Buddies

Due to an extended "June-gloom" period, we are finally having a summer... in October.

We went to Disneyland again (woo-hoo!) last week with Jared, and even got to the beach on saturday for our best beach day of the year. Who'dve thought it would be 75 and clear?

Lately I have been so happy to watch these two little guys play together. Now that Ryker is walking perfectly and talking too they are having a lot of fun.

Having a brother so close is the best- like a built in best friend every day.

Goodbye to the Garden

I spent the last four months trying my hand at gardening. I had always wanted to try to grow my own vegetables and develop a bit of a green thumb. I had a small plot in our complex that allowed me to experiment with growing tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini.

I feel like I learned so much, especially by doing it the wrong way. I learned to plant earlier, prepare the soil weeks in advance, water less on the leaves, find a plot that doesn't have nasty soil, how to avoid blight and other fungi, and more importantly to not expect a big return on my hard work the first season!

All in all our garden yielded mostly tomatoes, many of which were eaten by bugs (slugs!), or knocked off the vine prematurely by helpful neighborhood kids, in addition to a lot of basil. Our peppers never quite germinated except for a few that got gobbled. Bummer. It wasn't cheap, but I am glad I got to have a trial run before we can have a garden at our own home someday.

Go Bruins

Today Nicholas and I had a much needed father son outing. He has been asking to watch football for months and I always told him that football was on a break. Well after seeing it on TV for the last 3 weeks he finally convinced me it was time to go.
On the way there we listened to Surfin USA about 28 or 29 times and we are both experts at the lyrics if anyone needs to know them.
Once we got there we had to make the half mile trek through the golf course (if you have never been to the Rose Bowl it is surrounded by a golf course where everyone parks). On the way Kiki loved running up a hill, stopping at the top, and then sprinting down them. At the top of every hill he would look at me and say "this is big boy activities." Not sure what that means or where it came from but everyone who heard him thought it was hilarious. The other funny part was through the golf course they had one of those huge storm drain wash thingys (forget what they are called) with water running through it. Nicholas decided this was the cheyenne river and told everyone all about it.
Once at the game he had a blast eating licorice, grapes, and cookies. He enjoyed the game for awhile until it became just to darn hot. He really liked me dumping water all over him and it got us through until half time when we decided we had enough fun. So we walked for 25 min's back to the car picking up sticks and playing in the sand. Below is the video of a touchdown celebration. The first is a touchdown but the camera was so zoomed in I had to take a second video of Nicholas up close. In the first one you can hear him cheer and the 2nd is his dance.



***My absolute highlight of the day was while walking to the game Nicholas looked up at me while holding my hand and said out of the blue "Daddy, you're my best friend." So I of course cried in front of 100,000 people :)

Potty on the Brain

Nicholas loves Pooh

All this talk of friends getting potty trained made me want to revisit our own opinions, advice, and helpful hints, if not to help others then just to remind me when next fall rolls around! (Get ready, Ryker!) Much of this came from my own research and my mom as well.

-First things to look for:

1. The child tells you after they've gone wet/whatever

2. They tell you while they're going

3. They tell you before they're going- ready!

-We put the toddler potty out a bit in advance, just so it becomes a familiar piece of furniture. Let them sit on it if they say they want to go, but don't let it become a toy.

-Don't reward with toys/food, etc. just stick to praise; if you do otherwise they will go to the potty just for the prize, not the satisfaction and pride of accomplishment. Its called the overjustification hypothesis. What, useless Psych degree?!

-Potty training begins when they are ready. Jump on the opportunity rather than waiting until it fits your schedule.

-We dedicated a good week to be at home as much as possible with no pants on. The fewer barriers to making it to the potty, the better! For this reason we chose a toddler potty rather than a toilet cover, because the more comfortable going to the potty is, the more likely they are to use it. Its all about making them feel confident and comfortable going!

-Accidents can happen, but try to minimize them by being really close to home, and working on the aforementioned comfort issue. The first few days they will go to the bathroom a ton, and over time the trips will consolidate. Nicholas seriously went 40 times the first day, no joke.

-Don't read stories/dance/sing to them on the potty; it distracts from the real reason and they will say they have to go just for the fun time! (we made this mistake :) Once Upon a Potty-never again!)

- Stick to diapers/pull ups at night until they are dry for a while. Being dry at night is the last step. No use shattering their confidence! It will set you back.

-We didn't do pull ups during the daytime. They have the same feel as diapers, and could be confusing to kids. Go cold turkey, and never look back. Underwear all the way!

-Once they are on their way, keep in mind they may not always tell you when they need to go. I would ask Kiki every hour or two, and have him go every time before we left to somewhere.

-If all else fails and they seem like they're not ready, just drop it and try again later! You have to be committed 100% but they need to be ready too.