Saturday, February 28, 2004

All Work and Lotsa' Play Amy and I rented a dumpster and did a lot of cleaning in the garage today; Dad helped as well, and we managed to get most of the garage cleaned up. The kids had a blast, because we had their cousins come over and babysit them while we worked. By the time we were done, the kids were exhausted from all of the running around they'd been doing all day; Josh was asleep and Ben was zoning out on the couch. Ben hardly flinched when we mentioned that he'd be stopping with mommy for some ice cream on the way to drop off the cousins; so, I know he was exhausted. We're hoping to start moving our stuff out of the house and into the garage, our excess stuff that is. I can't believe that we ever fit into an apartment, and I don't think that we ever will again. It seems a shame to go to all the trouble of emptying out a garage, only to fill it back up again. They should just call them "attached storage units" and be done with it. 10:39:42 PM    comment [] Joseph here... I thought I'd usurp the computer for once. Nobody around here ever gives me a chance! Just because I'm not quite 3 months old, they think I have nothing to say, or that I can't type. Tch. I love messing with my parents' heads. The best is when I cry for no reason; you should see the confusion in my dad's eyes. Eventually, they stand up and start walking around, and the thin air at those altitudes usually quites me down, but it's fun while it lasts. Ooo, ooo, and another thing! I LOVE waking them up in the middle of the night; that's the best. I just start whining a bit, and suddenly an arm with a bottle reaches in and starts feeding me. It's the best. I can see their heads resting there, trying to sleep while they feed me, and that's usually when I start twisting around, so that they have to readjust the bottle. Heh heh. It makes me laugh. Lately, I've been observing their reaction when I make noises and smile; I can get them speaking gibberish in no time. I prefer the back of the throat noises, you know, like the letter "g". Dad showed me some other noises, yesterday; I think he was mocking me, though, since half of them require teeth, and I don't have those. I liked the "t" noise, a lot, though. Anyhoo. Life's good for me - oops, I wet 'em. Maybe I can get one of the grown-ups to change me. Goo at you later. 8:37:37 AM    comment [] To pee, or not to pee... We've been trying to potty train Ben for awhile now, after all, he's four, and most kids his age are potty trained. Personally, I would feel embarassed to tell coworkers or acquaintances that he still is not potty trained. I remember mentioning it, back when he was still three, to someone at work, and she was surprised, because her two year old had already potty trained, but her two year old was a girl, and I understand that they tend to potty train earlier. The potty training has been quite an ordeal for us, and for Ben. He's been obstinate about nearly every new...um...technological advance, though. I remember that we never thought he would crawl, and then, he up and started doing it. The same goes for walking, I recall. He just seems to have his own agenda for these things. We've been trying to motivate him through various means. Initially, we gave him a lollipop every time he went. Then, Amy set up a chart with a goal of a trip to Chuck E Cheese's if he had fewer than two accidents per day over the course of three days (or was it a week). In any case, it has been to no avail, and it's frustrating to us, especially to Amy, who changes far more diapers than I do, and is getting tired of changing Ben's. We've finally decided to see the advice we've read all over, and which people atest is the final solution: we're just going to stop pushing the issue entirely. We sat down, had a final talk with Ben about it, explained that it was important and that he needed to learn to do it, and told him that we weren't going to push it any more, that it was up to him to decide when he was ready; we left it at that. We were surprised when he started crying and ran up to his room, but we suspect that he felt like he was being punished (I followed him and explained that he wasn't being punished, btw, and he recovered). The issue is in his hands now; we've just got to be patient and wait, and hope that he truly will spontaneously potty train himself. 3:09:56 AM    comment []

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