mah-na-mah-na

geese and poop

Unrelated title subjects.

duh-da-dahhhhh........... this morning Carl pooped in the potty!!!!! Don't you wish you were three years old so people would get excited about your hygiene habits??? We ended up being late for school due to all the excitement and rewards. He earned a Cars movie sticker for his chart, but since I had already mentioned marshmallows - when I asked him if he would like a sticker for his shirt, too, he quickly replied, "I want marshmallows". Then - at school, he remained dry all day long! (OK, I confess that kind of alarms me... dry from 8:30am to 1:00 pm? Not enough to drink, in my opinion) The teachers said they took him in with the other boys twice during the day. Once, he asked to stand once he requested to sit. His therapist also took him in to try to pee another time. Perhaps he will not be heading off to college with a case of Huggies.

On our drive home, Gretchen and I spotted some geese by the pond across the street from our pond. So, we grabbed bread and camera and headed back to find them. She did really well - calling them over "Come here geese! I have bread for you!" and even found time to nibble a bit herself. One bold goose did try to grab a piece out of her hand, but she jumped before he got close enough.

After giving away 90% of our bread, we went down to the water's edge and tossed teeny bits into the pond. We should have left ourselves a bit more for this part. The turtles were loving it! And, fish, too! We didn't get to really see the fish, but they were breaking the water when they grabbed it. They aren't as graceful as the turtles are in snacking on bread crumbs. We'll have to go back and feed them more in a day or two.

I figure these must be retired geese. Otherwise, shouldn't they have all flown back towards Canada? Apparently, these have retired and stay south all summer.

wordless Wednesday

there is more ocean!

Well, today, Gretchen & I dropped Carl off at school and headed home for a quick snack. The agenda for the morning was to consist of sidewalk chalk, bubbles and tricycles in the front yard. After snack, we headed out and drew a hopscotch game. Then, we heard some people walking by say they were going to run over to the beach for a little while. I said to Gretchen, "We oughta go to the beach, too." And she was ready to drop everything and go..... so we did! (Keep in mind, this is the first time Gretchen has physically been in the ocean since we moved here in March 2007!)

Within a half hour we had changed into bathing suits, slathered ourselves with sunscreen, grabbed towels, pails and shovels, driven to the beach and pumped some quarters into the parking meter. Not bad for spontaneous, eh?

OK, I fully expected her to take one step and announce she was ready to go. But, we did get to pick a spot and lay down our blanket. So far, so good! We headed down to the water's edge and the waves lapped at her toes. And then she announced she was done.

I was able to convince her that we could fill our pail and play with water and sand on our blanket. That went very well and soon she was ready to try the waves again. So, we walked along the water's edge as they ran over our feet. She was now laughing and letting them splash on her legs even! As we walked, she got braver and braver. Her bathing suit shorts were even wet! She liked how the water ran back to quickly, too. I told her the waves crash on us, but we remain standing as they leave and I even threw in how that was a metaphor for real life and it's problems. I don't think she heard me, though. Or didn't care. Problems? What problems? Her life was going just about perfectly right at that moment!

And that is when the 2 lifeguards drove up on their four wheelers and put up the 'No Swimming' flag and signs warning of rip currents. But, we weren't going in, we were just letting the water crash on our legs - I asked the lifeguard and he said we were okay. He did have to force several people out of the water, though. One was a girl who looked to be about 10 or 12 all alone out in the water up to her chest. She would jump up and then go under as each wave rolled over her. You know, only about 2 weeks ago, we lost a man on the beach when he had to jump in and save his 13 year old daughter from a rip current. He saved his child, and it cost him his life. I can't believe the lifeguard had to speak to the mother of this young girl about calling her back in after he put up the rip current signs! No one thinks it could happen to them, I guess. The lifeguards weren't even clearing the beaches fully, it was just one area. Most people moved their blankets and went up the beach to play more.

But, Gretchen was having a ball in the waves. She even got brave enough to sit down (after backing up a touch - good problem solving) and she would pull handfuls of sand over her thighs to allow the waves to clean them off again. Even in all this playing and jumping and splashing and sitting - her hair never got wet. She was squealing with delight and laughing and even yelling "Again! Again! There is more ocean!" At one point, she did turn to me and say "baby beluga is a whale in the ocean." So, that was my science lesson for the day!

We were lucky we didn't get a ticket because our meter had expired before we got back to the car. The meter dude even showed up while I was packing up - so I was safe by only a couple of minutes. We drove through McDonald's for a couple Happy Meals (the Teeny Beanie Babies are causing us to eat waaayyyyyy too many happy Meals right now) and headed home for lunch. We had just the right amount of time to eat and go get our boy. So, it was a pretty successful and very fun morning!! And... nap lasted 2 full hours! So, a successful afternoon, too!!

"That's All Folks!"

Today was a baby book, milestone, red letter, ticker tape parade kind of day around here. For the first time in their three years seven months on this earth, Carl & Gretchen watched their first Looney Tunes cartoon today! Wile E. Coyote, of course!

Carl wasn't as into it as Gretchen was and of course, Gretchen wasn't as into as Lew was. No one is. Carl mostly kept asking, "Watch kitties singing meow song, please?" because his favorite clip is an old Meow Mix commercial. Gretchen sat and watched and laughed right alongside Lew as the poor coyote genius released bees, got smooshed by a boulder, hit by a semi ... and I even heard him trying to explain to her what an anvil is!

wisdom of a 3 year old

Tonight at dinner, Gretchen spilled her milk and informed us, in a very matter of fact voice: "Some days it happens, some days it doesn't."

new haircuts

Last night, I took the kids to the Puppy Palace for haircuts. Lew was supposed to meet us there, but we were so early that Carl's haircut was completely done and Gretchen was already getting her nails done after hers, too. But, hey, Daddy paid! Perfect timing, I guess!

OK, I do not take them to a dog groomers for haircuts. Just happens that the salon owner also owns a puppy business and the businesses are separated by only a glass wall. So, we got to watch 2 puppies playing together while getting our haircuts! On occasion, I have taken them in that side and they were even allowed to play along with the puppies. But, on Friday, there were already 3 adults over there and I figured the kids would be too rowdy for the audience.

Carl has been asking all weekend to "Go to Puppy Palace now?" I can't get him to understand that he'll be bald if we keep getting his haircut. Although I love bald babies (understatement) I love my kids' hair, too! I kind of like Carl's hair longer, but for summer, we decided to cut it yet again.