the sweetest things

Jake is doing very well with his potty training. So well, in fact, that Max wants to try to sleep in underwear and not Pull-ups. He has been in Pull-ups for almost two years and has yet to wake up with a dry Pull-up in the morning. But now is a good time, if he is ready. I would say he is NOT ready. I even bought him a "prize" for going a whole night without waking Mommy up to change his sheets. He has not had a dry night yet. We are all very tired. Even Max. He is insistant on trying to sleep in underwear, so night after night I let him go to bed in underwear and have the dry sheet and mattress pad waiting in the wings. Last night I was downstairs in the kitchen next to Max's monitor, yes, I still have a monitor in his room. It sits right on his dresser. I was over at the table and heard some rustling around by the monitor. Then I could tell he was right up next to it. My first thought was " he already peed in his bed and is changing his underwear and pajama bottoms. But instead he spoke right into the monitor:

"Daddy, Daddy-please don't let any headless snowmen into our house. Good night."

I was just laughing so hard. It was the first time he had ever done that- talking to us through the receiver . He understands the monitor system because he checks Jake's monitor at nap times.
It not so much about the "headless snowman" (from a Scooby-Doo episode), but the surprise and the giggles I got out of it. Even as I repeated the story to Mike it wasn't as funny to him.
So when people talk about how Moms love their kids more than anyone else, these are the small reasons. Yes, there is the maternal instinct and motherly bonding (and for some of us the whole grew-you-in-my-womb-thing), but also all the adorable things we get to see, that even as we repeat these stories they lose some charm. All moms have a million adorable stories about thier little angels. A million little reasons to love them more.

And here is another one of mine: Jake has his Batman backpack, we all know it's his pride and joy. Jake was talking to his Nonni (my mom) on the phone after his first week of school and Nonni asked if he likes school and if he likes his backpack. Jake responded "yes" to both. Since the adult does 99% of the talking with the two year old over the phone, she continued by asking him what was on his backpack. He said "Batman"! He was so excited he held the phone away and Nonni could barely hear him, so she asked again "Who is on your backpack?" Jake replied with an "I'll show you" and went over to the backpack and held the phone to it. He was smiling and saying "Batman Backpack!" Most of it was lost in the translation to my mother, but it was so cute for me to witness the pride in his big green eyes.

Potty Training 201

When I geared up to potty-train my first son, that's exactly what I did-I geared up. I bought a little potty for every room in the house (seriously-almost every room), books about the subject, a big treasure chest of toys and incentives, even lots of new elastic waistband shorts, new underwear, and enticing food and drink! I hired a babysitter to help with Jake, who was 9 months old at the time. I was going to do this right, we were going to work on this for three days without really leaving the house and without any distractions. We woke up the morning of the "big day" and threw our diapers in the garbage, put on some underwear and headed downstairs for breakfast. All the lovely potty training manuals say "feed your child lots of snacks and give them juice and other tasty beverages they love". Max had all his favorite drinks and snacks and we went to the potty every twenty minutes, we were working on muscle memory, you see. Things went fine, for three days we ate, drank, and peed. He had accidents, but they all do. Things turned out fine and I was pleased with my little "bootcamp".


Now it is Jake's turn. He is the exact same age as Max was, 2 years and 8 months. Jake has watched his big brother go potty and likes to go himself from time to time. Especially in public. At home Jake is content to saturate his diaper all day. But on a trip to the zoo, he wants to go potty every half hour. Jake has also been accompanying me in taking Max to school and dropping him off for a year and a half and VERY MUCH wants to go to school himself. This is the ammo I will use. No juice, no bootcamp, just a Batman backpack and a promise of school days ahead. He seriously loves his backpack and drags it around the family room while babbling about school. So we woke up one morning, threw away the diapers, put on some Batman underwear (the only new clothes he has) and said we were "potty training". No babysitter, no little potties all over the house, some toys in a mixing bowl as prizes, and the threat of no school. We're off! Literally, two hours later we pack up the whole family in the car to head to our Wisconsin lakehouse for the weekend. Potty training on the road, we called it. We got McDonalds to eat in the car, but no drinks. Not even for Max. Can you think of anything saltier and more thirst-producing that McDonald's fries? Poor kids. They eat their food and in an hour we are there. We all get out and talk about running in the house and taking turns on the potty. We get to the door and I look at my keyring in disbelief, NO LAKEHOUSE KEY!!! What?? Oh Jeez. Did I mention this was Memorial Day Weekend and we had been so smart to leave early and beat the traffic? Now I feel bad for Jake. He has been holding it for two hours, his first morning of potty training has consisted of two trips to the potty. He doesn't want to go in the bushes, either. We drove to the other side of the lake and took him to the nice facilities of a biker bar. He liked the blue water in the toilet, that was new. We couldn't rush back home to get the keys, we were waiting for our boat to be delivered from winter storage. The boat came and we all piled back in the car. Jake was getting sleepy and crabby and protested (loudly) the idea of returning to the biker bar blue water potty. We drove home with two sleeping boys in the minivan. But it was too late to return to the lakehouse now. The traffic was at a standstill heading north into Wisconsin. We had dinner at home and tried to encourage Jake to use the potty now. We even gave him juice and Sprite- but, too late. His idea of being "potty trained" is "holding it as long as you can". Even after two weeks he still like to wait two to three hours between potty trips. We will be heading to downtown Chicago for a Book Festival, there will be nothing but Port-O-Potties. He will probably want to use those every half-hour. Lucky me, I am working at the festival. it will be Mike who spends the day in and out of everyone's least favorite place in the Northern Hemisphere.

Guess who's nesting?

Mike is. It is very endearing. He is the one who is researching the bunk-beds and asking about paint and a "theme" for the big boy room. He keeps asking when I will start "nesting". He pointed out that with my first son, Max, he remembers putting the crib together (AKA- watching my mother do it), painting and decorating during the summertime. Max was born in November. I, too, remember having Max's first adorable yellow striped walls and Noah's Ark themed room ready way in advance. I would go in his little space and sit in the glider and look into the crib (sometimes I would even turn on the mobile) and think that soon a little baby would be there. I always got teary eyed. With Jake we (again -my mother) did a very high-end nursery with hand-painted murals and dark espresso furniture. Maybe I am just sad to see that go. Jake is still in his crib and has his "nursery". In a little over a month from now, it will be a "big boy" room. We still have the baby room we did for Max when we moved into this house. So, for the next ,third, baby boy, we will simply set up the crib Max had.

We took the boys to a furniture store over the weekend to let them climb on the beds and show "Jake" that he would be sleeping on the bottom and Max would be sleeping on the top. As predicted Jake went right up the ladder after his big brother. Our plan, as of now, is to introduce the bunk-beds early July, so that they have a month before the new baby comes. They will have to learn that every night is not a party and these are the sleeping arrangements. I imagine that either Mike or I will be sitting in there with them for the first few nights until the novelty wears off. We are looking at an "L" shaped model that will allow Max to jump from his top bunk directly down onto his brother. If his brother is even down there. I don't really think Jake has any idea that his brother is about to move into his room. Also, the talk about the baby in mom's belly, how much of that does he get? We'll have to be very nice to Jake this summer as soon his little world will do a 180.

We're a modern stone-age family

My boys, much like myself and many other children from the last 3 decades, take a Flintstones vitamin every morning. There are literally dozens of other vitamins on the market now, but they are all "Gummy" vitamins and my pediatric dentist said to stay away from those as they are a tooth's worst enemy. Anyway- on the bottle there is an image of Fred Flinstone waving and smiling. My two year old thinks he (Fred) resembles Mike (my husband). Whenever I take out the bottle and pass out the vitamins, Jake repeats "See Dadddy, see Daddy"! I show him Fred; he smiles and takes his little chewable.

How to eat your way through a baseball game

It was one of those perfect days. It was sunny and mild here in Chicago, and it was Tuesday morning. My husband was preparing to leave on an out-of-town business trip. I was wrestling with Jake to get him dressed for the day when Mike walked in and announced "I have some news".

"Oh no" was my immediate reply. Then he continued to tell me that his trip was cancelled, but he had access to 4 cubs tickets if we wanted them. YEAH!!!!! Not only was Mike NOT going out of town but he was taking his family to Wrigley Field! We talked it up to the boys, who love to sing "Take Me Out to the Ballpark". It was a 1:20 game so after a full morning at a local petting zoo, we picked up Dad and headed to Downtown Chicago-Wrigley Field! We had lunch in the car (McDonald's, of course) and made it by the middle of the first inning. The boys seemed very jazzed by the crowd and the cheers. We picked up a ballpark-sized bag of cotton candy on our way up to our seats. As soon as we got to our seats the boys dug into the bag of cotton candy. That lasted through the second inning. Max was having a great time yelling "Go Cubs Go!", while Jake seemed mostly fascinated with the stadium chairs, you know-you push the seat down and then it folds back up again. By the beginning of the third inning Max was ready for his hot dog and soda. So Mike took Max for some more food (did I mention the McDonald's). Jake tried to climb up after them but them settled for sitting in Max's seat and pushing dad's seat up and down, up and down. The boys came back with the food and everyone sat down for our second greasy meal of the afternoon, but who goes to the ballpark and skips the hot dog? Well, they were delicious and we were thirsty and passed around water and Pepsi. No Coca-Cola, darn-it. Max pointed out , several times, that the gentleman behind us was throwing his peanut shells on the ground. During the fifth inning we flagged down the peanut vendor and got ourselves a bag. Max was highly entertained with cracking the shells and throwing them on the ground. I noticed he wasn't eating anything. So I made a deal with him-crack the shells, and give me the peanuts. It was a highly functioning, working relationship. Mike and Jake had come to the same agreement, only Mike was the one doing the cracking and Jake doing the eating! Wow, the game was really flying by, the Cubs weren't scoring much so not too much jumping and screaming going on. By the sixth inning the guy with the Cracker Jacks finally came by, and the boys chose the long licorice rope over the Cracker Jacks. I guess they had enough peanuts already. So we opened up the "Super Rope", which judging from its taste and texture was purchased in bulk the same year Wrigley Field was opened (1914) and is stored underground season after season. Max and Jake loved it, though. I then took Jake and Max to the bathroom and it was time for the seventh inning stretch. For those unfamiliar with Wrigley Field, this is one of the greatest traditions, the standing and singing of "Take me Out to the Ballpark". Max and his dad sang as loudly as they could, and Mike said Max was grinning ear to ear and really got into the "1-2-3 strikes your out!" part. Sadly, Jake was still in the bathroom getting a diaper change, but we made it out to the aisle for the ending so Jake could sing a little bit. And since there was no more food left in Wrigley Field we called it a day. And in the nick of time, too. Both boys fell asleep almost as soon as pulled out of our overpriced parking spot.

The name game

I can't believe it; by the end of this week I will be 27 1/2 weeks into this pregnancy-starting my seventh month. The time seems to be really flying. Though I know these last months will be the l-o-n-g ones! The weather is just perfect now, 60s and sunny. By mid-June I will be soaking non-stop from the neck down at the local pool. I always thought every woman should be given a pool (even an above-ground would do) after confirming pregnancy. The pool keeps you cool and takes all the weight off the back, legs, bladder, sciatica,ribcage, and tushy. My tush and legs have always carried the brunt of my pregnancies. They get real nice and large to help balance me out-thanks! My bladder seems to really suffer as well, though it never improved after my first pregnancy, so after 5 years of frequent bathroom breaks, I'm used to it. I often feel bad for my husband and two living kids. At 7:31 PM exactly, my body gives out and so does my pleasant attitude. My belly hurts, the little guy inside starts rocking and rolling, and I simply have to lay down. My legs, back and bottom need to be horizontal. I am a fixture on the couch. I can't tell you how thrilled Brutus is with this. Occasionally my sweet husband comes to talk with me. We are having many laughs trying to pick a name for this little guy. I know that Mike is humoring me most of the time to get a smile from me, but in all honesty we have to pick a name and are having quite a time. We both like the idea of using family names in our boys names. Max is names after his dad, Jake after MY dad, so now we have one more to go. Our remaining family names include : Orrin, Olan, Axl, Otto, Ruben, Norris, Melvin, and Rudolph. You can see the roadblocks here. There are a couple in the running here for a middle name, so we need a first name. We have decided to go with a Scandinavian name, to reflect both of our heritages. Again, I think Mike is humoring me, but maybe half-serious. His top pick is (wait for it)- Magnus. Yes, he wants to name our baby Magnus. I, of course, do not. I still vote for Sven. Mike, of course, does not. so back to square one. Here are some other Scandinavian names we have discussed: Carr, Kristian,Sander,Sebastian,Colby, Kylan,Bjorn. I don't know- what about Ingamar?

any day is a good day for Halloween

Today it is pouring rain, all day. Jake and Max wanted to pretend it was Halloween. Fine by me, since we will be indoors all day we might as well make it fun. By some miracle Jake was able to squeeze into his "Woody" from Toy Story costume from last October. He wanted the one-piece pull-on pants/shirt/vest ensemble and the red scarf and the hat and the boots. He was so very excited. I pulled down a trick-or-treat jack-o-lantern bucket for him. The works. He was set to go. Max simply pulled on his beloved Shamu costume, a large stuffed Orca with a hole in the middle and suspender straps. He has worn this for the last two Halloweens. My husband and I think he might want to wear it again this year. Max understood we were "playing" and was content with the "pretend" treats I was handing out. Jake, however, was confused and kept looking in his plastic orange bucket saying "my turn", "my turn". Max put a fishing net (yes, a fishing net, often used by parents to corral stuffed animals or bath toys) into Jake's bucket as his "treat". This was NOT a treat to Jake. All in all some plastic fruit and cookies were handed out and we had a good time. For 10 minutes. Max took his costume off and moved on. Jake wanted to keep his costume on; he did so all the way up until lunchtime. He might have even had one boot dangling from his fat toes while he ate his grilled cheese sandwich.