Never Mind

You can disregard my entry from the other week... I thought the potty-training was under way but I was clearly laboring under a misapprehension. Sigh.

Easter Adventures

Easter Sunday was yesterday. As many people in the world hailed the resurrection of the Messiah, we hailed the arrival of Greg's stomach flu. He remained behind at home while the kids and I trekked to and fro across the state of MI, going to church in Waterford and visiting with my family in Manchester. After church, I tried like the dickens to get a cute picture of the kids with my mom and Gil, but a Certain Someone was Somewhat Uncooperative.

Caity and Jamie both received Easter baskets, of course, but Jamie did not seem to notice his. Caity was pleased with the Pooh book in hers, but she especially liked the jelly beans hidden away inside the basket's plastic eggs.

It was good that she'd found some joy in the morning; the first thing she'd wanted to do upon waking up was "color Easter eggs!", but got very upset when she was informed that all of the eggs had been colored the day before and none remained for an additional coloring session. Even if we'd wanted to add more to the eggs we'd done, it would have been difficult - Caity's coloring enthusiasm was such that all egg surface area was taken up with layers of paint, dye, stickers and crayon, and further decorating would have been impossible.

Greg has mostly recovered from his digestive issues, but now I am feeling a bit under the weather. It could be that I am coming down with his flu, but perhaps I have just ingested too many Easter leftovers. Yum!

Knocking On Wood...

It might be happening. Maybe. But I should not speak of it by name, lest it jinx me. A certain someone has been sitting on a certain depository device. And depositing a certain fluid into its depths. On a semi-regular basis. But we shan't mention it by name, or even think about it too hard, just in case it is a fleeting occurrence. We don't want to get our hopes up. Yet, even though it would be a bad idea to acknowledge it publicly (due to the jinxing), we are still excited.

The Greatest Success

After 15 minutes of fruitless dialing, I was finally able to cast my vote for David Archuleta ("Contestant #3") on American Idol... I feel so proud to be part of his legacy. And speaking of my success, it will be surprising if Greg's vision remains intact after all of the eye-rolling he was doing during my repeated dialing attempts. Surely he must have strained something.

Oh, and the kids were their usual persnickety selves today. I mention them because I don't want to lose sight of the important things in life, even in the midst of my euphoria over finally getting through on those busy, busy phone lines.

Oh, And...

... Happy St. Patrick's Day! I totally forgot to wear even a speck of green today. I should be thankful that the checkout people at Target and Kroger did not pinch me (or the kids, who were also not wearing green). But I suppose the checkout people are too busy being disgruntled to be bothered with any pinching. Or communicating, for that matter.

A Day of Somewhat Blah

Not much happened today. We went to Target. We went to Kroger. Caity thoughtfully added more to the piles of filth in the living room - she found a pad of paper, scribbled random swirls of pen on each sheet, then distributed the sheets all over the floor. I decided it was too much work to pick them up. Jamie fussed and drooled. The cat snoozled in my bed for 10 hours. It was an average, kind-of-blah day. It was only saved from being truly blah by the appearance of Shamrock Shakes (delivered home by Greg after his band rehearsal). Sigh.

The Newest Discovery & A "Hoppening" Visit

Jamie has recently discovered his tongue. It's always been there, of course, but if observations of him are any indication, it would appear that it is a brand-new appendage of his. He is constantly sticking it out of his mouth; at various times he appears thoughtful, goofy or just plain saucy.

In other, non-tongue-related news, the kids were able to visit the Easter Bunny today at church (the Bunny must be doing his rounds ahead of time - Easter is next Sunday). Neither child really wanted to smile at the correct moment, or in the correct direction, so this is the best of the roughly 72 pictures that were taken. "Bunny's so cute!" adds Caity, who is helping to narrate this description. "He has eyes, ears, mouth, nose." Oh, and we should probably add that Jamie is wearing the diaper bag emergency outfit... he had drooled so much that he turned his shirt into a sodden mass of cotton - it so wet that it was practically transleucent.

Jamie's First Tooth!

Jamie's two bottom teeth have been visibly lurking just under the surface of the gum for a while, but the one on the left finally emerged today. Hooray for the first tooth!

The New Bedtime Ritual

Caity has not napped for nearly a year now. This has many downsides (as you may imagine), but the upside was that she would go to bed fairly readily. Well, in recent days bedtime has become a struggle again. Now, it plays out like this: you put her in bed and read her some stories. You kiss her goodnight, turn off the light, and venture off to enjoy some hot chocolate. A short time later, you hear suspicious noises coming from upstairs. Upon investigation, you see her standing just outside the door to her room. "Poopers!" she announces. No, they're not in her diaper (yet)... she wants to put them in the potty. "Well, by all means!" you say, and usher her gladly into the bathroom so she can do just that. You even deliver books to her by request (Hop on Pop is a popular favorite) in order to facilitate the exit of said poopers. But after numerous hours (okay, not hours - more like long minutes), the awaited items fail to materialize so you heave a sigh of remorse, pack Caity's diaper and jammies back on, and tuck her back into bed with more stories. You then head downstairs (where your hot chocolate has long since turned into a cool sludge) again, her little voice babbling away in the darkened room behind you. Finally, finally, after a half hour or so, you realize that she has fallen asleep. The whole process, from start to finish, can take as long as 60 minutes. And the whole pooping-on-the-potty thing? A newly-discovered stalling tactic, nothing more. But you hope - oh, how you hope - that one day it will be the real thing, and she really will have to put some poopers in the potty. So each night she reels you in, hook, line, and sinker. Or should I say, stinker?

And So We Begin...

Inspired by my good friend Liz, I have decided to start a daily family blog. We'll see how long I am able to maintain it!