We’re back

I’ve been a terribly negligent blogger, but it’s been a crazy busy two months for us and blogging just fell off the bottom of the list. So here is a quick rundown of what’s new in our world:

Potty Training Success
After a bit of a rough start with Colin, and a little setback with Veronica, we can now declare daytime potty training a success. They both are now telling us when they need to go, and are staying dry 99% of the time. We’ve even mastered staying dry through naps (including a monster three-hour nap one day). 

Veronica still has issues with going poopy on the potty, but she’s getting a little better with that. She also overcame her fear of public toilets this week while we were camping. (That makes travel so much easier.)

Colin has developed an obsession with going to the bathroom whenever and wherever he can. Every time we stop somewhere new, he asks if they have a bathroom, and then announces he has to use it. He also was so interested in the outhouses (or porta-potties as he called them) at the campground that at one point he was asking to go every five minutes. He has stayed dry most nights over the past two weeks too.

Early Intervention Graduation
Colin has officially “graduated” from Early Intervention now that he is three, and has no recommendations for continuing therapy. He remains at the 5% level on the growth charts, and still has some struggles with his gross motor skills, but these are things we should be equipped to deal with at home. 

As part of our goal to keep him challenged in developing those gross motor skills, he and Veronica are taking gymnastics this summer. They just missed the cut off for the three- to five-year-old class, so they’re very much the big kids in this class. Veronica could easily do a more advanced class, but this seems good for Colin’s attention and she had fun at our first class so it’s not a problem. 

No More Bottles
Yes, we still were giving them bottles at nap and bed time (Colin needed the extra calories, and it was just a lot easier for us to continue the habit), but this week we ended that habit. We had told them the bottles were ending when they turned three, but we actually dropped them a few days early to coincide with our camping trip. Since their routine was going to be different and one of us would be sleeping with them anyway, it seemed like a good time to make the change. And since we were successful, I think we made the right call.

Turning Three
This week the twins celebrated their third birthday (where did the time go) with a camping trip in Wisconsin. They slept like champs, ate like crazy and generally had a good time. (They also were typical three-year-olds and, along with big brother, had me threatening to cancel the trip several times a day.) 

The campground (Lake Kegonsa State Park) had a nice playground, and a great beach (with another nice playground), and after we went to Walmart in Stoughton to replace all of the things I didn’t remember to pack (including their outdoor cars and trucks), they had a lot of fun playing at our campsite too. 

Ethan and I were able to get in some good hiking, and he and John went fishing one morning. (They didn’t catch anything, but Ethan claims he had four nibbles.) We all went swimming once, and at more s’mores than was healthy. The weather was about perfect (just a little chilly at night), and surprisingly the mosquitoes weren’t too bad. 

Both kiddos are continuing to make great strides developmentally and surprise us regularly with the new “big kid” skills they’ve learned. Now if only they would sleep through the night consistently. 

Jury duty

I was called for jury duty today. Of course, as I was getting ready, Veronica wanted to know whether I was working at the downstairs office or the downtown office. I told her I had jury duty today.

“Oh, you’re going to Jury’s [a restaurant near our house]? Can I come too?”

“No sweetie, I have jury duty. That’s different than the restaurant. I have to go to a court and listen to people who are arguing and help decide who is right.” (Well, you try explaining jury duty to a not-quite-three-year-old if you don’t like my explanation.)

“That’s easy,” she replied. “I’m always right.” 

And with that, she flounced off in her new princess dress to go play. 

Ch…ch…ch…changes

Wow. It’s been a month since I last updated the blog. I have really fallen down on the job. Sorry. Somehow life has gotten in the way of blogging (although that’s better than the opposite happening). Spring is always busy, and this has been busier than most — at work and at home. 

So a quick overview of what’s been going on:

We are done with diapers (mostly). On Wednesday last week, we ditched the diapers and started potty training using the cold turkey method. Veronica took to it like a fish to water (until yesterday, when she had three accidents in a row) and has been doing swimmingly (so to speak). She is rocking her new Hello Kitty sparkly shoes — her reward for going three days without an accident.

Veronica rocking her new Hello Kitty
sparkly pink shoes after staying dry
for three days. 

Colin chose not to participate for the first two days. I know it can take kids up to a week to figure it out, but it was very frustrating because he has stayed dry for whole days in the past — I know he is capable and understands how to tell me he needs to go potty. 

John suggested that maybe we wait longer for Colin and just focus on getting Veronica trained, something I argued against. But by the end of the second day, I was so frustrated (Colin would just pee whenever he felt like it, and if you pointed out he was wet, he would shrug and say something to the effect of “huh”) I was ready to throw in the towel. And I told him as much. 

Suddenly, Colin was telling John when he needed to use the bathroom, and was staying dry. Unfortunately, he made it through one whole day without an accident, and has yet to do it a second time, so he hasn’t yet gotten his three-day reward — a pair of light-up Thomas shoes. He did get a new Thomas book for his one day dry.

So proud of himself for staying dry (and showing
off that goofy smile). Colin with his new
Thomas book. 

We also had Colin’s spring follow-up with the pulmonologist. His last ever. Yeah!!!! Colin’s lungs sound clear — no more rattle. So he no longer needs the inhaled steroids to strengthen his lungs, and he no longer needs a pulmonologist. So unless something happens and we decide he needs to go back, his lungs are now considered healed. I am so very happy about that. 

Beyond that, we’re spending a lot of time at the park, riding scooters (Veronica’s new obsession), going for walks and playing in Tommy, our sandbox. 

Little learners

For all the frustrations that come with two-year-olds, this age also can be quite fun. Two-year-olds are exuberant — they feel frustration to the maximum (hence the tantrums), but they also radiate excitement about so many things. And they’re so proud as they master new tasks. It’s fun to watch them learn and grow.

John and I were commenting last night about how far the twins have come with their swimming. In just about one year, we have gone from Colin screaming through at least half the class (from the side of the pool, not in the water) to him putting his face in the water while swimming using the noodles. And Veronica is getting so comfortable that during our last class, there were several points where I was barely providing any support to her while she was swimming. She hasn’t quite gotten to the point of putting her head under water, but she is otherwise still quite the little fish. 

Colin has gotten quite far in his mastery of letter and number recognition. If he feels like focusing (the key in all things for Colin, who is simultaneously more laid back and more stubborn), he can correctly identify nearly all the letters and he rarely misses a number. Veronica struggles quite a bit with this, but she is spot-on with her colors (where Colin has problems). Both are regularly able to count three objects now, and do so at every opportunity.

Colin’s vocabulary has once again exploded, although he can still be hard to understand sometimes. I was listening to him last night after dinner and was blown away by how much he now says. And to think that in the fall we were worried he might be falling behind in speech. Ha! 

Veronica, of course, talks like a 10-year-old (okay, maybe just like a five-year-old). Her perception (and her hearing) is quite impressive. She always is listening to what is going on around her, and is able to make sense of it and bring back what she has heard correctly in a different context. 

The constant chorus of “no” and the tantrums about every little thing do get annoying (really annoying when it’s happening repeatedly times two), but when Veronica crawls into my lap before bed and tells me, “I love you so much, Mommy,” it all becomes worthwhile. 

Easter fun

Although we totally overscheduled Saturday (somehow I failed to make the connection that the Saturday of Spring Break, when we scheduled Ethan’s birthday celebration, was also the Saturday of the Easter Party at church and the Easter Vigil, when Ethan was heavily involved in the service at night), Easter was a lot of fun this year. 

The weather on Saturday was nice enough that we were able to take the Burley out for the first time and bike over to church. The party butts right up against nap time (okay, it really cuts into nap time), so being able to bike home saved about 20 minutes of “commuting” time. (John and Ethan had to leave with the van to pick up his friends for the birthday celebration.) 

Colin and Veronica were old enough this year to really start to enjoy the party — especially the egg hunt in the garden. And there are TONS of kids at church in their age-range. Even better, now that they’ve been going to Sunday School, they know many of the kids. 

You can tell they’re very comfortable at church now, because as soon as I got them out of the Burley and their bike helmets, they were off and into the building. (I turned around from getting the lock off my handlebars just in time to see the door closing behind them.) Fortunately, more kids were coming in, and their grandma was able and willing to “pick up” Colin and Veronica to shepherd them up the stairs while I locked up.

They mostly just wandered around the party watching all the activities (and raiding the snack table) until it was time for the Itty Bitties to do their egg hunt in the garden. I gave them each their baskets when it was time to line up, and told them we were going to find eggs to put in our baskets. I turned my back for a minute and suddenly there they were with their baskets filled with eggs — the hard boiled eggs the other kids had colored. 

Smart cookies. Next time I’ll have to be more specific. 

So we put those back and went to gather the treat-filled eggs instead. Despite insisting on opening each egg as they found it (and spilling treats all over the grass) they had a blast and ended up with full baskets. 

Unfortunately, I never took any pictures of them all dressed up in their Easter clothes. You'll just have to enjoy these instead.

Colin and Veronica get a little help from a friend.

Wild hair girl rocking her new pink skinny jeans.

Oh look! A purple one.

Hello, Kitty

Colin has quite the imagination. For a long time, he was far ahead of Veronica in imaginative play. She has since caught up, but Colin is still the master. 

Coin is the only one of the kids who has an imaginary friend, Eddie. Unfortunately, Eddie causes a lot of fights because Veronica refuses to recognize Eddie’s ownership rights to any of her toys: 

“No Roni, that’s Eddie’s. That’s Eddie’s!”

“No it’s not. It’s MINE!”

“No! It’s Eddie’s!”

And suddenly everyone is crying (including Eddie, I’m assuming). 

Right now, one of their favorite things to do is to pretend to be someone or something besides themselves. Veronica typically is Queen June or Queen June ballerina (although on Wednesday she suddenly told us she was Mary — not sure where that one came from). Colin is Kitty. The funny thing is, when Veronica tells us she’s Queen June, she clearly realizes that she actually is Veronica calling herself Queen June; Colin seems to think that he actually is Kitty.

If Colin is being Kitty, he will refuse to answer us when we address Colin, other than to insist that he is Kitty. He gets quite angry when we make him turn back into Colin, especially if we are trying to get him to do something he isn’t interested in doing — like brushing his teeth. In fact, he seems to forget he’s Colin most often when he doesn’t want to do something … hmmm.

He also purrs. 

The other morning, I was in the bedroom with Colin and Veronica, and Colin climbed up on the big bed with me for a morning snuggle. Veronica was still asleep, so we were trying to be quiet. He snuggled in, and told me he was Kitty. I was stroking his hair, and he snuggled in closer and started to purr. “Kitty’s happy.”

He also purrs sometimes when he’s playing and having fun. It’s very cute. (And makes me grateful that he’s not a tiger or something equally destructive.)

Fun times

Yesterday, overall, was a very fun day with the kids. It started out a bit rocky, with Veronica moving quickly into a grand temper tantrum that caused her to lose church privileges for the day. (Yes, we’re probably the only family that takes away going to church as a punishment. I doubt it would be effective for Colin, but it worked for Ethan when he was younger, and it’s a big punishment for Veronica — she LOVES going to church.)

But after nap and lunch, everyone was back to being in a good mood. Because the sun was shining, the kids and I decided to walk up to the library. So we loaded up the 50 pounds of library books that were either due or we were done with, bundled up and headed out with our strollers in hand. (Ethan had a scooter, being a bit too mature to want to push a stroller when he walks now.)

The three of them went out and played “chase and bump” while I got snacks and water bottles packed and the stroller loaded. It’s always a good afternoon when they will all play together. I love to listen to them laughing and squealing with happiness — it’s probably one of my favorite sounds in the world.

Colin and Veronica walked more than half a mile before they decided they were ready for snacks. They both wanted to keep walking and eating, but I made them get into the stroller if they were going to snack. Unfortunately, Ethan had to walk and eat, and ended up dropping his cup of treats and spilling it all over the sidewalk. (Fortunately, he’s also old enough that I can give him $5, and he will go into Starbucks by himself and order a scone. No more having to unload everyone. Yeah.)

Everyone did very well at the library, until it was time to check out. Veronica and Colin both wanted to stay, so we had some serious crying when it was time to pack up. And I had to tell Colin to stop doing things so often that even the security guard was calling him by name before we managed to check out — “Colin, you can’t play with that. Colin, you need to stop that.” Oh the joys of an active boy. 

On the way home, Veronica suddenly called me from the stroller. “I want to go to a restaurant today.” Since I was already stressing out about getting something on the table for dinner (it was approaching 4:30 at this point, and we were still only half way home), I decided that sounded like a good idea. All three kids agreed to behave, and so we decided to go out. 

After a quick stop to pick up John and change some diapers, we headed off to Wishbone. We haven’t actually taken the kids to a restaurant in probably at least three months, and what a difference those three months have made. They both sat in their chairs (without boosters even — so much easier!) and were very well behaved. They ate like champs, and even stayed relatively quiet while we waited for the check. 

Of course, it helped that we had the most awesome waiter ever (Veronica called him the boy with the black napkin [his apron] as in, “Where did the boy with the black napkin go?”). Colin really enjoyed himself, and kept announcing throughout his dinner, “This is great! I LIKE this!” And we made it home without me feeling like I’d just run a marathon.