More Valentine's Day fun

It was fun to have Valentine's Day on Sunday this year. After church, we drove through Krispy Kreme to pick up free doughnuts for the boys (using those nifty Valentines they were giving out). Everyone wanted the same kind ... chocolate heart with red drizzle. We opened our bags and they were genuinely delighted at all the cards that were waiting inside. We watched the Olympics almost all day and made a couple neighborly deliveries. Let me explain the pictures. 

The top two are Sam and Zach creating these wonderful treats that are so yummy and they do not require rolling dough out, sprinkles, or other such messes or testing this Mama's patience. You can make them for any holiday ... pretzel, white candy melt, and MnM. They lined up the pretzels and placed the candy melts. We stuck them in a low heat oven for a little bit to get them to melt some, then put that festive little MnM on top. It's a beautiful thing! These have been a later addition to the Moyer traditional Christmas Eve cookie feast by candlelight so they are dubbed "Grandma's pretzel thingees" according to us. Everyone loves them.

I couldn't pass up posting the pic of Eli. He was napping during the pretzel-thingee-making, but here he dons his big boy underwear by themselves. This is only so I'll remember to take him to the potty more often. He is doing remarkably well for a little man six weeks shy of 2 years old. 

The last pic of my silly feet is really a pic of my sweet surprise from the boys ... well, really, we were in Walmart and they saw these TMNT pajama pants and said, "Mom you have to get them! They are awesome!" And, so ... for seven bucks ... I have matching pants to go with my TMNT Tshirt and the cool slipper socks that Heidi gave me for Christmas match perfectly as well. Glad I didn't trade my green ones for the pink ones I liked better. :) I feel like a turtle when I wear all of that together.

A little sidenote ... I find myself more intentional with the boys since Doug is gone this week. I've played more, snuggled more, hugged more, squatted down more, tickled more and prayed more. But all of this should be part of my normal days. I'm praying that this week will jumpstart more intention with each of them. I want so bad for them to really love Jesus and understand His extravagant love for them, but if I'm not loving them MUCH, then will they have a healthy picture of His way-more love for them? I'll never do it perfectly, but I know I can do better. I can love Him more by intentionally demonstrating His love to my boys. I'm certain of that.

Creating new habits

When Zach saw the eye doctor here in Little Rock in August, he "prescribed" patching Zach's good eye for 45 minutes a day. Because Zach was having a hard time at school and generally with the adjustment to Little Rock, this new routine had to wait until life got a little bit better for Zach. Since our New Orleans pediatric ophthalmologist didn't seem to think it made much of a difference and we haven't been patching for several years, I figured a couple more months wouldn't matter. At our visit this past spring with Dr. Balkan, he warned us that within the year it would be time to do a little plastic surgery on Zach's eyelid. His biggest concern was not his eyesight but that he was adjusting his neck and head to see more level. We figure it's nice to get a second opinion so we moved to Little Rock. Wink. Our next appointment is with the Little Rock Children's Hospital in early December. We'll see what happens then. At both doctors and the school vision screening, Zach showed signs that he couldn't see the images they showed him. I'm not sure if he recognized the rotary telephone in the picture or if he really was cooperating at school, but we're told that he needs some corrective lenses soon. Knowing what to do with his lazy eye is the step before that. When we ask him to see things far away, he says he can see them, so we're simply unsure about how his vision is affected. Answers will come soon.

Anyway, all that to say, we're patching again. And, we have a little pirate. We've started at 30 minutes a day and created a chart so that he can pick out something fun at the toy store when he fills the squares. I was surprised at how well he did with it today. It definitely took some self-discipline not to rip that thing off. I could tell it was aggravating him but he's doesn't complain about much. He colored, played a little, looked at some books, and ate dinner with the patch on.

Not to be left out, Sam has a chart too. He's learning so fast and so well in kindergarten. He's read several small books with mostly sight words and pictures since the first week, but recently he's been put in a reading group (with a workbook! Big deal for him.) and has been learning to sound out words using the sounds he knows. It's harder for him and he keeps forgetting to bring his book home to read to us for homework. The teacher in me wants him to learn responsibility for homework right away, so we figured a bigger reward than a lollipop is maybe what he needs to develop his "homework habit".

We haven't done sticker charts since the potty training days, so it may be just what they need for this stuff. Thanks, Renee, for reminding me about them. No chart for Eli yet. That kid is so darn smart, though, he might be pottying sooner than I'm ready for. He definitely knows how to produce on the potty if I catch him in the act. You should see the faces he makes. Oh, and how about he's the first of the boys to know how to blow his nose. Seriously. How crazy is that? He doesn't dislike me wiping it (yes, he's 18 months old) and he will literally blow, when I say, "blow". I'm fascinated with what he can do in comparison to the others at this age.

Convention quotes

Create space to be loved. - Elisa Morgan

Put on the belt of truth on the rollercoaster of life. - Elisa Morgan

My brokenness helped me to see the grace I'm standing on.

Limited window, countless opportunities. - Patrick Lencioni

What makes our family unique? - Patrick Lencioni

Engage in the examen with your family. - Tracey Bianchi

Find your "one big thing"! - Tracey Bianchi

Smart kids know that God is smarter than I am. -Kathy Koch

I'm too smart to make bad choices. - Kathy Koch

Parent what you were given, not who you wanted to have. - Kathy Koch

God wants us to raise kids who love him, live for him and make an eternal impact in their world. - Tim Kimmel

Grace is not so much what you do but how you do what you do. - Tim Kimmel

True greatness is a passionate love for Jesus Christ that shows itself in an unquenchable love and concern for others. - Tim Kimmel

Some have adventure inside of you that is waiting to be awakened. - Erwin McManus

The world needs you to live your most herioc life. - Erwin McManus

What you fear establishes the limits of your freedom. What you fear becomes your master. Perfect love casts out fear. God establishes boundaries of freedom.  Your greatest life is awaiting you on the other side of your greatest fears. - Erwin McManus

She did what she could. - Mark 14

I don't wait to be invited to be, so why wait to do? - Elisa Morgan

Children and allowances

Doug and I have been considering starting an allowance with Sam. He seems interested in learning about money and loves to spend and give. However, we don't want it to be contigent on chores around the house since it seems that those are simply his responsibility as a member of the household and a monetary incentive doesn't seem necessary or something we want to encourage. As they get older, bigger jobs like mowing the lawn or washing cars may be worthy of extra "pay", but for now our goal is to teach him simple money value and give him some choices as to how he gives, spends, and saves his money. Although we've been talking about this for the last couple months, our church began a fundraiser for our local pregnancy center this week. Each family could choose to take a baby bottle to fill with loose change over the next two months. The boys enjoyed picking out the bottle, complete with pictures of lions, elephants, and giraffes (of course). It seems like a neat time to start Sam's allowance so that he can truly understand that "change" (which is what his allowance will be) can be given to help someone in need. Any further thoughts, insight, advice, experience about this issue is welcome, o' wise readership.

Yellow and brown

We did it. The potty training for Zach has begun. I couldn't help taking this early morning picture of the boys while Sam sat with Zach on his first attempt on his little potty.

A couple notes/observations for my "mothering journal" ...

1. Yesterday, when I was pulling down a box from the attic, Zach yells up to me, "I need my potty. I need my potty." As I lowered it to the ground, I could have sworn he said, "How? How?" Yeah, so I felt like I didn't have a choice.
2. Sam's been completely trained for a little over 6 months. It's been bliss. And, after a year of the process with him, I wasn't anxious to begin with the little one. That year had a lot of unplanned stress but still a year is a long time to be riding a poop/pee rollercoaster.
3. On the crazier side, Sam's had 3 accidents in the last 36 hours. Totally out of the blue. One at church, one last night (not really his fault since he was half asleep and the seat was occupied!), and another (ugh, brown) tonight. What's with that? Making a mental note to spend some quality time with him tomorrow. Wondering if that's a normal thing...
4. I'm not sure I like the method I chose this time ... give them more to drink so they'll "produce" more in a short amount of time. After so many extra salty snacks (in order to help the liquids go down), I don't feel like I really know his normal pottying schedule. I do like the concept of many trips to the potty to reinforce the routine and feeling the underwears for dry or wet. But, I really wanted to throw the timer out the window by dinner time since it was set to go off almost every 5-8 minutes.
5. I think they should stop selling little boys' briefs. The boxer briefs are so much easier for little hands to pull up and down. Plus, the neighbors can't tell the boys are running around the yard in their underwear cuz they look like shorts. Or am I kidding myself? And why can't I find any boxer kind with the loved TV characters? Do Scoop and Thomas really help them learn bladder control, anyway?
6. Zach's bottom is wider than Sam's at this age. Not sure how long he can really use the little potty. He sure doesn't mind sitting on it though. Smile.
7. Seems strange for 4 people (even if 2 are little) to be using the same tiny bathroom. I wonder if our toilet will hold up.
8. The day's tally: 6 pairs of underwears, no diapers, 2 pullups all for one big boy in training.
9. I like not having to change diapers in the midst of potty training ... different from our first round. Makes cleaning up the accidents a little more bearable.
10. Overall, I think it was a successful day. A little yellow deposit first thing this morning in the company of big brother aka cheerleader. Lots of accidents ... last one was right after he got off the potty. A little gun-shy maybe. He doesn't like to be wet now. This morning he didn't hardly notice. A final deposit of brown after dinner. We all needed that. Final yellow was in the bath. Oh, well.
11. Practice, practice, practice. We all need it.
12. Reminder to self: read this post often in upcoming six months. ;)

All in a day at home

It's been a wonderful day! The boys woke up pleasantly. Zach didn't have an exploding diaper with poo everywhere, which is my first thought when I rouse every morning ("better go change Zach's poopy diaper before it oozes out and gets everywhere"). They hopped in bed with me to read a couple books while Doug kissed us good-bye for the day.

After breakfast (which Sam declared "It's a lovely day for pancakes, Mom!), we headed outside to brave the heat for a little while. They had fun until I told them to watch for a little beehive that a bee was protecting near the back door, then Sam wouldn't let me out of his sight.

Since I was stuck outside so Sam would feel safe, I swept out the shed and threw some stuff out. I found the sprinkler ball, hooked it up, and all three of us ran through it with our street clothes on. It was laundry day, so who cares? It felt good after we were sweating and the boys were covered with sand from playing in the sandbox. We headed inside for a drink after stripping everyone down at the door.

The TiVo remote was missing so we couldn't watch a video (and this was accepted w/o a fuss - surprise!) which gave the boys an opportunity to play and explore together. Recently, Sam and Zach are really having fun together. It makes me smile at what they come up with to do together. Before they "ate" their feast of playfood, I overheard Sam's instructions to Zach of the blessing. "You have to say, 'Dear Jesus, Zach'," which he followed by a simple prayer. While they were unloading all their toys into a pile in the middle of the kitchen floor, I pulled outgrown clothes out of their drawers and filled them with bigger stuff. I found myself smiling as I listened to their loud giggles at each other and their cute conversation.

We had a yummy lunch after cleaning up the big pile, and they took long naps while I finished the last loads of laundry. It's been a productive and FUN day! I'm so glad I get to stay home with my kids. I really should actually stay home more often, instead of running errands, meeting friends, or whatever. Life seems to go a lot smoother when the schedule is VERY flexible. To top off my wonderful day, Doug walked in the door at 4:30 and is now mowing the lawn. I'm off to make dinner ... chicken fried steak w/country gravy, potato delight (Heidi's recipe) and steamed cauliflower and broccoli with watermelon for dessert. Then, I'm headed out tonight with some girlfriends for some spiritual encouragement and fellowship, while Doug has some guy time with the boys. I didn't imagine today would be so fine.

Perspective

Last week, Sam was registered for a VBS at the church where we go to MOPS. When I showed up to pick him up on Monday, he was crying and pretty sad. Long story short ... it didn't seem worth it to have him go back if it wasn't fun. After all, it was only a week. He's just 3 1/2. I took him on Tuesday morning, but he just "couldn't be brave enough to go in his class." I know both of the teachers that were in his class. However, I only talked to one of them about how Monday went. The other teacher's perspective was unveiled to me today. Boy, were they different! One thought that Sam was miserable and wasn't interested at all in being there. The other's perception was that he had fun and didn't get really sad until prodded by the other teacher.

It's interesting because Sam has never shown a lot of separation anxiety at all ... neither of our boys have, and we all get energy from being away from each other for bursts of time. As we tried to make a decision last week about whether to make Sam go or not, we just didn't have the full perspective. The first teacher's perception didn't match up with what I knew of Sam's character and personality, but that's all I had and I had to trust her input. After hearing another side of it today, it made more sense. Our style of parenting is more similar to that of the second teacher (I think), and so therefore she saw the situation more like I would have (I think). It was a good to be reminded ... what we bring to a situation determines how we're going to view it. It was also good to remember that teachers, caretakers etc. of my kids will have a different "take" on my kids that may not be entirely accurate. However, their perception is always worth consideration.