Winter Wonderland

Here are a few photos of the kids playing in the snow yesterday.  We got 4-5 inches.  When we were out playing we also got some more sleet/ice pellets.  The kids were undeterred.  You can see Lily with the snow fort that we built together.

The bad news is that we're all kind of shut in now.  Lily had the flu yesterday afternoon and threw up close to 10 times.  She still doesn't feel real great today.  Now Amanda has an upset stomach.

Meanwhile, since we're about out of diapers we decided to start potty training Noah.  So far he has had 3 accidents in one day plus.  I'm really hoping that today is the day he finally puts poo-poo in the potty.  Cleaning up underpants with poop really is no fun.  The good news is that it is cold out and I have a "dirty bucket" out on the deck.

New Milestone

Amanda tells me that Lily has discovered a new form of communication. Lily said, "Thanks a lot, mommy." Amanda was a little confused, so she asked Lily what she was thanking her for. Lily explained, "I'm not really thanking you."

Our little Peanut has discovered sarcasm. On one hand, I'm very proud as this is kind of sophisticated for a 6 year-old girl. On the other, I dread what lies ahead.

Alarming

Lily got some new sheets for her bed tonight.  They are kind of a jersey cotton and are best described as the color of pink lemonade.  She is very excited about this.

She is also excited about having a clock radio in her room.  She has Amanda's old alarm clock that used to be in Noah's room.  I put her little clock in Noah's room so that I would know what time it is when I'm in there, so that Lily would know the time when she sleeps in there, and so that Noah can eventually know when the first number is "7" (he's not that far off).  Tonight I found the local Christian radio station on it and she heard it for a few seconds.  She is very excited about the prospect of it waking her up tomorrow morning at 7:00.

We'll see how long the novelty lasts, but anything to get her up promptly on a school day is good.  It hasn't been so easy lately.

Start Me Up

Last night began the spring semester for me.  I have class on Tuesdays and Thursdays as well as a class that is a directed study which meets when we decide it will meet.  Amanda said that the kids were good last night, which was an answer to prayer for me at least.

Noah keeps saying that he has these dreams.  He frequently dreams of going bowling.  The funny thing is that when Amanda got to church yesterday for her small group they were setting up a play bowling set.  Noah was very happy about that.

Worth a Try

Amanda had a fairly easy morning yesterday with Lily staying at Ruby's house.  However, we did try something that ended up causing some stress.  Noah woke up pretty dry, so we thought it would be a good idea to have him go to the potty.  All this caused was about 10 minutes of screaming.  We eventually had to give up.  I suggested it this morning and he didn't like the idea today either.  He's OK with going potty at bedtime, but not so much first thing in the morning.

Noah is like a little John Bunyan in that he keeps telling us about these dreams he has.  Lately he has been dreaming of going bowling.  We keep telling him that we will go bowling as soon as he puts poo-poo in the potty.  He likes the idea of going bowling, but isn't so sure about the potty part.

The good news is that he is still doing well with his new bed.  The bad news is that he is running out of diapers and we are going to have to make some decisions soon.

Sleepover

Today is one of those seemingly-random teacher workdays that Wake County schedules periodically.  That means Lily got a three-day weekend.  The Assistant Principal in charge of Friday's assembly made a little joke about how all the students' parents would be thrilled to have them around for an extra day.  Right.

The good news is that Lily got invited to sleep over at her friend Ruby's house.  Ruby is Lily's ballet teacher's daughter.  We really like that family and are thrilled to have Lily spend some time with Ruby.  The only problem is that they are both older sisters and tend to fight a bit.  However, it should go fairly well.

Meanwhile, Noah settled down just fine in his big-boy bed.  I've turned the covers down and took the pillow away so it is basically just like being in his crib.  He did more of his usual singing last night, but it didn't sound like he got up and walked around any.  I don't think he has quite made the connection that he can do that.  Plus, I always tell him to stay in his bed.  So far, so good.

Furniture Moving

We had some big changes yesterday.  I took Lily's single bed apart and moved the pieces up to the attic.  She got the queen bed that was in Noah's room along with the nightstand.  The dresser will follow once we get up the gumption for that.

Meanwhile, Noah got his bunk beds set up.  Amanda was extremely helpful in getting this put together as the top bunk was still assembled from when we bought it on craigslist.  Lily helped too.

Noah slept great in it for both naptime and all night last night.  He was very resistant at naptime, but not so much at bedtime.  We were a little worried that he would be running around his room all night, but that didn't happen.  In fact, he seemed to get quiet more quickly in his new bed than he does in his crib.

Lily loves playing up on the top bunk.  She even was able to almost read the sticker that says the top bunk is not for children under 6.  It's not a problem for Noah now because he is afraid to climb more than one or two rungs on the side.  I suspect the day is coming when we'll hear him crying up there because he got himself stuck.  I'm pretty confident that with the rails he will not fall off the side though.