Not Ageeyan!
There is one song on the LeeAnn Womack CD I keep in the car which never fails to get Jay's attention. The refrain is "You've Got the Wrong Girl", and this phrase is repeated again and again throughout the song (apologies for the overly flashy link).

Jay will say "Mama, he got the wrong gril [sic]. He got the wrong gril ageeyin! Oh, no, he got the wrong gril agEEyan!!!" etc etc. Started out hilarious, but it's still cute.

Potty update: Jay was wearing BIG BOY UNDERWEAR all day until dinnertime, when he had an accident. Then he put on training pants, but stayed dry until bedtime, when he "use-ed" the potty! By the by, that is what he was telling the waiter when we went out to eat Sunday night. "I use-ed the potty!! I use-ed the potty at home!!!" Poor guy had been talking baby talk to Isaac, but didn't seem to know what to do with our "potty-mouth" boy ;)

Labels: boys, potty training, Singing

- posted by Gary @ 7:51 PM |

 
Feeding the Finicky Toddler
Well, the finicky and eccentric toddler, in our case. Two nights in a row, the key to getting Isaac to eat his veggies has been to provide him with a spoon to pile them onto. He still touches the peas and the corn, picking them up and stacking them on the spoon (and every now and then absently popping one into his mouth), but he has the challenge of maneuvering the loaded spoon into his mouth, which seems to make the whole exercise worthwhile.

Whatever works!

Labels: boys, eating

- posted by Gary @ 10:01 PM |

 
Adverbs?
Isaac's delving into new linguistic territory today. He was on a stool next to the kitchen sink, which Paul had just filled with water in preparation to wash some dishes. I warned Isaac to stay away from the sudsy water, but he had gotten close enough to notice the water temperature. "Wa'er hot. Vewy hot."

Labels: baby talk, boys

- posted by Gary @ 5:25 PM |

 
Kids, We're Not in Kansas Anymore
While we were in Lexington, we had the quintessential Lexington experience. I was working on getting the boys out of the van, parked in the parking lot below/behind Lee Chapel, when a youngish fellow got out of his car and asked me in a genteel drawl, "Excuse me, could you tell me which building the General's buried in?"

I confess to a moment of self-doubt [not, to be sure, about which general], "In a building?", but only for a split second. As any good W&L alumna knows, "the General" is buried in the Lee family vault in the basement of the chapel. I so directed the traveler, and we went our separate ways.

Labels: Travel, W and L

- posted by Gary @ 9:26 PM |

 
And Because I Apparently Don't Know How to Go to Bed
I'd like to share this with all y'all. Just the listing, that is. It's not that much bigger than our house, if the 1,650 sf is correct, but you know it's adorable inside (or could be!)

Labels: Mebane, Old Houses, real estate

- posted by Gary @ 9:25 PM |

 
Belated Wishes
I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving! Paul cooked us up a leg of lamb, some mashed potatoes and a nice spinach salad, all of which appealed to Jay (and rightly so!), but none of which Isaac would allow to pass his lips. [There's picky, and then there's Isaac. He turned down an apple turnover at breakfast yesterday and a blueberry waffle at breakfast today. What's even worse, he asks for these things before refusing to try them ("'Affle!" "Meat!" "Sawad!")]

We rewarded the pater familias for his hard work by running off to Virginia to visit some of my college friends. We did invite him along, but he opted to stay here and make some holiday bucks. The boys and I managed to make the trip alone, and had a very nice time visiting. Daddy was sorely missed, though.

It was totally disorienting driving down four-lane divided highways with no one in front and no one behind (and no one passing on the right...). I was explaining it to Paul tonight: I have become a reactive driver, and it was a totally different experience getting to set my own pace, choose my own lane, and relax a little bit behind the wheel. *Sigh* I really would love to move to Virginia (though not NOVA!!)

And now, I'm more than a little tired, and I've got to go to bed!!

Labels: boys, friends, traffic, trips

- posted by Gary @ 8:55 PM |

 
I Jus' Hink 'At is Not Possible
Jay's latest contribution to the potty training dialogue. He decided to go anyway. Nobody told me the hardest part of parenting sometimes is not laughing out loud...

Anyway, I was happy to hear him using such a nice long word!

Labels: baby talk, boys

- posted by Gary @ 7:13 AM |

 
Two Steps Forward, One Step Back
Jay continues to be doing pretty well with his pottying. I was very encouraged yesterday afternoon when I asked him to get a dry pair of training pants and he asked to wear underpants instead. "Do you know what that means?" "I use the potty!" Yup, that's pretty much it! He did very well with his underpants yesterday.

I was putting Isaac down for his nap, though, when Jay reportedly evacuated his bowels. I didn't know this until after he went to bed, though, so when he was working at the same task later in the evening and told me what he was working on, I asked him if he had any poop to put in the potty.

Jay: No. We may have to buy some.
Mama [Stifling laughter]: I don't think it will come to that.
Jay: Poop is prob'y yucky. We can't buy it 'cuz it's not food.
Mama [giggling]: I'm sure you're right.

Then tonight, as we were getting ready for bed, Jay said he had to use the potty. I encouraged him to return quickly, and sure enough, he came right back upstairs with his little potty. That works too!

Labels: baby talk, potty training

- posted by Lenise @ 9:15 PM |

 
'At is Not 'Portant Right Now
Paul is out with the youth group, so I had bedtime duty tonight. I had the boys rectify most of the mayhem they created in the living room and brush their teeth shortly after 7:30. Isaac wanted to sit on the potty, but lately all he does when he sits on the potty is flush it. There being a water shortage on and all, I try to stop him, but he usually gets one in anyway.

So after an Isaac retread and jammy-ing all around (and another Isaac re-tread: apparently he wasn't just blowing smoke when he said something about poop as I resignedly removed him from the aquatic amusement), we did the usual prayers, and then Jay requested a Christmas song, which prompted Isaac's seconding, "'Mas song... 'mas song..." So I told them I'd sing after they were covered up in their beds.

Jay's dinosaur friend got a blanket (he apparently occupies the exit side of the bed), both boys got their covers, and then I made the mistake of consulting them on the choice of Christmas song. It SHOULD have been simple; Jay has always wanted to hear "Silent Night" in the past, and Isaac's young enough to be very easy-going. This time, though, when I offered to sing either "Silent Night" or "Away in a [the?] Manger" (my two standards), Jay told me he wanted me to sing "sum'ping else", though Isaac did chime in with "Manger!"

I suggested "Angels We Have Heard on High" and was informed by Jay that this was not a Christmas song, it was really a VeggieTales song. This may have been the point at which Isaac chimed in with his "manger". In any case, Jay didn't have any suggestions for me, and I was trying to get him to agree to "Away in a Manger", when he finally agreed to "Heard on High".

I sang the first verse, quietly, but as nicely as I could, bid them good night and all that, and then had to respond to Jay's request for another song (no) and then his reassertion "'At is not a Christmas song. It is about heard [hurt?] on high." So I explained to him that it is about the angels who sang the night Jesus was born, and how the shepherds came to see Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus. He may have believed me, because his reply was "'At is not 'portant right now." This is a line from VeggieTales' "Dave and the Giant Pickle", and it came awfully close to cracking me up. We compromised. I put on a record.

Labels: bedtime, boys, Singing

- posted by Lenise @ 8:21 PM |

 
Cookies: Small Consolation
I don't know if it was just the mood Jay was in today, but our cookie-making endeavor was little shy of a nightmare. *Sigh* I made the dough last night, so I didn't have any "help" with that part, but it took the better part of an hour (if not over an hour), much of which was filled with fits of howling, to get him to apologize for throwing food on the floor at lunch so he could help me with the cookies. He cleaned up most of the peas (maybe), but it just set the mood for the rest of the afternoon. I guess I must be doing something wrong, because it seems like I should not have to tell a three-year-old twenty times not to eat raw cookie dough, lick the cookie cutters, lick his fingers and then put them in the flour on the baking mat, etc. Isaac did his part for the cookie cutting and then some, going down for his nap without a fuss and staying there for two and a half hours (I probably shouldn't have let him sleep that long). I still managed to forget to get out the last batch of cookies until it was carbonized (I think I put it in after we got Isaac downstairs).

Anyway, Jay was not following directions today. He made a large number of apologies (and he resisted at least some of them, so he has some understanding (I think) of what it means), but he had me at the end of my rope. Which would have been a good reason to exclude the boys from the cookie-icing, but I didn't do it. So then I told him 20 times after he ate one of the cookies he was icing that no, he could NOT have another cookie, changed the subject at some point, and still looked up to find him nibbling on a cookie. Thankfully, by then it was 7:30 so I didn't even feel guilty sending him to bed, which he also resisted *rolling eyes*. Isaac, on the other hand, was mostly interested in eating the icing off the paintbrush, though he restrained himself for most of the activity. They were heartily enjoying painting the cookies, though, so that was definitely a bright spot.

My feet and back ache from all the standing and dough-rolling (by the way, you still need to use flour when you use a silicone baking mat for rolling and cutting, at least with those pink Roshco ones- another lesson learned the hard way), and as hard as today was, I really regret that I'm not going to be home tomorrow to keep an eye on Jay's behavior. I hope this was an anomaly, but it's really hard to judge what's going on when I'm only here every other day. I really wonder sometimes what effect it has on the boys that they have to keep swapping parents. *Sigh*

Did I mention that those boys are really cute? =-7

Labels: boys, sweets, tantrums

- posted by Lenise @ 11:20 PM |

 
And One Last Post
I need to keep this link where I can find it. I've been talking to Jay about baking some Christmas cookies, and we bought a rolling pin and some cookie cutters, so I was looking for little-kid-friendly decorating ideas and a simple sugar cookie recipe (why do all the other ones have to put shortening in there? I've never used the stuff.)

Hopefully, this'll do it.

Labels: boys, sweets

- posted by Lenise @ 9:32 PM |

 
The Playground in Autumn

Labels: boys, fall, photos

- posted by Lenise @ 9:24 PM |

 
Master of the Left-Handed Compliment
"Mama, you are not singing. That makes me happy. I am proud of you!"

Now as it happens, I was singing along with LeeAnn Womack, but I guess I just sound like a professional singer, and the boy can't tell the difference. Yeah, that must be it.

Labels: baby talk, boys, Singing

- posted by Lenise @ 9:09 PM |

 
Successes and Setbacks
So Jay did an amazing thing on Saturday. He made it through the day without having to change his pull-ups. He got a dry pair when he got up in the morning, and kept it dry until bathtime at night. It went into the trash with its little fadable cars still completely visible. I was thrilled, and I let him know it. He even made it through a three-hour outing (granted, we didn't take drinks!), and probably another three-hour dinner outing (about half of which was travel). He did not, however, pass any solids the whole day.

Sunday morning he woke up complaining that his stomach hurt, so I eventually persuaded him to dump a load into the potty. It was rather a respectable load (much more, um, formidable than previous loads), and again, I was overjoyed. The joy didn't last, as he filled his Pull-Ups right after breakfast. "I brought new ones!" whoop-tee-do, emphasis on "do". The whole church outing didn't go much better, and by the time we got home, his pants were also soaked. *Sigh*

He did much better the rest of the afternoon, though, and seemed to remember most of the time what he was supposed to do when the opportunity presented itself (and allowed himself to be persuaded the other times). All in all, Sunday didn't end on a pessimistic note, potty-wise.

"Monday, Monday" as the song goes, "So good to me. Monday morning, it was all I hoped it would be", and then came Monday evening. That was when I got home to find Jay in a wet diaper, with no apparent plans to use the potty, after he'd done his due diligence in the morning, before I left home. *Sigh*

Here's hoping Tuesday goes much better.

Labels: potty training

- posted by Lenise @ 8:54 PM |

 
So Many Posts, so Little Time
I was thinking today that I'd really like to get back into the habit of blogging daily- there's not a day that goes by without at least one of the boys doing something that I'd like to remember down the road. I doubt that will happen, though, and it's probably good, since once I get online, my evening seems to magically disappear in a cloud of smoke. Self-control *sigh*: if only I had some.

So this morning, Jay came into our room around 5:45 AM wanting to sack out with us. It doesn't sound bad, until I'm trying to get comfortable in a space that is only as wide as my thigh. Thankfully, the nightstand is close enough for me to put a hand on it as I'm squirming in place, trying to flip over. Also a plus, Jay doesn't wake up if I push him towards Paul. Still, he finds his way back to me. Nice soft, warm, mama.

Anyway, Paul dragged him back to his bedroom, where he remained for about 10 seconds before whimpering, whining, I-don't-know-what-ing, "Mama, pweese put mine bankets on *fuss, fuss, fuss* Mama, pweese put mine bankets on *fuss*", etc. So I did, and plopping back into bed, thought, then mentioned to Paul, "I could get up, go to work, and come home an hour earlier". I decided to do exactly that after having been quiet and still long enough that (I hoped) Jay would have gone back to sleep.

This is not the kind of thought that would have seemed like a good idea to me under normal circumstances, but ever since DST began, the evening traffic has been HORRENDOUS. My theory is that there are timid people freaked out by the darkness, and therefore going, say, 10 mph more slowly (who don't, incidentally, bother to get into the right lane) along with the usual nut cases who believe that it is their prerogative to drive at 90 mph wherever they are in whatever conditions, generally clogging up the roads, creating scads of passers-on-the-right (grrr), and making me downright angry.

So (particularly after a bout of the above combined with Friday traffic- HELP!!!), I got up at 6. Jay came crying into the bathroom shortly after my shower began, but was not so difficult or time-consuming as to make me "late", and it seems to me I even got an "I love you" before I went to work =]

Anyway, the results were mixed. The lighter traffic in the morning was made distinctly less relaxing by the dimwit who passed me and two other vehicles on the two-lane road I use to get to the highway. It's only a couple of miles long, and the speed limit goes very quickly from 35 to 45, and eventually to 55. The only circumstance under which it takes any considerable length of time to travel the road is when there's an 18-wheeler going into or coming out of one of the factory-type facilities in the 55 mph zone at the far end of the road. When this scofflaw passed me, I was going 50 in a 45 mph no-passing zone. Whatever. Traffic on the highway was lighter, but not very much so.

This afternoon on my way home, though, traffic was much lighter than during my normal commuting hours, as was the road. So was my mood. Pray for me, please, that I will continue to get up early enough to maintain these hours, as it will be much better for me if I can. It also means that I am home in time for dinner with the boys. Did I mention that they are really cute?

Labels: baby talk, boys, traffic, work

- posted by Lenise @ 8:29 PM |

 
Words to Bring Tears to a Mother's Eyes
"Mama, I love using the potty!!"

There's got to be something wrong with me, but I teared up with joy the second time he asked me to help him use the toilet today, and he put little bits of number two in there. Not that it's the first time he's done so, but that he initiated two potty trips between 6:30 AM and 8:00 AM, and although he didn't initially want to put no. 2 in the potty, when I asked him, he was compliant!

Yesterday was a very different story, and when his sock and shoe turned up poopy at the mall, I was far from happy. I don't know if this incident actually made an impression on him, or what, but he's had his best day yet of potty use, as far as I can tell (hard to be certain, since I was at work today, but preliminary reports are good).

Anyway, I called home this afternoon to commend and encourage Jay, which is when he uttered the fateful words above. I sure hope this is one corner which stays turned!

Labels: boys, potty training

- posted by Lenise @ 7:42 PM |

 
Meantime

This one's still for sale. This church would be a fabulous B&B. *Sigh*

Labels: church, real estate

- posted by Lenise @ 12:12 AM |

 
Anybody Need a Church Building?


This cute little church building is in walking distance from our house. I'm sure it would make a nice little B&B, but at $139k, you'd have to be awfully serious about it! Meanwhile, it looks like a congregation of 50 would be cramped.

Not that that sounds like a bad size for a church (in some ways, it sounds very nice, but then I wouldn't know from experience one way or the other) but it'd be awfully hard to support a pastor with 15 families!

BTW, Marc, it's currently a Pentecostal Church. I don't know whether they're disbanding or growing...

Labels: church, real estate

- posted by Lenise @ 11:55 PM |

 
Indian Brave
Isaac had a great time with his Halloween costume. I was really impressed that he kept his headdress on the whole time we were out, and he kept track of his bow and his loot bag. This morning, he wanted to put his "hat" on again, wear his Indian shoes (Jay's suede slippers), carry his bow around AND lug his little stuffed polar bear (he fell in love at the zoo Tuesday) everywhere. It was very, very cute.

Tonight, when the clock chimed (Uncle Todd fixed it by oiling it [who knew?] on Monday night), he looked up at the clock and said, "Todd coming". He was pretty disappointed when the best I could do was "Maybe tomorrow." Again, very cute!

Jay, meantime, had had a mini chocolate bar and a few pieces of candy corn after trick-or-treating, and Isaac wanted to be held as he finished his tootsie pop (If we had been counting, we would know the answer to the age-old question; no biting he made). Jay went over to the futon in the playroom and started playing with the mama and baby dinosaur he got from Aunt Monika and Uncle Scott last Christmas. They were having quite the conversation, and it was a lot of fun to listen in on. Later two of his engines (Edward and Percy) were playing hide-and-seek, again amid much, "are you OK?"-ing and what-have-you.

The other day, I asked him to help me with some simple task only to be informed that, "I'm quite busy": he was propping a book up on the shelf behind a couple of cans of food. And tonight, I warned him not to pull on the (flimsy) corner shelf in the bathroom, since it might tip over. He expounded for the next ten minutes on all the other things in the bathroom that might fall as a result of this calamity and all the people who might get hurt. He's definitely learning to express himself!

Labels: baby talk, boys

- posted by Lenise @ 8:10 PM |