My husband and I own a “fancy-schmancy” telescope that we purchased from his best friend last year. In all the hub-bub of newly married life and pregnancy and new baby, we haven’t had a chance to use it… until last night! We got together with the best friend mentioned above and his wife, and did some star gazing. The planet Mars is close to Earth right now, and it’s closer than it will be again until 2018, so it was the “reason” for the night’s adventure. (Read the following for more info: http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/article_1612_1.asp)

So, we headed out to the lake in the Winnie (since the telescope and paraphanilia is huge and doesn’t exactly fit in the Jetta!). We got there later than we planned, so A and his friend set up the scope in the dark. (And his friend grilled burgers in the dark – fun, fun!) I was amazed at all the gadgets and gizmos that go along with expensive telescopes. A’s friend purchased an even fancier-schmancier telescope when he sold us his old one, so we had two really NICE pieces of equipment to use to see Mars… and others stars.

I learned a lot, and enjoyed the peace and quiet of the lake. I don’t think I’ve had that much peace and quiet in a LONG time. There is a “frantic” energy to living in Las Vegas, especially compared to living in Nebraska, which is about as far from frantic as you can get. Sitting out at the lake last night, I realized how much my soul and spirit need PEACE and QUIET and STILLNESS. Sitting in the chilly air, wrapped in a blanket, looking at stars and lights reflecting on the water of the lake…. ahhhhh.. that was calming. And looking at Mars and constellations, learning a bit more about astronomy, and being “still” with my husband… so nice!

Note: This post contains all kind of “potty talk”, in reference to toilet training. Please refrain from reading if you are offended by such things!!

So… we are potty training in our house…FINALLY. S is 3 1/2 years old, and we’re just now getting the potty training thing going. I thought we might do it earlier this year, when I was still pregnant with Baby AB, but bedrest and exhaustion kept that from happening. Plus S wasn’t all that interested. He’s still only mildly interested, as he doesn’t really want to be bothered to slow down from his 100 MPH to sit on a toilet. I was giving him the option for awhile, “Do you want to wear a diaper or underwear today?”, until I realized that it was a bad idea. Given the option, he will ALWAYS opt for a diaper.

Surprisingly enough, he’s done GREAT without diapers around the house. His only issue right now is figuring out how to use the potty for “stinkies”. (Here’s where you might want to move on to another blog!) Anyway, he has been waiting until naptime, when I put a pullup on him, and then doing the stinky deed. Which means we use TWO pull-ups per nap, and he hasn’t used the toilet once for that purpose. In several weeks! So, on to Plan B. No pull-ups at naptime, in the hopes that he’ll come tell me when he needs to go, and we’ll get past this barrier. He can’t hold it forever, right?

So, today at naptime, he decided about every ten minutes that he needed to use the potty. After eight attempts – nothing. Not sure if he is afraid to just let go, or what! But, we did have some interesting conversations. He will kill me someday for recording this on the Internet, but I’ll add a few dollars to the therapy fund, because it’s too funny to NOT share.

S (pointing to his back): Mommy, that where the stinky lives?
Me: Yes, it needs to come out though.
S: It lives there in Mommy too?
Me: Yes baby.. in Mommy too.
S: It’s in Daddy too? And Mema and Papa?
Me: Yes.
S: And in Grandma and Grandpa. And in Bob Builder. In Oscar and Bruce (cartoon characters). In Baby and in Gracie (cousin).
Me: Yes, in everybody. Are you going to go, or are you just playing so you don’t have to take a nap?
S: I going, it just not working yet.
Me: Ok.
S: My peepee lives here (pointing to the front).
Me: Yep.
S: It lives here in Mommy?
Me: (sighing!!) Yep.
S: And in Mema and Papa and Daddy and Grandma and Grandpa……. (and on and on)
Me: (interupting) Ok, that’s enough trying. Let’s head back to bed.
S: It just not working yet. Stinky lives here!! (Pointing to his bottom, as he gets off the toilet).
Me: Maybe it will work later. Just make sure you let Mommy know and we’ll try again.
S: It not time to come out yet. Maybe later.

And off he headed back to bed to “nap”. We repeated this conversation four times today. Oh, the joys of potty training!

It’s 6:51 a.m., and I’ve been up for almost an hour. That might not seem all that incredible, but it really is. For a good 3 years now, my oldest son has been my alarm clock. I stay in bed, until he MAKES me get out of bed. Of course when Baby came along, that changed a bit. Now I have two alarm clocks, and sleep is even more scarce, but I still stay in bed until one of them MAKES me get out of bed.

I used to be able to get up at the crack of dawn, back in the day when I went to bed at a reasonable hour. But, that hasn’t happened in a VERY. LONG. WHILE. And in fact, it didn’t happen last night, although I had the best of intentions. But, I also have an infant, who is more strong willed than my intentions.

A has decided to turn over a new leaf and go to work EARLY. As in 6:30 a.m. EARLY. If you know A at all, you have just fainted. The rest of this post will be waiting for you when you wake up.

So, today is Day 1 of our “new schedule”. The plan is for him to get up at 5:30 (gasp!), and for me to get up between 6 and 6:15 when he leaves. It all sounded fairly reasonable last night at 10 p.m. Baby and S were in their respective beds, and I was hoping for a good night’s sleep. I knew the chances were slim, as Baby seems to have inherited his father’s “circadian rhythm” and is a NIGHT OWL (in all caps). He likes to go to sleep around, oh say, 3 a.m.! Anyway, I was hopeful. And I was disappointed. 11:30 brought loud cries. Two hours later (and two BOTTLES later even!) he was finally asleep. I shuffled down the hall to bed and was asleep by 2ish a.m., thinking as I fell asleep, “how in the WORLD am I going to get up in 4 hours?”

So, 5:30 came, and A made lots and lots and LOTS of noise in the bathroom getting ready. I flipped and flopped and tried to relax my body back to sleep. No such luck. So, here I am. I’ve eaten breakfast and read 80-some-odd blogs already, (which went faster than normal, since it’s ridiculously early, and even the east coasters haven’t posted yet!), and now I’m contemplating a shower BEFORE the kids get up. What a concept. After the shower? Maybe some light cleaning, and a few marks off my TO DO list.

Is it naptime yet??

It was naptime, and my 3 year old was stalling.

“Mama, I gotta kiss baby night-night. Night-night baby AB baby AB*… kiss on forehead… kiss on cheek… kiss on other cheek” .

He glances at mama to make sure he’s not in trouble.

“Oh, and kiss on hand… kiss on other hand… kiss on knee… kiss on other knee”.

Another quick glance, and it starts over. “Night-night baby AB baby Ab…kiss on forehead…”

And Mama finally interupts… “Ok, enough kissing, time for nap, buddy!” … beaming on the inside at the sweetness of her boys.

*And no, it’s not a typo – S really does call him “Baby AB Baby AB” Sometimes it’s “Baby AB AB Baby AB Baby”

Having an infant and a toddler in the house means that there are always new milestones being reached. It seems like every day the baby learns something new, does some new “trick”, or grows about 6 inches! (Well, not quite 6 inches, but I swear he grows during his naptime sometimes!)

I am keeping a log of the baby’s “firsts” (idea stolen from another mommy blogger), and I intend to go back and make a list of all of S’s “firsts” too. (I kept up pretty well with S’s website when he was an infant, so I am betting that most of his “firsts” were recorded in the logs of that site).

Anyway, we experienced yet another “first” this evening. The baby rolled from his back to his front. (Insert WOOHOO here!) He has been able to roll from front to back for ages – oh, let me check the log – yep, since June 16, which means he was all of 1 1/2 months old when he reached THAT milestone. Anyway, the back to front was way more of a challenge for him. That silly ole arm just did NOT want to tuck under so he could make the complete roll. We thought he was going to do it yesterday, (and I was really rooting for that, since it was my birthday, and I thought it would be cool to have it happen on a day I’d always be able to remember), but alas – he could only get 95% of the way over, and he kept getting hung up on the arm/shoulder. Dad said I couldn’t count it as a complete roll (meanie!), so I thought I’d help the baby out by “teaching” him how to tuck and roll. Nope – even with me coaching him, he just couldn’t do it yesterday. But tonight, he DID IT! It was great, because Dad was home to see it, and we just clapped and cheered, while Baby AB looked at us and grinned and wondered why his parents were acting so silly.

I was thinking about this milestone for the baby, and all the others so far, and the ones to come. As usual, I started to overanalyze it, and think about how it all relates to us as adults. We don’t get to reach milestones every day, or even every week. The first year or two of life is unique in that way. Baby AB’s brain is growing and changing and absorbing new things every day, as is S’s. Is mine? I’d like to think so, but I find myself “sitting still” more than I find myself learning “new moves”. Especially after going through a difficult pregnancy, and living in a “fog” for so many months. I’m starting to come out of that fog now, and I’m not sure I’m happy with where I find myself. My identity is misplaced a bit, and I keep looking around, wondering who I am and how I got here. Don’t get me wrong – I love my life and motherhood, and wifehood. But, I don’t spend a lot of time challenging myself anymore. I don’t spend a lot of time researching and learning new things anymore. I think it’s time for some new goals, some new milestones, some new moves. Time for a list of “firsts” for me! As soon as I figure out what those firsts are going to be, I’ll let ya know!

We’ve started pre-preschool activity! My 3.5 year old has decided that he wants to “do school”. I was hesitant to spend a lot of money of school curriculum for pre-school, so I did what I usually do when I want to save money. I looked for “free” curriculums on the web. And, I found some terrific stuff! Here are a few links:

Learning Page – Free worksheets; free membership
Letter of the Week – The majority of what we are doing is from this site – GREAT stuff!
MakingFriends – TONS of fun craft projects and ideas! I love the paper dolls! Oh, and Bible crafts too!
Homeschool Share
Scholastic.com

S is LOVING school, and he’s soaking it all up so fast. We have spent time almost every day, working on letters, colors, numbers, etc. He already knows a lot, thanks to Blue’s Clues, Dora, and Sesame Street, but we’re applying his knowledge is fun ways. And he’s gaining new skills, like how to use scissors and a glue stick. Is it weird to get teary-eyed when your child learns to use a glue stick for the first time?? I hope not! He couldn’t get enough of it last week, and every day he wanted me to print more stuff for him to cut and glue. Thanks to the Internet, I have tons of links and resources to pull from when he wants MORE! Right now, we do a bit in the morning, and then again in the afternoon. He asks as soon as he wakes up from his nap – “MORE school!” Ah, a child after my own heart…