretty frustrated as he continues to get closer to 3 years old! When he needs to go poopy he usually runs off somewhere and if we even look at him, he says "privacy please" and shoos us away. Well, yesterday when he'd run off to go poop, I'd stop him and say "Let's go sit on the potty!" He'd resist and fuss so I'd say "where does poop belong?" to which he'd answer "in the potty" and I'd respond "so let's go to the potty then!" When we got there, he'd still be fussing so I'd say "do you want to sit on the big potty or your little potty" (knowing then he'd pick his little potty and sit) I'd get him sitting down and leave him in our tiny little bathroom so he could have his privacy. I tried to distract him from his fit by putting one of his favorite songs on, and he sat while Hannah threw a fit because she wanted to be a part of it too. Yesterday we did this twice and he'd sit for awhile and then finally ask to be done, and never went potty. And he didn't go in his diaper following either. So again this morning when he ran off to go poop, I stopped him and we did the whole cherade again. This time not as much fussing from either child, yay! I played his music and checked on him a couple times, and he actually sat long enough to go potty!! YAY!! I didn't really have any treats on hand so I just gave him a little bit of cereal, he got a sticker on his chart, and all day we've been talking about how exciting it was and how it wasn't so scary after all! What a big boy, I'm so proud of him!!

The simple joys... (part 2)

First, see Part 1 pictures here.

Just had to show you how our dandelion fun turned out. Had to end the last post with cute pictures still, but now here's for the reality... just because it makes me laugh! =)

The simple joys... (part 1)

...of a child.

Haircuts

Today I decided to give Eli a haircut. Right after lunch while he was already in his chair. No biggy. I've given him several haircuts by now. And as soon as I told him that's what we were doing, he immediately asked for a snack. Haha. He knows the drill by now. Except that this time I put the trash bag on him. He didn't like it at first but when I took it off and told him then he had to take off his shirt, he chose the bag instead.

before

after

(I only trimmed the sides this time and left the top, well except for a few snips, since Kevin likes Eli to have a comb-over) He may need a little more work on the top, but I'll give it a day or so to see how it looks.Haircuts don't seem like a big deal to me, but I know it's hard to brave if you're a first-timer. So I thought I'd share our routine, in case it's enough to help.

Tools:
scissors
comb
a cup of water

I get Eli's hair damp by dipping the comb in water and then running it through his hair. Then I cut away, starting with this sides. Using the comb gather the hair in a vertical bunch and cut off however much you want. Keep working your way around the side. Carefully trim around the ears. And snip a little off the back. Then to the top. Switch the direction of your scissors now so your cut runs from front to back. Honestly I'm not very good at doing the top. I can do it if I want it all short. But I don't know how to cut if I still want it to comb over like Kevin likes.

the red lines show the direction of your cuts

As for getting Eli to sit still. He's actually very good now, we've been doing this for long enough. I usually just give him a snack and sometimes I'll sit him so he can watch a show while I cut. But today was just at the table with a snack since he'd just finished lunch well.

He does better with me than he ever would with someone else. AND it saves us money! And even though it's still no professional job and he'll probably never have any type of style (cuz I don't know how), it works for us enough to keep doing it.

If you cut your children's hair, what are your tips and tricks??

A (h)airplane?

Eli came up with this (the creation not the title) on his own and I thought it was cute.
If you can't tell from the picture it's two combs put together.

Day 2 Report.

Day 2 of potty training went even better.  Eli successfully went in the potty TWICE!  Once was a partial poop and the second was a small pee.  Cuz I'm sure you really wanted to know.  Then it was followed by a LOT of peed pants, so we started putting him on the potty every 30 minutes instead of 45 minutes.  I'm leery of trying him without underwear at all because he understands that his privates are private and I don't think he'd be very cooperative about running around commando.  Plus Little Sister is around so nakedness just seems weird.  So I think we'll just keep doing what we're doing for now and see if it continues to get better!

Day 1 report.

Today was Eli's first day of potty training, and overall I'd give him an A!  There was an initial battle first getting into underwear this morning, but then he was fine.  He ended up holding his pee for most of the morning, I was actually starting to get worried but knew he would eventually go.  And in the afternoon after his nap he was peeing his pants every half hour it seemed with the finally wammy right before dinner-- the poop!   He never did actually pee or poop in the potty at all today, but he did sit on it for a LOT of the day and he was good about wearing underwear, both of which are two things he's greatly been resisting lately.  So today I think we mostly worked out his fear of the potty, and the next step is for him to start gaining control of his body.  Overall I was very pleased with how today went!  On to Day 2 tomorrow...

Tomorrow's the big day...

We're going to try potty training with Eli starting tomorrow.  I'm not entirely sure that he's ready for it, so this is a little trial period to see how he takes to it.  Right now he has no interest in sitting on the potty.  I can tell when he needs to go poop because he's starts saying, "No, no!" and then runs off to hide somewhere.  If I ask him if he wants to go on the potty, he just says, "No, privacy please."  But tomorrow we're putting him in underwear, and maybe then when he realizes that the alternative means his pants getting wet THEN he'll want to sit on the potty instead.  Kevin will be home so that's why we're trying tomorrow.  We'll give him lots of juice, rewards, stickers, etc trying to make it exciting for Eli as we praise each success, big or small.  Every day (or so) when we do the calendar during Eli's "school time" we've been talking about how potty time is coming up on Monday/tomorrow, and we've been building it up enough that he seems to be getting excited also.  And that's a good sign.  However, I truly have no expectations for how the next couple of days will go.  I'd be surprised if it actually worked, but at the same time, I have to believe in my own child.  Quite often when given the chance they surprise us with their capabilities!  Wish us luck!

Simple Fun

We used some cardboard pieces when we were painting Hannah's room, and before I finally put them away a few days ago I decided to draw a little road on it for Eli to drive his cars.  Easy entertainment and a cheap new "toy".  I gotta say, being a parent sure has brought some creativity back to life!  haha

Who is the Lord?

I've been trying to have song time at the piano with the kids after breakfast. I play/sing a bunch of hymns, and it's a great way to start the day. I was getting ready to play a song that was about the Lord, so I explained to Eli that "Lord" is another name for Jesus. Then I asked him...

Why do kids have to grow up so darn fast?

Eli has just started calling us Mom and Dad now instead of Mommy and Daddy. ::sniff,sniff:: Why does this all have to happen so fast??

Another box project.

Remember a couple months ago I made the kids a cardboard kitchen? It's still holding up, by the way, and Eli and Hannah both love playing with it. Well, last week I made Eli a boxcar train, literally! This was definitely MUCH easier to make than the kitchen, since it's basically just four diaper boxes connected with rope and a little creativity to make something that resembles an engine. Watch out for the strangle dangle with the pull cord though! He's loving it though, and we've found a good route to take it through the house so it doesn't have to make tight turns or get stuck on rugs and floor boards. Take a look...

here she is in all its glory! haha

tugging the train through the house

helping the train through a tight turn

our beary friendly passengersEli likes to pretend that the train is stopping to get more corn. Then he pulls out his toy corn cob, and he must remember shucking corn last summer because he picks at the corn like he's pulling off those tiny strings that corn cobs have.

Hannah's helping too!We found it works best to load the "engine" box with heavy things so it doesn't pull up or tip so much as you pull it along. It's pretty big and it definitely requires some parental help as he plays, but we sure do have fun, and that's the important part!