Making new orange-y memories

Tonight the kids let me revisit my Floridian childhood - and I got the joy of teaching them the real way to eat oranges. The kids wanted oranges for dessert...so we squeezed some fresh juice on our little juicer. And it was chock full of "dots," my childhood word for pulp.  

We made a little "juice box" like I did as a kid. (You cut the top off, but just barely. Then jab the knife around the inside. Then put your lips to the orange and suck out the juice while you gently squeeze the outside of the orange too. Totally messy and the whole area around your mouth will be red and irritated but it's awesome.) After you suck all the juice out, you can turn the orange inside out to tear the flesh away from the inside of the skin. Awesome!! 

I didn't show them my other trick: throw a fresh-picked orange as hard as you can against the sidewalk (or side of the house - until you get in trouble), which will make it explode open, saving you the exhaustive time and trouble of peeling the orange to eat it. That way, you can quickly eat at least 4 or 5 before your face gets too irritated to eat any more. :)

I was proud of my neat-freak Avery - he really got into it and was an orange-y mess. Josiah was the fastidious one. Avery takes after me in the swimming area, too. Maybe he's got all my Florida genes inside!

Kids say the darndest things...

I picked Avery up from preschool today and the teachers said, "Oh, we prayed for your family today!" They have a book with all the families' pictures and they pray for one family each day. So the teacher is clearly hiding this grin and I ask her - what did Avery ask you to pray for? And she laughs and tells me that he asked them to pray that I would have a baby. 

Hi-lar-ious. Right? 

So I asked her - did you pray for that? And she of course said yes. 

So funny. Avery's decided he wants a minivan with two slide-on-their-own doors because the other kids' moms have them. I guess he's decided the same thing about the other kids' baby siblings...

Then tonight we were on our way home from Denise's (the sitter) and Avery was talking about being a firefighter. He said, "At night, I will go home to my own house and have dinner and then go to bed." After a minute, he added, "But first I have to get married." Here is what happened next:

Mom: Where do you think you will meet your wife?

Avery: I don't know. But she will be very nice. And she will like me.

Josiah: I'm going to be a firefighter.

A:  You walk up to her and you say 'let's get married.'

M: That's what happens?

A:  Yes...you kiss her and then you're married.

M: You kiss her?

J: Yeah, you kiss her. And then you tell her, you say 'we're married' and then you're married.

M: Is that right?

J: I'm going to be a firefighter.

And there you have it.

Preschool Power

So we went to the Wheaton Library, where we checked a blue million videotapes and a few books. We LOVE having a library card - it's access to all kinds of videos, educational and otherwise. Josiah picked "Racing Stripes," about a racing zebra, Avery picked "Lilo and Stitch." I picked Preschool Power (about showing preschoolers that they can do things on their own, teaching them confidence by letting them see kids their own age do certain things) and Potty Power (the title says it all). 

The Preschool Power turned out to be a huge hit. They both love it. And actually it's given me good ideas for things we can let them do on their own. I've posted a picture here of Josiah "cooking" a recipe we saw on the video. Cut up a banana, dip in milk mixed with honey, then roll in wheat germ. Avery's bananas were perfect 1 1/2 inch chunks, rolled delicately in the wheat germ. Josiah's...not so much. But he actually had a much better time than Avery and stayed at the table for a long time working on his creation. The bananas tasted good, but then again I like wheat germ. Avery wouldn't eat it and insisted that Mark try it. I was proud of Mark - he ate it all up and said wonderful things, and I know he hates wheat germ. What a great dad he is!

The Potty Power video has been a big hit for both too, but we haven't really seen any results yet. I had an epiphany from it: maybe it really is about Josiah feeling "power" and he is reacting because I try to help him with things (pull down pants, pull over the stool, etc.). I mean, I know it is about power (i.e. in a negative sense - he feels power by holding onto the poo etc) but I wonder if I've hurt the situation by hovering too much. He had a huge surge of self-confidence when he ran in to use the potty (for pee, of course), shouting "potty power!" right after the video ended. Anyhow, I am VERY excited that Mark has only one day a week in Milwaukee this semester, so the rest of the time Josiah can stay home and we can get somewhere. I didn't have the heart (of course) to ask Denise to clean up accidents, so Josiah wore pull-ups most of the week last semester and I'm convinced that set us back dramatically. Ah well, enough about the joys of potty training.

So how about the Pats, eh??? I was literally heartsick on Saturday as I wore my Pats jersey and drank a cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee and for just one moment could close my eyes and will myself to believe we were back on the South Shore. On Saturday night during the game, Avery couldn't go to sleep with excitement and kept pretending to have to go to the bathroom so he could get up and get a glimpse of the game. So finally we let him watch the end of the game. He was thrilled! Here's a picture of dad and Avery as Patriots fans! Note that Avery even has his Patriots football in his hand (at commercial breaks they tossed the ball back and forth - also a clever way to distract him from accidentally seeing the after-9 p.m. yuck-o violent grown up commercials). 

GO PATS!

P.S. Just this moment, FoxNews called the Michigan primary for Romney! Woo-hoo!!!!!!

The joy of potty training

I just told Josiah that when he is a grown up that I am going to tell his wife about what a pain in the neck he was to potty train. The kid is in obvious poo pain but he absolutely refuses to let it out. Of course since he's naked in the tub I guess that's a good thing. But even when he sits on the potty, it's a battle of wills.

If someone can tell me why this happens, I would LOVE to hear it.

Why would you hold it in even when you're in pain? And he so clearly feels relief when it's out. Can't figure it out.

Just for fun I thought I'd post a photo of Avery and his potty bear back from when he was this age.

Indian summer in January?

Yea for today's balmy 60 degree weather! It was overcast and the snow all turned to mud, but we're grateful nonetheless. All four of us took the dog for a walk around the block for the first time in a while. 

Carolina's showing her age - she was really dragging by the end. Her belly and legs were covered with mud, too. I washed her in the tub for the first time in years and it reminded me when it was just the three of us and she was our "baby." She used to sleep in our bed between us, under the covers, head on our pillow. And we had only a full-size bed! It's no wonder Mark had a terrible time breathing (since he's allergic to dogs) and it's no wonder Carolina thinks she's a person.

We've been watching the election events with great interest. You can probably guess who we're supporting by the banner here. We're hugely irritated with all the doomsday predictions for Romney. Mark's started his own blog about it all

http://a-thinking-evangelical-for-Romney.blogspot.com

Check it out!!

 

Fav photos of 2007

In an effort to catch everyone up, I thought I'd post a bunch of my fav photos from 2007. Enjoy!

Avery's 4th birthday (props to mom, eh?! Those are white chocolate teeth, hand shaped. The only thing Avery ate on the cake, by the way...)

Some of the 2nd generation of The Palace

Checking out the komodo dragon at the Shedd Aquarium's lizard exhibit

Nascar visited our local shopping center. I thought Josiah looked particularly adorable here with his Red Sox shirt (indoctrinate early, we say!) and sandals.

Boys and their bugs! The cicada invasion of summer 2007

My little chef and sous chef

End of summer: Josiah decides corn on the cob is okay after all!

Train ride for Josiah's 3rd birthday at the Illinois Train Museum

Halloween trick or treating at the local shops

Right before going out for the evening...note the pose. He thought he was the *coolest*!!! :)

Back to work

I (Kim) went back to work today. Mark has another week and a half off before classes resume. The kids are finding ways to fill the days and evenings. We got a gorgeous six inches of snow yesterday. The perfect snow - sparkly and somewhat light. But this morning it was about 10 degrees outside. Not exactly ideal conditions for playing outside. 

Mark played hide and go seek with the boys in the house last night. See here Josiah's hiding place. 

Too funny! 

Lastly for today I wanted to share a picture of Avery and his choice of outfit for yesterday. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it Mom?!