Men... Why We Love Them

Remember the "newlywed" days when you couldn't wait to see the other person, when you relished every moment spent together, and when you used the restroom you shut the door, turned on the fan and ran the water to drown out any embarrassing noises? Me neither.

I have a vague recollection of this happening, though.

Fast forward 10 years. We still only have one bathroom. Things can get a little ugly when someone's in the shower or getting ready at the sink and the other really has to "go." Needless to say, I rarely bother to even shut the door anymore. If I spend more than two minutes in the bathroom with the door shut my little "follows-me-everywhere" Parker is opening it anyway.

I've been teaching him about privacy. He will give it to me when I ask (for a minute if I'm lucky). Sometimes I swear he has the memory of a goldfish. Actually, it's probably more because I ask for it that it makes him all the more curious. Especially during "that time" of the month. It's usually the only time I bother to ask for it.

The other day he closed the door when I asked for privacy. Thirty seconds later he popped it back open. He left it open and walked toward his room. 10 seconds later he was nonchalantly passing by, pretending not to look but looking nonetheless. Another 10 seconds and he walks by the other direction doing the same thing. It took every stern mothering instinct in me not to laugh at his antics despite the indecent exposure on my part.

My husband is a little more private about his private stuff. He actually locks the door. But he has gotten a little more lenient about "letting loose" in the restroom. Out of necessity, he had to give in and start peeing in front of me. He was so embarrassed about it at first. "Don't look!" Of course I teased him to no end and pretended to look while really trying not to. I mean, who (in their right mind) wants to see that? But I've learned some new things from this endeavor...

Wait, let me back up a little. I complain about having one bathroom, but we have some really funny memories in the bathroom that I wouldn't want to change for anything. Hubby and I almost always do our bedtime routine in the bathroom together. The bathroom is between our room and Parker's room, so we try to be as quiet as possible when he's asleep. This is not usually feasible when we're trying hard not to laugh at each other's grossness (is that a word? well it is now).

For example, one time while we were brushing our teeth, Jake realized he had to fart. In an effort to muffle the fart, he decided to back up (beep... beep... beep...) into his towel before letting go. Bad idea. Somehow it was magnified ten times as it bounced off the wall behind the towel. I nearly choked on my toothpaste.

OK, so back to the prior subject of urination. I've noticed that Jake seems to fart at the end of every pee (OK, so farts are still in the subject as well). The other night I asked him if it was physically possible for him to pee without farting and he simply stated, "No."

Then I started picturing a public men's room with a man at every urinal, each one farting as if to state, "I'm man, I'm almost done peeing, hear me roar!" When I voiced this mental picture aloud to hubby, he matter of factly stated, "Oh, it happens all the time. It's generally accepted. It's not like everyone stops and points to laugh... unless it smells horrible. Then we wait until the person leaves and someone states 'Did you SMELL that?'"

Another mental picture pops in my head of a group of men crowding around to get a sniff.

A couple of nights ago I had to smile when I passed by the bathroom and hubby was helping Parker use the potty. Parker insisted on standing up like Dada, but this time he didn't want a stool because Dada doesn't use one. Imagine this if you can... nearly 2.5 year-old Parker is on his tippy toes and Jake is holding his armpits. P's "boys" are "resting" on the toilet rim. Jake is cheering him on as he (somehow) makes it in the bowl.

The smile on my face quickly faded when a new picture popped in my head. Parker, as a grown man, farting while pinching off the last of his pee.

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"Words of wisdom are a stream that flows from a deep fountain." Proverbs 18:4

Perfect End to our Nice Summer Day!

P's first ice cream cone!

Parker's First Cut with the Clippers

Wordless Wednesday

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful we got to spend time with my family in lovely (cough)sulfur water(cough) Hanford, CA.

I'm thankful we got to witness Lily Bean's first steps!

I'm thankful we also got to witness the murder of her birthday cake... see it here!

I'm thankful my sisters worked things out. I'm the mediator 'cause I'm the middle sister. ;)

I'm thankful Parker did an awesome job with such a long drive - both ways!

I'm thankful God kept us safe on the road. Lots of crazy drivers out there (yes, I'm one of them).

And I'm very thankful for Tension Tamer tea. It actually works, thank goodness! This morning I was feeling it in my neck and back and I couldn't shake it off. It made for a very rough morning. I had to pray silently several times to help avoid huge blow-ups with Parker. I notice that Thursdays are often our most difficult days for some reason (so it's probably a good thing that Thursdays are my thankful reflection days, helps me get my head and heart back in the right place)... anyway, I saw this tea at the grocery store and thought it was worth a shot. Maybe it's psychosomatic, but I could feel the muscles in my neck relax after just a few minutes of drinking the tea. It worked better than taking an Ibuprofen! I couldn't even turn my neck to the left this morning without pain, and now, nearly four hours after drinking the tea, I can still move it freely. The tea tastes kinda funky, though. Next time it's getting blasted with honey!
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"I am the Lord your God. I am holding your hand, so don't be afraid. I am here to help you." Isaiah 41:13

Conversations With P-Man: Days of the Week

This morning I was in the kitchen making some tea and I could hear Parker in the living room reciting the days of the week. Well, some of them anyway....

Parker: "Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Wednesday, da day, Sat-UR-day!"

Mama: "Where'd you pick that up? Do you know what days of the week are?"

Parker: "Yes!"

Mama: "What day is today?"

Parker: "Monday!" Big grin.

Mama (surprised): "It IS Monday! How did you know that? Hmm.... what day was yesterday?"

Parker: "Monday!"

Mama: "What day is tomorrow?"

Parker: "Monday."

Mama: "Yeah, that's what I figured."

Potty Learning Adventures

*= sarcasm*Oh man, this is FUN!*/sarcasm*

Parker has been using the potty since about 15 months, but only recently when the hot weather hit did we decide maybe we should try it full force and actually try to get him to stop wearing diapers during the day. For two days I let him run around the place bottomless.

The first two days went way better than I expected, except he did poop on the carpet. *laugh* It was easier to clean up than later when he pooped in the underwear. One of the two days I had moved his potty chair into the living room for quick access and by the end of the day it was quite full. One minute I was thinking I should move the chair back into the restroom and clean it up and sure enough the next minute Parker completely tripped over the thing and knocked concentrated pee all over the carpet. Eeek!

He gets a sticker every time he uses the potty, and at some point in time he started collecting them on his dresser. As you can see, he's got quite the collection (it's grown quite a bit since this picture even).

He likes to put the stickers next to other similar stickers. Here are a few samples of his different "groups."

The third day of our potty learning adventure we had the trip to Disneyland and I just planned on him being in diapers and giving it a break so that we could just concentrate on having fun. We were surprised to find out that he had stayed dry up until after lunch! I felt a little bad because I thought maybe he had held it in. It took some time and effort, but Grandma and I convinced him to use the potty at Disneyland and then just put the diaper back on him. We loaded him up with fluids just in case and he didn't hold it again after that. We were kind of busy the rest of the week so, again, we didn't do the training full-force like the first two days. We tried putting regular underwear on him but he tended to forget when he was wearing them and would just go. I had forgotten that Jake's mom had given us some pull-ups for Christmas and I was afraid to let him outside in just the underwear because of it.

I knew that we'd have to take the potty training outside of the house to ever reach full success, so I eventually remembered the pull-ups and dug them up. We started it up full force again and he's doing awesome! He stayed dry at church on Sunday with the pull-up, but he doesn't often tell us when he has to go. He got really upset when he saw other kids leaving to go potty and the volunteers had to buzz me to come help figure out what was wrong with Drama Llama. I took him to the restroom and he stood up on a stool and went. Fortunately he likes to go "like Dada" because it makes bubbles.

Monday we went to my doctor's appointment and later in the afternoon to Toys R Us and he had the same pull-up on all day! He did well in every public restroom. Unfortunately, public restrooms don't usually have stools so while at Toys R Us I invested in a portable toilet seat cover that folds up and stays in the diaper bag. A couple of incidents of wet knees from being on the ground to help Parker stay on the seat were enough to get me to spend the $9.00. We haven't used it yet so I'm not sure how well it's going to work.

Yesterday, he wore underwear all day (except we put a pull-up on when we went outside for a walk and diapers during nap/quiet times) and we didn't have any accidents! He's getting a little better about telling me if he has to go, but usually it's just me reminding him to go.

Our biggest hurdle so far has been getting him to poop on the toilet. He used to do it quite often in the beginning when it was new and fun, but now he only goes during his quiet time in his crib (AKA his Poop 'N Play). I'm not sure how to change that routine for him. He does it almost every day and has done that since he was really little. He prefers to wait until he's alone and can relax and "let loose." So one day when it was almost quiet time, I set him up on the big toilet and gave him lots of entertainment.

He sat there for 45 minutes with no results. But sure enough it all came out during his quiet time. Any advice/suggestions on the poop thing would be much appreciated!

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"Then he said to his disciples, 'When you welcome even a child because of me, you welcome me. And when you welcome me, you welcome the one who sent me. Whichever one of you is the most humble is the greatest.'" Luke 9:48

My First Blogging Award!

Thanks to The Obnoxious SAHM, I received my first blogging award today! *so excited* I thought it would be fun to pass it along to my top 10 blogger buddies. So, without further ado, I hereby present this award to:

1. Right back at ya, Obnoxious. She always has such interesting and witty blogs. I always look forward to visiting her page.
   
2. My blogger and real-life buddy, Mommy-Momo. She's a regular visitor and always leaves me nice comments.
3. Jenny W (The Adventures of A Little Dog Named Eloise), a friend who convinced me to start my own blog.
4. My little sister, who also leaves me fun comments, (if she can remember her log-in information).
5. My Dad, who taught me my most important life lessons (love of God, love of family, and love of music).
6. The Capra Clown Car. My neice is such a cute leg biter!
   
7. Through Jenny's Lens, who has (IMHO) the loveliest blogging site EVER! I get most of the ideas for my own site from her blog. She takes such beautiful pictures. It's never a dull visit to her page.
8. Manders, an old high school buddy with two beautiful girls who was the first mommy whose blog I ever saw. She is such a great mommy!
9. Sarah, another old high school friend. She's a wonderful writer and I always enjoy reading her blurbs. She's a new mommy, too!
   
10. And last, but certainly not least, Stacykins, who always posts such funny rants (most of which are on Myspace/Facebook). You need to start blogging more, girl!

I have other dedicated readers/responders who are not fellow bloggers, and I just wanted to let you know that I love you folks too, and I pass a virtual *HUG* your way.

Vitamins

We decided to introduce P-man to Flintstones multi-vitamins and at first he wasn't too keen on them, but now he asks for them. These pics and video are from his first time trying one.

Thankful Thursday: Something a Little Different

I'm feeling a little wordy this week and I thought I'd write out some rambling grateful thoughts today rather than a simple bullet list.


I'm grateful for a large tax return coming our way! We were not expecting such a large sum. Such a load off our shoulders! 2008 was our first full year of me staying at home and every month our budget belt was pulled tighter and tighter. Adding money to our savings was just not happening, and our chances of ever buying a home seemed to be getting slimmer and slimmer. Now that home prices have dropped so dramatically, we are again hopeful that we will get to dip our toes in home ownership and have even taken a look at some places already. This return is going straight to our savings account to help with the house down payment we've been trying desperately not to spend.

On a whole different subject, some days I am so grateful that I'm a woman. This is going to sound offensive to you men reading this, isn't it? Don't get me wrong, I feel like I found one of the "good" guys in my husband, and I know there are plenty out there, but overhearing some of the conversations men have makes me feel just a little ill (OK, I know I can say the same thing for plenty of women, too, but still). For example, Parker and I were eating at Taco Bell and a man about my age was talking on his cell phone. Apparently he owned a plumbing company and one of his drivers had cut off and flipped off a woman who, understandably angry, called the number on the truck and reached the aforementioned guy in Taco Bell. He spoke to the woman and gave her a story about how sorry he was and how the driver wasn't doing well and was on the cusp of being fired. Then he calls and speaks to the driver and laughs about it and asks him if the "chick" was hot (''cause she sounded hot"). Maybe I'm just getting too old to have a sense of humor about the whole thing. I mean, I am friends with a few guys whom I can imagine having this same conversation and I don't consider them to be bad people. Even still, a part of me couldn't help being bothered by it just a little. As I said earlier, at least it made me feel a little more grateful for my genetic make-up!

This week I'm also especially grateful that even though Parker is growing up, I still get that wow feeling everyday and am amazed by his antics and words. It's such an awesome experience to watch someone grow and learn new things every day. Some things this week that just hit that aww spot:


1) As most of you know, Jake took a trip to San Francisco for work not too long ago. We drove him and his co-worker (whom Parker calls Noni Toni) to the airport to see them off. Now this week, every time Parker sees an airplane either in the sky or in a picture, he always talks about Dada going in an airplane. Yesterday he asked, "Dada go in airplane today? And Noni Toni, too?" It was so cute.

2) I love that he knows how to negotiate things out of me. I mean, yes, we started this with him so why can't he turn the tables on us? For example, in order to help avoid tantrums, we'll often set out a timer and let him know he has such and such amount of time left before he has to move on to another task. And he also gets timed time outs (which we haven't had too many of lately, thank goodness). So now every time he wants something (like to pretend to drive my car) he ends the question with "two minutes, please mama?" How can I say no when he's being so reasonable?

Parker "driving" my car (or as he calls it "turn turning")

Jake when he was a baby, driving his Grandpa's car

3) It's also nice that Parker knows certain rules and it's even nicer when he follows them. Just a couple of examples: a) We live upstairs so every time we leave the house he knows he has to stand against the wall and wait for me to lock the door before we head downstairs. b) He saw me shaking the OJ before I poured it for him one day and then he thought that it would be a good idea to start shaking his cup. A few days of dealing with that and threatening to take the juice cup away, I decided to try a new tactic. I got down to his level before giving him the cup and asked him to repeat after me, "Mama, I will not shake my cup." It worked! Now I try to do that every time before giving him his cup to remind him and he always finishes the sentence before I can. He sticks to his word, too!

4) He still notices things that I don't (or I wouldn't expect him to). He's been doing this for a long time, but it still doesn't cease to impress me. Yesterday, for example, he wanted some Apple Crisps (freeze dried apples). I took down the big box from the fridge and he said something about the apple crisps being in my room. Then he proceeded to bring me to my room and point out an old box that I had saved and put up behind my dresser to reuse later. He wasn't around when I put it there, so he must have wandered by one day and noticed it.

5) He is starting to grasp the idea of plurals. I know this because he has created his own plurals where they need not be (as kids often do). Fishes and teethes. Too funny!

6) About a week ago I noticed he put together his Thomas train track by himself. It was mostly put together, just a few pieces out of place. Usually I put it together for him in the morning so he can play with it. This particular day I forgot and I was on the computer while he played and when I was done I started walking past his train track and did a double take. I knew it was his work because one of the pieces was upside down showing the street side (but it was still together)! It's hard to tell by this picture, but the upside down piece is in the area closest to the camera, one of the small straight parts. It has a street on that side rather than the grooved train track.


I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but this week I am especially grateful for music and Parker's love of it. Any time I'm having a hard time keeping him happy while I'm getting ready for the day or working on any task that he can't help me with, I've found that if I put some music on, he will play happily for a long time. His mood changes drastically. I still remember when I was a kid and our parents would put music on on the weekends and we'd all just hang out and play and dance in the living room. Fun times!

"What's That, Mama?"

Parker has been asking a lot of questions lately. All day long I hear, "what's this, mama?" and "what's that, mama?" and "what's this/that guy, doing?" In Target the other day people kept looking at us because Parker was incessantly pointing and asking "what's that, mama?" over and over without even stopping to take a breath or let me answer. It's cute, but exhausting, too. I guess it's better than the one I'm dreading: "why, mama?" Oh dear. It's coming all too soon, isn't it?

Updates and Reflections

We have been busy bees since Thursday and I haven't had much time to sit at the computer (I promise ya'll I will read and return your emails soon!). I'm making a little time here and there today to work on this blog since I have to ice my back periodically anyway. I've been doing pilates again and have had no problem with my lower back ligament until today when Parker and I were reading Mother Goose Rhymes and doing "This is the Way the Ladies Ride" amongst other active songs/rhymes. I wasn't as careful as I should have been bouncing him around on my knees and lifting him up and down. Oops.

Parker Likes Pilates, Too!

This past week has been mixed with blessings and trials. Parker has pretty much decided that he's done napping (I'm still hoping it's just a phase, I mean, he's not even two yet). So I've been trying to implement quiet time at least so I can get a "lunch" break. He has been very good about it and will play and sing in his crib but rarely will actually fall asleep. If he never falls asleep and starts getting antsy before an hour is up, I go in there and set up a timer with the remaining time left so he has a reference, but today, for example, he played in there for an hour and 15 minutes and never cried once. It is nice that when he doesn't fall asleep he doesn't go through the weird afternoon moodiness and tantrums, plus he falls asleep much easier at night and usually sleeps a little longer to make up for it.

Friday morning Parker and I spent a few hours in Dana Point (blog with pics on that to come later). Friday night and Saturday were fun family time...

For Example:

Playing "Drums" With Dada

... along with getting some chores done. I had to get an oil change for my car, so we put the car seat in Jake's truck so that he could take us home and not have to sit there for a couple of hours. The only way it would fit properly was facing forward with the base off, so after all that work rearranging the thing, we decided to just go ahead and keep Parker facing forward now even in my car. He loves it. He sits in the middle and gets to watch everything going on. He likes to say "green light go!" "yellow light slow..." "red light, stop!"

Sunday we dropped Parker off at Grandma and Grandpa Munns' house for a sleep over and Jake and I went to Jenny and Steve's house for dinner and adult conversation! Jenny is an old co-worker and friend of mine. We are thinking of taking a big leap into home ownership within the next year and Steve has agreed to help us out with our search, all while doing his regular job and working on Pepperdine's MBA program! Jenny is also working and completing her nursing degree. What a busy couple!

Monday I met up with a couple of old friends from high school (Christine and Sara) while Jake got the condo to himself and finally got to spend some quality time working on recording more music. I had so much fun catching up with Sara and Christine. I hadn't seen Sara in probably ten years! Fortunately Christine and I have had the opportunity to get together a few times since then, but it's never enough. It's interesting to see the different paths we've taken in life and how much we've grown up (but not aged - no never that), yet each of us still seems to have the same personality/roles we had in high school. It's good to see some things never change and we love each other for who we are, through thick and thin, good and bad, and all that mushy stuff. I can't wait to meet up with them again!

Today Parker and I watched a good portion of the inauguration ceremony. I can't believe how emotional it was for me. Now that I'm older, I appreciate more what kind of history I'm living in today and I am hopeful that President Obama will make some positive changes to this wonderful country. I'm not sure Parker will remember this day, but I enjoyed celebrating the moment with him. He held his hand over his heart while the soldiers sang the National Anthem and I was so proud of him and our country.

Visit from Joe Dawg and H-Bomb!

We had a fun visit from our old friend Joe and his son Hayden last week. We hadn't seen them in over a year! Our schedules are off just enough to make it nearly impossible to get together. Parker loved playing with Hayden. They played with Parker's new Play Doh and Hayden brought Parker some cool boats for the bath tub. Parker tried to catch Hayden at one point to tickle him, but H-Bomb was too fast for us. It was so strange because I still think of Hayden when he was Parker's age, and now he's almost 7! They really do grow quickly, don't they? Today I was rocking Parker in my lap and reading to him and realized how big he was compared to me. It made me a little sad. I'm glad to have had that visit from them for a couple of reasons - because we miss them, obviously, but also because it was a good reminder to me to slow down and appreciate Parker and our time together now. Here are some more fun pics from their visit... Hayden started running and hiding as soon as the camera came out, and it took dozens of shots before I finally caught him. *laugh* Silly guy!

Parker's New Robe

Parker loves "naked boy" time, especially after his bath. Unfortunately, with the weather turning colder (finally), it's been a little too nippy for this (we're trying to conserve energy/money by not using the heater). We decided to buy Parker a cozy robe so he could still air out a little without freezing his hiney off. He loves it because it has Lightening McQueen on it! Here is his best GQ pose in it.

On a similar note... Parker hasn't been using the potty as often anymore. Maybe partially because it's been cold, but also because he's going through the terrible "no's" and defying everything, just to show us who's boss. So we've let it go for awhile so it won't be a stressful event. He still uses it once a day or so, but he hasn't been telling us when he needs to go if he's "airing out" so we've had some accidents. He's obviously not ready for potty learning... he just thought it was a fun thing for awhile and now it's old hat.

Ni-Night!

Just another quick blurb 'cause I couldn't help myself! Tonight was the first time after doing our routine and putting Parker to bed and we started to walk out the door that Parker said, "Ni-night, Dada. Ni-Night, Mama!" It was so sweet! Our little boy is growing up!

Pumpkin Patch Day!

A couple of weeks ago we took Parker to the Laguna Hills Mall Pumpkin Patch. We mostly stuck to the free things, but we couldn't help ourselves when it came to the choo-choo train and chucked out $4 for one ride. Parker was very anxious to get on the train, but mostly rode kicking back and holding on tight without cracking a single smile. Afterward, he wanted to go again, but luckily there was so much to see that he was easily distracted. The tractor and the bubbles were really big hits, too!