Backyard Fun and (Threatening) Sun

Ever since our trip to Myrtle Beach, one of Brooke's favorite things in the world is a baby pool. (It even ranks up there with Choo Choo [Thomas], Baby Choo Choo [the train at the zoo], babies [dolls], and Babies! [Brooke's friends]).

I've discovered some peace and quiet in our own backyard. Set up the baby pool and just add water (a.k.a., "juice," in Brookese). I'm working on this post in the backyard now, with the laptop on the picnic table watching Brooke pour water from cup to cup and wash her baby. Yesterday her friend Grace came over and the girls filled cups with "coffee" and played happily while I sat in the shade and read a magazine. This is a good thing, indeed!

Here's an example of how Brooke has mastered the "Cheese!"-y smile for the camera. The funny thing is, that half of the time she doesn't even bother to look at the camera when she smiles and says "Cheese." She also has started cheesing even when the camera isn't around. Sometimes -- particularly at the dinner table -- she'll throw her head back, start squealing and being silly. I usually take that as a clue that she wants to participate in the conversation more.


Unfortunately... we have an axe looming over our backyard shade. Last year we were informed that the power company was planning to remove about half of the trees on the hill in our backyard. We protested, nothing ever came of it, and that was that. Brad has met with them this week, though, and not only are they back, but they say they need to remove ALL of the trees on the hill. We are NOT happy, especially since most of them obviously pose no threat to the power lines. They say that a new law has been passed, though, that subjects them to large fines if they don't remove all trees over 15' tall within 50' of the middle of the lines -- which for us, means all of our trees all the way up to our back door. If anyone has any advice on how to save our trees (and our shade and privacy), please let us know!

Who would have thought?

Wonders never cease! Being born to a family of three girls from a mother who is one of four girls, and only having a daughter and a niece born to our generation, the shocker of the year is that we are expecting a boy!!!

As many of you know, Brad and I had a LOT of discussion over whether or not to find out this time. When we were expecting Brooke, I wanted to know and he didn't. Apparently I did too good of a job convincing him last time because when I wanted to keep this one a suprise, he absolutely wanted to find out! In the end, I figured that if he wanted to know, he had the right to. So at the sonogram, I asked the doctor to write it down and fold it up. I gave him the folded-up paper for his birthday a few weeks ago, and amazingly, by his own choice, he even kept it safe and didn't look for weeks! It may have had something to do with my request to be in the room with him when he opened it....

Over those weeks, I realized that it would be a lot more fun for both of us if he wasn't trying to hide it from me and the world. I also didn't want to put him in the position of me being mad at him if he slipped to me or someone else. So Saturday night we were out on a date and opened the paper. Talk about suspense! It's like opening a fortune cookie that you know is TRUE and will determine a course for the rest of your life!

Even though I suspected it was a boy (from a few of the pregnancy factors), when we read "male" on the paper I was in absolute shock for the rest of the night! (Remember, boys are very rare in our family, as are mixed-gender siblings.)

We are keeping the name quiet until he arrives, though, so don't bother asking unless you want a very unsatisfactory answer. You know me -- I like to keep my options open!

Yay, Baby Brooke!!!

Potty training is going extremely well! Miss Brooke has only been wearing panties and has kept them dry for FIVE days!!! My approach was making the switch quick and intense. No pull-ups for us. For the first two days everything in our house revolved around her learning to use the potty. Here's a picture of her "practicing" while watching a potty-themed video. Notice how even the little potty needs a step stool!

She's kept herself dry since Friday afternoon, and we've had lots of outings (including to the zoo, church, the lake, and lots of shopping and errand-running). She's consistently telling me when she has to pee, so I'm only prompting her before we leave the house. I'm so proud of her... and the fun part is seeing how proud she is of herself! She loves to say, "Yay, Baby Brooke!!!" (Even with all of the big-girl talk lately, she still wants to be a baby. Of course, all children under the age of 8 are babies in her language.) The jellybeans are a big incentive, too!

Speaking of babies, it's been cute to see Brooke helping her babies go potty. She loves to take off their clothes, help them walk up the step stools, go, wipe, and wash their hands. With her new step stool, she's tall enough now to give her baby a bath (a very fun and messy project!). The biggest problem with it is that our sink doesn't have a overflow drain, so I have to constantly monitor the water level. That, and she seems to want to wash the baby all of the time, especially when I want us to eat lunch or go somewhere!




I still put her in a diaper at night and for her nap. (She's still in a crib, which doesn't give her any other options if she has to go.) However, she's been keeping her diaper dry during most naps (a very sudden change) and even for a night or two.

(For those who don't want potty details, skip this paragraph.) We still have to clear the #2 hurdle, but I'm hoping that a few more days will help her figure that out. I've offered to put her back in a diaper so that she can do that business, but she doesn't want that, either. I'll give it a little more time and then come up with a strategy if it doesn't work itself out. I've read that it's pretty common for kids to master either one function or the other first. She's doing so well staying dry that I'm okay if this aspect takes a little longer. Fortunately it doesn't happen very often!

The part I didn't plan on is how much time this all takes! Brooke loves to go potty and wash her hands. She'll do it two or three times in a row sometimes. I need to adjust my schedule to allow for all of that. (It's starting to become a stalling technique, too, so I have to discourage that.)

On another note, we've done a lot of gardening this week. She loves digging with the trowel, finding worms, and pushing dirt back in the holes. She's also very good about making sure that all of the plants have "juice" (water). We've planted tomatoes and annual herbs, re-potted houseplants and outdoor flowers, and relocated some ferns. Yesterday we bought okra, squash, and grape tomatoes and will have another planting session today or tomorrow.

It's Potty Time!

We had a wonderful weekend in Arkansas for Amy and Neal's beautiful wedding. We'll do a more detailed post on that great weekend soon.


As I've been promising Brooke, though, now that Amy is married, it's time to get her big girl panties! (I wasn't about to try to travel with a newly toilet trained toddler.) She's been waiting eagerly for about six weeks, ever since we bought an Elmo toilet seat insert at Wal-Mart. I haven't let her play with it one bit, promising that she'll be big enough to get it when she gets her big girl panties. We've talked about Elmo and her big girl panties nearly every day and she is very excited about both. (We'll see how excited she is about actually learning this skill tomorrow.)


Two nights ago we were at Lowe's and spied more seat inserts; I let her pick out a second one for her bathroom. (Katie will be proud to know that she wanted Bob the Builder over Dora and the other options!) Today we had a big shopping trip to Target and let her pick out new panties, step stools to reach the toilets and the sinks, special drinks for tomorrow, and fresh bottles of Lysol and carpet cleaner. (She really wanted Thomas the Tank Engine underwear, but they don't make those in girl panties. I was going to let her wear the boys' briefs because she loves Thomas so much, but they didn't have them in her size. All of you who think I might screw this kid up by starting her out in boy's underwear will breathe a sigh of relief, I'm sure. Fortunately, she was happy to have Curious George panties as a second-runner up! No Tinkerbell or Disney princesses for this girl!) We also checked out lots of potty books and a video from the library.


So tomorrow's the big day! Say a prayer for us! We're trying the get-it-over-and-done-with method, with lots of praise and treats for dry panties and productive visits to the potty. Hopefully she'll figure out that wet panties are no fun and will choose to keep them dry.

Her bear will also learn how to use the potty tomorrow, too. Hope he likes jellybeans!