Big Girl

I will try to keep the details of this blog to a minimum, since those of my readers who are not yet parents may find it a little tedious. I think the mothers (and baby-sitters and day care workers) among my readers will appreciate what a BIG DEAL this is that I have to report.

Chloe is finally potty trained! She's been able to use the potty chair for about a year now and has been in pullups since last summer. All my attempts to get her completely switched over to underwear ended in disaster. I've always heard you can't push these things and you have to wait until they recognize they're ready. Well, on Monday, apparently Chloe made that switch in her mind when she woke up, because there's no going back for her! I bought her some more big girl panties on Monday night, which she announced she loved. She had a few accidents yesterday but did manage to use the bathroom at the grocery store, so thankfully all the accidents were confined to home. I am very happy at the prospect of my grocery bill being a little smaller. Now we just have to convince her to wear a pull-up at night, because she's definitely not ready to give that up, as the past few nights can attest!

Another milestone we hope will happen tonight is her sleeping in her own room. Ever since we moved here last summer she's been sleeping with Jed in his double bed. Although this wasn't our favorite arrangement, it was a battle we weren't willing to fight. Well, today I rearranged her room, and as I was rearranging it Chloe and I talked about how now that she's a big girl wearing big girl underwear, she's old enough to sleep in her own room. She got all excited and has assured me that's what she wants to do. Tonight will be the test!

Let's see...other news...oh, we got to have my dad here last weekend. He was out for the church convention at Fairwood and spent Thursday night with us. On Saturday we met him for lunch in Peterborough, and on Monday he joined us for lunch and a visit. It took Chloe no time at all to glom onto Grandpa and declare him her best friend. It was precious to see the two of them talking and see Chloe really connect with him.

As if it wasn't special enough that we just had one grandparent here, we get another one this weekend! Nana is coming tomorrow afternoon and staying through Monday. Though the reason for her visit is a very sad one (she's here for Aunt Jan's funeral), we're thrilled to have her for a few days. The kids are terribly excited. We all love having Nana visit!

Of limps and leukemia

On Sunday morning Jed woke up with a bad limp and pain in his left leg, as well as a vomiting spell. Now Jed has cousins on BOTH sides who have had leukemia (my niece Jessica and Evan's cousin Bethany), and since leg pain and vomiting can be symptoms of leukemia, I freaked out. That afternoon I took him to the ER where it was confirmed that he does NOT have leukemia; they couldn't figure out what was wrong. That's when I realized how much I'd over-reacted! All I needed to do was take him to the chiropractor. So we went there this morning and found that, yes, his hips were out of whack. She said that can happen when a child is going through a growth spurt. She recommended that he go in for an adjustment every three months and get X-rays when he's 10. Since Evan and I both have scoliosis, the poor kid has a pretty good chance of being susceptible to it himself.

We are thanking the Lord that he doesn't have anything serious and that it was easily remedied!

More door trouble

Some of you may remember I wrote a post last August about it seems that all the doors in this house are cursed. Well, on Thursday I had the worst trouble yet.

The door in our bedroom has never latched. The doorknobs finally fell off a few months ago after being loose for a while. When we needed to get out, we would just stick a finger in the doorknob hole and pull. Let me repeat here that the door has NEVER actually latched. That fact is important to the rest of the story.

I was in our room on Thursday morning ironing some clothes and Chloe and Tucker were playing on the bed. Jed was occupied in the playroom. Tucker pushed the door shut, which he likes to do, and I didn't think anything more of it until he tried to pull it open a few minutes later. When it wouldn't budge, I went over and tried. It really wouldn't budge! That's when I realized we were stuck. I just had to shake my head, because this had already been a really hard week. I tried pulling out the hinge pins but only one of them came out. I tried various tools but nothing worked. Finally I asked Jed to call Alden. Thankfully, he knows how to use the phone now! Alden wasn't home, so I had Jed call Evan. Evan said he was on his way and would be home in half an hour.

Well, there was no way I was waiting half an hour with the kids getting antsy, and I hate for Evan to lose an hour-plus out of his day because his wife has locked herself in her bathroom. So I fell back on plan Z--use the fire escape ladder. We have one in our closet, so I hooked it up to the window and climbed out. As I climbed down (after I made sure no cars were going by!) I thought how good it was that there was a big bush below me to catch me if I fell. I made it down safely, then ran in the house, found the new doorknob that should have been installed months ago, and got the door open and let the little ones out. Chalk it up to a bad experience, great blog. :-)

Jed sporting his funny lemon-faced smile. Killing time coloring while he waits to board the plane.

Here is silly Chloe wearing Aunt Lindsay's jacket and hat. She is still the queen of dress-up.

Howdy, partner!

Photo courtesy of Aaron Sandford. (Thank you, Aaron! It's probably the best picture we have of Tucker!)

Our household has been hit hard with sickness. We've had a relatively light winter in that regard, but first Evan came down with a bad cold about a week and a half ago, then it hit Tucker, Chloe, Jed, and me in rapid succession. Yesterday and today I've been so sick I've hardly gotten out of bed. Evan has been absolutely wonderful, taking care of the kids and making sure I'm able to get all the rest I need. Chloe has been hit hard too. It's so hard to see your little ones feeling miserable, especially when you're so miserable yourself you can hardly lift a finger to help them. One good thing today was that Chloe took a nap with me in bed. Later when Evan was out getting a haircut Jed and Chloe were a little bored (Tucker was napping), so they played quietly on my bed and read a book. Jed has been so solicitous and concerned for me. He'll ask me if I'm feeling better and say things like, "You'll feel better after you get some breakfast." (This he's heard from me a number of times when I'm explaining to him that I'm grouchy before I've had anything to eat.) And many times through the day he's said, "I sure do love you!" Such a little sweetie.

As much as I don't like the idea of kids and parents having favorites, we're already seeing how Jed and Chloe have strong leanings toward one of us over the other. Jed is definitely a mama's boy, and Chloe is Daddy's girl through and through. Yesterday morning she crawled into bed with us and said to Evan, "You're my best friend!" She's never said that to me! Jed and Evan's relationship and Chloe's and mine are very good and strong, but you can definitely see how they each gravitate toward one of us over the other. We're not sure yet what Tucker will be like in that regard. Right now he's happy with anyone who'll give him lots of lovin's!

Emily and kitten continue to be doing well, though the poor baby has been manhandled by Tucker a time or two. Somehow the laundry room door got left opened today, and Evan found Tucker in there gleefully dangling the kitten by its head. Poor thing! It's probably still seeing stars.

New Family Member (if only temporarily)

Our cat Emily has been great with kitty for several months. I think the deed happened around Christmas when she was yowlingly in heat. I was afraid she might have her kittens when I was gone last weekend, but Evan assured me she never did. Well, on Monday night before I went to sleep she hopped up on the bed--and she was decidedly thinner. She was also excessively affectionate, more so than usual, which she usually is after having babies. I guess it's her way of seeking affirmation and praise for the great work she's done.

My joy was tempered, though, as I realized we had absolutely no idea where she'd had her baby(ies). Our house is so big and holey they could be anywhere. I had horrible visions of tiny kittens freezing in the 20-degree cold. And it wasn't very reassuring that Emily spent all of Monday night purring in my ear and rubbing herself all over me (not a good night for it either, having been on the plane all night the night before and being utterly wiped out). She should have been with her offspring!

So yesterday I did a little sleuthing. Around 1:00 p.m. she begged me to let her into the mudroom. I let her out then watched where she went. Sure enough, she went where I was hoping she had NOT had her babies. In our mudroom there's a huge whole that someone stuffed with insulation for reasons we don't know. Emily went way back in that hole, far out of my reach, and stayed there the rest of the day. I was concerned about the kitten (we later learned she only had one) inhaling insulation so I begged Evan to get them out. He's used to working with insulation and it doesn't bother his skin. Still it wasn't a pleasant job, especially since the stuff had been used previously by mice and was filled with grody evidence of their habitation. Evan pulled Emily and her adorable mewing baby out, and I declared him my hero! Now mother and baby are safely ensconced in our laundry room. So far I haven't had the courage to tell the kids about the kitten, since they'll never be able to leave it alone and poor Emily will go out of her mind.

For those of you who might be curious, the kitten is black and white, just like her mom (and dad and, I might add, her grandfather. Yes, there's been a little incest going on in the neighborhood).

I'm still riding high on my time last weekend in Washington! Since my birthday today is turning out to be a rather crummy day, I'm extra thankful for all that my family did last weekend to give me a happy early birthday party, especially on Saturday night, which was complete with special dinner, presents, cake and candles. Tucker was up late last night and in the wee hours of the morning feeling miserable and feverish with a bad cold, and Chloe's sick too. That rules out Evan's and my plans to go out for lunch. Oh well. That's okay. I'm privileged to have these little ones to care for. This dying to self stuff is good for the soul. :-)

What am I saying! I hardly have room to feel sorry for myself after the fabulous weekend I just had. And tonight Lindsay and Sue are coming over to watch the new Pride and Prejudice with me while Evan takes Jed to AWANA. And Evan is going to bring dinner home. I always say no woman should have to cook dinner on her birthday. :-)

We got a new oven yesterday! The old one was leaking gas, and when the repair guy came he vacuumed out three vacuum cleaner canisters' worth of insulation that mice had chewed up and spit out! It was time for a new one. The church approved a beautiful electric one with a flat rangetop. No more burner plates to clean! And all the knobs are up top, well out of the reach of little hands. Evan installed it this morning. I love it!

I guess I need to stop frittering time away and get my kids corralled and this house back under control. Amazing how a few days away messes up one's routine, though Evan did a fabulous job keeping the place picked up.