9/27/09

A New Look

I think everyone is pretty familiar with how often I paint/redecorate rooms of our home. Consider our blog one more room for me to redecorate.

Accident Free Days

Busia was wondering if Ben will be getting cake on all of his accident free days. Depends on who you ask. Ben does believe he should get cake everyday. He asks about it – a lot. He's still doing well. He has a Potty Watch he's been wearing which has really helped him be successful, but he's also indicated he needed to go while we were out and about on two different occasions and managed to hold it until we got home. (He's still not sure about using bathrooms other than ours.) The next hurdle is going to be getting him to poop on the potty. This has not been part of his success lately. He even had an accident on our bedroom carpet this week. Brian had to ask him, 'is this from you or Blue?' Ben responded, 'Mine'.

9/20/09

Grandma visit

Brian has his national meeting this week so Grandma came to visit the boys and help keep me sane in his absence. Some of the fun things Grandma brought for the boys were wooden train whistles, homemade play-dough, a giant fire truck puzzle, new t-shirts and new hats. Neal got a Chicago Bulls hat and as you can see here Ben got a train conductors hat. I think he looks super cute in it. Grandma also helped us go to the shoe store and buy new tennis shoes. This is very much a two person job with all of the rearranging boxes and running up and down the aisles.

A new treat

The great thing about making egg-free cakes is you never have to worry about anyone getting sick from licking the beaters. So who doesn't love licking the cake beaters? Initially Neal. Mr. Stubborn finally gave in and he enjoyed them. Oh, the cake was for Ben having a successful no accident day.

9/18/09

Visiting the Dentist

Ben came with me to the dentist for the first time today. I wanted to give him an opportunity to get familiar with the place before we have to put him in the chair for his own check-up. He was a very good boy. He was patient and observant. After my cleaning was done he was given a chance to check out all of the hygenist's tools. Ben tried out Mr. Thirsty (the hygenist's name for the suction tool), felt the polishing head and got some air blown on his hand from the water spout. He declined a ride in the chair, despite our attempting to make it look like lots of fun. His next visit will be with me in March for his first cleaning.

Hopefully he'll be a bigger boy about it than his dad.

9/9/09

MN twice as nice

One of these year's Brian will get in the picture too.

For the second year we went to Minnesota for Labor Day. We driveway camp at our former neighbor's, the Kuebelbeck's. The boys are able to have a fantastic time playing with the Kuebelbeck kids and their most awesome toys. We are able to catch-up with all our old neighbors and a few other local friends.

We took the kids to Como Park to check out the zoo and amusement park there. The boys really enjoyed the rides.

The highlight of the weekend was the neigborhood wiffleball game and barbeque. Ben took a turn at bat and ran to first base – and beyond, then decided the playground looked like more fun. Sports don't compare to the joy of digging in the sand with Ben. Neil on the other hand wanted to play ball the whole time. Luckly I was able to sideline him for batting practice while the older kids and adults got to play.

Truth be told, the downside of the trip was the 10 hour ride home (should have been 7), but the boys did it like a couple of real troopers.

Ben thought the fire engine ride was the best.

Ben, Neil & AJ driving a sports car that went surprisingly fast.

The boys also took a train ride.