Bedtime Ritual - Theme Thursday

The theme this week as ritual and what better ritual to focus on than bedtime. Well, at least the first step of the bedtime ritual. It just so happened that I finally remembered to take my camera upstairs to take a couple pictures of Harrison in the bath, not great quality pictures - oh well. But I haven't taken bath pictures since he was a few months old!


The bedtime ritual is pretty simple but we vary it to keep things interesting... okay, really we vary it because sometimes we just can't do the bath thing EVERY night!! More like, I can't do the bath thing every night...

Any normal bath evening starts like this...

Me: Harrison, bath time.

Harrison, using the universal sign for stop with his hand, "NOOOOOOO"

Me: Five more minutes to play, than bath.

Harrison: No Bath Mommy!

Fifteen minutes later...

Me: Okay let's go for bath.

Harrison: Okay Mommy.

After several songs, playing with boats, ducks & frogs, washing of hair and nashing of teeth. Oh yes, nashing of teeth. It's time to end the bath.

Me: Okay, water has to go home now, time to get out.

Harrison and that universal sign for STOP again, "NOOOO! NO MOMMY!"



Well after a few more minutes of reminding him that, no, he can't sleep in the bathtub, and,yes, the water went down the drain - home, laying down and playing peek-a-boo over the sides of the tub, and accepting the annual, naked "hug-wet" from my my little boy just to get him out of the tub - we are on to the next, and newest, step in the bedtime ritual - the potty chair.



And that, my friend, is another story...

"No More Diapers, Mommy!"

It has arrived! The BIG milestone, the moment in mommy-hood I dreaded most.

Potty Training.

Yes, potty training. I just had NO CLUE how to start the whole process. It seemed so overwhelming. When do I know he’s REALLY ready? How long do or don’t I wait to start him? What steps do I take? Do I really want to wade through 2 million, 3 hundred and sixty websites & on-line articles about potty training – most of which either tell you what you are doing horribly wrong or how to get your child trained in just one day. Yeah, right. (I was never really good at following instruction booklets, anyway.) And are size 6 diapers & pull ups really that taboo?

But low and behold, Harrison took the lead. I bought a potty chair back in June and Harrison carried it around a couple times, sat on it once in a while and constantly pointed at it stating, “Potty Chair”, then he started pointing at regular toilets and saying “Big Potty Chair”, but that was it. Recently though, we got a couple (pretty lame) potty training videos (packed to the nines with silly songs) that he wants to watch over and over again.

Well lately since I found myself working a lot of extra hours, I really hadn’t done much else to further the process along. But one night, a couple weeks ago, when we got home from an outing and were getting ready for bed, Harrison looked up at us and announced, “No More Diapers.”

Okay, then.

Immediately after that he lay down for a diaper change. Nothing more happened for a few days and then one evening after his bath, he insisted on sitting on the potty chair, asked to sing the ABCs and went pee-pee. We yelled for daddy to come and see and we all did the Happy Dance!

For the last 2 or 3 weeks, he has gone every evening before bed, save one. But today, while home with daddy, Harry asked to “pee-pee on potty chair?” and off they went in the middle of the day!

We are on the road to potty training!

Theme Thursday - Remembering the Protectors of our Freedom

Freedom is so important to each and every one of us in so many different ways, freedom of speech, freedom in Christ, freedom from bonds/pain that bind us physically and/or emotionally, freedom as Americans - freedom to make our own choices. As Harrison grows, he'll learn about freedom and what it means to him and I hope that I will be a good teacher. Part of the lesson is sharing with him his heritage and who he came from. He will not have the opportunity to know his maternal grandparents and great-grandparents in person, but he will have pictures and stories about them and how much I loved them.

My grandfather, the last of those who raised me, was the most recent family member to pass away, a year ago August. But he was able to meet and hold Harrison. Making a career of the Air Force, he is one of those brave souls who fought to protect our country's freedom.

In honor of my "Papa Chuck"...

My grandparents circa early 1940s

Harry and Great-Papa Chuck - December 2005

Visiting the National Cemetary - 2006


"It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion- to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion- that we here highly resolve that these honored dead shall not have died in vain- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom-"
~Abraham Lincoln

Hope you talked like a Pirate today!

I love to just stop and observe Harrison as he plays; he’s just so fun. Like a few months ago when he plopped himself in a laundry basket with his telescope yelling, “Arrrr! Pirate!”

Well tonight the toy telescope had come back in play-circulation and Harrison was opening and closing it quickly, enjoying the sound it made. He thoughtfully looked at me, silently basking in his ability to make this sound and finally asked his favorite question:

“What’s that noise, mommy?”

You tell mommy, you’re making the noise.

He looks up at the ceiling, thoughtfully,
“I’m making noise in 'um house!”

Yes you are.

“What’s that noise?”

The telescope opening and closing.

He stops, puts it to his eye and exclaims, “ARRR! PIRATE!”

That’s my boy.

BSM - A Day at the Mouse House!

We have SO MANY adventures this week to share with you, from potty training to day trips, but those will all have to wait for now.

In the mean time, we wanted to share our absolute favorite picture from the weekend. A face that I often see on adventures but seems to always elude my camera. That moment of sheer exuberance!


What a great day we had! BTW, we call it the "mousehouse" when reffering to Disneyland in front our very alert 2-year-old! It's quicker than spelling out it out!







Walking with daddy at Disneyland - the best thing in the world!

"Boy, His Butt is Big!"

We went to the Aquarium on Thursday and we had a great time. Harrison became hysterical at the site of the first exhibit. I suppose it had to do with the immensity of the tank - it was two stories high and some of the fish were as big as he is. Unfortunately, my camera doesn't really like the Aquarium, so I missed the pictures of sheer exuberance on Harry's face. But all was not lost...

Here's a BIG FISH.

Although it's dark and grainy, this is my favorite picture of the day.


So, what is he looking at so intently?






Could it be this?



Or this?




Or possibly this.



Heck no. The exhibit that kept Harrison's attention the longest was this...



Yep, a scuba diver crammed into the fish tank doing a little cleaning. Don't they have fish for that?
But the best part is listening to two women discuss his better side.

Woman 1 - Boy, his butt is big!

Woman 2 - I think it's the glass, it MUST magnify everything.


Woman 1 - It could be that suit he's wearing.

Woman 2 - I'm sure it's the glass.

Woman 1 - I hope so, because that IS a BIG butt!

I mean, come on! This guy looked to be about 7 feet tall - like - Andre the Giant in there! Hello? Yet, they were pondering the "big butt." Next would be a discussion of his chosen water shoes...

But I will never know.

Just Wanna Give a Shout Out To...

The Ones I Love!
I'm sure that must have been what Harry was thinking at 4:00 a.m. Thursday morning when he decided it would be a good time to just - SHOUT. And being the in-tune-with-my-child-mom that I am. I awoke immediately.
(Yes, I have fallen flat with that whole in tune thing. Take language for instance. My 2-year-old's language, I don't always know what he is saying and believe me, he gives me PLENTY of opportunities to figure it out - and then who gets annoyed?! But I digress...)

So there it is, 4:00am In. The. Morning. I hear him and immediately pop one foot out of bed but before I'm up...

Silence. Nothing. He's out.

I'm out.

4:45 rolls around and once again, "MAAW-MEEE!" "NIGH, NIGH [garble garble] Yep, there's that language issue again. Of course, I am mostly asleep - down the hall and - Wait... Silence. Hmm.

Well, this went on until he got up at 7:00 am. Every 40 minutes or so he would just shout out for one of us. "Maw-Mee!, Daa-Dee!"
At promptly 7:00 he shouted, "Wake Up Time!" And that was that.

So this morning when 6:30 rolls around, Harrison yells, "Maw-Mee!"

I scream, "NOOOO!!!!" (Well in my head anyway.)

I call out, "It's still Sleepy time."

Harrison yells back, "NOOOO! (not in his head) WAKE UP TIME!"

I stand corrected.