Should I document that we are now in potty training mode with Quinn?  A mix of accidents and heading to the potty.  Somehow I am way calmer this go around.  You always gotta feel bad for the first kid- they are the experiment.  I know I feel like we completely botched his potty training.  Not necessarily that we started too late, but more that I had a hard time with accidents and would get upset.  Um, everyone agrees, that is a very bad move.  Anyway, we will see how it goes with Quinn. She is so excited to be in undies that today when Grandma arrived, she took her right over to her closet to see her the drawer where they were kept.  We will see…..

Well, we missed our baking day Monday, so with some time to kill Tuesday afternoon, we decided to go after it.  We were about to make some Whole Wheat bread, when I saw a recipe for pretzels in the book.  Well, we decided to try those out!  They came out great and were quite yummy!

Tyler wanted me to observe that the remainder of his lollipop looked like a flag.  I thought I would take a picture of it.  Then Quinn, upon seeing this, wanted me to take her picture, then she wanted to see her picture.

The last two days should have been hell with a sleep deprived child and Mama, but they were seriously great!  With Tyler home from school, today should have been crazy, but I just went with the Wednesday rhythm since we kind of played it loose yesterday.  Maybe the playing it looser is just the right way to go?  Actually, I think I am getting better of recognizing when to be loose and when to be lovingly consistent. (i.e. we sit at the table and when you are done eating plate goes into the sink).

The Day
There was just lots of free-flowing.  I decided to work on some of my thank-you notes and then got the kids to work on some for Christmas.  Tyler wanted to use my stamping stuff, so next thing are adding stamp decorations having a great time.

Last week we took a nature walk to collect sticks for a craft project.  I had mentioned to Tyler that we were going to build our twig houses today.  He was psyched about that, so afterwords we went outside and worked on that. It was a beautiful day and Tyler the kids really enjoyed the craft/project.

The Date

I had asked Mom to help me out this morning since I had a meeting at Blossom.  Well, that meeting got moved and the kids were expecting Grandma, so we just moved the time to the evening.  Chris had an appt near downtown until 6pm and I knew where it was.  I got all gussied up and basically was sitting on the leather couch in front on the elevators waiting for him.  He came out of the elevator and saw me.  I said “hi, we’re going to dinner!”  He says, “Where are the kids?”  My response, “Not here.”

I had consulted a friend who was more in the know about restaurants and had some options for Chris.  We ended up at Enoteca next to Vespaio.  Awesome place!  Cheaper than Vespaio with service just as great!   We had bruschetta, wine, pizza and dessert.   We had much to celebrate as Chris has accepted a job with Dell and I think is getting to the bottom of all the anxiety he has been experiencing.  I can tell he is feeling so much better.  He will also have two weeks off between gigs – pretty sweet.
We got home, got the kids to bed and just chilled out.   It was a great surprise and so nice to have some time alone together.

Seriously, “Circus” by Britney Spears is so addicting.  And “Just Dance” by Lady Gaga is great too.  It is late and I am tired.  I have been working a lot in the evenings, so I need that kind of music to keep me focused and moving.   Tyler was up with some kind of stomach bug last night.  Woke up about 3am and once it was said and done, diarrhea and puking twice, the kid passed back out at 5:30am.  Of course, then Quinn was up at 6:15am, but she nursed and went back to bed.

Strange thing was – I had a great day with the kids.  I had energy, they were fine – it was crazy.  I was all prepared to pop in a movie if needed, but it wasn’t.  Tyler is already on the mend.  The kid has an iron stomach.  Anything that affects is digestive system is gone is 24 hours.  He ate a ton today (all BRATY diet foods) and kept it all down.

This afternoon, I decided to go through Quinn’s summer hand me downs.  Oh my god!  She found a ballerina skirt and a some underwear.  She was as high as a kite dancing around for the next hour.  And so excited to be wearing undies, so I guess we are potty training.  She did great tonight – she must have felt grown up, announcing to us, “I have to go pee pee.”  It was about time anyway – glad it came at her initiation and excitement – that makes it a lot easier.

With that I am off to watch the Daily Show and then I should probably head to bed myself…..

…or if Mommy would use the auto setting on her camera.  Actually it was on Auto, but I told it not to use flash.  I much prefer natural light, but in some cases that with wiggly kids, results in a blurry shot.

Ah, these two.  There are days they drive me completely nuts.  And more so now because they just fire each other up.  Think about it – they have a permanent partner in crime for their mischief making.  And they can make quite a bit of it.  But at the same time they are both so completely amazing and I feel so blessed to have had so much time with them early in their lives.

Bad day yesterday.  Today, a new day.  Today, a historic day.  Everyone’s  excitement and enthusiasm is quite contagious!  Kids are up, gotta run!