Potty Training B

We bought B some pull-ups, told him that they were his big boy diapers and that from now on he would go potty in the toilet like M. He was very excited and didn't have one accident for the first two days of wearing his "big boy" underwear. B was proud, I was proud, and a little smug that this was going to be so easy. I figured I would remind him to use the toilet for a few more days and then he'd just be trained.

Ha! I should have known that things would not be so easy...especially when I got smug about it. Yesterday morning I took B to the bathroom before we left to go out, and he peed. A few minutes later, I reminded him that he was wearing "underpants" and that if he needed to go poo-poo or pee-pee he needed to tell me.

B looked up from playing and earnestly queried, "I no go poo-poo in my underwear, Mommy?"

"That's right, B." I responded, "If you have to go potty we need to go the bathroom."

"Mommy, then I need to go poo-poo right now," B declared.

So, I rushed B to the bathroom, placed him on the toilet and heard him say, "Uh, oh. Look!" And he pointed to the floor. "Mommy, I missed!"

The little pooper had crapped on the floor! But that's not even the worst part. There was a little heal print in the poop and B had some poop on his foot. I almost screamed in horror. OMG! How disgusting.

A good mommy probably would have washed him off and laughed about it. I am clearly NOT a good mommy. I ran for the Clorox wipes and disinfected his foot and the floor. I tried not to act grossed out, but come on. Is there anything more horrific than poop on the floor and on your son's foot?

B was unfazed and after it was all cleaned up, B said, "Mommy, I didn't poop in my underwear so can I have a sticker?"

Technically, he was right, so I gave him some stickers. Rewarded by default.

Camping

A quick snooze on the beach.Digging for treasure.

My man with the huge jellyfish!

M with a smaller jellyfish.

Brothers on rocks.

Sleep time.

Story time around the campfire with Queen Teri.

Hangin' out.

M loves to climb trees.

B made a mess eating his s'mores.

The fun was in charring the marshmallows.

M and B (with Jeremy), having hot chocolate for the first time.

M had been asking to go camping all year, so we bought all the camping accoutrement and took the boys out in the wilderness twice this summer. By wilderness, I mean State Parks with bathrooms and showers, but it's as much of the wilderness as M are going to see if I'm along for the ride.

We went to New Brighton State Beach near Santa Cruz for our first trip at the end of May. The boys were so excited to play in the tent and jump on our air mattresses and they loved spending the days at the beach. They also enjoyed the camp fire and, of course, the hot dogs and hamburgers. Interestingly, they didn't seem to care for the roasted marshmallows all that much. They enjoyed roasting them, but not eating them...weird.

For our second camp-out, we went with the Judin's to Bodega Bay in Sonoma in the middle of June. M and B loved going with their friends and had hot chocolate for the first time. We found a beach that had a stream leading to the ocean that was just swamped with deceased jelly fish. The boys and the male parents from both families spent a good part of the second day hunting up jellyfish and they had a great time. Enjoy the pictures.

M and B Sing Happy Birthday to Grandpa

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-f_JJD_dDCQ

Proposals and Marriages

A week and a half ago, the family was in the car on the way to visit the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito. On the way there, M informed us that he was going to marry Lauren (one of only two girls in our playgroup), have one child (a girl) and that Papa Bear and I would not need to babysit as he and Lauren would be fine. B chimed in saying that he was going to marry his friend Jason and they would have four children. M told B that he couldn't marry Jason 'cuz "he's a boy", but he could marry Lili instead (the other girl in our playgroup).

After the conversation had ended, I got the video camera ready and asked them to repeat. Unfortunately, this time, B said that he wanted to marry Lily. I wish he had said Jason again, because it would have been great to have that on video for when he's older. Oh, well.

Papa Bear and I thought that this was super cute, and thought that this was the end of the conversation. However, several days later, M asked me if he could ask Lauren to marry him. I said sure, not expecting that he would remember this. But how cute is that!?! I still think that this is so incredibly cute.

Today we were at Teri's birthday party, at our pool, and Lauren was there as well. M and Lauren were playing together, when M ran over to me to inform me that he had asked Lauren to marry him. I asked him about her response and was told that she had said "maybe". Awe...well, at least it wasn't a "no".

I ask you, how precious is that????

Jump In The Shower

Several nights ago, as dinner was coming to a close, I asked the boys if they wanted to take a bath or quickly jump in the shower. As showers take less time and tend to be less of a hassle for me and Papa Bear, we were hoping the boys would choose the latter. After several minutes of debate, and no pressure from either parental unit, M and B chose to take a shower.

As per usual happenstance, both boys took their clothes off and ran around in the nude laughing hysterically. I'm not sure why being naked is cause for such amusement, yet each night they run around, free as birds, frolicking in enjoyment. Papa Bear and I were finally able to wrangle our nude monkeys into the shower and get the cleaning process started.

It was P.B.'s turn to deal with the bathing that night, and I was getting their pajama's, towels, diapers and lotion ready on our bed, when I heard P.B. talking sternly to B.

"B! Stop that right now!" Papa Bear raised his voice.
"But, Baba, Mommy said we could jump in the shower!" Little B cried plaintively.

At this point P.B. turned to me and asked if I had indeed told the boys that they could jump in the shower. Apparently, B had taken my earlier statement about quickly jumping into the shower, literally. I smirked. P.B. did not (smirk), as B continued trying to jump around on the slippery tiles of the shower.

I'm sure glad it wasn't my night to bathe the boys.